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After the show a few of us cruised to A-1 Speed Shop and parked in the lot where the cruise was going to be later that afternoon. We decided to try the seafood restaurant across the street from A-1, Steamers Seafood Bar & Grill. We have been going to the A-1 cruise for a couple of years and never tried it so tonight was the night. The food was really good and the service was quick and attentive too. The prices are in line with other seafood restaurants around here so all was good.. ..now we have another choice of dining and since the Princess likes seafood she started to forget that she was such a looser earlier at the show! It’s all good. Then Jim and Linda stopped by and joined us for dinner on their way back from Mechanicsville and their show. Linda was quick to point out that she won a second place trophy at their show, number 2 out of 170 cars, not bad! And that the trophy was real nice.. ..Then the Princess started mumbling something about that it was getting hot in there and she was full and she was tired of sitting and that it was too noisy and the sun was in her eyes and that she wanted to leave and and and and .. .. she so hates to lose.. ..I’m glad I couldn’t hear what she was saying under her breath while we walked back to the cruise at A-1.. ..grin!
The A-1 cruise had a couple of red Fords from the AACA show earlier in Fredericksburg, VA.. ..a ’60 and a ’64. They were very nice and it’s neat to see the old cars in stock condition. When someone mentions AACA I always think of pre 40’s cars, I forget newer ones are included too! The lot began filling up at A-1 with a nice purple Ford Pickup and then Mark’s orange Camaro that has a shine that looks wet and about 15 more cars. The A-1 cruise never has a lot of cars and I don’t know why. The music is great, the location is centralized and the sponsor is very accommodating.. ..maybe we just need to get the word out better.. ..we’ll see. Anyway one of the reasons we attend this cruise is the valve cover races. Over the past year or so the owner of the track who is also the owner of the Cruise has won all the races with his Rebel Flyer racer. Many have challenged him but none have bested the Rebel Flyer.. ..till tonight! There was a new challenger, Dan’s super secret “YO MATEY” racer. It is a dark horse with three wheels..it looked bad in a sinister way with the large wheels in back and the single one in front. Hmmmm The first few runs it went straight and fast but then it crashed in the overrun area. After that it went wild.. ..it hooked to the right, it hooked to the left, it tried to run over the guard rails, it tried to crash other racers and it finally came at me on two wheels! I had to jump back from the stop barrier! I think it’s possessed or something.. ..like the red ’58 Plymouth, Christine! Dan tried to make adjustments but no luck.. ..the YO MATEY would just have to sit out this race and go back to the frame shop. The Princess made some test & tune runs, her racer was hooking to the left a little, that’s OK, I knew how to fix it but we would wait for the elimination’s to do that! Can you say sandbagger? Finally around 8:30 PM Dave called for the elimination’s to begin. There was only two real racers left from the test & tune runs, it was between the Rebel Flyer and the Princess Express. I had adjusted the tracking of the Express and it was running straighter now! The first run and the Flyer barely won but the Princess, being The Princess, started to whine about her lane choice and that Dave had a better lane and the light was bad in her lane and there was debris in her lane from another racer? So in an attempt to not look like he was picking on a Princess, Dave agreed that they would have another race and The Princess could use the left lane.. .. Round two and the Princess barely won the race! Now they both had a win so the Princess said it should be the best 2 out of 3 runs!? So they flipped a coin for lane choice and The Princess won the left lane then proceeded to barely beat the Rebel Flyer again! It was close but the Princess Express won by about 2” both times. Dave said something about using nuclear radiation to polish his ceramic bearings next time? HUH? ? I think Dave should quit using those Ford bearings and try some bowtie bearings? So the Princess came home with a win.. ..she was happy with her racer builder so life is good for me.. ..but.. ..then she asked me what was I going to do to make sure Dave doesn’t beat her next month? Hmmmm hey Jim, how do I make a little miniature flux capacitor? It never ends.
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