Hello from the Hoosier state!

I guess it's time to introduce myself.

So, I've had two things dominating my thought process lately. (OK, for quite a while now!) One is that I love drag racing and everything related to it (except the top fuel classes; they bore me), and two is the rat rod scene. A new thing that actually has been around for 20 years, recently reappeared on my radar. Drag and drive events. Google Hot Rod Drag Week, or Sick Week if they are unfamiliar terms. I wanted a competitive drag-and-drive car, and I wanted to build another rat rod. Like a lot of folks, the money isn't there to do both, so I'm combining the two ideas into one build!

I'm making a spreadsheet with part numbers and prices of things it will need. I plan on starting to buy parts around my birthday in December. That also coincides with the PRI show in my backyard of Indianapolis during my birthday week! I have the SFI chassis book, and this build will cert to 7.50 in the quarter mile, and have all the NHRA and IHRA requirements needed to compete at that level of E.T.......But LOOK like a rat rod. I do have fat and skinny Convo pro wheels already and a 400 trans and converter and rear end. I'm attaching a photo of the general look I'm after.

I'll start a build thread with links to my YouTube channel once I get closer to the actual start date. I'm currently healing from another total rebuild of my right leg from service-connected injuries. Hard to get around right now.

Mark

Welcome to rrr/uds from bama. I know how the leg stuff goes. My project has been on hold for a year solid due to infection in my left knee. Walking on a walker sux

Welcome aboard. Sounds like a good plan.

Welcome from Rhode Island. I'll be watching

Welcome to the party from Flawda!

Welcome to UDS, from northern Alberta.
Will you be able to 'street drive' this machine much?

Welcome from New Mexico

Welcome to the site!

MercuryMac said:

Welcome to UDS, from northern Alberta.
Will you be able to 'street drive' this machine much?

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Yes the idea behind the "Drag and drive" hobby here is to race 5 tracks in 5 days, and drive a pre-set route between drag strips. You have to take photos at the checkpoint with your car daily, and if you trailer it or otherwise cannot fix anything that breaks either at the drag strip, or in route, your done. No support vehicles allowed. It's to see who has the fastest "Street cars" in the country. You must have all the normal things like working lights, horn, etc. plus pass tech for the speed you expect to run. Plus I want to cruise to car shows and the occasional hot dog/root beer stand cruise nights.

26Troadster said:

Welcome to rrr/uds from bama. I know how the leg stuff goes. My project has been on hold for a year solid due to infection in my left knee. Walking on a walker sux

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Dang get well soon!

smallfoot said:

Welcome to the party from Flawda!

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Hope you survived the storm ok!

Great to have you! Looking forward to the build. The plan is awesome and you'll see plenty here that's inspirational for what you're going to do.
Love watching drag week- my favorite being then Finnegan took his class with Blasphemi.

M.E. you've made my day on the drivability of your car. I thought you might be going to paint yourself into a corner with too much emphasis on 'drag' and not enough on the 'drive' part. Carry on.

Mark Eckert said:

Hope you survived the storm ok!

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Yes, did ok. Seems I'm surviving lots of things lately...thanks for asking!

Looks like a cool project.
Welcome aboard

Welcome Mark. That sounds like a very interesting build! I'll be watching for sure. Good luck with your leg.

So, I'm working on my spreadsheet to make a "To get" list and estimate costs. I wanted to shop for deals at PRI in December. Their web registration was down so I was like Hmmmmmm........Gonna try again later this evening. I'm getting antsy to get started on this but I have to let this stupid knee heal so I can actually move around well enough to do something......Grrrr....Does anyone else feel like life gets in the way of builds? I have terrible ADD so I try to study my Holley EFI manuals, but I just wanna go start cutting and welding! At least we have some car shows coming up yet this month and the weather here is perfect right now in Indiana. So I guess it's take the other hot rod to car shows and set in my lawn chair and pretend I'm in the shop.......I still have to re-license with NHRA in January in Gainesville Fl. That will be a fun vacation during the cold winter months.....

BillM said:

Welcome Mark. That sounds like a very interesting build! I'll be watching for sure. Good luck with your leg.

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This leg is driving me nuts! I had a 2 am EMS trip the other night (infection from my chemo knocking down my immune system), and one of the EMS personnel torqued my knee, loading me onto a stretcher. Now it hurts like crazy! I don't see the surgeon until like the 18th....This is the second replacement knee on the same leg in 5 years, and I'm almost regretting getting it done....Thanks, Uncle Sam, for busting me all up, lol!

But my wheels are shiny!

Hope ya feel better soon!