Talk about absolute and total sheer panic setting in in a nano second. You should have been with us at the CHHR for the cacklefest. I damn near thought I would have a stroke before it was over. All started out great. We pushed the G-Hopper into the staging lanes with the newely finished 1959 Ford Ranchero push car along with the other 105 cars and were having a blast. Most of the California crowd love the G-Hopper and Gretchen and they loved the period correct Ranchero also, so many pictures were taken and much BSing was had by all. The parade went fine. The Ranchero slowly pushed the G-Hopper down the track for all to see and admire. The announcer did a great job and even announced that it was Gretchen's birthday. The G-Hopper arrived in the push start lane at the end of the track side by side with many other beautiful cars. She was the only MEL powered car there... She waited her turn to push down and start up. The waiitng should have been around 45 minutes. All good so far. Then it happened. The Ranchero died!!!!!! She was sitting there idling just fine waiting to push down. But, she simply stopped running and was not about to start up again. Something was badly amiss with the iginition system. After many excrutiating minutes trying to figure it out, the alarm was sounded by Ed. PANIC set in quickly now. Holy shit, we had come all this way only to get this close and no cigar. I was down at the starting line awaiting the car to arrive so I could line her up. Ed called on the cell phone...."THE F&*%$n&ng RANCHERO DIED and WILL NOT start. I have sent Stephen to get the Dodge & the extra push bar". I ran as fast as I could for an old guy to the pits, damn near having a stroke, met Stephen, grabbed the push bar. You gotta be shitting me!!!!!!...where are the freaking keys to the Dodge, now having another stroke.... Finally after what seemed like an hour, we found the keys, took the Dodge and sped through the pits back row and to the end of the strip. Some NHRA guy tried his best to stop us saying we can't go there,,yada yada yada, safety something,,we damn near ran over him and kept going. We arrived at the scene. Ed and Vicky, now in absolute total panic mode, had already pushed the Ranchero out of the way and was looking for help. I pulled the Dodge up, we installed the push bar and moved the Gizzle Hopper back into line. Our panic meters were pegged, but began to move left now. We had avereted a total disaster. Meanwhile Gretchen was sitting in the car all this time all strapped in refusing to give an inch to the NHRA guys saying "ya gotta move out of the way". She refused saying "don't worry, the GizzleHopper gang, will figure this out" and she never moved an inch even though her panic meter was pegged out as well. Good girl.......... Bottom line, we got her done and the rest is history . Now, I just need to go to my heart Dr. and get checked over for any damage.
Glad you got it worked out. I thought this years cacklefest was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too long. They have just added too much 'filler' to it. If you already have 70 or more real nitro cars, that should be IT. This year, they put in a late model jet car and a 50s gasser. Plus many other cars not running on nitro. really! Only nitro cars 'cackle' and only nitro cars should be featured at cacklefest. No disrespect for the non nitro cars. I understand everyone has tons of time and money into their stuff but, there should be another venue for cars that do not run on Nitro. I hope future cacklefests are more focused on Fuelers burning the good stuff. The other thing that went wrong during the cacklefest was one of the AA/Fuelers 'banged' right in front of the grand stands. I gathered they were not able to fire up initially and tried to refire while pushing ( did not back the motor down ) and BOOM! That stupid trick could have killed a few people as dense as the crowd was. I had a great view of the whole deal. I was standing on a 55 gal garbage can by the fence near the start line. I was able to actually look down on the cars as they came by. Very cool sensation. I had a great time at my favorite event of the year but, really regret not being able to run my own AA/Fueler this year. Well, hopefully next year will be better and I can afford to run it. Steve Hosting- Pontiac/Buick/Olds FALL FEST Sat Nov 28, 2009 Phoenix www.pbofallfest.org 8th annual Nostalgic Show & Go! April 11, 2010 Phoenix www.nostalgicshowandgo.org
Damn Beep...if it ain't 105 in Bowling Green, it's a dead Ranchero in Fomosa. Just shows how Old Fart hot rodders always find a way.
I agree, it started too late, they had too much non cackle related crap going on, the static start deal got balled up and caused an hours delay, they had too many non nitro cars and therefore it ran too late. BUT, overall,,,,,it was fantastic. Keep in mind that Steve Gibbs (Mr. Cacklefest himslef) was sick and not in attendance so he couldn't keep things moving. By-the-way, the car that banged the blower was one of the "should have known better" groups. A stone cold engine + 100% nitro + a cool raher damp evening = a no start. Ask Big Daddy what happend to him at Bowling Green 2 years ago. We always start our engine on alky right before moving to the staging lanes and build a lot of heat and I mean a lot of heat. We run the tank dry. We then fill the tank with the good stuff at 95%. Never an issue starting then. Keep Steve in your prayers. He is what makes it all work and we need him to get well and be back at Bowling Green.
I was leaning on the fence about 1/3 track when the GizzleHopper went thundering by, what a beast of a 430!! one of the best sounding cars there. I loved the cackle fest but after being at the track for 12 hours the 5mph, 1/8 mile gap between car, 100 car parade is excruciating (sp?).What was it, seemed like 2 hours. We have been looking at the cars all day! When the sun goes down we want to see some fuelers push started and hear some thunder. Alot of people in the stands were gettting pretty pissed off and only half of them understand what's going on.Peronally I don't think they need a parade , they could be lined up and ready to go alot earlier, I heard someone got hit in the head with shrapnel in the stands by the start line. Gizzlehopper rules!
Well, we certainly thank you for the liking our car. We work really hard to make sure it represents what it was "really" like back in the late 50's and early 60's. All drag racing DID NOT take place in Southern California and NHRA was not the only organization back then. Now, before I get my ass jumped by all those die hard Southern Cal guys, we know it all started there and the racing was fantastic. It was in-fact the "Mother Ship" of drag racing. However, we raced in Texas too and back in the late 50"s and early 60's, even in Southern Cal, the Hemi's and sbc's were not always king. There were Pontiacs, Oldsmobiles, Lincolns, Fords, Buicks and others that ran hard. And in the mid-section of the US, AHRA was king because of nitro.
Brian, glad to hear you got everything going right with the Ranchero! It was good meeting you, I hope you enjoy those patches and the tailhook! Thanks for the headers, I'll see you there next year for sure.
the gizzle hopper is awesome. i was parked along side you guys for a bit when we were waiting our turn to push off. killer motor!
Bitchin car and a great weekend!! That sucks shit went south for you guys, but you pulled it off! And yes, it took way too long to get cacklefest fired off!
capteddie says: After 2000 miles traveling to get there, whats a couple of hours waiting on cacklefest ?
I've seen the video of the cackle fest and still cannot wrap my mind around what that could have felt like... Dont cha wished you could bottle that type of feeling and sell it
Brian, the car looked and sounded and flamed great as it came past me in front of the tower. I was so far out of the loop i had no idea what was going on and what all the delays were about. I had no idea Steve fell sick but that explains why i didn't see him after lunchtime on Saturday. The Ranchero looked great. The car really is a great addition to the Cacklefests and you've done a suberb job with it.
chevy guys talk to me i got a 1964 impala completely original head to toe and only 20000 miles on the 283, i plan on making into a gasser gimme some ideas
Riceman...........we loved your car. Way cool. That 354 sounds more like a 554. Sure hope to see you guys at more events. Bowling Green is another really cool event. More "hot rod" & street rod" oriented than real old dragsters, but it is a very fun event and refreshing to see the old drag strip.
That was a great story an how to survive a panic attack! Glad you got to together. Keep it up, always enjoy your car.
OK, I found the problem with the Ranchero. Damn some strange crap has happened to me lately. First it was spark plug wires bursting into flames, then a heating issue never resolved, now this. The alternator started producing AC power and a shit load of it evendently. This went across the electronic ignition and burned out the little "thingy" inside the distributor that replaced the points. WTF? I never even knew an alternator could do such a thing,,,I'm old rememebr,,,a generator man. New one wire alternator, a little re-wiring, replaced the "thingy" and BAM!!!!! back in motion again. Wierd huh?
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