Sometimes it is all about survival. Each year, the BangShift Forum Freaks swarm the Hot Rod Magazine Power Tour. They cruise in packs, they help each other, and they have developed their own culture and rituals and most importantly they have developed the BangShift Busted Knuckle Award. The award is given each year to recognize the BangShifter that had to thrash the hardest, sleep the least, and overcome the most to get their car through the week of Power Tour fun and excitement. The trophy itself is a collection of mangled and destroyed parts welded together from our friend Buddy’s Camaro when the LT1 engine powering it spit the bit.
Last year Bernie Wagner earned the prize and this year he was able to hand the trophy to a tired ED O’Shaughnessy and boy did he and his right hand man Tim earn it in 2014. Ed compiled a travel log of their adventure below and while some like to try to compare Power Tour to Drag Week while saying one is hardcore and the other is not, we’re guessing a TINY fraction of the hot rodding world actually racks up as many miles as the Power Tour often does in their old iron. The simple fact about these things is that they are going to break. Ed and Tim certainly knew that going in and they never let it get the best of them. In true BangShift spirit, they made the repairs, they fixed the stuff, and now they have the coveted BangShift Busted Knuckle trophy to show off for the best year. How cool is that?
SCROLL DOWN TO SEE THE TRAVEL ADVENTURE AND PHOTOS OF ED AND THE CAR –
The 2014 Ed & Tim Breakdown Tour
6th Friday – Pre-Tour Party
Lars made & replaced leaking brake line, we bled & adjusted brakes and installed aluminum header collector gaskets….
7th Saturday – Pre-Tour Party II
Trans line cut by crank pulley, Tim fixed and added trans fluid.
8th Sunday
My fuel pump died 14 miles from the venue in Knoxville, TN.
I called AAA for a tow, I got the driver to take us to a local Pep-Boys. We arrived at 5:45pm and I bought their only electric fuel pump, then dropped us off at our hotel. Tim went to installed the pump but we did not have the proper fittings. Tim got a ride from 74novaman to a local advance auto parts and got the parts needed…. The pump would not work with the included regulator as it needed a return line, Alex had a regulator that worked and we were on the road again in the morning.
9th Monday
Going through the hills of WV we lost our collector gasket on the passenger side. We found a muffler shop to make the repairs and spent 2 hours there. Hitting traffic at Charleston, WV the fuel pump overheated and died 4 or 5 times, we made it to a gas station downtown as we were low on gas and thought that’s why we lost the pump….. No such luck…. Never made the venue!
10th Tuesday
We left early to Norwalk, OH and stopped at Summit in Tallmadge, OH to get a new internal regulated fuel pump. We arrived at the track 5 pm and stalled 3 times on the way in. Tim ran to clock in and I jacked up the car and removed the wheel so Tim could R/R the fuel pump.
11th Wednesday
Pump is working great, we stopped at a service plaza and was asked for a jump, Tim pulled the car over to jump them. Their battery was so dead I told him toi wait till the battery gets more of a charge to start. All of a sudden we saw steam coming out the over flow, Tim went to turn on the fan and the lower hose blew off….. Luckily we had 4 gallons of water, 2 Purple Ice and a new thermostat that we were going to install that night. We went down the road about 2 miles and temp went to 280! Our gasket was leaking, I had to make a gasket out of a Diet Coke 12 pack case. It worked fine and we were on our way…… We made the venue around 4pm.
12th Thursday
Car ran good all day, we did stop to help a guy named Randy with a 1970 Super Bird. We diagnosed the problem to a bad coil, he had the original in the trunk and after he installed it, it started right up…. We made the venue by noon…..
13th Friday
No problem even in a 2 hour traffic jam into the Dell’s.
14th Saturday
No problem.
15th Sunday
All was running good until we hit the southern states, car was running hot, 230-240 but no boil over.
16th Monday
Finally made it into Florida when the rains started, my passenger side wiper flew off so we had no wipers during the hard rain. Finally cleared up and I got home around 7:30pm.
There is even a BangShift “salute” –
Glad that item found a home with you this year, Ed. Bring it back next year and pass it on to the next poor soul who earns it. There’s also “Rusty Wrench” floating around out in Bangshift land. Don’t remember who has that one now.
This is a self maintenance trophy, meaning that is the duty of the current holder (Ed) to select and transfer it the following year. My congratulations to Ed for the Busted Knuckle Award victory,,, I think.
congrats! You earned it this year