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Beatrice Speedway, Beatrice, NE - August 19, 2006

This Saturday's weather was a bit cooler after getting some more rain during the week. A cloudy morning gave way to sun in the afternoon and a beautiful evening for racing.

It was the factory stocks turn to pack the track. When we first came into the infield shortly before 5 PM, it looked like there was plenty of moisture on the track. However, it didn't take a real long time to roll the track in before we would start the hot lap sessions off. There was still a spot in front of the flagstand and into turn 1 that was a bit slimey, but if you drove a bit lower in the chute you'd miss it and get through the corner OK.

On about the 3rd or 4th lap of hot laps, the 2 cars ahead of me moved up a little on the front chute. I also moved up a little, which ended up being too much. I let off the gas of the R & R Racing/Shew Towing/Blue Knights Monte Carlo and the back end started to come around on me. I hoped to get pointed toward the bottom of the track, which I did, but it didn't do any good as I hit the wall hard with the right side of the back bumper. That slammed my right front into the wall before I came to a stop. I think I'll skip hot laps from now on!!

Once back in the pits, a damage assessment did not look real good. The right front wheel and tire were ruined. The front wheels had about a foot of toe-out with one tire facing north and one tire facing south. When we got the wheel off, I found the brake hose had broken and the spindle was bent.

We've always carried a lot of spare parts, but a lot of times it didn't seem like we had the right things with us. This changed tonight.

I dug through the parts box and found a good spindle and a new brake hose. We decided we could get everything changed, but we'd be pushing it a bit. The hobby stock heats would be up first, with the factory stock heats following. We were in the 1st heat.

I pulled another tire out of the rack and we started in changing the spindle. The 1st hobby stock heat race was already on the track so we had to push a bit. Keep an eye on the lap counter to be sure we were still in the window to make our heat race.

The first factory stock heat race was pulliing onto the track as we put the tire back on. The guys were finishing up as I strapped into the car and fired it up. I was set to start on the inside of the 3rd row, with the top 5 making the invert. I just hoped everything would be OK once I got on the track.

I got into line in the staging area with two laps left in the heat race that was running. I thought I'd better check the brakes since we didn't have time to bleed them after changing the brake hose. The pedal went to the floor, but when I pumped the pedal a few times, the pedal came up. However, after lettinf off for a few seconds, I stepped on the brake pedal again and it went all the way to the floor!

By this time, they were waving our heat race onto the track. I decided I'd try to run and hopefully I wouldn't have to use a lot of brake. We came out of 2 and the lights were out, signaling a green when we came out of 4. We were all bunched up, then the front row accelerated as we came out of the corner. The green was waving.

Into 1 and out of 2 and I realized how much I really needed brakes. This just isn't working!!

On the 3rd lap, I lost it and spun in the middle of 1 & 2. The car headed for the inside wall, and I had it almost stopped before it hit. This time I was lucky as there was no damage. However, it's time to go to the pits before I do something to hurt it worse.

Once I was in and we checked everything over, we found that the right rear brake line was leaking right where it went into the wheel cylinder. I tried to tighten it up, but it still leaked. In checking for a brake line, I was unable to find one of those in the parts box.

The only alternative was to pinch the line closed to keep from leaking more fluid. Once that was accomplished, we bled the entire system.

Factory Stock Heat Races:

First Heat:
1. 89 Ronda Mewes, Blue Springs
2. 32 Jordan Grabouski, Beatrice
3. 5m Neal Mittan, Wymore
4. 03 Aaron Roth, Pleasant Dale
8. 6 Ernie Reiss, Beatrice (Spun, DNF)

Second Heat:
1. 66 Jeff Watts, Wymore
2. 9 Gary Laflin, Beatrice
3. 6R Roy Armstrong, Beatrice
4. 35 Mike Schwartz, Beatrice

Before we were done with the factory stock, it was time for Tyler to get strapped into the R & R Racing/Shew Towing/Blue Knights Monte Carlo IMCA Stock Car for his heat race. All 11 cars were in one heat and Tyler was to start on the outside of the 3rd row. The track was in pretty good shape, except for being a bit rough on the bottom. When the green flew, Tyler moved to the top and worked there for a couple of laps. He was holding his own there and tried to move around a bit. With two laps to go and running in 6th place, he went into 3 and hit the car ahead of him a bunch. The fender and nosepiece were pretty crumpled, but it didn't look line anything else was hurt from where I was standing. At the checkers, Tyler crossed the line in 5th place, making the invert.

When he pulled back into the pits, Tyler indicated to me he'd lost his brakes. I looked in and saw the brake pedal was on the floor. We managed to get the hood off, and could see brake fluid on the inside of the tire. He'd blown a brake hose, which caused him to lose brakes. Sure was not a night for us tonight!!

Further inspection showed he hit hard enough that the frame was bent on the right side, about where the idler arm bolts on. It didn't seem to affect the handling, though.

Tyler was able to borrow a replacement hose for the night. Once it was on, we bled the brakes out and the car was as good as we could get it for the time being.

IMCA Stock Car heat race:

1. 76 Lance Borgman, Beatrice
2. 31 Eric Rempel, Palmyra
3. 3 Josh Carpenter, Fairbury
4. 99 Darcy Dobrovolny, Waterville, Kan
5. 6 Tyler Phelps, Beatrice

Since I didn't finish the heat, I had the privilege of starting the A Feature last (17th). At least I wouldn't get run over right off the bat this way. We got the car ready to go in time to participate in giving the young race fans rides in the race cars during the intermission. It's a lot of fun for the drivers to do this, and the kids really loved it, too!

After the rides, we checked everything over one last time and made sure the fuel cell was topped off. When it was time to go to the staging area, I got strapped in and ready to go. No real big hurry, as I was going to the back of the field anyway. I can just run where I want and hope to pass some cars so I can have a good finish.

Once on the track, we got lined up and got our parade lap. Wave at the crowd as they wave back at us. The flagman is showing that we'll be green next time around. On the back chute, the lights are out. Into 3 and the cars ahead of me are on the gas. We're racing!

I got on the gas to try to make a pass right away, but the car just would not go. Last week, I'd burned some spark plug wires and it felt the same was tonight. I was so far down on power that I could just about not let up on the gas anywhere on the track. I just decided I'd hang in there and hope for other cars to have problems.

At the halfway point, there was a yellow for a car stopped on the back chute. I'd lost sight of the rest of the pack by then and knew I must be getting close to being lapped. The yellow bunched the field up again and for at least a while, I could see who was ahead of me.

The green waved again and we were back to racing. Once again, I had no power and just had to ride around out there. Another yellow a couple of laps from the end saved me once again from being lapped. I was sure happy to see the checkered flags waving and even happier to have salvaged a 12th place finish. We're still hanging on to a 7th place spot in the points race.

Factory Stock A Feature:
1) 66 Jeff Watts, Wymore
2) 35 Mike Schwartz, Beatrice
3) 5m Neal Mittan, Beatrice
4) 89 Ronda Mewes, Blue Springs
5) 15s Lyle Slama, Plymouth
6) 9 Gary Laflin, Beatrice
7) 03 Aaron Roth, Pleasant Dale
8) 69 Delmar Wells, Hallam
9) 23 Cary Ames, Beatrice
10) 54m Gary McGinty, Fairbury
11) 3 Bob Latta, Marysville, KS
12) 6 Ernie Reiss, Beatrice
13) 6r Roy Armstrong, Beatrice
14) m64 Matt Post, Beatrice
15) 7x Kyle Ames, Beatrice
16) 32 Jordan Grabouski, Beatrice
17) 6b Travis Burger, Summerfield, KS

Factory Stock Points after 8-19-2006:
1-624 Neal Mittan, Wymore
2-621 Roy Armstrong, Beatrice
3-598 Jeff Watts, Wymore
4-586 Lyle Slama, Plymouth
5-581 Gary Laflin, Beatrice
6-576 Aaron Roth, Pleasant Dale
7-530 Ernie Reiss, Beatrice
8-521 Cary Ames, Beatrice
9-496 Mike Schwartz, Beatrice
10-488 Matt Post, Beatrice
11-466 Delmar Wells, Hallam
12-437 Travis Burger, Summerfield
13-436 Tim Hessheiemer, Dorchester
14-378 Gary McGinty, Fairbury
15-365 Bob Latta, Marysville, KS
16-307 Greg Crannell, Beatrice
17-277 Mike Pracheil, Dorchester
18-254 Jason Tennant, Beatrice
19-219 Ronda Mewes, Blue Springs
20-212 Derrick Sand, Hanover KS
21-207 Jeff Shew, Beatrice
22-116 David Mischnick, Crete
23-107 Monte Fralin, Beatrice
24-82 Aaron Little, Malcolm
25-80 Matthew Spanjer, Fairbury
26-57 Jeff Stohs, Hanover, KS
27-30 Ashley Holle, Hanover, KS
28-26 Kyle Ames, Beatrice
29-24 Pat Welch, Cortland
30-21 Jerry Brown, JR, Fairbury

Not knowing how the R & R Racing/Shew Towing/Blue Knights IMCA Stock Car would handle, I was pretty apprehensive before the start of the A Feature. Tyler was to start on the outside of the 3rd row. After trying to straighten some sheet metal and replacing the brake line, I hoped we didn't miss anything.

When the green came out, it was a mad dash into 1 with Tyler staying on the high side. Out of 2 they were two and three wide down the back chute. Tyler was in 6th or 7th place at the end of the 1st lap. Everybody was so close it was hard to sort them out.

As the race continued, Tyler was able to pick up a couple of spots. With the IMCA carburetor on the cars, it makes for a lot of close racing, but sometimes there is not a lot of passing. Other times, positions are traded several times each lap. As the race wound down, Tyler found himself in 4th place and when the checkers fell, that's where he finished. That puts him in a solid 6th in points.

IMCA Stock Cars A Feature:

1) 76 Lance Borgman
2) 3 Josh Carpenter
3) 31 Eric Rempel
4) 6 Tyler Phelps
5) 22 Hugh Carmichael
6) 17 Brett Behrens
7) 29j James Griffith
8) c15 Eric Weyer
9) 99 Darcy Dobrovolny
10) 89 Samuel Howard
11) 73 Dallas Dobrovolny

IMCA Stock Car points after 8-19-2006

1-613 Lance Borgman, Beatrice
2-575 Josh Carpenter, Fairbury
3-569 James Griffith, Beatrice
4-564 Hugh Carmichael, Blue Springs
5-557 Eric Rempel, Palmyra
6-537 Tyler Phelps, Beatrice
7-526 Dallas Dobrovolny, Waterville, KS
8-505 Todd Laflin, Beatrice
9-491 Darcy Dobrovolny, Waterville, KS
10-421 Jay Holle, Hanover, KS
11-334 Samuel Howard, Alexandria
12-234 David Murk, Blue Rapids, KS
13-156 Mike Sherwood, Beatrice
14-99 Jim Stolzenburg, Clifton, KS
15-70 Dustin Schmidt, Fairbury
16-65 Jason Kreft, Carelton
17-63 Eric Weyer, Centralia, KS
18-38 Shane Stutzman, Milford
19-36 Jeff Joldersma, McClellan, IA
20-35 Brett Behrends
21-33 Bryan LaRiviere, Wichita, KS

In checking the stock car over on Sunday, it was decided that it needed to have the frame straightened. Jeff was able to get it into Ron's Body Shop in Beatrice on Thursday afternoon, and it was finished on Friday afternoon. Friday evening was a late night as we worked on putting everything back together until 1 AM. We were finishing everything up shortly after noon on Saturday when we got the word that the races were rained out at Beatrice Speedway.

When I got the factory stock off the trailer and into the garage at home, I started looking for burned spark plug wires. However, they looked fine. I then started checking spark plugs and found about half of them to be gasoline soaked. When I opened the carburetor up, I found a bit of sediment in it. The carb had not been touched since we bought it about 5 or 6 seasons ago, so I got a carb kit and put in new gaskets. That being finished, I took the valve covers off and found the reason the engine sounded like a loaded-down grain truck.

The rocker arm on the #3 intake valve had cracked around where the rocker arm stud goes through it and the rocker arm came off the push rod. I also found that on the #4 cylinder, the pushrod on the intake valve had gone through the rocker arm. The engine had been running on just 6 cylinders!

It looks like everything is ready to go now; but Beatrice rained out for tonight (the 26th.) We may take it over to Deshler tomorrow afternoon for their final show of the season.

With the season just about ended, I hope to see everybody soon at the races. We'll be at the Nebraska State Fair on Friday September 1st, then back at Beatrice on September 2nd. Beatrice Fall Nationals is September 15 & 16 and we'll have the factory stock there. Beatrice Octoberfest is scheduled for October 6 & 7 and we plan to have both cars there to finish out the season.

Ernie #6 Factory Stock
Beatrice, NE Speedway
Secretary, Blue Knights Nebraska I

Email: blueknightne1@email.com