Topic: Buttonwillow joys and sorrows

This was a great weekend for Team Tinworm and the Super Snipe (v2.0).
Not only did the car run great all weekend, but we went home with the IOE!
We finished 76 (out of 111) and 6th in Class C despite being the second-slowest
car on the track.   The old story of the tortoise and the even slower tortoises.  smile

We did our best to keep out of your way.   I told everyone on our team to watch
the mirrors, figure out which side everyone else wanted to be on, then stay
on the other side.   There were a couple of occasions when I was not 100%
successful at that, but I tried.   I apologize if we caused any problems for you.

The most memorable moment for me was coming up Phil Hill while passing one
of Spank's police cars.   Suddenly, Crazy Mike in the Aqua Volvo came up like
a rocket and threaded the needle between us just as we crested the hill.   It was
an awesome bit of driving.   Three abreast going into the turn, single file coming
out, with the Volvo in the lead.

We had a father & son team driving: Chuck Goolsbee and his son Nick.   Chuck
has driven the Super Snipe before and has lots of Lemons experience.   Nick
had never been in a race car before.   Despite a (very) slow start on Saturday,
Nick blossomed on Sunday and demolished his dad's best lap time.   The best
part is that he ended his stint with a grin from ear to ear.   I think he is hooked.

The only mechanical problems were simple to fix.   The usual fuel blockage
by what I call "brown Saran wrap", despite many attempts to flush out the gas
tank.   A blown exhaust header gasket late on Saturday which threatened to
deafen Chuck.   And a sudden engine stoppage 15 minute before the checkered
flag on Sunday.   (I think it is a bad distributor rotor, but don't yet know for sure.)

Perhaps the best moment happened after the race.   Chuck and Nick had a
layover at the Phoenix airport on their way home, so dropped in to the Mexican
restaurant for margaritas and tacos to celebrate our IOE win.   They struck up a
conversation with a guy at the next table.   He asked about Chuck's car-themed
t-shirt and Chuck told him that they had been racing all weekend.   It went like
this:

Random Guy: "What kind of car were you driving?"
Chuck: "You have never heard of it.   It was a Humber Super Snipe."
Random Guy: "Oh, so you were racing with Alan Frisbie!"
Chuck & Nick: <Jaws drop, eyes bug out, totally speechless>

The "random guy" turned out to be an old friend and mentor who I have known
for 40 years.   He just happened to be changing planes in Phoenix on his way
home from visiting family.

The next think I know is my phone rings with a call from my old friend.   But when
I answer, "Hi Mike", I hear, "This is Chuck Goolsbee".   Needless to say, I was
very confused.  smile   It was a perfect ending to a great weekend.

I hope everyone else had as fun a time as I did.

Alan

"I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it!"
IOE winner in the Super Snipe -- Buttonwillow 2012
IOE winner in Super Snipe v2.0 -- Buttonwillow 2016
"Every Super Snipe in Lemons has won an IOE!"

Re: Buttonwillow joys and sorrows

you guys were great! Always outta the way, sedate, predictable.
It was a little sad to see the Snipe parked on Phil Hill at the end. Hope it's fixable.
And thanks for the GoJo!

Gary
Old Crows
#171 Austin Powers Shagstang

Re: Buttonwillow joys and sorrows

Actually, I believe it was Permatex Fast Orange Citrus Hand Cleaner. I made a point of remembering cause I'm a gonna buy some finally. Thank you Alan for all the hand washing I have enjoyed over the past 1.666 years.

Also thank you Alan for offering to be so generous with your parts and tools. I visited your pit twice and although I Stumped the Snipe twice (hard line flare tool, metric fasteners (it's an Olde English car after all), I enjoyed our conversations, especially the one on the pros/cons of metric vs. Imperial systems of measurement.

Congrats on the IOE!

25X Loser - Delinquent Racing - '86 Rust-Tite Merkur - 9 years (when do I get to stop?).

Re: Buttonwillow joys and sorrows

Nicely done! Let me guess, the Toyohog was slower?

As said before, your car was always predictable and never in my way. Since I was driving Spank's cars, I know that sounds kinda hilarious, but turns out I was the fastest driver in 3 of the 4 cars I had stints in, so I was actually passing you at a good clip smile

The Homer: Powerful like a gorilla, yet soft and yielding like a Nerf ball.

Re: Buttonwillow joys and sorrows

LTDScott wrote:

Let me guess, the Toyohog was slower?

That may very well be so, but in defense of the ToyoHog, its driver on Sunday was an absolutely clueless idiot.

Congratulations on the IOE, Alan, and thanks again for letting me crash at your place before my flight home.

1982 MG Metro 1300: IOE 2015 Pacific Northworst GP, Longest Distance 2010 Cd'L Box Wine Country Classic
1980 KV Mini 1: Worst of Show and Fright Pig Supremo 2009 Concours d'Lemons
1978 H Special: Second-Round Elimination 2010 Lemons Pinewood Derby at Sears Pointless
1967 SAAB 96: IOE 2012 Pacific Northworst GP, Organizer's Choice 2022 Hell on Wheels California Rally

Re: Buttonwillow joys and sorrows

Congratulations on the IOE.  The Super Snipe was quite stately as it circulated around the course.

Also, thank you for the soap (yet again).

~Van

13X losers (or is 14 now?) refusing to learn from our failures.
Organizer's Choice!  Trophy should have a bottle opener on it.

Re: Buttonwillow joys and sorrows

Having, unfortunately, witnessed the original Super Snipe's demise, I must say V2.0 is even more glorious and possibly a bit racier.

Congratulations on the IOE, and long live the Super Snipe!

RetroRacing-1973 Super! Beetle
Nine Finger Drifters- 1982 te72 Toyota Corolla Wagon (BEAMS PWRD!)
My one man show: G. D. Yo-Man: No! YOU Ams Da A&&hole!
2010 CMP Fall-Judges' Choice, 2014 Barber-DFL and I Got Screwed!, 3X- You Talk Shit Better Than You Race (YTSBTYR) Award, 2017 NCM- IOE (thanks, Speedy!), 2018 Inde-Heroic Fix, 2019 Inde-Winner C Class

Re: Buttonwillow joys and sorrows

Thanks for all the congratulations, but enough about me.   What about the rest of you guys?
Did you have a good time?   Did your car blow up?   Did your drivers blow up?

"I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it!"
IOE winner in the Super Snipe -- Buttonwillow 2012
IOE winner in Super Snipe v2.0 -- Buttonwillow 2016
"Every Super Snipe in Lemons has won an IOE!"

Re: Buttonwillow joys and sorrows

Neon Pope ran better than expected and then broke the CV joint with 2.5 hours to go giving us our usual mechanical break down as expected...

Considering that the motor sat in a barn 2 weeks before the race we can't complain.

The elusive B victory is somewhere in our future.

'96 Dodge Neon, a.k.a. "Neon Pope" - 20 Lemons races - 1 Class B win

10 (edited by stimpyvan 2016-10-05 06:02 PM)

Re: Buttonwillow joys and sorrows

As part of Spank's epic effort, I had a blast.  I got to spend time in one car I had driven before (the Mini), & two I hadn't (the Yugo and the America).  All three were fun.  I had also never been to Buttonwillow before.  Aside from the dust, that's a fun track.

Best part of the weekend was seeing all my friends and making some new ones.

~ Van

13X losers (or is 14 now?) refusing to learn from our failures.
Organizer's Choice!  Trophy should have a bottle opener on it.

Re: Buttonwillow joys and sorrows

Thanks for the drive - the Excel was everything I expected it to be. I did set fast lap in it basically on my out lap before it started actively spraying rusty water on the windscreen. Sorry/not sorry about the ToyoHog - it was a great theme, but a horror to actually drive...

Spank, well done managing the circus, and delegating some of the work to your competent team!

Cheers
-Anton

Volvo PV544 (RIP) - now with Chevy 3.9 power!
2007/2012/2013 Driver's Championship (what was I thinking!?) 142 races and counting.
2/25/24

Re: Buttonwillow joys and sorrows

X-args wrote:

Thanks for the drive - the Excel was everything I expected it to be. I did set fast lap in it basically on my out lap before it started actively spraying rusty water on the windscreen. Sorry/not sorry about the ToyoHog - it was a great theme, but a horror to actually drive...

Spank, well done managing the circus, and delegating some of the work to your competent team!

Cheers
-Anton

You should have tried the Excel when the carb had no return spring and the rear tires had 5 more pounds of pressure.  Very exciting from what I've been told. 

~ Van

13X losers (or is 14 now?) refusing to learn from our failures.
Organizer's Choice!  Trophy should have a bottle opener on it.

13 (edited by redzed 2016-10-12 01:26 PM)

Re: Buttonwillow joys and sorrows

Camerlengo wrote:

Neon Pope ran better than expected and then broke the CV joint with 2.5 hours to go giving us our usual mechanical break down as expected...

Considering that the motor sat in a barn 2 weeks before the race we can't complain.

The elusive B victory is somewhere in our future.


always enjoy seeing the Pope. Here's a minute vid with a lil' lovin' between the Pope and Austin Powers at the end.
We got some free bluewalls for our tires out of the deal!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvwS_UcZKdk

Gary
Old Crows
#171 Austin Powers Shagstang

Re: Buttonwillow joys and sorrows

redzed wrote:
Camerlengo wrote:

Neon Pope ran better than expected and then broke the CV joint with 2.5 hours to go giving us our usual mechanical break down as expected...

Considering that the motor sat in a barn 2 weeks before the race we can't complain.

The elusive B victory is somewhere in our future.


always enjoy seeing the Pope. Here's a minute vid with a lil' lovin' between the Pope and Austin Powers at the end.
We got some free bluewalls for our tires out of the deal!

https://youtu.be/FHVIbGhQcG4

Gary
Old Crows
#171 Austin Powers Shagstang

Ya big tease, that's a private video.

Capt. Delinquent Racing
RUST-TITE XR4Ti - '21 ARSE-FREEZE-APALOOZA  I Got Screwed
The One & Only Taurus V8 SHO #31(now moved on to another OG Delinquent)
'17 Vodden the Hell - (No) Hope for the Future Award, '08 AMP Survivor, '08 ARSE-FREEZE-APALOOZA Mega-Cheater

Re: Buttonwillow joys and sorrows

redzed wrote:
Camerlengo wrote:

Neon Pope ran better than expected and then broke the CV joint with 2.5 hours to go giving us our usual mechanical break down as expected...

Considering that the motor sat in a barn 2 weeks before the race we can't complain.

The elusive B victory is somewhere in our future.


always enjoy seeing the Pope. Here's a minute vid with a lil' lovin' between the Pope and Austin Powers at the end.
We got some free bluewalls for our tires out of the deal!

https://youtu.be/FHVIbGhQcG4

Gary
Old Crows
#171 Austin Powers Shagstang

Ya big tease, that's a private video.

Capt. Delinquent Racing
RUST-TITE XR4Ti - '21 ARSE-FREEZE-APALOOZA  I Got Screwed
The One & Only Taurus V8 SHO #31(now moved on to another OG Delinquent)
'17 Vodden the Hell - (No) Hope for the Future Award, '08 AMP Survivor, '08 ARSE-FREEZE-APALOOZA Mega-Cheater

Re: Buttonwillow joys and sorrows

DelinquentRacer wrote:
redzed wrote:
Camerlengo wrote:

Neon Pope ran better than expected and then broke the CV joint with 2.5 hours to go giving us our usual mechanical break down as expected...

Considering that the motor sat in a barn 2 weeks before the race we can't complain.

The elusive B victory is somewhere in our future.


always enjoy seeing the Pope. Here's a minute vid with a lil' lovin' between the Pope and Austin Powers at the end.
We got some free bluewalls for our tires out of the deal!

https://youtu.be/FHVIbGhQcG4

Gary
Old Crows
#171 Austin Powers Shagstang

Ya big tease, that's a private video.


LOL

'96 Dodge Neon, a.k.a. "Neon Pope" - 20 Lemons races - 1 Class B win

Re: Buttonwillow joys and sorrows

One thing that amused me (in a perverse sort of way) was how so many people got used to passing the Super Snipe, that they continued to do so even when a yellow flag was waving!   I wonder how many of those got called in, versus the corner workers saying, "Nah, it is more of an obstruction on the track than a race car being passed.  No harm, no foul."   smile

"I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it!"
IOE winner in the Super Snipe -- Buttonwillow 2012
IOE winner in Super Snipe v2.0 -- Buttonwillow 2016
"Every Super Snipe in Lemons has won an IOE!"

18 (edited by redzed 2016-10-12 01:26 PM)

Re: Buttonwillow joys and sorrows

Camerlengo wrote:
DelinquentRacer wrote:
redzed wrote:

always enjoy seeing the Pope. Here's a minute vid with a lil' lovin' between the Pope and Austin Powers at the end.
We got some free bluewalls for our tires out of the deal!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvwS_UcZKdk

Gary
Old Crows
#171 Austin Powers Shagstang

Ya big tease, that's a private video.


LOL

ooops.
here 'tis.
Pope @3:23
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvwS_UcZKdk

19 (edited by MUSTANG 96 2016-10-27 11:52 PM)

Re: Buttonwillow joys and sorrows

That wasn't whinny Austin Powers gathering the blue paint.  It was Gold Member.  And he almost peed his Golden Rod!   And no...He won't show it to you.

redzed wrote:
Camerlengo wrote:
DelinquentRacer wrote:

Ya big tease, that's a private video.


LOL

ooops.
here 'tis.
Pope @3:23
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvwS_UcZKdk