WEEKEND REFLECTIONS: RACE RECAP

Saturday the 16th was a hot one! Temperature wise anyway. I'll summarize the last two weeks (14 days) this way, long race car nights. We hung a full nose and a half, fixed some other damage, and changed some wore out components. Yet, after all that something snuck up on us right before we were loading today--a bent track bar!

Yes, I had hit the wall last week in Meridian. The front wheel bent, but the rear wheel was good. I guess I should have thought through it more because the right rear wheel did not bend because the track bar did.

Right before loading this afternoon we checked the chassis for square. It was not, in fact, not by a lot. Problem was we didn't have another track bar that would suffice, so we start adjusting other ways. Well, the car was never quite right tonight.

Practice.
Car was loose in, tight in the center and loose off. We made it much better into the corner, but the tightness in the center remained.

Qualifying.
Not good, I qualified 9th, I think that is the 2nd worse this year as car was tight, bad. I ran a 17.7.

Heat Race.
We started 5th, finished 4th. We made a huge change before the heat race. I mean huge. I ran the largest right rear spring in my history as a driver. I wasn't tight anymore! Problem was it still wasn't quite square and there was nothing we could do.

Race.
I started 9th on the grid. I got as high as 4th, but finished 5th, again. I got turned around early in the race, I wasn't happy about that, but good thing the caution had already come out because they gave me my spot back. One thought I had while doing a full throttle 360 was this, "If the nose gets hit on this thing..." Getting turned is getting old...

Congrats.
Congrats to JZ, first; Naima, 2nd; Mugge, 3rd and everyone else. I wasn't disappointed in the least. We knew we had a wounded car the moment we unloaded, and we did the best with what we had. We'll fix it this week and get after it next week for the fair race! I love the fair...

Conclusions.

• Bent parts on a race car are like a shaved cat, aint right!
• I think I drank 3-4 gallons of h2o and Gatoradetoday!
• I know I looked like a goof running around with my fire proof nomex underwear beneath camo shorts, but it was cooler, and my suit shouldn't be under the car, ever.
• Naima Lang has the best food in the pits, period!
• Although, Pam made a hearty sandwich today. It was scrumptious.
• It's nights like these, where the car isn't right, that I appreciate the opportunity to do this. I used to be a kid in the stands, now I'm the lunatic in the #70. Hey kid, stay in the stands, go boating...nah, go racing!
• I am always surprised by who reads this blog. Thanks for tuning in.