Well the 2014 racing season is in the books and as we always do, it is time to look back and assess our performance. Our objectives at the start of the season were:
1. Win the track championship in the Pro Division--last year's performance dictated we move up.
2. Win at least 2 races.
3. To be competitive with consistent podium finishes.
4. To race everyone fairly without having to foul to pass.
5. To have Connelly grow his racing skills.
In order to give Connelly the best equipment we could we had our engine rebuilt, after the rebuild it dyno'ed real strong. We went through the chassis and replaced all of the trailing arm bolts, replaced the rear trailing arms out of an abundance of caution, and checked everything to within an inch of its life. We also ordered two new sets of tires. At the open test session in Feb. the car was very strong, and we felt like we had done all we could do in preparation for 2014. At the test session Hunter Lewis showed up with a "new" '34 Ford coupe. I recognized this car as one I had seen out of the Atlanta area and it was indeed a strong car. We thought that we had stepped up our game, but so did Hunter. In this game if you are standing still, you are going backwards.
The first race of the season had us running fourth for most of the race behind Brian, Joseph and Hunter, when Hunter got a little loose (he didn't quite have it dialed in to SSR yet) and we got by him right at the end for third, but it was obvious that he was going to be a force to be dealt with. The next several races saw Hunter in the #7 totally dominate the Pro division, so much so that I called our setup man and told him what was going on and we needed some more speed. He made a couple of suggestions which we implemented and we picked up a few hundredths of a second--good, but not good enough. Finally he suggested that we buy the sister car to Hunter's that was available as a roller and put our engine and seat in it, as we had this freshly rebuilt engine, and see what happens.
In the meantime Hunter had become so dominant that they put a bounty out on him. It was a three race deal where whoever could fairly beat him would get an extra $100 in the first race $200 if you beat him in the 2nd race of the bounty and $300 if you got him in the 3rd race, if nobody beats him in any of the three bounty races then Hunter got the $300.
We went with the Atlanta area coupe had our "stuff" put on it got it home had it painted put numbers on it and rented the track for a test session. The car was good, the next night was a race. We managed a very close third. The next race rained out which brought us to Aug 1st. That race was our break out race, we won the whole thing including the bounty. Our first win of the season. We then went on to win two more races for a total of three. Of the 16 races that were run at Sunny South Raceway we wound up with 3 first place, 3 seconds and 7 thirds, 13 podium finishes out of 16 races. Not bad!!!!
We also made a "road trip" to Monroe, La and raced at Revolution Raceway a 3/8 mile banked concrete oval track. We got a 6th (should have been a 4th) in the first race, a 5th in the second feature and a 3rd in the last race of the weekend (was right on the rear bumper of the second place car and moving up at the finish). As Connelly learned the track his speeds picked up considerably and we came home with a sense of accomplishment.
Achieving our goals:
1. We finished second in the championship by 35 points.
2. We won 3 races.
3. We were definitely competitive with 13 podium finishes of 16 races.
4. We raced everyone clean.
5. Connelly made tremendous gains in his racing skills.
If we could have another year like 2014 we would take it in a heartbeat. We are already looking forward to 2015, can't wait.
Thursday, October 30, 2014
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
October 3rd and 4th--The last weekend of the 2014 Racing Season
October 4th.
After last night's performance by both car and driver, we will be hard pressed to repeat or come close to repeating. But it is our job to get the most out of both car and driver. We got to the track early at around 2:pm as the motel allowed us to check out at 1:pm. Connelly went over the car with a fine tooth comb, nut and bolted everything lubricated all the necessary areas, fueled the car and even put a coat of wax on it. During the night a front had come through and the temp was almost cool. Nothing to do now but to wait until the track opened for testing. After registering and going through tech we finally got on the track to practice, the car was good, Connelly said that it didn't quite have the grip that it had last night and maybe he would tighten it up a little, I told him "you touch that car I'll break both of your arms". The track temp was 77 degrees and cooling off all the time, by race time it will be perfect. We practiced one more time before qualifying and track had indeed "come to us" in practice we ran a 13.00. In the driver's meeting Mr. Joe reminded us that there would be double first place prize money if we could win tonight's feature--just a little added pressure.
Qualifying: There were 14 cars tonight mostly the same participants as last night. We went out and laid down a blistering lap of 12.892 a pick up of 5 hundredths of a second from last night--had to be that coat of wax?? Hunter #7 second with a 12.936 good for the pole on most nights, and Brian #44 with a 13.047 the top 5 were all within 3 tenths of a second with the top 10 within a half second.
Heat Race: Tonight's program called for the same format as last night, so we started on the pole for the heat. We got a good start but Brian snookered us on the first lap and we ran second to him for the first two laps, on lap three we got past him and led the remaining laps of the heat race. Top 5 in the heat was #32, #44, #44jr, #7 and #09 from Monroe. After Connelly's heat I wanted to watch the second heat so I just stayed in my spot under the flag stand, Connelly parked the car in our pits, put the fans on the engine to cool it down and joined me to watch the other heat. As he walked up he had a scowl on his face, I said man you should be smiling ear to ear after a race like that. His response was "I still have work to do." Very mature for someone who had just turned 18 two days earlier.
Feature Race: Again the heat race win gave us pole position for the feature, the early part of the feature was closely contested, we were able to lead the race through the halfway point, with Brian in the #44 right on our rear bumper, one slip by Connelly and he is around us. Joseph in the #44jr. and Hunter in the #7 are in hot pursuit with the #09 of Ronny Freeland from Monroe a close 5th. Then "yellow fever" hits, after running 2/3 of the race with just one early caution, we now were beset with a plague of cautions. Cautions bunch cars up and that is when "things happen" we would stretch it out a little, get a 3 or 4 car length lead then another caution, back to bumper to bumper with your competition right on your tail, stretch it out another couple of length then another caution. It starts becoming frustrating especially when you have led the whole race and with only a few laps left for the win. Will this race ever get over with??? I'm sitting there on my chair under the flag stand timing the laps with my hand held stop watch "managing the race" (mostly worrying) when I remember Mr. Joe's words at the driver's meeting about the double prize money if you could win both nights. It hadn't even crossed my mind until that last caution now the pressure really sets in, Mr. Joe's curse now start to work on me, now I am really worrying, fortunately the race goes green for the last 5 laps and we win it by about 6 or 8 lengths. Top 5 were #32, #44, #44jr, #09 and #7. After the race I asked Connelly if he was thinking about the double prize money and he said "the whole time, why do you think I was driving so hard?" Young kids, pressure don't mean squat to them. All in all a remarkable weekend, won two poles, two heat races, two features, ran our fastest lap ever, lead all but two laps of the 70 that were run, come away with two really nice trophies and $670 of Mr. Wayne's money, you really couldn't ask for more. Only 4 and a half months before we start all over.
October 3rd.
Well here it is the end of the 2014 racing season at Sunny South Raceway. It has been a long season, but it seems to have flown by. So that brings us the second annual "Dixie Clash" to be run Fri, Oct 3rd and Sat, Oct 4th. There were a couple of things that were changed for this race. First of all the Legends purse for Friday's race was increased by $200 to be spread over the first 3 finishing positions. Additionally if Friday night's Legends winner can also win Saturday night's race the first place prize money would be doubled, definitely sweetened the pot. Being the last race of the season they gave us a lot of racing, there would be normal qualifying then two 10 lap heat races with a 25 lap feature. The 7 fastest qualifiers would run the first heat and all the finishers would start on the inside row for the feature, the remaining 7 cars would run the second heat and all finishers would start the feature on the outside row, with no invert. We had 15 cars registered with several from Monroe that we had raced against a couple of weeks ago plus the normal contingent from SSR. One car from Texas on his way back from a race in Florida stayed over and was going to race with us, but blew his engine in practice and had to withdraw.
We got to the track got registered went through tech and got on the track. The car wasn't bad but the track was still hot,89 degrees. We made a slight chassis adjustment made one more practice run and logged a 12.970 lap, Connelly brought it in and let it rest up for qualifying. Connelly qualified on the pole at a 12.948 which was the fastest lap we turned this year. Hunter Lewis qualified second at a 12.958 only 1 one hundredth of a second behind. The rest of the field qualified as follows with the top 10 cars all within 3 tenths of a second of the pole third was #44jr. 4th #44, 5th #66, 6th #96, 7th #94, 8th #14, 9th #09, 10th #4, 11th #99, 12th #91, 13th #01, 14th #18, the entire field was within 3/4 of a second of the pole sitter. Pretty sporty!!!
Heat Race: Starting from the pole Connelly got a really good start and set sail. He led every lap and was followed by Brian in the #44 Joseph in the #44jr. and Hunter in the #7. Those three traded positions several times in the 10 laps and put on a good show. The top 5 in the heat were #32, #44, #7, #44jr, and the #94.
Feature Race: Connelly' win in the heat race would give him the pole position start in the feature. Again Connelly got a good start and led the first few laps followed closely by Brian in the #44, Hunter in the #7 with seldom more than one car length of daylight separating each car. They ran very close until a caution came out at about halfway. The same process played out, very close racing in the front of the pack until with two laps remaining another caution waived. Since there were less than 3 laps to go, there would be a single file restart--no choose. On the restart Brian was right on the rear bumper of Connelly's car with Hunter almost touching Brian's rear. Coming out of turn 2 they hooked bumpers with Brian's right front hooking inside of Connelly's left rear. The potential for a really serious wreck was at hand, however both drivers continued to "drive" their cars and somehow they got unhooked, Brian slowed slightly causing Hunter to swerve to avoid hitting him and causing him to almost hit the wall and fall back several spots. Connelly ran to the finish winning the feature with Brian #44 in second, Joseph #44jr. third Conner #14 in 4th, and Andrew #66 rounding out the top 5. What a phenomenal night!!! we sat on the pole with the fastest time we had ever run, won the heat race, won the feature and led every lap of competition, plus won first place money plus the bonus money, a trophy and first place points--what a night?? Can't wait until tomorrow night.
After last night's performance by both car and driver, we will be hard pressed to repeat or come close to repeating. But it is our job to get the most out of both car and driver. We got to the track early at around 2:pm as the motel allowed us to check out at 1:pm. Connelly went over the car with a fine tooth comb, nut and bolted everything lubricated all the necessary areas, fueled the car and even put a coat of wax on it. During the night a front had come through and the temp was almost cool. Nothing to do now but to wait until the track opened for testing. After registering and going through tech we finally got on the track to practice, the car was good, Connelly said that it didn't quite have the grip that it had last night and maybe he would tighten it up a little, I told him "you touch that car I'll break both of your arms". The track temp was 77 degrees and cooling off all the time, by race time it will be perfect. We practiced one more time before qualifying and track had indeed "come to us" in practice we ran a 13.00. In the driver's meeting Mr. Joe reminded us that there would be double first place prize money if we could win tonight's feature--just a little added pressure.
Qualifying: There were 14 cars tonight mostly the same participants as last night. We went out and laid down a blistering lap of 12.892 a pick up of 5 hundredths of a second from last night--had to be that coat of wax?? Hunter #7 second with a 12.936 good for the pole on most nights, and Brian #44 with a 13.047 the top 5 were all within 3 tenths of a second with the top 10 within a half second.
Heat Race: Tonight's program called for the same format as last night, so we started on the pole for the heat. We got a good start but Brian snookered us on the first lap and we ran second to him for the first two laps, on lap three we got past him and led the remaining laps of the heat race. Top 5 in the heat was #32, #44, #44jr, #7 and #09 from Monroe. After Connelly's heat I wanted to watch the second heat so I just stayed in my spot under the flag stand, Connelly parked the car in our pits, put the fans on the engine to cool it down and joined me to watch the other heat. As he walked up he had a scowl on his face, I said man you should be smiling ear to ear after a race like that. His response was "I still have work to do." Very mature for someone who had just turned 18 two days earlier.
Feature Race: Again the heat race win gave us pole position for the feature, the early part of the feature was closely contested, we were able to lead the race through the halfway point, with Brian in the #44 right on our rear bumper, one slip by Connelly and he is around us. Joseph in the #44jr. and Hunter in the #7 are in hot pursuit with the #09 of Ronny Freeland from Monroe a close 5th. Then "yellow fever" hits, after running 2/3 of the race with just one early caution, we now were beset with a plague of cautions. Cautions bunch cars up and that is when "things happen" we would stretch it out a little, get a 3 or 4 car length lead then another caution, back to bumper to bumper with your competition right on your tail, stretch it out another couple of length then another caution. It starts becoming frustrating especially when you have led the whole race and with only a few laps left for the win. Will this race ever get over with??? I'm sitting there on my chair under the flag stand timing the laps with my hand held stop watch "managing the race" (mostly worrying) when I remember Mr. Joe's words at the driver's meeting about the double prize money if you could win both nights. It hadn't even crossed my mind until that last caution now the pressure really sets in, Mr. Joe's curse now start to work on me, now I am really worrying, fortunately the race goes green for the last 5 laps and we win it by about 6 or 8 lengths. Top 5 were #32, #44, #44jr, #09 and #7. After the race I asked Connelly if he was thinking about the double prize money and he said "the whole time, why do you think I was driving so hard?" Young kids, pressure don't mean squat to them. All in all a remarkable weekend, won two poles, two heat races, two features, ran our fastest lap ever, lead all but two laps of the 70 that were run, come away with two really nice trophies and $670 of Mr. Wayne's money, you really couldn't ask for more. Only 4 and a half months before we start all over.
October 3rd.
Well here it is the end of the 2014 racing season at Sunny South Raceway. It has been a long season, but it seems to have flown by. So that brings us the second annual "Dixie Clash" to be run Fri, Oct 3rd and Sat, Oct 4th. There were a couple of things that were changed for this race. First of all the Legends purse for Friday's race was increased by $200 to be spread over the first 3 finishing positions. Additionally if Friday night's Legends winner can also win Saturday night's race the first place prize money would be doubled, definitely sweetened the pot. Being the last race of the season they gave us a lot of racing, there would be normal qualifying then two 10 lap heat races with a 25 lap feature. The 7 fastest qualifiers would run the first heat and all the finishers would start on the inside row for the feature, the remaining 7 cars would run the second heat and all finishers would start the feature on the outside row, with no invert. We had 15 cars registered with several from Monroe that we had raced against a couple of weeks ago plus the normal contingent from SSR. One car from Texas on his way back from a race in Florida stayed over and was going to race with us, but blew his engine in practice and had to withdraw.
We got to the track got registered went through tech and got on the track. The car wasn't bad but the track was still hot,89 degrees. We made a slight chassis adjustment made one more practice run and logged a 12.970 lap, Connelly brought it in and let it rest up for qualifying. Connelly qualified on the pole at a 12.948 which was the fastest lap we turned this year. Hunter Lewis qualified second at a 12.958 only 1 one hundredth of a second behind. The rest of the field qualified as follows with the top 10 cars all within 3 tenths of a second of the pole third was #44jr. 4th #44, 5th #66, 6th #96, 7th #94, 8th #14, 9th #09, 10th #4, 11th #99, 12th #91, 13th #01, 14th #18, the entire field was within 3/4 of a second of the pole sitter. Pretty sporty!!!
Heat Race: Starting from the pole Connelly got a really good start and set sail. He led every lap and was followed by Brian in the #44 Joseph in the #44jr. and Hunter in the #7. Those three traded positions several times in the 10 laps and put on a good show. The top 5 in the heat were #32, #44, #7, #44jr, and the #94.
Feature Race: Connelly' win in the heat race would give him the pole position start in the feature. Again Connelly got a good start and led the first few laps followed closely by Brian in the #44, Hunter in the #7 with seldom more than one car length of daylight separating each car. They ran very close until a caution came out at about halfway. The same process played out, very close racing in the front of the pack until with two laps remaining another caution waived. Since there were less than 3 laps to go, there would be a single file restart--no choose. On the restart Brian was right on the rear bumper of Connelly's car with Hunter almost touching Brian's rear. Coming out of turn 2 they hooked bumpers with Brian's right front hooking inside of Connelly's left rear. The potential for a really serious wreck was at hand, however both drivers continued to "drive" their cars and somehow they got unhooked, Brian slowed slightly causing Hunter to swerve to avoid hitting him and causing him to almost hit the wall and fall back several spots. Connelly ran to the finish winning the feature with Brian #44 in second, Joseph #44jr. third Conner #14 in 4th, and Andrew #66 rounding out the top 5. What a phenomenal night!!! we sat on the pole with the fastest time we had ever run, won the heat race, won the feature and led every lap of competition, plus won first place money plus the bonus money, a trophy and first place points--what a night?? Can't wait until tomorrow night.
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
Friday Night September 26, 2014
Well here it is race day again we are almost recovered from last weekend at Monroe. Dawn was breaking as we crossed the Manchac bridge last Sunday morning on the return trip from Monroe, still 30 min. to go before home, plus Connelly had to work at 11 am at the Drago's rest at the Hilton. Don't know how he pulled it off--being 17 probably helped.
Today we got to the track at our regular time got set up went through tech and got on the track, the car was pretty good. We put a couple of test runs on it and Connelly came in halfway through the last session, he said the car was good so don't run it to death.
Qualifying:
Connelly qualified fourth, one tenth of a second behind Brian McArdle however they threw the dice for the invert and we got lucky as they rolled a 4 which put us on the pole.
Cars available for tonight's race: #44 Brian McArdle, #44jr. Joseph McArdle, #7 Hunter Lewis,
#32 Connelly, #14 Conner Okrezeik, #96 Robbie Johnston, #94 Brad West, #4 Ramsey Whittington, #01 Treyce Capers and #18 Corry Devin, a very competitive field.
Feature Race:
A decision was made to only run a 20 lap feature for tonight's race, so 20laps or 25laps, you dance with "who brung ya". it's the same for everybody. Would rather have had 25 as our car is usually better on long runs, but it is what it is. On the start we got shuffled back to fourth (from the pole) don't know how that happened but it did, worked our way back to third, ran there for a good portion of the race. We closed up to the bumper of the #7 and got past him for second right at the white flag and held on to finish there. Car and driver both getting better. After the race a scuffle broke out on the back straightaway, two cars got together after the checkered flag, some pushing and shoving took place but cooler heads prevailed and things settled down. This was the second to last weekend of the season, with only the Dixie Clash remaining next Friday & Saturday nights, double points on Saturday and double prize money for winner of Legends on Saturday night if he wins both Fri and Sat features, and $200 bonus added to the purse for Friday night. Plus track points championships still up for grabs, so next weekend should be very interesting--a lot at stake. Looking forward to it, come out and treat yourself to some very close and entertaining racing.
Today we got to the track at our regular time got set up went through tech and got on the track, the car was pretty good. We put a couple of test runs on it and Connelly came in halfway through the last session, he said the car was good so don't run it to death.
Qualifying:
Connelly qualified fourth, one tenth of a second behind Brian McArdle however they threw the dice for the invert and we got lucky as they rolled a 4 which put us on the pole.
Cars available for tonight's race: #44 Brian McArdle, #44jr. Joseph McArdle, #7 Hunter Lewis,
#32 Connelly, #14 Conner Okrezeik, #96 Robbie Johnston, #94 Brad West, #4 Ramsey Whittington, #01 Treyce Capers and #18 Corry Devin, a very competitive field.
Feature Race:
A decision was made to only run a 20 lap feature for tonight's race, so 20laps or 25laps, you dance with "who brung ya". it's the same for everybody. Would rather have had 25 as our car is usually better on long runs, but it is what it is. On the start we got shuffled back to fourth (from the pole) don't know how that happened but it did, worked our way back to third, ran there for a good portion of the race. We closed up to the bumper of the #7 and got past him for second right at the white flag and held on to finish there. Car and driver both getting better. After the race a scuffle broke out on the back straightaway, two cars got together after the checkered flag, some pushing and shoving took place but cooler heads prevailed and things settled down. This was the second to last weekend of the season, with only the Dixie Clash remaining next Friday & Saturday nights, double points on Saturday and double prize money for winner of Legends on Saturday night if he wins both Fri and Sat features, and $200 bonus added to the purse for Friday night. Plus track points championships still up for grabs, so next weekend should be very interesting--a lot at stake. Looking forward to it, come out and treat yourself to some very close and entertaining racing.
Monday, October 6, 2014
September 19th and 20th--Monroe LA
Connelly had been after me to take him to an out of town race, well Revolution Park Raceway in Monroe, La was having its final race of the season this weekend. They do a unique program for the first and last race of the year. They have a regular race on Friday night, and another regular program on Saturday night, then at 12:01 on Sunday morning they start another race. (INEX the sanctioning body for the Legends and Bandos) does not allow more than one points race at any track on the same day, so by starting one minute past midnight it is legal for INEX points, and you can get three races worth of points in 2 days--long days but still doable. We had never seen this track before and it is a good one, 3/8 of a mile high banked concrete, wicked fast. It does have a couple of really bumpy sections which can upset the cars, one is at the entrance to turn 3 the other is at the exit of turn 4, so you have to be real careful. It is a 4 1/2 hour drive from Metairie, but it is all interstate and a good portion did not have too much traffic so it wasn't too bad.
We checked into the motel only a mile away and went to the track. Picked our a pit stall, went through tech and walked out to look at the track. It was indeed impressive, it looked like Talledega compared to Sunny South, Connelly couldn't wait to get out on it. We fuelled the car checked air pressures and went out. Man that track was fast, he had to learn how to drive it, it was so much different from Sunny South. Fortunately Hunter Lewis #7 from Sunny South was there and he helped us with information on driving lines air pressures and setup. We ran several test sessions and improved our times each time out. They don't qualify at this track, you draw a chip with a number to determine your starting position in the heat race, and the finish in the heat determines your starting position in the feature.
Friday Night Race:
We drew a high number chip which started us last in the heat. There were 17 cars available so they had 3 heats. They only start 20 cars in the feature so tonight all cars will qualify. There were 6 cars in our heat and we started 6th due to our chip draw. Connelly worked his way up through the field while being very careful as we still had 3 points races at Sunny South and we are locked in a points race for second with an outside shot at first. Connelly finished a strong second which would start us 6th in the feature. In the feature he worked his way through traffic and was going for third and touched the left rear tire of the #91 with our right front tire causing Con to have to back off and we went from going for third to 6th. It was right after a caution and all the cars were bunched up and they "freight trained" us. Not too bad for our first attempt at this new venue. Sixth out of 17 first time out, would like to have had third, but the car didn't have a scratch on it so we'll take it. This was just a points race no trophy or money.
Saturday Night Race:
We drew high number for both the Sat night and Sunday morning race, same format as last night. Started last for the heat due to high chip draw, worked our way up to third which put us deep in the field for the feature. We had a good feature run going got up to 4th going for third when the #28 got into us, his left side tires slid into our right side tires causing a caution which knocked us back a spot or two. After the restart we worked our way back up to a fifth place finish, which paid out $125.00 with 15 or more cars. Connelly was beginning to figure out this track.
Sunday Morning Race:
12:01 a.m. had the pit manager calling for cars to the grid. This late race would not have a heat just a feature of 17 cars with starting positions determined by chip draw. We started slightly past mid pack and worked our way up toward the front. Slightly past mid race we were making the pass on Andrew Johnson #66 (a Sunny South driver) for third, after which we ran down the second place driver and got to his rear bumper but just ran out of laps, giving us a third place finish. If we had
3 or 4 more to go?? who knows. Overall a very good experience for Connelly and myself, we had to set the car up for a different track, with some help from #7, learn how to drive it, and appointed ourselves at this new track very respectfully and got three races of INEX points. Our fast lap of this feature was 16.39 second which equates to 82.37 MPH, our best Sunny South lap was 12.893 seconds which is 69.803 MPH on the 1/4 mile track, like I said this track is wicked fast.
We checked into the motel only a mile away and went to the track. Picked our a pit stall, went through tech and walked out to look at the track. It was indeed impressive, it looked like Talledega compared to Sunny South, Connelly couldn't wait to get out on it. We fuelled the car checked air pressures and went out. Man that track was fast, he had to learn how to drive it, it was so much different from Sunny South. Fortunately Hunter Lewis #7 from Sunny South was there and he helped us with information on driving lines air pressures and setup. We ran several test sessions and improved our times each time out. They don't qualify at this track, you draw a chip with a number to determine your starting position in the heat race, and the finish in the heat determines your starting position in the feature.
Friday Night Race:
We drew a high number chip which started us last in the heat. There were 17 cars available so they had 3 heats. They only start 20 cars in the feature so tonight all cars will qualify. There were 6 cars in our heat and we started 6th due to our chip draw. Connelly worked his way up through the field while being very careful as we still had 3 points races at Sunny South and we are locked in a points race for second with an outside shot at first. Connelly finished a strong second which would start us 6th in the feature. In the feature he worked his way through traffic and was going for third and touched the left rear tire of the #91 with our right front tire causing Con to have to back off and we went from going for third to 6th. It was right after a caution and all the cars were bunched up and they "freight trained" us. Not too bad for our first attempt at this new venue. Sixth out of 17 first time out, would like to have had third, but the car didn't have a scratch on it so we'll take it. This was just a points race no trophy or money.
Saturday Night Race:
We drew high number for both the Sat night and Sunday morning race, same format as last night. Started last for the heat due to high chip draw, worked our way up to third which put us deep in the field for the feature. We had a good feature run going got up to 4th going for third when the #28 got into us, his left side tires slid into our right side tires causing a caution which knocked us back a spot or two. After the restart we worked our way back up to a fifth place finish, which paid out $125.00 with 15 or more cars. Connelly was beginning to figure out this track.
Sunday Morning Race:
12:01 a.m. had the pit manager calling for cars to the grid. This late race would not have a heat just a feature of 17 cars with starting positions determined by chip draw. We started slightly past mid pack and worked our way up toward the front. Slightly past mid race we were making the pass on Andrew Johnson #66 (a Sunny South driver) for third, after which we ran down the second place driver and got to his rear bumper but just ran out of laps, giving us a third place finish. If we had
3 or 4 more to go?? who knows. Overall a very good experience for Connelly and myself, we had to set the car up for a different track, with some help from #7, learn how to drive it, and appointed ourselves at this new track very respectfully and got three races of INEX points. Our fast lap of this feature was 16.39 second which equates to 82.37 MPH, our best Sunny South lap was 12.893 seconds which is 69.803 MPH on the 1/4 mile track, like I said this track is wicked fast.
Friday Night September 12, 2014
Friday Sept 12th found us at the pit gate of Sunny South Raceway at around 5:30. We got to our pit stall got set up, registered went through tech and got ready to go on the track for a test session. The car felt good but the track was still hot, and we decided to let it cool down some before going back out. We waited until the last session and the track came to us a little, so we ran it as was for qualifying. Connelly qualified second behind Hunter Lewis by .055 of a second, close but no cigar. However they threw the dice and inverted two which gave us the pole. We have been lucky on that lately. The cars available tonight were Connelly in the #32, Hunter in the #7, Conner in the #14, Robbie in the #96, Brad in the #94, Joseph in the #44jr, Ramsey in the #4, Treyce in the #01, and Corry in the #1 a good solid field of cars, missing tonight was Brian McArdle , who was deer hunting with the kidney transplant group (Brian is a kidney receipent).
Qualifying Order: #7, #32, #14, #96, #94, #44jr., #4, #01, and #1.
Feature Race, As a result of the invert the #32 and #7 swapped position on the front row and every one else fell in place behind. At the start Connelly held on to 1st but did not lead the first lap, he fell to third, got back to second and ran real close to the #7 for most of the race which was caution free. He got to the #7's rear bumper on the white flag lap, and made an attempt to get under him on the last lap but finished second with less than a car length separating Connelly and the #7. The remainder of the top 5 were the #44jr. in third, the #94 in fourth and the #96 in fifth. There weren't a lot of position changes, but a lot of good close racing none the less. We as a team are getting a lot closer to being where we need to be to start winning these races but we're not there yet. Looking forward to the next race already.
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