UPCOMING EVENTS September 1st & 2nd - Southwest Mopar Mini-Nats September 5th thru 8th - Mecum Auctions Dallas October 20th - San Antonio Mopar Show 7740 N. E. LOOP 820 FORT WORTH, TX 76180 817-276-7700 Cowtown Mopars Performance Team PO Box 162413 Fort Worth, Texas 76161-2413 Place Postage Here Rush To:
August 2012 THE STARTING LINE Official Monthly Publication of Cowtown Mopars HEY COWTOWN MOPARS MEMBERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope everyone is having GREAT summer!!!! I sold my cream puff coronet to a guy named Buck. I hope he will enjoy the car as much as I have. I also think he will be a new member soon. Good luck Buck! Every year I look forward to the Dallas Mopar club's annual show Labor Day weekend. I hope to see ya there this year. I will have the club cooler loaded with drinks, so be sure and come by and have something cold to drink with us. I also hope we can convoy down to the San Antonio Mopar Muscle and Classic Car Show Saturday October 20th. We will talk more later about the details. Hope to see you at Spring Creek for this month's meeting. See ya! Mark Buchanan STARTING AUGUST 11TH, 2012 ALLEN SAMUELS WILL BE OPEN ON SATURDAYS, NOT SUNDAYS!!! Allen Samuels gives all club members discounts on both vehicle and parts. Just be sure to show your annual membership card to the cashier/salesman. Don t have a membership card? See our membership director for a card when you renew your membership. **Employee Pricing when purchasing vehicles** **Cost +10% when buying parts**
From The Veep s Desk Back on July 27th, there was an evening event at the Texas Motor Speedway, that involved drag racing, track laps, and a car show. Several of the club members had indicated that they would like to attend, so around 6:00pm, Lesa and I loaded up the Twins and headed out. The temperature was 103. Arrived at the track, only to see a long line of cars at the infield entrance. Nice mixture of old and new, stock and modified. More than a few motorcycles. We got in line. We waited. We moved up seven or eight inches. We waited. Did I mention it was 103? We moved up some more. Both of us had engines running. Unwise. Temp gauge on the 'cuda past centerline for first time since finishing the restoration. Decided to shut motor off. Get out of car, only to see the T/A is puking coolant all over the road. That has never happened in the ten years we have owned the car. Line moves forward. Jump back into the 'cuda. No start. Car has no intention of starting. Ran battery down trying to convince it otherwise. Luckily, was at the top of an incline, so was able to coast down the ramp and get out of everyone's way. Walk back up ramp to check on Lesa. T/A won't start. Battery really low???? Repeat push - coast with T/A. No option but to wait until the cars cooled down. Called Mark Buchanan, and found out he and Randy Buntyn were already parked in the infield. Gave them a situation report, and they started gathering empty water bottles and filling them in the restroom. Thanks guys! After about 45 minutes, the car's temp gauges had dropped enough to attempt restarts. Both batteries were low enough to require jumps, which were provided by track staff. Both cars fired right up, and we proceeded into the infield show area. We got settled in and took a few minutes to look over the other vehicles and visit with friends. From the club side, Ron Carroll was there with his '70 Charger, Randy Buntyn brought his '69 Super Bee, and Mark B. was in his mom's Challenger, you know, the one with air conditioning. Bill Russell with the AMC club was also parked with us. Ron and Bill both took their cars out for track laps, but Lesa and I decided to pass, in order to give our cars more time to cool off. The cars cooled off enough to remove the radiator caps. No measurable coolant loss on the 'cuda, but the T/A needed six bottles of water. Between the heat and battery issues, Lesa and I decided to leave early, in hopes of getting home before full dark. Both cars required jumps to start. It was then we noticed that the T/A's ammeter was showing discharge with the engine running and the lights off. She was running on the battery alone, and not much of that. After a short discussion, Mark agreed to follow us home, in case the T/A's battery became completely drained. It was already dusk when we left, so we put Lesa in the middle and Mark brought up the rear. Lesa was running without lights for the entire trip. Of course, lots of helpful motorists would flash their lights at Lesa as a warning signal. We finally made it home without incident. Thanks Mark!! Before he left for home, we put a test meter on the battery with the engine running. Barely getting 12 volts. Not enough to keep the battery charged. So, the alternator and voltage regulator have both been pulled and are at a repair shop awaiting testing and possible rebuilding. Expect that all will be done in time for the Southwest MiniNats.
MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION Mike Bearce, Membership Director We still have 20 members that have not renewed yet for 2012. Upon renewal, you will get your Membership Card for 2012 which will allow you to get your parts from Allen Samuels Dodge for 10% over their cost and also allow you to buy a car for Employee Pricing. We have received our new Window Stickers and upon renewal you will receive those. If you have already renewed, see me at any event or at the Club Meeting to receive your Window Stickers If you have renewed and have not received your card yet, see me at an event or send me an email at mgbearce@verizon.net and I will see you get a new card. Renew by mail or at one of our events. Single membership New $25 / Renewal $15 Family membership New $35 / Renewal $25 IN THE WORKS There are few events in the club is looking to do in the coming months. Plans are being made, and there will updates in the September newsletter. Here are a few of the things we are looking at. Info will be posted in the newsletter, as well as the Facebook and club chat forum. September 5th thru 8th - Mecum Auctions Dallas - More of an FYI that Mecum is coming to Dallas. Some club members have attended past events, and say the $15 entry fee is completely worth it, just to look at the cars! October 20th - San Antonio Mopars Car Show - This is a 12-4 car show, and we are looking to see if people would be interested in making a day trip or overnight run to go down and participate in the show. Annual Chili Cookoff - We do not have a set date yet, but we are planning to have this event which has turned into the big fall get together for the club. ASD Toy Drive - We are talking to Allen Samuels to determine a date for the toy drive. Please note that effective August 11th, ASD is once again open on SATURDAYS. This will effect future show planning. Thanks to Susan Brownell who goes to a lot of trouble to get many of our events scheduled and coordinated. She is instrumental in getting our picnics, cookouts and cruises off the ground!
Off The Wing by Barry Hansen What's News in Sep issue of Hot Rod magazine. SRT division building and sponsoring a 600hp '13 Dart driven by Travis Pastrana (Rally America and X Games champ) for the 2012 Global RallyCross Championship Series. First the Viper is back and now the Dart. Life is good. As it is written, so it shall be. Mopars swept the Mopar Mile High Nat'ls in Denver. Antron Brown T/F, Fast Jack Beckman F/C, Allen Johnson Pro Stock. Mopars swept the Sonoma Nat'ls as well. Antron Brown T/F, Johnny Gray F/C, Allen Johnson Pro Stock. All is right with the world. In NASCAR Brad Keselowski won Kentucky while teammate AJ Allmendinger gets busted for drugs. (You up for the race man? Yea, Up really Up). Sam Hornish Jr steps in the second car. Not doing a great job but hey, he's not used to fenders being on cars. My first Winged Warriors Nat'l Meet, Colorado Springs June 25-28 was a bust. Arrived the Fri before, COS caught fire Sat, stuff started canceling before the meet even started. Sun morning smoke everywhere and ash falling on cars. Nothing for me here, drive home straight through hitting Amarillo hottest part of the day with a high speed vapor lock miss and a heat soaked car. Car took it fine, the driver not so much. Fortunately back in time for the wonderful picnic at Lake Benbrook. Thanks Susan and Rick for a great time at a great location. Lots of shade, great view, big secure parking lot. Thanks Ken for the fantastic BBQ and sides. Worth reading... We Were The Ramchargers. A Christmas present from my favorite daughter, Kate. They tell their story from beginning to end 1955 to 1974. Lots of first hand stories and technicals. Starts with the 1954 331 HEMIs for the Indy 500 so fast in testing USAC banned them by shrinking them to 271 CID. The factory said screw that and the engineers formed the Ramchargers drag team (part-time, after work) to build the famous High and Mighty Plymouth with an Indy 331 from salvage. Funny that later a full bore 354 HEMI from salvage found its way into a 55 street Plymouth. Same Plymouth is towing a boat home on Woodward Ave in Detroit, encounters a 57 Chevy factory car and a 55 Rocket Olds. He drops the Torqueflite in first, brake torques it, holeshots and passes them both with a boat. The list of parts, techniques, and firsts they developed are amazing and being factory they shared them with all the other Mopar teams. Revels how NHRA legislated the Pro Stock Duster and Dart Sport out of competition and 30 years later apologized. I laughed, I cried, a real page turner. You know you raised them right when... A few years ago Kate and I attended the O'Reilly Nat'ls in Topeka. Strolling across the parking lot and just visiting. All of the sudden a burnout signals the start of T/F round one. She grabs my hand, we gotta go, NOW! and at a trot drags her poor old out of shape dad across the parking lots, ticket gates and up the hill behind the starting line so she doesn't miss even one run. Mopar or No Car
The Go Fast(er) Department Mark Buchanan - Race Team Coordinator HEY TEN TIME TMCCC CHAMPIONS!!!! Our summer break is almost over and I'm ready. We went to the track last weekend and I will go at least once more before we go to the Motorplex. As I said last month we have our work cut out for us, so let's get off to a good start at the Motorplex on Sept. 9th. Stay tuned!!! See ya at the track Mark 2012 TMCCC Race Schedule September 9th September 16th September 30th October 14th October 28th Ennis Denton Royce City Denton Kennedale EVENTS SCHEDULE Just in case you need an excuse to drive your Mopar.. Aug 19th - Club Meeting, 5pm, Spring Creek BBQ in Bedford Sep 1st - Southwest Mopar Mini-Nats, Garland Sep 5th to 8th - Mecum Auctions Comes to Dallas! Sep 9th - Back to Racing! Oct 20th - San Antonio Mopar Show Chili Cook off - TBA Toy Drive & Show - TBA *** T-SHIRTS - DECALS - PATCHES *** If you ordered show T-shirt from this year s show, Dan Robinson has them. Please see him at one of the upcoming events, or coordinate with another member if you can t make it. We want to make sure you get what you ordered. There is also a small number of shirts remaining if you would like to purchase one. $10 each. There are also large club window decals ($10 each) and small club iron-on patches ($3 each) available.
BY THE MINUTES with Rich Lemmon CMPT Meeting July 15, 2012 Start 17:30 1. Recent activities discussed. a. Club picnic at Lake Benbrook. b. Breakfast group meeting at Rudy's. 2. Discussion of coming activities. a. July 27 race and show at TMAS. b. Dallas Mopar Show on Memorial Day Weekend. c. San Antonio Show in October. 3. 50/50 pot $25 won by Dan Robinson. 4. New order of show shirts is in. End 18:07 ITEMS FOR SALE AND WANTED WANTED - Upper Control Arms and front spindles from a 74-up A-body that had Disc brakes. Contact Dan Robinson at drob@charter.net Anything you want to buy or sell? Send info to Kirk Maisenbacher to get it in the newsletter. Items will usually run for two editions unless you need it to run longer. Don t forget we re online: www.cowtownmopars.com or search Cowtown Mopars on Facebook!!!
DEAN ALLEN 972-801-7587 Dean is offering up his years of knowledge to help members with their automotive questions.
Cowtown Mopars Performance Team P.O. Box 162413 Fort Worth, Texas 76161-2413 www.cowtownmopars.com Membership Form Date Please Print or Type Type of Membership: New or Renewal Single or Family Name Age Date of Birth Address Phone # City State Zip E-Mail Occupation Single Married Spouses Name # Of Children Your Vehicles Year Make Model Driver/Show/Race Stock/modified 1) 2 3 How were you referred to the club? Personal Information-Name, Address, Phone number, etc are placed in to a club roster and made available to club members. Cowtown Mopars will also attempt to get club-pricing discounts for its members. This will require providing the vendor with a club roster to very affiliation. Cowtown Mopars can include my information in the club member roster: Cowtown Mopars can include my information in the club discount roster: YES NO YES NO Signature Amount Paid Check # Initial Single Membership: $25 Renewal Single Membership: $15 Initial Family Membership: $35 Renewal Family Membership: $25