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.................-- Hooley's 2008 Bonneville Experience --
........................................-- Day One Glitches Again --
.............Qualified for a record -- And a New Record!!
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We forgot to get a crew picture again for 2008, but we did get Hooley with the car. Here are at least the names of the crew members and we apologize if we forgot anyone: Loyd "Hooley" Huffman (Owner, builder, driver), John Kimbrough, Sumner Patterson, Charlie Gould, Jerry Pace, Mark Maupin, Shawn Begay, Tom Sendelbeck and Keenan Willbanks.
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There were not a lot of changes to the car this year. I fabricated a larger water
tank so that we could carry more cooling water. I made the tank as large as possible so that we could carry the
maximum amount of water. I think it figured out about 30 gallons. Hooley spent time disassembling the engine, checking
all the specifications, and rebuilding the cylinder heads. Hooley also went completely through the brake system.
The salt had really taken its toll on everything. Jerry and I prepared some more steel plates to add some more
weight to the car and some of it was used to bring the car weight up over 5000 lbs. now. We felt that we had been
on the verge of needing more weight the year before when the car spun on the backup record run resulting in us
not getting a new record.
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On our first run there was a problem on the 2-3 shift and the car ended up back
in 1st. Hooley said he could see and smell smoke. We worried that the car had been severely over-revved during
this, but checking the data the car just went into the 7000+ rpm range which is plenty safe for the motor. It appeared
that instead of over-revving the motor the clutch slipped and probably saved the motor. The next thing to be done
was we had to go back and check everything and then test the clutch to make sure everything was working correctly.
We did this by getting special permission from the officials and using a portion of the return road on the far
end of the long course for a brief run in 1st to see if the clutch was going to still hold. All of this was done
under supervision of the SCTA officials, who we want to thank for helping us determine if the car had been hurt
or not.
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When everything checked out, we went to the staging lanes and got in line.
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The second run went much better. We were better prepared when it came time to
get ready for our pass and we were over the first run jitters. Hooley and the car did great. The whole run went
just like clockwork. A great push off, followed by a straight run all the way through and we qualified for a new
record with a speed of 249.617 MPH and an exit speed of 252.550 MPH We immediately took the car to impound and
began prepping it for the return run the next morning. Everything went fine until we thought we were finished and
we decided to fire the motor before we quit. That is when we discovered that the electric water pump that recirculates
the cooling water was not working. We quickly did some trouble shooting and determined that it was the pump. Here
is where our preplanning really paid off. We had brought 40 gallons of water in 5-gallon buckets with us out on
the salt. This enabled us to dump all the water in the car, remove, repair, and reinstall the plump, and refill
the cooling water in a very short time. In fact we just finished when our impound maintenance time was up. We dodged
a big bullet there, but were still unsure if the pump would work the next morning on the record return run.
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We were up early and out on the salt. It was another great Bonneville sunrise.
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We decided not to fire the engine until we were nearly ready to run. Yesterdays
experience with the water pump left us uncomfortable with our repair to the pump.................
....................
.........as we never found anything wrong with the pump and the pump wiring,
only that when we put it all back together it worked. We did not want to risk the pump only working one time and
that being for the engine warm up. We started the engine right before being called to run by the starter and made
sure the pump was running. Hooley did another great job................
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.............. The car went straight and fast and he set a new record at 249.945
MPH with a top speed of 253.874 MPH, which upped our old 236 mph record by almost 14 mph and his 250.874 mph 5th
mile speed gave Hooley his AA license!! Wow we were really a happy bunch. After the run and.................
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.............. making it through impound we were able to relax a little with............
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...............the new record.
A quick check of the car told us that we could try again if we wanted to make another pass. We were faced with the problem that we felt the car had hit the aero wall for this combination as our exit speed on both record runs was almost the same even though our 2 1/4 speed was about 4 miles an hour different. Before if we were running faster at the 2 1/4 we would carry that speed to the end of the 5 mile. Not anymore. To go faster we were going to have to turn the boost up for more HP, but to do that we really needed to also change the mechanical fuel injection and to be safe that meant a run through probably only the 3 mile and then checking the data to see what our air/fuel and EGT's were. That would take a day and then if that went Ok we would probably have to run the next day to try and qualify and if that went well another day yet for the record backup run. There just wasn't enough days left to do all of that and get home in time. After a group meeting the decision was made to spend the day enjoying Bonneville, visiting with out friends, and packing to go home.
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Hooley and I both wanted to be home for the yearly HAMB Drags on Saturday at
the MOKAN Dragstrip nearly Asbury, Missouri. We made it home on Friday night and we took the Studebaker and the
Henry J gasser to drags on Saturday. The pickup we used to haul the race car, the trailer, and the race car, still
had lots of salt on them while we had it on display at the dragstrip. It was an unusual site for this area and
most of the onlookers were amazed at the salt on the vehicles.
We would like to thank all of those who helped with the car. This includes a long list of our pit crew. Without them it would not be possible to take on the challenge of Bonneville. We thank all of you so much. Our sponsors that help with equipment and funds include, Amzoil, RCD, Ad Pro, Snow Performance, Chubbs Tire and Battery, and The Nut House.
John Kimbrough -- Crew Chief
Note: We feel very strongly that our water injection system from Snow Performance has been very instrumental
in our success in running a roots blown motor through the 5 mile and we want to congradulate them on a great product.
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Note: A special thanks to Roy Haskett for the use of his Dodge diesel truck to
pull our racecar trailer and haul all of our equipment. We normally use Hooley's old Suburban but Roy’s truck really
made the trip easier. It has spoiled us.
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.................................
........................-- If you are looking for someone to custom paint your helmet --
.....................................................-- check out Indocil Art --
.................... -- Hooley is real happy
with the helmet that was done for him) --
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