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Getting busy

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It has been raining here in Columbus for almost a week. Not just your quick shower, but the dreary grey skied, constant drizzly kind. Rainy days are good for 1 thing… napping. (I take that back… its also good Mall shopping weather, provided you can get a good parking spot!) In any case, its not the best weather for working on the car.

Alas, rain or not, I am determined to make some serious progress on the BIRD this weekend. Saturday, I’m driving up to Mr. Moody’s to get the intake manifold for the mock-up. Then Sunday, after the mock up motor is sitting between the frame rails, I plan to spend the day setting up the seat mounts (Yes, folks. Laugh all you want…I’m short. I can’t reach the steering wheel where its at right now, and the pedals I can only press with my tippy-toes. I need a booster seat!) and getting the Lenco levers set up to reach me as well.

This stage of the project is the most difficult for me. Most all of the work that needs to be done right now, I can’t do, and so I feel pretty helpless… a feeling I’m not used to. I’m learning how to weld, but obviously my safety is too important to risk trying the chassis updates myself. So, for now I keep myself busy on the little things… my time will soon come, and learning the characteristics of the new motor will be a fun challenge.

I’m still struggling on getting the site complete, but its slowly making progress. Almost 100,000 hits in less than 15 days “officially” online (The soft launch was 3/1, but the public’s first view wasn’t until 3/18). I’m amazed at all the responses I’ve received. In fact, the only ill comment was made by someone out of Orlando…. imagine that.

Oh well…. its back to the grindstone.

Be safe & go fast!!!

.:ERICA:.

Read it. Online. Anytime.

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That’s one of our marketing slogans at the paper I work for (The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer)

Read It. Online. Anytime.

Its kind of amazing how much the internet has mainstreamed into our daily lives. Anyone who knows me, knows I’m about at the point where I can’t live WITHOUT it. Its how I stay in touch, in the know, up to date. You really can find ANYTHING on the web, you just have to know how to find it. But as much as I am constantly online, reading, writing, browsing, surfing, or however you refer to it, I never stood still long enough to carve out my own place…. Kind of silly seeing how I have built sites for countless others.

So, what does a girl do when she’s stuck at home, miserable from having her wisdom teeth pulled? Why, stay up all night and create her own site!

Welcome to Horsepower & Heels!    I have big dreams for this site, both for my own racing and to have a place where all women racing can find info and resources.

So, here it is… its not done yet, but I’ll promise to keep updating it as often as I can. Thanks for coming and looking around. Hopefully, it’ll interest a few watching eyes, and some much needed help will come my way. Or maybe that’s just the hydrocodone talking.

A girl can dream, right?

Daddy’s not taking THIS T-bird away

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Finally! The PRO BIRD is here! Its in the shop and better than expected!

To catch everyone up to speed….

Last year, I made the decision to step up. While only making it out to 3 events in my radial car, and attending many Pro Mod events, I decided that I wanted to go faster and build another car. It started out as wanting an Outlaw car, but after looking at the expenses involved, it ended up that it would be more convenient and made more economic sense to instead look for an older Pro car that needed updating. In September, I put my radial car up for sale. Dennis had a Pro Street Maverick that needed finishing, so he spoke with the owner who agreed to let me campaign the car for 1 year in exchange for the upgrades that would be needed for it to compete. I picked up the car and went to work on it in late November. Put my motor, and my newly acquired Bruno/Lenco in, and got it ready to start fabrication. But after a month and a half of working on the car, the owner’s wife decided she wanted to pick up the car, without caring that I had made arrangements, and had spent my own money & time on the car.

So, once again, I was left in a bad situation. My radial car had been sold, and I now had a complete drivetrain and no car to put it in. I looked around for another chassis that I could purchase for the small amount I had saved from the sale of my old car, with not much luck in finding anything in my price range. In February, when I had about given up hope of finding a chassis, Mike Herring saw my wanted post in the classifieds, and emailed me about his buddies T-Bird. Well maintained, and close enough to my price range, I contacted the owner, Charley Huff in Springfield, MO. Charley worked with me until I could gather the rest of his asking price, and a month later… HERE IT IS!