Dave Schultz
June 17, 2013
The Hot Rod Reunion is a NHRA Musuem benefit by “Invitation (Limited to 300 cars) Only” in Bowling Green, KY the Thursday (arrive Wednesday) through Saturday before Father’s Day. While it is packed full of racing, the shear number of cars and exhibitions, plus a huge car show makes it more of a Social Event than a race. Indeed, in three days we got one Time Trial and one Qualifying on Thursday, and 1 Qualifying on Friday – before eliminations began on Saturday.
The Schultz team (Dallas, Hope, Dave & three dogs) left the shop at 9AM Tuesday. At 1pm the Motorhome’s generator turned off. When it was turned back on — it would run but not provide electricity. A rest area diagnosis found that the relay box that switches between shore power and generator had caught fire from a short. We also observed that one of the six 14-ply new (bought on the way to Bradenton in March) trailer tires had a golf ball size bubble in the side wall.
Two hours later and $600 lighter, the relay box was replaced and we were back on the road. We decided not to change the tire yet — but to watch it closely.
We arrived at the Walmart in Jackson, TN (our typical I-40 overnight stop for us) at midnight. Back on the road at 9AM Wednesday, and we arrived at the track to set up pits and tech cars in at 1PM. These tech guys put the cars and equipment under a microscope — and I had to get a new pair of gloves because of a 1/2″ rip at a seam in the palm.
Nostalgia Drag World posted the above photo on their site, saying: It wouldn’t be a hot rod reunion without the ‘Texas Whale’ owned and driven by Dave Schultz. A crowd favorite with those launches. At Bowling Green, KY. — with Dave Schultz.
Thursday we ran the cars in a Time Trial at 10:30 through a 40MPH head wind. We thought we’d get two Time Trials — but they canceled the second. At 1:30PM we got a no notice call to the lanes for the 1st round Qualifying. It was expected after 3PM.
Friday at 9AM we were called to the lanes for the second Qualifying. Were suppose to get another Qualifying in the afternoon — but that too was canceled. The golf ball sized bubble in the trailer tire had grown to Softball size and was at the bead — so we swapped it for a spare.
Saturday we were called to the lanes at 9:30 for the first round of Eliminations — but waited quite some time before we ran. Most all of us assumed the cars would run slower from the increased temperature — but most all of us broke out from that assumption because the humidity improved more than the temperature raised. Dallas and I were 1st round runner ups — and our four day adventure ended with only 4 passes each.
We were on the road back home by 1PM, and at our shop at 1PM Sunday morning.
Again, this wasn’t a points race, and it was more of a Social Event for the drivers. We had a great time swapping lies with the other 30 Nostalgia Super Stock drivers, and a NSS Bar-B-Q in DW & Barry’s pits. Now we’re happy to be home so we can get ready for our next points race in Joliet, IL. We’d just put a new engine in the Texas Whale — so these four passes were good break-in passes for the rings to seat prior to a points race. The cars ran very good.
