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.
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
