Kevin (Wolverine) was cruising with the Mass boys and the Ct guys (myself included) when he decided to pull off and sleep in his car for a bit and catch up to us later. Well, we heard later on that Alan Wander (69gs400s) had found a stranded Buick guy along Rte 80 in Pennsylvania. It turned out to be Wolverine. He threw a rod or two (# 7 and ?) getting back onto the highway after a pit stop. He had to have his car towed and rode the rest of the way to Ohio with Alan. The next day he located a 70 455 SF code engine at the swap meet. It was complete except for the carb. This was RatRoaster's motor out of a clapped out Electra he had bought and then sold to whoever was selling it at the swap meet. A couple of the Mass boys then used Johnno's truck and trailer to go pick up Wolverine's ride. A couple hundred bucks later for towing and storage, the car was at the track in front of the swap tent. The boys went at it tearing it out. Had to be twenty sets of hands working on this thing. Johnno, Kevin, Jim ramsey were up to there armpits in grease. Mark DiConto spent most of a day there along with Nicholas Sloop and a bunch of other guys. Man, I know I don't have all their names of the guys that helped. Anyway, in pretty short order they ripped out the "ventilated" 350. Big freakin' hole in the side of the block. A parts run or two and they had the 455 prepped to go in. They also installed new frame pads which, conveniently, were gotten from the TA tent. They were a number of issues to figure out, but with all the Buick faithful there it was no problem getting knowledge. They finally got the 455 in and started her up! It ran pretty well, but it seemed there might be a knock, but it was hard to tell over the open manifolds. They took the car to get some pipes put on it and were a little bummed when they came back. It seems when the motor was out the pan got dented and the crank was hitting it, causing the knock sound. They tried to weld a bar onto it at the pipes shop and use a come along to pull out the dent, but the come along broken with getting enough clearance. so they had to drop the pan AFTER it was in the car. What a PIA! They got the pan dropped enough to get in there and pound out the dent, then put it back together. The car ran and sounded sweet after that! I'm telling you, these guys stuck together and made it happen. A lot of people were covered in head to toe grease over the couple of days it took to get this done. People gave up running on the track to give their time to help a fellow Buick brother in need. It was an awesome thing! This guy (Wolverine) who started the BPG Nats by toasting his 350 on the highway is travelling home with a 455 under his hood thanks to the help of some good friends and some total strangers who pulled together to help. It was excellent to see the spirit of the Buick guys. Truly fast with class! :TU:
glad to hear it! i would've helped had i been able to go.. looks like i missed a lot glad to hear there were only good stories coming from all this! great job guys. i for one am happy to hear stories like this
On a sad note, a guy launched his GN into the trees on the return road fooling around on saturday morning. Car's a mess and I hear he busted his wrist and maybe smacked his face. Someone else who knows more details will chime in.
Thanks for the tale.... What a outstanding group of people, Hard luck and with alot of talented people willing to help out a fellow Buick faithful, that one will go down in history and be talked about for a while..
first start up It was really great and showed the type/caliper of people at the meet when Wolverines car first fired up, the whole show field and area errupted in cheers/war whoops/yells/ and applause - that's what this hobby is all about!!!!!:TU:
whenever they were talking about putting the motor in on thursday I couldnt believe it but seeing those guys pull it off I have to give them a big thumbs up :beer truely a great bunch of guys
Hi, I was one of the first on scene for the accident on Saturday. It was the GNX X-Treme purple Regal driven by Jim-something. He was on the return road doing a burnout for some reason. No helmet, no nothing. He did split his lower lip and it required @10 stitches and broke his right arm near the wrist. I talked to him after he got back from the hospital. He said that while doing his burnout the car started to drift to the right and the one side suddenly got on the crown of the road and started wheel hopping violently. At the point the car suddenly turned left and took off across the grass and slid his passenger side into a tree. They couldn't even open the driver's side door and had to rip off the passenger side door to get him out. The car was ruined. It just goes to show you know matter how long you've been doing this, something can always go wrong. Probably $50K down the drain.
The X-Treme driver was at the races on Sunday. Right arm in a cast and cuts and bruises on his face. but he's OK otherwise. Well, and many thousands of $$$ down the drain.
Ken, Wolverine's story doesn't end there. On Sunday he was doing something with the throttle cable and accidentally snapped the gas pedal shaft in half!ou: I hear it is a common thing to do. So he had to run to the track shop and have it welded back together. He was too late to get registered for the races though.:ball: But here's the best part: I am not sure who was announcing during the races, Jim Haas probably. But Kevin was given 3 runs at the end of the races Sunday!!! He ran 14.33, 14.32 and 14.31! Jim also told the story about Kevin's misfortunes and he also praised all his friends and the members who supported Kevin during this whole ordeal. Man, what a story. Just the best ending to a fantastic Nationals!
Last night after Jim Ramsey & I came back from dinner. Jim called Johnno on the phone to make a set off on Jim's jack, which he had left in Johnno's truck...................we found out that Kevin had lost a belt 160 miles from Quaker...........did they make it home??
yeah we pulled the alternator belt off johnnos car (trailered) and hit the road. i just talked to kevin, hes home and other than running a little hot (needs a clutch fan) the GS is running fine.
John, Greaqt seeing you again. I understand that you have some video. Please contact Alan Wander (69GS400s) to arrange a way to get it to him. We are especially interested in the video you have of a certain Saturday morning event in the Holiday Inn parking lot. Would they like coffee with their donuts???
