Jan 28, 2003
Hey, our 4th news letter is out and coming at you! Our group has been hanging in for four and a half years now. I've enjoyed every minute- ahhhhhh, almost every minute. there were a few times that were a little touch and go - such as: Ron Turchs new ride breaks down in Canada, Mark Burnam racks a rear end at Leichester, my blowing head gaskets at Norwalk, Nick LaBarbera engines suddenly ticks like a bowl full of jelly beans at Lancaster, Steve Bayes has his ride stolen, I blow a inlet tube and dent the underside of my hood, Paul Priors car doesn't quite break the 11 second sound barrier at Leichester, Doug Philips car hopes and jumps all the way down the track at Leichester, John MacPhersons boost is up and down like a yo yo, Mike Hamilton just about leaves his transmission on the track at Lancaster, Paul Cummings has had his engine in out so much - I get dizzy listening to him tell me about it, Dave Brzezinski got so fed up - he sold his, Joe Doino's got so many salvage parts lying around his yard - his neighbors are about to file a complaint, Derek Ostrom has so many cars, none of the above matters, George Pittas sold his money pit so he could at least salvage his restaurant, Joe Rizzo has many alcohol ports piped into his ride - its just a matter of time before that thing blows up!! You got to be kidding! There are only a few that have survived the Turbo Rath - Ed Chapman, Bus and Karen Covert, Daren Banas, Daryl Ludwig ( but he never starts his), John Oneil, Kevin Turch-- NO- not Kevin-- He's blown the tires off his fathers a few times and smoked out the crowd. Tim Slattery , Dave Schreiber , Jerry Thompson , Chris Fuqua and Grant Farmer are all survivors!! Wait- Grants time will come- his car is going to be so fast - its going to burn up re-entering the atmosphere. Its been a good ride! Lots a good times.
The meeting on Jan. 18th went well- we had 20 for dinner. Raffled off a model car- donated by this writer ( Steve Bayes won it ) and a club hat won by Chris Fuqua. Chris also helped me with raffle!!?? Hey?? Thanks anyway Chris!
We have quit a few members traveling to Norwalk this May- that will be a lot of fun. Anyone else interested- drop me note. Also - we'll have some 8-10 going to the Nationals in Kentucky. Unfortunately, we could not get enough cars ( needed 4) entered into the Calvacade of cars show in Hamburg on March 14th-16th-- bummer! Maybe next year.
Our next meeting is March 8th at 6 pm- again at the Athens Restaurant in Cheektowaga. Ron Turch is donating Magnatized 1/4 panel guards ( burn out protection) to be raffled off. Dues are payable ($10) for those who have not paid for 2003. I will bring the club hats that are for sale at $14.each. Those $$ go to fund our Family Picnic each year. We'll have some talk on ways to generate new members and we'll be discussing our schedule for cruises, race days and the family outing.
I NOW introduce you to a column written by - none other than the Mark Burnam AKA the Red Racer!
I haven't written any articles on the Buick's since being involved with the club. The articles in the past dealt with projects or concerns that we have had with our cars. I wanted to touch on a few things that I see that are common since I usually see them when there are broken, or when they say the car is making a funny ticking noise. These cars are the most powerful headaches in the world, as your car gets older you will find out. Most frequently asked question whats that noise, or what do you think that sounds like. The more you race the faster you go and the faster the car wears out, it is a fact!! If you race it it will break!!! That's why when I rebuild them I try to use the best parts not the cheapest parts. There are people who still don't understand that, they are going to be sorry in the end. We are starting to push the cars to the limit, at 11:50 or faster you are really pushing the car, that is said to be were the parts start breaking. You can run your car at any track if you stay at 11:99 or slower, if you don't then you need a bar now it's race car sorry that's when they call it a race car. You lose your back seat and cut your interior up. I don't care in your mind what you are thinking it is. If you think I am wrong tell your friend to get in the back and drive to norwalk and see if he drives home with you. Now that it's a race car you drive it less, and it either gets used for show or it gets driven only to cruises. My point is when we first got these cars we had so much fun with them we wanted to take it every where we went. Now it's not driven in the rain it's not driven to the store it's not driven any where. We then buy a trailer and its more money then we have to buy a truck that will pull the trailer more money. When does it end. If anyone hasn't gone this route and owns a turbo car then their not racing or driving the car anyways. The car demands a lot of money and time and effort, we are all NUTS that's for sure that's a given. Our club is like a hospital for addicted nuts for speed you bought that car because it was the fastest thing out there. Now we have to pay for it, our families know what we mean. We plan our vacations around shows and the nats we scrape up extra money to buy parts and still we know that not nice enough or fast enough. We need each other some of us are so far gone we have more than one car, thank you very much. Some even torture their selves and work on them for a living and all those cars come in with the questions I started this article with, I think I am having hot flashes writing this. Oh no there goes a head gasket. Ok I'll tell you whats going on with my latest project, i bought stageII motor and have tubed the 1 owner GN, shame had to back half the car 9inch ford rear, roll bar, chassis is NHRA cert. The car has a lot of custom parts and fiberglass parts windows are lexon and I have still a lot to do and the car has 88 turbo fel pro and mass air with 96lb injectors i will run both till I get the car right and learn the fel pro after if I can. This car should run in the 8's but I will be running it in the spring either way I have a lot to do, every thing you do at this stage is custom I mean everything. You thought stuff was expensive for our cars wait till you go buy a stageII parts if you can find them. The motor was in turbo phils car and I didn't do the heads or have the big turbo and the intake wasn't done yet and we went down my road at 75 mph and at 6lbs of boost the car went side ways so hard I all most lost it and then looked at phils face and he just sat there and smiled and said oh my that felt pretty good and we both just started laughing and didn't say a word till we got back to the shop. All I was thinking about was what was it going to do at 20lbs and leaving off the trans brake, I told you we were nuts, CAN'T WAIT and neither can you because we all got the same stuff pumping in our blood boost fever and it very contagious. One last thing I think if you haven't made it to a national meet or Norwalk or Tenn. then you should, it's pretty dam awesome and you will be very impressed, I also want to try to get the whole club together on at least one road trip this year that should be our goal as a club. What do you guys think? Man do I ever ramble on. Thanks guys hope I made some sense, get ready it's not far away.