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İyul 9, 2008
Bullrun 2008 Recap: Part 3
By Mike Musto
AKA Mr. Angry
Ok, so for the past week now people have been asking me for a description and/or some insight into what went wrong with our 1969 Dodge Daytona replica on this years Bullrun from Calgary to Phoenix. Well, let me start by saying A LOT went wrong. We had planned to have a grand ole’ time on this years Bullrun, and we did–we just hit a few snags along way.
If you haven’t already, read Part 1 and Part 2 here. And now for Part 3:
Starting Line June 21st
Bullrun this year was a bit disappointing due to the fact that we only had 30 cars participating. The starting grid was somewhat subdued and the turnout was less than spectacular. However, we made it there and we were determined to have a blast even if it killed us… and it almost did. The flag dropped and all of Team Angry took off. Andre in the R8 talked us into purchasing these AMAZING 2 way radios before the start of Bullrun and it was probably the best thing we did. With Team Angry in full contact with each other we cruised out in search of check point #1. That was until….
Problem #4
All of us were cooking right along when all of a sudden the Daytona up and died again. A screw had come loose in the carb and caused us to be roadside once more. We told the rest of Team Angry to go on ahead and once Pete had sorted out the carb, we were back on the road again. At this point the Daytona was running beautifully–up until the point were I crested a hill and saw a motorcycle mounty staring back at us with a radar gun. SH*T… I was clocked at 154 km/h or 95 mph. At least the car was running good though.
Continue reading after the jump.
After our mounty incident we got back to cruising, hit the first check point and proceeded to the our first destination in Whitefish, MT. We crossed back into the USA, all was good, life was grand and the sun was shinning… until of course the final nail in the coffin happened.
About thirty miles from the Blackfoot Indian reservation we were sidelined by massive wheel failure. You see, the Daytona has custom three-piece wheels on it, and on the inner rim there are thirty bolts that hold the rim shells together. Well, ten of thirty bolts sheared off on the passenger side front wheel, causing our front tire to deflate instantly while moving at a pretty good clip. I am not going to mention the wheel manufacturer as of yet because I want to give them time rectify the problem.
Our Guardian Angel returns
As you can see there is a pattern here. Car runs, car stops, Mike gets angry, car runs again… This I can handle. The wheel failure, however, was one problem we could not fix, and at this point we knew our time in the Daytona was finished. We were now stuck in middle of nowhere, the Daytona was sidelined, we were in Montana Grizzly Bear country and our spirits sank. My first call was to our now Guardian Angel, Tim MacGowan. Tim told us to see if we could get the car to Great Falls which was about 100 miles away, at which time he would set up a garage space and hold the Daytona for us until we could ship it back to NYC. AAA was called, the car was flat-bedded and our Bullrun Daytona was now in the safe hands of our Guardian Angel. Tim… I owe you buddy.
Saturday, June 21st
Now that the Daytona was in safe hands we proceeded to find another car. We called the Great Falls airport and were able commandeer a 2008 Ford Fusion. Now, don’t laugh because this little bugger is now a legend. With ass in seat and after the best fried chicken dinner I’ve ever had with Tim and Pete, we were on our way. Our destination, Big Sky, MT, some 256 mile away. The roads were black, it was now 1am but we made it and were back in the game.
Tune in tomorrow for Part 4 of my Bullrun 2008 recap.
Comments
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19cutlass92
Apr 18, 2009 at 8:48 pm
that sucks what happened to the daytona
but i wish i would have been able to see you guys leave calgary
that would have been SO cool
mtsmiths
Sep 11, 2008 at 5:16 pm
As a resident of Whitefish, I sure enjoyed all you hoons charging through our town. I sure hope the boys in the silver Durangos dodn’t give you too hard a time.
What happened the time you pulled over suddenly on US HWY 2 N opposite Glacier Park Intl. Airport?
Məxfi
Jul 14, 2008 at 7:22 pm
I am sorry you guys had so much trouble dont listen to those knuckle heads they have no idea what custom muscle car takes to put t6ogether and maintain you mju8st have a little fine tuning now that the bullrun is over check out angerys sister mogtx 69 gtx please tell what you think i will be posting more pics on the back window repairs remember mopar rules and only special people are all9owed to own them
Paul
Jul 10, 2008 at 10:58 pm
If there had been a spare mounted wheel+tire for both the front and rear offsets ready to go in the trunk or the back seat, perhaps the Charger would have been able to continue. It’s pretty crazy not to carry a spare at all when you have custom-made one-off wheels? One flat and you’re stranded regardless.
MrAngry
Jul 10, 2008 at 4:37 pm
hmm…. someone piss in your Cheerios this morning buddy? Go sit down, have a Coke and relax.
Məxfi
Jul 10, 2008 at 4:36 pm
hmm…. someone piss in your Cheerios this morning buddy? Go sit down, have a Coke and relax.
Məxfi
Jul 10, 2008 at 3:39 am
My bad, I meant “beginning”…
Marbelo
Jul 10, 2008 at 3:36 am
I’m glad to hear that about Team Angry. I was beging to think you guys might show up in a “Team Angry Fusionator” next year. That would be kinda funny though.
Məxfi
Jul 9, 2008 at 7:15 pm
another loss to new resonance. Steel car welders know what I mean. the car was never with that front end, new paint, some of it very old metal I could guess…needs to age like wine if to be slightly geek about it. the carbs screw coming looses is a sure sign of it as well. that car will go no doubts, tougher than ever, given the unlikely things to fail so far. I have been there, even in little cars…steel doesn’t just love itself from nose to tail after a tight engine and major body changes..it never happens. Good luck, awesome replica.Retorque the heads? Just kidding…
Mike
Jul 9, 2008 at 5:09 pm
Back to the drawing board? Are you kidding?… the only thing this car needs is to be dialed in which we are in the process of doing. Remember this is a custom car and not some production piece. Things happen, problems arise and issues will need to be solved – it’s all part of the process. Hell, we’re going to run the Fireball Run with the car in Sept. and that’s another 3000 mile rally. Did we have problems, yep, we sure did, but keep in mind mechanically the car was fine. All the problems were caused’ by vendor related issues. If the wheel didn’t fail the car would have finished with no worries… again, it was probably the only thing on the car we weren’t able to fix roadside.
Speaking of the wheels and to answer a question, no, we could not get another wheel. The wheels we had made we’re custom 3-piece units to this car as we had very specific offsets due to the brake sizes (14″ rotors w/ Viper Calipers) so an off the self wheel would just not work. Don’t worry… this car isn’t going anywhere, in fact we haven’t even started to make an impact with this thing yet.
TEAM ANGRY NEVER QUITS!!! WE JUST GET PISSED OFF AND MAKE THINGS TOUGHER!!
Oafman
Jul 9, 2008 at 4:29 pm
I think it is back to the drawing board for that car…
My question is, are you going to revamp the car and try again next year with the Daytona?
Məxfi
Jul 9, 2008 at 4:19 pm
it seem getting troublesome maybe it is good idea to save yourself before u get angrier
Stewart
Jul 9, 2008 at 3:28 pm
I’d be more than angry if that wheel issue happened to me.
.
WTF?????
.
I hope I never buy from that company.
kap0w
Jul 9, 2008 at 3:23 pm
Thanks for the writeup Mike. I know how crazy it must have been during the Rally, but reading your recap is a great way to hear what it was like being there.
danielle
Jul 9, 2008 at 3:17 pm
Wow… one problem after another… Im confused as well as to why the wheel could not be replaced with something off the shelf… but then that being said, something else probably would have gone wrong with the car after the wheel was replaced seeing the luck you’ve been having!… and wow… Tim comes to the rescue again! Awesome!
Highspeedhijinks
Jul 9, 2008 at 2:29 pm
God and I thought working the kinds out of the Caprice was a nightmare. The dash on that car must be pretty dented from all the frustration its caused.
Casey
Jul 9, 2008 at 2:29 pm
So why did the Daytona DNF? A wheel failure???? I have been following the coverage and pictures or further explination of this DNF have been non existant. I expected to see way more damage than I see here to constitute a DNF.
Was there any reason you couldnt replace that wheel with something off the shelf?