Final Preparation

Once the trailer was ready Mark drove the CNG GTO up the ramp and very slowly into the trailer.  We tied down the car to D rings in the floor of the trailer with tie down straps.  Joseph put the cover over and the cabinet doors were taped shut to be sure nothing came out.  Mark got the tree boxes of Route66GoatGas shirts and put them in the trailer.  Tools for the road were loaded.  Earlier while watching the car run, we found a loose coil wire and got that thing tightened back up. It was making a blue spark and you could see the reflection in the chrome under the hood.  Everything loose in the trailer we removed or secured.  Mark left heading for Memphis and was on his way.

The Trailer and Scottsdale Departure

Listen to this fun!  Patricks friend stored some furniture in the race trailer and wasn't available clean it out for the trip.  He had to send a couple of his guys over to move the furniture out and bring the trailer up from south of town.  We got the trailer around 5pm on Thursday, the night that Mark planned to leave out for the trip with the GTO.  No one had seen the trailer in quite a while so it had a few problems.  We parked across the street in a large parking lot and hooked the trailer to Patrick's Dodge Truck.  But when we started to plug in the lights, someone noticed the wiring harness for the trailer had been cut due to the frame scraping on the ground.  Me and Mark spliced the wires back while Patrick and the guys worked on wiring the 7 way plug.  It was cold working out and it was getting dark.  We plugged it in and nothing. We swapped some wires around and still nothing.  So we got on google and found the wiring color codes for the 7 way plug for the Horton Hauler Trailer.  We switched everything around per the schematic.  Almost an hour later we were ready to try again.  I could tell Patrick didn't want to look at the trailer while we plugged it in because he didn't have much hope.  We pushed the plug in and the whole trailer light system lit up like a Christmas tree. Everybody was celebrating about getting that done so hard it brought people out of the house to see what happened.  That was the last hurdle to cross before Mark could get on the road.  It was an ordeal but probably just a little taste of the fun and challenges we will surely face on the road for our project.

Monday Preparations for Barrett Jackson

Everything is falling into place for the trip to Barrett Jackson. I got word on the trailer and truck provided by Patrick Small this afternoon and its still on go. Mark has the business cards and he says they look sweet! The Tshirts are being printed and will be ready in time to go on the trip. Mark's dad and brother are getting into the trip and really pitching in and helping out.

If all of this wasn't good enough news, we got the official word from Talledega Superspeedway that the CNG GTO will be allowed to make a run around the track and may set the speed record for a Compressed Natural Gas powered car. (It will be the first CNG car to race on the track). That should qualify the car to go into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame and Museum.
The track management says that on race weekend there will be 10,000 people a day tour the museum. www.motorsportshalloffame.com

The only thing we are holding our breath on is the UPS delivery of our Ecopia Tires from Bridgestone!

Ready to Go

Plans are being finalized this weekend to take the GTO to Barrett Jackson! Bridgestone sent our tickets for every day of the event...THANKYOU BRIDGESTONE!! Hotel reservations are made. Patrick Small is bringing the trailer on Tuesday and we will get it ready to go for the trip. Mark has busted it hard to get the Tshirts finished for the trip. Yep. They will be for sale at the event. Marks dad and brother are going on the trip so this is turning into a fantastic family event full of fun and thrilling excitement. The anticipation is killer a week away.

Huge Thanks to Mr. Patrick Small

The trip to Barrett Jackson is a completely unexpected surprise for us. We only found out about this trip three weeks before the show. The biggest problem preventing us from attending was transporting the GTO to Scottsdale. One call to my brother, Patrick Small, and this problem was solved. Patrick Small, the infamous racer, motivational speaker, Porsche enthusiast, driving instructor, crosscountry Harley rider and close friend opened the door for us to use his race trailer to make this early public exposure possible.

Thank you Patrick for your generosity. If you get a chance to send Patrick an email of appreciation for his support of the route66goatgas project please send him one!!

PSmall@processtechnology.us

Official Announcement Barrett Jackson Scottsdale

Its OFFICIAL. The fully converted CNG 66 GTO will make its debut public appearance at the Barrett Jackson Scottsdale, AZ show from January 18th, 2010 to January 25th, 2010. We owe this premier appearance to our official sponsor Bridgestone Tire!! The GTO will showcase the Ecopia EP 100 tire. It is an environmentally friendly tire designed to improve rolling resistance, which may improve gas milage, without sacrificing the smooth quiet ride or reliable wet handling that you have come to expect from Bridgestone tires. Check them out at www.bridgestonetire.com

All of our followers can't wait to see if these tires burn GREEN SMOKE.

Please stop by and see Mark and Keith at the show, or watch for us on Speed Channel which will be covering the event all week!! Woooohoooo.

Happy New Year

Time for an update for the Route 66 Trip. Over the holidays Mark continued to work with the Route 66 Alliance to plan the trip. The trip is currently scheduled to depart from the California End of Route 66 with as large a send off as we can manage at the Santa Monica Pier. We hope by starting with a big publicity bang at the beginning we will have a larger following of grass roots people for the whole trip.

Our Bridgestone sponsor is really coming through for us. They have matched the tire size for the GTO and have a "green" eco friendly tire that will fit. This should give us better gas milage which we desperately need with the 140 range on the CNG tanks as configured now. We need all the milage we can get! Thank you Bridgestone!

Its too early to say officially, but Bridgestone is working on arrangements for the GTO to travel to a significant large event and make its first showing in middle January. This is big news if all plans come together and it actually happens. Stay tuned for the announcement. I hope we get official word the first few days of January.

Mark has selected a shirt vendor and we should have some really nice black t-shirts with the Route66GoatGas logo soon.

Thats the quick update for now.