2007 Season

March 28 - It’s just over one week from now. The time has finally arrived. It went faster than expected yet it still seemed like forever. Everything is coming together. My sponsorship money came in from SimplySapphires.com. I ordered everything I need to be ready. I have a new fire suit, gloves and neck brace coming from Speedway motors. I have a new nose piece coming from Shiley fabrication. I went to Behrent’s Speed shop to pick up some new brake rotors, aluminum sheeting, and sundries. I stopped in at Bars for Less and picked up a new right rear tire. I have my new gear set ready to go in. I took the next two weeks off from work. My father is coming down to help get everything ready. Never have either one of us ever been ready for practice day. This year everything changes. This year we go into this season ready. We plan to make three practices days this year. We plan to make both at Accord on the 6th and 13th and the one at Glenn Ridge on the 15th. The car was finally set up at the end of last year with the help of some new found friends. I just need some laps. Just one week away. The anticipation is growing. I can feel it down deep inside. I still have a lot of work to do, but nothing too drastic. So close.

April 14th - Well, we made it. The weather finally cooperated. The first practice was cancelled. My parents arrived late from Maine. The second practice was cancelled but then just postponed. So last Saturday we made it official, we finally made it to "Practice day". Saturday turned out to be a pretty nice day, weather-wise. We had the car loaded the night before. My father and I didn't know what to do. We are so used to working up to the last minute, but everything was done. We even arrived at the track early. My father and my crew were quite surprised at the gate. The ads all said free admission, but that was for the stands only. We had to still pony up the $25 each for pit fee. The practice was supposed to be from 2 PM until 7PM. Unfortunately, the track officials decided they wanted to do car inspections at ten minutes to 2. So everyone was in line to get inspected when they started shouting over the speaker for people to work in the track. They kept calling and calling and just didn't seem to get it. Meanwhile, we all sat there waiting and waiting for the one inspector to look over each car. I was about 15th in line. It was going so slow, I decided after about six cars that I had time to put my racing suit on. So I trotted of to the truck. I was just finishing up when I looked back to the line to see how we were sitting. Just then they called to roll the cars forward. Unfortunately, my father didn't know how to get the car out of gear to roll it forward and a bunch of cars moved ahead us. I ran over to minimize our loss. We lost about three positions, so we waited and waited and waited. Then two cars ahead of us we watched in aggravation as a crewmember spent 10 minutes trying to put the hood back on a pro stock. He kept moving back and forth trying and trying but couldn't get it fastened. Meanwhile the other line is moving forward and we are stuck behind this buffoon. Of course the driver won't get out to help him. Finally, the pure stock ahead of me had enough and pulled around him. I immediately followed. Then one of my faults surfaced. I parked in front of the pro stock in such a way that he was blocked in. Now he had to wait. I know what an a-hole. Too bad. It ended up not working anyway. When they finally finished with the hood, they realized they hadn't gotten an inspection sticker. By then I was finished and out of his way. All in all I sat in line for about half an hour. We got the car back to the truck and put everything back together. I wanted a soft tire on for the first session so we changed the right rear to a 33 compound. Finally, we were called to the line. I found sitting on line the most amusing part of the day. When I got to the line I was about 12th in line. As soon as I stop, I turn off my engine. Racing fuel is $9 a gallon at the track. Even though I bought mine at $5.50 somewhere else, I am not wasting a drop. So there I sit waiting. The cars around me are all running. Then one car revs its engine. Then another. Then someone else revs a little higher. Now someone else revs three times. And so it goes, the dance of the engines. I am sure they think they are doing something, but it really only a macho thing. Then I notice the car next to me is leaking. The car is over heating on line and yet he continues to keep it running and revving it. I can see just enough over the first turn wall of the track to see the flagman. I see the white flag wave, so the session on the track is ending. The gate opens. I start my engine. They wave us forward. As I roll towards the track they stop us. They only let 6 cars on the track. I will go out in the next group. So I turn my engine off. Once again the dance begins, Vroom!….Vroom, Vroom! Vrooooooom! Vrooom Vroom Vroom! Ha Ha Ha. After another 15 minutes, it's finally my group's turn. I am the last of this group to get on the track. I drive up the bank and through the gate. I reach down and throw it into high gear. AH, finally. They told us to keep a good spacing, so I let the car ahead of me get a good 8 car lengths in front of me. We roll around slowly for a couple of laps. I notice the track is in terrible shape. To say it was bumpy would be a huge understatement. The turns had what I can only describe as ridges. These ridges looked like huge speed bumps. They separated each curve into lanes with walls on each side. The green flag flies. We are off! I floor it. Off down the front stretch I go. I go into turn one and bounce across the ridges. The pounding is like bounce down a staircase on your butt. It is so hard though it made my jaw hurt. In no time at all, I have caught the car in front of me. This driver is obviously new. I knew it was a woman driver because she was parked near me in the pits. By the rate at which I close on her I realized she was getting used to her car. I tried to duck under her but she was already headed that way. She was holding me up but it's only practice so I waited until the next turn and went around her on the outside. I now had a clear track. The next lap I had one of the top runners pass me on the inside. Coming out of the turn he drifted up in front of me and I had to lift but I still bumped him in the rear. I had lost my momentum so he pulled away from me coming off the turn. Into turn one he went high and I went through the torturous territory down low. A huge clump of clay flew off my tire and landed in the cockpit next to my seat. Another car got by me in turn three. Then the three of us stay in a tight group for the rest of the session. I was ecstatic! I was able to keep up with these guys! So I brought the car back to the trailer and we hung out and discussed what happened until our next session. I was pushing into turn three but great into turn one. The car seemed very loose to me coming off of the corners. I actually had to lift off the gas a couple of laps to keep from clipping the wall. We decide not to make any changes because with the track as bad as it was how could we tell what was really happening. An announcement came that they were going to try to fix the track. So we all went up to the stands, had a bite to eat and watched as they cheese grated the turns. We were a little skeptical of their methods but it actually worked rather well. My class was again called to the line. This time I was way back in line, enjoying the engine dance. I ended up in the third session for my class this time. The track was much better! They waved the green and off we went. This time the car went into turn three like a dream, but pushed into turn one. This was just the opposite of before! Why? Well, I didn't get a chance to figure it out because as I entered turn one the second time BOOM! CLANK CLANK CLANK!. I was heartbroken. The engine quit and I coasted to a stop in turn two. The worst fears went through my head. My season is over before the first race! The tow truck pushed me to the infield. The clunking continued as I rolled. I new the drive shaft was damaged but what else? The session finished and I was pushed back to my trailer. Everyone gathered around to see what happened. I looked at the tell tale on the tach. She had revved to 7700 RPM when what ever it was broke! That is not good! We took a quick look to see the damage. The drive shaft had definitely broken. We turn over the engine slightly with the starter just to make sure it would. That was about all we could do. We loaded the car and headed home. Once we had the car in the garage and pulled apart, we started methodically testing each item we thought might have been damaged. First was the drive shaft. The failure occurred at the first universal joint. When it failed it flew into the shifter, which was then pushed into the scatter shield. Both drive shaft yokes were also destroyed. Next we went to the engine. These tests were critical. If the engine is broken my season is essentially over. First we drained some oil and checked the magnetic drain plug. Both were clean. We pulled the spark plugs next and they looked good. A quick compression check showed all cylinders were okay. So we decided it was time to run the engine. This also would check the front half of the transmission. The engine started and ran fine with no extra noises. We were very relieved. So off to the racecar store I went with my shopping list. $300 later I had everything I needed to repair the damage. Over the next couple of days we repaired everything and now we a ready to try again. This Friday is opening night, another event we have never made. The weather is cooperating and hopefully we will have a great night!

April 20th - It's opening night! Not really, it's raining!

April 27th - It was opening night. The day was perfect. The car was ready. We were pumped up. POOF! It all goes away in a fleeting instant. We arrive at the track to see.......no one! It never occured to me to call to see if the track had cancelled. Such a beautiful day! I whipped out my cell, hit the track speed dial and sure enough CANELLED! What a let down. What is worse, we were apparently the only ones who didn't check first. Note to self...New item on check list "call the track before leaving". Good thing we only live 30 miles from the track. So home we came and wandered aimlessly for the rest of the night. We couldn't even work up enoough interest to watch the NACAR race on TV. Tomorrow looks like a washout. Big storm coming. I know what is going to happen. the first race will be the week I am in Jackson, MS. I still have one more chance. The 4th of May.

May 4th - It was opening night. The day was perfect. The anticipation was making itself known all day long in the pit of my stomach. The butterflies were working overtime. I got out of work as soon as I could. Just a few things to pack and off to the track we went. We were only a half hour late. I arrived at the track, well, almost at the track. The line was backed up for about a half mile down the road. Time was going to get tight if this line didn't start moving. I eventually get to the track and I see the haulers looped all of the way around the packing lot and back to the pit entrance. This essentially doubled the waiting line. I called Dan (my crew) and asked him to save our spot if he arrived first. So after another half hour, I made it to the pit entrance. I signed in and drew for position. I drew a 9. It proved to be a good draw as I was first in the second heat. I went out for practice and found the car doing the same thing again. Great turning in 3 and 4 but pushing in 1and 2. On the last lap I stomped the brakes going into one and the car came around nicely. So metal note. I went out for my heat race on the pole for the first time at this track. The green dropped and off we went. I headed into turn 1 and stomped the car came around but not enough and I pushed through the corner. Then I was hit a couple of times by the fellows behind me. I got it going down the backstretch still in second place. I hit the brakes going in when I shouldn't have and the car kicked around too much and another car got by me. In turn one again and another push not so bad but someone came around the outside but lost it. He ended up sideways in front of me. I let off to let him pass across the front of me but I nailed him in the left front. He eventually cleared me and I took off again still in third. The caution came out. I lined up and the car that I had just hit decided he should have third instead of me. I figured the track officials would get it straight, so no sense fighting over it. Then I noticed his left front tire way flat. Problem solved. He had to go to the pits. So off we go again. I pushed real bad this time in turn one. This really started to mess with me. I was having trouble with every corner now. I knew I was down to the last qualifying spot, but the harder I tried, the worse I drove. I finally ended up spinning out coming out of turn 4. I thought the race was over, but when I turned the car around the flagman was waving me to catch up to the field. We weren't finished yet. One more lap. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to get by anyone in that lap. I ended up spinning again after the checkered flag. The car got stuck in gear and then the tow truck pushed me into the wall trying to help me. This of course bent my tie rod. So back in the pits my buddy Dan worked on the back of the car while I worked on the tie rod. We got everything back together in no time. Dan went up to see where we were in the consi. He came back with 15th. It seemed odd but I lined up anyway when they called for us. As I sat there very few cars were showing up. Finally, the official came over and told me I wasn't in the consi I was 14th in the feature. Really? He said, "Don't argue," I replied "Okay" and drove off. For the feature we had planned on changing to our brand new right rear tire. We had actually put it on for the consi. So we actually had nothing to do for once. The feature ended up being a short race for me. I started outside in the 7th row. As the green flew we all went off like banshees. I tapped the brakes hard because in the heat that's what I had to do to get the car to turn correctly. Well, she almost went around on me. I caught it in time but went way up the track as many a car went by. I gathered myself together and headed off to the next turn again the car was REALLY loose. I could only go around the corner high on the bank. Soon I was last. I actually didn't mind because I could now take a lap or two figuring out this new development. Then the yellow flag flew. Someone had spun somewhere. We gathered back together for the restart and off we went. I stayed high down the front stretch trying to stay out of trouble, but trouble found me. Somebody drove over someone else's tire. I saw a car go up and the car underneath turn dead right. That's dead right into my door. He hit me so hard he bounced me into the air and tossed me up against the wall. I came back down to earth and braced myself for the second hit that always seems to come. Luckily that was it. I saw that my steering was broken, my door smashed, my roof broken and who knows what else. They towed me back to the pits and I climbed out to see the rest of the damage. The rub rail was sheared off and turned under the car. Luckily it was ¼" from puncturing the rear tire. The lower half of the door was under the car shaped like a towel you twist to get the water out. The inner loops were bent twisted and again fraction of an inch from hitting the headers or muffler. Everything do what it was supposed to do, save the important stuff. Some mild coaxing with the sledgehammer removed the remains off all of the bars. I did the race day bodywork dance on my door to get it somewhat back into shape. I picked up a new tie rod at the parts trucks foe $40. We loaded the remains on the trailer and threw the rest of the pieces into the truck for the journey home. Saturday morning I made a call to Shiley fabrication and ordered new bars. Sunday I am off to Jackson MS, so the repairs will have to wait until my return. No racing next week as I don't get back until late Friday night. I did pick up $60 for making the feature and I didn't finish last!

May 11th -

May 18th -

May 25th -

June 1st - It was a night to celebrate. Unfortunately I celebrated alone. My wife's knee was acting up so my family couldn't come. My crewman had a fellow worker's going away party to attend so he wasn't there either. I thought a lot on the way to the track. What happens if? Being by yourself tends to make you consider contingency plans. All I knew was that nothing was keeping me from going to the track. I left a little late but arrived in plenty of time. I did the usual things to get ready for the night. Tonight was a big pay off night for my division, $1000 to win. Not that I had hopes of reaching that yet. I looked at the schedule and realize3d right away that I had better do well in my heat or I was going to be very busy. For some reason the track always schedules the class that has a consolation race first for the feature. This gives the poor guys who qualify for the feature in that consolation almost no time to adjust their car or take a piss. Anyway, at the driver's meeting they took a roll call to verify who was there. Of the 27 cars there guess who they missed? That's right, me. So I had to go to the sign booth to verify I had been entered in. Of course I had been this guy calling the roll just missed me. I drew 6th in the third heat. 5 qualify and I saw I had some top runners in the heat with me. I went out for hot laps and the car felt great. The heat race started well and I felt abnormally relaxed. One of the top guys blew through the field but was taken out shortly afterwards in a tangle in turn 4. I had to spin out to keep from running through them. I got back in line and found myself in 4th. Not bad! We restarted and I ended up in third spot by the finish. I was very satisfied with myself. I got back to the pits and found I had plenty of time to do nothing at all! I just sat around until my feature. I started 10th in the feature. I soon drifted backwards as I haven't been doing too well on the outside lane. I settled in once I was able to get to the inside. I managed to recover back to around 10th to 12th. I battled there most of the night. I avoided many crashes and got spun out a couple of times but I still ended up 12th by the checkered flag. The car developed a push once the track dried out and she was overheating to 260. I also had trouble seeing as I lost my tear offs when they all came off at once. I then started lifting my visor on the cautions which loaded my glasses up with dirt. It was an extra ten laps (35 total) for the races but with the cautions we went at least 50. The celebration was calling everyone who missed it and letting them know it was a good night. It also happened to be my father's birthday so I called him to wish him a good birthday. I moved up three spots in the standings and had a few pictures which made the website which was nice. This week I installed an oil cooler. I hope this helps keep the engine cooler during these long hot nights.

June 8th - This night was similar to last week. I was flying solo again. The crew and family couldn't make it. I was in the third heat. It didn't go well the car, has started pushing again. I started 6th and finished 7th. In the consi I caught a break as the front boys tangled. I shot underneath the mess and came out in second. I ended up holding on for third. I started 18th the feature. I struggled all night long both with the car and trying to avoid wrecks. I wasn't successful at either. The worse wreck was early in the race. Someone spun the 36 into the inside wall and I couldn't get around him. I ended up sliding under his rear bumper. I had his car sitting on top of the driver's door. I thought for sure it had damage my steering. Fortunately, when the tow truck lifted his car up I backed out and rejoined the race. The car looked pretty funny with the door bent flat but it still ran fine so keep on trucking. Speaking of trucking that's what the car handled like. This car hates a dry track. I didn't pass a car all night. I did manage to get up next to a few but I just couldn't get through the turn well enough to get by. I finally finished 13th. The starter also chewed me out, because he thought I was slamming everyone. The only time I hit a running car was on the last turn of the last lap. Someone came under me and I tried the crossover move. But because of my push, I got into his left rear corner. I immediately back off of him and no one spun out. So confused as to why the starter was on my case I said I tried to stay off of him" He told me to clean it up I replied "okay". Whatever! I did fix the overheating problem. It only took $300. I installed an oil cooler. The engine ran at a nice 220 all night. I was a little disappointed with the night overall. I only finished one position worse than last week with a bad-handling car.

June 15th -

June 22nd - Now that the car is handling better I figured I would go out and kick some butt for once. It never works that way. I drew pole on the third heat. I had a good start to the race. The engine was popping, but I let off for half a second and got back into it and she was fine. I still had the lead on the back stretch but the cautrion came out. So we started again. This time I hit the gas too hard and spun my tires. Three went by me immediately. The 6 car spun me out later in the race, so I missed the cut in this race. One of my new pit buddies brought an old expert to the track. He had actually watched me in my heat and suggested I raise my pahhard bar to set the car better in the corner. We did it immediately. In the consi I started 7th. I was passing the sixth car, the 5G (an old acquaintance) and I caught his tire with my back bumper. It pulled the car towards the front stretch wall.to where I thought I was going to hit it head on. I back off the gas and cranked the wheel to the left. It freed me from the the other car but sent me carreening into the infield. I scared the tow truck guys. I tried to get back on the track but they didn't throw a caution and would let me go back in. That ended my night. I packed up and headed home.

June 29th -

July 6th - We won one! Okay so it was only my heat race, but it is still proof we are getting better. I started on the pole and never lost the lead. The car stumbled again on the start, but I held off the 57a into turn one and then never saw anyone again. Even with two restarts at the end of the race, I was able to keep ahead of some of the top runners in my division. My girls were crazy happy after the win. Sarah bought a bunch of checkered flags and was waving them everywhere. I started on the pole for the feature but the car really stumbled and allowed several cars by me on the front stretch. I ended up breaking a tie rod in a tangle in turn 2 only a couple of laps into the race.

July 13th - Somehow I managed to lose half of my rear bumper in the warm ups. I was in the clear and running fine. Then I noticed a car high in turn four. As I went by low , he must have rolled down enough for me to just clip him. I tried to straighten it but ended up just cutting the right half off. I was on the pole again for my heat. I didn't fare as well as my last outing. I had a lot of help with my engine issues. I met up with a friend of mine in the pay line last week and asked him about my problem last week. He suggested I take a look at my spark plugs. He mentioned he had gotten rid of the plugs I was using in favorite of a hotter plug. Sure enough when I pulled the plugs they were ash fouled. So I went out and bought some new plugs. This definitely made the difference. I had no popping or loss of power this Friday. I had the pole in the first heat this time. I am still having trouble getting of the corner. I ran second for about half of the race, then some of the top runners got by me. This put me out of sorts in the corners. I still am having trouble with traffic in the turns. Then the k3 got by me. Once he passed me I was able to get back to running the corners they way I wanted. I quickly was back up to him. As we went into turn three I was able to get under him in the turn again. I didn't think I was going to get by him by the checkered but we were going to qualify. Then something happened. I saw him jerk and start to spin. Someone had hit him and spun him. I knew if I could keep under him I would get by him. He slid down right into my path. I didn't let up, being so close to the finish. He didn't let up either. We hooked together and both turned to the finish line. I kept it floored trying to push him out of the way. Something finally gave and my right front tired climbed over his. I ended up driving over him to get to the finish line. Unfortunately I saw the car that spun him and another pass us on the outside. This moved us out of the qualifying positions. For the consi I started up front again. I lost some positions early in traffic and ended up in fourth behind my heat buddy K3. Finally, on the last lap I was able to get under him into turn one. We came out of turn two and I was inside and gaining. I knew I had position for the next turn. Just then the yellow came out. I hadn't made the pass so I had to move back to 5th. We restarted with one to go and I just wasn't able to get into position again. That was my early end to the evening. After the heat I had tried to increase the wedge to tighten up the car coming off the corner but it had no effect in the consi. This tells me I have to try something else. So where do we go from here? Well, first I need a new left rear tire. That will help the most. Next I softened the left rear spring. Normally, a stiffer left rear spring would be the correction for loose off the corner. In this case I believe the spring is not allowing the tire to follow the track contour. I also have very little travel on the left rear shock. If I adjust the car to get back to the same weight set up I have I am hoping this will work better. I also increased the split on the rear pan hard bar. This should place more weight on the left rear coming off of the turn tightening up the car. I also changed the rear gears back to the set from last year. This should slightly lessen my rear wheel spin, allowing the tires to hook up a little better and therefore allowing me to get on the gas harder than I can now. Finally, I increased the size of the jets. I really feel I have been running the car a little too lean. I feel we are soooo close to getting everything just right.

July 20th -

July 27th -

August 3rd -

August 10th -

August 17th -

August 24th -

August 31st -

1996 Notes

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