Double H Drag Strip

7/27: Paul Gibbs, pro mod racer, is not selling his equipment. Another racing Paul Gibbs (stock cars, I think) apparently is, reportedly according to an item on the Internet (I'm still trying to pin it down), and that has led to some confusion about what's going on with the Cuda Beast.
   Bottom line: Paul and the team are itching to race. They hope to get the car back soon and make at least three races before the end of the year.
   The Cuda is still under repair at Jeffers Pro Cars after a crash and fire in June at Orangeburg, S.C. (details below), and Paul hopes to have it back by the second weekend in August so he can race at Huntsville that month, a Southern Outlaw event in September at Montgomery, and one other race there in October, plus any others that would fit that schedule. We'll update when the car is fixed.
6/7, Too close for comfort at Orangeburg: "I'm not in the hospital and the car is fixable, so all's well as far as I'm concerned."
That's how Paul Gibbs summed up a harrowing weekend at Orangeburg, S.C., for the South Carolina Spectacular pro mod race. A crash and subsequent fire Saturday night took the Cuda Beast out of the race and out of competition for a while.
   Paul will take the car back to Jeffers Pro Cars ( www.jeffersprocars.com ) near St. Louis late this week to get a damage assessment that he right now puts at about $10,000. Repairs will include a new front end after the car nosed into the wall about 150 feet out at close to 140 miles an hour.
   Just off the starting line, Paul said he sensed the car was wasn't going straight, and he began trying to correct it. The rear wheels lost traction, and the car became dangerously close to flipping. Only the driver's side front tire was on the ground when the Beast hit the wall, which ruptured the fuel cell. The impact put the car back on the pavement and it slid another 150 feet, leaking fuel all the way and stopping sideways across the track. That gave Paul a view of the fire that was burning toward his car, which he guesses was ignited by sparks from hitting the wall.
   "I looked back saw a flame about 10 inches wide coming toward me, so I pulled the safety pins on the fire system (one under the hood and one inside the car) and waited for the fire to get to me. It was a couple of seconds and -- 'whoof' -- you could hear it," Paul said.
    The fire went from a foot-wide strip to a fireball about four feet wide and four feet high when it hit the pool of fuel under the car, and Paul credits the quick reaction and "never give up mentality" of Orangeburg track personnel for preventing the car from burning to the ground.
Inside the car, Paul was nearly smothered by the halon fire suppression gas that the car's fresh-air system was picking up and pumping into his helmet. He got hung up for a second when his shoulder harness buckles snagged on his head restraint, but otherwise escaped in OK shape, a little burned and little beaten up. A halon nozzle sprayed against his leg and gave him a baseball-sized "cold" burn, and his left thumb is really sore from the impact, which folded over the steering wheel.
   After he was checked out in the track ambulance, Paul went up to the tower PA and thanked the track's workers for their rapid, efficient response. "They kept the car from burning to the ground," Paul said.
   The car did make one qualifying pass, a 4.73 at 159 mph, decent considering that it was done entirely in second gear as shifter gremlins cropped up again. Paul says he suspects some type of air leak in the shifter is causing the car not to leave in low gear.
   Right now, Paul is pulling the engine (something he was planning to do anyway, to freshen it up), and expects to have the car at Jeffers within a week. The next race date is up in the air until the repairs are diagnosed and made. "We're going to make it happen as fast as we can," Paul said. Here is a link to a couple of photos: http://www.competitionplus.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=14464&Itemid=22
Away from the track, Paul has purchased a clutch machine, so he will now be doing his own clutch work, and is putting the finishing touches on his tire shop. Also, in a good sign for the economy, Paul's construction work has picked up this summer.
   A repair update will be posted when Paul gets back from St. Louis.

   Below are a couple of pics of a Pro Street 1971 Dart Paul acquired in an equipment trade. It's all steel, complete interior, fully licensed and street legal, and will do 9.70s in the quarter.