big heartbreaker

[bottom end]

As most of you probably saw, we had to shut Bodes car down on the starting line Sunday. That was one of the worst things I've ever had to experience.

After the car rolled back from the burnout I saw our crew chief pointing at the oil pressure guage, when I looked and saw 5 lbs of pressure my heart about stopped beating.

I do bottom end and short blocks for Bode, so any problem related to the oiling is my deal. I felt like throwing up while towing the car back to the pit, not knowing what went wrong. Did I put oil in it? Did I leave something loose?
I was going through my routine over and over again trying to figure out what went wrong. All eyes are on me at this point.

Checked the oil and (phew) it was full. Took the bottom end apart and (phew) everything was normal. Took the oil pump apart and there she was, a .50 cent roll pin that holds the pump rotor to the shaft had sheared off.

At that point my tidal wave of emotion went from fear to dissapointment.
We had a good race car this weekend and felt like we could go rounds on Sunday. I still feel sick about it, the dissapointment won't go away.

If there is any good to what happened, I'm glad it decided to break before we sent the car. No doubt it would have come back a pile of rubble if we made the pass. As Eugene put it "maybe the man upstairs was looking out for us"

 

[Gordon]

Well written - Thank you for describing the wave of emotions and thoughts, it brings a hume element to the sport that I sincerely appreciate.

And yes, perhaps someone was watching out for ol' Bob - much better to shut 'er off at the starting line then blow 'er to smithereens.

Go out and whomp on 'em next time!

 

[willy]

Thanks for the insight, Mike.

(psss..glad ya filled it with oil..hehe)

Keep at it!!

 

[4g63rwd]

I feel your pain, Mike. We went to Pinks All Out a few years ago, and halfway downtrack the car wouldn't go into 3rd gear. Turns out we broke the same
$.50 roll pin that held the 3-4 shift fork in place. I'm very glad the failure wasn't yours (or any other human factor) and I'm appreciative of your description of your emotions in that instant. Keep at it; I've met Bob once and he seems like a good guy!

 

[Jim]

Thanks for the insight: Up close and personal.

 

[e-town iceyman]

when i saw bobs car being pushed back i was like oo damn...he had a car that could have done damage sunday...loook forward to seeing you guys soon...

 

[bottom end]

thanks for the kind words, they are appreciated.
It'll take a little while but I'll get over it and look forward to good times ahead.

On a side note, yes Bode is a heck of a nice guy, I love him like a brother.
Our crew is the best it has ever been, everyone did their jobs flawlessly.
And the car is happy too, it responds to changes and comes back clean every time. That same engine has been in there for 14 runs and we didn't hurt anything this weekend (aside from the roll pin).

See I feel better already! The positive easily outweighs the negative here.

 

[Rajunz]

Thanks for the posts Mike, very insightful. I know how much work it takes to run one of these cars, so the disappointments are huge..............but the rewards are even greater.

Best of luck at the next event you guys race.
-Lance

 

[FC138fan]

Hope I'm not out of line here, but who is that crazy hot girl that backs Bode up after the burnout? Why don't more teams do that? Love to see the team run every year in Brainerd.

 

[FuelFC]

Cost $.50 vs. $mega$. Good deal.

Disheartening? Yes. You all live to fight and race another day.

But now assembled a good team who know thier jobs and get along, one hell of a deal.

Now go out and do something one round at a time. Rinse and repeat.

 

[NCC250]

Great post Mike, Keep your heads up everyone did a great job this weekend!

Go get em next time!

 

[HEMI6point1]

When I saw you guys shut it down I was mega disappointed. I was rooting for you guys.

Thanks for the insight of what happened, BTW.

PS if you don't mind me asking, instead of shutting it down why not just take the green light then shut off?

 

[MM]

PS if you don't mind me asking, instead of shutting it down why not just take the green light then shut off?

running the car with no oil circulating is like your heart pumping with no blood

 

[Dave]

Hope I'm not out of line here, but who is that crazy hot girl that backs Bode up after the burnout? Why don't more teams do that? Love to see the team run every year in Brainerd.

I'm pretty sure that girl is Mrs. Bode.

Dave

 

[HEMI6point1]

running the car with no oil circulating is like your heart pumping with no blood

No, I meant just take the green and just sit there.

 

[HEMI6point1]

I'm pretty sure that girl is Mrs. Bode.

Dave

Yep that's Alice Bode. A real sweetheart in person too.

 

[none]

No, I meant just take the green and just sit there.

Sam if you start your car and it has no oil pressure, would you shut it off? Or just let it idle until it spun a bearing? It wouldn't blow up idling, but it could still trash the crank.

Wise Choice Guys.

Alan

 

[BaldyLochs]

Good post; it brings to light the human factor. I don't care who you are or what class you're in, who your sponsor is or how much money you have - when you lose or can't make the run, whether it's 1st round of Pomona 1 or the Indy finals....it's not just, "aww damn; that's racin'; we'll get 'em next time". Everyone wants to know what happend and why. I've heard other stories of "the dreaded tow" back to the pits before. You have to remember there's usually alot more people with thier hearts and souls in it besides just the person driving.

 

[MM]

No, I meant just take the green and just sit there.

go out to your car and drain all the oil out of it, start it and let it idle for about a minute and a half.....be sure to report back results

 

[.]

That sure sucked to see Bob shut off. At least it happened before the pass and didn't cause a bunch of expensive parts destruction. Keep up the good work.