Now this is more like it! OK, I'm still kinda slow, but sometimes the tortoise beats the hare! This week we still had a few minor mechanical problems but everybody else seemed to have caught some of our bad luck from the previous weeks!

After last weeks problems with the motor, we changed the spark plugs and added another ground wire to the MSD box hoping that this would fix the engine problem. Then, we took a look at our tires and, because of the problems with the brakes a few weeks ago, and because I was so tight last week, they were pretty much ruined. Also, we tried to run right side tires on the left side and that just doesn't work. So, we bolted on an old set of tires that still looked pretty good and headed for the track... (more)

In the first practice session the car ran great and seemed to be pretty balanced but those old tires were hard as rocks and I just slid all over the place. I only ran a few laps and then called in on the radio to say that I wanted to come in. My crew chief said come on in but you just ran the fastest lap you have ever run here at New Smyrna! Well, that may have been good for running practice all by yourself but I wouldn't have made it 2 laps under racing conditions so it was definitely time for some new tires.

We got the tires off the car and got the new ones mounted up as quickly as possible but we missed the second practice. My crew chief went to the official to see if we could get a few practice laps on the new tires but she said no! Well, he just kept going around to officials until one of them said we could go out after the qualifying session so that's what I did and the car felt a whole lot better!

We sort of made the officials mad that we still got to go out even after one of them told us no, but I am sure glad we did anyway because, even after we scuffed the tires and set the stagger, the car was still really loose in the heat race. Unlike most tracks that get tighter at night, this new racing surface has a tenancy to get loose after the sun goes down.

In the heat race I started on the pole and got a good start but I just couldn't get to the gas as fast as I wanted to because the car was trying to spin out on me all through the corners. It wasn't much more that 3/4 of a lap and I had cars on all sides. By the time I made it back to the flag stand to complete the first lap I got passed by one car underneath me and and other out side of me. Going through turn one I lost another position and now I was in 5th.

On the next lap, the 2nd and 4th place cars wrecked in turn one bringing out the caution. On the restart I was in 3rd but the second place car missed a shift and I jumped to the outside and passed him for second. My car was starting to come to me and I was gaining on the first place car with every lap. I figured I was going to make the pass and win the race but the 3rd place car was running out of laps and rather than try to pass me clean he got anxious and bumped me on purpose coming off turn 4 so I would get real loose and have to pull down and get out of the gas so I wouldn't spin or wreck. That let him and one car behind him get by me and I finished the race in 4th.

We reset the car a little for the feature trying to tighten it up a bit and then they had all the drivers and fans come out on the track at intermission. This is almost as fun as racing. I really like the fans but we came to race so when it was time I lined up once again on the pole for the feature.

We were supposed to start the race with 7 cars but before we even lined up I realized that my radio had come unplugged from my helmet. I slowed and pulled down on the front stretch to stop and plug it back in. The car behind me wasn't paying attention and ran into the back of me. It didn't hurt my car much but he caved in his fender and couldn't start the race.

One the start I got beat to the corner by the outside pole car and on the back stretch the 3rd place car got under me going into turn 3. I knew I had some laps to make up a few positions if I survived the start so I just drove my line and tried to get a rhythm going but is was kind of hard when I couldn't get into the corner as I wanted with all the cars around me. On the next lap I found myself going into turn one with a car under me and a car outside of me. 3 wide at New Smyrna is not really a good idea. The car on my outside didn't make it and hit the wall but some how he made it back to the pits on his own and they never threw the yellow flag.

Now I was in 4th with only 5 cars left on the track and about that time the motor started to act up like it did last week. It wasn't but 3 or 4 laps and the 5th place car got by me and I was, once again, in last place. We ran about 5 or 6 more laps and I was loosing distance to the leader with every lap so it didn't look like I was going to do very well but then the 3rd place car got up a little too high just before turn 3 and clipped the wall. That sent her into a spin and she wound up smacking the wall again in the center of turns 3 and 4. That brought out the caution and I was now in 4th.

Now for a completely new problem! My car only has 3rd and 4th gear. You can imagine how hard that is to get going from a dead stop. Well, I have been letting the clutch slip a lot trying to get on and off the track and around the pits. I guess that's not a very good idea and I think I wore out the clutch. Coming off the corners it would rev up just like I pushed the clutch in rather than pull me hard off the corner. On the restart I was dealing with that as the leaders, once again, pulled away of me. We ran another couple laps and then the 2nd and 3rd place cars got into it going through turn one and crashed just ahead of me. Because I was falling back I had plenty of time to avoid them as I drove past them and now, after all that, I'm was sitting in 2nd place.

Well, you know what I'm thinking? With 2 laps to go maybe the leader will crash too and I'll win the race by default! Unfortunately, they red flagged the race and waved the checkers so the the race was over and I finished in second.

The car that almost spun me in the heat race, and may have cost me a win, was one of the cars that wrecked at the end of the race. What is sort of funny is he was doing what he accused me of doing to him in the the heat race - blocking. And, the car behind him did what he did to me causing the wreck. I really wanted to be mad at him for hitting my car but my crew chief told me to settle down, it's all part of racing. After the races were over I realized that things eventually take care of themselves. Turns of that he was driving a borrowed car!