I've come to realize that there are basically two types of people who enter derbies: those who spend the time and effort to find really good cars; and me. For 2000 I ran my sister's 1980 Chrysler New Yorker, which is actually a pretty tough car for its size. But that's the problem-in a sea of early 70's GM whales, my car was definitely the guppy. Both the front end and the back end held up well, but the middle folded up like an accordion. I suppose I should have expected this from a rusted out old unibody.

In the first heat I finished 6th out of 10 cars. My buddy Rob then performed a minor miracle between heats and was able to get the cranky old Mopar re-fired for the consolation round. I wanted him to run it, but he chickened out when he found that there were no brakes. So I drove it again, but didn't last long before I snapped the driveshaft to end my day. On the bright side, however, I busted the tie-rod of Gerry Noonan in this heat to enact a little revenge for his picking on me last year. Okay, it was unintentional, but it still felt good.

For the paint job I chose a Toronto Maple Leafs theme (that's the local professional hockey team), and so it was natural that I adopt the number of their enforcer, Tie Domi, #28.



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