Archives for November 2007

It seems that absolutely nothing goes my way in trying to get this car done.

I spent 2 weeks down in Orlando, often staying until late at night trying to get the car done and painted so that my very patient sponsor, BRISK USA, would finally have on display in their booth at the PRI show. They have been very understanding and patient of me dealing with all the unexpected delays as I have fought to get this car out and running.

I chronicled all of my time and work down in Florida. By the time I left, it was as far as I could get it, and all that remained was the exterior to be painted and the final touches applied (Vinyl graphics, lexan bolted in, etc.). With 2 weeks remaining, I figured it would be close, but we’d get it done, and finally have a great looking car that would make BRISK, Harland Sharp, PNN, and the rest of my sponsors proud.

But today, I got a crushing phone call. It was Josue, who is doing all the body work and paint. He had picked up the car on Sunday after I left and took it back to his paint booth in Ocala, where he could work on it in a better, closer environment. He inlisted the help of an expert in fiberglass/ racecar body and paint to help him. What they determined, was that the body would not line up anywhere on the car. The doors had a 1/4″ gap between the edge and the body. The front end had a shocking 1″ gap where it meets the doors. Nothing lined up straight. They would have to go back and reconstruct and add material to the body to make it presentable again.

I am devastated.

What originally was supposed to be an off-season, relatively simple job has taken over a year and cost me TRIPLE what I originally anticipated. I am not far off in expense on this body change than what a newer (than my t-bird) rolling chassis would have cost me off of Racing Junk. It has been so discouraging the amount of hardships and set-backs I’ve encountered, and while I’ve always considered myself one of the most perserverant and determined racers I know, this has at times seemed as though I was fighting a losing battle.

Now, I’m 100% at the mercy of the Paint/Body gurus to help and get me out there at long last. I feel that I’ve significantly let down all the people who have supported me through this, and hope that I will somehow be able to right this and turn such a sour situation around for them all. It is the most frustrating time in my 10 year career for me, just as I felt that momentum had finally begun to pick up.

Its been a roller coaster lately, with the 2 week thrash-fest on the car, the terrible loss, and the far too brief family & friend visits, but I will be headed home to Alabama tomorrow.

With the interior of the car painted, today we decided to go ahead and start putting the interior back together. Normally, I’d wait until the exterior was painted, but since we have only 2 weeks until the PRI show, and since I’ll be going home Sunday, we need to have as much done as possible.

Josue finished off all the cage/engine carriage painting. We’ll be letting it dry overnight and tomorrow while we wait on the powdercoater and the front end to be done at the body shop. Then, we’ll start assembling the interior of the car again while Josue starts prepping the body for paint.

Its getting stressful now. With the tragedy bringing down the entire shop, and the upcoming funeral, I’m just running out of time on the car. Josue will continue on next week without me, but I have to head back to Alabama this Sunday. I feel so helpless, and I don’t like it.

Tomorrow will be a long day, so we’re calling it an early night at the shop (10:30pm) and getting some rest.

Amidst everything going on here in Orlando, we decided to try and get some more accomplished on the racecar while things were in “waiting mode”.

This morning, we arrived and pulled the rear end and 4 link out from the car to get ready to spray the rear clip. Josue (painter), was not able to come until the evening, so we used the time to sand, clean, and prepare the surfaces. Once that was done, we starting cleaning the grime off the parts so everything will be like-new upon reassembly and getting the sheet metal ready for the powder coater tomorrow morning. That plastic they use on sheetmetal is a PAIN to get off!

Its 11pm, and I’m in the office while Josue finishes spraying the interior. I think I’m high on paint fumes, but I’m super excited because its actually starting to look like a decent car again! After the interior dries overnight, they’ll be prepping the exterior for paint. I feel helpless right now, because there’s not much I can do, but it’ll be back at it once the paint dries trying to assemble it for the PRI!

Well, car updates came to a hault yesterday.

I have been down in Orlando working on the car at Excessive Engineering, which is my ex-husband’s, (and still best friend) shop. Dennis is the one I always give all the credit for what I have learned in motorsports and how far I have gone. We have a relationship many do not understand: even though he and I are divorced, we have remained the best of friends.

Dennis and his wife Tina, recently welcomed their first son, Aiden Lope Lugo on October 8th. He was a month early, but everything was going great. Proud Papa and Momma were doing great, and knowing how long he had wanted to be a father, I was so very happy for him and his new family.

However, yesterday Dennis and Tina took little Aiden to the hospital while in North Carolina with a fever. No one was braced for what would follow a mere hour later… Aiden suddenly became critical and stopped breathing. At his small size, the hospital tried to save him, but were unsuccessful.

Words cannot explain how devastated I am for Dennis and Tina. Its times like this that make you really aware how precious life is and how inconsequential other small stuff really is in comparison. I cannot imagine the pain that they are enduring now, and feel so helpless to ease their sorrow in any way.

What was to be a two week, all important, labor-intensive thrash on my racecar has now turned into a time of sorrow and condolences. What is important right now, is my best friend and his family and doing whatever I can to try and help them bear this weight on their hearts.

For friends and family of the Lugos, please email me for arrangement information. We are collecting small donations to help offset the funeral arrangement costs of bringing Aiden home to Florida. If you would like to help, please email me at ericao [at] horsepowerandheels [dot] com.

Remember how precious life is, and how trivial all the day-to-day problems truly are in the grand scheme of things.

Well today, the painter had to work elsewhere, so there wasn’t much I could do at the shop until he returns tomorrow to spray the interior paint. That’s good, because it gave me a chance to take Mami out for lunch and shopping. We ran some errands for her, and ate at Anthony’s Pizza in Avalon Park.

Tonight, I’m headed to my old high school stomping grounds for dinner with my Lake Howell friends at Pretzel’s. Frankie works at Pretzel’s on the weekends, so we’ll all get together down there, and if I can make it, we’ll after party when the bar closes. (I usually turn into a pumpkin and go to bed.)

Tomorrow, it will be back to work…. but for now, I’m enjoying my day of rest and relaxation.

Back at the shop by 11am to continue sanding and prepping for paint. I finished cutting off all unused tabs and grinding away old bar stubs left over from the many years of modifications. My good buddy Frankie came over to lend a hand with the sanding on his day off. Talk about a good friend! Sanding is about the least favorite chore of getting the car ready for paint, and having to climb through all the “monkey bars” isn’t too fun either. By about 3pm, Frankie and I had the entire cage sanded, and decided to go grab a bite to eat.

Meanwhile, Eddie continued fabrication on fixing the seat belt mounting points and positioning the seat. The car never really fit me too well, so we lowered the seat, moved it as far right as possible so that my head no longer hit the roll cage and was centered in the driver’s encapsulation. We shortened the steering shaft to get the steering wheel in a lower, more comfortable position. He also finished welding up the supports to the rear motor plate and tied it back into the chassis, and cut and modified the body for the tow hook to the top of the cage.

Josue arrived later to start getting ready to spray the primer. But first, I had to go back across all those bars and wipe them clean with lacquer thinner to make sure there was no grease or dirt left on any of the surfaces. Given that this chassis was built in 1988 originally by Gateway Racecars, there is a lot of gunk accumulated on the bars and the floor pan. I finally get it all ready, and Josue starts spraying the yellow primer all over the cage. Unfortunately, the gun we had here at the shop didn’t have an air regulator, and the pressure was too high and wasting a lot of primer. So after the front clip was primed, Josue opted to wait until he brought his personal spray gun from home.

Tomorrow, I’ll get to scruff up the primer and get ready for the paint to go on. Its progress! I’m so excited!