ARUBA-DABBA-DOO! IT'S CAPTAIN JACK'S BIRTHDAY!

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Hey Kids! Remember this guy? Buddy "Rocketman" Michaelson was featured on this blog a few months ago. Buddy and his dad Ky have been involved in all things rocket-related since Ky strapped a jetpack to Buddy's back and sent him down Minnesota Dragway on rollerskates. There's only one man alive with more rocket cred than the Michaelsons, and they schemed up a fitting celebration for his last run, to be made on his 89th birthday. Bonus: We're all invited!

Captain Jack McClure has been at it for a while. He was torturing brand new Henry J's in 1953 at NASCAR tracks...

... which soon led to a re-evaluation of power-to-weight ratios, resulting in his first Go Kart. With four hot rodded McCullough engines, it still wasn't fast enough.

Then Captain Jack discovered hydrogen peroxide-fueled Turbinique pulse-jet engines. One was amazing. Two was even better.

By the Sixties, Jack was booked solid with match races from coast-to-coast. He's out on TV Tommy Ivo's AA/FD in the top photo. Jack never looked back. He's slowing a bit (above), but still at it today.

Buddy and dad Ky (AKA The Rocketboys) got Jack booked at International Raceway Park in Palo Marga, Aruba to make a few runs on his 89th birthday - February 28th of 2015. Aruba is a nice place to be in February. Especially if you're coming from Minnesota.

Buddy Michaelson (left) and Captain Jack (right) are both all grown up now. They go way back - Captain Jack is basically Buddy's godfather - otherwise, Jack wouldn't allow Buddy to fondle his laundry at trackside.

Mike Eman (center) came out to personally welcome Captain Jack and the rest of the Rocket Boys to the island. Mike is the Prime Minister of Aruba, and a lifelong gearhead, which explains a few things.

The days leading up to Jack's runs were spent promoting the event via various media outlets...

... and the old fashioned way: Face-to-face at local locations such as this Aruba elementary school, where Jack inspired a few future Rocketeers.

Women love a Rocket Man, and Jack recruited new fans wherever he went in Aruba. He can't help it if he happens to be a chick magnet.

Then the hydrogen peroxide arrived at IRP and it was time to focus on car preparation.

Jack and crew got a couple of test runs in to tighten up their act before the big day. Lots of thumbs-ups, following this second attempt.

The track's shutdown area empties into this open field populated with goats. Potential disaster or hilarity, depending on your perspective. Jack was confident of outrunning the fastest goat they had.

Mission accomplished. The Rocket Boys celebrate a 7.75 at 154.64, with no goats harmed. But the pertinent number on this night was 89. I've seen video footage of the run, and it was straight and true. Will this "Last Pass" stand as Captain Jack's retirement party, or is he just upshifting into the future? (Photos courtesy of Buddy Michaelson)

At presstime, it is unknown whether this full-scale rocket car under construction at Ky Michaelson's Minnesota shop is intended for Ky or Jack. The boys are currently en route home from Aruba, but Buddy Michaelson promises more details of the adventure will be revealed, once all parties have completed decompression and debriefing. Stay tuned. (Secret spy photo courtesy of Mr. X)


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SGE MODEL A UPDATE

A week after the fact, it still seems a big deal that the SGE Model A drivetrain is supported by actual mounts, rather than stacks of wood and other found objects. We had to kick some of Doctor Lockjaw's mag wheel collection aside to get this photo of the chassis with suspension and drivetrain installed. A nice little milestone and morale booster.

The photo I forgot to take last week of the minimalist trans mount that completes the drivetrain infrastructure. The aluminum spool spacers were the only salvageable components of the OEM mount hanging from the tranny when I got it.

The Corvair box that I reversed and installed in my C/Gas Anglia, years ago. Thought to be long gone, the box recently surfaced in race buddy Rick Smith's Grass Valley, California barn. Cognizant that the survival of the human race was at stake, Smith immediately dropped everything else and chauffeured the box directly to the Custom Metal shop in Applegate, Oregon. Hero!

After an intense round of Where and How To Mount the Steering Box, we dived into action. The factory-bent pitman arm needed straightening to pinpoint the box's exact location... 

... so we switched into blacksmith mode.

Doc wields the fire, while I use a cartoon-sized Crescent wrench to rough shape the pitman arm...

... then Doc finesses the arm into its final shape while still red-hot malleable.

Ta da! Some finish grinding, and it'll look like it was made this way.

Surprise shop visit from Doc's daughter Shea, and her boyfriend Jackson - the littlest Lockjaw. Shea is just living for the day that she can train Jackson to wheel a hot rod F-1 truck around.

Back to the task at hand. Step 2 was to mount the cowl to double-check steering box placement. But first, our upper cowl mounts would need some love. Our original design was found to be overly simple (who knew that was even possible?)...

... so we changed from the welded mount to a bolt-on assembly. Much better. Then our time was up. My homework assignment this week was to swap a different sector gear/shaft assembly into the steering box (Rick cut mine off somewhere along the line) as part of a complete overhaul. I happily accepted the job, and was back in town before realizing I'd left the box at Dr. Lockjaw's shop. Sigh...

Drag racer pal Rick Smith (looking pensive, at left) supervised the festivities after delivering our Corvair steering box. He seemed especially amused by our headscratching session regarding mounting options for the steering box. Rick's exit line: "Hmmm... What I learned from watching you two is that for every opinion, there is an equal and opposite opinion. I believe that's Newton's Law." Doctor Lockjaw (AKA Jamie Ford, at right) never studied law, so finds Rick's perspective to be interesting, but ultimately misguided: Doc wins every argument, period. No degree necessary. (Scotty shots)

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SQUIRREL AND TOOLBOX

It's really cold out there. Please invite your neighborhood squirrel inside for a hot cup of cocoa or something. Some roasted nuts would be nice, too.

We recently featured Tom Van Nortwick's roadster pickup on the blog. And Tom's magic brush skills have recently been featured on buddy Kim Martin's latest toolbox. Cycle complete. (Photo courtesy of Tom Van Nortwick)

GRIN

Why Aruba is a better choice than Minnesota for celebrating a February 89th Birthday...

(Images via Motormouth Ray)

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THE LETTER

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During the agonizing off-season (AKA: Detox Month), drag fans were jonesing for any crumb of pertinent news. We were so desperate that we made a big deal of John Force applying new decals to his cars. At least the Oregon Ducks kept the football season interesting (Coach Helfrich: While you're restocking Defensive Backs, send a scout down to Santa Monica and check out Mikey Sorokin at St. Francis High School. This kid is breaking DB records left and right, and his family history is media exploitation gold!). Then last week, we all read the letter sent from NHRA suits to the principals of the Discovery Channel's Street Outlaws "reality show", informing them that their NHRA Competition Licenses will be revoked if they continue to glorify street racing with NHRA stickers on their cars. That woke everyone up.

The Letter arrived on the social media circuit last Monday and stirred up a hatestorm of kneejerk reaction. As it turned out, this was only the opening act. (Photo courtesy of Dragzine)

From the set of Street Outlaws. Heroes or zeroes? Your call. (Discovery Channel photo stolen by NHRA before being stolen by every drag site online, then stolen by SGE)

NHRA Public Relations drone Geno Effler was dispatched to explain the oxymoronic non-profit corporation's stance on the issue, and it made reasonable sense. I've been in Effler's position (at a much lower level), and know just how much fun it isn't. He brought the voice of reason to social media's herd mentality and escaped without being trampled. Some people even listened to him and heard the message. Amazing.

Geno Effler, this week's face of the NHRA. He had some 'splainin' to do. And he did it. (Photo courtesy of NHRA)

About 24 hours after the dust settled from The Letter aftermath, the NHRA announced the sale of their Pro classes (Top/Fuel, Funny/Car, and Pro/Stock) to an entertainment conglomerate two months previous, and the acidic interweb storm resumed with renewed fervor. I assume this means the rights to promote their Big Show events were sold, and not the events themselves - but details (as usual with NHRA) remain murky. Where was all of this juicy blog fodder when we were stuck watching Knitting with Nancy reruns on PBS? NHRA Top Dog Tom Compton explained that funds from the sale would ensure survival of the Sportsman ranks. Several sportsman racers interpreted the announcement as corporate-speak for "Funds from the sale will insure Compton's survival in a manner he has become accustomed to, even after being run out of town on a rail" (I'm paraphrasing quotes from anonymous sources here).

Official NHRA photo of Factory Stock cars. Sportsman? That's as relative a term as "Stock".  (Official photo courtesy of NHRA)

Two days later, still waiting for the nuts and bolts spinning around my brain to slow down, a ray of light arrived from the International Brotherhood of Street Racers (or what's left of them).

Brotherhood Raceway Park on Terminal Island in L.A.. Finally, cars and people that the average bear can relate to. These are Sportsman racers.

The Street Racers' quest to return drag racing to Terminal Island is gaining momentum as signatures on their petition to the Harbor Commission pile up. This could happen. Big Willie and Tomika are gone, but the racers' desire to run remains. They just want a place to do their thing where they're safe from arrest, and where the citizens are safe from the racers. You can learn more and sign the petition here: http://lastreetlegal.org/

These upstanding citizens have signed the petition. Why haven't you? (Photos courtesy of International Brotherhood of Street Racers)

Man, what a week! I need a nap... Meanwhile, stay tuned. There's a reason why SGE is America's most trusted automotive news source! I have no idea what that reason could be, but I think I read that phrase somewhere, so it must be true.

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UPDATES

Marty Strode has finally unleashed his Stallion motorbike: "It has great low end power and plenty of speed. I'm satisfied with how it rides. The next thing is to take it apart for powder coating. Mitch Kim will do his magic on the tank and torque converter cover, once they are clear anodized." 

Marty's brother Tom is definitely not one to be outdone. Their rivalry is legend, but now the Strode Bros. have reunited to build the ultimate homebrewed mini-bike. Meet the "Twin Power" scooter. "Two 212cc Predator engines will power this machine." Thanks Marty. We'll be sure to stay the hell out of the way of this one. (Secret spy photo by Mr. X)

Lonnie Gilbertson's "Hit and Miss Special" was built largely at Marty Strode's shop. The highly modified single cylinder John Deere engine is now a runner, and plans are underway for an assault on the salt in 2015. Target: 55 MPH. (Photos courtesy of Marty Strode)

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Last week, we introduced you to Shawn Shirley and his Arizona Anglia. This week, Shawn reports that his friend Lenny (who has owned this Deuce for more than 40 years) was T-boned in traffic, following a 17 year upgrade of the car. Lenny is hospitalized, but is expected to make a full recovery. The coupe's future is uncertain at press time. Drive defensively!

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Previously on SGE, we published secret spy photos of the '34 Chevy coupe project at Cal Creations. The Bob Thrash-designed bodywork is now being realized in glorious 3-D. The focus last week was on the aero nose-piece and wheel pants. That's a lot of compound curves to pull from a sheet of steel. (Photos courtesy of Cal Creations)

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A rare vintage photo of the SGE "BTU" (British Thermal Unit) in the early stages of construction at Dr. Lockjaw's Custom Metal emporium. The excitable test dummy's left hand is commanding a Corvair steering box that I reversed. The BTU eventually sold to racing pal Rick Smith in California. Originally intended to run in C/Gas, it's now turning eight second times (see full feature elsewhere on this blog).

Last week, Rick Smith pulled the old BTU steering box from his barn (I believe he swapped it for a Vega unit in the BTU) and hand delivered it to me in Oregon. This is the kind of friends I have! Work on the SGE Model A was cancelled last week, due to a nasty case of Deadline Fever, but will commence anew this Sunday, with the focus on steering box placement, thanks to Rick Smith. We'll be there with camera shutters blazing to cover this dramatic development for the SGE nation. (Scotty shots)

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SQUIRREL AND TOOLBOX

Hey Kids! If you're reading this blog, you're obviously sharp enough to find the squirrel hidden in this wiring diagram. But in a broader perspective, this schematic could very well explain how squirrels are wired. Squirrels like us, anyway. (Image courtesy of Motormouth Ray)

The yellow monolith is one of several boxes used by Dave Shuten for building the endless procession of wonderful toys at Galpin Ford in Los Angeles. Yes, we are experiencing severe box envy. (Photo courtesy of Dave Shuten)



GRIN

Didn't see this coming. But how many life-changing events are predictable? It seems like just yesterday that we were grieving the death of Don Garlits' wife and business partner of  60+ years, Pat. In fact, it's now been a year since Pat passed on. Don processed the loss by keeping busy as usual, but who knew he was keeping this busy? That's right, he grew a goatee! The Swamp Rat continues to catch us off-gaurd. The other person in the photo is fiance Lisa Crigar. The wedding is scheduled for July 25th . Yet another surprise news item from The Week That Was. (Photo courtesy of Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing)

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