O.K. gang,
On Feb. 13, 2007 I got this mower after reading George's build.
I robbed most of the parts off of my Craftsman,
Then I made a trip to George's build clinic where I learned alot and met a bunch of great people.
With my newly acquired information, old and new parts I started working. I won't post the process because it would be just a copy of George's build. It took almost a full 82 days. This was done after work and on weekends. Sometimes all night and all day. I worked very very hard trying to make the Jonesboro race on May 5th 2007. Well lets just say that at 3:00am on May 5th 2007 I put the stickers on it. My new mowchine was ready to go to Jonesboro with the exception of one thing. It would not run. We pushed it onto the trailer at 6:00am and headed to Jonesboro.
At the race I met more people and they all wanted to help. This has got to be the greatest sport of all. I could not believe the support I got from strangers. These guys all piled around the trailer to help. Well they got it going and tuned it out. I made one round in the parking lot trying to figure out how it handled. Then it was time to regester and race.
After the driver meeting I got a brand new big R for the back of my helmet. The ten lap test race went very well. Talk about a blast! So back to the pits and refuel for the real "heat" race. It was finally time to run my very first true race. I ran jumped onto the mower it started and I was off and racing! The first few laps went pretty good. I got a little too aggressive and spunout once, pulled the kill switch lanyard off once and then in the ninth lap, disaster. I lost the steering and ran threw a hay bail. Well the engine pulley had slid down the shaft and got into the steering connecting rod and chewed it up and caused it to fail. Well no more racing for me that day.
But all in all it was a great day and great time building this mower. My hats off to you that build and ride these little rockets. I have received a lot of help from so many people that it is going to take some time to get the thank you cards all mailed out. I hope that I can help as many as I can now.
Oh did you want to see what my new racer looks like?
Hold on here she comes.
TADA!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh and remember when you meet a racer at the track and he has a BIG "R" on the back of his helmet and it looks new and now scratched up try and keep him informed as to what is going to happen, who is who, kinda what to expect on and off the track and talk to him or her and help them not get too nervous. When I was standing on the start line ready to run across that track you could not have driven a straight pin where the sun don't shine with a 10lb sledge hammer! Now that I have got one race sorta under my belt I can't wait to do it again. But I do plan on a lot of practice before then.
The engine pulley sliding down the shaft could have been avoided buy putting a lock collar in the shaft just below the hub. Hope this helps someone.
Scott #396