Project Muscrate

The fun continues!

By Jay Roeder
1/9/06

i loyal reader(s), and welcome back! Good news! According to DRO Editor Jeff Burk, during the last couple of months myself and ol’ Muscrate have bribed, er, garnered another fan! That makes a whole three!! Thank you and buckle up for another year of the trials and tribulations of myself and Project Muscrate as we head into what promises to be the busiest and hopefully most productive season of racing in a couple of years.

In the last installment I covered the “low buck” alternative to racing style rear brakes, also known as drum brakes. It was one of those little projects that I never seem to get around to until I have to, or at least not until I figure there might be something in it for me! This article is going to give you a brief look into the near future of Muscrate and cover a couple of “issues” that have presented themselves lately. Let’s begin.

Believe it or not, if my original plan had gone accordingly, I would no longer be the owner of Muscrate. I know, dirty, rotten, no good son of a….! How could I even think of selling the racecar that has won me Track Championships, heads up Class runoffs, a IHRA National event, Divisional event, National Record holder, and pops big wheelies!? Well, it seemed relatively simple at the time.

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You see I came in contact with a couple of guys, specifically a father and son, who were inquiring about having me build them an engine for a project of theirs. To make a long story shorter, they were building a Mustang similar to Muscrate for bracket duty and occasional street use. I was considering changing the engine in Muscrate back to a 302 HO fuel-injected setup like I used to run, this time for Super Stock competition so I could race both NHRA and IHRA (if IHRA ever comes back to Div. 5).

As we got more in depth on what they wanted to build, it became apparent that they needed what I was going to remove. Engine, transmission, 9 in. rear end assembly, and even the fuel system, they wanted it all. We both realized that they were basically buying the car minus the body! So, a price was established and Muscrate was un-officially sold. The only “catch” so to speak was that I was going to have to wait a short amount of time for the money. That ended up becoming a problem. I was going to use the money to finish work on my other long term project (that will hopefully be introduced as another DRO project in the near future). I figured with the money from Muscrate I could stand a reasonable chance of completing the other “mystery” project sometime during the 2006 racing season.

So, I began work on "project X," ordered some parts and waited. Without getting into any details, I waited a couple of months and began to get worried. If I didn’t have all the money shortly I was going to be aced out of racing anything in 2006 and I just couldn’t let that happen again. So, I had a conversation with the dad and told him I just couldn’t wait any longer and I was going to have to keep Muscrate. I would just like to be clear and say that the problem with the money was not really his fault and we both went into the deal with good intentions. Unfortunately it just didn’t work out. Fortunately he was very understanding and a real “stand up” guy, a real rarity these days. So, I have been properly put in my place by Muscrate for ever even thinking of selling the prized pony and it won't happen again, at least not in the near future….heh heh heh.

Speaking of the near future, guess what? IHRA is back in Div. 5! I had heard (and reported right here I might add) that IHRA was planning a return to the previously besmirched division for 2006 but nothing official was announced until November. Great news considering I am an IHRA ONLY combination in Div. 5! Hopefully they will realize the error of their ways and we will all have a great season of IHRA racing in 2006!