New Job Update

Update at bottom.

It’s no secret to anyone who reads my blog I’m a drag race nut. So today I get to announce a new job and carrier. After many months of intense negotiations and backing from Team Slut Drag Racing and Housby Mack I was able to put a deal together to drive Jim Head’s Nitro Funny Car. Jim has been looking for a new driver for over a year but couldn’t find anyone with money to take the seat.

All the parties involved couldn’t be happier. When asked about his new venture into NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Kevin Housby, CEO of Housby Mack, had this to say. “We couldn’t be happier to have Fast as our driver. He is a solid person who will represent us and Jim Head Racing with the highest integrity and respect. I’ve known Fast for years and had a lot of great times with him on and off the track. Then being part of Jim Head racing is like a dream come true. He has been in the sport for almost as long as I’ve been alive. He has respect from his peers and has done many great things for NHRA Drag Racing.”

Additionally Jim Head had this to say. “I’m really glad to finally get out of the seat of my Funny Car and just play the part of owner/tuner. Having got to know Fasthair over the last few months I feel I have the right guy for the seat. We’re in Phoenix right now testing and to get Fasthair licensed to drive in the NHRA Funny Car class. Since we will not be running for the Championship this year we have decided that we would test as many days as it takes to get that done, even if it take more then the four testing days allowed by the NHRA this year. Our hope is to be able to go to the race in Las Vegas this weekend. With the way Fasthair has taken to driving it looks like we should be able to get him licensed by the end of tomorrow.”

So needless to say I am about to just bust at this dream job! I can’t thank Kevin and Jim enough for this chance at doing something I’ve wanted to do my whole life. So if the NHRA tour comes to a town near you come over and say hello. I’ll never forget the little people and my friends.

Well they are about to fire the car so I better run for now. Hope to see you all in Vegas! I’ll post some photos next time, I’m just too busy right now to do so.

fasthair

Update: Sorry Dave but yup, you’re going to be pissed… Yes it was an April Fools joke. Thanks for playing along! There were couple of good ones in the blog land yesterday. Joker yours was done well, hell of a job in Photoshop oops just read your update… still damn nice looking bike buddy. Ms. Lady R I about fell over after I posted this and went and read your blog! GMTA I guess. Thanks for the laughs my friends :)

fasthair

You’ve Been Served

How many computers do you have in your house? Are you like most people and never backup your stuff? Or are you like me and have copies of everything on three or four different machines between work and home? Yes I have that many copies of everything because I have had hard drive failures before and let me tell you, it can ruin your day quickly.

You owe it to yourself to look in to a home server. Now don’t let the word server scare you off. Microsoft makes a product called Windows Home Server and it is some pretty cool stuff. First it is so easy to use you will wonder how you got along without it. The best part is it doesn’t take a machine with a lot of horse power to run it. Any old PC you might have retired could be up to the task since system requirements are low. All you need is a 1GHZ CPU with 512RAM and 80gig drive, high speed internet and a router, which if you have two or more PCs sharing an high speed internet connection you already have. Admittedly that will not do you much good for backup so a 500gig drive and 1gig of RAM would make for a better unit. As your storage needs grow you simply plug in a new drive, run the Add a Hard Drive Wizard and presto, more space. Or you can simply buy one from the likes of HP or others. If you are the adventurous type you can build one like some of the systems Donavan builds at Home Server Hacks.com.

I built my server out of an old PC I had laying around and upgraded the motherboard and CPU for a whopping 88 bucks including 1gig of RAM. Then just buy the software from some place like Newegg for cheap and you have a cheap Windows Home Server. I’ve got another whopping investment of $180 for more hard drive space. My system specs out now with a AMD64 2GHZ CPU, 3gig of RAM and 2.5TB of hard drive space. Once I decided this was worth more investment I even got a new home for the parts on Ebay cheap at 52 bucks. What can you do with this system? Well first and most obvious is it backs up all the PCs you have in your network nightly with no muss and no fuss. Literality set it and forgot it. Did you delete a file you wish you still had? Open up one of the backup files on the server and drag it back to your desktop. Have you ever been some place and wish you had a file on your PC at home? Log in to your server from any computer connected to the web and go get it. Want to share photos, videos or whatever with family and friends? Give them a user account and they can up/download files until there hearts content. All using just a web browser on any web connected PC. Have a hard drive go bad and need your PC up NOW? Install the new drive, put the restore DVD in the drive and in about an hour your PC is just like it was before the hard drive failure, right down to your desktop. It’s like the hard drive failure never happen. I’ve played around with all of these great features and have as yet to be disappointed in what it can do. The server can even back up the server, how cool is that? There is only one thing you can’t do. You can not back up a PC that is not in your network. In other words no off site PC.

The are plenty of other things you can do with free Add Ins to your WHS. Tired of all those DVD movies taking up space? Rip them to your server using that free ripping software in the first of my software posts. Then you can stream them either with and extender like an XBox. Or if you are like me via S-Video cable out of the video card of your PC  to your TV, if you have that option. Of course with your sound system plugged into your PC you can have the full surround sound thing too. While I’m at work I stream music from my Home Server to my desktop at work then wirelessly to my sound system. I’m forever finding new things I can do with this system. This isn’t just a one trick pony either, Mac users can us it too.

  Another one of the cool things about this system is it is headless, that is no monitor, keyboard or mouse. Once the system is up you can remove these items and put the server anywhere in your house that you can connect it wired to your router. After the system is up and you have the Connector software installed on your client system you control the server either with the connector software or by remote desktop connection. In fact the HP unit doesn’t even have a way to connect a monitor.

If any of this sounds interesting Microsoft will send you a trial copy that will run for 120 days so you can try it out for free and they even pay the shipping. Just fill out this form and it will show up in about a week. Or since you already know how to burn an ISO file from my other post you can download it and burn it to a DVD.

This is really a slick operating system. You owe it to yourself to check it out, if for no other reason for the backup power it has. It’s not just for home use either. This is perfect for a small business whether home based or a small office. As I said once you discover what all you can do with it you will wonder how you could get along with out it.

fasthair

Update: I should add while no backup system is idiot proof this is the easiest and simplest way to help protect your digital life I have found. With WHS and off site backup locations or “cloud” storage services like Amazon.com you can really lower your risk of having a digital disaster day.

For Webster-From the Phone

From the phone 4 Webster. 32 days later no ice fishing now. It's official Whiskey is out 4 the season! Now I have 2 go back 2 work :-( Great lunch ride though!

Update: As stated I sent this from my phone while out for a lunch time ride. When Webster commented on the last picture I took at this place how he would like to see this same place in the middle of summer it hit me. Why wait until summer to see how things have changed? I decided it would be cool to go here every 30 days or so and take a photo and post it. This way everyone can watch how it changes through the year. It should be interesting to see how this turns out.

Hard to tell in this photo since I was too far away but there is still ice on the lake. However there are no ice fishermen out there now. The ice is way to thin to even think about walking on the ice let alone driving on it. I did see one guy fishing at the edge of the ice in open water. Nothing biting was the report. This time I did see some people playing golf since some of the courses around here have opened for the year. There was a lot of bikes out today compared to last time when I think it was just me out. Just during the time it took to send the post from my phone four bikes went by me.  

fasthair

And The Winner Is?

As much as I hate chain letters, I feel I must complete what has been bestowed on me. While it was cool Clutch and Chrome listed me as one of their “cool blogs” this one means a lot more since it was you, the reader, that have awarded it to me. It’s nice to know that you have enjoyed what i write. Having said that…

The rules for the “Fabulous Blog” award are:

1. You must pass it on to 5 other Fabulous bloggers in a post receiving the award.
2. You must include the person that gave you the award, and link it back to them.
3. You must list 5 of your Fabulous addictions in the post.
4. You must copy and paste these rules in the post.

So second things first, I’ll get the easy part out of the way first. I was lucky enough to have three of you wonderful people award me the Fabulous Blog and they are KT DID, Ms. BB’s Road Trip and that nut job Dr. Wrench. Thank you all. If I missed someone I’m sorry I missed it and I say thank you to you too.

My five Fabulous addictions are pretty simple:

1. All motorcycles and riding. I think that goes without saying.
2. Drag Racing… this is another DUH thing for me.
3. I’m a sucker for pretty face. They make me do all kinds of stupid stuff!
4. A good cold beer with friends.
5. Camel Filters

Now for the hard part. I really hate to have to choose just five great blogs I read and enjoy. It’s safe to say that if you are in my Blog Roll you are already one of my favorites and you have a Fabulous Blog. With that said and in no certain order…

1.  Ride Far. Mark is living a dream and having a great time doing it. At this time he is adventure bike riding in Africa. Great writer bringing life in another part of the world to the web that can only be seen from the seat of a motorcycle. 
2. Two Wheels and an Engine. I’ve got to ask Earl. How in the world did you come up with the name “The Vampire Duck” for your blog? Earl is a simple man I can relate to.
3. Twisted Roads By Jack Riepe. This is a mans man blog. If Jack doesn’t offend you ladies you just might find that Jack is a fine writer. I must warn you though and in Jack’s own words: “Warning I Say Fuck A Lot.”
4. Motor-Heads Unite. What kind of motor head hot rod guy would I be if I didn’t include a blog about hot rods? Ms, MHL finds and posts about some of the finest hot rods from the days-gone-by. Hubba Hubba. One of these days I will figure out why her link doesn’t update or work in the blog roll. Update: Anyone wanting to add Ms. MHL’s blog to your blog roll use this URL. Thanks to Ms. MHL for figuring out the issue. http://feeds2.feedburner.com/Motor-headsUnite
5. Musings of an Intrepid Commuter. If Iron Dad isn’t chasing down some owner of a motorcycle sitting in some parking lot he is writing about riding lessons. Being a motorcycle riding instructor he always has a good lesson to learn. He also rides rain or shine, like someone else I know.He’s got a damn big ego too, almost as big as mine :)

One last note. since last year was a Leap year I guess I will celebrate on March 1st instead. One year ago today I posted my first blog. Although I was using another service at the time, I think it still counts. Don’t worry you didn’t miss anything. All of the posts are in the archives here.

fasthair

PS Happy Birthday Mom! I love you.

My First Time

Reading Phil Burgess’s latest blog about his first trip to the up coming NHRA Gator Nationals many moons ago made me think of the first time I got to go racing with F&B Racing a few moons ago.

Frog had just '”freshened up” the engine in the Strip Tease so it was time for some test and tune runs at a local drag strip. Since you don’t just walk up, throw your leg over this animal and punch the button and go for a ride, this is something that you need to do before you drive long distances to a race. I was asked if I wanted to go along and help a little. Would I ever!

This turns out to be a good idea as this nitro snorting engine was doing plenty of that. It snorted nitro out the carburetor instead of ingesting it the first time Frog whacked the throttle, it did it couple of more time just for good measure a couple of seconds later. Frog aborts the run not wanting to hurt his hard work, not to mention nothing good is going to come out of this run. Walking back to the trailer with Buffalo he turned to me and asked “what do you think?” With what I’m sure was a surprised look on my face I said matter-of-factually “it needs more fuel.”  When he asked “was it back firing out the pipes or the carb” I replied “out the carb.” He nods in agreement.

Back in the pits we start servicing the bike. Buffalo pulls the plugs so he can spin the motor with the starter motor to clear the cylinders of any left over fuel and also services the clutch. I do my part of draining the fuel tank, opening the crankcase drain so what oil is there can drain and I drain the oil tank of what looks like a babies diaper on a bad day. Frog sits down on his little stool next to the carb looking up at Buffalo  questions him about what he thinks. “Fasthair thinks it needs more fuel” to which Frog’s reply confirming this with a “me too” as he starts to putting bigger jets in the carb. Tuning a carb is a black art and Frog is one of the best at it.

With all of the fluids back in the bike and the motor backed up for starting we head for the staging lanes. This run is a bit better with engine only backfiring once before it clears out and takes off only to back fire once again about a second later. The walk back to the pits, this time in silence, starts over.

Once back at the trailer Buffalo asks me “still think it needs more fuel?” This time with not as much confidence in my voice I say with a questioning tone yes? What do I know? I’ve only tuned multi cab Mercedes and motorcycles before. What in the world do I know about a nitro motor? “I think so too” he says. “In fact if it was a car I would say the accelerator pumps were not working” I respond. “I’ve got a little trick for that” he replies pointing to the little can hanging off the front of the carb.

I had wondered what that “little can” was. We hadn’t touched it this whole time. Service was carried out and the engine was backed up ready to start. Just before we push to the staging lanes Buffalo opens up the little can and pours about two ounces of 100% nitro in it. He goes on to explain that once the burnout is done he will hook the hose on the bottom of it to the carb. When Frog opens the throttle it will act just like an accelerator pump and give the engine an extra shot of fuel. I beam with pride.

This time the Strip Tease leaps off the line with the front wheel in the air and the engine on full song. That is until about a second later it again back fires but not near as hard this time. After it sneezed it clears out and Frog rides it all the way through this pass. Progress.

Again the ritual of serving takes place. This time as Buffalo is adding fuel to the little can he smiles and kind of giggles as he says “if a little was good then more should be just about right” filling it up almost three quarters full with about six ounces of 100%.

The burnout is done and Buffalo hooks the the little cans hose to the carb. I don’t have a clue why I am so nerves but I’m almost on pins needles as I wait for the Christmas tree to activate. Frog moves in to the pre-stage beams then inches forward into the stage beams. The yellow lights flash and Frog twists the throttle. Strip Tease responds with a bark as once again the front wheels goes up and the bike settles on the wheelie bars. Nothing by nitro motor noise this time as I watch Frog ride this angry machine for the finish line. It’s running so hard you can see some whispers of smoke off the big drag slick at half track. A good pass.

Sitting around the trailer beers in hand after the final service of the day felt great. I had officially worked on a nitro burning Harley. My brain was buzzing with everything I had seen and done this day. The bike was running good and nothing was hurt including the most important part, Frog. The bench racing is going hard and fast when Buffalo looks at Frog and asks him “What do you think, are we ready to go racing?” A smile crosses Frog’s face as he raises his whiskey in the air “yup.”

We will leave in two weeks for my first time as a crew member on a nitro Harley drag bike race team. I’m stoked.

fasthair

Frog and fasthair

Never in my wildest dreams would I have dreamt this. I’m sure everyone knows I’m a big drag race fan. I’m sure all of you know I lost my racing buddy Frog a couple of years ago. I also know you enjoyed my blog about Frog and showing him riding the “Strip Tease.” There is also a lot of photos of him in the Slide Show on the side of the blog. This blog is about one of those photos.To say I still miss my friend and racing buddy a lot would be putting it mildly. But if I miss him too much I either watch that video again or a just walk over and stare at this photo hanging on the wall in the shop.

So it should be no surprise I go to NHRA.com and read about drag racing. One of the things I enjoy the most about the site is Phil Burgess’s blog called “the Dragster Insider.” He writes about anything and all things drag racing. From digging up old photos out of the vast NHRA library and telling their story, to inviting photographers to share their favorite five photos of all time. In fact it was while reading and enjoying one of these favorite five that I wrote Phil and ask him “hey why don’t ask fans for their favorite five photos?” Since Phil and I are so tight (read not!) I just knew he knew a great idea when he heard it. So needless to say I never heard back from Phil on my idea.

Imagine my surprise when I read his blog awhile back where he did ask readers to send in one of their favorite fan photos. Since I follow instructions so well I sent him two of my favorites. But to be honest I sent him the one of John Force not only because it is one of my favorites but because I know John is one of Phil’s heroes. I also sent him a photo of Frog when we won the only race we won together. Frog had won many races in the past but not when I was part of his team. We have just that one wonderful memory together.

Out of the clear blue sky Monday Phil posted his blog about these fan favorite photos. There now, in the hallowed hall of NHRA.com, is my friend Frog for all the world to see and enjoy. To say I’m proud of my friend Frog, well no words can say how proud I am. But to have Phil pick not one but both of my photos and post them on his blog truly leaves me speechless. I want to say thank you to Phil for choosing to enshrine my friend Frog in the history of NHRA Drag Racing. I know Frog would be proud to be honored in such a way. I’m humbled, thank you Mr. Burgess.   

Enjoy the slide show.

fasthair

For Ms. KT Did-From The Phone

This is for Ms. KT Did. Sorry honey they removed the old gas pumps since I was last here in Jamaica. BTW I didn’t know it snowed in Jamaica! Now on to Madrid.

Update: After reading KT’s post yesterday about old gas stations I remembered passing this old station last summer while out exploring on Whiskey. So I went to take a photo of the old gas station and it’s pumps for her. Sadly the pumps were gone when I got there yesterday. To me this is the classic gas station of yesteryear.

I can see as clear as if it was yesterday the old man chewing on his cigar as he went to fill up my Grandma’s pick up. Walking up to the drivers window he would ask “fill’er up with Ethel?” and she would nod yes. As the tank was filling he would hand wash the windshield and check the oil . When the pump clicked off he would tell my Grandma how many gallons it took and she would write it down in her little book so she could track it for tax purposes. I also remember the station, a Phillips 66 by the way, had the loudest air compressor and would scare me every time it fired up. Even though I grew up on the farm and didn’t live far from Grandma and Grandpa spending the summer staying with them was a the highlight of the year. Ah those were the days!

Sadly even that little station is gone today. While on my 800 mile weekend last summer I rode to my old home town of North English just to see it again but not even the building was left. In fact about the only thing left in this town are the two bars, with one having still the best homemade tenderloins and onion rings, and the Casey’s store. Every thing else is gone, much like so much of America’s simpler times.

So such is life. But I want to thank Ms. KT Did for allowing me to travel back in time yesterday and bring you this photo. Besides it was a great day for a ride and this was the perfect destination. Before anyone asks. Yes there really is a town in Iowa called Jamaica and Madrid (pronounced Mad Rid). Jamaica is about 60 miles or so from here and guessing has 3 or 4 hundred people that live there. Kind of a cute little town in its own way. Maybe this summer I’ll go back there and bring you along for the ride then too.

fasthair