This week's report is sort of an extension of last week's report. After the race was over last week and I was already DQ'ed for being 10 lbs light, we were informed of a few other things on the car that weren't quite in line with the most recent set of rules.

I'll admit that I knew they had changed the rules about the size of the carburetor but I really didn't want to spend the money to change my carb until I knew if the car would be competitive. I asked around a little bit and was told that a lot of the other racers who run this class weren't happy about having to spend a bunch on money to change their carb either so the track wasn't really enforcing the new rule. Besides, I haven't seen the tech man lift a hood all year so I decided to leave my carb alone. Well, wouldn't you know it, the first night I decide to race the officials get ambitious and start checking, of all things, carburetors! (more)

I know I'm just a kid and I see things differently. I understand that it cost a lot of money to go fast and it cost a lot more to go faster but I don't understand why a track would make you spend money to go slower! Especially when these cars are already kinda slow to begin with but that is exactly what they did. Up until last year the Sportsman class rules allowed a Rochester 4 bbl carburetor on a stock cast iron manifold. This year they changed the rule to a Holley 2 bbl carburetor. In order to make that change you have to buy a $100 adaptor to make the Holley carb fit and the carb cost at least $350. Of course, no one buys the $350 carburetor, we all go out and get a "stock" carb that has been gone through with a fine tooth comb and costs about $600. My crew chief told me that the camshaft that they used with the 4 bbl carb probably won't work very well with the 2 bbl carb so we really need to spend about $2500 to make the change. If this rule was supposed to make things more fair for everybody it didn't work because I do not have the $2500! I did have a pretty good 2 bbl carb on the shelf at the shop so I bought the adaptor and put the carb on the car and hoped for the best.

As we drove in the gate at the track the sky fell in and it rained really hard for about 30 minutes. I was thinking the rain would pretty much wash off any rubber on the track surface so that could either make the track slicker or maybe give it more grip. I wasn't too sure but I knew my car handled really well so I thought I might have an advantage in the race.

In practice I could feel that the track was green because the car wanted to push the nose a little as I went into the turn. I have had that problem with the late model before but after the track gets a little rubber down and the track surface starts to cool after the sun sets, the track usually gets a little bit more grip and that goes away. So, I made a few adjustments to loosen the car up and then got ready for the heat race.

I pulled the outside pole and on the start I realized that the smaller carb was really going to hurt me. I could stay with them through the corners but the other cars would just pull away from me all the way down the straight always. I could drive the car into the corners with out hardly even touching the brake. I would gain a car length or more on the car in front of me as I rolled through the turn but I'd lose it back to them on the stretch. I gave up 4 positions in 6 laps and finished the heat in 6th.

In the feature I thought I would start on the outside pole again because that's the way they always did it before, but my spotter came on the radio and said they wanted me to start at the end of the inside line. I had checked the line up and it still showed me on the outside pole so I didn't want to drop back. I sort of took my time letting cars go past and was still sitting in 6th when my spotter came back on the radio and said that the tower was now ready to start the race as we were so I held my position and took the green flag.

Like in the heat race I was pretty much a sitting duck. I lost one spot right away and was then in 7th. The race was kind of boring because we ran all 15 laps with out a caution and I never passed anybody. Three cars in front of me broke and I finished up the race in 4th place. It wasn't until after the race that things got a little bit more interesting.

I have raced at New Smyrna for over 3 years and they almost always have just the top 3 go across the scales. If not, they have the top 5, but tonight it was the top 3 and me. I didn't care because I knew I was fine on the weight this time but after I went across the scales they motioned for me to pull to the right for further technical inspection.

Now I'm sitting there and out of no where I remember a few years ago when I was standing next to my engine builder in tech and I watched as the techman told him he didn't like his carb and that he didn't want him to bring it back to the track again. I asked the engine builder what he was going to do and he said he was going to put it back on the car! He went on to tell me that they check different things every week so since they probably wouldn't check carbs again for a while he was going to continue to run it until they did. I'm thinking I'm glad I didn't follow his example because it was now pretty obvious that the techman was very interested in seeing if I had made the changes he had suggested I make last week.

Now here is the really funny part. When we were changing the carb I decided to change the valve covers too. I had pair of Boyd Racing Engines valve covers off my late model motor that blew up last January. The valve covers I had on the Sportsman motor were an ugly gray color but the Boyd covers are shiny polished aluminum. I thought it was a waste to let them just sit on the shelf when they make your motor look so nice. So, the tech man comes over and tells me to pull the hood off my car, which I did, and then, as he took his flash light and looked to make sure I had changed the carb, he asked me if I had changed the carb since last week. I said I did and not only did I change the carb but I changed the motor and put in my 2 bbl late model motor. He looked at the carb and then he noticed the valve covers and then he turned to me and asked, "You're kidding aren't you?" I replied, "Oh yaa, I'm just kidding!" but then I just smiled from ear to ear and waited for him to say something else. He just stood there for a couple seconds trying to figure out if I was kidding or not. I guess he decided it wasn't worth the trouble and then he just walked away!

I really like driving this car but if I can't get the motor to keep up with the other cars it's sort of a waste of time. One thing I have learned this year is that seat time doesn't really do you much good unless you are in a car that has the potential to win. So, for now, I'm going to try to figure out what makes these other cars so much faster before I race the Sportsman any more.