I've been to the 2 1/4 mile tracks that are near me; Star and Hudson Speedways. Until last year,
they were both owned by the same person. My friend, and star mechanic, Patrick D'Alba races Enduro and Road Runner classes
at both tracks. He's an excellent driver, and races with a great core group in the Enduros.
At the end of the year, Star Speedway has a season ending event called the "Halloween Howler". The
last 2 races of the night are the 4 cylinder and 8 cylinder Enduros. The 4 cyl attracts over 200 cars, and the 8 cyl close
to 180 each year. This year, I will be running the Protege in the Howler. The races are 100 laps. If you can survive the first
half, where most people are there to just smash into each other, you have a chance at getting a good finish. Usually ony 20
- 30 cars are still running at the end. Action is only stopped when a car goes on it's roof, or is on fire.
About the car:
My friend, Kelly Thompson, knows my passion for racing. Her fiance' (now husband
since this page was started) Jed Greeke had a 1995 Madza Protege DX that wasn't good for much. He had
just purchased another vehicle and Kelly knew I was looking for a car to run in the Howler. So they 'donated' it. So a HUGE
thanks goes out to them. The Protege runs and drives, but it's hurting. It's a 1.5 liter, 5 speed, 4
door, with about 90 HP. Not a front runner, but the name of the game is survival, not speed.
Below you will get to watch the car go from a street car to race ready in stories and pictures.
Here are the 'before' pictures:
The car still has a 'legal and valid' registration. It sat in the back yard all Winter, and has never had an issue
starting.
May 28, 2007:
Today I got the right doors gutted. The glass and roller hardware came out easily,
as in not broken. The grill, headlights, and turn signals are out. The right passenger seat is out. Not bad for just putzing
around.
Sept 16, 2007:
The car sat under cover for the Summer behind the garage.
Yeah, I was lazy (like I've been updating this site and doing race reports). But on Sept 15 I moved the car under the garage
to start gutting. The 16th was a Sunday. So I couldn't goof off and put things off. It was getting down to crunch time. Pat
needed the car in the next couple of weeks in order to have the time to put the roll bar in.
I started with the taking
the left door glass and actuators, then tore out the interior. My cordless impact wrench made the big bolts easy work. The
seats and seat belt ancor bolts came out with no problems.
Before long the carpet and interior trim was sitting on the ground.
The last item was the rear window. I searched long and found a special window 'removal' tool..
With some careful planning, and exteme care, I got the rear window removed.
After the window 'removal' tool did it's work, I had a decent clean up.
It's amazing how much the shop vac cleaned out of the car!
Here's some of the stuff I removed.
Oct 13, 2007:
I just got the Proto back from Pat and
his magic touch. He added a rollbar loop with down bars to the rear strut towers. It's made from 1.5", .095" thick tubing.
a couple of 1.5" tubes in the doors
and a little radiator 'protection'
Oct 20, 2007:
After a quick trip back to Pat's to add some new grill owrk, I got some painting
done. The car was starting to take shape.
Oct 21, 2007:
The next day Andre (Signs Unlimited, 978.388.9685) came by and put on the numbers
and sponsor decals. The car looked even better than expected.
Reaction to the finished car has been pretty positive. Some even say that it's "too nice" to race in the Howler, but that's
the reason it was built.
Oct 23, 2007:
Kelly suggested getting a few pictures of the Proto and the Scrat together. So
I went one step further. I got the 2 cars, plus my SVT Focus (I do race it, in autocrossing), and set them out in the circle
in front of my house. What a pain in the ass it was to get them 'just right'. Afetr moving them around for a while, I finally
got them in the 'right' spot. I took a few individual shots of the Proto too.
Here is the fleet:
The aftermath-
The race is over. The debris filed has been cleared. All that's left is the
story of my first Halloween Howler.
I did mount my video camera in the car. Chances are it would be my only Howler, so
I wanted to catch it on film.
So as you saw, I had brake issues. I still haven't found the broken line yet, but I will before I go racing next season.
Yes, the car is fixable and will race again. I got around 30 laps in. Patrick got around 25 laps completed. It was one of
the most aggressive Howlers we've ever seen. Only 150 cars (small as Howlers go), but most of them were trying to kill each
other. The winner of the Howler was a friend of the track owner, so I'm wondering about the intergrity of the race.
I'd
like to thank the following people for their work and support:
Jed and Kelly Greeke
for the donation of the Proto
Kelly Greeke for risking hypothermia by attending
the race as crew
Patrick D'Alba for all the work he did to the Proto
Dan LaShomb for crewing
Andre Genest
of Signs Unlimited 978.388.9685
Here are some of the 'after' pictures of the car. These are some of the same you saw
in the video:
Patrick D'Alba if Team72 Racing was given the Proto to fix up and drive in the 2008 Halloween Howler, but due to scheduling
conflics, he was unable to make it to the event. The Proto still resides at Team72's Headquarters in Pelham NH and will be
ready to race in 2009..
