Ask the East Side Gang

April 4th, 07'

As I sit here waiting for the plumber to arrive and tell how me I have a leaking pipe somewhere in the floor, slab floor, I am reminded of a man and his friend who walked up in Tucson last week.

Their question was a simple one, "What kind of money does it take to get into one of these, Nostalgia funny cars?" He was looking at the exploded motor that was bleeding 70 weight oil on the pit floor.

I asked if they would put new or used parts into the engine? "No, we would start with everything new." Well, new KB blocks are in the $6,500 range; of course, you will need the head studs at about $800, and don't forget the nuts and washers. Sleeves are about $100 each, crankshaft about $3,500, Cams are $350, gear drives about $550, Misc pieces $700. Now we need heads, Alan Johnson Nostalgia heads are $6,000 a pair bare. We'll need valves, retainers, springs, keepers and, oh yeah, someone to assemble all this. Push rods, $1,000 worth of lifters. You know we also need some connecting rods at $110 a piece and pistons at about $80 a piece.

At that point I stopped and asked him if he was still interested in doing this? He and his friend just smiled and walked away. It was then that I realized that I truly needed to go into some type of support group.

Do me a favor, when you come to the races never ask me how much it costs to go racing. Just accept the fact that it's some type of disease and let it go. Oh, gotta' go here comes the short bus…..

Till next time see you at the races. Bugsy