Critical Mass - Blind Man's Bluff = SPLIT THREAD

[hm66sk]

Re: Critical Mass - Blind Man's Bluff = SPLIT THREAD

Sorry to interupt this awesome story bluffman but I'm a Ford guy. Where the 427's Low Risers, Medium Risers, or High Risers. What induction, exhaust, etc. Thanks!!!

[CrossX Yamaha]

Re: Critical Mass - Blind Man's Bluff = SPLIT THREAD

Larry,
I found your story here after Shane called this evening on his way to the airport with a flight schedule to Bakersfield telling me that another Pilot in his group was reading something on-line and he read Shane's name out and said it was about BMB .. I "googled" while we where talking then signed up and told him I would forward the link so he could also sign in and read along plus I told him you where narrating some history on-line.. I haven't read the "on-line" version yet but I now most of it don't I (lol).. I did read something about someone wanting to save the BMB story or piece it together on Acrobat Reader?? Can we tell them just to wait for our future book? I guess we can also tell the air race fans reading along that Larry's actual biography will be included along with the accurate BMB story from day 1 locating the Race 88 Sea Fury and it will document (everything) until we flew it home from Reno in '87 our team's only event plus our photos. Ok, that's enough said on the subject.. It looks like you got plenty of years to go here to keep everyone reading for a few more months (lol)..

Larry I wonder how many of these reader remember Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom with Marlin & Jim's adventures?

Best regards,

Bradley Miller
Managing Director
CrossX Yamaha Racing

https://www.supercrossx.com

[bluffman]

Re: Critical Mass - Blind Man's Bluff = SPLIT THREAD

Jim and I Got to Wendover, and checked into our motel, and got some rest, and would meet with Mickey the next morning to find out what was on the agenda. Some “Gulf’ people were to show up in a couple of days, and in the meantime Mick would make a few laps to check out the salt and the “new” engines. After a few trips around the course, he came in and said that there were some damp spots that concerned him. He also decided that he wanted us to do something to the air filter on the carburator. He was thinking that them big ol’ front tires would churn up more salt spray and clog the filter we had run before. Something about this didn’t set right with Ward, and I could tell by his expression that he was going to do something drastic. Jim got into one of the support vehicles, and went blasting off to Wendover. He got back in an hour or so, and had a box full of air filters of every type the Texaco station had in stock, no two alike, and a 3 foot piece of ¼ - 20 steel all- thread. This would screw into the carb where the normal stud went to hold on a normal filter. He screwed it in and started stacking all these filters one on top of another, and this pile went almost to the end of the all -thread. Then he put the stock metal filter plate on and bolted it on. It was a sight to behold, rather like a real bad totem pole. Mickey hadn’t noticed what was going on, and come strolling over to make another test run. When he saw what Jim had done, he sort of stopped for an instant, and I thought I saw a little bit of a grin, and he continued over to the car and got strapped in and told us to fire it up. Away he went and we could hear him really getting it on. Ward was cracking up as usual, laughing like crazy. Mick came into sight, heading down the straight- away towards us, and we could tell by the engine sound, he was on the gas hard. He went by us at probably 200 MPH, and the stack now looked more like the “Leaning Tower Of Pizza!” We could hardly wait for him to pull back in, this was going to be a ball! He came in, calmly climbed out of the car, and his only comment was that he didn’t think we needed quite that many filters, and walked away. This really took the wind out of our sails, we had hoped that he would go bananas, and rant and rave like a wild man. Mick had got us again! Ward went over to the car “with his tail between his legs, like a whipped puppy”, and dismantled the “stack”, and replaced it with something more conventional. Mickey came back in a short while, and told us that he wanted to make another run before it got dark. Off he went again, and he ran4 or 5 laps, and came coasting back in without the engine running. This was not good, it was a bad omen. Ward and I went over to the car while he was climbing out, and Jim asked him what was wrong? Mick informed us that the engine had blown up, and told us to yank it out and put the other one in. That meant that Jim and I would be out on the salt late that night, doing an engine change. As the night went on Jim and I both had “an itch that we couldn’t scratch”, like you know, did it really blow up or is just Mickey doing a pay- back for the air filter prank? Truthfully, I think it was pay-back, and Mickey was probably somewhere in Wendover laughing like hell!
Larry

[bluffman]

Re: Critical Mass - Blind Man's Bluff = SPLIT THREAD

We got the engine change done pretty quick under the circumstances, but these were not dry sump engines so we did not need to deal with external oil pumps and all the related hoses and belts, which made it a lot more simple. This was great, because we were able to get back into town, get a shower and a few hours sleep, knowing full well that tomorrow was going to be a busy day. Jim and I got back on the salt shortly after, and soon Fritz showed up with a couple of other guys from the shop in Long Beach, and we were glad to see them. We could use all the help we could get at this point. Mickey arrived with three of the “Gulf” people, not the usual large contingent. The USAC crew was busy getting the timing devices set up, it seemed like everything was falling into place to get this fiasco done and over with. Mickey was not his usual self, Jim and I noticed it an made some remark about it, and I think the “Gulf” guys sensed something as well. After little while, Mick came over and said that he wanted to run a few laps to get the engine and transaxle warmed up, and get a feel of the salt conditions before we got ready to start the attempt for the records. This all went pretty smooth, and after he came in and got out of the car he indicated that all was well. Then he kind of walked off by himself for a while pacing back and forth. We figured he just wanted to be alone to plan how he was going to do the refueling stops and such. USAC was ready, and so were we, the car was fueled up, oil checked, etc. We were all just sitting around trying to look cool, but inside we were pumped, the adrenalin was flowing, nerves on edge. Then we saw Mickey walking towards the car, with his helmet on, and I thought “here we go, the show is starting”! Fritz, Ward, the “Gulf” guys and I were following Mick , maybe fifteen or twenty feet behind. When Mick got to the car, he stopped, turned towards us and knelt down, like he was praying or something. As we got near he said that this was a suicide run, and told Fritz that if he didn’t make it he wanted him to take care of his wife, and said something to Ward that I couldn’t hear, and then said something to me that I didn’t catch. I could see that the ‘Gulf” guys were a bit confused, and concerned. The prospect of Mickey possibly losing his life doing this under the “Gulf” banner would not make for a good news release! They got Mickey off by themselves, and were having a rather intense discussion. They were far enough from us that we couldn’t hear much of the conversation, but we did hear Mickey say something to the effect that he would do what he had contracted to do. This all went along for a few minutes, and the main man from “Gulf” told Mickey that they would pay him per the contract, but they didn’t want him to continue. Mick “reluctantly” agreed that he would abandon the attempt if that is what they wanted. So ended the record attempt, after many months of work, and many days of toiling on the salt in the 120 degree plus heat. Jim and I were sad that we had failed on our mission, but deep inside we were glad to say goodbye to “Bonneville.” We loaded everything up, and headed for Long Beach, but we thought since there was no rush, we would make a short stop to see our “new friends” from the previous trip. We spotted the trees that we had hidden under, and pulled off the paved road and onto the little dirt road as we had done before. Some of the “shacks” were still standing, but there was no sign of life. Our friends had abandoned the camp, and moved on to who knows where? We proceeded on to Long Beach and unloaded everything, and Mickey settled up with us on our paychecks, and Ward and I figured that was the end of that. Jim went his way and I went mine, each wondering what we would find to do next. It was only a week or so that we found out. Mickey wanted us to meet him at the shop. Ward had called me about the call from Mick, and I told him I had also got a call. We both decided that we would ignore the call. Mickey was a cool guy, and fun to work with, despite all the drama, and “Mick” deals. Mick was Mick, but you couldn’t help but love the guy. I called Jim back, and said that it wouldn’t hurt to go and see what he had in mind, and maybe we could out shuffle him for the lunch check.

[bluffman]

Re: Critical Mass - Blind Man's Bluff = SPLIT THREAD

Back on post 195 I mentioned that Smokey Yunick was going to do the 24 hour record attempt with Chevy Cameros, and that Mickey had talked to Smokey about it, and I made a remark about Mick possibly dreaming something up with Ford. Well, when Ward and I met with him, much to our surprise, that is what Mickey wanted to talk to us about. He had asked Smokey if it would be alright if a couple of his boys could be there at Bonneville to observe. Smokey told him that he had no problem with that. Jim gave Mick a flat NO, he had seen enough of the salt flats to last a lifetime! I was pondering this, and the more I thought about it I figured that this could be a lot of fun. I was well aware of Smokey’s NASCAR exploits, and his “Best Damned Garage in Town.” in Daytona Beach, Florida. What a great opportunity to meet Smokey and learn why he was so successful. He had drove NASCAR nuts building cars that were in the “Gray areas” of the rule book. He had a way of interpreting the rules that only he understood. I told Mickey that I would go, and Ward said that I if was going he would also. Mick had sucked us in again, and I could only wonder what it was that he had in mind for us to do. Was it to spy on Smokey, and get information for some kind of project he was working on? Could it be that he in fact had proposed something to Ford? Did this have something to with his aborting the “Gulf” FWD attempt? Mickey was going to pay us good to go up there and basically do nothing but observe. Knowing Mick, there was more to this than he was telling us. Smokey had Curtis Turner, and Bunky Blackburn, both notable NASCAR drivers signed up to do the driving. When we got up to Wendover we went straight to the same old Texaco station, and met Smokey and told him that were the guys from Mickey’s place, and he was very cordial, and told us to feel free to look around, and if we had any questions, ask him or any of his crew. Jim nor I had expected to have this much access to the Cameros, figuring that Smokey would be secretive as to what they were doing. We had no doubt that this was going to be an interesting and fun “mission”. Larry

[CrossX Yamaha]

Re: Critical Mass - Blind Man's Bluff = SPLIT THREAD

Marlin,
It is Jim, I'm getting caught up on the adventures we shared in the Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom (lol).. I hope some of these guys are also fans of the adventures of Marlin & Jim because we have some interesting adventures...

Hey Ron! "Burt", I'm sorry I missed you @ the US Nationals a few months ago it was a quick trip in and "sponsor" meetings out, I hope everything is good with you & your health and I will see you in a few weeks @ PRI in Orlando... Roger I can't remember the last time I saw you and your family I hope all is well.. I liked your input on Tommy's tubing.. The gear swinging brought back some funny memories with Ian jumping out (lol).. Tommy used to sing some country song "send me down to Tucson and I'll get the job done" (lol).. I spoke to Ian a couple months back and was told by "Slugger" (Bevin Westin) he has been dealing with some cancer matters.. I spoke to Shane the other evening on his way to the airport headed for Bakersfield we discussed this thread.. I know all the people reading Larry's cool story & thread won't follow this part well..

My name is Bradley Miller I was the (19) yr. old Larry mentioned.. Larry has mentored me since I'm (43) at the moment and have worked as a Professional in many forms of Motorsports since our entry in '87 ... At present I own and operate one of the Supercross / Motocross "factory" Yamaha Racing teams "CrossX Yamaha Racing" www.supercrossx.com ... This isn't about me but Larry and the rest of the BMB family mentioned throughout.. I was one of the lucky ones the Lord placed in Larry & Sandy's lives and everyone that worked on BMB life's where never the same after the experience. Shane Rosanova was the other younger member than myself and he is as close to me as a brother and today a Airline Pilot as Larry mentioned.. Shane also is a degreed journalist and I will share with you all that (we) he, I and of course Larry are going to write this "drama" plus Larry's biography "Lord willing" this coming year and release the epic tale.. There is a cast of characters, thick plot lines plus some of the most exciting true life drama and all this happened before reality TV (lol) and you guys are getting the inside track on this thread.. Of course we have hundreds maybe thousands of photos from the project and we will have some cool updated illustrations.. We have also asked Skip to bring out his BMB racing notes plus Eric Lorentzen our project owner will also be writing his thoughts from the experience..

Ok, I have to tell you all this fact... Our dyno didn't have a fuel tank! We used the Ashland (Valvoline) Methanol would be delivered each day in a Tandem Tanker and its 7k gallons of fuel to run each day to operate. The connection hose would "dry break" directly to the test cell and we would begin.. The truck would leave mid afternoon empty.. At .10 per gallon it was allot of fun!!!

I won't get into the details but save them for the printed version.. Here's the best part "it all true"!!

Best regards,

Bradley Miller

[wolfee]

Re: Critical Mass - Blind Man's Bluff = SPLIT THREAD

You guys are AWESOME! All of this needs to be in a book for everyone to see and be inspred by, and you guys are stepping up to the plate to do so! Thank you so much!

I will be the first in line to put my money down for this book!

Wolfee

[bluffman]

Re: Critical Mass - Blind Man's Bluff = SPLIT THREAD

Of course Smokey’s Cameros would have to be inspected by USAC since they were going to certify any records that might be set. To qualify for the records he was going after the cars had to be pretty close to what was going to be available to potential Chevy customers. The first car he presented to them for inspection was a “ringer”, it was highly modified, front suspension A- arms made from aerodynamic tubing, and other very obvious components that really got the USAC inspectors stirred up. They declared it inappropriate, and disqualified it. This was the “show them something really illegal”, and then they would focus on that when inspecting the other cars, and they wouldn’t notice other less conspicuous mods. This was a ruse that most people I knew in racing used to some extent. It was kind of a “hide in plain sight” thing. The other cars were determined to be within the rules and allowed to be used. Smokey would take cars out to the salt and make a few passes, probably selecting gear ratios, changing springs, shocks, etc. based on input from the drivers. He would bring them back to the Texaco station and he and his crew would do what needed to be done. After a couple of days Mickey showed up to have a look at how things were going. He looked the cars over, and when Smokey was tuning an engine, he would look over Smokey’s shoulder to see what he was doing. Smokey didn’t seem to mind, he just let Mick be Mick. Mickey noticed that about an inch from the exhaust flange on the exhaust headers there was a small hole drilled in each pipe, and asked Smokey what they were for, and Smokey ignored the question. Mickey was going back to Long Beach the next day, and he got me off to the side and asked me if I knew what those holes were for. I told him that I had not even noticed them. He told me to find out about these holes and call him after he got home. Mick was real sure that this was one of Smokey’s “secrets”. A couple of days later one of the guys at Mickey’s shop called me and asked what the hell was going on up there, Mickey had them drilling holes in the headers on the “mule” motor on the dyno. They would drill holes and run the motor, and then weld them up, and drill them in another place, and on and on. No matter where they drilled the hole it made no change in the motor on the dyno. About an hour after I had received this call I heard Smokey fire up one of the engines, and he was leaning over, looking at each exhaust pipe, and reving the engine up, showing no mercy. I figured that if he kept this up that baby was going to blow. Shortly he shut it off, and started tinkering with the carburator. I cruised over, and looked at the engine, and spotted the holes in the pipes, and said, “Smokey, what are those holes in the headers for?” He got a big grin on his face, turned to me and said, “Mickey asked me about that, and I didn’t give him an answer.” He chuckled a little, and said, “It’s driving Mick nuts, isn’t it?” I told him yeah, he’s got the guys at the shop drilling holes all over the headers on the dyno engine, trying to find out what your secret is. He looked me in the eye, and had a real serious look on his face, and said, “Larry, I’m going to tell you but don’t ever tell Mickey.” He explained that when he reved the engine up, he would look in those holes to see if the exhaust flame was the same color in each cylinder to verify that he had the jetting in he carb right. Simple as that! I never, ever told Mickey! Larry

[wyhdah]

Re: Critical Mass - Blind Man's Bluff = SPLIT THREAD

AH HA! That tickles me that Smokey was a real crafty dude.

[bluffman]

Re: Critical Mass - Blind Man's Bluff = SPLIT THREAD

Smokey was rockin’ on ready and sittin’ on go. About all he had to do was weld up those holes in the headers, so as not to asphyxiate his drivers. He got his crew and the car out to the salt, and USAC as getting their timing apparatus set up. They were mostly “old timers”, and were probably hoping the car didn’t live for 24 hours. One of them was Joe Petrelli, (sp) who was said to have been Howard Hughes flight engineer when Hughes flew the “Spruce Goose” flying boat. Howard was cleared to only do a taxi test, but had Joe give him “take- off power, and the rest is history, she lifted off and flew, but only a short distance, Hughes had made his point though, the airplane would fly! Smokey’s plan as I recall was to start shortly before dark and do the first running in the cool of the night so that if there was any problems they could tend to them without having to deal with the intense heat of the day. If all went well during the first 12 hours, everything should be during the day. This also gave the pit men, refuelers, and tire changers some experience while it was cool, and have their proceedures down pat before it got hot. USAC gave the go signal, and away they went. Curtis Turner drove the first leg, and during the first pit stop for fuel and tires Smokey noticed that there was more tire wear than expected. The salt could be very abrasive at times, but this was not a big concern, as the runs around the 10 mile oval would “wear in” after a while, and the tire wear would not be so bad. I don’t recall how often they changed drivers, but it wasn’t at each pit stop. Their lap times were good, and they were going plenty fast to set new records. The pit crewmen were all experienced NASCAR people, and they performed flawlessly. After a while Curtis pulled in for a pit stop, and Bunky Blackburn took over the driving chores. He got up to speed right away, and everything went smoothly through the night. It sure got to be boring after a while, we could hear the engines droning away somewhere in the distance, and then they would go blasting by, lap after lap. The sun came up, and the heat with it, but through the day there were no problems. Smokey had it all figured out. The clock was ticking, and we were all looking forward to the 24 hours to end. Finally the time had come for USAC to wave a checkered flag or something to signal that the attempt to end. It was Curtis who ran he last leg, and he pulled in and Smokey and the crew all gathered around the car and some pictures were taken. Then without any fanfare a few crewmembers squeezed into the car, Curtis fired it up, and proceeded to drive it to Wendover. I could not believe this act, they had been driving the hell out of that thing for 24 hours, and it started right up, and it was running as good as when the attempt began. They had ran well over 3,000 miles at speed without a glitch. Ward and I wondered what Mickey would do with this information. I mean, you know, he had sent us up there for some reason other than test our survival skills. Jim and I drove back to Long Beach and reported our experience to Mick, he wrote is a check, and thanked us, and we headed for home. Time to find something else to do. We both had some ideas, and we would pursue them, and see what shook out. Larry

[bluffman]

Re: Critical Mass - Blind Man's Bluff = SPLIT THREAD

Ward went to work for a group doing development work on Turbo- Offy engines. I can’t recall the name of this program, but Dick Jones from Champion spark plugs seemed to be heading it up. Jim was happy there, a nice clean shop to work in and reasonable work hours. I’m not sure what I was doing, probably some sprint car engines, I’ve been trying to remember, but I draw a blank, amnesia maybe. I do remember that in April my wife Jane said that it is about Indy time, when would I be leaving? I always got “itchy feet” at that time of the year and had to hit the road from sunny Cal, and head east. Once I got to Indianapolis, I just hung around the Speedway some to renew old friendships, and catch up on the latest gossip. At some point I was talking to the guys at Patrick Racing who had Johnny Rutherford as their driver. Their phone rang, and when they answered it they told me that the call was for me. It was Mickey, I have no idea how he knew where I was, He said, “Your ticket is at the airport, I’ll see you at the shop tomorrow.” I wanted to ask what was going on, but he hung up on me. I hadn’t talked to him for several months, so I had not a clue what this was all about. My first thought was that there was no way that I was going to catch that airplane! After thinking about it for a while, my curiosity got the best of me, and I headed for the airport. On the flight out to Cal my mind was racing, “What had The Mick came up with this time?” When I got to the shop I was surprised. There were some of the drag race fabricators that had helped out on the FWD project, and others that I knew vaguely as engine builders, and sheet metal men that were all drag race oriented. I went in and greeted them all, and asked what was going on? Before anyone said anything Mick came in and told me to meet him in his office. He handed me a check for two weeks pay, and said to go out in the shop and look around, and he would see me later. I went back into the shop, and laughingly told the guys that Mick was pretty cool, and that he had given me a check for two weeks pay, and they started cracking up. Then one of them said, “He’s been punching you in for four weeks“, and pointed to a rack of time cards that he turned in to somebody. Sure enough, there was a timecard there with my name on it! Once they all regained their composure they led me back to the shop area, and sitting there were three Ford Mustangs, and off in another part was what looked to me like a frame for a land speed car with two 429 SOHC engines in it. Mickey had done it! He got Ford and Auto-Light to back him on another Bonneville caper. Ford was going to produce the Mach 1 Mustang for 1969, and the plan was to set speed records ahead of time to use as a sales promotion. What had I gotten myself into this time? I called Ward that night, and told him that I was back in town working for Mickey. He told me that Mick had called him also, and he had told him that there was no way he was going up to the salt again. He liked it where he was at, building Offys. I guess this time I would have to do it on my own, without my old pal Jim. Larry

[bluffman]

Re: Critical Mass - Blind Man's Bluff = SPLIT THREAD

Those pesky Vista automatic updates are messing with me again. I will get things going again tonight,but it is getting late,so probably not get a post off tonight. I hope this one works though. Larry

[CrossX Yamaha]

Re: Critical Mass - Blind Man's Bluff = SPLIT THREAD

I will buy you a MAC and you won't have internet issues, spam and viruses my friend..

[bluffman]

Re: Critical Mass - Blind Man's Bluff = SPLIT THREAD

This crew that Mickey had assembled for this Mustang Mach 1 program were really hitting it hard. Whatever the deadline was for getting them to Bonneville was fast approaching, and there was a lot of things that had to be done to get them ready for the speed attempts. There were some body “modifications” that Mick wanted done, like cutting a wedge out of the front end to lower the nose, and the rear deck as reshaped slightly. This was to make it more aerodynamic. Subtle changes that would not be real noticeable, not that it mattered because the USAC officials had no way of knowing what a 1969 Mach 1 Mustang looked like anyway. Of the three cars, one was red, another blue, and the third was yellow. The way that I understood it each had a different engine, 302, 351, and 427 cubic inches, or maybe it was 429, not sure. Roll bars were installed for safety, and I think there was an onboard fire extinguisher system. I missed out on some of this because Mickey had me assemble some wheels for the land speed car. They were a nightmare to put together. They were 2 piece, and had lots, and lots of bolts that held them together. This had to be done very carefully, as Mick was planning to go over 400 miles per hour in this contraption. The drivers for the Mustangs were Mick, Danny Ongais, Ray Brock, and Bob Ottum. Danny O’ was a noted drag race driver, and I think Ray Brock was a writer. I don’t have a clue who Bob Ottom was. I don’t think Brock or Ottom did much driving though.

The Mustangs got finished on time, and off we went, “Bonneville, here we come”, ready or not. I don’t mean by that to indicate we weren’t ready , but was Bonneville ready for us? Of course the cars had to pass USAC inspection, and all went well until one of them informed me that the Goodyear tires on the cars were not legal for what we were going to do. I informed Mick of this problem, and he had me call Goodyear to send us another type of tires. We had at least 60 of the wrong tires, and I asked them how do you want me to send them back? They said that they didn’t want them back, it wasn’t cost effective to do so, just throw them off somewhere out of the way. They said they would send the other tires right away. I expected a big Goodyear truck would pull in soon. Wrong! They sent them from somewhere by “Greyhound”! The bus would stop in Wendover, and the driver would drop them off at the Texaco station. Then some media types appeared, and wanted to shoot some footage for a commercial or whatever. They had all kinds of strange things done, drive the Mustangs in circles, then drive the towards the camera, then away from the camera, then around in circles again. None of this made much sense, but I guess it was something that Ford wanted. I guess they got what they wanted because they left about as suddenly as they had arrived. Now we could get to the business at hand, and run some practice laps around the 10 mile oval. Unfortunately the weather was not looking good, and the next day it rained. We were, “up an unsanitary tributary without a means of propulsion”, the only way I can explain it, but I think you know what I mean. The situation looked pretty grim, but “The Mick” had come up with a back- up plan. You’re going to love this part. Not tonight though, it’s late, and my fingers are getting tired.
Larry

[Bob]

Re: Critical Mass - Blind Man's Bluff = SPLIT THREAD

I will buy you a MAC and you won't have internet issues, spam and viruses my friend..

You forgot to add no software and a much smaller internet.