You will have a blast. Just bring a helmet...and leave on the second yellow light !:burnout:

I'm first in line as instructor !!! I'm sure you won't have any shortage of people to help drive your car...:laugh:

You can't do any worse that me. I just go to have fun. I'll never be competitive. I always go out in the first round.

----It's addictive!!!.....Bill S

I've seen you run Freddie, I will do worse than you:wink:

Oh boy, have you've got that right...:headbang:

New mobile home for the car.....
 

Carmate 24 footer. Escape door is nice - can get 3 of 4 tie downs in place without sliding my body along the car.

NICE trailer !!

Love the escape door. I wish ,mine opened up that way.

Very nice!!!:biggthumpup:

I like that wheel stop system too.

The wheel stop saves the guesswork when driving into the trailer. This location gives me 920 lbs of tongue weight and guarantees I’ll never open the car door into the escape door frame!

That is a really nice set up. It, also, serves to hold the car back in a hard stop, in addition to the rear wheel straps. Frankly, I would probably have two, just as safety stops.

WOW!!!! I want one!

Springfield Swap Meet - Memorial Weekend
 

The Springfield Ohio Swap meet this weekend is having a special display of vintage drag cars that used to run at KilKare Dragstrip so I'll have Rat's Nest there all weekend. If any of the Ohio contingent on this site are planning to go to the swap meet, stop by and say hi.
I'm hoping some of the prior owners of the car make the trip to see it and hope some of the old timers remember the car and have some stories to share. Should be a fun weekend!

That should be fun ! If you get "old timers" with stories, record them with a phone, or something, to save them.

Have a great time!!:biggthumpup:

Hope to be there saturday..

Good weekend!
 

Great time at the KilKare Vintage Race Car Display. Finally got to meet Sherm (69z2x4) after messaging him for a couple years on local race history stuff. Also had a couple of family members (Chad Willis / Richard McQuirt pics below) of Ralph Willis stop by to see the car that Ralph restored to the Black/gold stripe scheme back in 1978. Ralph passed in the summer of 2021 unexpectedly. He told me this was the car he wished he had back.
Also had a guy stop by the car and told me that he knew the car well. He worked at the Ray Bryant Chevrolet parts counter and remembers when this Lemans Blue COPO was delivered to the dealer along with a another white COPO. He was a childhood friend of Doug Davis (owner #2 of my car and the guy that did the Rats Nest theme), and later worked at Ault & James where Doug had the engine built. To top it off, at one point he was the announcer at KilKare Raceway! He's going to send me a few pics he took of Rats Nest after it was painted, but before it was lettered up. He also thinks he might be able to help me find the OO for my car! I sure hope that pans out!

That had to be a very exciting day for you, Jim, congrats on all the people filling in history for you. Double fingers crossed on finding the OO..:cool2:

For those of you that haven't had the pleasure of speaking with Jim in person you are missing out. Jim is such a personable guy and a gresat asset to the hobby..Just like Jim's COPO, it must be seen in person to fully appreciate what he has accomplished in his restoreration of such a fine car. Hope to see you again soon.

All loaded up!
 

GM Carlisle - Solid Lifter Showroom here we come!

Be safe and have fun!:headbang:

New vintage photo of Rat's Nest!
 

Well, the guy I met at the Springfield Swap Meet came through with a photo for me. He told me that he has more, just needs to find them.
According to him, this photo was from the first trip to KilKare after the car had been painted. Best shot I have of the car in this form:biggthumpup:

I’m not sure if it has been said in this thread but I love the name of this car ! “RATS NEST” sounds so tuff and wicked! Love it!

That is really cool, Jim. Having history and pics of a 53 yr old car come out of the woodwork is amazing. Being a known race car has really helped you piece together the story.

Way too cool!:smile:

Another bit of history on the car.....
 

At the risk of rambling, I'll kind of replay a phone conversation I had tonight. Spoke with a guy named Dave Thomas about bring Rats Nest to the "Gathering of the Geezers" event at KilKare in August as part of a vintage drag car display. Dave is one of the organizers of the event. As we spoke about the history of my car and it's ties to Kilkare as the home track, he mentioned that he campaigned the 63 Ault & James Corvette with Jerry Ault (owner of the Ault & James Speed Shop). I commented that the guy that created/raced Rats Nest, made the deal to buy the car while he was at Ault & James Speed Shop to pick up some parts. Dave's reply was, you have "that" car?! Dave proceeded to tell me that he was there that day and remembered the kid from UD (University of Dayton) that came in looking to sell this Camaro because it got terrible gas mileage and had manual steering and he wanted to get rid of it. He stated "that was a Ray Bryant car right? He witnessed the deal go down on my car 52-ish years ago. Amazing.

WOW, Jim, you just keep falling into all this history !! Congrats on filling in more pages.

Are you buying lottery tickets ??? :biggthumpup:

Jim, that is beyond amazing (and cool) Thanks for continuing to share your cars history with us!:cool2:

Another milestone in Rat's Nest journey. Took it to SCR25 and made a few passes. It's been roughly 50 years since Rat's Nest car 1718 made it's debut at the drag strip as a Super Stocker. It was my first time ever taking a car down the drag strip so I definitely didn't do the car justice but had a great time! For those that haven't followed along, I used vintage photos from 1971/72 to duplicate the paint scheme and each individual sticker on the car.

It was great having you there and seeing the car go down the track, Jim.
You do know this is additive and you just might get the itch do it again...soon...:biggthumpup:

What was the time? I dont see it on the slip. Looks like fun.

The car looked killer ....the track photo is awesome

Bet it was fun!!

Beech Bend is a nice facility.

First time I ever took any car down a track Jonesy, so it was slow reaction time, partial throttle and granny-shifting all the way. :3gears:Also had a carb problem which I believe I fixed tonight:grin:

Thanks Doug! And thanks again for all the work you & others put into making this event happen!

I had the opportunity to meet a drag racing legend at SCR25. Dickie Ogles won championships in 5 different decades in his racing career. Dickie told me that he remembered Rat's Nest from his days running SS/D in his "Silly Bear" 69 427 Camaro. Dickie was kind enough to pose for a pic in front of the car.

Full Circle
 

I had a great day today - brought the car back to the guy I bought it from. Last fall, I had sent him some pics of the car restored in stock trim before the Rats Nest conversion so he didn't know about that or the COPO status. One of the things he told me as a condition of sale was that I could never "turn it into a race car".:stupid:
So before I opened up the trailer, I handed him a sizable wad of cash and told him to take it. He refused and said that he was happy with the deal and never regretted selling the car to me. I then told him it was now verified to be a COPO. He said "really?" I said yes, really. He stuck to his guns and still refused to take the money saying that even if he knew what it was, he didn't have the money to restore it like I did. I persisted that I felt it was the right thing to do, so he finally accepted it.
Once we got that done, I told him he might feel better about taking the money, because I turned it into a race car. I got a confused look from him so I opened the trailer up. He loved it and understood why I did it after learning about all the car's history and vintage photos which I reviewed with him. He was thankful and happy the car will now likely be preserved for the long haul. Below are a few pics of the car in front of the garage where it laid in effective hibernation for 35 years while he owned it. Also took him for a spin in the car which he loved and took a few snaps of him in the car just like the day I bought it. He gave me a couple pics he had from a local show years ago and said he'll find more and get them to me. At the end he told me that I made his day. I told him that he made my day as well:biggthumpup:

Jim, that is so cool! :cool2:




Thanks for sharing your continuing story!