1915 Dodge Speedster to Race again.

[Guest]

For those of you who remember the late Gene Baldwin, I?m his son Brick. When I got word they were going to make this the last year of the Great Race, I knew I had to do it one more time. <P>I have dusted off the 1915 Dodge Speedster that we raced back in 1991 . My co-pilot will be my father cousin Jim, and we will have the help other friends and family that have helped us in the past. The car is still in great shape after a few minor repairs. Still can hit 60 MPH with a good tail wind.<P>If you are going to be near <A HREF="http://www.greatrace.com" TARGET=_blank>Great Race</A> the course, please come out and say hi. <P>Brick Baldwin<BR>Car #14.

[MrLiken]

Brick, I just came upon your post. I hope all went well with your last leg of the race. I talked to you in Chula Vista on the last night and have the 15 touring. You and your uncle were an inspiration to me and I am getting ever closer to finishing my DB. Thanks for putting such a wonderful car in the race for all of us to enjoy.<BR>John

[Guest]

Hi Brick:<BR>I have read so much about the Baldwin racer and hope you can keep me (and the club magazine) advised of your progress, your car and you. Please send me photos and writeup, welshfield@nowonline.net.<P>I also am interested personally since I have a "ton" (Maybe literally) of usable DB parts and have toyed with the idea of piecing together a decent racer myself. We have a friend and DB nut in Salem OH who has been able to tweak his engine for unbelievably impressive performance, using all authentic and period techiques and accessories. He's a "loner" and refuses to join the club but has been willing to share his expertise (and it is expertise) with me.<BR>John

[Guest]

Sorry this has taken so long for me to follow up on how we did in the 1915 Dodge, but here is the summary of the race.<P>The race went from San Antonia, TX to Anaheim, CA covering 2500 miles in 8 days. You can get some details from <A HREF="http://www.greatrace.com." TARGET=_blank>www.greatrace.com.</A>. Jim, my Dad's cousin was the driver, and I was the navigator. <P>Day 0 ? We arrived and passed tech inspection; however, we started to have oil pressure problems. It took a full day to realize that the line that goes from the pan to the pump was too restricting and the oil pump couldn?t suck it up. We have a modified oiling system, so it needs so special lines. <P>Day 1 ? 150 miles into the race the accelerator spring came off, and we had to stop and put it back on. Easy fix. Then later we hit a train crossing too fast, and the front axle hit and broke off and oil line. While sitting on the side of a road a local happened by and offered some help. What I needed was an easy out to get the fitting out of the oil pump, and he had a set. We were back on the road and made it in that day. <P>Day 2 ? The rear wheel bearing loosened up and we started to hear a clicking sound. Pulled over and tightened the bearing nut.<P>Day 3, 4 - Had some vapor locking and the car did lots of coughing. Switch to a different gas and had no more problems. <P>Day 5 ? Nothing. How exciting.<P>Day 6 ? Flat tire coming into Phoenix. There is a 24? disk wheel ring somewhere in the deserts outside of Phoenix if you need one.<P>Day 7 ? Shredded the insides of the start-generator. I quickly pulled the chain, and we finished the rest of the race by either pushing or crank starting the engine. <P>Day 8 ? Finished the race. We came in 2nd place in the World Class Sportsman division. This is the best we have ever done in the Great Race. <P>We were very impressed with how the car did on the race, and I thank my dad for putting all that hard work into that car over the year. Little things for the most part, but nothing that kept of from finishing each day. It's safe to say the roads in the southwest are covered in oil we dripped along the way. I think we lost 2-3 quarts a day. We also met some Dodge owners along the way, and share some good stories. <P>Here are few on the road shots take outside of Clovis, NM. <P> <BR> <BR> <P>Feel free to email me at brickb@jetcity.com if you have Dodge racing questions.<P>[ 08-10-2002: Message edited by: NerdBrick ]<p>[ 08-10-2002: Message edited by: NerdBrick ]