Got my butt out to Laguna Seca Raceway yesterday and had a chance to see Mike Ritz run some laps with his "Team Starfish" 66 Barracuda, fun stuff.

Also hooked-up with 270dart Lou and got a test drive in his recently converted OD automatic SL6 powered Dart. Have to say that he did a great job with the conversion (right down to the dual Dutra Duals) and the tranny works excellant, the thing shifts hard and the RPM drop into overdrive makes the 3.91 rear gear fly along at 80+ at about 3000 RPM,...Lou and I were seriously talking 4.30 as a better rear gear. (also, the SL6 in Lou's car runs soooo smooth with lots of "pull") Thanks for the test "blast" Lou. Everyoune needs to thank him for "blazing the trail" on this cool set-up. Deffinatly a must do for a "dual purpose" SL6 car.

Also bumped into Josh Skinner at the race, he was "pitting" with another team running a 70 Challenger (or was it a Cuda?) anyway, it was nice to talk with Josh again.

Hate to say that these two cars were the only "Vintage" Mopars I saw running at the event. (a poor showing seeing there were over 300 cars racing) Gets me thinking that I should build-up a road course car! I got this old 62 Valiant that I was trying to sell...
DD



62 Valiant for Sale

the thing shifts hard and the RPM drop into overdrive makes the 3.91 rear gear fly along at 80+ at about 3000 RPM,...Lou and I were seriously talking 4.30 as a better rear gear.
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Hmmmm, or one could go the other way, with say, a mid-2:1 ratio and see what might happen at Bonneville. Sounds like some interesting possibilities in this conversion.

Roger

GTS225@aol.com

Hey Doug,

Thanks for the post. You beat me to it, not surprisingly.

I had a wonderful time this weekend too, from the Slant chit chat and seeing your cars, to the fence building, to the chili, to the racing - a great time.

Sunday's Laguna Seca trip was great too. Anyone that is interested in A-body road racing should try and check out Team Starfish. It will be featured at the San Fran. Moscone Convention center, I think this week or next, in a vintage auto show. It's a very well set up car. I know I jotted down some mental notes on mods for my '64 Dart. It was cool meeting Josh Skinner too, but a bit sad to hear that he converted to V8 power. Man, I was itchin' to get the '68 out on the track for a few laps, but it was too big an event for that.

The ol' '68 Dart 270 was smooth the whole trip up to the Bay area and back. I averaged 19 MPG including mountain, city, and hwy driving (hwy cruising speed was 80 MPH). Mileage was 20 MPG on the last afternoon where it was almost all hwy, and included a few 100+ runs and one 115 MPH run. I had to let off because it started to ping a bit, but it was still pulling - only 4300 RPM at 115!! It was cool going from Laguna Seca to Pasadena in 4.5 hours on a single tank of gas (16.5 gals).

I also took advantage of the low altitude, and empty and flat roads near Salinas to do a few speed runs w/ the G-tech meter. Best times were 8.3 sec 0-60 and 16.40's 1/4 mile at 85-86 MPH. This was with 180 lbs of crap in the car and a full tank, so with half a tank and no junk it'd do 16.0's or 16.1's. I'll probably slap my 4.57's in the car this week and see how she runs.

I hope to join the Slant Six racing fold a little more this coming season after I move to NC.

Thanks again Doug!

Lou

Mike is a cool guy. I met him back in '96 when the Air Force still owned me and had me stationed in Mtn. View, CA where Mike lives. He used to auto cross the '66 Formula S, but now he vintage races the car when he can.
:
: Also bumped into Josh Skinner at the race, he
: was "pitting" with another team
: running a 70 Challenger (or was it a Cuda?)
: anyway, it was nice to talk with Josh again.

I was on the crew of Gary Hagstrom's '70 AAR 'Cuda . It's a clone so if it gets balled up racing it's not such a great loss. It does sport a 6 bbl 340, 4 speed, 8 3/4, etc, etc. The car is also driven by Dick Ott owner and operator of Ott's Machine in Portland, Oregon. He's a good machinist and a Mopar fan. We Mopar guys, especially road racers, have to stick together.
:
: Hate to say that these two cars were the only
: "Vintage" Mopars I saw running at
: the event. (a poor showing seeing there were
: over 300 cars racing) Gets me thinking that
: I should build-up a road course car! I got
: this old 62 Valiant that I was trying to
: sell...
: DD

My '66 Dart road racer is now a V8. The 225 died due to oil control problems. Spun the #4 road bearing, broke the rod, put a hole in the block, whacked a main bearing saddle, and just generally tore it all up. The block was cracked all the way through the oil pan rail. The 273 has a better oil system with a deeper pan and better external plumbing so it should not suffer the same fate. The engine is built to stock 235hp 273 specs so the car can race in a production class where the modified 225 had to run an open class and would have been creamed by the competition. I'm hoping to visit Laguna Seca next year with the Dart. I'll be bringing the steepest 8 3/4 Sure Grip I own as Laguna Seca has much steeper hills and lower top speed than the tracks up here in the NW. My car is represenative of the Group 44 '66 Dart. It isn't quite as Vintage appearing as Mike's Barracuda, but I don't try to run it as a Vintage car either.

I race my car with more moden stuff. I'm quite a bit slower, but I'm improving. With a few more chasis tweaks, bigger tires, and less weight I'll go significantly faster. Now if I could only find fiberglass fenders for the Dart I'd be really happy.

Joshua Skinner

My Blown-up Slant Six
joshuaskinner@home.com

Hey Josh,

I'll be watching your progress with bated breath. Be great to see another early Dart in action! I'll see if I can track down that fiberglass reference, but I may be just thinkin' wishful. I forgot to ask Mike or Dick what top speeds they were running. Did you happen to notice?

I guess I'll try to check out VIR and Road Atlanta next year when I move to NC.

Cheers,

Lou