Houston's Racing Page - 2003

11/23/03 - Houston and Marva traveled to Atmore, AL to race in another Edmund Hall Baby Pro-Mod event where Houston is one of the featured drivers in the 5.30 sec. class.  Since early in the year, Edmund has been posting Houston's name on all flyers that are sent out to advertise his races.  

Houston had some trouble with his transmission during the two passes that he made and he retired the car before eliminations started.  Houston helped Skip with his car and Robert Castle with his truck, who both competed in the 6.00 sec. class.  

11/6/03 - Houston helped Skip get ready to start up his New Camaro after the engine was installed.  Houston has always loaned Skip a hand in working on Skip's car and engines.  

Houston is getting ready for the Edmund Hall race on Nov. 23 in Atmore, AL.  He has competed in most of the Edmund Hall races this year and has won twice.  

The car experienced a broken weld on the wishbone that holds the rear end in place that last time the car was run at State Capitol Dragway, Friday Oct. 31, 2003.  It in the process of being repaired.   Houston may run in the Ford vs. Chevy at Eunice this Sunday. 
 
Houston, James and Willie Looking Over Willie's New Wagon

10/9/03 - Houston attended the 4th Annual Louisiana Drag Classic and participated in the activities.  He was very active in conducting the different events of the race.  Houston was directly responsible for this race coming off as good as it did.  The early negotiations with the track were all between Pat and Houston, and at one time there was thought about not having a race this year.  Under the leadership of President Houston, we decided to go ahead with the race.  This Louisiana Drag Classic was the best, most profitable, race yet. Thanks, Mr. President!

9/19-21/03 - Houston and several team members attended the Houston, TX Super Chevy Show for the 2nd straight year.  Houston's car ran very well, 8.40's in the high humidity, and he was very pleased.  The drag race part of the show was rained out on Sunday but everyone enjoyed themselves.  

9/10/03 - Houston picked up his car with the new paint job.  It is a deep purple metallic with a color coordinated deep pink stripe. Houston and Marva are in the process of getting all the letters and numbers redone.  The car looks great!  (Maybe we could call it, "The Purple People Eater"!)

5/25/03 - Houston traveled to Montgomery, AL for Edmund Hall's Baby Pro Mod Race.  He ran in the 5.30 class.  Troubles set in early as Houston broke one of the rocker system mounting bars that hold the Jessel Rockers.  Houston did not get to run in eliminations.  He made 3 time trials before discovering the problem.   Marva traveled with Houston, after he pryed her out of her new Red 1997 Convertible Z-28 six-speed 350 Camaro.

5/4/03 - Houston went 5 rounds before losing to teammate Keith "Youngblood" Veal.  They had stayed away from each other all afternoon but the computer paired them up in the 5th round.  Houston had a bad light, due to the "hot laps", and not getting his transmission cooled down.  His trans-brake does not release quick when the trans is hot.  There were only 6 cars left when Houston lost.  Youngblood went on to finish in the runner-up spot when he broke his torque converter.    

4/27/03 - Houston and Marva traveled to Memphis, TN for the Tri-State Racers event.  This was a 1/8 mile event and Houston had one pass of 5.26 sec. which is the best for this combination.  Houston lost in the first round when a spark plug wire came out of the distributor cap.  The effect was the same as the bent spark plug tips that he has experienced in the past.  He put the car up and did not buy back.  He and Marva devoted the remainder of their time to helping with the teams Jr. Dragster.  Marva towed the little dragster to the line and retrieved it from the top end after each round.  Houston helped work on the little dragster.  

4/4/03 - The starter and flexplate have been replaced but Houston discovered a cracked valve cover on the drivers side that was leaking a stream of oil.  While conducting an inspection to find the oil leak, he discovered the head gasket was blown on that side.  He has ordered another set of Copper Head Gaskets that will seal his O-ring heads.  While he is down he will replace the rings and bearings to get ready for the long season ahead.

3/30/03 - Another Win!  Houston competed in Edmund Hall's Baby Pro-Mod Shootout in the 5.30 sec. class and won for the 2nd straight time!  I believe he likes this class.  The car was consistent all day.  Clicking off a series of 5.31-5.32 runs, he won the first and second rounds with little trouble.  In the Semi-Final round he received a bye and when he and the other car decided to split the winner and RU purses, because it was so late, they did not run for the money.   Congratulations Houston!

3/23/03 - Houston competed in the MS vs. LA Shootout at NPRP.  The car ran very well.  Houston won the first round and lost in the 2nd round.  Houston will travel to Hattiesburg, MS for the Edmund Hall Baby Pro-Mod race on Sunday March 30, 2003. Houston, who has his name listed on the flyer for the race, will compete in the 5.30 sec. class.  He won this event in the 5.30 class last year. 
 Getting Ready     Cooling It At The Track!

3/19/03   Houston, Marva and Skip were invited to Zachary High School to take part in their Career Day activities.  It was an Excellent Experience!  The kids, instructors and the school are really outstanding.   The three of us really enjoyed being there.  We addressed 6 different groups, and due to time constraints, we showed a portion of the tape "Careers at the Starting Line", to each group of classes.  We probably addressed 250 students.  By the last two sessions, some of the other teachers were bringing their students to listen to our presentation.  Marva spoke for one of the sessions and did really well.  We may have a new team presenter!  Each presentation lasted 37 min., including showing the two cars and starting them up for a few seconds.  The students were given a copy of the National Hot Rod Association's Youth & Education Services (YES) classroom materials.  

3/7/03 - The weather finally cooperated and let us get a Friday night test session in.  After a couple of bad passes, where the track just would not hold the power of "The Taz".  Houston really hooked up on the final pass and laid down a beautiful 8.29 @163.9 MPH, with a 1.190 sixty foot time!  Everything was working great and everyone was well pleased with the performance. 

3/1/03 - Houston and Marva took "The TAZ" to the Maringouin Mardi Gras Parade for the 2nd year.  They were accompanied by 8 other members of Bracket Masters Racing Team.  Everyone had an excellent time!

2/28/03 - Houston completed updating his ignition system with a new crank trigger system.  The old system, which was also a crank trigger, was damaged and was the cause of some of the recent troubles the car had been experiencing.  

2/26/03 - Houston took the car to Glen Oaks High School for a visit by Baton Rouge Mayor, Bobby Simpson.  The team is supporting the Auto Tech Program at the school and the Mayor was invited to see the excellent program.  There were 9 members present along with two team cars.  The Mayor and Superintendent of Schools, Mr. Clayton Wilcox, were impressed with the students and the support the team has given to the program. 

February 23, 2003 - Houston went to State Capitol Dragway for Test & Tune to try out the new changes.  Unfortunately, during his first LONG burnout, when the tires got hot and hooked, the car moved towards to the rail.  Houston caught it and as he pulled away the front end touched the rail and the rear end and fender touched the rail also.  The damage was not bad enough to stop one subsequent run after minor repairs were done.  The car will need a touch-up, but not until after the Mayor's appearance on Wed. of this week and the Ford vs. Chevy vs. Mopar on March 9th.  After that he will get the sheet metal fixed.  Oh, the engine ran very well. 

February 14, 2003 - The motor is complete, the car has been rewired to conform to the new NHRA Super Gas regulations.  Houston and Marva spent Valentine's day together, they went to the track!  There were some ignition problems and they could not cure them while at the track.  They suspect water is in the distributor or the crank trigger unit may be the problem.  They will troubleshoot and try again this coming week. 

February 4, 2003 - Houston sent the following update:  The motor is ready to be put back into the car.  We decided to pass on the increase of compression ratio due to the piston to spark plug clearance.  The transmission will be put in tomorrow, the  converter will be here Monday, the aluminum dash board is in place and some of the other interior aluminum work has been done.  I have started to rewire to conform with the new NHRA Super Class rules.  I am almost ready to go!

January 17, 2003 - Houston is updating his motor for 2003.  He has had the heads overhauled, ported and polished and he is going to increase the compression ration by getting he chamber cc's down to about 112 for this BBC 582 motor.  There has been some interior work done to improve the placement of different equipment, and to lighten it up a bit.  This year Houston will concentrate on local bracket racing in Super Pro class and he is planning to compete for the points at one of the local tracks.  Next year, Houston plans to increase the cubes of the motor to either 632 or 648.  When that happens, watch out!  

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