Race #10 at Columbia Motorsports Park
06-10-06

This week was sort of bitter sweet. I knew this would be my last race with the TQ's because we had a buyer for my car. I wanted to race hard and win as always but I also needed to keep the car in good shape for the new owner so I couldn't take any chances. I've also made a lot of friends at Columbia Motorsports Park and I knew I probably wouldn't be back for a while... (more)

You may have seen the picture I had on my home page of my Limited Late Model that we bought a few weeks ago. The plan was to put it together over the next several months while we finished out the season in the TQ's this year and then race the Limited Late Model next year at New Smyrna Speedway and maybe even run a few races in the off weeks if we got the car ready. A good motor came available so we jumped on that and got together all the other things we would need to complete the car. Then, we listed our TQ for sale on the web site thinking that if we got the right price we might sell it early and move on.

Well, that's just what happened. A buyer emerged for the TQ in about 10 days and we agreed on a price and sold the car. This coming week we will be delivering the TQ to it's new owner and putting the engine in the Limited and get it ready to run a few practices and maybe even a race before the end of the month.

But, let me tell you about the races. I started the heat in 5th and got a pretty good start but, as usual my tires didn't come in right away. Coming off the corner to take the green flag in turn 4 I got in the gas a little hard and my rear end slide up the track in front of the car behind me. I guess he thought I intentionally cut him off and so when we came around into turn 3 on the next lap he got under me and turned up and spun me out. When he hit me to turn me he cut down my valve stem and my left rear tire went flat so that was the end of my heat race.

In the feature I had to start in 5th again but the 4th place car couldn't get going so I moved up to 4th on the outside. I should have gotten the jump on the 3rd place car but I got the idea that I should start in 5th gear. Last week the leader started the race real slow so starting in 6th lugged the car a little bit. This week they started a good bit faster so 5th gear was too low. I got hung out going into turn 2 and had to let out and and get back down in the groove because there was no grip in the upper lane. That put me behind a slower car and it took me 8 laps to get around him. By that time the 3rd, 2nd and 1st place cars had a half a lap on me.

The car felt pretty good and I was running down the 3rd place car as we came into lap traffic. That helped me a little more because the 3rd place car was a little tight off the corners. I was catching him a little bit going into the turn and a little bit more coming off with every lap.

With 2 laps to go I was right there to make the pass and then I made a little mistake. The track surface drops off about 3 inches on the inside edge of the track in the corners and if you drive it just right you can hang the left front tire on that edge and it sort of helps you get around and off the turns. That's how I had been making up a lot of ground but I got a little bit too anxious and turned down a little bit too much and it pulled me down off the the track. I almost went into the pits! I got it back together but lost about 4 car lengths and never was able to make it back up before the end of the race. So. I finished my last race with the TQ's in 4th. Nothing spectacular I know, but I didn't hurt the car any!

More than anything else, I love to drive a race car. But, next to that, I love the race fans who come out to the track to watch us race. I just want to say thank you to all the people who cheered for me this year at Columbia. I'm going to try to get up to speed in my new car as quickly as possible so I can come back and see you all again real soon!