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This chapter might be considered the "oh well, hang in there" update.

GARAGE
A lump sum of largesse has landed, and the garage footings have been sawcut. We broke out the concrete, re-dug the footings, hauled 24,000 pounds of dirt to the dump, got inspection, and I'm now ready to have the (3) I-beam columns fabricated so I can begin the footing steel and concrete prep. We loaded the one-ton dually with 4940 pounds of dirt on several runs!!! It was so heavy I had to go out and buy 4 new E-rated (3042 pound-rating) rear tires (same as the trailer). That dually is a BEAST. There will be HUGE amounts of rebar placed in the grade beams and footings, some as large as #9 (that's 1-1/8" inches in diameter). A whopping 25 CY of concrete will be poured in the footings and slab. Once concrete is in, the framing of the garage can be done as money and time permit. The new roof system can be partially framed up to the existing garage, which will be demolished at the last minute. So in the hopefully very near future, I'll have 1000 SF of concrete on which to park stuff. In order to get the trailer and car and dually out back, I will have to demo all but the west wall of the garage, as it's now a typical 7' high opening (and nothing open at the back).
Whooppee!! Some progress at last.

ENGINES
Both 4.505" bore 542 cu. in. Chevy engine blocks have been retrieved from Barrington's, then Kirby's, and finally Evans Speed Equipment with the extra bolt holes done in the second set of heads and both blocks, and new stainless wire ready for the new block. Oddly, the older block has .037 grooves and .039 copper wire (the new  ones are .039 for .041 stainless steel wire). After a trip to Gordon's Machine to wire-gauge the old grooves, I've ordered some .039 wire from Bob Martin of Lockwire in Downey. All 4 heads have been panographed (fancy for grooved) with receiver grooves about .010" deep and .068 wide. The new Bowtie tall-deck block is being ground down and smoothed for cosmetic appeal, and painted. Both blocks will be cleaned thoroughly again just prior to assembly.
The rebuilt Super Coupe supercharged, injected V-6 engine that has been sitting for 4 years on a stand in my garage is STILL there. A fellow with 235,000 miles on his Palmdale Super Coupe repeatedly promises to buy it (THANK YOU in advance). But just in case, I've put an ad on the Super Coupe Club of America bulletin board through the Internet. Once liberated, this engine stand will make it possible to get going on both FC motors simultaneously, together, at once, at the same time. It will also provide 2500 scoots vitally needed to continue, AND 6 square feet of floor space!
And in what may be less than an ultimate sacrifice, I'm giving back my new graphite/titanium Gary Player golf clubs for a full refund to put the money into the car.

TRANSMISSIONS
Mike's Transmissions Godzilla-glide is not yet a reality. For the moment, I will keep my fresh A-1 glide purchased from Dave McDannel last year with a new Vasco input shaft as a backup trans. It should be fine for a while, but I'm NOT going to be set up for the 2 season hiatus disaster as before. To that end I have purchased a REALLY beefy Coan glide with big input shaft, 9310 gears, 8 layer clutch packs, fast brake, and billet output shaft. So I'm back to two of everything, including starters. I also have two spare JW bell housings for anyone who's interested.

REV LIMITER
The PSI limiter needed an adapter to work with the Mag 3, and that has been received. This should be fine insurance against the kaka experienced in July-August 96 which sidelined the operation for two years.

DUALLY
The replacement dually motor and FC-strength Turbo 400 trans are about to go INSIDE the dually. I'm going to off the 100,000-mile old engine and trans, as I don't need more spares (and want the room and $). Randy and I are very seriously looking to install Holley Pro-jet injection on our duallies for mileage improvement and better performance.

GENERATORS and AC
I'm still trying to off the old Chicago 4400-watt generator for only $80 (oh well). The ultra-low hours 4000 Onan (110-volt) is still here and available for $1400, with integral gas tank and trolley.

DRIVER COOLING/FRESH AIR
Interestingly, when I first got into FC racing in 94, I stood at Phoenix Raceway Park with Jim Deist at about midnight talking about my ideas regarding cool suits, etc. I didn't own a car, and this was the first race I'd been to. We talked about a design, and later I discussed it with Dee at the shop. It turns out that a guy in Palmdale makes this exact design and calls it Cool Suit. Later, I thought a cool/fresh air system would be a good thing. It turns out that John Force thought so, too, and was one of the first to get a new product called "Freshaire". Now it's NHRA mandatory for 1998! Another company, Parker Pumper, makes a fresh air unit for off-road racing. The Parker Pumper looks like the right thing to do. I'd have been WAY ahead making these items instead of racing!!

WHAT NEW TIRES?
Uncle "CHP" Dave begged out on his promised new tire trade. He understandably doesn't want to abuse his own cool deal for equipment. He helped off one set of 36" tires, and I'm looking to move the others as well for $200 (CHEAP, and only 3 runs). I don't want to be tireless

CREW and PROMOTION
Bob Barnes, after all his interest, has NOT found time to get involved yet. I have put out a general call to the ostensible crew members to get over here and get humping (Nick, Leroy, Bob Pia, etc.), now that there is something they can do. Bible Bob has been very helpful, and we're both hoping his divine connections will get some God-bucks. Meanwhile, I've lucked onto a young, hyperactive mechanic who is rabidly interested in racing, and has a shop literally around the corner. Coincidentally, he will not only be a welcome replacement for the now-estranged Robichau Automotive for working on the street car and the dually, but wants to be involved in the FC crew. 

TOSSING/SELLING OFF
Randy Laur is not yet rid of his Hillman (he's taking the small block out to put it in the Nova he built for his girl friend, Kristy). He's taking the LS-7 big block out of the Nova and will rebuild it as a spare FC engine. He offed his blown small-block Anglia motor in trade for a big-block El Camino. In Wagner-lousy-luck fashion, the 400-mile old motor flattened the cam, and filled with metal. And then the truck was broken into in a vicious way in front of his house. It's infuriating to see useless destruction by idiots. Randy is waiting on the market to move a little higher for his mint '79 VW convertible to be sold. His street-driver Chevelle is not yet complete, so he's still driving his Rodeo. So the other half of the LAFD Racing team is making progress on his funnycar project, if more sideways than forward. I tossed several truckloads of paint, parts, etc. (at the appropriate HAZMAT recycling sites, of course), and made a little room to continue.

FRAME, ETC.
The frame work will be completed at Manchen Welding, and the rear end pulled out, torsion bar and front end removed, and the frame sandblasted and powder-coated Dove gray at Ajax.  
The rear end leak will be repaired using JB weld on the bearing surface (to fill in the original hammer mark that caused the leak). With more $, I would have changed to a 4.10 or 4.30 gear, but that will have to wait.
The chutes and belts are still at Deist after 18 months (they're almost out of date again!). The silver Nomex chute pack material was originally a bad batch, and it took some long discussions with Joe Hansen and Jim Deist to get it corrected (for free).
The appropriate aluminum pieces will be polished and anodized, and all the pieces of the puzzle are beginning to look available for reassembly. 

THE BODY
Oh that! Well, it's YELLOW, but still only epoxy primer. I went back and forth endlessly and finally settled on the Penske truck/taxicab yellow color. This will allow for distinguishing between Randy's car and mine. So our group now will have 3 cars running emergency lights. Quite a show.

NOW WHAT?
The Dave COLA crank was magnafluxed at Electrochrome in Santa Fe Springs and pronounced junk, for a mere $97! Raul Negretti, owner of COLA crankshafts, says they're wrong. I've UPS'd the crank to Memphis (Crankshaft Specialists) for another opinion, and if usable, for grinding and hard-chroming back to standard on the #2 main. 
The rotating assemblies will be sent to Rick Hubbard for balancing.

TRAILER
The 6500-watt Onan has been permanently installed and the cabinetry built around it to keep it quiet and cool inside the trailer. Tony Long of Quality Service Electric worked a trade for the use of my dually at the California 500 in May. He did a BEAUTIFUL job of wiring the unit with twist-lock disconnect, transfer switch/breakers, weatherproof box, flex and wiring, etc.
The AC unit I'd been saving turns out to be a 220-volt unit, and the Onan is strictly 110-volt (after much back and forth between Niel's Motor Homes and Onan regarding the convertibility to 220-volt). So bye-bye to the Frigidaire unit. I'm taking it to Feder's in North Hollywood, for a possible sale/trade. I'll just start looking for a Coleman RV rooftop unit. I gave myself the Valentine's Day present of a 4-drawer Durham cabinet (more thanks to GOD, who happens to be a drag racer) for additional parts storage on the bench.
My cabinet guy did NOT come through after all (just 2 years of waiting). I just gave up and ordered material from another cabinet maker.

PRE-DEL-ICK-SHUN
Against odds, we MIGHT get the car running this season. We're not looking for noise by my June 9th (54th) birthday (and the 4th anniversary of the funnycar). But perhaps by my wife's birthday August 6th.

SPONSORS
Finally got around to mailing out some proposals, making some calls. Nothing firm as yet, as it's over for the 98 season, but the ball is rolling for 99. There was a fabulous April Fools joke in Dragster featuring work by a Photo-Shop computer whiz here in Southern Cal. I'm searching him out to dial in the computer pix of pre-formatted logo cars for our sponsor presentations.

INCENTIVE REMINDER
Any season-long effort (crew, marketing, or support) will be rewarded with a licensing session in the funnycar at the end of the season. All aboard!!