| Place |
Time Points |
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|---|---|---|
| Qual Time: | 2 | 22.406 |
| "A" Trophy Dash: | 4 | N/A |
| "A" Heat Race: | 2 | 9 |
| Main Event: | 6 | 40 |
| Season Points: | 2 | 495 |
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The day started out bad and only got worse. After getting to the track and going through tech we found out the car did not have the correct weight. The left side of the car can only have 53% of the total weight of the car. Three weeks earlier we passed tech just fine right at 53%. We raised the fuel cell so that it was 10 inches off the ground to pass tech. Somehow, raising the tank shifted the weight to the left. We had to move the 40 pound battery to the right side of the car and add an additional 50 pounds to the right side of the car to pass tech. We missed both practice sessions getting the weight correct. The techs were extremely patient with weighing and re-weighing the car. The techs did give me some safety laps to test the car. If felt different but not too bad.
I took the car out and qualified with a time of 22.406 which tied Brian Lamberts time exactly! The officials put me in the "A" Trophy Dash on the outside pole. Terry Barnes got the pole with the 4th fastest time. We started the race just fine. Terry was pushing a bit in the west turn but not so bad that it altered my line. Then on the third lap with all four cars were still in a tight formation, the left front strut tower mount broke and sent the car out of control. I could not handle the car because the strut was flopping around. I ended up ramming Brian. We hit wheel to wheel but neither of us hit the wall. We both pitted and started working on our cars. The wheel on the car had rubbed against the loose strut assembly and cut a hole in the strut housing and the strut cartridge. We borrowed a strut mount and assembly from Audrey & Tracy Klemesrud and got the car fixed just in time for the Heat Race. Brian got his car fixed but not in time for the Heat Race.
I was on the outside pole for the Heat Race. I was able to get by Audrey on the first lap and get away from the pack. Then I noticed a bad vibration in the car which was probably a tire rub. I decided to slow down to minimize the rub and avoid damaging the tire. This allowed Robert Claphan to catch me. I looked behind him and there were no cars really close to him so I let him pass me. I could have pushed the car and won the race but it might have damaged my tire that I needed for the main event. I decided that an easy second was better than a risky first.
We fixed the rear left fender to remove the tire rub. I started in 10th place in the main. After a few laps I was able to move through the pack pretty well. Then after about 5 laps Charles McDonald lost control of his car in the west turn and was heading down to the inside of the track. Robert Claphan was right behind him and I was right behind Robert. Robert should have lifted but pushed through Charles and clipped the rear of his car and sent Charles heading back up the track. I had already committed to going high pass the wreck. I had to jerk the wheel to the right and found myself heading directly into the west turn wall with my brakes locked up. When I got about 30 feet from the wall I lifted off the brake and punched the gas and turned the wheel to the left. I managed to avoid smashing the car but I did smack the right front wheel and fender into the tires and styrofoam that they put in front of the wall to slow cars down before hitting the wall. After hitting the wall I dropped the car into 2nd gear and floored it to get to the start finish line to take the yellow flag. I had the car floored but it was not moving very fast. I pitted and Tommy grabbed the fender and ripped it off the car with a single jerk. This was amazing considering that it had at least 6 bolts still holding it in place! Bob from Perfection Tire and Mark from Sandies Trophies grabbed the two tires that I had managed to trap under the car and drag clear around the track. I went back out on the track in 17th place. It took several laps to figure out how to make the car go fast. The steering was bent and the toe was about 1.5 inches instead of 3/16ths of an inch. This made the car push because I was only using a small footprint of the right front tire. I still managed to push the car and pass back up into 7th place. I was working on a pass of Audrey for several laps. I went wide in the west turn and then cut down low and raced down the front stretch. I did not get good enough position before the first turn so I lifted and let her come down but then I punched the gas to pass her high. She pushed high so I cut low and set my car up to pass her when she straightened out. She brought her car down, I lifted but could not hit the brakes because I would have lost control when we collided. The right front of my bumper dipped under the left side of her bumper and sent her spinning into the infield. She spun around and got back on the track before the officials even saw there was a problem. There were only a few laps left and I did not have enough control and speed to catch the other cars so I ended up in 6th.
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I spent most of the week repairing the car from the previous weeks three wrecks. I replaced both strut mounts, the steering box and rod between the pitman and idler arms, the left strut and spindle, and the right front fender. We decided to run nitrogen in the wheels instead of air because the Main Event was going to be during the day. Nitrogen does not expand as much as air when it is heated in the tires. The races were spread out over Saturday and Sunday. The Trophy Dash and Heat Race were on Saturday and the Main Event was on Sunday. During the practice sessions on Saturday I noticed that the car was very loose. This was not normal and I could not figure out why. I could not go fast enough to heat up the tires to make them stick on the track.
Even though the car was loose, it was still fast enough to win the Trophy Dash. The Heat Race was very different. The car started losing power in the corners and since it was so loose I could not use the gas to straighten out the car so I pushed up the track. This allowed others to pass me with ease. I ended up in 5th place and lost 2 more points to Terry Barnes in the points race. The difference was only 6 points now. The carburetor stud had broken off during the Heat Race. We opened up the carburetor and found a bunch of track rubber that got sucked into the carburetor and jets. The left rear was still vibrating. We thought it might have been a bent axle. I took the car home that night and got an axle and charged the battery.
Laura went to Schucks first thing Sunday morning and got some replacement bearings for the front left wheel. The wheel was dragging so we thought it may be the cause of the loose condition. Tommy and I were at the track trying to find the loose condition problem. We tested another wheel on the left rear and found that the brand new wheel that was on the left rear during the Trophy Dash and Heat Race. This left me in a horrible position of running an older wheel that was slightly bent because it was my best wheel. We replaced the bearings in the left front spindle and it was much better. I made it out just in time for the last practice session. The car was extremely loose but the vibration was eliminated. The car was fast in the straight sections but I had to lift going into each corner and sometimes coming out which made the overall speed pretty slow. I decided to remove the nitrogen and go back to air since that seemed to be the only variable that had changed from the previous race setups. The techs would not allow me any safety laps even though I needed them. I was afraid that I was going to lose control of the car and possibly wreck some one else if I made a bad decision on the setup change. I changed the tire pressures to a similar setup that we ran in July with similar track and ambient temperatures. I warned all the drivers that my car was loose and to give me extra room if they were going to pass me on the outside.
The Main Event started and I was extremely nervous about the car but I let it go where it wanted to go. I found a line that the car would run and it was pretty fast. I was able to move up through the pack. There were a few cars that were not very consistent in their lines so I could not pass them. I let Robert Claphan pass me thinking that he could get by them and I could just follow him. Then two laps later I was coming out of turn 2 and the car broke loose and came around on me. I started to catch it but then it broke again. I knew Brian was behind me and if I tried to catch it again I would run the risk of hitting someone on the track. I buried the throttle and brought the car around down into the infield to bring out the yellow flag. I went from 5th place to 17th. I got a good jump on the restart and moved up to 9th with a few great passes. The car was still loose but I was holding my own. Then the car got loose again coming out of turn 2. I was able to catch it this time but I dropped down into the dirt, drove across pit road, and through the infield watching my rear view mirror so that I could merge right back out in turn 4. I had only lost 3 positions. There were only a few laps left so I went to work and moved back up to 9th place. This was my worst race finish of the year. Worse yet, Terry Barnes won the race and passed me in the season points race. Terry won the race and second place.
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QUOTE: | In the concurring opinion of the wise, a dog, thankful for his food, is more worthy than a human being who is devoid of gratitude. -- Sadi |
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