March Meet 2014

Yes we did name this race as something always happens that causes us to laugh and then we name the tour. Let us just say it was “spectacular”, more on that later. This report is about the March Meet 2014 in Bakersfield that the Hall Bros just competed in. Mark and Bryan both took their cars to compete in Nostalgia Eliminator which runs on a 7.60 index.

 This is Mark writing the report. For those that don’t know, I am the old man with the red 23T blown BBC altered and Bryan is my son and he has the black 32 Bantam with the blown 392 Hemi.

The March meet all started last year when we sent in our pre-registration to secure our reserved spaces. I had faxed them and then called many times and sent e-mails to confirm that they actually received our forms before the deadline. No responses. Then we get an e-mail confirmation that says we sent them after the deadline to get reserved spots. Wrong! So when I called the lady to tell her that we did send them in time she says“oh yeah, you guys are number 282 and 283 and the asphalt spaces end at 281”. Right…..good answer. Oh well, we can win from the dirt.

This was a four day race Thus, Fri, Sat and Sunday. We got there on Wednesday and it took what seemed like two hours for the guy to find us a spot. I wanted to ask the spotter what happened to our spaces 282 and 283 but he was a nice guy. We ended up almost at the ticket booth which actually worked out OK.

Thursday morning we got teched in and we were ready for the first qualifying round. It was me, Cliff Hall and Jim Novotny with the red car and it was just Bryan and Don Caldwell with the Bantam. Jim would need to do double duty with two cars since Bryan was short a crew member. Jeff Worms was working and could not make it. Bryan recruited Brian Reinaldo but he could not make it down until Fri morning.

So we headed to the lanes for the only qualifying run for Thursday. Bryan ran first and since I was so far back in line I was actually able to be on the line to see his run. Bryan’s car ran great and he posted a 7.619 on the 7.60 index which was # 1 at the time! I was toward the end of the 37 cars and since I was so far back in the lanes Bryan and Don were able to get back to the line to watch. I ran a 7.609 on the 7.60 index! This however was not good enough for #1 and I ended up #3 qualifier. Bryan ended up #6 for the day. This made for a very high spirited night as we went back to our dirt pit. We were really roughing it as we slept on the floor of our race trailer. That is the only way we can afford to make these events. If you take a motorhome they charge an extra 125.00 to camp besides the great fuel mileage with the MH. We also had to rough it when it came to our dinner as Cliff cooked Tri-tip and bake potatoes. The racers life is not easy!

 On Friday it would be the last qualifying pass. I went out first and my car drove toward the guardrail and I let off. Bryan’s car did not sound good and only went 7.80 something. When we got back to the pits after pulling the valve covers on Bryans car he had destroyed a couple of pushrods. So apart it came. We even pulled the heads to make sure one of the valves didn’t hit the piston. Bryan had left his spare pushrods at home so we needed a plan to get them here. We talked about Lisa and Kelly coming down but I found out through Kevin Aldridge that Chuck Adams was coming down to watch his son. They would be there Saturday morning. We also found a bunch of bad adjusters but found some new rocker arms at the swap that had adjusters. Problem solved, or so we thought. Brian Reinaldo and Don Caldwell got everything sorted out so it could go back together. The red car ran over something and was leaking fuel but nothing that JB weld couldn’t fix. Friday night we had a NE-1 pit party and special thanks go out to the Valencia’s for being a gracious host. It was a good feast and Cliff Hall made home made ice cream with the hand crank. It was a hit! Greg and Austin Means liked my apron that I was wearing. I can’t tell you what kind of apron it is but Austin wanted to take it to school and if he did CNN “to catch a predator” would have showed up.

 Saturday morning we got the pushrods kind of late and luckily Bryan’s friend Buddy had come down on his Harley and sped out to meet Chuck at the gas station so we could get the pushrods in time for the first round of eliminations. Now if you have been reading the previous race reports you will know that Bryan has not yet made one round of competition since he has owned the car. This thing is really making him earn it. The car is deadly consistent but it has just been mostly small stuff that has kept him out of eliminations.

We get the call and to the line we go with both cars ready. Bryan runs first and everyone is nervous and Bryan wants to get that monkey off his back. Bryan gets the green and runs 7.619 for the win and his first round win with the car. This is the start of something good. I am up next and I cut a .001 light but the car decides to speed up to a 7.55 on the 7.60 index so I wasted the almost perfect light. Now it is Bryans turn to carry the Hall Bros banner.

 Back in the pits we pull the valve covers and find a couple of pushrods that have slight damage so Bryan fixes them and we adjust the valves a little tighter and Bryan says he will keep the burnout RPM down. Hopefully this will help from beating up the cups.

Saturday evening we get the call for the second round of eliminations and the bantam is ready. Bryan cuts a good light (.038) and gets a huge holeshot. He runs a 7.64 and his opponent runs a 7.44 and Bryan beats him to the finish line! He gets past the second round! This is the first time that I got to ride down in the tow truck in front of the huge crowd. We were honking the horn and the crowd was yelling back. They really like the Bantam as it is the way a nostalgia car should look. It’s like being in the 60s again! This will make for a real good Saturday night as we rough it with barbecue spare ribs and Lisa’s macaroni salad!

Sunday we are ready to go. The pushrods were checked and they look good. Bryan is now in the third round and there are only 10 cars left. Bryan runs a 7.62 and he thinks that he reached the finish line first but it was real close and the other guy gets the win. Bryan wanted this one back as the reaction time was unlike any light of previous rounds.

So all in all it was another spectacular event. Oh yeah, so we named this race the spectacular tour. And here is the back story. All four days we kept hearing the announcers talking and when they said anything they would call out the other announcers name like “how about that Donnie Couch? or what do you think about that Mike English?” So we started doing that in our pit. How about that Bryan Hall? what do you think about that Cliff Hall? That was real spectacular Jim Novotny! Real good run Don Caldwell! So while we were sitting there listening to the announcer’s one of them put every adjective he could into his description and he said the word spectacular several times. So Jim said “man that guy got every word in including spectacular” and we all laughed. That is when we decided to name it the spectacular tour. Funny how we amuse ourselves!

These are some of the best of times for me racing. I had many good times growing up racing with my dad and going to races with my family and this ranks right up there. I couldn’t have made it to this point without the help of friends and family. Thanks to our wives, Lisa, Kelley, Jennifer, Connie and Diane for understanding our need for speed. Thanks to my brother Cliff for always being there. Thanks Jim Novotny, Don Caldwell and Brian Reinaldo. It is fun racing with you all. Bryan wants to send out a special thanks to Winslow Headrick for helping him with the gas bill. Believe me it helps! I want to thank Les Stripe for helping me the past 40 years when it comes to many things including racing. I finally got his name on the side of my car. I have been wanting to do that forever but just never got around to it. Racers are that way. Finally there is a Les Stripe, #LES on the side of the car that could be seen on the bangshift live feed. The #Les has a special insider meaning between Les and Lisa.

Next race is the Fremont Nostalgia Reunion which is actually in Sacramento. The race is on April 5 & 6. Come on out and watch the Hall Bros altereds if you get a chance!