So, I guess the cat is out of the bag now, So here is the story,
As many of you already know , I have been friends with the Lauffers for a few years now, Well in Sept, Jason and Kris Lauffer were texting me and teasing me that I needed to buy the Hater for the low price of $90,000.00 . then to buy the Devils Hot Rod etc, Jason then sent me a text asking me if i was serious about buying a car. I said yes if the price was right. it was about 2 minutes later and my phone was ringing. Jason telling me he knew of a great car for a great price and if i wanted it I needed to pull the trigger right now. I call up a fellow named Ken Jevic, told him that jason sent me his way and was he wanting to sell his car? Long story short the deal was done, I got a cool car for a great price. next was when could I get the car? Jason said to me that no big deal he could go get it as it came with a trailer it was no big deal. Jason ran 5 hours north to grab the car for me and then he began the process of putting this once show car turned race car together again for me. I was not sure when i could get it and VW Chris told me that name the date and he was in...a couple dates had passed and Chris needed to plan his dates, so we agreed on the March weekend and hoped that we could swing it into a race weekend...
So we plan to head out on the Monday in the motorhome, hopefully arriving Wednesday and getting to work on finishing the car. So after a 2.5 hour border search through the motorhome, we were on our way.. a short 22 hrs later we were sitting at the door step of Rancho, I had to pick up my new street trans for the engine K-roc is building for the street car. Got to see our good friend Mike Herbert and then head out to our next stop, VW Parts , got to see Susy and Bean, bought lots of Shiny stuff for my street car and Chris got some Race car parts. We were starting to get a bit hungry so it was time for some IN and OUT... Off to bug pack, more parts....Final stop for the day was at Simpson, need a new helmet and some belts for the car.
Wednesday morning we headed to San Marco and VW paradise, got there just in time for some lunch. Did a bit of bench racing with the guys and then we started to put the car together. We had windows to install , do some electrical, add the racing stickers Jason ordered , belts , wheelie bars etc..The engine had been put together previously by Geers and Ken said they had issues on the dyno. so that night after the shop closed we dyno'ed the car... Car pulled 80hp. we were like WTF? we went over everything and still could not figure it out, Kris finally said , its a vw it turn in circles... has to be the cam...I was to say the least, upset, thinking that there was no hope to be racing by Saturday as the Hater is not even close together.
We call it a night, We head back to Jason's house for dinner and Kris says he has some welding to do. After dinner we say good night and head to the RV park for the night. 11pm hits and my phone buzzes, Its Kris, "Hey F@@#er the motor is out, we are tearing it down tomorrow, if its the cam we will throw a new one in" I am like what the hell? these guys eat and breathe this stuff...
Thursday Kris and I arrive mid day as the boys had tons of shop work to do. we get there and start to install the stickers and and clean up the electrical. Jason had gotten "The EH Team" done up. we loved it, AS we are puttering about Kris decides its time to build my wheelie bars... a short time later they are all done sitting off to the side. I might ad the Hater still has no eng or trans in it. end of day hits and its time to break the eng down and see what is up. VWChris and Jason tear the engine down while Kris starts to instal the trans in his car... I do what I do best , I cleaned stuff.... Engine apart and the cam appears to be in correct position, Kris still does not believe, the pull out the cam tool, sure enough cam is out... we get it all sorted out and engine back together and installed in the car by midnight.
Friday Morning, I arrive at 7 am to clean up everyones tools and put them back, Kris and I roll the Hater out of its cave and to his work area...I am now believing that there is no racing for me as we had so much to do still and the Hater was no where near racing. Jason bounced around from his car to my car, we dynoed at around 10 am, car pulls 370hp. I am stoked, My car is running... I start to help Kris on his car, Its now 3 pm, Kris says , I guess we should get those wheelie bars on.
7pm arrives and we are both loaded and ready to roll, These guys put my car ahead of theirs, made sure everything we needed to do was done and I swear they stressed nothing...
WE arrive in Phoenix at 1 am and bench race till 3, Up at 7 am and time to prep the cars for the race.
We pit with Paradise, and the tandem tow up to the line. I am feeling the nerves now, I am racing against the best in the world, I have not raced in 6 years and I have only driven this car onto my trailer... WTF am I doing?? are you crazy? you dont know this car, you dont know how to race anymore...Yup, shitting my pants,,,,Poppa Lauffer say to me, Shane I want a Paradise final, dont F this up or I will beat you..NO pressure !!!! Kris lines up against the AJ sims car, Chris pulls a 7.89.... I am sitting there in the water box watching this record be broken and thinking...hmmm i am a bit over my head....
I line up, Jason telling me t calm down, Chris helping stage me, its 80 degrees out, I launch bad , shift wrong and do a 12.70... I am pissed, Has to be the cars fault... I see Kris at the end of the track, congratulate him on a broken record that he did not know he broke.. we tow back to the pits, Kris decides he is #1 qualifier and can take a a run or two off, I did beat the AJ car but he is a known 10 sec car, Back up to the line we go, we line up and off we go, both cars dialed in, I can see myself pull away from him... I am so stoked as I just beat a guy who has run his car for years, I do a 10.60 and he does an 11.30...I am so excited.... I am still beating him and avoiding a beating by Poppa...
Finals are on, Paradise against EH Team, For real, my first race and I am lining up against a legend, a car that does 7 sec,
Yes I am up against the best in the world...We get up to the line, I am getting lined up at the tree, I thought I was nervous on my first pass, that had nothing on my this pass.As I stage , my hand slips off staging brake and the car lurches forward and I am like, Damn, Just go...I blow the tree, Kris, does a 22 sec 1/4 gets out of his car laughing and asking what was I doing? I said , I panicked and hand slipped, He then says, well good thing i never told you I was broken eh...I am like what??
My only chance ever to beat the Hater and I screw it up... But was so happy they never told me they broke, They made me race it out...The day ended the way it should have, Hater first EH team second, and no beating, I also won $500 so that helped.
WE leave the track and head to the next track, Hater guys drive 10 hours to get a replacement engine and make it back by 7 am and have the engine in ready to race by 9 am.. truly amazing to watch!!!
First car I line up against is Kris in the Hater, I was feeling way better and thought, I need to race my race, we both had a great launch and the rest is on Video, we both were at about 110mph... Kris pulling his chute, and his amazing skills made us both safe,
I can not wait to hit the track again, I hope to hit more races down south, the people are so amazing and so helpful....
I just want to thank VW Chris for making this trip with me and experiencing how much fun I had racing again
