So, how do you take a 2nd-3rd place car and finish 5th with
it???Be impatient.All in all we were thrilled to walk away with
it because of all the issues we had over the course of the night...here's how
it went....
We're cruising down I-90, about half way there when a guy
pulls up next to me and starts waving at the trailer.I do some swerves to get a look at the wheels
and see a chunk of rubber come flying off.I get a better look and see the flat.
On with the flashers and start limping to a center turn
around to get her changed off.We had to
use the truck's bottle jack and race car jack together to get it up and
changed, it is 8000 lbs when fully loaded.No problem, we get her done and head for the track.
Hot laps (practice) -- one lap in, she's feeling pretty
good.3 laps in, she starts sputtering
again, damn near dies but I was able to limp it off and back to the pits. It
felt so fuel delivery related we got every team within site over to help out and
provide advice.We yanked out the fuel
regulator, cobbed some fittings that didn't go together, together right as
they're calling us for the heats.3 laps
in, same deal, fade, sputter and die.Sheeit.
After lots of analysis and advice, we determined it was pick
up issue at the fuel cell, so we filled it to the brim, crossed our fingers and
got out there for the feature.We
weren't sure if she was really fixed up, so we decided to start tail so we wouldn't
get run over if she didn't go.We waited
three laps, mostly just hanging with the pack to see what we had...she felt
good so that's when I decided it was time to give her hell...here we come!
Once I started racing her, she came to life.We passed something like 6 cars in 4 laps, she
was hooked up and haulin' the mail!By
lap 9 we had caught up to 5th place and he was doing that own the track driving
-- high on the straights and chopping to the bottom in the turns.I couldn't get a run on him so I had to keep
lifting to keep from hitting him on the straights.After 3 laps of that I was getting
impatient...the front of the field was leaving us and I was clearly faster, I had
to keep lifting to avoid wrecking him.I
finally got the run I needed coming off of turn 4, got right up next to him, neck
and neck.Instead of giving me some room
to race, he came right down into me and spun us out.It was like the knucklehead was the only one
on the track.All that hard work went
away as the field goes by while I'm getting her refired and going again...back
to tail.We went by all of those cars
we'd passed earlier within 3 laps, she was flyin' and felt great!Even the schmuck that spun us, I got him
easily this time.Laps were winding down
and having so far to go we could only ride it out and bring her home in 5th
place.Considering we didn't think we
were going to even make the feature with all the problems, bringing home a 5th
and passing more than half the field twice felt pretty good.This car feels great so far, I think we're
gonna have something for them this year.....
June 4, 2009 - Welcome to 2009! Man has it been a long time, and we're planning on making up for it. We're headed out for the first race of the year for us with the new ride sporting a crate motor. Saturday, June 6 at Canandaigua Speedway. Papa G and I are pretty psyched to finally get out there and see what we've got. We've never raced there so it's gonna be a lot fun! It's part of a limited schedule, the car counts are dropping for the Prostocks so they cut back the races...splitting a partial season across two tracks. Looks like the July 4 at Genesee Speedway in Batavia is going to be the next one after this for us -- it's a tour race and a whole 'nother deal.
We had some issues when we got a practice run at Ransomville we think we've figured out. Well, the neighbors at the shop got to see about 20 laps in the grass so I think they'd testify it's running well...
August 2, 2008 - The nights just keep getting better....big tour race at our home track, Genesee Speedway, 23 guys from as far as Quebec, all descended on the track for an awesome race. We ended up 6th in the feature. It started with a tough draw, I pulled #28 out of the bin and ended up getting setup 6th of 7 in the heat race, with only 4 qualifying. First, the track was freakin' rough, I'm talking just planted corn with a disc rough. But, we all raced on the same track so no complaint that way. Anyway, we needed to get by 2 guys in 8 laps and not let any by to get a solid starting spot. We took the green, stuffed it into turn 1, by the time I came around and was getting deep on the throttle 3rd place faded hard and the 37 in 4th car didn't hook up coming off -- I saw a huge gap, squeezed her in between the two of them coming off of 2, by the time I got to turn 3 I had 'em, dove down to the bottom and got us a qualifying spot! I ended up getting by another car a few laps later for 3rd, but, Papa G and I decided to tighten the car up after hot laps, and we shoulda just left her alone. She was tight and pushing hard, 2 laps to go, I couldn't hold her on the bottom, had to wait too long for her to catch which was enough to let the 99 by. We brought her home 4th and got a chance to start up front...top 12 cars had to redraw for the starting spots, essentially making it a lottery for starting spots. We pulled 4 out of the bucket for a sweet starting spot. There was a little beating and banging through the feature, I was able to hold on to 4th and wait to see how the top 3 cars are working. I did have a little push off of 4 if I missed the entry point in 3.....easy on, hard off. I got a little excited coming off of 1 about 10 laps in, just enough to let the 2m and 12g cars get by underneath. We had a couple of cautions, but I started digging a little harder to get back in front of those 2 I let get by when I was bout 75% throttle coming off of 4, hit one of those sick ruts I was talking about earlier, got airborne and landed about 20 degrees pointing to the infield! I had to whoa her up, while trying to get her out of the muck on the bottom which was just making it harder to get out of....finally got her back on the track and the dang 72 car snuck by while I was gathering it together in that mess. I got under him a couple of times and was pretty sure I was just a titch faster, just ran out of laps. I heard the 28 car was on my tail for a lot of the final laps, but we held him off to bring her home a respectable 6th. Our little operation of Papa G and me got in there and held our own tonight. We didn't break, we showed up prepared, ready to race, made the right chassis changes for the feature and got rewarded with a nice finish against the best of the DIRT Pro Stock drivers out there. Papa G snapped some shots I got uploaded.
May 24, 2008 – Man, what an awesome night at the track! We started dead last in the heat and went out there and WON IT in 8 laps!!! Dang near got caught up in a mess with a couple of other cars around lap 4, they got into it and went sideways inches in front of me. I was able to yank it sideways and nail the binders enough to stay out of it, but it was pretty close. While I was restarting the engine and the yellow was flying the three cars I’d already gotten by were able to coast back and I was in the rear again. 2 laps to go, I’m in the lead…sweet…and the caution flies again. I got a nice clean restart and pretty much left the pack. I got into turns 3 and 4 pretty heavy, slide up the track maybe half a lane and ruh-roh, she started pushing like a dump truck. I mean I’m cranking the wheel and she ain’t listenin’. I even had to do a hand over hand right in the middle of the turn to try get anything going. She finally responded when I get her whoa-ed down. But that let ‘em get back on me. White flag, a little softer going in, had enough forward bite to get off the corners pretty fast and took the checkers. It sure felt good to get a little taste of Victory Lane tonight.
While that was fun, we knew we were gonna have to make some serious changes for the feature. The good news was this car has been loose for years, with the help of the Barnes crew we made some good changes and finally got her going the other way. The bad news was she needed a lot of help. Papa G and I talked about it, did a round here and round there and messed with the air pressures. They were some good changes because the car was way better in the feature. Started 8th, the last qualifying position and got a nice run going right out of the box. We were able to keep our nose clean and work right up into 5th by about lap 15 of 20. Only got passed by one car, the eventual race winner, and was able to get some good runs on those other cars and was sitting right behind the 6 car. I was getting just a little better run into 1 and off of 2 than he could, but the track was so dry and tight I just couldn’t do anything on the high side to get by him. I tried a couple of time and she just started pushing again in that top groove so my only option was to wait him out and be ready to pounce on the slightest mistake. I got a nice entry on 1, let her start rolling through the middle of the turn and ended giving a little tap to the 6 car, it was just a center shot. I learned a long time ago if you wait for the guy in front of you to go, guess what, he’s gone. You gotta get on it as soon as your car will let ya and take the spot. Anyway, it was nothin’ so I just stayed on him until the next lap. Almost the same thing only this time I was trying to stay low enough to make a pass I got into his left rear and got him going sideways. He was right there, 45 degrees side ways aiming for that crazy tractor tire marking the infield. I lifted enough to not knock him again or woulda been over for him. He got her back underneath him and the top 5 of us just ran nose to tail to finish the race. It was a nice top 5, felt good and validated Papa G and I can work on her to make her do what we want. I’m sure we had a top 3 car tonight, we just couldn’t get up there to prove it. Start the year at Genesee with a solid top 5 and we’re pretty happy. We’re gonna get her all cleaned up and give her another try here in a couple of weeks…..
Hey, I just got some photos uploaded to the 2008 Photos page. We got some good shots while she still looks sharp.
April 20, 2008 - Wow, Can-am is one nice track! I think they call it 4/10 of a mile, no friggin way -- it is wide with long sweeping turns and a fast track to race on. Papa G jammed all week to get her ready, he did an awesome job, the car was great. We unloaded way too loose. They just lost me in the heat race, I couldn't stuff the car in the corner without the rear end coming around on me. I was losing all the momentum going in and with such long turns I couldn't get off of corner fast either. As soon as we got back to the pits we tightened her up a ton, coupla rounds into and out of the right and left and got ready for the feature.... Started 17th, came down for the green and she stuck pretty good into 1. It was a lot better than the heat race for sure! I was being a little easy on it because the track, while nice and big etc, was like a plowed field, I'd call it the roughest track I've ever been on. Being so fast, if you hit one of those mounds it would launch the car and change attitude before you came down making a coupla scary turns coming out of 4. I was hanging it comin' off, slide a little to the outside, wham, over the bank of a rut and come down pointing at the wall. It only happened a few times, but was pretty wild when it did. A few laps in I got a great run on the 05 car underneath coming off of 4, went right after the 49 car pm the same straight when the guys up front started getting all crazy, so the 49 car came down into my right front -- it was a medium shot, not crazy hard but hard enough for a jolt and blammo, I lose all brake pressure. Nada. At first I thought my foot must have slipped off and I was on the clutch. So I pumped it a couple more times while I was looking at the pressure gauges (and full throttle on the straight away), 0 psi...We were only 13 laps into the race so I decided I'd just lift a little early going in the corner and finish with what we had. But I kept pumping the brake pedal hoping for some kind of miracle fix. It came. 2 laps of pumping like crazy with my left foot while mashing the gas with my right and they came back. Oh, I could hear some kinda bad noise coming from that corner, but the pressure gauge is giving me at least 400 psi and they were back. So I had to get back to work on those 4 guys that got by when I didn't have any brakes. We raced them hard and ended up bring her home 13th. Yeah, I'd sure like to have finished better, always will unless it's Victory Lane, but all in all Papa G and I had a great time!!! It was quite a haul, but worth every mile. Fun track, great weather, solid race and a lot of fun. It was a nice way to kick off the season. Papa G got some pics, I'll work on getting them updated....we'll let you know how the schedule works out for us. Thanks for stopping by!!!
Nice...Matt Alix at SignWorks did another awesome job with the car. Papa G provided the guiding designs and Matt perfected it. It looks sharp. Too bad it never looks this good at the end of the season, take a look, I think you'll like it!
Image:
Welcome to 2008!!!
Papa G has been pretty busy out at the shop. We got it insulated with a heater this year so it hasn't been as punishing to work there this winter. No more heavy Carharts and frozen fingers! We've got her all cleaned up, the new body is mounted nice and things are coming along. Papa G took some shots of the car, I got them posted here.
Right now we're mulling the schedule and seeing what our plans are for the year. We're looking forward to having some fun and finding Victory Lane....
