2018 Western Scenic Tour - South Dakota

[200WINS]

128....... We had our first SODAC'S Wednesday Dinner Cruise last night, weather was decent, went to Kavern's Pub in Volin, SD, the special was Fireman's Meat Balls, delicious! Today is our Vermillion High School car show and engine build, we as a car club have been doing this for four years. Students and faculty are encouraged to participate in the show, I bring in an unassembled Chevy 350 engine and have a team of four to six students, assemble it. There is one page of simple instructions and one page of valve adjustment in two revolutions, I coach them and it usually takes a little over an hour. After assembly, we will see if it will start up on the stand. The weather could be a factor today.

No racing for us yet, Justin's car is not ready and he has some home improvement projects to do before finishing the car. Thunder Valley is going into it's 52nd season of drag racing this year. This track has seen many legends during the heydays of the 60's and 70's. The track is alive and well today, it's in need of improvements and updates, however we have this place in our "backyard" and it's our home track.

Sounds like everyone's homes are getting closer to being done. Pretty exciting!!

[69SS 350 5 Speed]

128... Sounds like you had a great time last night George. Post some photos of the engine build on Facebook!!

[bearphoto]

128...

[1cheapstreet]

only 128 days to go and Rett will probably have his house done before our little garage!

[street72]

ONLY 128 days to go and our finish date is June 29th.. I hope you are done by then Linda. Just getting all the vendors lined up for right after the close to get their butts rolling..They should start digging the pool in two weeks and have all the landscape done mid September, right during WST..

[B2JOE]

128........

[200WINS]

127..... Our High School Show was a little damp, however we still had a good time. Our engine building team ended up at six, two of them have put this engine together several times and they helped coach. There were a few cars outside and Sgt. Whistler of the South Dakota Highway Patrol spent some time hanging out and visiting with the students. The students took one hour and fifteen minutes to fully assemble and start a small block Chevy 350. That's right at the average, over the past four years, the quickest time was last year at one hour five minutes, however, this year we did prime the oil pump and took a few minutes to get it to start. Remember, these are kids that have little to no experience with engine work. In the back ground there are two challengers, a 1970 and 2016, also inside the shop we had one of our very successful local race cars from 50's and early 60's, Junior Brunick's number 16.........

[70chevyC-10]

1 2 7 - you're a good man doing that George - ! Kudos.

[69SS 350 5 Speed]

127... I think it is great that you help to keep teenagers engaged in something besides eating Tide Pods and snorting condoms.

[moparjim71]

127

[1cheapstreet]

127 days to go! Always cool to see the engine build, thanks for sharing George!

[street72]

ONLY 127 days to go..

[moparjim71]

126...

[200WINS]

126...... Thanks for the nice comments, I started this engine building deal four years ago at the high school, we've been very fortunate to have great students participate. The first time I offered doing this was 5 years ago on Main St. during Ribs Rods and Rock n Roll Car Show. I modeled it after Southeast Community College's Engine Challenge, where they had two teams of two students that raced from a bare block to running. I'm not sure of their fastest time, I've watched them build around 20 minutes, however, there are videos of 13 minutes. My deal is not about speed, but the high school classes do keep track. I don't do this for the fame and fortune, rather my way of giving back to youth and trying to get them interested in the car hobby, plus it's fun! I understand that Southeast does not do this anymore. Here's a link about the Southeast Community College program. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-X2bnfu_Dp0

[1cheapstreet]

only 126 days to go, taking the Corvette in for an oil change today. Traveling on one of my favorite twisty roads!