Yesterday I was at a Convenience store standing in line to buy my typical mid afternoon staples (White Monster, and a whachamacallit) when I noticed a guy pull in towing a Box top fairmont drag car on a trailer. Since I didn’t have anything else to do while in line but watch, I realize I know the guy. When I get my stuff paid for I walk over to the car, when he recognizes me, it’s all he can do to keep from rushing over and hugging me.
“I see nothing has changed for you“ I said, “ Still throwing your money down the drain on a drag car.”
” Yep,....except I finally followed your lead and decided to build a Fairmont this time”, he tells me.
“ Thats because you Chevy boys have no decent drag car bodies left to build,...All of the heavy ass Monte Carlo’s and Malibu’s have long since met their fate between the jaws of the crusher” I jab at him.
He agreed.
Ive known this guy since 1990. He was the very first drag race I ever had in this city. We’ve been friends and not-so much friends over the last 3 decades. He is a classic case of how badly life can change for you when you become addicted to this hobby.
He was married. ( Now he’s not). I remember him telling me that his wife did what he told her to do ( She also did what he didn’t tell her to do, including sleeping with other guys while he was at the track 3 nights a week). Of the three boys he always had at the track with him, at least one of them is now alienated. A product of the broken marriage. He has just about every friend we both have, but because he doesn’t listen and learn,....has managed to alienate himself from most of them.
( i.e. He had me wire one of his race cars for him back in the day..Back then, (1991) the guy that used to do it for him was direct wiring high current draw devices—- fans, fuel pumps, nitrous solenoids, etc.... directly off of a toggle or micro switch, and running the wires through what ever hole he could find between the firewall and the device without a grommet.
When I entered the picture, the wiring i did for him had 12v relays on every device that drew more current than you’d want to run though a toggle alone. If a wire went through metal, it was protected. I also ended up plumbing his fuel system for him, and introduced him to a fuel system that used a return regulator instead of the Holley blue pump he had been using)
After doing that for free, When I saw him the next time, I find that his previous guy had had his way with the work I did. The relays to the nitrous and fuel system has been unplugged, and the switches were again direct wired to the devices, The mallory return regulator I had installed, had a spark plug screwed into the return line as a plug, and he had resorted back to using it as a non return regulator. His previous guy was there at the track next to him and when I asked him why the hell he had unwired all of my stuff, his “expert” told me that I had over complicated the whole thing, that it was working fine the way they had done it before and he had taken the liberty of “simplifying“ it again.
I was so mad, I told him never to ask me to do another thing for him again. And walked away.
In his defense, he wasn’t the reason his other guy dumbed down what I had done,.....his expert didn’t understand it either.
So,..that’s how this guy burned his bridges...He has people do stuff for him, but because he doesn’t care to learn why they do it this way or that way, he’s clueless. and if he needs to go it alone.....he’s fckd.
He‘s had the same guys that both he and I have trusted over the years for chassis fabrication/ tuning/engine work/tuning, nitrous/ turbo setup, transmission, electronics,... everything.....And burned through each one of them. He had a guy I didn’t know from jack with him yesterday that was his new expert...
The car was badly needing paint. You could tell where he had done the work, and where he didn’t. The fiberglass hood didn’t fit properly, and they couldn’t get the dzus fastener to lock closed after showing me the LSx engine that was naturally under the hood.( his work) Since he’s done it so many times, the chassis itself was nicely constructed, ( him again) But as soon as he opened the door to the interior and showed me the nicely done race car interior, and well laid out electronics,...I knew he didn’t do it.
I tell him I gotta get back to work, He tells me to call him. I tell him i’ve always had his number in my phone, and we part ways.
I go back to work, then home to my wife...and he goes to the track, and back home to an empty house.