Always cris-cross tie downs - NJFBOA - Home of New Jersey's Camaros and Firebirds

alamantia · 04-01-2007, 05:33 PM

Came back from Atco last night.. Opened the tralor up to find the vette had bounced off the rack and was up agienst the wall in the trailor. A few more inches and it could have fallen onto the pro-mod causing further carnage. It took two of us to lift it up and somewhat back into place so that we could pull the camaro out and let the rack down to manouver the vett to where it was supposed to be. Today we see the rear had shifted from the 4-link and on the nose of the car the fiberglass was severly scratched (i dont even want to tell you how much that paint job cost). Rule of thumb is to always cris-cross tie downs, two in front and two in the back. Unfortunatly, because of the recent powder coating and proximity of the A-frame to the D handles in the rack we did not have tie downs short enough that wouldnt rub off teh coating, even when we fanagled them as best we could. Also use the tie downs that have spring loaded safty clips on the hooks. We have finished assesing the damage today and unfortunatly this is not april fools joke. We will have the car fixed this week including paint. There was a top sportsman, I believe he was, who hit the wall on thursday who is now in stable condition but lost a car and has severe burns on his face, thats our class, so our problems dont seem so bad. Rule of thum when towing a race car. Despite what anyone tells you leave it in park, thats what saved ours, id rather ruin a parking paul than a car. If you are racing a caburated car, run the fuel pump if the car has been sitting prior to your trip to pump the floats in the metering block up so they dont bang around. Criss-cross tie downs. Stop a few miles into your trip to check that nothing is tight. We did this but it must have come loose on the Tpk after we stoped at the Red Lion Diner last night. And cross the saftey chains going from your hitch to your trailor.

Mike · 04-01-2007, 05:46 PM

damn man that sucks, best of luck getting everything back together..

and best wishes to the guy that hit the wall...

Squirrel · 04-01-2007, 08:33 PM

sucks bro..on the other hand red lion ftw

79CamaroDiva · 04-01-2007, 08:58 PM

wowwww, definitely lucky it didnt fall off the rack. good to hear everything will be back togehter again soon though. i did hear about the guy that got medivac'ed, glad to hear he's in stable condition. this season isnt starting out that well for a lot of people. about a month ago we had a local racer have 38% of his body burned in a garage fire with 112 octane gas.. he's been forced into a coma since so his body could heal. crazy year already.

alamantia · 04-01-2007, 09:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 79CamaroDiva

wowwww, definitely lucky it didnt fall off the rack. good to hear everything will be back togehter again soon though. i did hear about the guy that got medivac'ed, glad to hear he's in stable condition. this season isnt starting out that well for a lot of people. about a month ago we had a local racer have 38% of his body burned in a garage fire with 112 octane gas.. he's been forced into a coma since so his body could heal. crazy year already.

if it happened in the daytime it was probably better that it was Cam2 as you can not see alchol flames in sun light, they would have been invisible and harder to deal with putting out. Sick thing is, more people died in accidents on the way to and from the track on highways, dont know if thats 100% factual but I have heard it more then once before at the track. Then again it may be justsomething we say to justify what we do

79CamaroDiva · 04-01-2007, 09:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alamantia

if it happened in the daytime it was probably better that it was Cam2 as you can not see alchol flames in sun light, they would have been invisible and harder to deal with putting out. Sick thing is, more people died in accidents on the way to and from the track on highways, dont know if thats 100% factual but I have heard it more then once before at the track. Then again it may be justsomething we say to justify what we do

yeah, i know about methanol fire, i've had to put a few out... its a good time trying to put out fire that you cant see.. even better finding it.

you think the accidents on the way home from the track have anything to do with the celebrations and drowning of sorrows at the end of a race? ha. i'd like to know how many of those are alcohol related. by alcohol i mean the drinking kind.

ted gerlach · 04-04-2007, 04:56 AM

i have had a junk parts car slide on the deck hit the fender on the trailer and just about tore it off, on the way to the bone yard , crossing the straps is the only way to go,