A 30 year journey, and a 2nd chance.

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[Mark Yacavone]

Gary, Nice job.
I remember your name and Kingman, Az. I thought you had a turbo car but I may have been confusing you with Jeff Lee, back then.
I do remember your world tour, and I might have been at Atlanta Dragway when you were.
Are you thinking about going to the Bakersfield double ?

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Originally Posted by Mark Yacavone

Gary, Nice job.
I remember your name and Kingman, Az. I thought you had a turbo car but I may have been confusing you with Jeff Lee, back then.
I do remember your world tour, and I might have been at Atlanta Dragway when you were.
Are you thinking about going to the Bakersfield double ?

Yes Mark, I remember you also, and you were there in Atlanta (Spring of 95') Jeff Lee had the turbo (mine is a single point upright Bosch TBI), and I am (Thinking about the double at Bakersfield, though My father-in-law is having very serious heart surgery in Phoenix on Sept. 26th, so we shall see if we can leave him alone or not at home after that is completed. and how the surgery goes.

The car was finished in late May 2023, after 14 months of a project, and immediately on the 19th, 20th and 21st of May I found out that The Kingman Street Legal Drags on Route 66/Andy Devine (an 1/8th mile track they set up in a week right here in Kingman usually 1 time a year), and they had held it last November (found out on the 18th reading our local newspaper that they were again running just a day later), so I was able to test the car on a short street track that next weekend at over 5,300' altitude. (I just live 3 miles away, at 5,352'. Only a bit higher.





That pic is Route 66 Andy Devine Between the Andy Devine Exit of I40 to the East and Stockton Hill to the West (and the starting line and Tree are right in front of the Kingman P.D./ Martin Swanty Chrysler/Plymouth/Kia Dealership on the left, and runs down to NAPA on the right, and the far end is where the pits are down beyond the shutdown (near the DPS, Kingman Office), and the Park. (Not bad for a legal street drags event or 1/8th mile track they throw up in a week!)

I only got 3 passes over 3 days, but did use the time to seat the new Ross Pistons and Sealed-Pro rings a bit to the newly bored holes and final hone. A couple of easy 6,400 RPM passes (1 on street tires and 1 on my slicks, then a blast to 7,000, had to shift and lift and it was still pulling hard in low (but ran outta track)...Stiil don't know where the 1-2 shift will be yet, nothing has been open locally except Vegas this Summer on a few Friday Nights for the Summit Street Drags (and they don't waive any rules).

This Friday the 8th of Sept. we (my wife and I), are heading to Vegas (Test n Tune Friday afternoon/evening, and then Bracket TnT Saturday AM, then plan on running the 2 Summit Bracket races in Sportsman Both Saturday & Sunday), then make the decision on Bakersfield if everything works out perfectly. And I cannot wait to make some quarter mile passes with it after all the improves.

I have not raced that car since the Spring of 1997 and I am dying to get back to it! (either way I will probably be at Bakersfield, with or without the car).

I did go out to Vegas to the April 4 wide race and crewed (1st time crewing w/ him, so did not have a lot of watching/socialize time, so I could get his processes & procedures down as best I could), for Scott McClay w/ his C/ED Dragster in Comp Elim., and while there attempted to text GTX John Irving to catch up with him after many, many, many...too many years.

(I guess over the prior 25 years he may have changed his number), and though I cruised the Sportsman pits a couple of times in vain, I did not find he and Jon's fleet of beautiful cars. (I will post pics in a min. from the 4 wide in April). I am guessing he never received either my text or phone message(s).

Are you planning to have the EF/S there in Oct. at Bakersfield Mark? (BTW, Greg Hogue from Texas is also building an 84' Turbo/ Turbo Z Daytona for AF/S or BF/S that he picked up this last year or so, and we have been trading parts, info, etc.).

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Those were all from April's 4 Wide Nat's at Vegas, Pretty much my only view except for a couple of cruises and walks around the pits (and when I towed him up for for his runs).

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Ok, took me a long while to resize all my pics (or most of them at least I will use in this thread). The prior posted shows just a small bit of my build. I did race the car after 95 a few times in 96 and 97 and only on the west coast in Div. 7 from PHX to Sears Point (still classified wrongly at 110HP in GF/SA 25.00 Lbs/HP, though it could not possibly be competitive at that HP rating (Factory is 99).

After the nightmare but fun Drag & Drive "World Tour" as Mark Yacavone called it in a post above in 1995, I was determined to get the combo reviewed since I by then knew nobody except myself had ever campaigned this exact (Car & Engine), combo before in NHRA STK. Elim., and all the data that the NHRA Tech Dept had to go on (and that was completely confirmed when I was at Englishtown, NJ in May of 1995), were my prior runs & the performance, save just 2 Q passes on a very cool morning in February 1995 at the Winternats in Pomona, ca at -.700 under and a smidge more, that was never repeated elsewhere (either before or after, and getting worse by the event/ month).

So, in December 1995 (working again full time, no longer in SoCal, having moved before I left on the tour in 95' for some fun), now in N.W., AZ, I sent in a letter asking that my combo be reviewed, and on Feb 6th, 1996 I received the good news, a letter back from NHRA...They added my factory stock Intake # (that should have been on the sheet the whole time, as Dodge made that change mid year 84'), and reduced my HP on the TBI back to the factory advertised 99HP.

Jenny Craig'ing (a Car Diet was in order), therein lies another story the shipping wt. on a 1984 Daytona 2.2L / 135 CI TBI (Single Point -NON-Turbo edition base 2 door/hatchback coup automatic or stick), was never the 2,444 lbs. as the Classification guide still shows even now in Fall of 2023. (so for all that time I was doubly penalized).

I have the original 1984 Daytona Base (Stick man 5 spd. and Automatic 3 spd.), Turbo, and Turbo Z sales brochure (Manual or Automatic), incl. all specs and standard and options avail. on all the 1984 editions, and have recently downloaded the complete specs for each of the 84' model year editions from www.automobile-catalog.com provided them by The Chrysler Corp. (I though have yet to find an AMA spec. sheet- if 1 actually exists at all), but all the data I have found so far, and the original Window Sticker on the car agrees (I was there when my Mom picked it up from the Dealer at Cerritos Dodge in Feb. 1995 as a daily driver she purchased), all say the Curb Wt. on the base edition is 2,590 lbs, Shipping Wt. is 2,520. (Both 5 spd. Man./Stick and 3 spd. Automatic, both are Factory HP rated at 99HP, torque 121 lb-ft., 97" wheelbase 3-door coup body style (2 door hatchback), Both EFI (upright Bosch TBI units)-non-turbo (single point injector).