Chuck Beal Racing!
Posted 06-07-2008 at 07:02 PM by Gordon Carlon
It’s been a while since I’ve blogged here on Nitromater.com, but I had an experience today that I thought everyone would like to read about. I suppose I still owe a few blogs that bring everyone up to speed on my Navy career (assuming anyone is still interested, of course), but for the moment I’ll whet your appetite with the following…
Despite the ever increasing costs associated with fuel racing these days, it appears Chuck Beal Racing is moving forward with their Funny Car operation, including getting Brandon licensed to compete in the family coupe!
Disclaimer: I am not at liberty to discuss the team’s specific intentions, nor any timelines, as it’s not my place, so please don’t ask.
If you log onto www.chuckbealracing.com you’ll see that I’m listed as a “Floater” on the team, so I have no real defined roles or responsibilities. Basically, I show up to work and I do what I’m told. Of course, I’ve been building up a desire and a passion to do this in some capacity since I was in my early teens, so even at my current age - which I’m withholding to protect the innocent - I show up with the enthusiasm and vigor of a 20 year old, no matter how large or small my assigned task or tasks may or may not be. That said, I have asked for and obtained permission to write about my personal experiences working on the team and what it means to me. Any team activities that Chuck & Brandon wish to be made public will almost assuredly be posted on the team website, so be sure to save it to your favorites. I can tell you that in the time I’ve been working on the team I’ve learned quickly that Chuck has no intention of showing up to race as an also ran. If/when we show up, it’s going to be with the intention of ripping the competition’s throat out!
Anyway, I received a call from Chuck yesterday afternoon that hinted towards possible activity with the team, and a few hours later I received another call from Brandon asking me if I could be at the shop this morning to get some work done. Naturally I said yes, and was in the parking lot and ready to get dirty at promptly 8:25 AM.
Our (Brandon and me) task was to spend the day inventorying floaters and clutch discs and separating usable pieces from unusable pieces. It’s interesting for me because I’m so devoted to doing this and doing it right that my mind is like a sponge when I’m there, especially when Chuck is speaking (teaching) – he’s an absolute wealth of knowledge and I’m honored to have him as my instructor. For the record, Brandon is no slouch in the knowledge department either, but even he would admit – Chuck’s the man. So, Brandon and I spent a couple hours measuring over 200 discs and floaters while placing them is their appropriate piles according to thickness – including the NFG pile. (N = No; G = Good… I’ll let you figure out what the “F” equals.) Certainly not grunt work by any means, nor was it particularly glorifying, but certainly very necessary and I enjoyed it immensely. During a quick break in the action I actually took a picture of my clutch dust covered hand with my cell phone and sent it out to all of the drag racing friends in my contacts list, including Karl (d’kid) Stalcup. Yeah, I know – kinda geekish, but I did tell you I felt like a kid so hopefully I’m forgiven.
While we were doing all of that, we also plugged in and charged the batteries on the tractor trailer as well as the starter for the race car and the computer pack – pretty typical to do this each time we’re at the shop, actually.
We wrapped up around 12:00 and had lunch before putting everything away for the day. There’s not much else to report, I just thought everyone would like to know that we were, in fact, moving forward. We’re tentatively scheduled to be back in the shop Tuesday night, so I’ll blog more then if we are.
In closing, I can tell you we’re all excited, especially Brandon (who can blame him?) and look forward to the work ahead and to running the car. As events continue to unfold, I’ll do my best to keep blogging so everyone knows my perspective - that of a “Floater,” on a Nitro Funny Car Team! I know one thing, everyone starts at the bottom, so for me, it’s an honor and a privilege to be associated with such a fine group of people and I thank them for this opportunity…
Despite the ever increasing costs associated with fuel racing these days, it appears Chuck Beal Racing is moving forward with their Funny Car operation, including getting Brandon licensed to compete in the family coupe!
Disclaimer: I am not at liberty to discuss the team’s specific intentions, nor any timelines, as it’s not my place, so please don’t ask.
If you log onto www.chuckbealracing.com you’ll see that I’m listed as a “Floater” on the team, so I have no real defined roles or responsibilities. Basically, I show up to work and I do what I’m told. Of course, I’ve been building up a desire and a passion to do this in some capacity since I was in my early teens, so even at my current age - which I’m withholding to protect the innocent - I show up with the enthusiasm and vigor of a 20 year old, no matter how large or small my assigned task or tasks may or may not be. That said, I have asked for and obtained permission to write about my personal experiences working on the team and what it means to me. Any team activities that Chuck & Brandon wish to be made public will almost assuredly be posted on the team website, so be sure to save it to your favorites. I can tell you that in the time I’ve been working on the team I’ve learned quickly that Chuck has no intention of showing up to race as an also ran. If/when we show up, it’s going to be with the intention of ripping the competition’s throat out!
Anyway, I received a call from Chuck yesterday afternoon that hinted towards possible activity with the team, and a few hours later I received another call from Brandon asking me if I could be at the shop this morning to get some work done. Naturally I said yes, and was in the parking lot and ready to get dirty at promptly 8:25 AM.
Our (Brandon and me) task was to spend the day inventorying floaters and clutch discs and separating usable pieces from unusable pieces. It’s interesting for me because I’m so devoted to doing this and doing it right that my mind is like a sponge when I’m there, especially when Chuck is speaking (teaching) – he’s an absolute wealth of knowledge and I’m honored to have him as my instructor. For the record, Brandon is no slouch in the knowledge department either, but even he would admit – Chuck’s the man. So, Brandon and I spent a couple hours measuring over 200 discs and floaters while placing them is their appropriate piles according to thickness – including the NFG pile. (N = No; G = Good… I’ll let you figure out what the “F” equals.) Certainly not grunt work by any means, nor was it particularly glorifying, but certainly very necessary and I enjoyed it immensely. During a quick break in the action I actually took a picture of my clutch dust covered hand with my cell phone and sent it out to all of the drag racing friends in my contacts list, including Karl (d’kid) Stalcup. Yeah, I know – kinda geekish, but I did tell you I felt like a kid so hopefully I’m forgiven.
While we were doing all of that, we also plugged in and charged the batteries on the tractor trailer as well as the starter for the race car and the computer pack – pretty typical to do this each time we’re at the shop, actually.
We wrapped up around 12:00 and had lunch before putting everything away for the day. There’s not much else to report, I just thought everyone would like to know that we were, in fact, moving forward. We’re tentatively scheduled to be back in the shop Tuesday night, so I’ll blog more then if we are.
In closing, I can tell you we’re all excited, especially Brandon (who can blame him?) and look forward to the work ahead and to running the car. As events continue to unfold, I’ll do my best to keep blogging so everyone knows my perspective - that of a “Floater,” on a Nitro Funny Car Team! I know one thing, everyone starts at the bottom, so for me, it’s an honor and a privilege to be associated with such a fine group of people and I thank them for this opportunity…
Total Comments 2
Comments
|
Very cool.
Gordon, what are the team's intentions and is there a timeline? ha ha haha I'm just busting yer chops. I saw you were moving back East, are you going to leave the team? |
Posted 06-07-2008 at 07:20 PM by Paul Flores
|
|
|
No. I am and will remain loyal to Chuck, he's the guy who was willing to give a no-name like me a chance, so I'll stay on the team as long as he'll have me.
 I'm not transferring until the end of November, so I've got all summer to work and learn. That said, when I do transfer the miles between here and there may cause a few problems logistically, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. |
|
Posted 06-07-2008 at 07:56 PM by Gordon Carlon
|
Recent Blog Entries by Gordon Carlon
- Chuck Beal Racing! (06-07-2008)
- Next up... finally. (10-24-2007)
- My next assignment... (10-04-2007)
- In the beginning... (10-02-2007)
