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.