| Place |
Time Points |
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|---|---|---|
| Qual Time: | 5 | 23.576 |
| "A" Trophy Dash: | 5 | N/A |
| "A" Heat Race: | 6 | 5 |
| Main Event: | 8 | 36 |
| Season Points: | 2 | 182 |
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The axles are in good shape. The motor was leaking very badly on the rear main seal. I had to pull the motor and replace the seal. Unfortunately we did not get the new motor finished in time for this race. The motor I am running now has some power problems similar to last year. More than likely, there are a few broken piston rings. The car can go pretty fast if I drive really smoothly and run a consistent line around the track. The problem is that running the same line in traffic is all but impossible.
The A Heat race was uneventful and my car was just not strong enough to run in traffic. The main event was very difficult. There were several cars that ran different lines and I could not get around them. The only thing I could do was try to carry as much speed as I could and hope that the other drivers made a mistake so I could pass. I had to push Audrey Klemesrud (18) through the west turn to keep my speed up. She did a great job. Both of our cars are Toyotas and our bumpers are made out of the same rubber material so they matched up equally. She did not get mad at me because our bumpers rubbed and did not "bump" so I never really "bumped" her car just pushed. Just before the last lap I was involved in a wreck. Larry Smith's (69) car touched my rear bumper coming out of turn 2. Larry did a great job of getting away from me spinning and I did a great job of handling the initial spin. Since I went down into the dirt, my tires were covered and when I came back onto the track I had no traction. I spun and was heading down the track backwards. I was able to review the traffic coming my way and spin the car on purpose so that I was facing the right direction. Unfortunately, when you spin a car the gas in the carburetor spills out and the car dies. It took me a second or two to get the car running again so I lost 4 positions. On the restart one car spun and I was able to pass another car before the checkered flag. Now I only have two weeks to get the new motor put together before the next race.
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What a nightmare of a week! Don Simmonson is helping me put together a bigger engine (22R instead of a 20R) for my car. Unfortunately he is so busy that we did not get a chance to put the motor together. We decided that it would be better to put new rings in the 20R motor for the next race or two while we work on the new motor. When I got the motor pulled out and taken apart we found out that all four top rings on the pistons were broken. There should be four rings! What I was running on the last three races was about fifty pieces of rings. Since the rings were broken there was no compression and no compression means no power. The cylinder walls were still in great shape. The rest of the motor was not! The main and rod bearings had aluminum impregnated in them. It turns out that the oil pump was rubbing on the timing cover and shaving off aluminum and putting it in the oil. So instead of a simple re-ring we had a full-blown rebuild on our hands. It took two days to get the right set of rings and another day to get an oil pump. Then we found out the water pump was bad as well. We finished putting the motor together and back in the car about four hours before qualifying on the day of the race. Needless to say, after 4 nights of very little sleep I was not at my best.
The track was very slick. Some people thought it was from the rain and others thought it was from the Hoosier tires used a few weeks ago during the NASCAR Tour race. I was able to turn a good lap even though the car got a little loose on me. The result was the fastest time at 23.020. The "A" Trophy Dash was just for fun so I took it easy and came in third. The "A" Heat race was much more work. I had made some tire pressure adjustments and guessed the wrong way. My car was very loose so I did not take any chances, took it easy, and came in third. The Main Event race was 35 laps. I started in 12th place because of the car invert. There was a problem with the start of the race and the cars up front did not start cleanly or someone passed before the Start/Finish line. The flagman did not throw the Green Flag so we all slowed down. Since there were 18 cars all close together, some slowed faster than others. I had to brake hard to avoid hitting the car in front of me. The car behind me did not even hit his brakes and slammed into me so hard that I hit the car in front of me. The next lap we started and there was a wreck in turn 1 so the lap did not count. It took several more times to get the race going and when it did Brian Lambert (64) and I moved quickly through the field. We got slowed down by Mike Kaufman (21). Brian could not get around Mike because Mike's line was not consistent. I was being patient and allowing Brian to find his way around Mike. I could have passed Brian several times but that would have put both of us in a bad situation.
Mike led the race for 18 laps while Brian and I were only going about 3/4 throttle. Then Mike came up on lap traffic. The lapped cars were not looking behind them and forced Mike, Brian, myself, and the other three cars right behind me to pass high in turn 3. Mike and Brian were lucky enough to get around the lapped cars before the "marbles". I slowed down and hit the "marbles" and the car got really loose because the weight transferred to the front of the car and the "marbles" stuck to the tires and made them lose traction. I slid sideways and tried to get down off the track while avoiding the outside concrete wall and the inside tires/wall. I did pretty well but the cars behind me were not able to slow down and one car hit my rear left wheel and quarter panel hard. The car started right up and I was able to get across the finish line still on the lead lap. I took the car into the pits to get the wheel changed. Tommy was able to air up the spare tire and change the wheel quickly with the help of the 64 car crew. I made it back out onto the track on the lead lap but at the back of the 18 cars with only 17 laps to go. The cars in front of me were slow and trying to pass each other which left me no room to pass. I had to pick my passes carefully and make them quickly. The last few laps I was having a hard time getting by Jade Williams and Larry Smith because they were trying to pass each other and failing every time. I had to let Jade know that I was faster so I gave him the "Iron Horn" by putting my front bumper into his rear bumper and pushing him down the front straight. I passed him in turn 1 on the last lap and passed Larry just before the Start/Finish line to end up in 7th place. Even though I did not finish very well I had fun racing with Brian and working my way up through the pack.
The motor is strong now and will get me through the next race or two. Thanks a bunch to Don Simmonson and the guys that changed my wheel during the race!
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QUOTE: | In England, the most commonly used guide dog for the blind is the Yellow Lab. The Guide Dog program originated in Switzerland in the 1920s. |
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