Lending a Helping Hand
The nostalgia drag racing community is very competitive but also very compassionate for other racers.
This last weekend my girlfriend and my brother and I took our race cars out to the drag strip. We tried to finish off my younger brother's racing license and finalize my license upgrade. While we were unloading the race cars, we realized that we were under staffed. While the night prior, we thrashed all night to get the cars ready to race the next day without a lot of sleep, we unloaded the cars and we were exhausted. Next it was time to add fuel to the cars and get heat in the motors before we race them.
We made a few minor adjustments before firing up our Nostalgia Fiat Fuel Altered. As the motor started to spin over, I flipped the switch to the magneto to bring the small block Chevrolet 327 to life. As the motor ignites, the engine snorts for more fuel as the engine barks to breath. We noticed right away that there was something wrong with the motor as we sprung a fuel leak. Frantically searching all the fittings we couldn't find the problem and shut the Fiat off. We couldn't figure out what was leaking so we started to pack up to leave for home.
One of the fellow racers stopped by to see how we were doing as he knew we were under staffed and hadn't seen us run yet. He asked if we were leaving and we explained to him why. He then proceeded to talk to us about what had happened and we told him about the fuel leak and that we couldn't tell where it was coming from. We fired the motor up so he could see what the motor was doing.
We shut the motor off and started it a few more times and he found the problem and fixed it. This man who doesn't know us really well, helped us out because he saw that we were in need of help and he helped us. Some racer won't do that and some will. This article goes out to all you racers that have unselfishly help another racer in need. I'm attracted to the nostalgia drag racing community because of the people. Caring, honest and genuine, that's what comes to mind when I think about the racers involved with the
ANRA racing organization.
Because of the help that my brother and I received from that fellow racer, we gained knowledge about our motor and about people in our racing community. I can't express how much we appreciate everyone we race with and against. To all you Nostalgia Drag Racer, keep helping others and the rewards will make you a better person inside and out.
The next event is the
ANRA Spring Nationals Saturday May 20th, 2006. Come on out and let's see what you got. Run what you brung!
Jason Spence
Spence Family Racing
www.SpenceFamilyRacing.com
