FOURTH ANNUAL PINE BOX DERBY!!!

[cataura]

Fourth Annual Pine Box Derby!!!

Saturday June 24th, 2006

We're using the same location as last year, which is Flag Pole Hill here in Dallas. Festivities start at 12pm, racing, trocarbq, eating, more eating, lots of eating, maybe some racing, etc.... We will have some hotdogs and hamburgers, but please bring some meat if you wanna eat some meat!

Click here for the rules & info...

Hope to see everyone there!

[Morella]

I have made reservations. We arrive Thursday night, and as is traditional, will be at the La Quinta Six Flags. We might do Six Flags on Friday, and Tony wants to do the caverns in New Mexico on Monday, so we'll be leaving Dallas Sunday morning. I, unfortunately, will be spending a lot of time sitting around bored and drinking beer while Tony and Jenny do the walking around stuff, because I can't walk too well anymore.

Today I bought some steel stock, and I'm going to try to make a little modification to the racer and put some bicycle wheels on. That means, not only do I have a better chance of beating you guys, but a better chance of doing a really dramatic crash again...maybe better than last year's. I am going to replace that ridiculous spring-activated steering system with rods, though, and the brakes with something that I can control. I don't know what the hell I was thinking last time.

OK, actually I do. I was thinking of giving someone else a chance of winning, but still doing something dramatic...and I did. This time, I'm going to give myself a fair chance of being able to keep it under control.

-denise

[cataura]

Well, whatever you do, I'll have my camera ready.

Girls   =                Guys   =  

I wish you were coming a few days earlier and you could make the 3rd Annual Texas Haunters Dinner with us ...but I'm just glad you're coming!

[Morella]

I would kill to have that much vacation. I'm scrambling to finish the racer right now...I've already cut off the axles to put on the new wheel assemblies, so now I have to finish it. I would have been done a long time ago if I hadn't been dead set on keeping the spring suspension, but I can't see burying the project after all this time. Oh well, it's almost 7am on a Sunday, time to start hammering and using power tools again.

-denise

[Chaser]

Black Widow, Hellspawn, and I will be there just in time for the race. We are leaving Joplin at 6 am that should put us checking in to the hotel by noon, and there by 12:30. As long as some financial nightmare doesn't happen. We are going to be staying through Sunday till that night, so if anyone wants to hang out Sunday let me know. I have to work Monday at 3pm.As for the racer, I got the casket, but I am having problems finding the wheels, I am serching today, will keep ya posted. Either way we will be there. Cant's wait.

[Morella]

I have my wheels on, but I need to add a little structure to make it sturdier, and attach my brakes. It won't be pretty, but I think I'm going to make it just in time.

There was a silly movie that I saw called, "Hollow Point" or something like that, in which a guy steals a hearse with a mobster in it, hiding in a casket. The door flies open and casket slides out the back (forget yer bier pins, laddy?), and you see the casket rolling down the street, which is kind of silly because I've never seen a casket with furniture casters on it...but then I thought...with a simple set of brakes, that would be a legal race entry!

-denise

[cataura]

Chaser ...find any wheels yet?

Morella ...it doesn't have to be pretty to win.  I hope you don't run in to any problems finishing it up.  I skipped over renting that movie.  I might have to get it now just to see what a Hollywood funeral racer looks like.  

Everyone is pumped for the races here.  Alex said he's going to take first.

I can't wait either!

[Chaser]

Yep, I gotta frame!!!!!!!!! !! Gonna get the casket welded to it Tuesday, goes for painting Wed or Thurs. THANKS REV. 2-STIFF for the frame and the soon to be done paint job. This will be a real club project.

[Morella]

I was still working on it this morning...still have the taste of metal in my teeth, and burns on my hands from all of the welding. Maybe one of these days I will remember to keep my gloves on.

I have this problem...I have no forge or heating equipment, so if I use metal that is malleable enough to form cold, it isn't strong enough to use. I took the afternoon off, and I will make a last-minute run to the hardware store to get some reinforcing metal. I'm not worried about making it look good, just keeping the wheels from falling off at this point. I think that the structure is sturdy, I just need to do something at the ends of the forks where the wheels mount.

One thing that I can be sure is that I won't do an "Alex" and have all four wheels fly off...

...but only because it's a three-wheeler...

Umm...no stress, no stress...I still have until 4am tomorrow morning before we leave.

-denise

[cataura]

Have a safe trip here! Unless they change the weather again it should be good for racing ...95° & partly cloudy. My phone # is 214.912.6199 in case you need it.

[Morella]

Thanks. We are HERE, in Arlington now. At the last minute, and in the middle of thunderstorms, I welded washers around my wheels to hold them to the frame. They're no longer removable from the undercarriage, but the whole undercarriage is removable, so I think I could still change a tire.

We'll seeya out there tomorrow.

-denise

[Chaser]

Mine should be done this afternoon. New design, too late for a paint job, but done. We are leaving at 6am, should be there in time for the race. Making reservations right now. By the way we aren't leaving till Sunday night if anyone wants to hang out Sunday! See ya there.

[Morella]

We have to be in Las Cruces Sunday night because we're doing Carslbad Caverns Monday, then we're going to head home Tuesday.

This is kind of a crazy weekend. Tony and Jenny are still over at Six Flags, but I only lasted half a day. I'm just gonna hang out in the hotel, drink some beer and maybe work on Evangelist Wars for a while.

We're going to remember to pick up some folding chairs this time, and hopefully we will get up early enough to pick up some stuff to put on the grill. I also have some cute little knick knacks that I'd like to contribute to the prize pool.

-denise

[cataura]

Chaser ...hope you got it done this afternoon!  Have a safe trip tomorrow.

Morella ...why does welding in thunderstorms at the Six Flags hotel seem normal for you?  

The last I heard we had isolated thunderstorms predicted for tomorrow.  I hope they isolate over my house (which is miles away) and not over Flag Pole Hill.

See y'all tomorrow!  

[Morella]

I was actually welding in thunderstorms in Tucson before I left, but, good point anyway. I could have brought my crackerbox welder and worked on it outside of the hotel room door. I wonder what they would have thought.

Isolated storms aren't a problem. We can always go over to the shelter and do some foot stompin' Jesus praisin'.

-denise