I have been terribly remiss in my posting of the racing in 2016. I will try to summarize it in this post. In 2016 Connelly and the #32 team earned 10 victories out of 16 races, with 3 second place finishes along with a couple of wrecks resulting in finishes "back in the pack". We did win the track championship for the second straight year, along with the regional qualifier race held at SSR. Additionally we won the Louisiana State Points championship. A very successful season by any measure.
After much consideration we decided to go to the national championship race in Waterford, CT, a mere 1,400 miles away. Fortunately we were able to team up with another SSR driver who had room in his trailer for the #32 and he towed our car.
Waterford was a very fast and challenging 3/8 mile track. There were 48 pro legends entered which made for a very formidable race. In practice we gradually figured out the track and Connelly's times came down. In the second to last practice he had the 5th fastest time of all cars in that session. We did not practice again (mistake) and the next time on track was qualifying. The track gained about 15 degrees of heat (baking in sun) and Connelly overdrove the car a little trying to get a really fast time, resulting in a 17 th place qualifying run. (slow down to go fast) In our heat races we finished 4th in both, in heat #1 we were going for the lead, got under the leader, then got bumped in the rear knocking us into the leader sending him into the wall which sent us to the rear, he was able to get back to 4th. All in all not too bad, we were scheduled to start 18th in the 30 car field in Saturday's Championship race. However the Gods of weather had other ideas, it rained Saturday, we got in about 2/3 of the Young Lions race in and the sky opened up. After about 3 hours of dragging tires and running personal cars on the track it was dry. As they called the cars bock out to resume the YL race the sky opened up again, this time it was serious, they tried for 8 hours to dry the track, to no avail. The humidity was close to 100% and the water had no place to go. The race was finally declared a rainout. What a bummer all that preparation and work down the drain, but we learned a lot about ourselves and how we rank among the best legend cars and drivers in the country. As I was surveying the track before we left on Saturday night I thought "I have hunted and killed ducks on ponds smaller than the one in the infield of the national championship Legends race". Looking forward to 2017.
Tuesday, July 18, 2017
Friday, October 30, 2015
2015 SEASON WRAP UP
2015 season in a word WOW!!!
As always before the season Connelly and I sat down and set some goals, this year's goals were:
1. Finish on the podium in all races.
2. Win at least half of the races.
3. Win the track championship in the Pro division.
4. Win the Louisiana State Championship.
5. Race everybody clean and fairly.
6. Have Connelly continue to develop his driving skills.
7. Not to wreck the car to the point that it needs major work.
Lets see how we did:
1&2. Won 14 out of 17 races, one second (got blocked by a lapped car) and was involved in wrecks in two other races. We led every feature at some point in the race. Won 17 heat races, sat on the pole for 15 of the 17 races.
3. Won the track championship by a fairly wide margin.
4. Finished 28th. out of 207 competitors in the national points for Pro division Legends.
5. Won the Louisiana State Championship
6.We raced everybody clean and fairly.
7. Connelly continued to develop his skills, at one point we won 9 races in a row.
8. Connelly had a "Bounty" put on him twice during the season. One Brian McArdle won in the lapped car incident, the other we claimed the reward as no one beat us during the "Bounty".
9. And by the way, we broke the track record on opening night and set a new standard of 12.840.
10. Additionally Connelly had the opportunity to drive Mr. Billy Elmore's #3 Pro Challenge car, the first time out he won in a field of 8 cars, the second time out he ran second to the #94 Brad West in a field of 10 cars. Not bad for a "rookie" in that class.
12. While we did have two wrecks, the first was just a fender bender, the second appeared to be much more severe requiring the body to be replaced (reason for the white body) we also had it checked out on the chassis jig and it was OK. Mr. Joe was right, but as good as the car was running I didn't want to chance something being bent.
So as I said in the heading WOW!! I don't know how we can follow this next year. I just hope we haven't overdrawn our racing luck account.
As always before the season Connelly and I sat down and set some goals, this year's goals were:
1. Finish on the podium in all races.
2. Win at least half of the races.
3. Win the track championship in the Pro division.
4. Win the Louisiana State Championship.
5. Race everybody clean and fairly.
6. Have Connelly continue to develop his driving skills.
7. Not to wreck the car to the point that it needs major work.
Lets see how we did:
1&2. Won 14 out of 17 races, one second (got blocked by a lapped car) and was involved in wrecks in two other races. We led every feature at some point in the race. Won 17 heat races, sat on the pole for 15 of the 17 races.
3. Won the track championship by a fairly wide margin.
4. Finished 28th. out of 207 competitors in the national points for Pro division Legends.
5. Won the Louisiana State Championship
6.We raced everybody clean and fairly.
7. Connelly continued to develop his skills, at one point we won 9 races in a row.
8. Connelly had a "Bounty" put on him twice during the season. One Brian McArdle won in the lapped car incident, the other we claimed the reward as no one beat us during the "Bounty".
9. And by the way, we broke the track record on opening night and set a new standard of 12.840.
10. Additionally Connelly had the opportunity to drive Mr. Billy Elmore's #3 Pro Challenge car, the first time out he won in a field of 8 cars, the second time out he ran second to the #94 Brad West in a field of 10 cars. Not bad for a "rookie" in that class.
12. While we did have two wrecks, the first was just a fender bender, the second appeared to be much more severe requiring the body to be replaced (reason for the white body) we also had it checked out on the chassis jig and it was OK. Mr. Joe was right, but as good as the car was running I didn't want to chance something being bent.
So as I said in the heading WOW!! I don't know how we can follow this next year. I just hope we haven't overdrawn our racing luck account.
Tuesday, October 13, 2015
Final Race Weekend of The Season October 3rd & 4th
Well here it is the final weekend of the 2015 racing season. It has been a long season, we greet it with mixed emotions, sort of glad to put it to bed, but know that in a couple of weeks we'll be looking for someone to race. "The Dixie Clash" as this race has come to be known as is a little bit different in that Saturday is our normal program--qualify, heat race and a 20 lap feature, Sunday's program is qualify, and a 30 lap feature race--no heat race and no invert. Tire management will come into play in the Sunday 30 lapper for sure. The track sweetened the pot considerably for the "Clash" $500.00 to win each day plus Connelly had another BOUNTY placed on him $100 per day for anyone who could beat him fairly making an extra $200 bounty payout a possibility, so we could have a very good weekend if we are successful.
SATURDAY OCT, 3rd:
We arrived at the track around 2:30 as it opened at noon, got the pits setup, got registered went through tech, got on the track to finish breaking in our last set of tires. We got that done and got in a couple of really good "hot" laps. The track had a ton of grip (almost too much) but we were able to post a fast lap on the transponder of 13.00--not bad. Our old friend Hunter Lewis was back with a new '34 Ford coupe, he was really quick, I had him on the hand held stopwatch in the very low 13's. We also had a few cars in from Atlanta, who got rained out, one of which was a '34 Ford coupe also with the #32 on it, he would be classified as the #32j. All in all we had 12 cars registered to race, a very good field. I guess the extra $500 and the bounty brought in some out-of-towners in to compete.
QUALIFYING:
Connelly felt like he had a good shot at the pole, but he went out and overdrove the car and wound up 5th a full quarter of a second slower than he practiced. Hunter Lewis in the #7 got the pole with a 13.109, #32j Jorgendon 2nd with 13.152, #14 Conner Okrzesik 3rd with 13.180, #96 Robbie Johnston 4th at 13.198, #32 Connelly 5th at13.244, followed by #10, #01, #04, #5, #28,another Atlanta car and #1.
The lineup for our heat was Hunter, Conner, Connelly,#01Treyce, #5 Brandon #28 Arlas.
Connelly starting from third told me before the race "Pops I can win this heat race" my response was "prove it". He got a good start and by the end of the first lap he had the lead which he never gave up and went on to win with Hunter in second and Conner rounding out the top 3.
FEATURE RACE:
Connelly threw a 3 on the invert dice meaning he would start third in the feature with Hunter on the pole and the #32j outside font row with Conner outside of him. Connelly got a good clean start and by lap 3 had the lead which he held on to for the remainder of the race. There was some very good racing taking place throughout the pack with positions being challenged constantly. Top 5 finishing order #1 Connelly, #2 Hunter, #3 Jorgenson, #4 Conner, #5 Robbie. Connelly drove a very good race, he had to as the new #7 Hunter and the #32j were both wicked fast and it was all we could do to win it, he had defended one leg of his two race "Bounty" as well as winning the $500 first place prize money. A good start to the weekend. But there was still that 30 lapper to deal with tomorrow.
SUNDAY OCT 4th
We all got a good night's sleep at the LaQuinta inn, got to the track early as Connelly had to break in a set of tires for the #3 Pro Challenge that he was driving again today. We got that all done and put one good hard run on the Legend--can't forget the #32.
QUALIFYING:
Pro Challenge-- Connelly qualified third out of ten cars, not bad as we had a couple of new cars tonight.
Legend--Connelly qualified the #32 on the pole for tonight's race at a 13.063 looks like he got his concentration back. The legend participants from last night were joined by Jeremy Lundy in his #1. It looked like Hunter was "off his game" tonight as he qualified 5th.
30 LAP FEATURE:
Pro Challenge--Connelly started inside second row behind Brad West on pole and Joseph McArdle outside front row. Connelly got inside of Joseph and was able to take second where rode for a few laps when he made a mistake and Joseph took the position back. He rode there for a few laps (trying to conserve tires) then he made a move to get second back when Joseph spun right in front of Connelly and gave Con the position back. Brian McArdle was now in third behind Connelly and he made a good pass to the inside for second, Connelly gathered it up and re passed Brian coming to the checkered flag for a second place finish. A really good fun race to watch (and drive in) Top five finishing order, 1st Brad West, 2nd Connelly, 3rd Brian McArdle, 4th Andrue Nolen, 5th Jo Jo Floyd.
This was a very interesting race. Connelly just loves these cars.
Legends--The participants tonight were the same as last night except for Jeremy Lundy #1j. Starting lineup 1st #32 Connelly, 2nd #32j, 3rd #14, 4th # 10, 5th #7, 6th #1j, 7th #96, 8th 01, 9th #5, 10th 04, 11th #28, 12th #6, 13th#1 a very strong field of cars. At the start Connelly got a clean start and Conner #14 got by the #32j and for the next nine laps Conner was never more than one or two car lengths behind Connelly and for a good portion of the race it was the Conner and Connelly show then on lap 10 the oil filter on the #96 loosened and a couple of quarts of good ole' hot oil was laid down on the track bringing on a 70 minute cleanup, allowing everyone's tires to cool down-it was a cool night anyway, now all the tire strategy went out the window and it is just another 20 lap feature. With cool tires and no need to conserve, everybody was going for it. On the restart the 32j got by Conner and spun Connelly coming out of turn 4, Connelly just looped it 360 degrees and drove it away. This could have been a disaster as the whole field was coming full bore and could have really done some damage, there was some bumping but no serious damage to anyone. After the restart things settled down and with cool tires, Connelly was able to open up some space between him and the #32j who now was in second. The race concluded with Connelly winning the #32j in second the #14 in third with the #1 in fourth and the #7 rounding out the top five. What a weekend, won both legend features, defended two nights of BOUNTY ran second in the Pro Challenge, locked up the track championship in the Legend class and went home with a nice payday. Glad this season is over, but we will be looking to race something in a couple of weeks. To Connelly's fans who came out to watch us race, a very heartfelt THANK YOU please continue your support next season.
SATURDAY OCT, 3rd:
We arrived at the track around 2:30 as it opened at noon, got the pits setup, got registered went through tech, got on the track to finish breaking in our last set of tires. We got that done and got in a couple of really good "hot" laps. The track had a ton of grip (almost too much) but we were able to post a fast lap on the transponder of 13.00--not bad. Our old friend Hunter Lewis was back with a new '34 Ford coupe, he was really quick, I had him on the hand held stopwatch in the very low 13's. We also had a few cars in from Atlanta, who got rained out, one of which was a '34 Ford coupe also with the #32 on it, he would be classified as the #32j. All in all we had 12 cars registered to race, a very good field. I guess the extra $500 and the bounty brought in some out-of-towners in to compete.
QUALIFYING:
Connelly felt like he had a good shot at the pole, but he went out and overdrove the car and wound up 5th a full quarter of a second slower than he practiced. Hunter Lewis in the #7 got the pole with a 13.109, #32j Jorgendon 2nd with 13.152, #14 Conner Okrzesik 3rd with 13.180, #96 Robbie Johnston 4th at 13.198, #32 Connelly 5th at13.244, followed by #10, #01, #04, #5, #28,another Atlanta car and #1.
The lineup for our heat was Hunter, Conner, Connelly,#01Treyce, #5 Brandon #28 Arlas.
Connelly starting from third told me before the race "Pops I can win this heat race" my response was "prove it". He got a good start and by the end of the first lap he had the lead which he never gave up and went on to win with Hunter in second and Conner rounding out the top 3.
FEATURE RACE:
Connelly threw a 3 on the invert dice meaning he would start third in the feature with Hunter on the pole and the #32j outside font row with Conner outside of him. Connelly got a good clean start and by lap 3 had the lead which he held on to for the remainder of the race. There was some very good racing taking place throughout the pack with positions being challenged constantly. Top 5 finishing order #1 Connelly, #2 Hunter, #3 Jorgenson, #4 Conner, #5 Robbie. Connelly drove a very good race, he had to as the new #7 Hunter and the #32j were both wicked fast and it was all we could do to win it, he had defended one leg of his two race "Bounty" as well as winning the $500 first place prize money. A good start to the weekend. But there was still that 30 lapper to deal with tomorrow.
SUNDAY OCT 4th
We all got a good night's sleep at the LaQuinta inn, got to the track early as Connelly had to break in a set of tires for the #3 Pro Challenge that he was driving again today. We got that all done and put one good hard run on the Legend--can't forget the #32.
QUALIFYING:
Pro Challenge-- Connelly qualified third out of ten cars, not bad as we had a couple of new cars tonight.
Legend--Connelly qualified the #32 on the pole for tonight's race at a 13.063 looks like he got his concentration back. The legend participants from last night were joined by Jeremy Lundy in his #1. It looked like Hunter was "off his game" tonight as he qualified 5th.
30 LAP FEATURE:
Pro Challenge--Connelly started inside second row behind Brad West on pole and Joseph McArdle outside front row. Connelly got inside of Joseph and was able to take second where rode for a few laps when he made a mistake and Joseph took the position back. He rode there for a few laps (trying to conserve tires) then he made a move to get second back when Joseph spun right in front of Connelly and gave Con the position back. Brian McArdle was now in third behind Connelly and he made a good pass to the inside for second, Connelly gathered it up and re passed Brian coming to the checkered flag for a second place finish. A really good fun race to watch (and drive in) Top five finishing order, 1st Brad West, 2nd Connelly, 3rd Brian McArdle, 4th Andrue Nolen, 5th Jo Jo Floyd.
This was a very interesting race. Connelly just loves these cars.
Legends--The participants tonight were the same as last night except for Jeremy Lundy #1j. Starting lineup 1st #32 Connelly, 2nd #32j, 3rd #14, 4th # 10, 5th #7, 6th #1j, 7th #96, 8th 01, 9th #5, 10th 04, 11th #28, 12th #6, 13th#1 a very strong field of cars. At the start Connelly got a clean start and Conner #14 got by the #32j and for the next nine laps Conner was never more than one or two car lengths behind Connelly and for a good portion of the race it was the Conner and Connelly show then on lap 10 the oil filter on the #96 loosened and a couple of quarts of good ole' hot oil was laid down on the track bringing on a 70 minute cleanup, allowing everyone's tires to cool down-it was a cool night anyway, now all the tire strategy went out the window and it is just another 20 lap feature. With cool tires and no need to conserve, everybody was going for it. On the restart the 32j got by Conner and spun Connelly coming out of turn 4, Connelly just looped it 360 degrees and drove it away. This could have been a disaster as the whole field was coming full bore and could have really done some damage, there was some bumping but no serious damage to anyone. After the restart things settled down and with cool tires, Connelly was able to open up some space between him and the #32j who now was in second. The race concluded with Connelly winning the #32j in second the #14 in third with the #1 in fourth and the #7 rounding out the top five. What a weekend, won both legend features, defended two nights of BOUNTY ran second in the Pro Challenge, locked up the track championship in the Legend class and went home with a nice payday. Glad this season is over, but we will be looking to race something in a couple of weeks. To Connelly's fans who came out to watch us race, a very heartfelt THANK YOU please continue your support next season.
Friday, September 25, 2015
Saturday Sept. 19, 2015
We arrived at the track a few minutes after gates opened, as we had a lot to do. We had to partially break in a set of right side tires for the Legend (hopefully the last set of the season) and there is a new wrinkle for the #32 team. While driving back to school last Sunday Connelly called me and said, "Pops since we have the points almost wrapped up, call Mr. Billy Elmore (who owns a pro challenge car) and ask him what it would take for us to rent his car for the next race". Billy hasn't been racing every race so I gave him a call. He wasn't planning on racing the 19th race, so we were able to put something together. He bent over backwards for us, set the car up for Connelly 165# vs. his 210, got the stagger right, added lead to get the balance right and made his track assistant available to us. Connelly's statement to me was." I just want to see if I can drive a pro challenge" So in addition to breaking in tires on the #32 Legend we had to get the feel of a totally different car, scuff in a set of tires for it, qualify it and the Legend and race both cars. I was worn out before the race even started.
Connelly took to the Pro Challenge like a duck to water, his line on the track was good, his times with only a couple of laps under his belt were respectable. He got a couple more laps of practice and got ready to qualify.
QUALIFYING:
Connelly qualified the Legend on the pole, with Jeremy Lundy a very close second. He then qualified the Pro Challenge second by 2 one hundredths of a second behind Brad West. very respectable.
HEAT RACE:
In the Legends heat race Connelly started on the pole and led all laps for the win. In Pro Challenge he started outside front row but started in the wrong gear and got eaten alive going down the front straightaway, by the time the dust settled he was 4th. These cars are very vunenable to tire wear, since the heat race pays no prize money, Connelly just rode there saving his tires for the feature.
FEATURE RACE:
In the Legends, there were 10 cars competing, Connelly started third as a result of rolling a 3 on the invert dice. Conner Okresik in the #14 was on the pole and Jeremy Lundy #1j outside front row. By lap 3 Connelly had gotten the lead and held on for the rest of the raced for the win. Top 5 finishers were #32 Connelly, #1j Jeremy Lundy second, #14 Conner Okresik, third, #96 Robbie Johnston fourth, #15 Dustin Harvison,fifth. Conner and Jeremy put on quite a show for the fans racing for second/third, they changed positions more than once and were never more than one car length apart, good racing.
In the Pro Challenge feature we had 6 cars competing tonight. Brian McArdle on the pole, Connelly outside front row, Joseph McArdrdle third, Dave Nolan fourth, Brad West fifth and Conner Okrzesik sixth. At the start Connelly got the correct gear this time and was able to get a fender in front of Brian, although on the outside, he maintained the lead abusing his tires more than he wanted to. He was finally able to get to the bottom where he endured a couple of cautions and restarts and several laps of the #14 of Conner right on his rear bumper challenging hard, his spotter kept telling him, "he is there, just keep hitting your marks". This was the first time Connelly had a spotter, he said it really helped. Connelly held on for the victory. What an unbelievable night --swept the Legends and won the Pro Challenge the first time he sat in the car, a tribute to how well the car was set up and how well Connelly drove it. I keep expecting to wake up and find out I was dreaming. We will probably never forget tonight. The next race is the Dixie Clash on Oct 3rd and 4th, $500 to win both nights and they put a bounty on Connelly again in the Legends and OH! by the way, Connelly is driving the Pro Challenge again Sunday night. If you have the opportunity come out on the 3rd and 4th, come treat yourself to some really great racing and see if Connelly can "pull it off again" see you there.
Connelly took to the Pro Challenge like a duck to water, his line on the track was good, his times with only a couple of laps under his belt were respectable. He got a couple more laps of practice and got ready to qualify.
QUALIFYING:
Connelly qualified the Legend on the pole, with Jeremy Lundy a very close second. He then qualified the Pro Challenge second by 2 one hundredths of a second behind Brad West. very respectable.
HEAT RACE:
In the Legends heat race Connelly started on the pole and led all laps for the win. In Pro Challenge he started outside front row but started in the wrong gear and got eaten alive going down the front straightaway, by the time the dust settled he was 4th. These cars are very vunenable to tire wear, since the heat race pays no prize money, Connelly just rode there saving his tires for the feature.
FEATURE RACE:
In the Legends, there were 10 cars competing, Connelly started third as a result of rolling a 3 on the invert dice. Conner Okresik in the #14 was on the pole and Jeremy Lundy #1j outside front row. By lap 3 Connelly had gotten the lead and held on for the rest of the raced for the win. Top 5 finishers were #32 Connelly, #1j Jeremy Lundy second, #14 Conner Okresik, third, #96 Robbie Johnston fourth, #15 Dustin Harvison,fifth. Conner and Jeremy put on quite a show for the fans racing for second/third, they changed positions more than once and were never more than one car length apart, good racing.
In the Pro Challenge feature we had 6 cars competing tonight. Brian McArdle on the pole, Connelly outside front row, Joseph McArdrdle third, Dave Nolan fourth, Brad West fifth and Conner Okrzesik sixth. At the start Connelly got the correct gear this time and was able to get a fender in front of Brian, although on the outside, he maintained the lead abusing his tires more than he wanted to. He was finally able to get to the bottom where he endured a couple of cautions and restarts and several laps of the #14 of Conner right on his rear bumper challenging hard, his spotter kept telling him, "he is there, just keep hitting your marks". This was the first time Connelly had a spotter, he said it really helped. Connelly held on for the victory. What an unbelievable night --swept the Legends and won the Pro Challenge the first time he sat in the car, a tribute to how well the car was set up and how well Connelly drove it. I keep expecting to wake up and find out I was dreaming. We will probably never forget tonight. The next race is the Dixie Clash on Oct 3rd and 4th, $500 to win both nights and they put a bounty on Connelly again in the Legends and OH! by the way, Connelly is driving the Pro Challenge again Sunday night. If you have the opportunity come out on the 3rd and 4th, come treat yourself to some really great racing and see if Connelly can "pull it off again" see you there.
Catch up on Races Aug 15, 29, Sept 12
Connelly has had an incredible run of races since the middle of June. Since the "big wreck" coming out of turn 4 on June 6th where we did extensive damage to the body of the car, Connelly has won every pole, every heat and every feature. In the Aug 29th race it was sort of un-officially announced that the McArdles would no longer compete in Legends. Joseph's car was said to have been sold, Brian's car had been prepped for the nationals and would not be raced until then and put up for sale after the nationals. The McArdles will be fielding 2 or 3 cars in the Pro Challenge division. In fact Joseph ran his car last race and won in a very impressive showing.
The effect of the McArdles leaving the Legend division has yet to be seen. They have been a fixture in that division since we have been racing, and a very dominant fixture I might add. We will certainly miss racing against them
The effect of the McArdles leaving the Legend division has yet to be seen. They have been a fixture in that division since we have been racing, and a very dominant fixture I might add. We will certainly miss racing against them
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
Saturday Night Aug 1st, 2015
The DMS team got to the track in a timely fashion, got all of the prep things done; set up pits, check in, register go through tech and get ready to break in tires. We got a break in that what we needed to do, got done so we put our race tires on for a late test run as the track was still blistering hot--128 degrees. At 6:30 the track was still 118 degrees so we just decided to forego the last test session, we wouldn't learn much so we just "saved our stuff".
QUALIFYING: The track was still quite hot at qualifying, 106, coming down but still hot. Qualifying results were: On the pole, Connelly Dubuisson #32--13.081, 2nd, Conner Okrzesik #14, 3rd, Joseph McArdle #44, 4th Dustin Harvison #15, 5th, Robbie Johnston #96, 6th Treyce Capers #01, 7th Brad West #94, 8th Dawson Keener #04, 9th Brandon Slater #5, 10th William Wilson #30, 11th Fred Laing #6, and 12th Wyatt Heffington #1. Quite an impressive group--the whole field separated by less than a second.
HEAT RACE: In Connelly's heat race were the #32, #44 ( Joseph McArdle was driving his dad's car as Brian was not competing tonight, due to a medical issue) #96, #94, #6, #5. Connelly starting from the pole got a good start and led start to finish in what was an uneventful race (about time after last weeks marathon). The top five finishing order was #32, #96, #44, #94, and the #6. Now to get ready for the feature.
FEATURE RACE: Tonight's feature started out the exact opposite as last weekend's race. Last week we ran the first 10 laps in 3 1/2 minutes, this week it took us 15 minutes to record one complete lap, two red flags and three cars on the rollback. Our good friend Robbie Johnston #96 got loose coming out of turn 4 on the start spun and got "T" boned by the #5 both cars were taken of on the rollback. On the ensuing restart the #1 and #30 got together going into turn 1 and wound up against the wall at the entrance to the track where pit road comes in, another red flag. Now we are 15 -20 min past the original start and 0 laps completed, another restart--false start someone jumped the start, another restart--this time it "took" and we got a start. Conner #14 was on the pole and he was protecting the inside with Joseph #44 on his rear bumkper trying to keep Connelly #32 on the outside. It worked for a lap or two when #32 finally fell in behind Joseph and got to the inside where he could race, in another lap he got by Joseph #44, then another lap or so he got by Conner #14 for the lead, all three drivers gave each other plenty of room to pass and there was no incident. There was another caution when the #94 got loose and hit the wall almost head on right at the start/finish line. He took a really mean hit, thank goodness for all the safety equipment as Brad was fine. Another restart, again Connelly got a good restart and was able to keep the lead for the rest of the race. Conner #14 and Joseph #44 were always within striking distance should #32 have made a mistake they both were in a position to "pounce". The top 3 in Pro division were #32, #44, and #15, The top 3 in the young lions/semi pro division were #14, #04, and #01. All in all a very entertaining race, with a little too much action--hate to see all those cars get torn up. Looking forward to the next race on Aug 15, come on out and treat yourself to some really good racing.
QUALIFYING: The track was still quite hot at qualifying, 106, coming down but still hot. Qualifying results were: On the pole, Connelly Dubuisson #32--13.081, 2nd, Conner Okrzesik #14, 3rd, Joseph McArdle #44, 4th Dustin Harvison #15, 5th, Robbie Johnston #96, 6th Treyce Capers #01, 7th Brad West #94, 8th Dawson Keener #04, 9th Brandon Slater #5, 10th William Wilson #30, 11th Fred Laing #6, and 12th Wyatt Heffington #1. Quite an impressive group--the whole field separated by less than a second.
HEAT RACE: In Connelly's heat race were the #32, #44 ( Joseph McArdle was driving his dad's car as Brian was not competing tonight, due to a medical issue) #96, #94, #6, #5. Connelly starting from the pole got a good start and led start to finish in what was an uneventful race (about time after last weeks marathon). The top five finishing order was #32, #96, #44, #94, and the #6. Now to get ready for the feature.
FEATURE RACE: Tonight's feature started out the exact opposite as last weekend's race. Last week we ran the first 10 laps in 3 1/2 minutes, this week it took us 15 minutes to record one complete lap, two red flags and three cars on the rollback. Our good friend Robbie Johnston #96 got loose coming out of turn 4 on the start spun and got "T" boned by the #5 both cars were taken of on the rollback. On the ensuing restart the #1 and #30 got together going into turn 1 and wound up against the wall at the entrance to the track where pit road comes in, another red flag. Now we are 15 -20 min past the original start and 0 laps completed, another restart--false start someone jumped the start, another restart--this time it "took" and we got a start. Conner #14 was on the pole and he was protecting the inside with Joseph #44 on his rear bumkper trying to keep Connelly #32 on the outside. It worked for a lap or two when #32 finally fell in behind Joseph and got to the inside where he could race, in another lap he got by Joseph #44, then another lap or so he got by Conner #14 for the lead, all three drivers gave each other plenty of room to pass and there was no incident. There was another caution when the #94 got loose and hit the wall almost head on right at the start/finish line. He took a really mean hit, thank goodness for all the safety equipment as Brad was fine. Another restart, again Connelly got a good restart and was able to keep the lead for the rest of the race. Conner #14 and Joseph #44 were always within striking distance should #32 have made a mistake they both were in a position to "pounce". The top 3 in Pro division were #32, #44, and #15, The top 3 in the young lions/semi pro division were #14, #04, and #01. All in all a very entertaining race, with a little too much action--hate to see all those cars get torn up. Looking forward to the next race on Aug 15, come on out and treat yourself to some really good racing.
Wednesday, July 22, 2015
Saturday Night July 18, 2015
Saturday night found the #32 team at the pit gate at 5 pm. a little later than usual, but we had already done our tire break in and worked on our setup issues last Wednesday night when we rented the track, plus it was blistering hot, not a good time to tweak setups. Got our pits setup, went through registration and tech went out for a trial run--the only thing we could find out was "did it start? would it stop? would it turn left? Yes to all three. The track was so slick you could hardly run, track temp was 126.7 degrees, so we just parked it with the intention of getting another run in right before qualifying. The track temp only dropped by a couple of degrees, so we just went into qualifying with what we had.
Qualifying:
Connelly qualified on the pole by the narrowest of margins 11/1000 of a second over Brian McArdle #44 who was back after last week's absence, qualifying third was Joseph McArdle, #44jr., followed by Dawson Keener in the 04, Robbie Johnston, #96, Brad West, #94, Conner Okrzesik #14, Treyce Capers #01, Dustin Harvison #15, Brandon Slater #5, Fred Laing #6, Michel Beasley #114, William Wilson #16, Wyatt Heffington #1, and Devin Corry #18, all within one second of each other. If my math is correct--and it rarely is--that one second equates to 100 feet on the track and the top two qualifiers are separated by about 11inches--real close. So I look for a really competitive race. We have 15 cars available to compete tonight.
Heat Race:
Our heat race had 8 cars in it with Connelly starting on the pole, he got a good start and led all of the 8 laps, it was an uneventful race with only one quick caution on lap 3 caused by a spin. Top 5 in the heat race were: #32 Connelly, #96 Robbie, #44jr. Joseph, #15 Dustin, #14 Conner.
Feature Race:
After winning the heat race Connelly threw the invert dice and rolled a three putting him in the third starting position, with Robbie #96 on the pole and Brian #44 outside front row, Brad #94 outside second row, and Joseph #44jr rounding our the starting front five. Connelly got a good start then a quick caution before the completion of lap number one--complete restart. He got another good start and had the lead by the end of lap one. Brian and Joseph battled for second place for about four laps allowing Connelly to get away form both of them by about 8 car lengths. Right at halfway (10 laps) a car spun bring out the yellow. On the ensuing restart Connelly got a good start then right past the start finish line the #94 got into the side of Brian in the #44 which triggered a Daytona type "big one". I counted no less than 8 cars involved. Connelly was clear of the wreck and said he looked in his rearview mirror and all he saw was smoke and cars spinning and getting into each other. Resulting in a red flag which lasted the better part of 15 minutes, we had run the first half of the race in 3 1/2 min. at least 8 cars went off the track for repairs including Brian in the #44, so they all had to go to the rear, however they all came back on to run the rest of the race. The field then went into a "yellow fever" mode with the remainder of the race having 4 more yellow flags and two more red flags.
Brian worked his way back up to second, the repairs he made behind pit wall seemed to help because he then ran the fastest lap of the night for any legend including qualifying, with a 13.015 which was quick considering the track temp. It seemed to take forever to get the last 3 laps in. The top three in the Pro division were Connelly #32, Brian #44, and Brad #94. The top three in the Semi Pro division were Robbie #96, Dawson #04 and Conner #14. It should be noted that Treyce Capers in the #01 was exiting turn 4 looking at the checkered flag for his first podium finish when he spun dropping him to sixth, man you gotta keep that thing under you SSR began a new payout procedure tonight. Even though all the legend classes (4) run together they began paying separate prize money and trophies for each division--a really good idea. The race took over 55 minutes to run with the first half only taking 3 1/2 minutes. Long night we got home at 3:45 Sunday morning.
Qualifying:
Connelly qualified on the pole by the narrowest of margins 11/1000 of a second over Brian McArdle #44 who was back after last week's absence, qualifying third was Joseph McArdle, #44jr., followed by Dawson Keener in the 04, Robbie Johnston, #96, Brad West, #94, Conner Okrzesik #14, Treyce Capers #01, Dustin Harvison #15, Brandon Slater #5, Fred Laing #6, Michel Beasley #114, William Wilson #16, Wyatt Heffington #1, and Devin Corry #18, all within one second of each other. If my math is correct--and it rarely is--that one second equates to 100 feet on the track and the top two qualifiers are separated by about 11inches--real close. So I look for a really competitive race. We have 15 cars available to compete tonight.
Heat Race:
Our heat race had 8 cars in it with Connelly starting on the pole, he got a good start and led all of the 8 laps, it was an uneventful race with only one quick caution on lap 3 caused by a spin. Top 5 in the heat race were: #32 Connelly, #96 Robbie, #44jr. Joseph, #15 Dustin, #14 Conner.
Feature Race:
After winning the heat race Connelly threw the invert dice and rolled a three putting him in the third starting position, with Robbie #96 on the pole and Brian #44 outside front row, Brad #94 outside second row, and Joseph #44jr rounding our the starting front five. Connelly got a good start then a quick caution before the completion of lap number one--complete restart. He got another good start and had the lead by the end of lap one. Brian and Joseph battled for second place for about four laps allowing Connelly to get away form both of them by about 8 car lengths. Right at halfway (10 laps) a car spun bring out the yellow. On the ensuing restart Connelly got a good start then right past the start finish line the #94 got into the side of Brian in the #44 which triggered a Daytona type "big one". I counted no less than 8 cars involved. Connelly was clear of the wreck and said he looked in his rearview mirror and all he saw was smoke and cars spinning and getting into each other. Resulting in a red flag which lasted the better part of 15 minutes, we had run the first half of the race in 3 1/2 min. at least 8 cars went off the track for repairs including Brian in the #44, so they all had to go to the rear, however they all came back on to run the rest of the race. The field then went into a "yellow fever" mode with the remainder of the race having 4 more yellow flags and two more red flags.
Brian worked his way back up to second, the repairs he made behind pit wall seemed to help because he then ran the fastest lap of the night for any legend including qualifying, with a 13.015 which was quick considering the track temp. It seemed to take forever to get the last 3 laps in. The top three in the Pro division were Connelly #32, Brian #44, and Brad #94. The top three in the Semi Pro division were Robbie #96, Dawson #04 and Conner #14. It should be noted that Treyce Capers in the #01 was exiting turn 4 looking at the checkered flag for his first podium finish when he spun dropping him to sixth, man you gotta keep that thing under you SSR began a new payout procedure tonight. Even though all the legend classes (4) run together they began paying separate prize money and trophies for each division--a really good idea. The race took over 55 minutes to run with the first half only taking 3 1/2 minutes. Long night we got home at 3:45 Sunday morning.
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