July 19 - entries for June 21st through July 12th, 2008

June 21^{st was our 2nd race at Roseberg. We had one of the fastest cars in the 1st practice, we put the new tires on for the final practice the car was tight, & we made some changes for qualifying. It helped but we were still tight from the center off. We timed in 7th. The heat was ok we moved up enough to make the transfer by finishing 3rd. In the main we started mid pack and moved up to 4th at one time & passed for 3rd but a yellow came out a ½ a lap later putting me back to 4th. I needed lap traffic because by car was tight and needed to move up on the race track to help free it up. So the lap traffic helped us more than some of the other cars. We finished 4th but all in all it was a pretty good night considering it was the 1st night out after putting the Beast back together. I think with a little more time we will be able to make it faster. We have next weekend off so I race again the weekend after that – see you then.}

July 4th was the Firecracker 50 race at Meridian. Practice went well and we were the fastest car. Qualifying went really good too, I was 3rd quick with an 11.8. I started on the outside pole in the dash & won. In the heat I pretty much stayed where I started. The car was a rocket in the main. Seventeen started & all the cars went three wide for a tribute to the fans, but someone climbed another one of the cars’ tire and took 3 cars out before the green. I started in the back but made my way up to 2nd. The car was great and I was working my way up & then there was a red flag. The tires must of cooled & sealed or something during that because the car was really loose after that. On the second to last lap I about lost it & went through the infield, only one car passed through. I ended up 3rd. It was a pretty good night & the car is starting to get better. After the race was over there were fireworks & my crew loaded up and headed to Wenatchee.

At Wenatchee we had the 2nd fastest car in practice. I was first to qualify & turned an 11.29, to qualify 3rd; 2/100 off of quick time.

We didn’t have dashes for some reason so we went straight to the heats. We put tires on from the July 4th practice, qualifying, heat & main so they were junk and I finished 5th barely missing the invert.

There were 17 cars there on top of everything & I started 14th. The car was a rocket in the beginning of this main too. I quickly made my way to 6th. The car got tighter every lap though so I stayed in 6th the whole race until someone took advantage of my tight car on the last lap to move me back to finish 7th.

July 12

The 12th was the Naylor Memorial race, the biggest local open wheel show of the year. The first practice was ok the car was really tight in the middle & loose off. We didn’t change any chassis setup we just put a new set of tires on. The car pushed like a freight train off during qualifying and we went 4/10 of a second slower than last weekend. We qualified 5th. I started in the 2nd row in the heat but got pushed way back. I tried to pass but kept getting cut off. I finished 5th.

My starting position in the main was 10th. The first lap was a mess & we got a yellow on the 2nd lap. We got back in order, single file, & I worked my way up one by one. I got the lead in 15 laps and then a red came out a few laps after that. I got a good restart and started pulling away. I worked my way around the lappers and held the lead to finish, winning our first official race of the season.

May 24^{th was a late model race. The car was ok in practice but a little loose. I went out for qualifying and the car was good, but we didn’t run a very good time and that put me on the front row of the heat & I was able to win. I started on the outside of row 3 in the main and passed a few cars, the car was tight – I ended up 5th for the main.}

May 30 & 31, 2008

May 17, 2008

Our second out of town race on May 17 was by far the best race of the season. We went to Wenatchee, Washington and I even got my first tan of the year. The first practice went better than expected; we were actually the fastest car. We were one of the fastest in all 3 practices. I tried to change my line a little bit in qualifying but it didn’t work and I over drove the car. I qualified 11^{th out of 22 cars. If you finish in the top 4 in your heat you keep your qualifying time. I started 2nd row outside in the 2nd heat & finished 2nd. After all the heats were done my time moved up to about 7th I think. The 2nd row outside was my starting position for the main too. The first start I was making my way into 2nd but a guy wrecked on the first turn causing a restart. I wasn’t so fortunate on the restart. I got stuck on the outside & went down to 8th. I got by a couple cars & was 5th for quite awhile. I passed 2 cars on a restart but there was a yellow & they said I jumped the start so they put me back 2 positions. I was pretty mad because I knew I didn’t jump the start and there was only about 5 laps left, I got by 1 car in the first lap & started working on the other car that got put in front of me, but he was a lapper. I finished what I thought was a great finish, 5th out of 22 cars.}

 May 3 2008

In the first practice the car was tight again, so the crew changed the set up and we went out for the second practice. The car was still tight; I came in after a couple laps. The crew changed a bunch of things like the shocks, the bar and the springs. I went out to qualify and thought the car would be loose, well, I go to the first corner but the car was still pushing like a freight train throughout the whole corner. I tried to make it work but we still had a crappy qualifying with a 12.3. I was so frustrated, we have been racing & practicing for 3 weeks and nothing seems to be freeing the car up. After the crew changed everything in the book, again, we went out for the heat, again I was thinking the car would be loose but no shock it was not. I was so livid when I came into the pits. The only thing I heard all winter was how this car is so much better than the car we had last year but it is the same every weekend, so tight it is un-driveable. The crew changed the stagger, ride heights and the pan hard before the main and I got about 500 lectures before the main just telling me to believe the car is loose. I went out for the warm up laps before the main, and as I went into the first corner I almost spun out, the car was so loose. I was finally relieved that the car was finally loose; it is way easier to drive a loose car than a tight car. I started moving up & passing a couple cars. I came up to a guy & started passing him on the inside. We were front tire to front tire coming out of the corner when our tires touched & I thought it was ok but then our tires touched again and we totaled the car & 7 others. The wreck broke the frame, all 4 wheels, the rear end, the rear axle, the tail tank, some radius rods and the motor plate. The car was so bad I thought we were going to go back to the beast chassis but with all the help from Jim Burrows we think the car should be done for the race on May 17^{th – see you there, Sierra}

April 26th was our first out of town NSRA race. We headed for Roseberg, Oregon early on Friday morning to make the Friday night practice. The practice went good, the car was loose to begin with but by the third session the car seemed perfect.

I went out for the first practice on Saturday expecting the same car from the night before but the car was completely different. We qualified 8th out of 15. The car was so tight in all 3 practices & in qualifying. The crew loosened the car up for the B dash but it was still extremely tight. The car was a little better in the beginning of the heat but it just kept getting worse every lap. After the heat the crew threw everything they had at the car to try to get the push out, stagger, springs, wing angle & just about everything else fixed. Whatever they did seemed to work for the warm up laps & the first couple of laps after that, but then there was a red flag and the bleeder on my right front tire stuck & I lost most of the air in the tire. The car went to crap after that of course and I was running clear over on the part of the tire that said Hoosier. We then got taken out by someone & I lost my brakes when a fitting broke on the front brake, doing me in for the night.

I race the sprint car on Saturday at Meridian Speedway – see you there…Sierra

April 22, 2008