race car broke down a bunch of times
trailer has no brakes
i didn't get the job i was going for
explodition lost a tie-rod on the tow back (somehow managed to keep it out of the guardrail)....front wheel pointing towards the center of the truck. One tow truck t00k the trailer/race car to secure lot, one tow truck took the explodition to a ford dealership and dropped me off at the shittiest motel ever.

$700 repair bill
$115 for trailer towing/storage
$31.5 for motel

missed day of work

just got back after leaving thursday at 11am.

somebody shoot me


Modified by El Pollo Diablo at 7:39 AM 8/24/2004

 

Sorry to hear about the bad luck

Had a good time this weekend though

 

Repeat after me...

"This is my hobby
Its what I do for fun
I actually pay money for this"

Feel better?

Scott, reminding us that we're all crazy. Just in different degrees.

 

"It wouldn't be fun if **** wasn't busted" - Karl Shultz

 

I agree on the worst weekend ever!

I hit an oil patch in my M Coupe and SLAMMED into a guard rail HARD! No talent in the world oculd have saved it. Followed by bounching off of the guard rail and though incoming traffic and into a curb!

Cracked my head open, left eye is filled with blood. Some how the airbag didnt deploy! If it did I would have lost my head! Some how car looks ok.. Only a few thousand in damages! I could have been sure it was totalled!

So no more daily driver...

Is your luck sounding any better?

I hope so!
~Jonathan

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by El Pollo Diablo &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
i didn't the job i was going for
</TD></TR></TABLE>

Sorry to hear about the bad luck, but it was awesome watching you take the lead on Sunday... if only for a short time. Nice driving, and there's always a next-time.

 

Matt-
tell me about it dude....what a weekend, the mid ohio curse....we lost 3 motors in 3 different cars, ben bricker in h4 lost a head gasket, colin had his usual stay up all night cause i'm single and i hit something today kind of repairs, curpier had damage, kiwi blew up a k20, on and on......

sorry your trip home was so horrible, I tend to spend lots of time with my friends at the track, so when **** like that happends, i feel much better looking back on the fondness i share with my racing community friends. Nothing sucks more that getting stranded somewhere with no help and no one knows you, it is the lonliest feeling in the world....

glad your home and you shared your story man.

 

if it makes you feel any better, one of the guys in my region was out at the Peru Pro. (900 miles away from home) on sunday he broke the rear diff in his dsm. had to find a Penske truck and trailer ($1000+) to tow it home. finally gets home, and as he pulls unto the uphill street he lives on he feels a lurch. gets around back of his house and gets out to unload the car, but no car! it fell off the trailer coming up the hill, rolled down the hill and hit a parked box truck. so now it's got a busted diff, busted front end body work (from falling off the trailer), and busted rear end body work.

sorry to hear about the bad luck, but glad you're ok and the only hurting you took was in your wallet. chin up! it can always get worse, but it usually gets better!

nate

 

Matt - that sucks about the ride home (and race car breaking). Maybe memories of the friday night Sausage Party dinner will make you feel better.

 

Yep. I'm beginning to think that staying home from this one was a good thing. Hope the H4 field gets fixed before the next Summit...or maybe not...let's look at those standings again...Hmm.

 

Sorry to hear about your weekend. I've also witnessed a tie rod completely come apart on an Expedition here at work (this one was at least on the lift). I wonder if they had any sort of recall on it?

Good luck,

AJ

 

Damn.....$700 to repair the "Explodition"?

OMG, there goes a set of tires for the racekaa.

 

Matt, sorry you had a crappy weekend....do you need some ice?!

Nathan - who is good at getting ice...

 

Damn Matt! Sorry to hear that...

Vance will hook j00 up if you need Ice though (see above post) LOL

 

No ice necessary...actually things could have been a lot worse, so in the end it just means large CC bills and a chitload of frustration....no lasting damage though.

Dunno when I'll race again though...

 

dang, sorry to hear about your bad luck.

 

To put it in perspective, there was a driver that apparently broke his foot pretty seriously in an incident on the same weekend you guys were up there. I don't know about you but the other stuff that can be fixed w/ money just doesn't seem that bad after hearing about broken bones and physical pain (and I am sure his car is in pretty bad shape today to boot). Truly sorry you had a crap weekend, hope the rest of them go much better but as they say, at least you have your health (and very glad you kept truck and trailer off a guardrail yourself - I am sure that's some sketchy sh**).

(and you must be the 4th guy I have read that had this happen on an Expedition - Track Rats did the same IIRC on his way from Road Atlanta to McDonalds).

 

yeah, it does put things in perspective....and things could have been very different if this happened at speeds faster than 30mph...I dun think I would have been able to control it then.

 

Sorry to hear about all the incidents, both on and off the track.
Just my 2 cents. Ed

 

[QUOTE=El Pollo Diablo
explodition lost a tie-rod on the tow back [/QUOTE]

Interesting...Tell me more!

I had a tie rod failure too as Phat-s mentioned. I have a 2001 4x4 Expy w/ 57K mi and had been hearing an occasional popping noise in the front end while doing parking maneuvers. I checked everything several times from under the truck with someone else turning the steering wheel back and forth and never found the source. I had just towed 275 mi to Road Atl, dropped the trailer at track and did 65 mph down twistie hwy 53 to the hotel. While waiting in the drive thru at McD's I heard the 'pop' and was cranking the steering wheel back and forth and listening.
Then the threaded portion of the tie rod end came out of the tie rod . I eased it out of the drive thru, into a parking space and discovered that most of the tie rod threads were stripped nearly smooth. The popping must have been the tie rod collar and the end skipping threads until they were worn smooth and couldn't bite anymore. I figured my alignment guy must have left the lock nut loose which allowed the threads to start wearing, then skipping, but maybe it is a crappy part issue.

I'm real lucky it happened when it did, and not while towing at hwy speed. More luck...I had my tool box in the back and there was an Autozone two blocks away.

You Ford 150 and Expy owners be sure to check those rod ends!

 

i honestly didn't investigate closely as to what exactly failed on the tie-rod. It was the driver's side and i was pulled over very close to the highway and didn't want to get hit by an 18 wheeler.

I think it happened when I was driving over some rough section of 76...hit a bunch of rough asphalt and the truck bounced up and down, when the front back came down after hopping I felt like the steering wheel angle changed, but since the truck has numb steering anyway i didn't think too much about it. Drove about 10 more miles or so untill i-76 switches from one highway to another and as I was braking for the offramp/overpass I felt the truck moving left everytime i hit the brake pedal, but i chalked it up to trailer brakes acting up (could have used some hindsight.) made it halfway up the offramp at 30mph sharp turn when all hell broke l00se....tires screeching....truck bouncing up and down severely....sharp movement side to side. I honestly don't know how I kept it off the guardrail, I came close a bunch of times (close = inches), and the brakes weren't doing that much to help slowing down. I though I somehow lost the trailer and it was bouncing up and down on the safety-chains.

I basically would have crapped my pants if the sphincter wasn't clamped shut from the fear.

 

Hmmm. With a $700 repair bill, it probably wasn't the same failure. Even a dealer's tie rod end and 1 hr labor probably wouldn't exceed $150.

My Autozone part was $36 and I eyeballed the toe as close to zero as I could on the spot. I replaced the other one the following week and spent another $45 on a proper alignment. My eyeball job was pretty close...it was only about 1/8th" from spec . Got me home.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Track rat &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Hmmm. With a $700 repair bill, it probably wasn't the same failure. Even a dealer's tie rod end and 1 hr labor probably wouldn't exceed $150.

My Autozone part was $36 and I eyeballed the toe as close to zero as I could on the spot. I replaced the other one the following week and spent another $45 on a proper alignment. My eyeball job was pretty close...it was only about 1/8th" from spec . Got me home.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Oh, I had them replace all 4 inner and outter + alignment, they said they seemed l00se as well, and I didn't really feel like taking more chances.

 

I think I finally broke the curse of last week:

Sunday: Left my brand new expensive cell phone on the roof of my car and took off for a nice drive.

Monday: Car is stolen out of my driverway...recovered later that day...$1200 in losses.

Tuesday: Bullshit ticket from a jackass cop (and I do mean bullshit).

Wed: Learn of a death of a fellow racer that I race Hondas with.

Thurday: Lost $5000 in business...

That was the worst week ever....

 

Oh yeah...well I also left my camcorder charger/battery at the motel...so there!