FLYING PIG RACING'S WAYNE RICH GOES TO FINAL ROUND

The Central Coast Autohaus Flying Pig Racing team had nearly the full compliment of family at the ANRA Fall Nationals last weekend at Auto Club Famoso Raceway! What a crew!  We had mine, ding master Woollybear's, and the Lgend Wayno's hot rods there.  And we were joined by Chuck ("if you don't share your toys...") and his bride Cindy- with the Hook Nova..  Support crew included Barry aka Not Dan aka Weldo the Wingman; Dave The Wrench with his posse- Mrs. Biscuits and Gravy along with the girls; Autohaus Dan (crew chief extraordinaire); Kenny the Nuke; Frankster Gankster; J.C. the Wanderer; and of course Ai and Zena- Princess Warrior!  Holy Cow! 

Woollybear has decided to set his badass nova up to run 10.60s (after proving it could run 9s at the last summit race) so he was tweaking it to slow it down, and I think he did a pretty darn good job of getting to that magic number.  Look out next year- this guy could be competitive in Dgas and Hot Rod!

Meanwhile, Surf Legend Wayne goes absolutely unconscious in Hot Rod- marching through the field of over 100 cars- all the way to the final!!  The Vega was insanely consistent and with the help of tuner/crew chief/psychiatrist  Autohaus Danny, Wayne leapfrogged a gaggle of heavy hitters to get himself up to 2nd in the season championship points!  Rookie!! I am learning from this guy.  Thanks Wayno! Round after round, after round, after round...ok, you get it.

7 rounds, a trophy and an envelope $

I came into this race 2 rounds behind then points leader Dale Thomas. As luck would have it I drew him in the first round.  I call that opportunity!  We had a super close race- .002 second separation at the start- I ran him down and blipped the throttle once, taking a close stripe and the win.  So, with that I put myself in position to move up in points- only to lose 2nd round in a close race, but I just "took a little too much win light" breaking out by a couple hundredths.  Luckily for me, a bunch of the heavy hitters also went out in early rounds, so when the dust settles I think I am about 3 rounds out of first.  It ain't over yet!

More pics and video coming. Until then,
SLO Racer. Out.

FLYING PIG RACING AT ANRA SUMMER NATIONALS 2018

Boss Dan, The Wrench, The Wanderer, Kenny the nuke, Wayno the legend, and the one and only (not Dan) Weldo Plazmoski, with me in the pits!

The Flying Pig Racing crew had a fantastic weekend at the ANRA Summer Nationals!!  I mean, it should (almost) be illegal to have this much fun. The temps at Famoso Raceway stayed below the century mark and that makes everyone a lot happier.  The food was great, the comradery was priceless, and the racing was competitive.

Here's a major highlight: Wayne -the legend- Rich popped some new heads on the Vega, and came out strong with a string of 10.04s and a best of 10.005!  That from a hot rod that was in the 10.50s last race.  Nice work Wayno!  It looked like this-

Wayne and I were both first round winners (second round losers) in D Gas, BUT we both did well in Hot Rod.  Wayne went to the semi's while I went out in the 3rd round.  Good news is I took out the points leader in round 2!  I came into this race trailing 1st place by 2 rounds, and when the dust settles and the points are counted, I think I end up just 1 round behind the leader(s).  Wayne jumps up into the top 10 as well.  So it looks like FPR will have two cars in contention going into the final 2 races of the season.  Can't ask for more than that.

Here's one of my time runs -
                                      

Round 1 win-


           
                                           2nd round win vs. Dan Rowly

I was sporting my brand new ROGUE wheelchair thanks to Ki Mobility!  They stepped up and gave me the wheels to get around on and off the track with the ultimate in performance!  Can't thank them enough.  Rene Szalay and Murray Slagerman- thanks for being the guys to make it happen!

And then there is THIS!  So Dave the wrench, pulls me over to his trailer and says "hold on- I have something for you", and out comes WHAAAAAT?! A bottle of Whistle Pig "The Boss Hog" complete with a bitchin' cast flying pig stopper!  This stuff is dear, and the flying pig topper is RARE- only used in one vintage! I guess he searched far and wide to come up with that one!

 

Ready To Go ROGUE At The ANRA Summer Nationals

I just picked up some new sponsorship in the form of wheelchair manufacturer Ki Mobility.  A couple of super smart dudes that I worked with years ago started this new wheelchair company and have grown into a formidable competitor on the world stage of high end mobility and custom seating.  So, when I re-acquainted with them last March it quickly became apparent that they were going to become my ride of choice outside the race car. 

I am incredibly Stoked to be riding the ultra responsive ROGUE by Ki Mobility!

  It is in the soul of the Rogue, the way it stands out, it's defiance of         convention, it's independence that separates it from all others.

Resist conformity. Go Rogue.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         




Meanwhile, we're getting stoked to pick up where we left off at the #ANRA Summer Nationals August 25th and 26th at Auto Club Famoso Raceway! It's been way too long since the last ANRA race and this team is champing at the bit!

So we brought out the ol' pig and put some fresh wax on the awesome Barry Fehlman paint job!

Wax on, wax off!

It was like a community project-  Kenny the Nuke came over with his sidekick Ashley, and jumped right into the washing and waxing.  Before I knew it even the "Tool Man" across the street came over and manned the hose!

Looking pretty slickery

Wax should be good for a couple hun, right?

Ready to go Rogue at ANRA Summer Nat's!

See ya there.
SLO Racer. Out.

ANRA SEASON OPENER

Man, I love drag racing! And you meet some incredible people...like Captain Kirk, and two honeymooners and a dog riding a 2 wheeled BMW with sidecar (complete with surfboard rack) across the country.  We must be doing something right.

Once again the Flying Pig Racing pit was full of, um, characters: Autohaus Dan, Weldo Plasmoski (not Dan), my "new photog" Dave- with Jann and a dog in a minimouse dress, Kenny the nuke and his sidekick Ash, were joined by the south coast gang: surf gods Wayno (with wife Ai and Zena princess warrior pit), and Woolly Bear and Frank. The south coast crew had a couple drop-ins that added tons of color- Captain Kirk skated in from the Big Island, and the honeymooners cruised up from SoCal to join the fun.  And then Wayno's sister and her husband rambled in from the desert to camp for a couple days and shoot some incredible pictures. In the next pit over, included in the festivities, was Chuck (if you don't share your toys...) and Cindy.  Wow what a crew!

New friends were made, stories were told, great food was eaten, and we did some racing too.  Wayne and Woolly showed up with plenty of new parts on their respective hot rods. (Haha-they are still figuring out that consistency  comes from -don't touch that thing!)

Wayne was having plenty of issues with some wild temperature fluctuations, which ultimately manifested in what looks to be a head gasket or cracked block...suffered in round 1.

Woolly Bear found a busted valve spring a couple days before the race and showed up with a bunch of new stuff installed last minute. All was good, but he went too quick in round 1.

Me, in the mustang, had the best day racing in some time! I finally found some consistency at the starting line...due in large part to Wayne Rich talking me through his winning mentality. As a pro surfer and Hall Of Fame shaper, this guy has the cred and the experience I needed to learn from. He has helped get my head right...knowing how to approach qualifying and narrow the focus on race day.

Anyway, I ended up going 6 rounds, losing in the semis to friend and nemesis Dale Thomas.
I won several rounds on the tree, got lucky on one, and had a bye to the semi. When it was all said and done, I finished 3rd (in a field of 83 cars) and set us up to make a legit run at a championship this year. Can't ask for more than that!

The Flying Pig

Wayne Rich goes wheels up

Woolly Bear  leaving hard

Ashley schoolin' Woolly on the fine art of hover boarding

Yep. That's a surfboard rack!

Lane Life

This dog rode cross country like that!

The honeymooners

Pit Life

B-Dawg tending to the fuel

Ai and Zena

Off Season Prep for ANRA SEASON OPENER

During the off-season (well, ok, at the last minute prior to the start of the 2018 season) The Twin (aka "Weldo Plasmoski", aka "not Dan", aka "B-Dawg", my wingman Barry decided it was high time to put some fresh red and white on the ol' pig.  So I obligingly dropped 'er off at his house so we could begin prepping.  Now, if you know Barry, you know that he doesn't do anything half way.  Me, on the other hand, well...that's a different story.  So...after about 20 hours or so of both of us sanding, interspersed with a few bouts of minor body repair, I declared it to be ready for paint!  Mind you, it ain't as easy as just sayin' it to B-Dawg. Remember- he does nothing half way.  I had to repeatedly say "it's just a race car".  And "it's good enough for who it's for:! Shoot, at one point his wife came out and caught him massaging on it after we had called it good. Even she had the mantra down: "It's Just A Race Car", she told him! 

On the following Monday we rented a paint booth at San Luis Customs, and Barry laid down a stellar paint job, bringing the tired old pig back to life! While keeping the theme the same as the prior red/white combo, we kicked it up a notch with a brighter red and a whiter white.  Oh yeah, and there is a little pearl action in the red.  It came out pretty darn good, if I do say so myself!  

There wasn't much else really to be done prep-wise...just an oil change, new 5-point harness, a new fuel cell to replace the aging one, and a good going over by Autohaus Dan to make sure we're mechanically sound and safe to race!

starting to get parts back on

Stripes and numbers back on