was there one guy that taught you everything?

[Jim Ratto]

after a nice talk with RACEHEAD today over phone lunch, we laughed about our old boss, Jerry.... old owner of Buggy House.

Funny, we used to try hard to "impress" Jerry with our big cc stuff, and he'd never crack a smile, at least to your face... , but we'd catch him later talking to somebody else.....and in his own animated way, be full of praise.

I remember after I got my 12.60 2276 48IDA thing running pretty good, but didn't have the jetting right on yet. He would hear me leave the shop, killing the rear tires, and the next morning he'd make some comment like "...sure be nice if you gave that poor motor some goddam fuel"  which was his way of telling me to put more main in it. So I changed the mains, and handed Jerry the keys later that night, and hopped in next to him, and we got out on Mission Blvd, and he's shifting the poor thing @ 2700rpm....  48IDAs, 44 x 37, Web 86C, and he starts shaking his head in disgust and says something like "goddam thing won't get out of its own way!!!" 
So I told him "I didn't build this to tow cars, rev it up a little, let it breathe...", and he shifts back down to 2nd, stomps it, runs it up to 6000+ and doesn't say anything, but he's now got both hands on the wheel and stabbing brake pedal and looking at speedo.  We get back to shop and nothing is said about the way car runs... he said something like "that Bugpack stock order's gonna be here tomorrow, so we'll be busy...."

Few days later, I hear him talking to his buddy a few aisles over in the parts room...he doesn't know I'm eavesdropping... "That goddam blue car....Jim's blue car....Jesus F^**((ing Ch#%#!!!! I thought the goddam seat rails were gonna rip off the pan.....I put my foot in that sumbitch and I thought we were gonna F---ing DIE....next thing you know he's gonna have an 11 sec dial-in written on that sumbitch."

the ultimate praise.

[louisb]

rofl! That is a great story. So you think your car is faster with the new motor than it was then?


--louis

[Jim Ratto]

rofl! That is a great story. So you think your car is faster with the new motor than it was then?


--louis

no, but that's fine by me

[Frank LUX]

This Story got my Face making a big SMILE...

Way to Go...Jimmyboy

Frank

[Rennsurfer]

Excellent story, Jim. Thanks for sharing.

[deano]

Love the poker faced passengers! I used to go out of my way to pick hitchhikers driving back home from school. None of these clowns were ready for what was about to happen. Some asked to be dropped off at the next intersection... please!, others said, did that tach just read 6500? That may have been the best part of driving a fast VW on the street. Great story Jim.

[Jim Ratto]

Love the poker faced passengers! I used to go out of my way to pick hitchhikers driving back home from school. None of these clowns were ready for what was about to happen. Some asked to be dropped off at the next intersection... please!, others said, did that tach just read 6500? That may have been the best part of driving a fast VW on the street. Great story Jim.

Thanks Dean....
If I am not mistaken, you knew Jerry through the Anglia stuff (when he was running car with Steve Wood..."the Hypocrite")

Funny, Jerry's no stranger to HP stuff.... but his face went white as the tach climbed. 

[Peter]

Cool story as allways Jim!
We had a teacher like that in school...
he was bitchin about details about our final project in our face,
but then the other day we heard him talking to other teachers about how proud he was over his students..
After that i thought he was a 2 faced motherf"cker
I dunno what he was really thinking, but i dont like these kind of people 

[Jim Ratto]

Cool story as allways Jim!
We had a teacher like that in school...
he was bitchin about details about our final project in our face,
but then the other day we heard him talking to other teachers about how proud he was over his students..
After that i thought he was a 2 faced motherf"cker
I dunno what he was really thinking, but i dont like these kind of people 

thanks...

Jerry's just funny that way.... he's a good guy. I learned to understand him over 10 years or so   

[lawrence]

Love the poker faced passengers! I used to go out of my way to pick hitchhikers driving back home from school. None of these clowns were ready for what was about to happen. Some asked to be dropped off at the next intersection... please!, others said, did that tach just read 6500? That may have been the best part of driving a fast VW on the street. Great story Jim.

I laughed out loud to this, Dean! What a great idea.

[Donny B.]

no, but that's fine by me

Funny how things change.  Driveability and reliability become more important after time.

I remember Solvang '96 (Jim you were there) and a guy bumbed a ride to the airport.  He had flown in for the show and needed a ride.  He was sitting in the back seat and I was going through the gears back when I had my 1776 in the car.  I came to a stop sign and started down shifting and compression braking and the tach hit 6500 and I thought the guy was going to have a cow.  "Did you know that you just hit 6500?" he said.  "Yeah, but I can take it to 7000 without hurting it" I said.  He was beside himself.  Oh well....!

[Tony Wilkie]

To funny! But you know Jim for what you are doing...  Got to love Jerry!

Kind of reminds me when you and I were bolting on your Joe Hunt Mag to Tina's car just as Anton was coming to race us. "what the hell are you guys doing"  Then Anton just leaves after we drive Tina's car sideways down the street for about a block 
I think we taught Anton a few things that day 

tw

[Jim Ratto]

To funny! But you know Jim for what you are doing...  Got to love Jerry!

Kind of reminds me when you and I were bolting on your Joe Hunt Mag to Tina's car just as Anton was coming to race us. "what the hell are you guys doing"  Then Anton just leaves after we drive Tina's car sideways down the street for about a block 
I think we taught Anton a few things that day 

tw

that was a fun summer working with you guys, everyday was something new in the burnout arena. 

[SOB/RFH]

My brother was in to windsurfing...to him the ultimate adrenaline kick and I was a looser in to cars not knowing the art of getting the most out of things....So this tile he goes to see me for a weekend and at that time when he gets there my car is out and running....he never paid any attention to what I was doing over the years so I thight "hey I am gonna give him a ride!!".....so I short shifted and ran the car for a distance to warm it up, including the tires (M&H)....talking to my brother and so while doing that.....so we got down to the back road behind the mall......best traction in town due to heavy traffic leaving rubber on the road, so I slowly brings car down in speed, talking to my brother while doing it...I do this until it stops compleatly and then I just bring the revs up to something like 6K and let the clutch out....barley tip toen the front tires (I must have done a wheelie).....speed shifting all the way to more then half way thrue third gear and he is despeartly  trying to find something to hold on to and his eyes are staring forward when the speed passes 60 mph on this stretch of 30 mph road.......I calm down and bring car back to normal speed and we end up at my place after a while, I lock up the car and we go in to the appartment to get some food.......he does not say anything for a long period of time....and then he suddenly says "this brings a whole new dimension to the word adrenaline kick....." and that's it.......he has never seen me race or gone riding in the car or asked about it since

[Jim Ratto]

To funny! But you know Jim for what you are doing...  Got to love Jerry!

Kind of reminds me when you and I were bolting on your Joe Hunt Mag to Tina's car just as Anton was coming to race us. "what the hell are you guys doing"  Then Anton just leaves after we drive Tina's car sideways down the street for about a block 
I think we taught Anton a few things that day 

tw

Hi Tony, how about the day we got Danny W.'s  90.5 x 84 up and running that day, and you took it on a "Jetting Run" up and down Clement. Car didn't seem to want to go in straight line, it kept making loops. 
Was Anton there that day too? He must have learned a bit from you....hahahahah

how's my line lock light coming along?