This is my favorite time of year. The lights, colors, family and most of all the birth of our Savior.
Praying the Light of Christmas is in your heart 365 days a year, He loves us all and has provided a place for us when we leave here….Jesus said those who believe in Him will never die but go from death to eternal life in Heaven.
Good news for us I believe. Omicron has all but destroyed Covid. This last strain has infected everyone the same way a cold use to….remember the cold/flu, it’s been gone for 2 years but making it’s way back.
Wishing you all a safe and blessed 2022….free of lock downs, restrictions and constant negative news. God bless you all.
Car Complete Ready For Set Up In The Spring
This is the earliest my car has ever been ready in 53 years racing. We could start practicing now.
Special thanks to Shannon Riley, Chris White, Jack Lynds and Bob Landry for all their help. Chris and Jack made it over several times so we could reach our goal of being ready before the end of November.
I am also to thankful to Ian Murphy for getting the body panels painted in quick time for us.
Here is a list of what we got done:
* removed all body panels but the roof
* removed the driveshaft, transmission and complete clutch assembly
* sanded all body panels
* sent body panels out for paint
* power washed chassis complete
* replaced both u-joints in the driveshaft
* repaired transmission oil leak
* replaced both clutch discs and the release bearing (old bearing will be a spare)
* bled the clutch release bearing
* removed all 4 calipers and had them rebuilt at R&D Performance
* repacked all inner and outer wheel bearings
* fixed 3 stripped threads in the quick change (we only torque to 18…not stripped from too tight)
* installed rebuilt calipers
* installed new pads front and rear
* removed all 4 shocks for testing (no gale force machine to remove front springs)
* installed all 4 shocks….only rear tested…front later
* installed body panels
* installed new valve springs….R&D
* car is ready for set up now’
God has blessed me so much with a great crew and friends here in the Maritimes.
Kirk Alexander will letter the car in mid February. Now I will be working to secure sponsors for 2022.
NOTE:….you can see all the rebuild pictures on Diary of a Season 2021. Go to the Message Board on the left, click on that, then click on General Chat.
53 Years of Stats has been updated as well.
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2022 Rebuild Images Of Our Progress
Thanks to my crew, Shannon Riley, Bob Landry, Chris White and Jack Lynds we competed most all of the preseason work for 2022. The list was quite lengthy but with a few glitches we got most all of it done.
All that’s left now is the front shocks to be installed, the front fenders and nose. I’m waiting for the nose to be painted at PYE Chevrolet in Truro, and then we will complete the work for 2022 and wait until all sponsors are resigned before lettering. Lettering could be done by the Daytona 500 in February.
I have posted a bunch of pictures in Diary of a Season 2021. To see them go to the menu on the left side of this site, click on the Message Board, then on General Chat to see Diary of a Season 2021 to Diary of a Season 2008. Third topic down is 53 Years of Stats…..that’s an interesting read.
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Last Race 2021 At Scotia Speedworld…………We Finish 6th In The Standings 2022 Rebuild Under Way
After a successful season finishing 6th in the East Coast International Pro Stock Tour schedule, our car emerged with almost no damage. I thought about leaving it and saving our team time and money to replace or repair things. However, once a list of things was made, I decided to strip the car down and repair all the items that needed fixing. We did all the repairs and removals other than those mentioned done by R&D Performance. Here is a rough list I wanted to have done by November 30th. Thanks to Chris White, Jack Lynds,Bob Landry and Tyler Hallahan for helping getting this all done by the time set
* remove all body panels
*send them out for repaint at PYE Chevrolet
*remove the fuel cell and repair the 3 stripped studs on the quick change with heli-coils
*remove the drive shaft,transmission, bell housing and clutch assembly
*replace the 2 discs
*fix the trans leak at the front
*replace both u-joints in the driveshaft (R&D Performance)
*replace the release bearing
*reinstall all the drive line components
*bleed clutch
*remove all 4 hubs and wheel bearings, clean and repack and reinstall
*install new pads front and rear *install 4 calipers
*bleed brakes
*remove 4 shock and spring assemblies and send to R&D Performance for dyno test.
*remove all 4 calipers and have new seals installed (R&D Performance)
*shampoo the chassis complete
*install newly painted body panels *except front fenders and nose (more room for engine work)
*replace valve springs (R&D Performance at my shop)
Still need to replace the 4 shocks, both front fenders and nose. Once that’s done we will be finished for 2022, the earliest ever for my team. Then to work on sponsors.
I will hopefully have a sponsor report soon as we get set to start season #54 and our 49th with Quaker State.
Check out 53 Years Of Stats on our Message Board…..click on Message Board, then General Chat to see all the posts….Diary of a Season 2021 to 2008 plus, 53 Years Of Stats near the top of the list of posts. I will soon add pictures of our rebuild, but for some reason my computer is telling me there are no pictures to down load off my phone….but that’s fake news because there’s lots. 🙂
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Gary Elliott Motorsports-Quaker State & All Our Partners Celebrate Good 2021
2021, though a struggle in many ways was a big success for our team. We reached some goals, ran the full East Coast International Pro Stock Tour, finishing 6th in the 9 race series. We also made an invitational at Petty International Raceway, giving us 10 races for the season.
Because of Covid restrictions we were unable to make it to 2 races, one was rescheduled and the other we could not attend due to border rules. One was cancelled when Tim Wile, owner of Center For Speed in Shediac New Brunswick, lost his father and for that we pass on our condolences and prayers to Tim and his family.
Our team was fantastic this year. I only got stressed once because I was struggling trying to make the car better. This was the first and only time I got upset with myself. However, by the end of that day we turned our fastest laps ever at Scotia Speedworld.
Special thanks to Shannon Riley, Bob Landry, Jeff DeCoste, Chris White, Tyler Hallahan, Jack Lynds and Aidan Fry for all their help. Aidan posted updates on Instagram for our team, much appreciated.
I also want to thank my very valued sponsors for this season:
#quakerstate #lincolnelectric #ppg #permatex #strictlyhydraulics #pyechev #grindstonelandscaping #inscapesgraphicdesign #epicracewear #flamboromachineshop #finishlinevinyldesign #wingnutproductions #qwickwick
We will start redoing our car for 2022 soon. There is lots to do as we reach out to existing sponsors for 2022 and get our car finished early so we can do some shows preseason. My Message Board is still not working properly for me to do updates on Diary of a Season 2021, hoping that gets fixed soon.
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1300th Career Night…This Saturday Riverside International Speedway….Toromont Cat 150
This weekend we will reach our 1300th night of racing since 1969. The milestone will take place at Riverside International Speedway on September 11th in the Toromont Cat 150. It has taken tremensous help from, family, friends and sponsors to reach this level of nights raced. I thank God for all His provisions and giving me a great loving family and sending me awesome
Here is the breakdown:
Final Points Race…East Coast International Pro Stock Tour…October 2nd
October 2nd will be the 9th of 9 East Coast International Tour events and our 10th for 2021. We are currently 6th in points and should be able to hold on to 6th in our first Maritime points chase.
Special thanks to my crew Bob Landry, Chris White, Tyler Hallahan, Jeff Decoste, Shannon Riley and Jack Lynds for all their help in 2021. We may have one more race in New Brunswick depending on the border situation with restrictions.
Our Message Board thread, “Diary of a Season 2021 is temporarily down, but will be up hopefully in a few days.
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East Coast International Race #8 of 9….We Get Our Best Lap Time Ever
We raced Scotia Speedworld on Saturday night, the 25th of September. I wasn’t able to update the Message Board “Diary of a Season 2021” yet, but soon I hope.
We were determined to beat our best lap time at this track and were successful in our heat race. We started 7th, finished 7th but for a change, we didn’t fall too far back from the pack. The leaders were in the 14:3’s and we turned a 14:536, our best ever at Scotia.
We are still 6th in the standings, it pays to make every race.
Our next race will be our 10th of the season, and the 9th of the East Coast International Pro Stock Tour. We will have one final race in New Brunswick in October, but confirmation on that race will come after our next most important race in the Tour series.
……if you’re new here, go to our Message Board on the left side, click on that and then on General Chat. You will find all our racing posts since 2008. The rest are in 3 ring note books in our scrap books.
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We Will Reach 1300 Nights On Saturday September 11th……Riverside International Speedway….
This Saturday, September 11th, we will reach our 1300th night of racing since 1969, and our 857th consecutive night at Riverside International Speedway in the Toromont Cat 150.
The milestone was achieved by the support many people. My family, friends, crew members, sponsors, competitors, track owners and fans.
I thank God for blessing me so much in this awesome sport that really is all about the people we meet and get to know.
Here are numbers from each class I ran to reach 1300
Nights
* 32 Mini Stock
* 869 Canadian Vintage Modifieds}
*
1300th Career Night… September 11th…Riverside International Speedway
We will compete in our 1300th night of racing since 1969 in the East Coast International Pro Stock Tour at Riverside International Speedway September 11th.
I have many to thank for this milestone. I thank God for giving me a great supportive family, great friends, faithful crew members, excellent sponsors, hard working promoters who have supported our team, many competitors, their families, crew and of course our dedicated fans.
We also just passed 2900 races since 1969. But we’re not finished. Our biggest goal to reach is 50 years with Quaker State and possibly 900 consecutive nights…we’re at 856 not including this coming race event. It will be our 8th of the season.
More on our 1300 nights in Diary of a Season 2021 next week.
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