Hooley the Stude and B'ville

[1FATGMC]

(If you are reading this post for the 1st or 2nd time I've added to it with more text and pictures and posted the whole lot on my web site.  To see it all go HERE )
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

First of all we had a great trip to B'ville and it was good seeing a lot of you.  We were in the staging lanes so much we didn't get much chance to visit.

What Hooley accomplished with his Stude is truly amazing.  Let me back up just a little.  Hooley came to B'ville 2 years ago with John, me and other friends as a spectator.  This past year he decided to build a car with the hopes of running over 200.  No records, just to run over 200.  He started on the car during the winter.  Come April he had a body (and not a very good one) on a frame and suspension he built himself.  He ordered a "glass" frontend/hood for the car.  At this point no body work other than the chopped top roughed in, no wiring, no motor, no plumbing, no safety equipment not much of anything.  

Then John (WZJUNK) got involved and did the paint and body work on the car.  A bunch of Hooley's friends jumped in and helped him on a daily basis.  Still the motor wasn't put together until about 2 weeks ago and wasn't fired until a week ago and then didn't have much oil pressure and wouldn't run over 4000.  The oil pump was changed and that took care of the oil pressure and last Tuesday a friend came over and helped get the mech. fuel injection sorted out so the engine ran good over 4000.  

The next morning at 3 am Hooley, John and Jim left for Oak City where they stopped at Stroud's to get a window net made for the door.  From there they drove straight thru to my place in Utah and arrived about midnight after a 1050 mile drive that day.

We spent the morning in my shop making tabs to hold the window net and finishing up a couple other minor things on the car and left for b'ville around noon.  It is 450 miles from my place to there and we arrived there a little after 9 in the evening on Thursday.



Friday the car was unloaded and we took this shot, John on the left, then Hooley and Jim.  John an Jim did a lot of work on this car and of course Hooley put in tons of time on the car over the last 3 months.    

 

Hooley, John and Jim towed the car to tech inspection while Dusty, Lilly, River1, Purplepickup and myself set up the pits and the shelter.  The car went through tech with no problems.  That is an accomplishment right there.  

   

This is a picture of the pits.  Friday went pretty smooth and wasn't that hard of a day.

 

Sat. morning was driver meeting and rookie orientation for us rookies.  After that we were allowed to take our car  to the starting line.  In the starting lanes you go to a pre-staging lane where the above picture was taken and then as cars leave the line you move up to the starting line group of cars.  

   

We were pulling the car to the starting line and back to the pits with 1FATGMC using a towbar.  At the line when we were a couple cars from leaving I would drive on down the course on the return road where we would pickup Hooley after his run.  I would stop between the 2 and 3 mile and used John's camcorder to take pictures of the car at speed.  We had my camcorder in the car and have some really nice in-car video of each run.

Jim and John would push the car the rest of the way to the starting line and fire the car.  Since it was running on alcohol, gas had to be squirted into the butterflies in the air scoop.  George, purplepickup, and Jim, River1, would take still shots of the car leaving the line and at speed, so you are going to have to wait for those pictures, since I don't have any.

Hooley had to make a number of licensing passes.  The first had to be between 125 and 149.99.  Do a number higher or lower than that and you re-run till you do.  I was in charge of figuring rpms to run and we almost blew this run as we ran a 127+ mph as the rpm charts I had made up were off. This gave him his "D" lic.  Hooley just ran through the 3rd mile  about 4500 rpm using our small tires in the back and said there was no sensation of speed!!.

Instead of pulling back to the pits we went back and got in line again and checked the car over in line.  We were in the last couple cars that got to run Sat..  This time we had to run between 150 and 174.99 mph for a "C" lic..  Hooley running on the small tires at 6000 posted a 173.4 mph run.  That was almost too fast.  Now the first problem surfaced.  At the end of the run the oil pressure was down to 15 psi.  He had a windage tray, but it appeared we were pumping the oil out of the pan into the upper end.  He was running a high volume, high pressure pump.

Sunday morning the decission was made to get a stock oil pump from the parts store and try it.  So a stock pump with a high pressure spring went into the car that morning and we went back to stagging.  We also put the large diameter tires on the back of the car and moved the small tires back to the front.

We were back on the short course (3 mile course).  To move to the long course you have to run at least 175 mph in the first 1/4 of the measured mile, from mile 2 to 3.  Also to get his B Lic. he had to run faster than 175 and slower than 199.00.  I had to refigure the rpm's since the tire change and we had to make sure we went over the 175 in the first quarter.  Hooley stepped up to the plate with a run of 189.3 in the first 1/4 of the 3rd mile and 190.7 in the mile.  The car pulled great.  He ran right up to  5900 in the second mile and just held it there through the 3rd mile.  That gave him his "B" lic. and move him and the car to the long course.  The car skated around a little on this run and he now admitted there was "some" sensation of speed   !!

We returned to the starting line without going to the pits and got right in line again, but this time in the "long" course line.  We couldn't belive how well things were going.  The only problem was at the end of the run he again went to 15 psi of oil pressure, so we didn't know if the motor was hurt or not.  I guess he wanted to throw a little drama into the whole thing.

Again we were one of the last cars to make a run on Sunday.  Due to the oil pressure problem the decission was made to only run to the end of the 3rd mile and not through the 4th and 5th miles.  At the starting line John mentioned to the starter that we would just run up over 200 mph and shut off after the 3rd mile.  He said "do you think you can do that?".  Well Hooley ran down the course and laid down a 198.433 in the first 1/4 of the third mile and averaged 207.485 for the whole 3rd mile   .  That was impressive.  To run 198 in the first 1/4 of the 3rd mile and average 207 for the mile he probably was running 210-212 at the end of the mile. Maybe someone with better math skills than me can figure this out. The oil pressure problem was still there, so Hooley decided that he had accomplished his goal of running over 200 and the car was parked.  This also gave him an "A" lic for over 200 mph.

   

Here is the timing slip from the last run.



Here is a picture of the four lic. that he earned in 2 days in 4 runs.  I really doubt there is very many people that have taken a new car with the driver being a rookie and gone through 4 licensing passes in 2 days and run over 200 mph.  Hooley and the guys built a really impressive car.  Other than changing the oil pump and pulling the plugs on one run no maintenance was done on the car.

Next he needs a bigger gear and a better motor with a better oiling system.  Did I mention this was a junkyard 400 sbc running swapmeet pistons and rods he picked up for $50  :? .  This motor runs a flat tappet cam and he figured it was good for about 6500 which is about the rpm on the last run.  I think with taller gearing and a dry sump he could run 220 with this motor.

Well anyway we all had a great time.  Thanks Hooley for getting us there and I'm sure John will have some to add to this when he has time.  He should be home about now.

Sorry about the long post, but figured some of you might have been interested in what went on.

c ya, Sum
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(If you are reading this post for the 1st or 2nd time I've added to it with more text and pictures and posted the whole lot on my web site.  To see it all go HERE )

[phat rat]

Fantastic Sum. Thanks for giving us all the pics and info

[Crosley.In.AZ]

Sum,

Xlnt post.  The crew did an outstanding job at the first effort!

[exsedan]

Good Show Guys.............jb EXSEDAN

[40]

Great job...Sounds like FUN!!

[WZ JUNK]

Just got home.  Left Wendover yesterday morning.   Drove straight through the night and the day today.  Thanks to everyone.  Incredible.  Going to bed.  More later.

"Just glad to be there"

[av8]

Just got home.  Left Wendover yesterday morning.   Drove straight through the night and the day today.  Thanks to everyone.  Incredible.  Going to bed.  More later.

"Just glad to be there"

Great chronicle, Sum, and a wonderful effort resulting in a very neat car that will probably become a Bonneville regular in years to come.

Wish I'd been there this year.

Mike

[Charlie Chops 1940]

Well, I have to say that I am really impressed by that effort! Congrats to all who had a hand in that process. Nice bit of writing there too, Sum, not to mention excellent pictures.

Again, good job!

Charlie

[34ford]

Nice coverage Sum. Looks like it be a cool place to go when one has some free time. the guys really hustled to get the car ready and looks like the plan came together 1st class.

Thanks for sharing.

bc

[Jokester]

Congratulations to all involved.  This is a major accomplishment.  You should all be very proud.


.bjb      

[river1]

pic of hooley just before 207 run, his view of salt and hooley seeing timing slip for the first time. in backwards order but o well.

[river1]

i want to thank hooley for the honor of assisting. i had a blast helping (read as staying out of their way and being a gofer) hooley and crew. it gives you a whole new perspective on speed week. here is another pic

leaving the line for the 207

[river1]

hooley at speed on the short course

you should see this pic before cropping and resizing it is SOOOOOO cool.

[btrc]

Congrats to Hooley and all the crew.  I sure there aren't many rookie teams that can go a whole meet and not have any of the usual hiccups.  I have got to get out there some year and see what it's like.  It looks like a lot of fun (and work).

Bob

[Ohio Blue Tip]

Great job and great report!  You sure know how to hurt a guy that missed the salt this year.  Come on Sum get that lakester going for next year.