It wasn't pretty, but it was a start.
Mike must have been thinking, "Dude, what IS this?"
Having bartered for the car there's no out-of-pocket money gone, and what happens next is pretty amazing.
Randy has stripped it down to the bare chassis. But we are in the middle of building a house, and it sits for a while. Little by little he rebuilds it. It is a very old car, and components that will fit it are sometimes hard to come by, but find them he does.
Eventually, we have permission to push it off at a track. We are there alone with just the guys who have come to help.
I am very happy for him, and he is like a little boy on Christmas morning, maybe to the tenth power.
He wants me to drive it, and I want to, so I am dressed in a borrowed fire suit.
It coughs and sputters, isn't running exactly right, but it runs. It needs more work on the engine, but the first race isn't far away.
Waiting in line for the pit gate to open.
Didn't know if we'd ever see this day, but see it we have.
The push-off.
More work.
Alas, the car is never quite right. The chassis is old and of such an old style that parts we need for it to handle properly are not easily available.
Randy's work situation changes and again, there is not time to do the necessary work.
The car is sold, but we're not done...
