Last August we noticed some things were starting to wear out on my limited so we took a little time off to do some mid-season maintanence. I also had a sponsor commitment to exhibit my race car at the FMA Fabtech Show in Las Vegas and that took 2 weeks to get the car out there and back, so before I knew it, it had been over 2 months since I had been in the seat of a race car. By the time Friday night came I tried to get to bed early and get a good nights sleep so I would be ready for the race on Saturday. I tried to relax but all I could do was lay there and envision driving laps and passing cars. I think it was about 3AM before I finally feel asleep.

On Saturday morning I went to the race shop and checked over everything. Then we loaded up and headed to the track. We had been working on this new soft spring set up and the last time we were at the track we were pretty close. But now, the track had switched from Goodyear tires to Hoosiers and we weren't sure what to expect.

In the first practice the car was pushing the nose and I had to turn the wheel about as far as it would go to make the corner. Still, my lap times were pretty good. In the second practice we made a few changes to the car but it didn't get much better. Then, a friend of mine came over and told me not to be afriad to put some air in the tires. He said they had been running as much as 10 pounds more than they did in the Goodyears and the tires seemed to really like it. You always wonder when someone tells you something like that because sometimes people are just trying to mess you up, but we had one more practice to go so we decided to add 6 pounds of air all the way around and see if it worked. Well, the car just seemed to come alive and I knew if I added another few pounds of air I would really have something. We set the tire pressures, topped off the tank, and took out a little cross weight out to free the car up and then we were ready for the race.

Tonights race was supposed to run 25 laps but my race was only for about a lap and a half. First, I had some guy who really wantd to start in my positon and was going to wreck me if I didn't let him have it. He ran down the side of my car and moved me down off the track and onto the grass but I still wouldn't let him have the position. We had a wreck trying to line up! I should have known this was going to be a bad race then. Anyway, the pace truck had to stop us on the back stretch and motion him to get behind me where he belonged. He still wasn't willing but he eventually thought better of it and dropped in behind me.

On our first attempt to start the race the same guy got a little to anxious and spun his tires causing him to spin out. Nobody got hurt and the race lined back up quickly for our second attempt. Then, the pole sitter slid up the track coming out of turn 4 on the start and knocked the car on his outside sideways. That caused us all to get bunched up behind them and I went into turn one 3 wide on the inside. The car in the midle ran out of room and had to come down into me and I hit him so hard it knocked him up into the car on the outside and spun him into the wall.

The race director decided that maybe it would be a good idea if at this time we restarted the race single file. I figured we would be fine now but within a half of a lap we were all back double wide again. Going into turn 3 the car that had been trying to get my spot on the first start rammed me so I realized I better get going if I was going to aviod another wreck. As we came off turn 4 I got a real good run and I looked ahead and saw an old friend of mine from way back in my karting days a few car lengths in front of me. We were running together a little bit in practice earlier in the day and he and I seemed like we were pretty close in speed. He was moving to the inside of the car ahead of him and I thought if I could get to his bumper I could follow him by the car as we went through turn one. But, just as I got to his bumper at about the flag stand, he seemed to slow and all of a sudden the nose of my car was up under the back of his car about 2 feet. I tried to slow and pull down but that turned him up the track into the car on his outside and then he over corrected and turned the car down into the inside wall.

I've been in this spot before and I should have learned by now that once you have a car turned the best thing you can do is keep your foot in the gas and try to make it past him before he bounces off the wall and comes back up the track to wreck you. Instead, I tried to stop and all that did was put me right in front of him as he slid up the track to the out side wall. I plowed right into him and then the car behind me plowed into me and that was the end of my night.

It's sort of funny how, as you try to get back to your trailer before someone kills you, about half the people give you excuses for what you did that you had not yet had the time to think of and the other half call you an idiot. I'll never know why his car seemed to slow or if I just miss judged his speed, but last night, when I went to bed, I tried to relax and get some sleep but all I could do was lay there and envision the hundreds of things I could have done differently. I think it was about 3AM before I finally feel asleep.