Is it time for a New Revolution?
No, I am not talking about engines making revolutions. I mean the non-racing type of revolution. The type of revolution that made this country the best place to live and raise kids on the planet!
I know I am going to be a little off the subject of racing but don’t worry I’ll get to the racing aspect of this. I want to tell you how this thought of a revolution got into my mind over the weekend. I just completed a trip from my home in Iowa to the S&W Race Cars shop in Spring City, Pennsylvania. We had ordered Andy’s new chassis in December after selling the Back-2-Basics II hard-tail dragster. S&W Race Cars built us one of their 235” wheel base, swing-arm rear suspension dragsters. We wanted to do a lot of the finish work ourselves so we took our tires and wheels and they had a chassis with body and suspension waiting for us. We arrived Saturday evening and we knew we would have all day Sunday to do a “tourist thing” in Philadelphia on Sunday. The S&W shop is only about 30 minutes from downtown Philly so it would be an easy trip into the city and back to the friendly confines of the S&W Race Cars parking lot (our campsite for Saturday and Sunday night).
We arrived in downtown Philadelphia and found the Visitor’s Center with no problems. Then it got a little interesting trying to find a parking spot for the motor home downtown. We asked a local member of the Philly Police Dept. and he said, “I have no idea what to tell you.” That was encouraging news. . .not! We did notice there were about 50 police cars and support vehicles parked all over the streets where we wanted to go. Naturally, the day we want to park our motor home there is a festival and parade planned. We drove around a little and finally settled on hogging two parking spots on a side street about eight blocks away. Ended up OK, the motor home and the dog were still there about six hours later.
 Our official camping spot for the weekend at S&W Race Cars. Thanks to Scott Weney for letting us park our trailer there and "plug in" so we didn't wake up the neighborhood with our generator to make the morning coffee. |
Here is what got me thinking about a revolution. We visited the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, the Constitution Center and we took the trolley ride all over downtown. This is where the idea of the United States got started. The men who put together the plan to tell Great Britain to kiss their butt put it all together in the very buildings we walked in. It was a humbling experience and a great feeling to be there. Just think, these guys got tired of paying taxes on the products they made, being told they would have to pay up “or else.” When they had enough of it they came up with a plan to take care of themselves and to make a better place for people to enjoy real FREEDOM!
 We rolled the new Back-2-Basics III project car out of the shop at 9:00 a.m. Monday. It was ready to go as promised and all I can say is S&W built us a great dragster. As we build it you will see some of the great ideas they have in their chassis. |