We got to the track about 2:30 as late checkout at LaQuinta was 1 pm. We got let in to the track by the snack bar cook bringing supplies. We used our time wisely, nut and bolted the car and Connelly waxed it, it had to look good for it's introduction. It was so hot you could hardly breathe but we stayed in the shade and kept hydrated. The track gates opened, we went through tech--with a new car they went through safety tech really close--we decided that with the track so hot we would wait until 20 min before practice ended to even go out. We got out, made some hot laps and came in, the car was still good. Then guess what, it starts to rain. It just rained for about15 minutes and with the track so hot and just a small amount of rain it shouldn't take too long to dry. 10 to 15 minutes of several street cars making laps then another 20 hot laps with 8 legends and the track was ready. Since we had no qualifying they decided to line up all the cars by points, and invert the entire field then throw the big dice and double invert whatever that throw indicated. There were 11 cars in the show for tonight and since the big dice only has six spots we were going to start 10th out of 11 no matter what the invert roll came up with. Another wrinkle--Hunter Lewis the #7 had a hundred dollar bounty placed on him--anyone who could legally and cleanly beat him would get an extra $100, if no one beats him tonight, next week it goes to $200, and if it goes to a third week it becomes $300, if he wins all three he gets the $300. All that aside, we are still starting 10th out of 11 with an unfamiliar car, with this total field invert the higher points cars (faster) are at the rear and will take some work to get by. Well we came from the back last week with the sedan so we will give it a try with the coupe. In our pre-race instructions I told Connelly be safe, give the car a respectable run and have fun.
At the start we are almost dead last, within a few laps we are up to 6th, few more laps 5th. The car looked like it was really hooked up and appeared to be handling well. Then a caution comes out, Connelly takes the "choose" and works his way up to 3rd. Brian McArdle and Hunter are going hard at each other for about 5 laps making 4 or 5 crossover passes in those laps, Connelly was able to close up to the back bumper of whoever was second. For a while I thought these two are going to wreck each other and we are going to win this thing. Finally Hunter got about 2 car lengths advantage over Brian with two laps to go. Connelly got a couple of real good runs on Brian and almost got by him for second place right at the finish. All in all a very respectable run for our first time out, came from 10th to third and looked good doing it, no "gimmie" here Connelly earned it. In tech Connelly kept looking under the left front suspension saying it felt like the left front brake was grabbing upon entry to the turns and he couldn't drive it as hard as he wanted to. He had hit Joseph McArdle rear bumper with his left front tire in the turn three of lap one and drove the whole race like that. I looked at the in-car electronic timer and we has several low 13.00's I told Connelly there couldn't be too much wrong turning those kind of lap times. Upon checking the car at home we found that we had knocked the "toe" completely out of the front end giving the feel of the car not wanting to turn as easily. All in all I felt that Connelly had driven a very good race, the car looked really good and with a little tweeking I feel that we will be competitive with anybody. We have a short week as the next race in next Friday July 18. Cant wait.
Friday, July 18, 2014
"New" #32 coupe
Well we took delivery on the coupe, got it home, pulled the body off and got it over to Terry at Manhattan Collision Center for paint. He did a spectacular gloss black and orange paint job. He also did a royal blue distressed pinstripe accent that made the whole thing really POP. We got the body home and very carefully re-installed it, placed the numbers and graphics, the result is excellent. Now that the numbers are on it is officially the #32 coupe. Our plan was to be able to go get the car home, get it painted, get the graphics on and get it to the track for a test session before the 7-12-14 rainout make up race. Mission accomplished!!!!
We called Mr. Joe got the track reserved for Fri. night the 11th, booked a motel in Mobile, planning to test Fri. and race Sat the 12th. We were praying for no rain as the skies looked ripe. We got to SSR about 6 pm unloaded got on the track and as you might suspect it starts to rain--a heavy drizzle at first then a light shower, then it stops, just enough to remind you who is really in charge. We had some company at the track, Joseph and Brian McArdle were there with their cars Conner with his #14 Legend and #14 Pro Challenge and a couple of go karts, just enough activity to keep things interesting.
The track dried quickly and we only lost about 20 min or so, Connelly got back out and said the car felt really good. We wanted to try 3 or 4 different tire combinations which we managed to do, the fastest set was found out to be the one we weren't even trying to test, but because I laid out the wrong tires we learned something--sometimes being lucky ain't all bad. Connelly had to feel his way with the coupe as they handle quite a bit differently than the sedan. Most people describe the coupe as being a little "twitchy" when compared to the sedan. Connelly had gotten so comfortable in the sedan that he knew what it was going to do before it did it. He progressed quickly through the learning curve and was soon turning times in the low 13.00's. We put that "fast" set of tires on and Connelly said he was going to go out and "bust it". We had the electronic timing system set up and after 7 laps he shuts it down and comes off the track, which is unusual as you usually have to shoot him to get him off the track. I walked back down to the trailer and he says come see something. He scrolls through the times of those 7 laps and after his get up to speed laps he had a 13.02, 13.00, 13.00
12.97, and a 13.01, and that was with no tweeking or fine tuning the setup. Connelly said there was nothing else I could learn from running more laps, we are ready for tomorrow night. We slept well that night looking forward to Sat. night's race.
We called Mr. Joe got the track reserved for Fri. night the 11th, booked a motel in Mobile, planning to test Fri. and race Sat the 12th. We were praying for no rain as the skies looked ripe. We got to SSR about 6 pm unloaded got on the track and as you might suspect it starts to rain--a heavy drizzle at first then a light shower, then it stops, just enough to remind you who is really in charge. We had some company at the track, Joseph and Brian McArdle were there with their cars Conner with his #14 Legend and #14 Pro Challenge and a couple of go karts, just enough activity to keep things interesting.
The track dried quickly and we only lost about 20 min or so, Connelly got back out and said the car felt really good. We wanted to try 3 or 4 different tire combinations which we managed to do, the fastest set was found out to be the one we weren't even trying to test, but because I laid out the wrong tires we learned something--sometimes being lucky ain't all bad. Connelly had to feel his way with the coupe as they handle quite a bit differently than the sedan. Most people describe the coupe as being a little "twitchy" when compared to the sedan. Connelly had gotten so comfortable in the sedan that he knew what it was going to do before it did it. He progressed quickly through the learning curve and was soon turning times in the low 13.00's. We put that "fast" set of tires on and Connelly said he was going to go out and "bust it". We had the electronic timing system set up and after 7 laps he shuts it down and comes off the track, which is unusual as you usually have to shoot him to get him off the track. I walked back down to the trailer and he says come see something. He scrolls through the times of those 7 laps and after his get up to speed laps he had a 13.02, 13.00, 13.00
12.97, and a 13.01, and that was with no tweeking or fine tuning the setup. Connelly said there was nothing else I could learn from running more laps, we are ready for tomorrow night. We slept well that night looking forward to Sat. night's race.
Catch up on recent races
I have been terribly lax in keeping up with the race postings. A lot has been going on--I'll explain later.
Since last race we have had a fairly successful run of races, most of them ending with a third place finish with an average car count of about 10 to 11 cars. One of the most interesting races was the Friday night of May 23rd (The Memorial Day Classic) Joey Padgett from Charlotte was in for the weekend of racing--he is usually "blistering" fast. Connelly got a good start and worked his way up to second behind the #7, held his position for several laps. With about 6 laps to go a caution came out causing a double file restart. Connelly missed a shift on the restart going from second gear to fourth, which coincidently dropped him from second place to fourth in the running order. He just didn't have time to get past the cars in front of him. At the finish--one of the closest I can remember there were 4 cars within 25 feet of each other (remember these cars are only 10 feet from front bumper to rear) Joseph in the #44jr was second, Joey Padgett #83 in third and Connelly #32 in fourth with Brian McArdle #44 in fifth. All spread out across the track, it was very impressive. I hated to loose a second place finish, but it was almost worth it to see that scramble for the runner up spot--I said almost!!!
In the June 6 th. race we got another third place finish, a good podium finish, but we are trying for better, I feel that will come.
The June 20th race was a very interesting affair, we had some very good practice times in the low 13.00's so we felt good about qualifying. Connelly as he often does was going to go out last in the final qualifying group, as he rolled forward to go out onto the track the engine just quit. When I didn't see him come out, I rushed over to the grid and figured we must have a loose connection somewhere in the ignition harness. I gave the wire bundle a good squeeze and a little shake and it started. Magic!?!?!?! Mr. Joe said he could go out for three practice laps --the same as qualifying-- but he couldn't score him as he had missed his qualifying attempt leaving us to start last. We taped up the wiring harness after the three laps and hoped it would hold for the feature. In the feature we would have to start 9th of 9 cars, oh well sooner or later you have to learn to come from the rear might as well be now. So we started 9th, by the end of lap two we up to 6th, by lap 8 we were 4th. Shortly past halfway a caution came out we took the choose, by the time that all sorted out were third, which is where we finished. It was a very impressive run for the #32 sedan. It was fitting for the sedan to have such a good run, as this was to be its last. For the next race we will have a "new coupe" new for us. It comes out of the Atlanta area and has been campaigned very successfully throughout the country. We look forward to seeing what that brings. Can't wait!!
Since last race we have had a fairly successful run of races, most of them ending with a third place finish with an average car count of about 10 to 11 cars. One of the most interesting races was the Friday night of May 23rd (The Memorial Day Classic) Joey Padgett from Charlotte was in for the weekend of racing--he is usually "blistering" fast. Connelly got a good start and worked his way up to second behind the #7, held his position for several laps. With about 6 laps to go a caution came out causing a double file restart. Connelly missed a shift on the restart going from second gear to fourth, which coincidently dropped him from second place to fourth in the running order. He just didn't have time to get past the cars in front of him. At the finish--one of the closest I can remember there were 4 cars within 25 feet of each other (remember these cars are only 10 feet from front bumper to rear) Joseph in the #44jr was second, Joey Padgett #83 in third and Connelly #32 in fourth with Brian McArdle #44 in fifth. All spread out across the track, it was very impressive. I hated to loose a second place finish, but it was almost worth it to see that scramble for the runner up spot--I said almost!!!
In the June 6 th. race we got another third place finish, a good podium finish, but we are trying for better, I feel that will come.
The June 20th race was a very interesting affair, we had some very good practice times in the low 13.00's so we felt good about qualifying. Connelly as he often does was going to go out last in the final qualifying group, as he rolled forward to go out onto the track the engine just quit. When I didn't see him come out, I rushed over to the grid and figured we must have a loose connection somewhere in the ignition harness. I gave the wire bundle a good squeeze and a little shake and it started. Magic!?!?!?! Mr. Joe said he could go out for three practice laps --the same as qualifying-- but he couldn't score him as he had missed his qualifying attempt leaving us to start last. We taped up the wiring harness after the three laps and hoped it would hold for the feature. In the feature we would have to start 9th of 9 cars, oh well sooner or later you have to learn to come from the rear might as well be now. So we started 9th, by the end of lap two we up to 6th, by lap 8 we were 4th. Shortly past halfway a caution came out we took the choose, by the time that all sorted out were third, which is where we finished. It was a very impressive run for the #32 sedan. It was fitting for the sedan to have such a good run, as this was to be its last. For the next race we will have a "new coupe" new for us. It comes out of the Atlanta area and has been campaigned very successfully throughout the country. We look forward to seeing what that brings. Can't wait!!
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