On with tech. I was aware that sometimes contestants that have preregistered for the event and who can not make the event for whatever reason, sell there entry at cost. The pre entry fee for the 2004 event was $325.00. Those of us that didn't meet the deadline for the pre entry fee figure, were facing a $425.00 late fee charge. Pre entry fees are not refundable by B.N.I./S.C.T.A. However, they are allowed to be sold. The lady at the registration booth who collects Bonneville racers T-shirts and has been collecting them for several years (someone told me she has around 6,000 at present) is the lady that is in the know as to who wants to sell their pre entry. So she got a Black Lightning T-shirt and I got a name.

We finally got the liner under the tech tent. The log book was given to the head official. This book was up to date with all pertinent data as to what was changed since the last running of the liner. It was several pages in length as to the changes and by the rules they must check each change. as their format was in a logical sequence and my log book was not, it was soon found out that this was not working that well. They determined that the liner would be treated as a brand new streamliner. The only problem with that was that they could not use the 785 log book. A new log book and number had to be assigned to Black Lightning. So a trip to another registration booth for new machines had to be made. For a $10.00 bill I walked away with a new log book and a sticker that is permanently placed on the machine. The reason for the B.N.I./L.S.R. sticker is this: Once upon a time there was a Bonneville racer a bit lacking in scruples. He had built two cars identical in all respects except for the size of the engines. One was big and one was small. Not detectable in their external appearance. The big incher made the record run in the little inchers class, setting a record in that class. The big incher, after the record run, was swapped for the little incher and taken to impound for the checking of the engine displacement size. Need I say more as to the reason for the B.N.I./L.S.R. sticker?