Vintagetorque update

This is the last update for the Vintage Torquefest. Vendors will
be set up and cars entered in the show will start arriving at noon
today. Registration should run noon to 3 pm today followed by a
meeting for volunteers and a 5 pm cruise to Field of Dreams. There
will be show staff on site from 9 am to midnight today to kick-off
the event. Dennis Gage will also be in Farley today working on an
upcoming episode of My Classic Car.

The track will hold races friday night but there should be room
for everybody. We will be there all day tomorrow and will return
with at least a sunburn.

Here are the directions to the show
Farley Speedway
Old Farley Road
Farley, IA 52046
(563) 744-3620

To get there:
HIGHWAY 20
Exit 300
Head South on 1st St SW for .2 mile
Turn Right at the very first street
This is Olde Farley Road
Travel 1/2 mile to stop sign – go straight.
Look for speedway on the right.
For the very latest update go the website.
Comments are always welcome

Delayed rant

There’s talk of the new law in Arizona making it  illegal to
be an illegal alien in that state. Now the rumor is today
the Democrats will hold a press conference to announce an
illegal alien amnesty bill. They don’t need amnesty, they
need to be deported.

A friend sent me an email about a California global warming
law with no real name called AB32. This four year old bill is
still being disputed. It is suppose to result in 10,000 new
jobs, allow businesses to become more energy efficient through
non-existent technology and at a much higher cost. I like the
part where it is called a ‘complementary measure’ to comply, but
starting in 2012 could result in fines of hundreds of millions
of dollars to larger cities.

The California Air Resource Board (CARB) said these measures
include low carbon fuel standards and a goal of 33% of all
energy come from renewable sources by 2020. Companies already
say compliance will force them to lay-off workers and raise
prices while CARB says this law will neither hurt the economy
or taxpayers. Here’s what some concerned scientists
have to say about the issue.

Around here we have the City wanting to put another park on
the space that was occupied by one business for decades. The
company is in the process of moving to the Bettendorf river-
front so the city wants to get moving on the project. If my
memory serves me correctly this is a low laying area prone to
flooding fronted by a road that floods after a heavy rain and
has no available parking.

While the park could be raised, like the skatepark, to keep it
from flooding it would still be inacessable during such times.
One has to wonder if a parking ramp is in the final plan.
Comments are always welcome.

Truth or fiction?

Am I the only one getting tired of seeing Ed Whitacre?
The CEO of GM who is in every other commercial on TV
telling us how GM has paid back the government early is
really getting old. It wasn’t a bad commercial when it
started airing, but when we can recite his lines word
for word I think we got the point.

While the commercial paints a rosy picture of GM and its
products it has caught the eye of the FTC and could put
GM back in the hotseat. Talk is that the loan could not
be repaid without the use of bailout monies held in a
special escrow account.

Senator Chuck Grassley claims ‘It appears to nothing more
than an elaborate TARP money shuffle.’ To read more about
this go here.
Comments are always welcome.

A little update

Sunday night there was a disturbance call to our neighborhood.
This didn’t get much attention from us because the address that
was mentioned has been trouble for a while now. What did
surprise me was the fact that 15 minutes later our living room
was ablaze with emergency lights. I went outside and noticed
at least six squad cars, an evidence tech vehicle, a firetruck,
and an ambulance blocking an entire half-block of the street.

With that many emergency responders I figured we could just read
the details in the paper today. Having checked all online editions
I starting to think that either it didn’t happen, enough people weren’t
injured to be newsworthy, or nobody wanted to come south of
Locust after dark. At some point last night shots were fired in
the 300 block of Warren Street and I didn’t read anything about
that either.

We are now down to four days to Torquefest
and I’m on the mend. After some bench racing at the jobbers this
morning it sounds like it should be a good turn out. The Ford is
almost ready for the trip to Farley, everyone riding along looks
healthy, and the forecast says a 40% chance of rain. I don’t have
an underwater camera so I hope for some dry spells if it does rain.
If I remember the camera and it doesn’t float away we’ll post a
few pictures after they get edited.
Comments are always welcome.

Some crime thoughts

Back in March the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3))
released their 2009 report on internet crime. Complaints
were up over 22% from 2008 but monetary losses skyrocketed.
Loss went from $265 million in 2008 to $559.7 million in
2009. To see the figures and learn more, go here.

Sometimes people just don’t pay attention to what’s going
on around them. I’ll add a link to a video that should open
your eyes. It’s on YouTube and it’s called: Why cops don’t like baggy clothes.
I may have run this one before but feel people need a little
reminder from time to time.

Speaking of firearms, once again shots were fired this past
thursday about 11 pm in the 1100 block of Arlington Avenue.
While nobody was injured or killed this has got to stop. The
first time somebody is hit by a stray round people will start
making noise. The time to start making noise is before there
is a first innocent victim.

While the shots fired calls have been moving around a little,
the skybridge hasn’t gone anywhere. It makes no difference if
you love it or hate it the skybridge is a reality. Vandalism
is nothing new to the structure but lately it appears to be
the target of choice for vandals. Everybody should be concerned
about that fact because someone has to pay for repairs. I can’t
see the attraction of taking an elevator to a concrete slab 50
feet over the roadbed to damage the physical integrity of a
structure that is keeping me 50 feet in the air.
Comments are always welcome.

Weird motor gene

Then there’s a wicked ’32 Bantam running a supercharged straight
six with direct injection. For pictures and more information go
here.

Some of these rides have even made it to youtube. These guys have way to much fun.

These guys even have their own club, the Inliners.
The club has some local members and they seem to enjoy being part
of this club.

If you have a six and need parts for your early engine, Patrick’s will usually
have what you need to get it running or dress it up.

Hard to believe the Falcon is 50. In Dearborn there will
be an all Falcon celebration at the Hyatt Regency on July
15-17. If you have a Falcon and feel you couldn’t miss this
event, call Gordon Leslie at 313-382-2993 or email
gogofalcon@att.net for more info.

Does the name Henry Gregor Felsen ring a bell? His book ‘Hot Rod’
will going on sale again after a 30 year hiatus. For those of us who
grew up on his writings this is a welcome surprise. If there is enough
interest shown they may bring back the whole series. To be kept up to
date on the re-publication just send your email address to hfwelch@me.com and wait for the good news.

And lastly is word from Holden. Yes the Austrailian GM is alive and well
so if you’re interested here’s their latest newsletter. I wish we had some of those vehicles over here.
Comments are always welcome.

A few more

Here’s a few more pictures from the South Park cruise-in. We hope you enjoy looking at them.

Somehow I came down with a bad case of pnuemonia yesterday and no matter what I do it’s hanging in there. So we’re hoping in a day or two I can get back up to cruisin’ speed.

There’s been a lot of things in the paper lately which don’t make a lot of sense to me, but I’ll wait until I can comment coherently on them. If you have a rant feel free to comment on it, I’m going back to bed.
Comments are always welcome

Cruise-in

I said I’d post some pictures of the Cruise-in when I got them so here they are. We heard it was a good turnout and hope to make the next one.
Comments are always welcome

Weekend wrap-up

This weekend has been as hectic as any I remember. This
post is about some things that happened to make it so
hectic. So, in no particular order, here’s the wrap-up.

The wife had an uncle visiting our fine city and we spent
some time with him. He was raised here but moved away
and hadn’t been back in decades. We found it interesting
that he noticed the air seemed cleaner than years ago. He
also mentioned how spread out the city had gotten and a
few one-way streets that he didn’t remember.

On the issue of crime it looks like progress is being made.
The skybridge has been a target of vandals for some
time now. During the Saturday Safety Patrol of the local
Guardian Angels 17 vandals were caught in the act. The
patrol detained those involved until police arrived on the
scene.

Since the paddy wagon was in use there was no way to
transport that many people to jail and all were issued
citations. Four were charged as adults, thirteen were
charged as juveniles, and all have a court date. Due to
the recent rise in vandalism on the Skybridge the Guardian
Angels now patrol the area more often.

Lastly we heard the cruise-in at South Park had a good
turn out and we may post some pictures tomorrow if we
get them. I’m sure more happened on the weekend but
haven’t had the time to check on them.
Comments are always welcome.

What a week

We mentioned in an earlier post that we’d be busy, but
we didn’t expect to get this busy! Might just as well do
a little update while we’re waiting for the dust to
settle.

The first South Park cruise-in will be tomorrow at 6pm.
It’s hosted by the Quad Cities Cruisers and is free for
spectators. If you like to look at a wide range of nice
rides you might want to go. I believe it will be held
behind JC Penny’s again but not sure.

Also found out from our son that Yogi’s is moving. They
are leaving Calamus, Iowa for the greener pastures of
McClausland, Ia. The move is going on as we speak and
the owners ask for a little patience until the move is
completed. I’m sure it will be worth a little wait.

Mom is still in the hospital but should get out today,
we have relatives in town, and more meetings to attend.
We’ll get back to regular posting by Sunday. Until then,
keep the shiny side up.
Comments are always welcome.