Hoopy_boy - you sounded sincere to me (I don't know anyone on this forum well enough to know the difference), but if your comments were meant in jest - I apologize (and assume that the same was meant about "fellas of my quality'). I guess what threw me was that your first comment was long and genuinely helpful, so I took your second as your bonafide opinion too.
I guess I'm sensitive because I truly don't know much yet (heck, I didn't know a one piece from a two peice axle until last week), everything seemed to go wrong in such a hurry and I have no idea why. We bought an older car and have been working on set up all year and it's been coming along nicely, but last week we went from fast time in practice to being unable to complete a hot lap in qualifying or the race in nothing flat. When he went out for qualifying, the car starting shaking like crazy and he brought it back. When I started looking, I found the broken motor mount. Thinking that was the issue, I fixed it and sent him our for the race. Again, it started shaking like crazyand he parked it after limping around one lap. This time, I found the broken axle...not sure if it was there when I fixed the motor mount. As we talked about it, my son said that the car had become hard to shift (and a friend said it sounded like the clutch, but I guess a broken axle might sound similar).
I guess my underlying question was if these things could be related, and if so which is likely to have happened first. My thought is that the clutch was slipping, which caused the broken mount, which made the driveshaft shake and ultimately broke the axle. That's just a guess...and may be 100% wrong, but I was wondering if anyone had any opinions. The only other bit of info I'd add is that we were running more pinion angle than usual (nearly 3in). Could that have caused any of the symptoms (regardless of the order)?
Again. sorry if I misunderstood you. I've read many of your posts and you've helped a lot of folks out, which is admirable. We race asphalt on the east coast, so it's not likely that we'll see you anytime soon, but if we do I'll buy you the adult beverage of your choice as a peace offering. Take care.
Andy