05-01-2011, 05:46 PM
Now, where we were going was called the Great American Park. Not âAâ great American park, but âTHEâ great American park. OK? It used to be a golf course. When I think of a golf course, I think of nice houses, water, trees, fancy landscaping, and the upper echelon of society. What we were greeted with was an old Toyota on jack stands with a sign that said âTHE GREAT AMERICAN PARKâ on it with an arrow pointing down a dirt road. The first house on the road was a singlewide with 5 cars in the driveway. Across the dirt street were about 5 cars on blocks with no hoods, or anything. They had obviously been there for several thousands of years⦠More of the same greeted us with each passing corner. We got to the end and saw a sign that said âClubhouseâ. It was a small 1 story T-111 sided building replete with pealing red (I think) paint, a few windows, and a window A/C unit installed in the side of the front wall. In front of the building was something almost unsuspected. It was an early Bronco! It looked kind of project like- tree gunk on it, big old tires on it with the General Lee style wheels, exhaust falling off, etc. Still, it was an EB!!
After driving past the clubhouse was the starting area and the pits. There were a LOT of big rigs there! Long shiny enclosed goosenecks with the A/C units, slide outs, awnings, work areas, MAN. We drove past those and then there were some smaller enclosed trailers and some EZ ups, then some open trailers. We fit in there. So, we parked there, right next to Jody Treadway in his B class racer and Andy from Iron Man Fab, with is A class racer ZJ (Grand Cherokee). One good thing about AL is that the time is set 1 hour behind us, so we got there with time to spare!
It was about 4:30 their time and we set our pit area up. I thankfully brought an EZ up to protect us from that baking sun. We fired the Bronco up, heard the hissing brake booster, shut the Bronco off, opened the hood, uplugged and capped the vacuum line, closed the hood, suited back up, and started the Bronco again. Fixed for now.. We went out to pre-run the course and to shake the Bronco down. We had never driven this one more than a mile since building it!
The course was set up in a 4 mile loop. It had a long straightway from the starting gate. Then it had a section of dirt piles ranging from 5â to about 20â high that we had to go over. Then we went into a rock filled gulley and ran it for a bit before coming out to a clearing. The clearing sloped down hill and toward a small wooded area that was easy to maneuver. From there there were a few very nicely banked turns, a lot of rough stuff, a wet section, then a hard left heading up âAchilles Heelâ. It was a short but very steep hill that looked menacing. I shifted into 4 low and we walked up it. At the top was a super tight section with a 180 degree right hander that went back down the same basic hill that we just went up. Then we made a left hand 180 degree turn again and went up the same hill. The hill itself lost the quick elevation change as it went from left to right, so this section was a lot easier. After that the course mellowed out and had a lot of high speed woods running with some quick and surprising turns in it. After about a mile it opened up again to some table top style jumps, some banked turns, and then back into the woods. It opened up again for some more of the same, some banked turns, big jumps, and some ruts. Right after that was the start/finish line. This is a rather quick description of it, but the course was very much a mixture of low and high speed stuff with plenty of opportunity for troubleâ¦
After driving past the clubhouse was the starting area and the pits. There were a LOT of big rigs there! Long shiny enclosed goosenecks with the A/C units, slide outs, awnings, work areas, MAN. We drove past those and then there were some smaller enclosed trailers and some EZ ups, then some open trailers. We fit in there. So, we parked there, right next to Jody Treadway in his B class racer and Andy from Iron Man Fab, with is A class racer ZJ (Grand Cherokee). One good thing about AL is that the time is set 1 hour behind us, so we got there with time to spare!
It was about 4:30 their time and we set our pit area up. I thankfully brought an EZ up to protect us from that baking sun. We fired the Bronco up, heard the hissing brake booster, shut the Bronco off, opened the hood, uplugged and capped the vacuum line, closed the hood, suited back up, and started the Bronco again. Fixed for now.. We went out to pre-run the course and to shake the Bronco down. We had never driven this one more than a mile since building it!
The course was set up in a 4 mile loop. It had a long straightway from the starting gate. Then it had a section of dirt piles ranging from 5â to about 20â high that we had to go over. Then we went into a rock filled gulley and ran it for a bit before coming out to a clearing. The clearing sloped down hill and toward a small wooded area that was easy to maneuver. From there there were a few very nicely banked turns, a lot of rough stuff, a wet section, then a hard left heading up âAchilles Heelâ. It was a short but very steep hill that looked menacing. I shifted into 4 low and we walked up it. At the top was a super tight section with a 180 degree right hander that went back down the same basic hill that we just went up. Then we made a left hand 180 degree turn again and went up the same hill. The hill itself lost the quick elevation change as it went from left to right, so this section was a lot easier. After that the course mellowed out and had a lot of high speed woods running with some quick and surprising turns in it. After about a mile it opened up again to some table top style jumps, some banked turns, and then back into the woods. It opened up again for some more of the same, some banked turns, big jumps, and some ruts. Right after that was the start/finish line. This is a rather quick description of it, but the course was very much a mixture of low and high speed stuff with plenty of opportunity for troubleâ¦