5:30 AM   Welcome to day one of the Konica Winternationals. The weather forecast is great for the weekend; the entry list is near 450; the interstate and overseas visitors are pouring into town and we're ready to rumble.... almost. The sun isn't even up yet, but we're in motion already, because we've still got to load the car on the trailer, pack up all our gear and get out to the track. Yesterday was "move-in" day, but twelve hours ago we only had half a short block in the car and heaps of work still to do.

If you've read the update of June 6, you'll know that we had a few dramas to sort out before the car would be ready to run again after last Sunday's disaster. We've managed to put the engine back together, but the "shiny" is definitely long gone from quite a few of the parts. And the spare parts bin is nearly non-existent at this point.

My two biggest worries are the rocker assemblies and the fuel system. We haven't got the pieces or the time to switch over to a 20 nozzle system (from our current 12) and getting the fuel distribution right is going to be quite a challenge this weekend. We've got an emergency plan in place, but we'll wait until after the first warmup this afternoon to see if we're going to put it in place right away.

The other worry, the rocker gear, is mainly a question of whether it'll hold together at all. The bent stands have been straightened as best we can, but they're not perfect and we've had to