Orangeburg off

     Usually, it's a problem with the car that keeps it from racing. In this case, it's the other essential part of the equation: the driver. Paul Gibbs says he has had back problems off and on since his 20s, and on Monday it went out big time. When I talked with him Thursday, he was confident that the worst of it was over, and that he would be pretty much back to normal in a few days. He's getting more treatments for it today and tomorrow. So, no trip to Orangeburg this weekend, which would have been an interesting race from a competition standpoint (no screw blowers) and history (a return to the track where the Beast crashed and came close to burning up a couple of years ago).
    Meanwhile, Paul has been talking a lot with other pro mod folks about how they've dealt with backfiring problems, and will try a new tack: different spark plugs. These are NGK plugs Paul ran years ago; they cost $7 each, and are replaced after each run. Paul switched to a less expensive NGK plug (about $2) that offered the same performance. But the design is different, and another racer said that design can lead to backfiring. Paul remembered that the Beast never backfired on the more expensive plugs, so they are going back in. With this move, Paul said he won't change his valve spring pressure.
    When his back gets better, Paul will be back in the shop to replace a piston in the Beast's hemi (likely connected to the backfiring problem) and install a device called a crank trigger that is designed to keep the engine's timing more consistent during a run.
    So, if all goes well, car and driver will be healthy, and the Beast will be back at Huntsville in a couple of weeks. The last race there produced the best run of the year, but the Beast should be in position to better that, and maybe break into the 3's.