The Bench Racers Journal

[Terry Bentley]

Chapter 91

Frank had his kart up on a stand, so it would be easy enough to remove just one rear wheel and trace out a template of his bearing hanger. Frank finally finished mowing and pulling right up inside of his garage with the mower engine running at full speed blowing dust and grass clippings everywhere.

Frank started yelling. So what are you punks doing to my kart? I dont remember inviting anyone over today for a bench racing session.

HEY FRANK KILL IT ALREADY! You are choking us with all of the smoke in here.

Huh, do what, I cant hear you! The mower is running!

Then kill it Frank.

Oh wait a minute, let me kill the engine. OK that is better. So what the H-E-double hockey pucks are you doing to my kart? Who is that other punk you got there?

Hold on I need refills, you guys want one?

No thanks Frank. But you already knew that.

Oh Frank, this here is Chris. Chris, this strange guy is Frank. He says his vet has given him all of the shots, so you should be safe enough in case he bites you.

Frank holds out his hand and offers a shake. Glad to meet you. Woof, woof, woof.

Chris held out his hand and shook Franks. They kept shaking up and down over and over.

OK kid that is enough, you can let go already. Chris had a very surprised look on his face. I cant let go, my hand is stuck. Chris tried to pull away, but no luck letting go of Franks hand.

Frank started laughing while sipping on his fresh cold beer. Gotcha! Two sided tape. Pretty cool huh! Bet you never thought about using it for that.

OK Frank real funny, now let go already. By this time Chris was more withdrawn for the moment. He didnt seem very excited to be here, even if getting something done for his kart.

Dont worry Chris, he wont bite. And if you are uncomfortable right now, it only gets worse the the more you hang around him. Just look at it like you are getting a shot at the doctors office. It is a lot worse thinking about it than really hurts when getting stabbed by the needle.

Gee Frank, if you were twice as funny, I still wouldnt laugh. So whats going on?. I have been busy with school or would have dropped by before now. But I need some help, and you might be able to assist me even without doing anything. Just the right kind of help you like to offer.

OK so whats up? I thought you would have stopped by before now. Since the last time at the track was fairly successful I figured on another practice before too long. But havent seen you since then.

Frank, I just told you why. I got my head in the books with too many hard classes this year. Right now I want to help Chris convert his kart over to a live axle setup. After checking over everything, we decided to make some bearing hangers like are used on your kart, mainly to add a rear bumper to protect his engine.

I thought about tracing a template from your kart, then making a pair of them using some steel plate I have.

Gee kiddo, uh sorry Larry, those hangers are cheap enough, why not just buy them?

Because we are making them, that is why.

You sure like doing things the hard way. Sometimes you need to listen to people with good advice. It will save you a ton of headaches.

Yea Frank, well I am hard headed, you know that. My head only aches when people keep telling me not to waste all my time making things. So can we make a trace of your hangers or not?

Well I sure the heck aint going to tear my kart all apart just so you can trace it out. I aint going to sit here all day and watch you do it either. That just doesnt show good smarts. They are not that expensive to buy.

No Frank, all I need to do is remove one wheel. Actually the right wheel would be just fine. If there are no objections, will you let me borrow your kart just long enough to trace it out on a piece of cardboard.

I have the bearings, so dont even need to trace around them. Just more or less the overall outline of your bearing hanger. I can punch a hole in the cardboard and draw around the hanger. It should work perfect that way.

All this time Chris has been quiet, which isnt like him at all around people. He is actually sort of keeping himself behind me while I was talking with Frank.

Come on Chris, Franks bark is a lot worse than his bite, so stop hiding behind me. His teeth have been filed down so they dont break the skin anyway. Saying this with a serious look on my face didnt make Chris any less tense.

Thats OK, I am fine right where I am. But if he barks at me again, I will....Well I will stay right here behind you for now.

OK fill me in on what has been happening in the world of karts while you destroy my kart. But I dont have all day to baby sit you two guys, so cut it short.

I handed Chris wire cutters and pointed him to the rear wheel. Then spent the next ten minutes going over everything related to our first night racing at the track.

After a moment to catch my breath, I followed up with what we are doing to get ready to go back and try to race again without the setbacks. Chris was going to be working with us this time to run against the two Westbend guys out there.

The thick piece of paper or card material I brought easily worked to make a good template. All I had to do is press it around the edge to leave a perfect outline of his bearing hanger from the dirty oily residue.

Frank was surprised we had made a night of racing. I explained to him my dad sort of blindsided me Friday before the race about going to the track. I was not expecting him to do that or planning to race so soon.

After we talked for a while, I needed to get out of there and back to work on a Simplex. If we could make these bearing hangers today, might even get them tack welded on.

Frank, I want to make another day of practice soon as possible. Well just soon as we get Chris up and running. This should work out perfect, since we are setting up to run against those Westbends. So Frank, you get to become our target to practice against preparing for our next race.

Frank was getting stupid acting from the beer, so I thought it a good time to bail out of there. Chris is still way too uptight for some reason. When he doesnt talk almost nonstop about anything racing, something is wrong.

Well wrong in this situation. The whole time Chris had been in the garage working on his own kart, his mind was busy focused on how things were done. Not talking about anything of interest. But completely absorbed in all of the work we were doing on his kart.

I thanked Frank and told him I would be back over when we are getting close to going to the track for practice. Then we bailed out of there heading back home. Chris was very quiet on the way back. In fact he never said a word until we pulled up to the garage.

That Frank guy is strange. How do you know him anyway? I was getting cold chills just standing there. Doesnt he make you feel uncomfortable?

No not really. Well at first, I thought something was off about him. But later finding out he was a yankee, it made a lot more sense. So I just ignore those strange vibes he gives off.

Well next time we go over there, leave me out of the we. I will find something to keep busy with, instead of having to fight off this nervous feeling I have right now. It is not worth it to me.

Sorry Chris, I wont make you go over there again. But he is probably going to be babysitting us at the track when we make a practice day. So you need to get comfortable being around him. Otherwise everything we are working on is a waste of time.

I know what you are talking about being around him. My first time I was totally weirded out for a while. But the next time was not nearly as bad. Steve is the same way. He doesnt like being around Frank at all.

So you want to do some work today? Or just stand here and complain about Frank the yank. If we can get these two bearing hangers made, then maybe tack weld them on your frame. This would be a good goal to aim for and we can start back assembling when your parts come in.

You know what parts are needed before we can put your frame back together. So next week see what you can come up with. Either go to Ward Guys kart shop or maybe order some of the parts from Azusa or another kart shop.

After some serious thinking, I decided to cut a template out of a piece of sheet metal first. Something thin enough so it would be fast and easy to make. This would have been another good project for Chris to make. But the only way it would get done quickly is do the work myself.

Chris watched me cut out the template using different tools around the garage. Mainly a pair of tin snips to start with. Then some clean up using the bench grinder. In a very short time I had a finished part. During this time I didnt explain anything I was doing. Just pushing forward to get these bearing hangers turned into a reality. Next I spaced the template off the steel plate with a thick washer, then fired up the cutting torch to make quick work of getting two of them done.

With the two hangers clamped together, the holes were drilled for the bearings to mount on. After bolting them together, Chris spent the rest of the afternoon using the bench grinder, hand grinder and files to finish out the bearing hangers as a matched pair.

I was surprised how focused Chris stayed the whole time until they were finished. By late afternoon, we had them clamped to his frame. For now that is far as we would go. Not until all of the parts were test fitted would these be welded on the frame permanently.

Shortly after we had tackled this work, Paul Fisher arrived to pick up Chris. Hey you two, how about helping me out tonight at the track. I need corner marshals and you guys are more than qualified for the job.