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Shaq (aka Black Dog) was featured as Shop Pet in the August edition of Stock Car Racing Magazine. |
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It was hot today. During practice it reached 100 degrees and the track temperature was close to 140 degrees. My Father, David, and my Sister, Vicki, and their friends came up from Idaho to watch the race. I took the car out for practice and it was kinda loose but seemed fairly fast. When I brought the car in it had sprung a leak in the radiator so I had to put some "Stop Leak" in the radiator and hope it held for the night.
I put on a brand new tire on the right front for qualifying and it paid off. The car was loose and I did everything I could to keep it going and ended up setting fast time and beating my personal best time by three tenths of a second. During the trophy dash I decided to push Brian Lambert and see how much his car had. Brian did not qualify very well but he sure ran good in all the races. My car was still loose and I could not catch Brian. Every time I got close I made a mistake and had to correct the car. The same thing happened in the Heat Race. After the Heat Race I checked the "toe" on the car and it was even. I normally run about 3/16ths toe out on the right front tire. This puts more of the inside of the right front on the track and makes my narrow car handle better.
The main event was 40 laps and I started in 10th place and Brian started in 8th after the invert. The start of the race was clean and Brian and I worked up through the pack pretty well and then a caution came out. After the restart it did not take long for Brian to get up to the front. I had a little more trouble but I was not far behind. It wasn't long until Brian and I were out in the open track and tearing it up turning low to high 22 second laps. At these speeds the force on your body in the corners is quite a bit more than at slower speeds. My neck was starting to hurt really bad from trying to hold up the helmet weight. I turned my neck donut sideways so that the back part was on the right side. Since the back is thicker my helmet was pushing on it and holding my head up in a much better position without much effort. This is when I decided I needed to push Brian. Brian did a great job of turning his car around the track running my line so that I could not pass him. He was not mirror driving me on purpose but we made lots of eye contact during the race. At one point I saw a wreck behind us by looking in Brian's mirror. There was one wreck that almost took Brian out but he saved his car with some great driving and some luck. The 14 car went high in turn one and started going sideways as Brian was passing him low. Brian turned down low and found the 21 car in his way. Brian was able to barely miss a sandwich. If he would have hesitated at all I am sure that he would not have finished the race. I saw the wreck coming so I lifted before it even took place and was able to avoid the whole thing. Brian made a fast restart but I was able to stay with him. I got close to making run at a pass but then my car would get too loose or I over drove the car and had to lift and catch back up to Brian. There was another wreck. This time Brian did a slow restart but again, I was able to stay with him. During the last three laps I pushed as hard as I could and Brian held on as hard as he could. In the end Brian won and I was right behind him. It was a great race and the hardest and fastest we have run all season.
After the race, the officials made the first three place cars take our valve covers off. They were looking for solid lifters. My engine does not even use lifters so I had to take mine off for nothing. Brian and I were "clean". The third place car was using solid lifters but we never found out what penalty was given.
For the next race I have to get my radiator fixed and a helmet rest put on my seat.
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QUOTE: | If you are a host to your guest, be a host to his dog also. -- Russion Proverb |
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