Lure of the track proves too strong

A couple of years ago Rusty Franklin, of Masterton, flagged stock car racing away.
There was a new baby on the way, and a new business to establish, and he simply couldn't afford spending anything up to 60 hours a week it took to keep his Street Stock Holden Commodore on the track.
He sold the car, the truck, the trailer ... but he couldn't get rid of the itch that had kept him returning to the Te Marua circuit for four years.
The excitement, the thrills, the roar of highly-tuned engines, the smell of hot machinery gets under the skin.
That's how a built-like-brick-outhouse Standard Stock car appeared in the garage of Wairarapa Radiators 18 months ago.
The car that rolled out a couple of weeks back looked much the same as when it went in, but it's been completely rebuilt to suit Rusty's driving style.
A new cage, new side rails, new bumpers, new undercarriage, new dash, new seat mounts ... it sounds a little like Grand-dad's pocket knife
The Holden served Rusty well. "It was crap to start with but it finished a top points car.
It was almost always in the first four, and it was fourth overall last season."
The rough and tumble of Street Stock racing took its toll, however, the shell prune-like from repeated shunts, and somewhat shorter than it started out.
Hence the 60 hours a week to keep the soft-skinned Street Stocks on the track.
The Standard Stock will require more like three or four hours a week, even if the side rails have to be cut out and replaced. (While the frame is super-strong, the side rails are softer, to absorb impacts, and are sacrificial).
There's another big difference between the cars. Rusty's a Holden man from 'way back, but he's found The General's product isn't suited to speedway and he's running 3.9 litre six-cylinder Ford engine (the V8s are too heavy).
At present that's mated to a four-speed box, but that's going to go, for two reasons. One is that third gear isn't high enough (he only uses third and fourth), with the result the car is over-revving at the end of the straight.
Also, there's zig-zag through-the-gate gear-shifting, and you don't want to be fishing around for gears in the heat of battle.
The replacement will be an older-model three-speeder with higher gearing and straight up-down shifting.
Front end on the car is Ford, and the rear Mitsubishi.
The "new" car was built in Wanganui, a strong speedway centre, about 12 years ago. More recently it was campaigned by two brothers, who put it in the top two or three placings for two years running.
Rusty's hoping that with the improvements he's made the car will do at least as well at Te Marua.
However he's under no illusions. Standard Stock is the most popular class in the North Island, with 30 or more cars at a time on the track.
"There's a lot of cars, and it's usually chaos at the first corner," he said.
And despite his four years experience, this car is very different to the Street Stock.
He took it to a practice day at Te Marua on October 20, with very modest expectations.
"I'd never driven it before," he said this week. "It was better than I expected. I thought I'd spend a lot of time in the wall, but because it's so rigid the control is much better. But it's still a mystery I'm on a big learning curve."
Rusty Franklin is supported by Wairarapa Radiators, Pit Stop, WAM, Supreme Auto Refinishers, Tunnell Tyres and Wurth NZ.
The car was to have made its debut with Rusty at the wheel last weekend, but the meeting was washed out.
"It was really frustrating. About 20 minutes after they called it off the front blew through and the weather came right," he said.
Competition should get under way this weekend.