RACE 1
For the 15 secs it lasted, it was a ride. Starting 6th and following the 60 into turn 1 on the outside a
gap opened up for the 60 to move down to the inside and he took it and I stayed the outside and was able to move alongside
the 60. But coming out of turn 2 the 60 wanted the outside lane as well and with my nose up to his door even when I realized
it he was going to the wall I couldn't brake fast enough, hit the wall once in the right front and was just a pinball
after that. When it was said and done I tagged a few more cars and pancaked my passenger side with the wall. Unfortunately
it took out the 97 for the night as well.
I spoke with Tom afterwards, who was black flagged for the incident, and
assured me it wasn't intentional, which I was fairly confident it wasn't, he didn't expect me to move up that fast on the
outside. Truth be told, neither did I, which stinks because I finally got my car to handle the outside lol.
But, afer sitting behind Tom in that long red flag on the second race, I figured out
why it happened, his rear view mirror is more in a position for a passenger side visor than a rear view. lol (Tom, if you
read this think back to late '07 turn 3 with Norm... I bet you had the said mirror then lol). Anyway finished 19th. And
the worst part was the question as to would I make it out for the 2nd race that night and lose even more points...
Here is the list of items I had to fix/replace in a few hours:
3 Rims and tires destroyed. Inner and outer tie-rod broke. Brake line split. Upper trailing arm shredded.
Rear bumper cover, front bumper cover.
With the help of my little brother and a borrowed trailing arm from the 97 (Thanx Bill!), I was able to
get the together for the 2nd race. Albeit with 3 totally diffeent size tires and a totally unknown setup since the scales
were closed.
Here are the items I have to replace this week, but still raced with. Rear Bumper, front bumper, passenger
door bar, Bent sway bar, spindle, possibly a bent rear end. Frame is a little tweaked, might need to be pulled. and
tons of body work. And then sneak over to Toms house and move that mirror...
Race 2
Starting outside pole for this race, I had no idea how my car was going to handle
for this race, or even stay together for that matter. It was'nt completely horrible, but it was just spinning the tires coming
out of the corners, I had no grip.
By the second or third caution on lap 12, I was in 5th place. There was a melee
right behind me in turn 1 which somehow ended up with the 13 into the wall. I couldn't see what was going on but from the
length of time I knew it was serious. I was told later that they had to cut his cage to get Jim out and use the back board
to transport him. Thoughts and prayers out to him and his family and hope everything is alright.
I was really hoping they would cancel after that long red flag since I was in 5th
and was probably only going to lose a few positions on the restart as my tires cooled off so much. And sure enough I did and
slipped back to 8th. in those last 3 laps. Not bad all things considred. Gonna be a long week......
