Deciding what tools & spare parts to carry on Drag Week has got to be difficult

[Qikbbstang]

all by itself. Reading about Jay replacing a roller rocker left me thinking about the need for a significantly stocked toolbox when you're broken down in a Big Lots parking lot at 11:00PM. Is a mechanics Creeper a luxury?  What about drop-lights?... There's got to be bolts/nuts all over a SOHC Mustang that require a deep-well socket or certain wrench. I think Jay even mentioned having a spare camshaft and a spare wiring harness. You have "spare tires" called slicks but you aren't fitting slicks on the front axle of a Mustang are you?.... I guess you could insure the trailers spare tire is the same size and bolt flange as the car's front wheel - do you go that far?.....Just think of all the tools and supplies required to change a SOHCs camshaft -- You know Murphy's Law will kick in big time when  you reach for that 2" 3/8ths drive  extension that works so well with that swivel-head ratchet. Do you pack a portable electric impact wrench or have enough compressed air capacity to bring pneumatic tools?

[Drew Pojedinec]

I get it.
I do it for 28-42 days at a time (the most was 77 days with no contact).
It sucks, your planning for what *could* go wrong has to be fairly extensive.

Of course if we break down, there is no AAA.

[thatdarncat]

Well, I just blew a fuse as I was pulling into Beardstown, Illinois on the way to Gateway tonight. It runs my vacuum pump for my power brakes, so pretty important. Luckily I made sure I brought spares of all my fuses along with test light and little meter. I just used all three. When I get back home I'll post a picture of everything I have crammed into the Shelby. I tried to bring FE unique things that might be hard to find - spare rocker shafts for example. I forgot spare pushrods though. I also tried to bring all my "special" tools, I've got a bunch and I don't even have a cammer! But I know certain things need a 12 point or a flex socket and so on.

[FordEver]

Good question. We were at Union Grove and besides lots of nice cars I noticed the trailer/tool/supply thing.  The slower less exotic cars not so much, but the faster on the edge cars like Jays had a fairly common kit, basically three pounds of stuff in a two pound can. Several,  plastic stackable flat tool boxes,  couple small jack stands, small aluminum jack, battery impact, some had Honda 2000i generators, some the small 3 gal compressor, rolls off towels/handiwipes, personal travel bag, lots off soft nylon storage bags, 12v compressor, small spare parts,  after these guys park and unload, get the cars ready, it looks like several garages exploded in the pits. Just a basic observation, some had more, some less. A few hours and several runs later, they pack up, jam everything in the trailer/car drive off, the pits are again empty. Very cool.

[thatdarncat]

Some of those trailers are amazing in themselves.

[mike7570]

BB,  at first you don't bring enough and then you end up bringing too much, after a while you have done it enough to know what to bring along on an extended trip.
When I was racing NHRA division 7 we had races in Sonoma, Freemont, Sacramento, Phoenix, Las Vegas and so on.  If you knew you could find something at the local auto parts store you didn't worry about bringing a spare. I carried around extra pushrods for my tunnel port in the bottom of my tool box for 5yrs before I needed 2 of them at a Freemont points meet.
The one thing that was invaluable to me was a box I had where I threw all the left over or unused nut, bolts and screws that you accumulate over time, came in real handy when you or a fellow racer needed just one more nut, bolt  or washer to repair the car.

[thatdarncat]

When I go bracket racing there are a lot of things I don't bring, like jack stands, because I know if I needed a pair I could find someone with some. But on Dragweek you're supposed to bring everything you need on a regular basis, if you borrow something everyday from someone else that could be construed as having a "support vehicle" although I don't know that anyone is watching that close, but still, you get the idea.  Now if you get picked for "impound" then you'd be hurting. I packed extra oil & a filter, but forgot a filter wrench  haven't needed it ( yet ) It is tough to decide what to bring. You are correct that if you're at the track or near a town you could maybe find what you need, problem is for hours on end we're usually driving in the middle of nowhere. Remember Hot Rod gives us the route we have to take. I spotted a couple guys last night with their Dragweek car jacked up in a school parking lot fixing something halfway between Union Grove and Cordova.