Week 15-last
The car was pretty decent after last weeks conundrum. We practiced well, made some adjustments and qualified 3rd. Made some more adjustments for the heat race, and had a blast racing with Tom Moriarty on the outside. Tom and I laughed a lot after the heat because we both admitted we were holding our breath racing wide-open inches apart. I did get a headache afterward cause my brain was suffering for oxygen deprivation, I don't think I took a breath for 9 straight laps!
Anyway, main event time met us. The line I was in on the initial start was slow going, so I fell to last place going into turn three on the first lap. I moved up one position and settled in for what seemed to be a pretty good run. The five of us were all pretty close lap after lap.
My car was a tick off, but nothing that would limit a good finish. I hadn't been loose off the corner much this year, so this being a first I was driving the wheels off and trying to get up front as fast as I could. I knew the chassis would not permit me to save the right rear tire, so I needed to get all my spots early.
There was a spin which brought out the caution. I moved to fourth at that point and was restarting 2nd row outside. The car, that would eventually finish my night off, was inside. He persisted on running into me down the back stretch on the pace lap. A little bump is ok, but one-two-three bumps is a little excessive. I told Steve, my spotter, to tell his spotter to back him off. The restart was called off, so we lined up again. He decided to run into me again on the pace lap. I finally had had enough and turned into him to let him know I wasn't happy with his positioning and constant hacking. Not only was he jeopardizing my night, but he was down right disrespecting the 70 car, driver and team. Frankly, when there are only six cars in the race, a little respect for one another will make for a great night of racing.
The ensuing restart was a decent one. I raced him on the outside, then on the inside. His car was going away quickly, my car was just a tick loose in, a little tight in the center, and loose off. No worries though, we were racing for 3rd and he was getting worse and worse. Finally, he was so slow in the center I would get right to his bumper lap after lap. Then he made a mistake, he drove in too deep and I put my car inside of his. We were side by side coming off of turn two. Going into three I got a bump from behind which caused me to loose the handle a bit, the outside car gained back on me, but I still had a bumper. I can't remember if it was one lap or two later, but I finally cleared the outside car, and just as I did I got bad loose coming off of two, real bad!
The result was sliding down the backstretch and hitting a tire barrier with the right side of the car. My night was over. Lots of damage, broken suspension, and another week fixing a car. I've had a lot of grief this year, and while I have ran out of talent a few times and made some mistakes costing me races, I am tired of this particular driver taking me out of contention. This is the third race this season where he has gotten near me and I have suffered damage.
I have yet to see the video of the incident, so I'll leave the commenting on whether I was wrecked or not, but I've had many people tell me it's pretty obvious from where they were at that he turned under me. I have no problem admitting that my race car was loose off the corner, but if he was anywhere near my bumper and made contact, well, I'll leave it at that. It's just something you don't do when you've been passed, but his same move on Natalie in race 12 cost me after leading 38 laps.
I changed out of my drivers suit, borrowed a crew members truck and headed for home. With two races to go the only cure for this is a WIN. Gotta get to work, we unloaded and started cutting stuff away Saturday night. I still don't know if the car will be ready to defend my 2nd in championship points for Saturday, but I've got some of the greatest guys working on my team this year, so I know they will give their best effort.
In spite of it all, it was one of the funnest days at the track this year. Racing with Tom, laughing with the guys, eating fair food, Natalie's (my team mate) mom was in town. With 17 of 19 races complete having fun at the end is almost the goal of the weekend. Big thank you to the #70 and #94 teams for making this Pastor's dreams come true. And to Naima's team, congrats on 11 wins, must feel great!
