Well the 2013 racing season at Sunny South Raceway is in the books and it will be another four months or so until the 2014 season kicks off. The next racing function is the annual banquet on Dec. 14, looking forward to it. Before the beginning of the 2013 season the #32 team sat down and established some goals that we would strive to attain.
1. Win the track championship in the Semi Pro division.
2. Win at least one race.
3. Win at least two heat races.
4. Win at least two pole positions in qualifying.
5. Record at least one lap under 13.00 seconds.
6. Represent ourselves in a professional manner,
exhibiting good sportsmanship and fair
and honest competition.
Lets examine the results for 2013:
1. Win the track championship. We fell short by 8 points. We were having a very successful season until Aug 2nd. after the heat race made a chassis adjustment to the right rear of the car, and did not check the ride heights after. The result was by raising the right rear we unknowingly lowered the left front, apparently we were right on the borderline of being too low (we had passed all pre and post race inspections up to that point) but we were now 1/32" too low and were disqualified. Zero points for the whole night. Our 75 point lead was now minus 12. We figured we would be able to make it up, which we should have been able to do, however Connelly began overdriving the car trying to make it up and to get a full feature win. We wound up ending the season ahead by three points.The track rules state that you MUST drop your lowest points race, the disqualification doesn't count. When we dropped our lowest points race and the #66 dropped his lowest points race, in our lowest points race we had outscored him by 11 points, so we had to finish 11 points ahead of him to win the track championship--we just didn't. Congratulations to Andrew Johnson and the entire #66 crew - they did what they were supposed to do and we didn't.
2. Win at least one race. We were scored winning one race, but it was a rain shortened race and Connelly felt that its value was diminished by that, I kept telling him that a win is a win, the check said first place and the trophy said first place. We also had three second place finishes in feature races
3. Win at least two pole positions. That one we accomplished. We won four poles and were tied to one one-thousandth of a second for another.
4. Win at least two heat races. That one we accomplished also. We won 3 heat races and also had 5 second place finishes.
5. Record at least one lap under 13.00 seconds. That one we did not achieve. Our fastest lap that was electronically scored was a 13.03 which was only three one hundredths of a second off--you cant blink that fast.
6. Represent ourselves in a professional manner, exhibiting good sportsmanship and fair and honest competition.--We feel that we have accomplished this, the disqualification hangs over our heads like a black cloud, but rest assured it was unintentional, we gained no competitive advantage from that 1/32 of an inch, but the rules are the rules and we not only abide by them, but whole heartedly support them.
Overall the 2013 season was a very successful one for us. We not only accomplished a lot, we learned even more. We have finally began to gain an understanding of what it takes to make one of these little cars perform. Connelly learned a lot and improved significantly in his driving abilities, we still have a long way to go but we made a start in 2013. We are looking forward to the 2014 season.
Paul, Betty and Connelly
Monday, November 25, 2013
Friday October 4, 2013--The Dixie Clash
Friday Oct. 4 found us leaving Brother Martin at the usual time, 3:10 and proceeding to SSR. This weekend was scheduled to be the "Dixie Clash" a two day program with Friday night being the regular qualifying, heat race, feature race format, and Saturday night being the "Dixie Clash" with qualifying and a 30 lap feature for the Legends. The Pro Challenge were to have their National Championship this weekend with qualifying and one 40 lap feature on Fri and another qualifying and 40 lap feature on Saturday.--However and there always seems to be a "however"--tropical storm Karen was scheduled to arrive on Saturday so they condensed the Pro Challenge to everything on Friday and the Legend and all other classes 30 lap races to Friday, with Saturday open for Karen. Wouldn't you know Karen fizzled out and Saturday was rain free, oh well!!!
We arrived at SSR on time and got registered, teched, and got on the track for some practice. The car was fast in practice so we only made two short runs and got ready for qualifying. The cars available tonight were the #44 of Brian McArdle, the #54 of Clayton Green out of Texas (he was only six points out of third place nationally for the Pro division in Legends and this was the last points race of the season), the #32 of Connelly, The #66 of Andrew Johnson, the #7 of Hunter Lewis, the #44jr of Joseph McArdle, the #94 of Brad West who was involved in that wreck last weekend and got his car back together for the "Clash", the #55r of Ronnie Osmer, great to have him back competing in the Legends (has been racing the Pro Challenge but blew his engine last race sorry it took a blown engine to get him back), the #33 of Dustin Smith, and the #96 of Robbie Johnston. The order mention above was the qualifying order with the difference between all cars was only .375 of a second a very fast and competitive field. Oh by the way did I mention the "Dixie Clash" paid $600 to win!!!!!!
Since this was to be a 30 lap race and SSR is "hard on tires" this 30 lap race would require some tire management. You have to run hard enough in the early laps so that the leaders don't get away from you, but not abuse your tires in doing so. We qualified 3rd which put us on the inside of row two, a prefect starting spot. At the start of the race Connelly ran third for about 6 or 7 laps, (conserving tires) the #7 who started behind us started getting a little anxious to get to the front, and he passed us, we really didn't contest it too hard, the #7 got into a passing duel with the #54 with each passing each other two or three times--both using up their "stuff" at lap 16 the #55r and the #96 got together bending the right front spindle on the #55r finishing his night. On the restart I signaled Connelly to take the choose, almost a bad call as he was 6th before he could get to the inside. He worked his way back up to 5th. With the #7 on the outside of the #54 and #44 they went three wide through turn three and four, they were all running the tires off of their cars, we then got by the #7 for 4th., then with 5 to go got by the #44jr for third, which is where we finished. The remainder of the finishing order was #44jr, #66, #7, #96, #94, #33, and #55r. Connelly felt like he may have had something for the #54 but I had instructed him that we needed a podium finish for our points. Finishing third behind Brian McArdle (three time track champion) and the #54 (third place in national Pro points) isn't too shabby. Connelly was really disappointed as he felt he had a better car than he had shown. All things considered a very respectable night for the #32 team. This was the last race of the season, so it will be probably 4 months before we go racing again.
On several occasions in these posts, I mention the "#32 team" I probably should introduce them to you. We are Myself a 72 year old Grandfather, Betty, I won't mention her age, Grandmother and Connelly, the only youngster in the bunch.
We arrived at SSR on time and got registered, teched, and got on the track for some practice. The car was fast in practice so we only made two short runs and got ready for qualifying. The cars available tonight were the #44 of Brian McArdle, the #54 of Clayton Green out of Texas (he was only six points out of third place nationally for the Pro division in Legends and this was the last points race of the season), the #32 of Connelly, The #66 of Andrew Johnson, the #7 of Hunter Lewis, the #44jr of Joseph McArdle, the #94 of Brad West who was involved in that wreck last weekend and got his car back together for the "Clash", the #55r of Ronnie Osmer, great to have him back competing in the Legends (has been racing the Pro Challenge but blew his engine last race sorry it took a blown engine to get him back), the #33 of Dustin Smith, and the #96 of Robbie Johnston. The order mention above was the qualifying order with the difference between all cars was only .375 of a second a very fast and competitive field. Oh by the way did I mention the "Dixie Clash" paid $600 to win!!!!!!
Since this was to be a 30 lap race and SSR is "hard on tires" this 30 lap race would require some tire management. You have to run hard enough in the early laps so that the leaders don't get away from you, but not abuse your tires in doing so. We qualified 3rd which put us on the inside of row two, a prefect starting spot. At the start of the race Connelly ran third for about 6 or 7 laps, (conserving tires) the #7 who started behind us started getting a little anxious to get to the front, and he passed us, we really didn't contest it too hard, the #7 got into a passing duel with the #54 with each passing each other two or three times--both using up their "stuff" at lap 16 the #55r and the #96 got together bending the right front spindle on the #55r finishing his night. On the restart I signaled Connelly to take the choose, almost a bad call as he was 6th before he could get to the inside. He worked his way back up to 5th. With the #7 on the outside of the #54 and #44 they went three wide through turn three and four, they were all running the tires off of their cars, we then got by the #7 for 4th., then with 5 to go got by the #44jr for third, which is where we finished. The remainder of the finishing order was #44jr, #66, #7, #96, #94, #33, and #55r. Connelly felt like he may have had something for the #54 but I had instructed him that we needed a podium finish for our points. Finishing third behind Brian McArdle (three time track champion) and the #54 (third place in national Pro points) isn't too shabby. Connelly was really disappointed as he felt he had a better car than he had shown. All things considered a very respectable night for the #32 team. This was the last race of the season, so it will be probably 4 months before we go racing again.
On several occasions in these posts, I mention the "#32 team" I probably should introduce them to you. We are Myself a 72 year old Grandfather, Betty, I won't mention her age, Grandmother and Connelly, the only youngster in the bunch.
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
September 27, 2013
Friday found us leaving Brother Martin High School at the normal 3:15 time and proceeding to Sunny South Raceway. We had an uneventful trip and arrived at the track just a few minutes after gate opening. Got to our pit stall, unloaded, got registered and went through tech and got on the track in the first group. Connelly laid down a fast lap in practice of 13.03 which is very fast for a track that was still pretty hot. We felt that we couldn't gain anything by more practicing, so we just checked it over and got ready for qualifying. It felt good to not have tires to break in or adjustments to deal with.
The cars available tonight were the #7 of Hunter Lewis, the #32 of Connelly Dubuisson, the # 44jr. of Joseph McArdle, the #44 of Brian McArdle (who is just back from kidney transplant surgery three weeks ago. His doctor said he could go back to his normal activity, I am not sure that the doctor knew what Brian's "normal activity" was).the #04 of Dawson Keener, the # 94 of Brad West, the # 96 of Robbie Johnston, the # 7b (Hunter Lewis' backup car) driven this week by Andrew Johnson, and the #33 driven by Dustin Smith. A very impressive and competitive field of cars. In the practice session for the pro challenge cars the #55r blew his engine (connecting rod through the side of the engine) and emptied the entire crankcase of oil in the middle of the "groove" from the center of turn 3 to the entrance of turn 1, after an extensive cleanup the track was just barely raceable.
QUALIFYING: The timing system at SSR records the lap times to the thousandth of a second and the #7 and the #32 posted identical times for qualifying to the thousandth of a second a 13.169, the #44jr was third followed by the #44, then #04,the #94, the #96, #7b, with the #33 rounding out the field.
HEAT RACE: Since the #7 went out to qualify first he was awarded the pole with Connelly relegated to outside front row. With all of the fast cars tonight I figured we would be in fifth or sixth position before we could get to the bottom. The heat went just about a I figured we were in fifth by the time we could get to the inside where could race, we raced in fifth for several laps and was having difficulty getting by the 04 when with three laps to go Connelly drove it in to turn three very hard, made the pass on the 04 but was carrying too much speed when he hit the part of the track that had been oiled down by the 55r and he spun the car. He went from fourth to ninth in one spin. With only three laps to go he wound up finishing in 8th place a net loss of 8 points toward the track championship.
FEATURE RACE: Due to our poor finish in the Heat we started outside of the last row with a mob of really fast cars in front of us. The invert was a #5 so the up front cars were scrambled. After a caution on the first lap creating a complete restart, things settled down with Connelly working his way up through the field and by halfway he was in fifth. Shortly thereafter a caution came out, we took the "choose" and in one lap was third. We worked our way up to second, but another caution came out and since we hadn't completed one full lap in that position we had to give it back, got back to second as a result of the #7 and #44 getting together in turn 4, the #7 fell back to about 5th then another caution and another restart. The #7 was driving very hard and had gotten up to third behind us and the #44, with two laps to go we were right on the tail of the #44 when the #44 broke a rear trailing arm bolt and began to slide, we were still at middle of the turn speed and our right front wheel went inside of his left rear, at that moment the #7 touched our rear bumper (something that happens many times in the course of a race) and we got into the #44, then the #04 hit our rear bumper launching him into the wall on the exit of turn 2 taking the #94 with him. Connelly was able to drive the car away but with all of that contact he came off the track to check on the safety of the car. Which now relegated him to last place among the remaining cars. The officials red flagged the race and called it complete, awarding finishes and points by last completed green flag lap, which would have placed us second. A very "heated discussion" ensued and the finish as announced was reversed and we were given 6th place since we left the track. The net result was a loss of another 12 points. The finishing order as recorded was #7, #7b, #96, #33, #44jr, and #32. This race was to be crucial in our chase for the track championship. Next weekend will be the final race of the season "The Dixie Clash" a normal program for Fri. night with just qualifying and a 30 lap feature on Saturday. That will be our last chance to regain the lead in points.
The cars available tonight were the #7 of Hunter Lewis, the #32 of Connelly Dubuisson, the # 44jr. of Joseph McArdle, the #44 of Brian McArdle (who is just back from kidney transplant surgery three weeks ago. His doctor said he could go back to his normal activity, I am not sure that the doctor knew what Brian's "normal activity" was).the #04 of Dawson Keener, the # 94 of Brad West, the # 96 of Robbie Johnston, the # 7b (Hunter Lewis' backup car) driven this week by Andrew Johnson, and the #33 driven by Dustin Smith. A very impressive and competitive field of cars. In the practice session for the pro challenge cars the #55r blew his engine (connecting rod through the side of the engine) and emptied the entire crankcase of oil in the middle of the "groove" from the center of turn 3 to the entrance of turn 1, after an extensive cleanup the track was just barely raceable.
QUALIFYING: The timing system at SSR records the lap times to the thousandth of a second and the #7 and the #32 posted identical times for qualifying to the thousandth of a second a 13.169, the #44jr was third followed by the #44, then #04,the #94, the #96, #7b, with the #33 rounding out the field.
HEAT RACE: Since the #7 went out to qualify first he was awarded the pole with Connelly relegated to outside front row. With all of the fast cars tonight I figured we would be in fifth or sixth position before we could get to the bottom. The heat went just about a I figured we were in fifth by the time we could get to the inside where could race, we raced in fifth for several laps and was having difficulty getting by the 04 when with three laps to go Connelly drove it in to turn three very hard, made the pass on the 04 but was carrying too much speed when he hit the part of the track that had been oiled down by the 55r and he spun the car. He went from fourth to ninth in one spin. With only three laps to go he wound up finishing in 8th place a net loss of 8 points toward the track championship.
FEATURE RACE: Due to our poor finish in the Heat we started outside of the last row with a mob of really fast cars in front of us. The invert was a #5 so the up front cars were scrambled. After a caution on the first lap creating a complete restart, things settled down with Connelly working his way up through the field and by halfway he was in fifth. Shortly thereafter a caution came out, we took the "choose" and in one lap was third. We worked our way up to second, but another caution came out and since we hadn't completed one full lap in that position we had to give it back, got back to second as a result of the #7 and #44 getting together in turn 4, the #7 fell back to about 5th then another caution and another restart. The #7 was driving very hard and had gotten up to third behind us and the #44, with two laps to go we were right on the tail of the #44 when the #44 broke a rear trailing arm bolt and began to slide, we were still at middle of the turn speed and our right front wheel went inside of his left rear, at that moment the #7 touched our rear bumper (something that happens many times in the course of a race) and we got into the #44, then the #04 hit our rear bumper launching him into the wall on the exit of turn 2 taking the #94 with him. Connelly was able to drive the car away but with all of that contact he came off the track to check on the safety of the car. Which now relegated him to last place among the remaining cars. The officials red flagged the race and called it complete, awarding finishes and points by last completed green flag lap, which would have placed us second. A very "heated discussion" ensued and the finish as announced was reversed and we were given 6th place since we left the track. The net result was a loss of another 12 points. The finishing order as recorded was #7, #7b, #96, #33, #44jr, and #32. This race was to be crucial in our chase for the track championship. Next weekend will be the final race of the season "The Dixie Clash" a normal program for Fri. night with just qualifying and a 30 lap feature on Saturday. That will be our last chance to regain the lead in points.
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
September 13, 2013 (Friday the 13th)
Friday night started the same as the other Fridays since school started, pick Connelly up from Brother Martin at 3:10 and get on the road to SSR. We made a safe and uneventful trip to Grand Bay and arrived at the track after filling up the truck for the return trip at about 5:15. We had plenty of time since we did not have to break in tires. Went through the usual ritual, unloading, registering, getting through tech and finally getting on the track for a couple of test laps. The car was good even with the track temp of 109 degrees. We put the fans on the engine and when the track had cooled off a little went out for another quick test run and laid down a lap in the 13.05 range, so we parked it until qualifying.
THE COMPETITORS: Tonight we had on hand the usual cars, #7 Hunter Lewis, #44 Joseph McArdle #32 Connelly, #66 Andrew Johnston, #94 Brad West, #96 Robbie Johnson, and from Monroe La the #96A (I don't have his name).
QUALIFYING: In qualifying Connelly laid down a fast lap of 13.085, good enough for the pole, #66 was second with a 13.129, #7 was third at a 13.159, #44 fourth at a 13.280, #94 fifth at a 13.439, #96 at a 13.603, #96A at a 13.651. A good close field for tonight's race.
HEAT RACE: In the heat Connelly started on the pole as his qualifying called for followed by the rest of the field in the order noted above. Connelly led for the first six laps when the #66 spun in turn 4 bringing out a caution. Connelly didn't need that as he had a lead of about three car lengths over the #7 and was in a good rhythm. A couple of cars took the "choose" Connelly held on to the lead for a couple of laps then got a little high coming off of turn 2 allowing the #7 to get under him and he got by, in the process #44 got by also and we were now in third. Coming to the checker flag the #44 broke his right rear trailing arm and spun and crashed hard into the back straightaway wall doing significant damage. We wound up second behind the #7 followed by the #66, #94, #96A. The #96 experienced a mechanical problem before the start and did not start.
FEATURE RACE: Hunter Lewis threw the big dice for the invert and rolled a six, meaning that he would start 6th, we would start 5th, the #66 would start 4th, the #96A third, the #94 second, and the #44 on the pole. As a result of his crash in the heat race the #44 was unable to answer the call to post and the entire inside line just moved up one position. Giving us the third starting spot. Coming out of turn two on the first lap the #94 got real loose and almost spun, Connelly checked up and got nailed in the rear by the #7 pushing Connelly into the infield, the whole field got slowed down, and Connelly just drove through the infield to turn 4 where he got back on the track, no harm no foul. Since they did not complete a lap a complete re-start was ordered. By the end of the second lap Connelly had taken the lead and held on with the #7 never more than a couple of lengths back. At just about halfway the #96A spun bringing out the caution. A couple of cars took the "choose" and after the restart the #7 was glued to our rear bumper. Connelly got up out of the groove coming out of turn 2 and the #7 got by, Connelly stayed right on his bumper for a couple of laps and re-passed the #7 again leading for a couple of laps and the #7 got back by for the lead. Connelly tried to pass back and got hung on the outside and ran a complete lap on the outside of the #7 at one point getting almost by but he had overheated his right rear tire being on the outside for that long and coming to the white flag he almost spun and fell from second to fourth, which is where he finished. Finishing order was #7, #66, #94, #32, #96 and #96A. It was a great race from a spectator's point of view. Connelly passed the #96A once for the lead, passed the #7 three times for the lead, unfortunately the #7 passed us once more than we passed him. If we had finished second it wouldn't have been too bad, but this was a double points race and by loosing those two positions with one lap to go cost us 12 points. The spectators definitely got their $10 worth tonight. I guess we just got Friday the 13th ed. We will just have to get em next time. Looking forward to 9-27 already, only that race and the big weekend of Oct 4th and 5th left in the 2013 racing season, so come on out and treat yourself to some exceptional racing.
THE COMPETITORS: Tonight we had on hand the usual cars, #7 Hunter Lewis, #44 Joseph McArdle #32 Connelly, #66 Andrew Johnston, #94 Brad West, #96 Robbie Johnson, and from Monroe La the #96A (I don't have his name).
QUALIFYING: In qualifying Connelly laid down a fast lap of 13.085, good enough for the pole, #66 was second with a 13.129, #7 was third at a 13.159, #44 fourth at a 13.280, #94 fifth at a 13.439, #96 at a 13.603, #96A at a 13.651. A good close field for tonight's race.
HEAT RACE: In the heat Connelly started on the pole as his qualifying called for followed by the rest of the field in the order noted above. Connelly led for the first six laps when the #66 spun in turn 4 bringing out a caution. Connelly didn't need that as he had a lead of about three car lengths over the #7 and was in a good rhythm. A couple of cars took the "choose" Connelly held on to the lead for a couple of laps then got a little high coming off of turn 2 allowing the #7 to get under him and he got by, in the process #44 got by also and we were now in third. Coming to the checker flag the #44 broke his right rear trailing arm and spun and crashed hard into the back straightaway wall doing significant damage. We wound up second behind the #7 followed by the #66, #94, #96A. The #96 experienced a mechanical problem before the start and did not start.
FEATURE RACE: Hunter Lewis threw the big dice for the invert and rolled a six, meaning that he would start 6th, we would start 5th, the #66 would start 4th, the #96A third, the #94 second, and the #44 on the pole. As a result of his crash in the heat race the #44 was unable to answer the call to post and the entire inside line just moved up one position. Giving us the third starting spot. Coming out of turn two on the first lap the #94 got real loose and almost spun, Connelly checked up and got nailed in the rear by the #7 pushing Connelly into the infield, the whole field got slowed down, and Connelly just drove through the infield to turn 4 where he got back on the track, no harm no foul. Since they did not complete a lap a complete re-start was ordered. By the end of the second lap Connelly had taken the lead and held on with the #7 never more than a couple of lengths back. At just about halfway the #96A spun bringing out the caution. A couple of cars took the "choose" and after the restart the #7 was glued to our rear bumper. Connelly got up out of the groove coming out of turn 2 and the #7 got by, Connelly stayed right on his bumper for a couple of laps and re-passed the #7 again leading for a couple of laps and the #7 got back by for the lead. Connelly tried to pass back and got hung on the outside and ran a complete lap on the outside of the #7 at one point getting almost by but he had overheated his right rear tire being on the outside for that long and coming to the white flag he almost spun and fell from second to fourth, which is where he finished. Finishing order was #7, #66, #94, #32, #96 and #96A. It was a great race from a spectator's point of view. Connelly passed the #96A once for the lead, passed the #7 three times for the lead, unfortunately the #7 passed us once more than we passed him. If we had finished second it wouldn't have been too bad, but this was a double points race and by loosing those two positions with one lap to go cost us 12 points. The spectators definitely got their $10 worth tonight. I guess we just got Friday the 13th ed. We will just have to get em next time. Looking forward to 9-27 already, only that race and the big weekend of Oct 4th and 5th left in the 2013 racing season, so come on out and treat yourself to some exceptional racing.
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
August 30, 2013
Since school has begun we have had to pick up Connelly at Brother Martin High School which isn't bad as it is on the way to the track. We left school at around 3:10 and arrived at Sunny South Raceway slightly after 5pm, got to our pit area, unloaded, got the car registered, went through tech and got ready to go on the track. We didn't have to break in tires as our newest set was just about ready, but we did put one heat cycle on the new tires just to let them know we still loved them, It was good not to have to thrash to do tires and get the car ready, it was a lot more low key.
The cars available tonight were: the #7 of Hunter Lewis, the #44 of Joseph McArdle, the #32 of Connelly Dubuisson, the #66 of Andrew Johnston, The #04 of Dawson Keener, the #96 of Robbie Johnson, the #94 of Brad West. Unfortunately the #96 burned up his wiring harness in his last practice session and couldn't get it fixed in time to compete tonight, leaving us only 6 cars to race.
QUALIFYING: Connelly overdrove the car in his three lap qualifying session, it is easy to do, but the fast way around is smooth, smooth, smooth. He wound up third behind the #7 at a 13.095, the #44 at a 13.124 the #32 at a 13.125, and the #66 was fourth at a 13.277.
HEAT RACE: Connelly started third behind the #7, the #44, with the #66 to Connelly's outside in fourth starting position. At the start Connelly was able to keep the #44 to the outside and make the pass for 2nd by the end of lap 2, the # 44 was able to pass us back by the end of lap 4, where they raced #7,1st, #44 2nd, #32 3rd #04 4th with the #66 5th followed by the #94 in 6th. Connelly mustered up a run for second and by the end of lap 7 had taken 2nd place, which is where he finished. The finishing order is the same as above with the exception of Connelly being 2nd, a good entertaining race.
FEATURE RACE: Hunter Lewis driver of the #7 was called upon to throw the big dice to determine the invert for the feature, he threw a 5 which put him starting 5th, Connelly 4th, the #44 third, the #04 second and the #66 on the pole. Fourth starting position is as tough as it gets, you are behind several cars, on the outside, you will probably have to fall back to last to get to the inside where you can race, but it is part of learning how to compete successfully. We took the start and fell back to 5th, but by the end of lap 2 was back to 4th, by the end of lap 7 was up to third, by the end of lap9 had gotten by the #44 and was in second place. Shortly after halfway a caution came out for the spin of the #04, This was probably good for us as it let our right rear tire cool down a bit, upon the restart the #66 took the "choose" which let him go up to outside front row. After two laps he was back to fourth, Connelly and the #7 raced nose to tail for several laps and going down the back straightaway with two laps to go got by the #7 for the lead, however coming out of turn four he got a little loose and wiggled slightly, but it was enough for the #7 to get back by us, we just didn't have enough laps left to mount another charge to the front, and we finished second, followed by the #44, #66, #94 and the #04. Not the finish Connelly hoped for, but we learned a lot about ourselves tonight. First of all we can start deep in the field in an outside starting position and get to the lead, we need to learn how to protect that lead and not overdrive turn 4 and be able to hold on for the win. We did have a good points night and we need to continue doing so. We are looking forward to the next race---Friday the 13--I am not superstitious, but I have my lucky socks ready.
The cars available tonight were: the #7 of Hunter Lewis, the #44 of Joseph McArdle, the #32 of Connelly Dubuisson, the #66 of Andrew Johnston, The #04 of Dawson Keener, the #96 of Robbie Johnson, the #94 of Brad West. Unfortunately the #96 burned up his wiring harness in his last practice session and couldn't get it fixed in time to compete tonight, leaving us only 6 cars to race.
QUALIFYING: Connelly overdrove the car in his three lap qualifying session, it is easy to do, but the fast way around is smooth, smooth, smooth. He wound up third behind the #7 at a 13.095, the #44 at a 13.124 the #32 at a 13.125, and the #66 was fourth at a 13.277.
HEAT RACE: Connelly started third behind the #7, the #44, with the #66 to Connelly's outside in fourth starting position. At the start Connelly was able to keep the #44 to the outside and make the pass for 2nd by the end of lap 2, the # 44 was able to pass us back by the end of lap 4, where they raced #7,1st, #44 2nd, #32 3rd #04 4th with the #66 5th followed by the #94 in 6th. Connelly mustered up a run for second and by the end of lap 7 had taken 2nd place, which is where he finished. The finishing order is the same as above with the exception of Connelly being 2nd, a good entertaining race.
FEATURE RACE: Hunter Lewis driver of the #7 was called upon to throw the big dice to determine the invert for the feature, he threw a 5 which put him starting 5th, Connelly 4th, the #44 third, the #04 second and the #66 on the pole. Fourth starting position is as tough as it gets, you are behind several cars, on the outside, you will probably have to fall back to last to get to the inside where you can race, but it is part of learning how to compete successfully. We took the start and fell back to 5th, but by the end of lap 2 was back to 4th, by the end of lap 7 was up to third, by the end of lap9 had gotten by the #44 and was in second place. Shortly after halfway a caution came out for the spin of the #04, This was probably good for us as it let our right rear tire cool down a bit, upon the restart the #66 took the "choose" which let him go up to outside front row. After two laps he was back to fourth, Connelly and the #7 raced nose to tail for several laps and going down the back straightaway with two laps to go got by the #7 for the lead, however coming out of turn four he got a little loose and wiggled slightly, but it was enough for the #7 to get back by us, we just didn't have enough laps left to mount another charge to the front, and we finished second, followed by the #44, #66, #94 and the #04. Not the finish Connelly hoped for, but we learned a lot about ourselves tonight. First of all we can start deep in the field in an outside starting position and get to the lead, we need to learn how to protect that lead and not overdrive turn 4 and be able to hold on for the win. We did have a good points night and we need to continue doing so. We are looking forward to the next race---Friday the 13--I am not superstitious, but I have my lucky socks ready.
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
August 16, 2013
We had to leave from Brother Martin High School at 3:06 as Connelly had begun school yesterday. We ran through a couple of pretty good rain showers en-route, but when we arrived at the track it was dry, I was hoping it would stay that way as there were rain showers in the area. We got to the track moments before the gates opened, got to our pit stall, unloaded the car, got it registered and went through tech. This time we checked ride height, we were legal, but too close for comfort so we raised the car up 1/8 of an inch. (Always better to check your "stuff" with the official gages because that is what you will be checked with after the race), we even checked the overall width with the tech man's width gage, and we were OK. So on to the track to test. The car handled OK but not quite there, Connelly made a slight adjustment and the car was "there".
There were 7 cars competing tonight, the #32 of Connelly Dubuisson, the #44 of Joseph McArdle, the #7 of Hunter Lewis, the #66 of Andrew Johnston, the #94 of Brad West, the #04 of Dawson Keener, and the #96 of Robbie Johnson. A very good and competitive field of cars.
QUALIFYING: The cars were sent out in groups of 4 for qualifying, we were in the second group-only three in the last group for their 3 lap qualifying run, Connelly overdrove the first 2 laps with times in the 13.2's, got his concentration back for his third lap and posted a 13.125 to win the pole for the second straight race. The qualifying order was #32, #7, #44, #66, #04, #96, and #94. the #32 had a 13.125, the #7 had a 13.136 and the #44 had a 13.145 the top 3 qualifiers were separated by only two one hundredths of a second. That was extremely close and should make for a really exciting race.
HEAT RACE: Connelly started on the pole with the #7 to his outside with the #44 in 3rd and #66 4th, the #04 and #96 made up the third row with the #94 in 7th position. Connelly got a good start came out of turns 1 & 2 clean and lead down the backstretch and went into turns 3 & 4 with the lead, in the apex of turns 3 & 4 the #44 and #7 got together slightly, neither car spun but they both got "out of shape" which caused the #66 to check up to avoid a big wreck, all three cars were OK but that gave Connelly the chance to get away and have some breathing room. There was some good racing throughout the field, as the #96 was able to get by the #66 for 4th, the #66 almost took it back at the finish line but the #96 held on by about 1/2 a car length with the #04 challenging both of them in the far inside lane. They were almost 3 abreast at the finish line. All in all a very entertaining and well contested race. The finishing order was #32, #7, #44, #96, #66, #04, #94. It should be noted that the drivers of the #32, #44, #96, and #04 are all 16 years old. They are handling these race cars in such a professional manner it is almost scary. The Legend cars are among the most difficult race cars to drive, they have a short wheelbase 73" have a HP to weight ratio of 9.25 pounds per HP. they have a narrow wheelbase 60" and run on street tires--no slick racing tires here, and no anti sway bar. I find it remarkable that they do as well as they do. Connelly has been racing Legends since he was 13 as was the #44 I find that almost unbelievable. The #44 won the track championship at 14 with Connelly finishing in 3rd place that year. Great for all of these young drivers. The track motto is "training tomorrow's champions today" so true. We have had some really bad luck lately--overdrawn at the racing luck bank-- as Darrel Waltrup says, but finally we got a break. Before our feature race was to begin it started raining and we lost the track at about 11:00 pm no time to dry it out so the race was declared by the officials as over and prize money and positions awarded by heat race finish. This was our third heat race win without a feature victory we have had 6 class, (semi pro) wins but no overall wins so far. This was our first overall victory of the season, we would liked to have won it on the track, but these things are so hard to win and we have worked so hard, we will take it and be thankful. The next race is Aug 30 we will be there with renewed vigor.
There were 7 cars competing tonight, the #32 of Connelly Dubuisson, the #44 of Joseph McArdle, the #7 of Hunter Lewis, the #66 of Andrew Johnston, the #94 of Brad West, the #04 of Dawson Keener, and the #96 of Robbie Johnson. A very good and competitive field of cars.
QUALIFYING: The cars were sent out in groups of 4 for qualifying, we were in the second group-only three in the last group for their 3 lap qualifying run, Connelly overdrove the first 2 laps with times in the 13.2's, got his concentration back for his third lap and posted a 13.125 to win the pole for the second straight race. The qualifying order was #32, #7, #44, #66, #04, #96, and #94. the #32 had a 13.125, the #7 had a 13.136 and the #44 had a 13.145 the top 3 qualifiers were separated by only two one hundredths of a second. That was extremely close and should make for a really exciting race.
HEAT RACE: Connelly started on the pole with the #7 to his outside with the #44 in 3rd and #66 4th, the #04 and #96 made up the third row with the #94 in 7th position. Connelly got a good start came out of turns 1 & 2 clean and lead down the backstretch and went into turns 3 & 4 with the lead, in the apex of turns 3 & 4 the #44 and #7 got together slightly, neither car spun but they both got "out of shape" which caused the #66 to check up to avoid a big wreck, all three cars were OK but that gave Connelly the chance to get away and have some breathing room. There was some good racing throughout the field, as the #96 was able to get by the #66 for 4th, the #66 almost took it back at the finish line but the #96 held on by about 1/2 a car length with the #04 challenging both of them in the far inside lane. They were almost 3 abreast at the finish line. All in all a very entertaining and well contested race. The finishing order was #32, #7, #44, #96, #66, #04, #94. It should be noted that the drivers of the #32, #44, #96, and #04 are all 16 years old. They are handling these race cars in such a professional manner it is almost scary. The Legend cars are among the most difficult race cars to drive, they have a short wheelbase 73" have a HP to weight ratio of 9.25 pounds per HP. they have a narrow wheelbase 60" and run on street tires--no slick racing tires here, and no anti sway bar. I find it remarkable that they do as well as they do. Connelly has been racing Legends since he was 13 as was the #44 I find that almost unbelievable. The #44 won the track championship at 14 with Connelly finishing in 3rd place that year. Great for all of these young drivers. The track motto is "training tomorrow's champions today" so true. We have had some really bad luck lately--overdrawn at the racing luck bank-- as Darrel Waltrup says, but finally we got a break. Before our feature race was to begin it started raining and we lost the track at about 11:00 pm no time to dry it out so the race was declared by the officials as over and prize money and positions awarded by heat race finish. This was our third heat race win without a feature victory we have had 6 class, (semi pro) wins but no overall wins so far. This was our first overall victory of the season, we would liked to have won it on the track, but these things are so hard to win and we have worked so hard, we will take it and be thankful. The next race is Aug 30 we will be there with renewed vigor.
Monday, August 19, 2013
August 2, 2013
After the race of July 19 and all of the mis-steps that the #32 took, we brought the car home and went through it with a fine tooth comb. We found that both the camber and the toe had been knocked out. We completely went through the brake system on all four corners and serviced the entire system, we found that we were quite low on brake fluid, so we took care of all of that and bled the system and deemed the brakes ready. We then scaled the car and got all of our setup numbers right and felt the car was as good as we could make it. We left early as we still had to make sure the setup was there and yes, we still had tires to break in--this would be our 3rd try to get that set of tires ready--but you know what they say, the third time is the charm.
We got to the track before the gates were open so we were the third car in, got to our pit stall unloaded the car, got it registered, went through tech and was in the "grid" when the track was opened for practice. Connelly went out got some heat in the tires we were going to race and then "busted" it for about 5 laps. The car was wicked fast, it rolled through the corners perfectly was neutral coming off and perfect going into the turns, so we came in and put on "them tires". It looked like we were finally going to get them broken in as we still had over an hour of practice time left. Well we finally got them done, refueled put our race tires back on and did a quick check over and went to the drivers meeting.
The cars on hand tonight were the #32 of Connelly Dubuisson, the #66 of Andrew Johnston, the #7 of Hunter Lewis, the #44 of Joseph McArdle, the #96 of Robbie Johnson, the #04 of Dawson Keener, the #29 of Blake Gaither, and the #94 of Brad West.
QUALIFYING: We had a good qualifying run posted a 13.09 to win the pole position, followed by #66, #7, #44, #96, #04, #29, and the #94 who did not post a time (arrived late).
HEAT RACE: By virtue of Connelly winning the pole position he got to start on the inside of the front row with the #7 to his outside with the rest of the field assuming their qualifying positions. Connelly got a really good start and lead from start to finish winning by about 5 car lengths, the #7 was second followed by #66, #44, #04, #96, #94, and the #29. Connelly threw the big dice to determine the invert and he threw a 1 meaning there would be no invert, all cars would start in the positions they finished the heat race. Very unusual!!!
FEATURE RACE: The track came up with a new wrinkle, they offered either car on the front row the opportunity to go to the rear of the pack for an extra hundred dollars in prize money. Well Hunter Lewis in the #7 took the bet and went to the rear so he was starting the race with $100 in his pocket. Connelly got a really good start and lead for the first half of the race, he was in a good rhythm was driving a good steady race, had a fair lead of about 3 car lengths when the #29 spun coming out of turn 4 at the halfway point. We got another good restart when on the next lap the #04 and #96 got together spinning the #04, another restart. Connelly got a fair restart but the #44 was closer to him than before the spins, Connelly then overdrove turn 1 and 2 slid up the track slightly but just enough for the #44 to get by and the #7 took advantage and got by too. Connelly drove really hard and got back by the #7 and got close to the #44 but just couldn't pull off the win so he had to settle for second. He was really disappointed but the worst was yet to come, in tech it was determined that we were 1/32 of and inch below the minimum ride height on the left front and we were disqualified. Connelly drove the car around the parking lot and got measured again and the car passed, but the disqualification stood. It was generally felt that we damaged the internal valve in that shock when we "wheel hopped" the #7 the race prior. We seldom check ride heights as we set them with a good margin for error and they have never been an issue in over a year--you can bet the farm we will check them from now on. The biggest effect was that we went from leading the points for track championship in the Semi-Pro division by 68 points to being behind by 12. As car owner and crew chief it is my responsibility to make sure the car is legal, I have a rule book and know what they are so I take full responsibility. Oh well live and learn, now we will just have to get the lead back. We are already looking forward to the next race on Aug 16, did I say August??? man the season is almost over. Only 5 races left if they can get in the rainout date of July 5.
We got to the track before the gates were open so we were the third car in, got to our pit stall unloaded the car, got it registered, went through tech and was in the "grid" when the track was opened for practice. Connelly went out got some heat in the tires we were going to race and then "busted" it for about 5 laps. The car was wicked fast, it rolled through the corners perfectly was neutral coming off and perfect going into the turns, so we came in and put on "them tires". It looked like we were finally going to get them broken in as we still had over an hour of practice time left. Well we finally got them done, refueled put our race tires back on and did a quick check over and went to the drivers meeting.
The cars on hand tonight were the #32 of Connelly Dubuisson, the #66 of Andrew Johnston, the #7 of Hunter Lewis, the #44 of Joseph McArdle, the #96 of Robbie Johnson, the #04 of Dawson Keener, the #29 of Blake Gaither, and the #94 of Brad West.
QUALIFYING: We had a good qualifying run posted a 13.09 to win the pole position, followed by #66, #7, #44, #96, #04, #29, and the #94 who did not post a time (arrived late).
HEAT RACE: By virtue of Connelly winning the pole position he got to start on the inside of the front row with the #7 to his outside with the rest of the field assuming their qualifying positions. Connelly got a really good start and lead from start to finish winning by about 5 car lengths, the #7 was second followed by #66, #44, #04, #96, #94, and the #29. Connelly threw the big dice to determine the invert and he threw a 1 meaning there would be no invert, all cars would start in the positions they finished the heat race. Very unusual!!!
FEATURE RACE: The track came up with a new wrinkle, they offered either car on the front row the opportunity to go to the rear of the pack for an extra hundred dollars in prize money. Well Hunter Lewis in the #7 took the bet and went to the rear so he was starting the race with $100 in his pocket. Connelly got a really good start and lead for the first half of the race, he was in a good rhythm was driving a good steady race, had a fair lead of about 3 car lengths when the #29 spun coming out of turn 4 at the halfway point. We got another good restart when on the next lap the #04 and #96 got together spinning the #04, another restart. Connelly got a fair restart but the #44 was closer to him than before the spins, Connelly then overdrove turn 1 and 2 slid up the track slightly but just enough for the #44 to get by and the #7 took advantage and got by too. Connelly drove really hard and got back by the #7 and got close to the #44 but just couldn't pull off the win so he had to settle for second. He was really disappointed but the worst was yet to come, in tech it was determined that we were 1/32 of and inch below the minimum ride height on the left front and we were disqualified. Connelly drove the car around the parking lot and got measured again and the car passed, but the disqualification stood. It was generally felt that we damaged the internal valve in that shock when we "wheel hopped" the #7 the race prior. We seldom check ride heights as we set them with a good margin for error and they have never been an issue in over a year--you can bet the farm we will check them from now on. The biggest effect was that we went from leading the points for track championship in the Semi-Pro division by 68 points to being behind by 12. As car owner and crew chief it is my responsibility to make sure the car is legal, I have a rule book and know what they are so I take full responsibility. Oh well live and learn, now we will just have to get the lead back. We are already looking forward to the next race on Aug 16, did I say August??? man the season is almost over. Only 5 races left if they can get in the rainout date of July 5.
Sunday, August 18, 2013
July 19,2013
Friday July 19 found us at the track a little early as we had some tires that needed breaking in, it seems like we are always breaking in tires, but with only an hour and 15 minutes of practice you just don't have enough time to test your race setup and break in tires, about the best you can hope for is to get a couple of test runs on your setup and maybe one or two tire heat cycles in the tires before practice is over so it takes at least two race days to break in tires if you are lucky. We got registered, went through tech and were in the grid waiting for the track to be opened for practice when it starts raining. We lost over an hour and a half drying the track and only got one practice session in for our race setup, we were able to run the new tires for several laps while drying the track but I do not know how much heat we got into the tires on a cold half wet track. We got the track dry and began qualifying.
There were six cars on hand for tonight's event: the #7 of Hunter Lewis, the #44 of Joseph McArdle, the #66 of Andrew Johnson, the #32 of Connelly Dubuisson, the #04 of Dawson Keener, the #96 of Robbie Johnston.
QUALIFYING: The track had a lot of grip in it and the pole was won by the #7 with a blistering 12.998, Connelly was second with a 13.090, third was the #66, fourth was #44, fifth the #04, and sixth the #96.
HEAT RACE: The heat race went off without a hitch with the cars finishing pretty much in the same order that they qualified. Hunter (#7) threw a 5 with the big dice which inverted the top 5 for the feature.
FEATURE RACE: With the 5 car invert the #04 was on the pole, the #44 outside front row, #66 inside second row, Connelly #32 outside second row, #7 inside 3rd row, with #96 outside row three. It was only three days away from the full moon, but the effect was there. On lap 3 while passing the #66 Connelly and he got together, spinning the #66, Connelly managed to save his car and was able to hold position on restart while the #66 had to go to the rear as his spin brought out the caution. On lap 5 the #7 and #44 got together right in front of Connelly and Connelly had no place to go and "wheel hopped" the #7 knocking out our "toe" and changing the left side camber. This affected the handling of the car and we were just not as good after that. A few laps later the #44 spun right in front of Connelly, who narrowly missed him. Now we are in third behind the #04 and #7. The #7 got by the #04 and Connelly was in the process of making the pass for second going into turn 3 his right front brake locked up and he almost hit the wall--back to last place. On the last lap the #66 dove under the #04 and they collided and stuck together coming to a stop 100 feet before the finish line, Connelly drove under them for a 4th place finish. With us going to the rear on 3 occasions and cars taking the "choose" Connelly made 10 passes--there were only six cars in the race--he passed the #66 4 times. What a crazy race, but with all that went on we were very lucky to come away with a 4th place finish. We will go home and go through the suspension with a fine tooth comb and get our handling back and try to win one of these things. Looking forward to the next race.
There were six cars on hand for tonight's event: the #7 of Hunter Lewis, the #44 of Joseph McArdle, the #66 of Andrew Johnson, the #32 of Connelly Dubuisson, the #04 of Dawson Keener, the #96 of Robbie Johnston.
QUALIFYING: The track had a lot of grip in it and the pole was won by the #7 with a blistering 12.998, Connelly was second with a 13.090, third was the #66, fourth was #44, fifth the #04, and sixth the #96.
HEAT RACE: The heat race went off without a hitch with the cars finishing pretty much in the same order that they qualified. Hunter (#7) threw a 5 with the big dice which inverted the top 5 for the feature.
FEATURE RACE: With the 5 car invert the #04 was on the pole, the #44 outside front row, #66 inside second row, Connelly #32 outside second row, #7 inside 3rd row, with #96 outside row three. It was only three days away from the full moon, but the effect was there. On lap 3 while passing the #66 Connelly and he got together, spinning the #66, Connelly managed to save his car and was able to hold position on restart while the #66 had to go to the rear as his spin brought out the caution. On lap 5 the #7 and #44 got together right in front of Connelly and Connelly had no place to go and "wheel hopped" the #7 knocking out our "toe" and changing the left side camber. This affected the handling of the car and we were just not as good after that. A few laps later the #44 spun right in front of Connelly, who narrowly missed him. Now we are in third behind the #04 and #7. The #7 got by the #04 and Connelly was in the process of making the pass for second going into turn 3 his right front brake locked up and he almost hit the wall--back to last place. On the last lap the #66 dove under the #04 and they collided and stuck together coming to a stop 100 feet before the finish line, Connelly drove under them for a 4th place finish. With us going to the rear on 3 occasions and cars taking the "choose" Connelly made 10 passes--there were only six cars in the race--he passed the #66 4 times. What a crazy race, but with all that went on we were very lucky to come away with a 4th place finish. We will go home and go through the suspension with a fine tooth comb and get our handling back and try to win one of these things. Looking forward to the next race.
July 5, 2013
As suspected the race scheduled for July 5, was rained out, it will be rescheduled for sometime in September. First rainout of the season.
Thursday, July 4, 2013
Friday Night June 28, 2013
Friday night found the #32 team at the pit gate just a few moments after opening, we had to be on time as we had a set of tires to break in. The Federal tires that the Legends are required to run are street tires and there is a releasing agent sprayed into the mold at the manufacturing process. It becomes part of the outer layer of the tread of the tire and the tire doesn't have its true grip until it is worn off. Even though we "cut" the tires you need to get this releasing agent worn off the tires before they perform. It usually takes 3 or 4 heat cycles to get a new tire right, so we had to put at least 2 heat cycles (10 laps) each, with complete cooling between each, and two more cycles before the next race before they would be ready to race on. We got two heat cycles on the new tires, then practiced the set we were going to race on, and they were good. Connelly turned a lap in that final practice of 13.09-- not too shabby. We couldn't improve much on that so we got ready for qualifying.
There were 10 cars on hand for tonight's event they were #44 Joseph McArdle, #7 Hunter Lewis, #32 Connelly Dubuisson, #66 Andrew Johnston, #96 Robbie Johnson, #2 Billy Elmore, Jr., #33 Dalton Chipley, #04 Dawson Keener, #94 Brad West, and the #99
Qualifying: In qualifying we only got 3 laps (used to be 6) and it seems like Connelly overdrove the car in qualifying giving him the 4th spot at a 13.21 after turning a 13.09 in practice. Qualifying results are: #7, #44, #66, #32, #04, #96, #2, #33, with the #94 and #99 not posting times. So the starting order was set. Connelly would start from the outside front row in the second heat race.
Heat Race: In our heat race we started outside of Joseph McArdle #44 on the front row with the #96 in third, #33 in fourth and the #99 in fifth. A really good race ensued with Connelly right on Joseph's back bumper for the first 4 or so laps. Connelly finally got past Joseph for the lead but before completing one lap at that position a caution came out and Connelly by rule had to give the spot back. They both raced very hard for the remaining laps but Connelly just couldn't get back by Joseph. They were never more than a car length apart for the remainder of the heat. Final finishing order was #44, #32, #99, #96, #33. The car felt right so we left it alone, put fuel in it, and let the engine cool under the fans.
Feature Race: Hunter threw the big dice and rolled a 3 meaning we would retain our 4th starting position outside second row, with the three car invert #66 would start on pole, with #44 outside front row, #7 in third and #32 outside of him in fourth, followed by #04, #99, #94, #96, and the #33.
Connelly got a good start and got by Joseph in the #44 who got hung on the outside, and settled down in 3rd., ran that way for the first half of the race behind the #7 and right on the #66's tail. Joseph got into a duel with the #99 for several laps which slowed him down. Connelly just couldn't get by the #66, if he had, he could have put some distance between him and the #66 and given him a cushion for when Joseph got past the #66. With Connelly fighting the #66 Joseph closed up on the #32 and got past us. Connelly promptly returned the favor and passed him back, Joseph put a masterful "slide job" on us and re-took third. Joseph set up the #66 nicely and passed him, Connelly tried to follow him through and it seemed like the #66 "came down" on him in the apex of turn 3 almost forcing us into the infield allowing the #66 to keep 3rd place and also allowing the #99 to get by for fourth relegating us to 5th, all this taking place while coming to the white flag (one lap to go). Connelly did not have his best race, he needs to be able to make a pass when it is there and not wait on the prefect situation. All in all not too bad of a night, even though it was a double points night and we lost some points, we were able to roll the car on the trailer and live to race another day without having to repair major damage.
We are looking forward to next Friday the 5th of July however a major rain event is forecast, hope for the best we will be there if they race.
There were 10 cars on hand for tonight's event they were #44 Joseph McArdle, #7 Hunter Lewis, #32 Connelly Dubuisson, #66 Andrew Johnston, #96 Robbie Johnson, #2 Billy Elmore, Jr., #33 Dalton Chipley, #04 Dawson Keener, #94 Brad West, and the #99
Qualifying: In qualifying we only got 3 laps (used to be 6) and it seems like Connelly overdrove the car in qualifying giving him the 4th spot at a 13.21 after turning a 13.09 in practice. Qualifying results are: #7, #44, #66, #32, #04, #96, #2, #33, with the #94 and #99 not posting times. So the starting order was set. Connelly would start from the outside front row in the second heat race.
Heat Race: In our heat race we started outside of Joseph McArdle #44 on the front row with the #96 in third, #33 in fourth and the #99 in fifth. A really good race ensued with Connelly right on Joseph's back bumper for the first 4 or so laps. Connelly finally got past Joseph for the lead but before completing one lap at that position a caution came out and Connelly by rule had to give the spot back. They both raced very hard for the remaining laps but Connelly just couldn't get back by Joseph. They were never more than a car length apart for the remainder of the heat. Final finishing order was #44, #32, #99, #96, #33. The car felt right so we left it alone, put fuel in it, and let the engine cool under the fans.
Feature Race: Hunter threw the big dice and rolled a 3 meaning we would retain our 4th starting position outside second row, with the three car invert #66 would start on pole, with #44 outside front row, #7 in third and #32 outside of him in fourth, followed by #04, #99, #94, #96, and the #33.
Connelly got a good start and got by Joseph in the #44 who got hung on the outside, and settled down in 3rd., ran that way for the first half of the race behind the #7 and right on the #66's tail. Joseph got into a duel with the #99 for several laps which slowed him down. Connelly just couldn't get by the #66, if he had, he could have put some distance between him and the #66 and given him a cushion for when Joseph got past the #66. With Connelly fighting the #66 Joseph closed up on the #32 and got past us. Connelly promptly returned the favor and passed him back, Joseph put a masterful "slide job" on us and re-took third. Joseph set up the #66 nicely and passed him, Connelly tried to follow him through and it seemed like the #66 "came down" on him in the apex of turn 3 almost forcing us into the infield allowing the #66 to keep 3rd place and also allowing the #99 to get by for fourth relegating us to 5th, all this taking place while coming to the white flag (one lap to go). Connelly did not have his best race, he needs to be able to make a pass when it is there and not wait on the prefect situation. All in all not too bad of a night, even though it was a double points night and we lost some points, we were able to roll the car on the trailer and live to race another day without having to repair major damage.
We are looking forward to next Friday the 5th of July however a major rain event is forecast, hope for the best we will be there if they race.
Sunday, June 16, 2013
Friday Night 6-14-13
Friday night started early, as we rented the track for 2 hours prior to the race to try to sort out the #32. We lost the handling on the car in the past 3 races and just didn't have time in the practice sessions allotted prior to the race to sort it out. The track gates open at 5:30 pm and practice starts at 6:00 and is over at 7:15 all classes must practice, so you don't have much time to work out a problem. We were at the track for 3:00 and running test laps by 3:20. We had a list of several things we wanted to try (only got through half). The track was scalding hot when we first got on it 138.9 degrees. We shouldn't have even attempted to sort the car out with the track being that hot, but you can't wait until October--the season will be over. Our first set of 5 laps gave us a "fast"? time of 13.380, we came in adjusted, 13.400 wrong way, adjusted again--13.320, more adjustments-13.290, better but no cigar, adjusted again 13.220. In two hours of work we managed to shave off .160 of a second---huge still not where we need to be but closer. With that run our time had run out. A special thanks to Mr. Wayne (the track owner) who provided us a with transponder and personally read out all of our lap times over the PA system, so we had good feedback. At that point normal track practice started, and the track had cooled down to 106 degrees Connelly managed some times in the high teens--more like it. We qualified 6th not what we wanted, made another adjustment for the heat race, fueled the car and got to the grid for our heat.
Cars that were available to compete tonight were the #32 of Connelly Dubuisson, #44 Joseph McArdle, #53 of Jeremy Lundy, the #7 of Hunter Lewis, the #2 of Billy Elmore, the #2r of Skyler Fleming, the #66 of Andrew Johnson, the #96 of Robby Johnston, the #04 of Dawson Keener, the #33 of Dalton Chipley, a very fast field of cars.
Heat Race: We started 3rd in heat race number two, passed the #44, he took it back, passed the #53 and held onto it for a second place finish behind the #44, followed by the #53 the #04 and #33. Our times had much, improved also the track had cooled to 101 degrees.
Feature Race: The second place finish in our heat had given us the starting position of 4th in the feature, before the invert. Hunter Lewis #7 threw the big dice and threw a 3--inverting 3 cars, which left us still starting in 4th--outside second row. Connelly got a good start and by the end of lap one was in second place. Coming out of turn 4 to complete lap two the #2r pushed up got into our left side, he spun, Connelly was able to save it and restarted in 4th place, while the #2r had to go to the rear as he brought out the caution with his spin. We took the choose and had an opportunity to get in front of the #44 but waited a hundredth of a second too long and Joseph closed the door relegating us to 3rd. after some good close racing the #04 got into the back of the #66 and locked up his brakes causing him to spin. Through all of this Connelly was in third place behind the #7 and #44. Another choose with three cars going up on the outside, but they couldn't hold position on the outside and fell back. It was a close and very competitive race with all cars finishing on the lead lap. Top 5 finishers were #7, #44, #32, #53, #66. It was a very productive race for us as we shaved a quarter of a second off of our lap times--which is huge--got a third place finish, a check for $100 (which almost covers the gas for the truck) and a nice trophy. We have some minor damage to repair from the #53 getting into our rear bumper hard, but nothing that can't be fixed. Looking forward to the next race. Come on out and treat yourself to some very good racing.
Cars that were available to compete tonight were the #32 of Connelly Dubuisson, #44 Joseph McArdle, #53 of Jeremy Lundy, the #7 of Hunter Lewis, the #2 of Billy Elmore, the #2r of Skyler Fleming, the #66 of Andrew Johnson, the #96 of Robby Johnston, the #04 of Dawson Keener, the #33 of Dalton Chipley, a very fast field of cars.
Heat Race: We started 3rd in heat race number two, passed the #44, he took it back, passed the #53 and held onto it for a second place finish behind the #44, followed by the #53 the #04 and #33. Our times had much, improved also the track had cooled to 101 degrees.
Feature Race: The second place finish in our heat had given us the starting position of 4th in the feature, before the invert. Hunter Lewis #7 threw the big dice and threw a 3--inverting 3 cars, which left us still starting in 4th--outside second row. Connelly got a good start and by the end of lap one was in second place. Coming out of turn 4 to complete lap two the #2r pushed up got into our left side, he spun, Connelly was able to save it and restarted in 4th place, while the #2r had to go to the rear as he brought out the caution with his spin. We took the choose and had an opportunity to get in front of the #44 but waited a hundredth of a second too long and Joseph closed the door relegating us to 3rd. after some good close racing the #04 got into the back of the #66 and locked up his brakes causing him to spin. Through all of this Connelly was in third place behind the #7 and #44. Another choose with three cars going up on the outside, but they couldn't hold position on the outside and fell back. It was a close and very competitive race with all cars finishing on the lead lap. Top 5 finishers were #7, #44, #32, #53, #66. It was a very productive race for us as we shaved a quarter of a second off of our lap times--which is huge--got a third place finish, a check for $100 (which almost covers the gas for the truck) and a nice trophy. We have some minor damage to repair from the #53 getting into our rear bumper hard, but nothing that can't be fixed. Looking forward to the next race. Come on out and treat yourself to some very good racing.
Saturday, June 8, 2013
Memorial Day Classic--Race to Glory
For the past several years Sunny South Raceway has been hosting the Memorial Weekend Classic. It features the normal Friday night race program on Friday and a regional qualifier for the Bandoleros and Legends on Saturday night. This year the Tri-State competition (Alabama, Georgia, and Florida) was added for the Pro Challenge division, it was run on Saturday night as well. This event always provides good competition for the racers, and two races in one weekend. It also provides great spectator appeal as there are usually some out of town cars to challenge the local drivers.
FRIDAY NIGHT MAY 24 2013
The #32 team got to the track late, left home about 30 min. late which put us smack in the middle of the early leavers for the holiday weekend traffic, which cost us another 45 min. We arrived at the track got unloaded, got registered, went through "tech" and only got one practice session. The car was tight and we didn't have time to play with it. We were 2 tenths of a second off of our best time, and qualifying was coming up, oh well -- run whatcha brung!!!
Twelve Legends presented for competition tonight; the #83 of Joey Padgett, the # 54 of Clayton Green, both the #83 and #54 are very fast out of town cars, the #7 of Hunter Lewis, the #32 of Connelly Dubuisson, the #53 of Jeremy Lundy, the #2r of Skyler Fleming, the #44 of Joseph McArdle, the # 66 of Andrew Johnson, the # 99 , the #2 of Billy Elmore, Jr., the # 96 of Robbie Johnston, the # 94 of Bred West.
Qualifying: Connelly qualified fourth behind the #83,#7,#54, with the #53 behind Connelly in 5th.
Heat: That put us outside front row in heat #2 and with a tight racecar we just couldn't hold it down in the center of the corner and we wound up 4th in our heat which put us starting 8th out of 12 cars in the feature.
Feature: Starting that deep in the field with an ill handling racecar I told Connelly to just be careful, not to risk the car as the regionals were the next night, and try to pick up as many places as he could. He was able to pick up a couple of spots and wound up 6th in a fairly uneventful race. The top five were; The #7, the #83, the #44, the #2r with Connelly in 6th. Connelly had a shot at getting by the 2r in the closing laps, but did not force the issue and settled for 6th. The extra 3 points he would have gained were not worth the risk, besides we are not racing the 2r for points anyway. Now we need get ready for tomorrow.
SATURDAY NIGHT MAY 25, 2013
We stayed in Mobile Friday night, saved us a bunch of driving and gas expense as the motel was half the cost of gas for the round trip thanks to Joe McArdle negotiating a group rate at the LaQuinta inn. Plus it gave Connelly an hour and a half of study time--his Spanish exam was Monday and he needed to pass (got an 88 which passed him for the year--hooray). Back to racing, we got to the track early as we pushed checkout time to 1pm., got to the track around 2, which gave us time to nut and bolt the car and we were ready when the track opened for practice, the track temp was 134degrees when we first went out to practice. We adjusted on the car and adjusted on the car even changed a spring, got it a little better, but it still wasn't perfect and with the field of cars we had you better be perfect or close to it if you want to run with them. Cars that presented today were the # 83 of Joey Padgett, the # 54 of Clayton Green, the # 7 of Hunter Lewis, the # 44 of Joseph McArdle, the # 32 of Connelly Dubuisson, the # 66 of Andrew Johnson, the # 94 of Brad West, the # 96 of Robbie Johnston, the
# 33 of Dalton Chipley, the # 2 of Billy Elmore, Jr. that tonight was driven by Tucker Yance.
Since tonight's program is the regional qualifier, it will be run a little differently. There will be qualifying, no heat races will be necessary as there are not more cars than the feature can fit on the track so all qualifiers will transfer to the feature. The regional qualifier guarantees the winner in each class a starting spot in the National Championship race, so if you are planning to go to the nationals it is great to have a guaranteed starting spot when you leave home.
Qualifying: Qualifying order was # 83, # 54, # 7, # 44, #32, #66, # 94, # 96, # 33, # 2
Regional Qualifier Feature: This race is a 35 lap race, compared to Friday night's and the normal Friday night program of 20 laps. So tire management was going to be crucial, if you severely overheat your right rear tire you are done, so you have to run fast enough to be close yet not abuse your right rear tire. After one false start (Joey Padgett took off on the "one to go" flag instead of the green and the field had to be reset). There was some very close racing in the early stages, wasn't much attention being paid to tire management. Joey Padgett lead from the start and really wasn't challenged, the #7, #54 and #44 swapped second/third/fourth a couple of times. Connelly settled in to 5th place and maintained. The # 44 of Joseph McArdle's tires finally "came in" late in the race and he passed the #54 for second, the #7 fell to 4th -- he had apparently got the right rear tire so hot he looked like he had a flat he was so loose. Connelly closed up to within about 3 car lengths--thought we might be able to get by, but with 3 laps to go a caution came out for the spin of # 94 allowing every body's tires to cool off a little and we just couldn't get by. The # 44 laid down some really fast lap times in the closing stages of the race but just couldn't get by Padgett, finally settling for second. The top 5 were #83 Joey Padgett, #44 Joseph McArdle, #54 Clayton Green, #7 Hunter Lewis, and #32 Connelly Dubuisson. Although Connelly finished in fifth position, he was the first car in the Semi Pro division to finish, and if they score his finish the way they have in previous years, he will be the Semi Pro Regional Champion. We will have to wait and see. All in all it was not too bad of a weekend for us, we gained some points, had a fair run against some very strong competition and learned a lot about what changes don't work when dealing with a tight racecar on a hot track. We will go over the car with a fine tooth comb get back to our base setup and stage a comeback
FRIDAY NIGHT MAY 24 2013
The #32 team got to the track late, left home about 30 min. late which put us smack in the middle of the early leavers for the holiday weekend traffic, which cost us another 45 min. We arrived at the track got unloaded, got registered, went through "tech" and only got one practice session. The car was tight and we didn't have time to play with it. We were 2 tenths of a second off of our best time, and qualifying was coming up, oh well -- run whatcha brung!!!
Twelve Legends presented for competition tonight; the #83 of Joey Padgett, the # 54 of Clayton Green, both the #83 and #54 are very fast out of town cars, the #7 of Hunter Lewis, the #32 of Connelly Dubuisson, the #53 of Jeremy Lundy, the #2r of Skyler Fleming, the #44 of Joseph McArdle, the # 66 of Andrew Johnson, the # 99 , the #2 of Billy Elmore, Jr., the # 96 of Robbie Johnston, the # 94 of Bred West.
Qualifying: Connelly qualified fourth behind the #83,#7,#54, with the #53 behind Connelly in 5th.
Heat: That put us outside front row in heat #2 and with a tight racecar we just couldn't hold it down in the center of the corner and we wound up 4th in our heat which put us starting 8th out of 12 cars in the feature.
Feature: Starting that deep in the field with an ill handling racecar I told Connelly to just be careful, not to risk the car as the regionals were the next night, and try to pick up as many places as he could. He was able to pick up a couple of spots and wound up 6th in a fairly uneventful race. The top five were; The #7, the #83, the #44, the #2r with Connelly in 6th. Connelly had a shot at getting by the 2r in the closing laps, but did not force the issue and settled for 6th. The extra 3 points he would have gained were not worth the risk, besides we are not racing the 2r for points anyway. Now we need get ready for tomorrow.
SATURDAY NIGHT MAY 25, 2013
We stayed in Mobile Friday night, saved us a bunch of driving and gas expense as the motel was half the cost of gas for the round trip thanks to Joe McArdle negotiating a group rate at the LaQuinta inn. Plus it gave Connelly an hour and a half of study time--his Spanish exam was Monday and he needed to pass (got an 88 which passed him for the year--hooray). Back to racing, we got to the track early as we pushed checkout time to 1pm., got to the track around 2, which gave us time to nut and bolt the car and we were ready when the track opened for practice, the track temp was 134degrees when we first went out to practice. We adjusted on the car and adjusted on the car even changed a spring, got it a little better, but it still wasn't perfect and with the field of cars we had you better be perfect or close to it if you want to run with them. Cars that presented today were the # 83 of Joey Padgett, the # 54 of Clayton Green, the # 7 of Hunter Lewis, the # 44 of Joseph McArdle, the # 32 of Connelly Dubuisson, the # 66 of Andrew Johnson, the # 94 of Brad West, the # 96 of Robbie Johnston, the
# 33 of Dalton Chipley, the # 2 of Billy Elmore, Jr. that tonight was driven by Tucker Yance.
Since tonight's program is the regional qualifier, it will be run a little differently. There will be qualifying, no heat races will be necessary as there are not more cars than the feature can fit on the track so all qualifiers will transfer to the feature. The regional qualifier guarantees the winner in each class a starting spot in the National Championship race, so if you are planning to go to the nationals it is great to have a guaranteed starting spot when you leave home.
Qualifying: Qualifying order was # 83, # 54, # 7, # 44, #32, #66, # 94, # 96, # 33, # 2
Regional Qualifier Feature: This race is a 35 lap race, compared to Friday night's and the normal Friday night program of 20 laps. So tire management was going to be crucial, if you severely overheat your right rear tire you are done, so you have to run fast enough to be close yet not abuse your right rear tire. After one false start (Joey Padgett took off on the "one to go" flag instead of the green and the field had to be reset). There was some very close racing in the early stages, wasn't much attention being paid to tire management. Joey Padgett lead from the start and really wasn't challenged, the #7, #54 and #44 swapped second/third/fourth a couple of times. Connelly settled in to 5th place and maintained. The # 44 of Joseph McArdle's tires finally "came in" late in the race and he passed the #54 for second, the #7 fell to 4th -- he had apparently got the right rear tire so hot he looked like he had a flat he was so loose. Connelly closed up to within about 3 car lengths--thought we might be able to get by, but with 3 laps to go a caution came out for the spin of # 94 allowing every body's tires to cool off a little and we just couldn't get by. The # 44 laid down some really fast lap times in the closing stages of the race but just couldn't get by Padgett, finally settling for second. The top 5 were #83 Joey Padgett, #44 Joseph McArdle, #54 Clayton Green, #7 Hunter Lewis, and #32 Connelly Dubuisson. Although Connelly finished in fifth position, he was the first car in the Semi Pro division to finish, and if they score his finish the way they have in previous years, he will be the Semi Pro Regional Champion. We will have to wait and see. All in all it was not too bad of a weekend for us, we gained some points, had a fair run against some very strong competition and learned a lot about what changes don't work when dealing with a tight racecar on a hot track. We will go over the car with a fine tooth comb get back to our base setup and stage a comeback
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Friday Night 5-3-2013
Friday night found the #32 crew at SSR at the appointed time got the car unloaded, pit set up, car registered, car through tech and got on the track. We were going to run the new tires that we passed on last race, they were about one tenth slower, but we felt they would come to us by the end of the
feature. We were going to use our "fast tires" for qualifying so we tightened the car up just a little as they have a tendency to be loose. Connelly went out to qualify and on lap one he experienced a really bad vibration then his clutch went out, he pulled in. The vibration had opened up the clutch bleed valve and all the clutch fluid leaked out. We refilled the clutch reservoir and bled the line got the clutch working, but where did that severe vibration come from? Connelly drove the car around the pits and no vibration, but he was going slow (speed limit in the pits). Went out for our heat race starting last,one lap vibration still there. Came in and started checking everything, found out that the nut that holds the coupler that connects the engine to the driveshaft had loosened up a quarter of a turn. It was enough to cause the severe vibration. We got it fixed just as they were calling the cars to the track for fan appreciation night. We were the last car out on the track and going down the back stretch Connelly nailed it and no vibration. We had it fixed. We got back to the pits in just enough time to give the car a quick once over put some fuel in it and get to the grid for the feature which we would start from the 15th position. It felt that we had been thrashing on the car for a week, and we still had the car set up a little tight for the qualifying tires, and we were running the newer tighter tires, but at least we were running.
Feature Race:
There were 15 competitors registered and it would be a chore to get to the front with that many cars unless we have a caution to help. The racers that were registered were Connelly in his #32, Andrew Johnson in the #66, Robbie Johnston in the #96, Dawson Keener in his #04, Dalton Chipley in the #33, another #33 of Dustin Smith, the #7 of Hunter Lewis, the #44 of Joseph McArdle, the #2r of Skyler Fleming, the #2 with Billy Elmore, Jr. driving, the #53 of Jeremy Lundy, the #94 of Brad West, the #59 of Terry Myers, the #91 of Jake Moore. I hope I haven't forgotten any one. At the start we picked up a spot here and there after 3 laps we had gained 3 positions, but the car just didn't seem to have the pop that it had last race, that is when I remembered that we hadn't loosened it up again after all the vibration/clutch issues. We would up going from 15th to 7th or 8th at the finish, I lost track, we did not get a caution which would have allowed us to close up or take the choose and significantly improve our position. Second race in a row that we really needed a caution but couldn't get one, the good news is that we weren't the cause of a caution. We will just have to use this race as our "drop" race. All in all a good save from what could have been disaster. Next race is the Friday/Saturday memorial weekend classic with Saturday being the regional qualifier, a 35 lap event. Hope we have gotten all of our gremlins out of the way. We'll be there next weekend.
feature. We were going to use our "fast tires" for qualifying so we tightened the car up just a little as they have a tendency to be loose. Connelly went out to qualify and on lap one he experienced a really bad vibration then his clutch went out, he pulled in. The vibration had opened up the clutch bleed valve and all the clutch fluid leaked out. We refilled the clutch reservoir and bled the line got the clutch working, but where did that severe vibration come from? Connelly drove the car around the pits and no vibration, but he was going slow (speed limit in the pits). Went out for our heat race starting last,one lap vibration still there. Came in and started checking everything, found out that the nut that holds the coupler that connects the engine to the driveshaft had loosened up a quarter of a turn. It was enough to cause the severe vibration. We got it fixed just as they were calling the cars to the track for fan appreciation night. We were the last car out on the track and going down the back stretch Connelly nailed it and no vibration. We had it fixed. We got back to the pits in just enough time to give the car a quick once over put some fuel in it and get to the grid for the feature which we would start from the 15th position. It felt that we had been thrashing on the car for a week, and we still had the car set up a little tight for the qualifying tires, and we were running the newer tighter tires, but at least we were running.
Feature Race:
There were 15 competitors registered and it would be a chore to get to the front with that many cars unless we have a caution to help. The racers that were registered were Connelly in his #32, Andrew Johnson in the #66, Robbie Johnston in the #96, Dawson Keener in his #04, Dalton Chipley in the #33, another #33 of Dustin Smith, the #7 of Hunter Lewis, the #44 of Joseph McArdle, the #2r of Skyler Fleming, the #2 with Billy Elmore, Jr. driving, the #53 of Jeremy Lundy, the #94 of Brad West, the #59 of Terry Myers, the #91 of Jake Moore. I hope I haven't forgotten any one. At the start we picked up a spot here and there after 3 laps we had gained 3 positions, but the car just didn't seem to have the pop that it had last race, that is when I remembered that we hadn't loosened it up again after all the vibration/clutch issues. We would up going from 15th to 7th or 8th at the finish, I lost track, we did not get a caution which would have allowed us to close up or take the choose and significantly improve our position. Second race in a row that we really needed a caution but couldn't get one, the good news is that we weren't the cause of a caution. We will just have to use this race as our "drop" race. All in all a good save from what could have been disaster. Next race is the Friday/Saturday memorial weekend classic with Saturday being the regional qualifier, a 35 lap event. Hope we have gotten all of our gremlins out of the way. We'll be there next weekend.
Monday, April 29, 2013
Friday Night 4-26-13
Friday night found the 32 team at Sunny South Raceway just 10 minutes after gate opening, which was good as we had some tires to break in. We got the car prepared, registered and through tech and was the first car on the track. The track was very slick and everyone was loose, Connelly almost spun by himself and was not really pushing it. We got our new tires on and got a heat cycle on them, need to finish them up next time. We knew we wouldn't have much practice time as there is only a little over an hour for all classes to practice. We got in a couple of practices in preparation for qualifying, but man that track was slick, everyone was sliding around.
QUALIFYING: We were in the second qualifying session and I had Connelly at 13.10 with the hand held stopwatch, not bad for such a slick track. Then they anounced that the track's computerized lap timer had malfunctioned, so all Legend drivers were called to the tech barn to draw chips to determine heat race starting positions. There were 10 Legends registered and Connelly drew 8th starting position--deep in the field. We had a really good field of 10 fast cars: #7 of Hunter Lewis, #32 of Connelly, #66 of Andrew Johnson, #04 of Dawson Keener, #96 of Robbie Johnston, #44 of Joseph McArdle,#33 of Dalton Chipley,#59 of Terry Meyers, #53 of Jeremy Lundy, and the #2 of Billy Elmore, Jr., a really competitive group of cars.
HEAT RACE: The start found Connelly deep in the field in 8th place after one lap he was up to 6th after 3 laps he had worked his way up to 5th, at which time a caution came out as a result of the #33 and the #2 getting together. The #2 of Billy Elmore broke his steering wheel in the accident and was forced to retire from the heat, he would be able to make the feature. At the restart Connelly took the "Choose" which put him outside front row in second, but he was on the outside, which brings with it the chance of being "frieght trained" and winding up deeper in the field than before taking the choose. Fortunately Connelly was able to get back to the inside in third place, so he went from 8th to 3rd in about 4 laps with the help of the "choose" behind the #44 of Joseph McArdle (who started on the pole) and the #53 of Jeremy Lundy. The first 3 cars were never more than a few car lengths apart with #44 and #53 right on each other, with Connelly about one or two car lengths behind. Coming to the white flag the #44 and #53 got together spinning both cars, forcing the #53 to retire and put the #44 to the rear of the field. Connelly avoided the spinning cars as did the #7 and the remainder of the field. At the restart for a green, white, checker (two laps of competition remaining) Connelly started single file from the front with the #7 right on his rear bumper, coming out of turn two Connelly got loose and went up the track allowing the #7 to get under him giving him a second place finish in the heat race. The top 5 were: #7, #32, #66, #04, #96, all in all a very entertaining race with a lot of passing and some hot action.
FEATURE RACE: After the heat race Connelly said, I don't know what to do to the car it is so loose I can hardly drive it. So I told him lets tighten it up, we took it to the tech barn and put it on the scales and made a chassis adjustmen to tighten it up--didn't want to go too far, as a slightly loose car is faster than a slightly tight car. We were slated to start second in the feature as a result of our second place finish in the heat. Howerer, our luck changed as the #7 who had to throw the big 3 foot dice to determine the number of cars to be inverted, threw a 2 inverting two cars, putting us on the pole for the feature. Now we had another decision to make, we had an old set of almost worn out tires that we knew would be wicked fast for about 10 to 12 laps, we just didn't know if they would last the whole 20 laps of the feature, if we get a caution about halfway through they would cool off and be right again for another 8 or so laps. If we use a brand new just broken in set of tires they wouldn't be quite as fast at the start and it might not be enough to win, what the heck go with the fast tires and we will try to hold them off. At the start Connelly made a good start got out to about a 4 or 5 car length lead which he was able to hold on to for 12 laps. Then just as we suspected the tires started "giving up" we started going back to the #7 in second and #44 in third (no caution to cool the tires) on lap 13 the front 3 cars went down the back stretch side by side 3 wide which won't work in turn 3 and 4, Connelly fell back to 3rd with the #7 in the lead, the #44 then passed the #7 for the lead, Connelly then passed the #7 back for second place with two laps to go which is where he finished. What a race, this one had it all, one car got out front and stayed thare for over half the race, then second and third ran him down passed for the lead and second place which then changed twice in the last 4 laps with the top three finishing less than a tenth of a second apart from 1st to 3rd. All cars finished on the lead lap which speaks to the quality of this field of cars and drivers. The top 5 being #44, #32, #7, #2, and the #96. This was a very entertaining race with the top two drivers being 16 years old driving like a couple of pros, I would have driven from Metairie to Mobile to watch this race even if I did not have a car in it. Can't wait for Fri the 3rd of May the next race. We'll be there.
QUALIFYING: We were in the second qualifying session and I had Connelly at 13.10 with the hand held stopwatch, not bad for such a slick track. Then they anounced that the track's computerized lap timer had malfunctioned, so all Legend drivers were called to the tech barn to draw chips to determine heat race starting positions. There were 10 Legends registered and Connelly drew 8th starting position--deep in the field. We had a really good field of 10 fast cars: #7 of Hunter Lewis, #32 of Connelly, #66 of Andrew Johnson, #04 of Dawson Keener, #96 of Robbie Johnston, #44 of Joseph McArdle,#33 of Dalton Chipley,#59 of Terry Meyers, #53 of Jeremy Lundy, and the #2 of Billy Elmore, Jr., a really competitive group of cars.
HEAT RACE: The start found Connelly deep in the field in 8th place after one lap he was up to 6th after 3 laps he had worked his way up to 5th, at which time a caution came out as a result of the #33 and the #2 getting together. The #2 of Billy Elmore broke his steering wheel in the accident and was forced to retire from the heat, he would be able to make the feature. At the restart Connelly took the "Choose" which put him outside front row in second, but he was on the outside, which brings with it the chance of being "frieght trained" and winding up deeper in the field than before taking the choose. Fortunately Connelly was able to get back to the inside in third place, so he went from 8th to 3rd in about 4 laps with the help of the "choose" behind the #44 of Joseph McArdle (who started on the pole) and the #53 of Jeremy Lundy. The first 3 cars were never more than a few car lengths apart with #44 and #53 right on each other, with Connelly about one or two car lengths behind. Coming to the white flag the #44 and #53 got together spinning both cars, forcing the #53 to retire and put the #44 to the rear of the field. Connelly avoided the spinning cars as did the #7 and the remainder of the field. At the restart for a green, white, checker (two laps of competition remaining) Connelly started single file from the front with the #7 right on his rear bumper, coming out of turn two Connelly got loose and went up the track allowing the #7 to get under him giving him a second place finish in the heat race. The top 5 were: #7, #32, #66, #04, #96, all in all a very entertaining race with a lot of passing and some hot action.
FEATURE RACE: After the heat race Connelly said, I don't know what to do to the car it is so loose I can hardly drive it. So I told him lets tighten it up, we took it to the tech barn and put it on the scales and made a chassis adjustmen to tighten it up--didn't want to go too far, as a slightly loose car is faster than a slightly tight car. We were slated to start second in the feature as a result of our second place finish in the heat. Howerer, our luck changed as the #7 who had to throw the big 3 foot dice to determine the number of cars to be inverted, threw a 2 inverting two cars, putting us on the pole for the feature. Now we had another decision to make, we had an old set of almost worn out tires that we knew would be wicked fast for about 10 to 12 laps, we just didn't know if they would last the whole 20 laps of the feature, if we get a caution about halfway through they would cool off and be right again for another 8 or so laps. If we use a brand new just broken in set of tires they wouldn't be quite as fast at the start and it might not be enough to win, what the heck go with the fast tires and we will try to hold them off. At the start Connelly made a good start got out to about a 4 or 5 car length lead which he was able to hold on to for 12 laps. Then just as we suspected the tires started "giving up" we started going back to the #7 in second and #44 in third (no caution to cool the tires) on lap 13 the front 3 cars went down the back stretch side by side 3 wide which won't work in turn 3 and 4, Connelly fell back to 3rd with the #7 in the lead, the #44 then passed the #7 for the lead, Connelly then passed the #7 back for second place with two laps to go which is where he finished. What a race, this one had it all, one car got out front and stayed thare for over half the race, then second and third ran him down passed for the lead and second place which then changed twice in the last 4 laps with the top three finishing less than a tenth of a second apart from 1st to 3rd. All cars finished on the lead lap which speaks to the quality of this field of cars and drivers. The top 5 being #44, #32, #7, #2, and the #96. This was a very entertaining race with the top two drivers being 16 years old driving like a couple of pros, I would have driven from Metairie to Mobile to watch this race even if I did not have a car in it. Can't wait for Fri the 3rd of May the next race. We'll be there.
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Friday Night 4-1-13
Again Friday night found us at Sunny South Raceway looking forward to another night of racing. There was an extremely fast group of cars racing tonight. In addition to the #44, #7, #32, #2r, Jeremy Lundy had his fast #53 there, also Billy Elmore, Jr. has a new car a beautiful green '34 Ford coupe #2, Billy is an experienced Legend and Pro Challenge driver and has been very successful at SSR, expect him to be fast. Additionally the #96, and #04 of Dawson Keener who won the most improved driver at SSR last season. The #39 of Daniel Thompson was back, #33 of Dalton Chipley and the #94 of Brad West is back, he was involved in the crash with Connelly in the blue 32 last season and had extensive damage to repair. Also available was the #66 of Andrew Johnson.
We had taken a big swing at the handling of the car in preparation for this race and when Connelly got the car on the track he said it was handling perfectly--good news. We qualified with a time of 13.035 which is very fast as the track was still green. In the heat race Connelly and Jeremy Lundy put on a show they ran nose to tail for the entire 10 laps with Connelly winning by a couple of car lengths.
Connelly threw a 4 with the big dice which gave us the 4th starting position outside second row. We ran 4th for a good portion of the race, made a pass for third, got passed back. Jeremy #53 spun right in fornt of us bringing out the caution with 2 laps to go. We were now third with two to go, on the last lap Connelly got under Joseph #44 going into turn 3, they got together, Joseph spun, Connelly got into him and by the time he got off of Joseph two cars passed putting him back to 4th. This all happened as the checkerd flag was being shown to the field. Top finishers were #7 first, #94 second, #66 third, #32 fourth, #04 fifth. All in all not a bad night we showed better than our finish, but it was a double points night and we didn't get hurt too bad on pointgs. The damage to the car looks like no more than bent bumper tabs and a grill mount bracket, very fixable. It doesn't appear that any signifigant damage was done. This season is setting up to be a very competitive one. There are several cars and drivers that are capable of winning on any given night. Looking forward to next race already.
We had taken a big swing at the handling of the car in preparation for this race and when Connelly got the car on the track he said it was handling perfectly--good news. We qualified with a time of 13.035 which is very fast as the track was still green. In the heat race Connelly and Jeremy Lundy put on a show they ran nose to tail for the entire 10 laps with Connelly winning by a couple of car lengths.
Connelly threw a 4 with the big dice which gave us the 4th starting position outside second row. We ran 4th for a good portion of the race, made a pass for third, got passed back. Jeremy #53 spun right in fornt of us bringing out the caution with 2 laps to go. We were now third with two to go, on the last lap Connelly got under Joseph #44 going into turn 3, they got together, Joseph spun, Connelly got into him and by the time he got off of Joseph two cars passed putting him back to 4th. This all happened as the checkerd flag was being shown to the field. Top finishers were #7 first, #94 second, #66 third, #32 fourth, #04 fifth. All in all not a bad night we showed better than our finish, but it was a double points night and we didn't get hurt too bad on pointgs. The damage to the car looks like no more than bent bumper tabs and a grill mount bracket, very fixable. It doesn't appear that any signifigant damage was done. This season is setting up to be a very competitive one. There are several cars and drivers that are capable of winning on any given night. Looking forward to next race already.
Friday Night 3-15-13
Friday night found the #32 crew at the track rearing to go, we had made some adjustments to the car trying to get it to turn through the center of the turns better and in practice we felt like we gained on it a little, but still no cigar. There was no qualifying as the track transponder was acting up, so we drew chips to establish heat starting positions. Connelly drew low chip and sat on the pole for the heat.
The cars that competed tonight were #7 Hunter Lewis, #32 Connelly, #2r Skyler Fleming, #44 Joseph McArdle, #11 Dustin Smith, #96 Robbie Johnston, #66 Andrew Johnson, #33 Dalton Chipley, #54 T.J.Thompson, and a second #54 from Texas Clayton Green. A very strong field. Connelly had a terrible cold, I do not know how he was even able to drive. He wound up second in the heat to Hunter Lewis in the #7. In the feature we started outside first row, which is a tough spot as you are usually 4th by the time you can get to the inside lane where you can race, which is exactly what happened. During the course of the race we would make a pass, then get passed back, we finished fourth .084 of a second behind the leader, there were four cars within .084 of each other at the finish. It was a very entertaining race, Connelly was not satisfied with a 4th place finish, but under the circumstances we will take it.
The cars that competed tonight were #7 Hunter Lewis, #32 Connelly, #2r Skyler Fleming, #44 Joseph McArdle, #11 Dustin Smith, #96 Robbie Johnston, #66 Andrew Johnson, #33 Dalton Chipley, #54 T.J.Thompson, and a second #54 from Texas Clayton Green. A very strong field. Connelly had a terrible cold, I do not know how he was even able to drive. He wound up second in the heat to Hunter Lewis in the #7. In the feature we started outside first row, which is a tough spot as you are usually 4th by the time you can get to the inside lane where you can race, which is exactly what happened. During the course of the race we would make a pass, then get passed back, we finished fourth .084 of a second behind the leader, there were four cars within .084 of each other at the finish. It was a very entertaining race, Connelly was not satisfied with a 4th place finish, but under the circumstances we will take it.
Opening Night Friday Night 3-1-13
That's right we are racing on Friday nights this season. We pick Connelly up from school at 3:10 and go straight to the track, which works out well as we stop at Grand Ban Subway for dinner and get to the track before opening. The 32 during practice wasn't rolling through the center of the turns to Connelly's liking and we were losing time there. We tried some air pressure adjustments that didn't help much we qualified third and ran second in the heat and held on to second in the feature. There were 10 cars for the first race. Under the heading of everything that is old is new again Skyler Fleming has a brand new car it is just like his old 34 ford sedan painted a sharp grey and bearing his old 2r number.
Betty's camera malfunctioned and we did not get the feature race but I do know the results of the feature were the #7 of Hunter Lewis was first with Connelly #32 second, Joseph McArdle #44 third, and Skyler Fleming #2r fourth. Will try to do a better job reporting in the future. Looking forward to next race already.
Betty's camera malfunctioned and we did not get the feature race but I do know the results of the feature were the #7 of Hunter Lewis was first with Connelly #32 second, Joseph McArdle #44 third, and Skyler Fleming #2r fourth. Will try to do a better job reporting in the future. Looking forward to next race already.
2013 Racing Season
I have been terribly remiss in my attention to our Blog. The 2013 season is well underway and I have not put up one post and for that I apologize. To bring everyone up to date, we had to get the 32 front clip replaced as a result of the wreck last race in July. We had that done and replaced all of the right front suspension parts as well as a new oil cooler, steering box and much of the right rear suspension parts as well including a new rear end housing. We had the car "set up" and put new tires on it and felt we were ready for the open test date in mid Feb.
The 2013 season kicked off with an open test date on Feb. 16 and we spent most of the day breaking in tires. The car felt good and Connelly turned in some fair times. The track was very green (no rubber put down) and was not very fast, but we were pleased with the car's performance considering all the repairs done. For a mid Feb date, the weather was great and we enjoyed the outing. Connelly was overjoyed to finally get back behind the wheel of his baby.
The 2013 season kicked off with an open test date on Feb. 16 and we spent most of the day breaking in tires. The car felt good and Connelly turned in some fair times. The track was very green (no rubber put down) and was not very fast, but we were pleased with the car's performance considering all the repairs done. For a mid Feb date, the weather was great and we enjoyed the outing. Connelly was overjoyed to finally get back behind the wheel of his baby.
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