ShortysTRM
02-22-2005, 09:13 AM
I cut and pasted this whole thing from SWVRSCCA.org forums so I'm sorry if some of it doesn't apply to you guys.
Well, let me begin the night before, at a time I when wasn't aware of the event being cancelled. It was about 40 degress outside and I had just spent 3 hours under my car trying to change my oil and checking my trans filter to see if it was loose and causing my trans to slip. The Mobil 1 fluid that was in it was swapped in the day before the October 2004 event and had a total of maybe 1000-1500 miles on it and the same applies to the filter. Well, since I couldn't afford to do that again, I replaced it with some regular trans fluid and installed the new filter that came with the gasket (couldn't get the filter and gasket seperately at Autozone). My oil filter is a PITA to get to and for some reason my trans and motor have sagged enough to where I need to remove a suspension cross brace to get to the bolts on the rear of the transmission pan. Apparently, sometime while I was slicing my arms to bits trying to reach my oil filter and have the ability to torque it on or off, I must have come in contact with my oil pressure switch because my engine was running fine but it was saying I had no oil pressure. I got back under the car to feel around and I felt something wiggle. I wiggled it a little more and it completely disconnected. It was my oil pressure switch and it had broken off. I tried to get it to go back on, but to no avail. When I started the car again, my pressure gauge needle stayed at the highest reading. I drove the car around for a few to see if there was anything going on or if the temp would get any higher than usual. It ran fine. I brought it back and parked it decided I would wait til morning to put my front bumper back on.
This all happened just a few days after I went to have a nice allignment, complete with camber bolts. When I went to have the allingment, I found out that because of my dilapidated strut mount/bearing/bushing that my car won't hold any camber adjustments, so he didn't have any reason allign it.
Back to my story...The next morning, I woke up while it was still dark to start getting ready. I checked the forums and found that Jon had sent me a PM with a link to the list of peoples' Class and Number for use during registration. The link didn't work. I later found out from him that when the forum software made the URL into a link, it automatically included the period at the end of the sentence. I took a shower then ran outside to put my bumper back on. I got the top two bolts and then we drove to Patrick's so he could help me with the other bolts. When we got done installing them, I started my car and went on doing something else while it warmed up. When I got in to leave, the check oil light was on. I looked under the car and there was a puddle of $5.99/quart Mobil 1 Extended Performance under my engine. This oil is designed to last 15,000 miles or 1 year...I got about 3 miles out of it. Terrified, I drove it back to my house oh so delicately, which was probably the longest mile I have ever driven. As I pulled into the driveway, I realized that the other 3 quarts of my super-oil were sitting there waiting for me right where I left them. Why none of this happened while the car was running the night before I have not the slightest idea. By the time all of this drama was over, it was about 8:20 and I HAD to be there by 9 to do registration. I took everything from the Grand Am and put it in the Suby and vice versa and I was on my way.
April had left ahead of time so she could drop our dog off at her parents' house and Patrick (PJ) had stopped at Tudor's off the Belle exit, so I was driving alone when I arrived at Riverside, where, to my dismay, there was half a lot full of minivans and pickup trucks (and one lonely idling yellow SRT-4..?). I saw some familiar vehicles in the library turn and quickly retreated to this refuge. Our beloved autocross had been cancelled for a High School Volleyball tournament.
On that note, we remembered that there's only one place you can drive at break-neck speeds around hairpin turns while cheating death around every corner...West Virginia mountain roads. In this case, it was the road to (and from) Hawk's Nest state park. I have driven that road numerous times and knew how beautiful it was and how much fun it was to drive. We dropped the Suby off at McDonald's across the bridge from Riverside and we were on our way. We stopped at a few different spots for pictures and video, which I will post up later when I get time to upload them. One place was the waterfall where April and I were originally going to have our wedding. We had been there a few times in the past but PJ hadn't. After walking around on rocks for 20 minutes with no problems whatsoever, I managed to step on the abolute slickest form of algae I have ever seen. I landed flat on my ass, which translated to a green/brown streak dead center on the back of my khakis, a wet leg and foot, and the asscrack of my underlying pajama pants (it was supposed to be cold all day) was soaked along with my boxers. I took off my sock and started taking off my khakis when two cars pulled in the parking lot beside me. If you've ever removed clothes in layers you know that when you pull on one layer, they all come with it. I'm sorry you had to see that PJ.
Back on the road from Cathedral Falls, this is where the roads turned interesting. I figured out that it's not movies, TV, or video games that make people drive crazy, it's cancelling autocross events. In all seriousness, the driving wan't really all that crazy, but it was spirited. Once again, I'll post pics and vids ASAP. When we got back near Riverside, I called Rick and he said that they had just gotten inside at the Go-Kart track. I got back in the Suby and we were off for Southridge. Once we found the place and got parked, we were blown away by the $6.50 pricetag on one race, but we had a little bit of money that was intended to feed our need for speed so we went for it. Though I still cannot justify such a ridiculous price tag per race, I can say that I had a whole lot more fun than I had expected. Once again, vids ASAP.
After all of this was over, the rest of the day was pretty normal. The weird thing is that I can remember April waking up really early this morning and telling me she had a bad dream. I apparently fell asleep within seconds of hearing this, because the next thing I remember I was having a dream in which I was watching through a classroom doorway and my friend Scott Calhoun walked by I remember yelling for him but he just kept walking. I don't know why I didn't go after him or anything, but I remember replaying that part of the dream through my head a couple of times for some reason. Anyways, I mentioned this dream to her and asked if she had really said that she had a bad dream or I was actually dreaming at the time. She had told me that because she had dreamt that she was driving an SUV and had Buster, our dog, with her. Someone ran her off the road and she went off the mountain and the last thing she remembers is grabbing Buster. This isn't weird at first, but the scariest part is that my long-time friend Scott Calhoun is dead...he passed away a few years ago when the SUV he was driving went off the road and down a mountainside. His dog, Juno, survived the accident, but Scott did not. Of all the people I have known who have passed away, some of whom were closer to me than Scott ever was, I don't think I have ever had them in any of my dreams, at least not with such a perfect likeness. Strange.
*edit: I forgot to include that if anyone was curious as to why I showed up to the go-kart track in designer sweatpants only wearing one sock, the waterfall incident is the reason. Also, I guess that this cancellation more or less just gave me 2 weeks to get my car back into tip-top (or rock bottom?) shape. It also provided me with a free shirt.
P.S. Thanks for the shirt.
Well, let me begin the night before, at a time I when wasn't aware of the event being cancelled. It was about 40 degress outside and I had just spent 3 hours under my car trying to change my oil and checking my trans filter to see if it was loose and causing my trans to slip. The Mobil 1 fluid that was in it was swapped in the day before the October 2004 event and had a total of maybe 1000-1500 miles on it and the same applies to the filter. Well, since I couldn't afford to do that again, I replaced it with some regular trans fluid and installed the new filter that came with the gasket (couldn't get the filter and gasket seperately at Autozone). My oil filter is a PITA to get to and for some reason my trans and motor have sagged enough to where I need to remove a suspension cross brace to get to the bolts on the rear of the transmission pan. Apparently, sometime while I was slicing my arms to bits trying to reach my oil filter and have the ability to torque it on or off, I must have come in contact with my oil pressure switch because my engine was running fine but it was saying I had no oil pressure. I got back under the car to feel around and I felt something wiggle. I wiggled it a little more and it completely disconnected. It was my oil pressure switch and it had broken off. I tried to get it to go back on, but to no avail. When I started the car again, my pressure gauge needle stayed at the highest reading. I drove the car around for a few to see if there was anything going on or if the temp would get any higher than usual. It ran fine. I brought it back and parked it decided I would wait til morning to put my front bumper back on.
This all happened just a few days after I went to have a nice allignment, complete with camber bolts. When I went to have the allingment, I found out that because of my dilapidated strut mount/bearing/bushing that my car won't hold any camber adjustments, so he didn't have any reason allign it.
Back to my story...The next morning, I woke up while it was still dark to start getting ready. I checked the forums and found that Jon had sent me a PM with a link to the list of peoples' Class and Number for use during registration. The link didn't work. I later found out from him that when the forum software made the URL into a link, it automatically included the period at the end of the sentence. I took a shower then ran outside to put my bumper back on. I got the top two bolts and then we drove to Patrick's so he could help me with the other bolts. When we got done installing them, I started my car and went on doing something else while it warmed up. When I got in to leave, the check oil light was on. I looked under the car and there was a puddle of $5.99/quart Mobil 1 Extended Performance under my engine. This oil is designed to last 15,000 miles or 1 year...I got about 3 miles out of it. Terrified, I drove it back to my house oh so delicately, which was probably the longest mile I have ever driven. As I pulled into the driveway, I realized that the other 3 quarts of my super-oil were sitting there waiting for me right where I left them. Why none of this happened while the car was running the night before I have not the slightest idea. By the time all of this drama was over, it was about 8:20 and I HAD to be there by 9 to do registration. I took everything from the Grand Am and put it in the Suby and vice versa and I was on my way.
April had left ahead of time so she could drop our dog off at her parents' house and Patrick (PJ) had stopped at Tudor's off the Belle exit, so I was driving alone when I arrived at Riverside, where, to my dismay, there was half a lot full of minivans and pickup trucks (and one lonely idling yellow SRT-4..?). I saw some familiar vehicles in the library turn and quickly retreated to this refuge. Our beloved autocross had been cancelled for a High School Volleyball tournament.
On that note, we remembered that there's only one place you can drive at break-neck speeds around hairpin turns while cheating death around every corner...West Virginia mountain roads. In this case, it was the road to (and from) Hawk's Nest state park. I have driven that road numerous times and knew how beautiful it was and how much fun it was to drive. We dropped the Suby off at McDonald's across the bridge from Riverside and we were on our way. We stopped at a few different spots for pictures and video, which I will post up later when I get time to upload them. One place was the waterfall where April and I were originally going to have our wedding. We had been there a few times in the past but PJ hadn't. After walking around on rocks for 20 minutes with no problems whatsoever, I managed to step on the abolute slickest form of algae I have ever seen. I landed flat on my ass, which translated to a green/brown streak dead center on the back of my khakis, a wet leg and foot, and the asscrack of my underlying pajama pants (it was supposed to be cold all day) was soaked along with my boxers. I took off my sock and started taking off my khakis when two cars pulled in the parking lot beside me. If you've ever removed clothes in layers you know that when you pull on one layer, they all come with it. I'm sorry you had to see that PJ.
Back on the road from Cathedral Falls, this is where the roads turned interesting. I figured out that it's not movies, TV, or video games that make people drive crazy, it's cancelling autocross events. In all seriousness, the driving wan't really all that crazy, but it was spirited. Once again, I'll post pics and vids ASAP. When we got back near Riverside, I called Rick and he said that they had just gotten inside at the Go-Kart track. I got back in the Suby and we were off for Southridge. Once we found the place and got parked, we were blown away by the $6.50 pricetag on one race, but we had a little bit of money that was intended to feed our need for speed so we went for it. Though I still cannot justify such a ridiculous price tag per race, I can say that I had a whole lot more fun than I had expected. Once again, vids ASAP.
After all of this was over, the rest of the day was pretty normal. The weird thing is that I can remember April waking up really early this morning and telling me she had a bad dream. I apparently fell asleep within seconds of hearing this, because the next thing I remember I was having a dream in which I was watching through a classroom doorway and my friend Scott Calhoun walked by I remember yelling for him but he just kept walking. I don't know why I didn't go after him or anything, but I remember replaying that part of the dream through my head a couple of times for some reason. Anyways, I mentioned this dream to her and asked if she had really said that she had a bad dream or I was actually dreaming at the time. She had told me that because she had dreamt that she was driving an SUV and had Buster, our dog, with her. Someone ran her off the road and she went off the mountain and the last thing she remembers is grabbing Buster. This isn't weird at first, but the scariest part is that my long-time friend Scott Calhoun is dead...he passed away a few years ago when the SUV he was driving went off the road and down a mountainside. His dog, Juno, survived the accident, but Scott did not. Of all the people I have known who have passed away, some of whom were closer to me than Scott ever was, I don't think I have ever had them in any of my dreams, at least not with such a perfect likeness. Strange.
*edit: I forgot to include that if anyone was curious as to why I showed up to the go-kart track in designer sweatpants only wearing one sock, the waterfall incident is the reason. Also, I guess that this cancellation more or less just gave me 2 weeks to get my car back into tip-top (or rock bottom?) shape. It also provided me with a free shirt.
P.S. Thanks for the shirt.