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Pre-season
This year the racecar recieved some much-needed TLC. We totally tore it apart and checked it over good. We also put a new motor in and got a slightly new paint color.
The Season
April
4-28-01
The racing season has officially started. (Finally!) It was a good night. The car looked really good, with the late evening sun reflecting off of it. Anyway, we timed in with a 14.904, third quick. The 8 laps of the dash were a flash which ended like the end of last season, us trailing Bill Liendecker after a valiant last lap effort for the win. (Hey Bill, is that a different shade of white?) Starting from the back of the 'odd' heat race, we followed Andy Wendt, the fast qualifier,up through traffic to finish second. (Oh no, were not going to get in THAT rut again, are we?) The feature was Ron in a box as my Mom says. We started outside the 5th row and were stuck there, because the inside held its own and didnt drop back like usual. At lap 33 we were 11. Then, finally we broke free and got the chance to show what the car could really do. But it was too late. Chezmore had broken free earlier and was running away. We ended up finishing fifth, which is pretty good, all things considered. The scoreboard showed us fourth, after a last lap pass going down for the Yellow-Checkered, but they scored it like the race ended on lap 49, so we finished fifth. No problem. We got 73 points for our efforts this week. This week were going to fine tune, looking for that extra tenth, rub off some tire marks, do a little painting, fiberglass a chunk in the RR quarter panel and go for it next week.
May
5-5-01
This week we had 2nd in time, 4th in the dash, 5th in the heat and 5th in the feature. I really can't tell you much because I wasn't there. I'd really like to thank Lindsay though for taking notes on the feature, so I can tell you a little about that.
We started 12 and were in a box again. Lap 2 there was a crash in 1 we missed, and we restarted 9th. On lap 10 we were up to 7th, lap 12 we were 5th. Chezmore was on out butt a lot and weve got the pain to show for it. we slid on lap 16 but held on to 5th. On lap 23 it started to rain. The hobby stocks helped dry the track. Roger and Dad were fighting and Roger won and he finished 4th, us 5th. I guess that's about all I can tell you. This week we have a few handeling problems to fix and lots of painting, but we will be ready and faster than ever (hopefully).5-12-01
This week was an up and down week. We got fast time with a 14.906 even though we still dont have the handle down on the car yet. We got third out of the dash, which was pretty good. Then the down came. We got eighth in the heat because a car forgot to look in his mirror and cut us off. He spun and we got sent to the back. Then came the feature. We were in the box again (surprise, surprise) and broke out after a caution at lap 15. Then we picked off cars one by one to finish 4th. (Yea! The ruts broke!) But Chezmore won, which puts him way ahead of us in the point battle already. Next week the point average sets up the feature, so well get to start ahead of all of them. See ya next week.
5-19-01
This week could be summed up in one word: Fast. Thats what we were, timing in with a 14.965, the only car in the 14 second bracket. But it sure didnt look fast. That was the ugliest looking fast time lap Ive ever seen. Fortunately, the handling improved for the dash, where we finished a strong third. Finally, on the third try to start the thing, we got to run the heat race. We got second in the heat, and probably could have one it if a couple of duces wouldnt have run wild in turn 2. (Thanks John) Then we just couldnt get it done. The feature was a nailbiter. Not a lot of wrecks, but a lot of close calls. We started 13, inside row 7 and immediately went backwards until we found a gap on the high side. Then we started moving up and a most got caught in a crash between the 16 and the 27. We were so close we have 2 marls on the drivers side door the corner of the bumper and the corner of the spoiler on the 16 car. After the wreck, we restarted on lap 13 5th and followed Erickson to the front, so on lap 26 we were running 1-2, us in hot pursuit. Then the car went away. With 4 weeks on the back tires, and a car leaking oil, its to be expected. We stayed in second until the checkered flag flew. It was kinda disappointing, but it was our best finish all year, and we gained a whole bunch of points on Chezmore and Nottestead. The car was so on, we only have a few things to do this week. It was a good night.
5-26-01
This week was boring. So boring , as a matter of fact, it really dosent deserve the effort of an article. But Im good at babbling, so here it goes. We qualified in with a 15.007, 4th quick.The dash looked like a 8 lap parade lap, with us finishing 4th. The heat was not much better, with us finishing 5th, and the feature was horrendous. We went straight to the back behind another car on the start, and luckily were able to tuck in before the semi cars. Then it was one big freight train, passing all the cars that couldnt keep up. None of the fast guys got up front, and we were no exception. We finished 7th behing the fast qualifiers. This week were going to work on the setup a bit and fix some right side sheet metal damage. I hope to see you out there next week with better weather and more action.
June
6-9-01
Last week was a rainout, so this week we were good and ready to go racing. Or so we thought. We messed with the setup on the car this week, trying to get rid of the push that is constantly in the car. We did get rid of it, but it got extremely loose, or in dads words, It was a bundle of crap. We barely made the feature, timing in 13th with a 15.229. The heat race was horrible we couldnt pass anybody and ended up finishing 5th. Then they put the push back in the car. They changed anything and everything we had changed this week , and put a different set of gears in it. It paid off. We started outside the 3rd row in the feature and passed 2 cars by lap 5. Then Nottestead got behind us and passed us, but fortunately for us, a caution came out and we got the spot back. The next 9 laps were spent getting passed the 2nd place car before passing it. Then we started chasing down the leader. We made the pass for the lead at lap 30 and it was a sprint to the finish. Wendt was on our tail trying hard but never could manage to get a run on us. We won. This week is a week to get everything changed back to where it was and a few other matenince things. Well be back next week in better form.
6-16-01
This week Daddy was hot laping and his motor blew! So we didnt race. This week we got the old motor checked out, had some new parts put on it, and put it back in the car. So it runs again! (I didn NOT write this!)
6-23-01
This week was a great week. We rebounded really well from the blown motor last week and were right back to where we left off. The night started with us timing in at 15.150, which was 7th quick. (We went out 4th to qualify and slipped because 1&2 were still in the sun.) In the heat race we got bottled up pretty good but managed to salvage a 6th place finish. In the feature we started in the back, outside row 7, due to us winning the feature 2 weeks ago. That didnt stop us. By lap 10 we were up to 8th, and when the caution came out at lap 16, we were riding 4th. On lap 18 we passed the #2 for 3rd , and then, on lap 24 we followed the #27 when he mad a pass for the lead, so we were 2nd. And thats how it stayed. We were faster than the #27 but the tires were all gone. (So were his, but we couldnt do anything about it.) We picked up a lot of the points we lost last week, due to the 14 spinning out, so the championship is not out of our reach. This week we have lots of odds and ends to work on, but well be right back at it next week. Hope to see you there!
6-30-01
Rainout.
July
7-7-01
This week we had a lot of trouble getting a handle on the car. We were really loose all night. We qualified 3rd with a 15.058. We finished the dash 2nd after starting outside row 2. The heat was a mess, with a couple of cars that were really loose and that kinda clogged everything up. We ended up finishing 7th. The 60 lap feature started where the heat left off: Really clogged up. Finally about lap 13 we got loose and started making progress, following the #14 past Roger on lap 27. At halfway we had a caution for debris, where we restarted 7th. We followed the #14 past a few other cars and were going really good when a caution came out for a spin on lap 48, while we were running 5th. We passed the #14 when there was a traffic jam on lap 50 and held him off for the remainder of the race, finishing 4th. This week we need to work on out tire situation (We had a couple that didnt work) and some other maintenance things. Well be back next week with a tighter racecar, hopefully.
7-14-01
On this hot and muggy Saturday night, we timed in 4th with a 15.119 very early. The dash was a fun race with us finishing 2nd. The heat was a good race too with us finishing 4th. In the feature we started outside row 4 after a few cars were mixed up. The outside went really good so that by lap 5 we were running 5th behind Roger, and then followed him past 2 cars to be running 3rd on lap 12. Roger just couldn't get going, so on lap 16 we passed him, caught up to the leader and passed him on the bottom on lap 20. Dad pulled away a little and then took it easy to the end. It still was a good race, with Roger and the other 76 trading 2nd and 3rd the rest of the race. This week we have a lot of painting to do due to some unintentional contact, and some tune up work on the motor, but the car was going good so were going to leave it alone. See ya next week!
7-21-01
This week was really depressing. We got taken out in the feature so we finished 10th. Fortunately I wasn't there to witness this or there would have been some unkind words spoken, so I'll just leave it at that.
7-28-01
This week was a good week. It started out with us timing in with a 15.017, 3rd quick. The dash was boring, With us finishing 2nd behind Roger. The heat got all plugged up, but we managed to salvage a 5th place finish out of it. The feature was very exciting. We started 12th and we were picking off cars almost 1 a lap, so we were 7th by lap 7. Then we stayed there for a while, through a caution for a spin on lap 12 and on lap 15 we got to 6th, past Roger. On lap 18 the #27 made a questionable move and took the other #76 out, and they both got sent to the back, so we restarted 4th. Unfortunately, on lap 22 Roger locked the brakes up and slid into the wall. We had to go back behind the #07, because we had passed him on this lap, for the second time. We never did get by him. We restarted 3rd, but we finished 2nd after a valiant effort. On lap 25 the leader had a tire go down, and we started trying to get around the #07, but to no avail. We had to settle for the runner- up position. This week is a normal maintenance week, and we will be back next week strong.
August
8-4-01
What an icky week! It was hot and sticky on the hill and on the racetrack. Everyone was greasing up something horrible and it was a full moon on top of it. Hopefully it turned out good for us. We timed in 6th with a 15.160 and started on the pole of the dash. We promptly dropped to the back with handling problems and finished 5th. The heat was all messed up but we finished 4th. The feature was really scary there for awhile. We dropped back from the start because we started on the inside and thats just normal. We were in 9th on lap 5 when Chesmore started working to get around us and succeeded 3 laps later. Then our right front brake started locking up again even worse than last week. Thankfully, it went away after about 10 laps. On lap 15 the car felt good enough for a try on Nottestead and by lap 20 we had completed that pass for 8th. We played catch-up until lap 25, when we caught Taylor and managed to get around him in just 2 laps. Another 5 laps and we passed Roger and Whitford to get safely in the top 5. Finally the car clicked and we could run anywhere, so in the last 10 laps we were able to catch and pass everyone except Chesmore, who had checked out and had been running since about lap 40. We finished 2nd, and thats where we are in the point standings, 11 behind Chesmore. Erickson finished a dismal 10th, so hes about 50 back of us yet. This week were going to invest in new front brake calipers because we looked at them today and found out why they were sticking. (Im not going to explain it because I dont have the proper terminology.) So come out next week for another exciting 50 lap feature and help me do the points math!
8-11-01
In my Dad's words: "I should have stayed home on the couch watching T.V. drinking beer." It was that kind of night. We qualified 10th with a horrendous time, managed to pull off 2nd in the heat because we started there, and got spun out twice in the feature to finish a maddening 12th. That's about it for our night. Roger had a great night, winning the feature. Congrats goes out to him. I'm getting mad still thinking about out night, so I'm going to stop now. Coime out this week and see the big money race. We're in it. It should be interesting. See ya there.
I didn't write anything after this because we rained out for 2 weeks, and then my computer took a major crap. Nothing exciting or important happened after this, anyways.Home | Reports | Schedule | The Team | Sponsors | Points System | Links | Archives