Hot Rod Power Tour -- Attending??? - Event Date: Jun/09/2018 - Jun/15/2018

Bruce and Jeff, it was great to meet up with you guys but being so big it was hard to track people down some days!

I attended Darlington and was going to attend Charlotte -- paid for it! BUT... as I was leaving a gas station about 15 miles from home I bumped a curb. Saw I was going to hit it, and instead of backing up a bit and going on decided to just ease up on it. That was fine, but coming off the tire hit hard. Wouldn't think that would bend anything, but it did! Knocked the alignment out enough that it was hard to steer straight... too hard to make an hour and 45 minute trip. So I nursed it home and found a bent control arm.

I cobbled together a rack and pinion system for this car when I built it in 2003, and had to fabricate new steering arms to match the rack and pinion setup. About 2008 I had an issue with a steering arm bending after hitting a curb hard (by accident). I took both arms off and reinforced them. There is an inherent weak spot where the arm has to be notched to fit around the steering knuckle. That is where it bent this time as well. Took the obviously bent side off and welded and added reinforcement. Toe in still isn't quite right, which makes me wonder if the other side is bent some as well. Will take it off later and find out. This is the risk/problem with fabricated components, you sometimes don't know if they are strong enough until pushed to the limit. Same as a drag car -- add power until something breaks, then replace (or repair) with something stronger, only to find the next weak point...