An idiot killed my baby. Need advice.

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That all being said, this is exactly why I do not take my car to Heartland Park on a Test and Tune night. I am not willing to lose my investment. I am guessing low 3s, but I don't care enough to take the chance. I had a couple of guys giving me crap a while back for being scared to do it.
Low 3's? that would scare me too.... LOL. Much more safe with your car at a drag way than the street. If you research the math, you'll find the drag way is one of the safest places to have your car in motion.
 
At the very least the track should ban him for life. He has no business being on a track
 
At the very least the track should ban him for life. He has no business being on a track

Sears Point (I refuse to call it Infineon or Sonoma Raceway dammit) doesn't have a driver database you have to sign into when you pull in and pay your $25 on Wednesday nights. Maybe they ought to build one though.

There are tons of FABO guys here in the bay area. I'm only about 35 miles away, and you just need to holler out for another pair of hands if you need 'em. I don't have any duster stuff though.
 
Low 3's? that would scare me too.... LOL. Much more safe with your car at a drag way than the street. If you research the math, you'll find the drag way is one of the safest places to have your car in motion.
Oops, I meant low 13s. You may be totally right about the odds being in my favor, but I won't accept the risk of something happening and my insurance company saying, "Sorry".
 
Your still scared... You can ask to take a solo pass..
Next excuse....
Not scared at all. I used to drag race all the time. Just not willing to take any risk at all that insurance would not pay. I built my car to cruise in and take to car shows.
 
Sears Point (I refuse to call it Infineon or Sonoma Raceway dammit) doesn't have a driver database you have to sign into when you pull in and pay your $25 on Wednesday nights. Maybe they ought to build one though.

There are tons of FABO guys here in the bay area. I'm only about 35 miles away, and you just need to holler out for another pair of hands if you need 'em. I don't have any duster stuff though.
That is funny. I continue to call it SEARS Point as well. The Corporate names that are tacked onto these places often sound clunky and don't roll off the tongue easily.
The former "Arco Arena" in Sacramento was easy to say. They changed it to "Power Balance Pavillion" and it felt strange to say.
 
Not scared at all. I used to drag race all the time. Just not willing to take any risk at all that insurance would not pay. I built my car to cruise in and take to car shows.
100% understandable you built it for car shows in cruising not for the drag strip.
Which as we all know is a hundred times more risky than putting it on a drag strip.
I 100% understand you not wanting to do anything that's not insured.
 
Tracks should start offering “Drag race basics for new racers” (dummies) or “first time (to our) track users tours.” It’s a simple thing done with a school bus with the top chopped off. A guided tour to where everything is and how it’s done and no questions cause they almost all get answered, it’s in the rule book you should have read and understood before you got here.
 
Great news!
Troy, a fellow member of my Mopar club, Wine Country Mopars, generously gave me his 1971 Duster roller-possible-runner for $500 and a case of beer! Slant 6 base model, stock, been sitting a while.
I trailered her home last night. She's certainly rough and needs some prepping before I begin the process of swapping over everything from the '73 but it's a start and I'm feeling really positive and hopeful again.
20190811_201514.jpg


I have to say - the Mopar community has got to be one of the best overall groups out there. So much kindness and generosity.
 
Great news!
Troy, a fellow member of my Mopar club, Wine Country Mopars, generously gave me his 1971 Duster roller-possible-runner for $500 and a case of beer! Slant 6 base model, stock, been sitting a while.
I trailered her home last night. She's certainly rough and needs some prepping before I begin the process of swapping over everything from the '73 but it's a start and I'm feeling really positive and hopeful again. View attachment 1715377724

I have to say - the Mopar community has got to be one of the best overall groups out there. So much kindness and generosity.
Absolutely a STEAL!!! Right year!! If that car is as solid underneath as we see in the picture, that would be a car to have where I live. You've got a good friend :)
 
Great news!
Troy, a fellow member of my Mopar club, Wine Country Mopars, generously gave me his 1971 Duster roller-possible-runner for $500 and a case of beer! Slant 6 base model, stock, been sitting a while.
I trailered her home last night. She's certainly rough and needs some prepping before I begin the process of swapping over everything from the '73 but it's a start and I'm feeling really positive and hopeful again. View attachment 1715377724

I have to say - the Mopar community has got to be one of the best overall groups out there. So much kindness and generosity.
Sorry to see what happened to your Duster but glad to see you were able to score a replacement! Be sure and start a build thread to keep us all updated on your progress! Looking forward to following along!
 
That car kinda looks like my 72 duster.

I bought it as it is, but two hours with damage dozer and I will make that buff out.

I am with those who think the wrecked car can be fixed, but you do what you have to and keep moparin' on

20190811_200859.jpg
 
Yes their is with hagerty & others .Track day coverage for HPDE. Of course every state is different with allowing or not & it ain’t cheap.
 
They should state on the waiver form if you've ever raced and give you solo passes if you never have.
 
View attachment 1715376464

Very sad news... my beloved '73 Plymouth Duster is dead. A complete moron crashed into me on the drag strip Wednesday night, 8/7/19 at Sonoma Raceway. I walked away, somehow, but she is totaled. I am extremely lucky and was wearing a helmet.

The guy who crashed us was a newbie and an fool to boot; he had no business being on a racetrack. His was a bought-not-built supercharged 2016 Coyote Mustang. He didn't know the rules of the track including especially HOW to exit the drag strip, didn't understand that, being in the left lane, he had to yield to me in the right lane (return exits are on right).

After we passed the finish line he continued to accelerate while I began to coast (he was ahead of me by maybe 50 feet). Dude didn't even know where the end of the track was!

Then he suddenly braked hard and veered right, directly into my path, trying to take the earlier of the two exits - which is obviously totally crazy when you are coming off a run of well over 100 mph. I slammed the brakes and yanked the wheel to the right trying to avoid the collision, skidded for about 40 feet while rotating sideways, and then we collided. His car was totaled too... but that bastard had a billion airbags in his car.

It was a really really hard day and I'm not gonna be over it any time soon. I'd built this car pretty much from scratch with a lot of help from a lot of friends, including so many helpful tips, tricks, and answers from FABO, over nearly five years. What started out as a forgotten, neglected grocery-getter left to rot in a field for 10 years slowly metamorphosized into a real race car, full of guts and power and so much fun to drive both on the track and on the street. We even won the Wednesday Night Drags together, beating out everyone else in our class. And everything I now know about fixing and restoring these magnificent cars I had to learn first on the Duster... usually the hard way.

In fact, after an intense session of dyno-tuning that very morning (!!!) helped increase horsepower and torque (+25 hp, +21 ft-lbs), she finally hit the 12s on the 1/4 mile... my very first run, in the 85* afternoon Sonoma heat, with a headwind, yielded 12.89" - not only blowing my old record of 13.13" out of the water but finally helping me to achieve my one and only goal of getting into the 12s. In fact, I had long ago decided that if she ever got into the 12s, we would retire her from drag racing and swap out the automatic transmission for a 4-speed. So close.

I have no doubt that if we had more runs, she would have gotten even faster as the day cooled off - typically I drop about 0.15"-0.20" after the sun goes down. The crash happened on the second run.

So I went from the highest of highs, so proud of what my little car had accomplished, to the lowest of lows, waiting with her bent-up body for a tow truck to take us home one last time.

Of course my heart is broken but I fully recognize how much worse it could have been.

Now I've called a few lawyers who refuse to take my case - the waiver we sign at the gate to get in to the track is pretty specific about eliminating the possibility of suing another driver, even in clear
cases of negligence. My insurance will not cover race track damage. I don't know what to do. I have well over $25k in this car, even though she doesn't look it from the outside.

Has anyone had any experience with race track crashes and making things right afterward?


hat's fixable. Not inexpensive, because it will need some rack work... Which is why your insurance totaled it. But it looks like it's very fixable. It's been some years, but I know I worked with the insurance company to get some cash out, without them totaling the car so I could repair it. They want it off the books as cheaply as possible, and no lawsuits after. So see what they'll give you for it to not total it. Once they total it on paper, it's a PITA to register and nobody will want to buy it.
 
I'd buy it. Who cares when a slant six or 318 car has a salvage title? Insurance companies put low values on non pedigree cars.
THESE are the cars that can be the most fun to own because you are not worried about a few dings or scratches!
 
Great news!
Troy, a fellow member of my Mopar club, Wine Country Mopars, generously gave me his 1971 Duster roller-possible-runner for $500 and a case of beer! Slant 6 base model, stock, been sitting a while.
I trailered her home last night. She's certainly rough and needs some prepping before I begin the process of swapping over everything from the '73 but it's a start and I'm feeling really positive and hopeful again. View attachment 1715377724

I have to say - the Mopar community has got to be one of the best overall groups out there. So much kindness and generosity.

Yea, a very nice score for sure, your luck has changed my friend!
 
Update:

After going through the usual start-up after long sit/neglect, I got the 1971's slant six to not only start but actually run. Lubricated cylinders, turned over by hand, changed oil (which was NASTY) w/ new filter, filled up radiator, slapped on a 1bbl carb I had sitting around, replaced all of the rubber up top and fuel filter, and ran a hose from a gas can to the fuel pump. It started!

Then I drained the varnish from the gas tank and poured a bottle of Seafoam down the fuel line from the engine side, forcing it through with compressed air. Put 5 gallons of high test in the tank and reconnected the fuel line with new rubber fuel line and got the engine to idle. Added about a gallon of transmission fluid and got the car to push itself backwards and forwards in the driveway.

What the heck... we went for a little drive around the block, even shifting through all gears! Headlights, tail lights, 3/4 turn signals, and even the horn work.

Then came back and did SlantSixDan's engine clean-out soup thing.

Of course it's far from perfect - transmission has a little leak and radiator too. But I have plenty of parts lying around including a slant six radiator and even a slant six transmission. Next will be to replace the rubber brake hoses, which should make it safe enough to drive short distances.

After only about 12 hours of work this car has a new life and I'm stoked.

The weirdest thing was getting in that car and backing it out of the driveway under its own power. It had that "neglected old car" smell and was limping, but I was suddenly transported to the very first time I took out my 1973 after getting it running for the first time in 10 years, including the imperceptible shifting of the transmission. Automotive reincarnation...
 
Carefully, that old slant might grow on you and you'll find yourself keeping this one AND rebuilding the 73
 
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