We brought this car into our shop, as kind of a side job, work on it when there is time, sort of project. It is a former Howe/Port City ASA chassis, which like so many others, has been converted to road race configuration. These cars are known for being well built, and safe, given the speeds and facilities that they ran on. It had last been run at two of the very best know race tracks in the U.S. The sanctioning body for the events is very well established, in vintage racing. The car had also been raced with a well know national road race group, in non-vintage, "GT" type car configuration. And that's where the story starts to get scary. Real scary.
There were a few safety related concerns, which we are working to correct, as time allows. For starters, the car is equipped with an electrical fuel pump, as are so many road race cars. The master kill switch was located in the rearward, passenger side corner of the car. It was no where within reach of the the previous driver, or any driver, unless he has five foot long arms. If you have ever been in a real bad wreck, you know seconds can seem like minutes, while you try to figure out just what to do next. Corner workers do not always arrive, in a hurry.
Think about what could happen, if there was a broken fuel line, sparks, and that electric fuel pump is continuing to do it's job. As a driver, you might be disoriented, and not able to kill the power to the pump, in the few seconds necessary. All the switches can look the same, and you could even hit the wrong one. By placing the master switch in direct reach of the driver, there is only one movement necessary, with one arm, in the vital moments, after a big one. Why not mount the master kill switch, in very close proximity, to the fire bottle switch? We relocated the previously installed kill switch, which was actually a really easy job.
You can see the new switch location, in the photo below. Note the LED "power on" indicator light. We included an easy to read, Allstar Performance, "On/Off" decal ( ALL99045). Also added were some Allstar Performance red terminal covers (ALL76152). The "shelf" was bent up from sheet steel, and welded in place. The Sherwin Williams grey spray paint, matches perfect, and looks great. Anyone can know at a glance, if the car is hot, or hot so not. Notice those nice welds, from Howe Racing Enterprises. These cars have good bones. Maybe it will take a very bad vintage crash, for the vintage organizers to wake up, put down the tea, and hot buttered croissants, and get serious about car inspections. There are some pretty quick cars that run vintage, and not all the drivers have had a lot of experience racing. With enough $$, you can buy yourself something that was a handful, for even Mark, or Parnelli, back in the day. We are not sure what more to say about this, but of course, there is more.
The next subject is bolt on ballast, which in this case, gave us nightmares. Same car, same tech inspection crews, same organization, big name tracks, and the potential for horrible results, in a roll over shunt. Loose ballast flying through your windshield can be a very serious problem, trust on this. Notice the size of the weight. Over 100 lbs., for sure. The number "48" is from the cars ASA racing days, so it's hard to say when the install work was done. Two half inch bolts, were all that was holding this massive chunk of weight, to the car. The holes are easy to see, in the two photos. The weight was actually bolted to an 1/8" strip of steel, that runs down the frame rail, put there to hold the fiberglass body door panel, in place. You can literally lean on it with your big tow, and get it to flex.
We have had some surprising experiences, on the track, and off track, with race organizers, as well. Once our cars clutch caught on fire, as we sat helpless, waving our arms, at the (regional race) corner workers. Smoke was literally pouring out from under the front wheel wells, and no one even came over to check it out, despite frantic window waving.
Another time, we watched in amusement, as our car received it's annual tech inspection, very much outside, on a Friday night, and in the dark. Flashlight, and all. Seems crazy. Safety starts with the driver, and car owner. Don't count on others, even though you should be able to. Bad things can happen fast on a race track, don't make things worse.
