MCG GATHERING (Joplin, MO)

you got that right.....when I lined up against Ron, I told myself to be patient, cut a decent light and spank his booty well, .008 RED was not being patient

 

Thanks goes out to all those involved for their work with the Gathering in Joplin. I was there from Friday on, and the hotel, the events that were planned (museum, Route 66), and the show day, were great. It was really good to see old faces as well as meet new people. The cars were an added bonus to the weekend.

 

Boy, where do I start? I have been on this board for a couple years since getting my Maverick, but I am still a "newbie" here. Initially I was a little hesitant about traveling nearly 600 miles to the Gathering, where I knew no one at all. This was also the first time that my son had wanted to go along to one of these events. (I have been to many other national Ford meets over the years with other cars.) I really wanted him to enjoy it and have fun. The day before we left, Mark emailed me to see if we could meet up in Liberty on the way down. He and Helen led us to the hotel and introduced us to Matt and his family. Within a short time I was welcomed by so many others. It was so cool how everyone genuinely enjoyed each other's company. Luke had great time with the other kids and is already talking about next year! A sincere thanks to Matt, Robert, and all who helped put on the Gathering. To Mark, Jon, Ron, Chris, Ward, Don, Jim, Jeff, Lance, Frank, Tom, Allen and your families (and anyone else I failed to mention); thanks for making Luke and me feel at home and creating a fantastic weekend. You guys are the best.

 

LOL...yours truly got a bye this Saturday night for having best r/t in the 1st round!!! I got lucky and won my 2nd round too...was kinda easy since there was nobody over there...then I won the 3rd round and didn't move more than about 6 inches!!! The idiot I was racing broke out and I was still on the starting line!!! I gotta pull the chunk out tonite and see what broke. It acts like the pinion shaft...wheels are still locked and the drive shaft turns freely. Oh well, the 4:30 goes back in for this coming weekend. Maybe that'll help get me in the 6's like I wanted.
Tell me what you think here John: Two passes before I broke, I added 3 gallons of 112 (I know, not something you should do before your 1st race but I dialed in a 7.01 and was trying to break out)...I had been hooking great for the 10-12 passes I have made so far. The 1st pass after putting in the fuel I smoked the tires on the line and had to get out of it and back in. I was lucky the other guy broke out in the 1st round. My bye run was an okay run but I still spun a little but I didn't launch as hard either. I decided to check the air in my tires and they had gone from 19 lbs from last week to 26 lbs in each rear tire. I know now to check them often. Anyway, I put it back to 19 lbs and the next run I broke the rear. I don't think it was gonna spin and I was wondering if the fuel was making enough difference to make something break. Guess I'll find out this weekend with the 4:30's back in. I've been running 3:89's for the last few weeks. Damn!!! This is fun!

 

when it read 26 pounds.....was it shortly after a pass?
You will build a decent amount of air pressure after doing your burnouts and making a pass. In my ET drags it takes 45 minutes to an hour (with no sun on them) to go back down.
Not very familiar with the ET streets. But sounds to me like you have always had a "little" wheel spin (which is not necessarily a completely bad thing) and when you dropped your air.....dumped the clutch, it hooked like a mule and you found a weak link; where as before, you was getting just enough tire spin to dis-a-pate some of the energy from the launch. All your really fast cars spin at the launch.
Just my initial thoughts.

 

A big Thank you To everyone!!!!! It was a good time!!!

 

Not much more I can add other than my calendar is already marked for next year!

 

Yes, it was probably between 20-30 minutes. I'll start keeping a close eye on the pressures at different times to get a handle on it. Thanks

 

Man, we're not even home yet and we're ready to go back. Thursday morning was a great time at the Darryl Starbird Museum in Oklahoma. Then to the track, good food and a great time there. Friday to the Joplin museum and then to route 66 in Galena, Kansas where everyone got their cars picture taken and the kids got to jump in the tow truck that was the inspiration for the Tow Mater truck in cars. Then back for some swimming at the motel, a Friday night Dinner and a short meeting. Saturday was the car show and a tremendous BBQ the Robert Rainey and his Mom cooked up for us. No one went hungry. Then again back to the motel and many went to a local cruise where the other car owners were wowwed by the Mavericks. Then back for a last night of BSing. We went to 3 different states and everyone had a great time. The motel was very reasonable and had a great breakfast every day. All you could eat--waffles, eggs, sausage, bagels, cereal, toast, biscuits and gravy, OJ, apple juice and lots more. My wife says I have one year to get a street Maverick ready. She wants to cruise. Thanks Robert, Matt, Rhonda, and Marion for putting on a great time. See you next year.

 

Rick I have it vidio taped as soon as we get it captured on digital (MATT!!!!) we'll get it online..........for the record John's truck is a wuss......no burnoutmy truck......1st and 2ndon a side note I did have to clean rubber off my front bumper and valance

 

Don't worry about it, I got ya covered.

 

Glad to see everyone had a great time and making it back safely. Looking forward to when it is closer to Georgia.

 

Cool. Thx!

 

I had a great time last weekend - it seemed like I was leaving about the time I got there. It went too fast! I'll see everyone next year!

 

Hey Everyone, I had a great time at the car show. I'm looking forward to next year. Here's some pictures taken on Saturday.

http://s291.photobucket.com/albums/ll304/LaRueMav/MCG Gathering - Joplin 2008/


Luke