2015 season in a word WOW!!!
As always before the season Connelly and I sat down and set some goals, this year's goals were:
1. Finish on the podium in all races.
2. Win at least half of the races.
3. Win the track championship in the Pro division.
4. Win the Louisiana State Championship.
5. Race everybody clean and fairly.
6. Have Connelly continue to develop his driving skills.
7. Not to wreck the car to the point that it needs major work.
Lets see how we did:
1&2. Won 14 out of 17 races, one second (got blocked by a lapped car) and was involved in wrecks in two other races. We led every feature at some point in the race. Won 17 heat races, sat on the pole for 15 of the 17 races.
3. Won the track championship by a fairly wide margin.
4. Finished 28th. out of 207 competitors in the national points for Pro division Legends.
5. Won the Louisiana State Championship
6.We raced everybody clean and fairly.
7. Connelly continued to develop his skills, at one point we won 9 races in a row.
8. Connelly had a "Bounty" put on him twice during the season. One Brian McArdle won in the lapped car incident, the other we claimed the reward as no one beat us during the "Bounty".
9. And by the way, we broke the track record on opening night and set a new standard of 12.840.
10. Additionally Connelly had the opportunity to drive Mr. Billy Elmore's #3 Pro Challenge car, the first time out he won in a field of 8 cars, the second time out he ran second to the #94 Brad West in a field of 10 cars. Not bad for a "rookie" in that class.
12. While we did have two wrecks, the first was just a fender bender, the second appeared to be much more severe requiring the body to be replaced (reason for the white body) we also had it checked out on the chassis jig and it was OK. Mr. Joe was right, but as good as the car was running I didn't want to chance something being bent.
So as I said in the heading WOW!! I don't know how we can follow this next year. I just hope we haven't overdrawn our racing luck account.
Friday, October 30, 2015
Tuesday, October 13, 2015
Final Race Weekend of The Season October 3rd & 4th
Well here it is the final weekend of the 2015 racing season. It has been a long season, we greet it with mixed emotions, sort of glad to put it to bed, but know that in a couple of weeks we'll be looking for someone to race. "The Dixie Clash" as this race has come to be known as is a little bit different in that Saturday is our normal program--qualify, heat race and a 20 lap feature, Sunday's program is qualify, and a 30 lap feature race--no heat race and no invert. Tire management will come into play in the Sunday 30 lapper for sure. The track sweetened the pot considerably for the "Clash" $500.00 to win each day plus Connelly had another BOUNTY placed on him $100 per day for anyone who could beat him fairly making an extra $200 bounty payout a possibility, so we could have a very good weekend if we are successful.
SATURDAY OCT, 3rd:
We arrived at the track around 2:30 as it opened at noon, got the pits setup, got registered went through tech, got on the track to finish breaking in our last set of tires. We got that done and got in a couple of really good "hot" laps. The track had a ton of grip (almost too much) but we were able to post a fast lap on the transponder of 13.00--not bad. Our old friend Hunter Lewis was back with a new '34 Ford coupe, he was really quick, I had him on the hand held stopwatch in the very low 13's. We also had a few cars in from Atlanta, who got rained out, one of which was a '34 Ford coupe also with the #32 on it, he would be classified as the #32j. All in all we had 12 cars registered to race, a very good field. I guess the extra $500 and the bounty brought in some out-of-towners in to compete.
QUALIFYING:
Connelly felt like he had a good shot at the pole, but he went out and overdrove the car and wound up 5th a full quarter of a second slower than he practiced. Hunter Lewis in the #7 got the pole with a 13.109, #32j Jorgendon 2nd with 13.152, #14 Conner Okrzesik 3rd with 13.180, #96 Robbie Johnston 4th at 13.198, #32 Connelly 5th at13.244, followed by #10, #01, #04, #5, #28,another Atlanta car and #1.
The lineup for our heat was Hunter, Conner, Connelly,#01Treyce, #5 Brandon #28 Arlas.
Connelly starting from third told me before the race "Pops I can win this heat race" my response was "prove it". He got a good start and by the end of the first lap he had the lead which he never gave up and went on to win with Hunter in second and Conner rounding out the top 3.
FEATURE RACE:
Connelly threw a 3 on the invert dice meaning he would start third in the feature with Hunter on the pole and the #32j outside font row with Conner outside of him. Connelly got a good clean start and by lap 3 had the lead which he held on to for the remainder of the race. There was some very good racing taking place throughout the pack with positions being challenged constantly. Top 5 finishing order #1 Connelly, #2 Hunter, #3 Jorgenson, #4 Conner, #5 Robbie. Connelly drove a very good race, he had to as the new #7 Hunter and the #32j were both wicked fast and it was all we could do to win it, he had defended one leg of his two race "Bounty" as well as winning the $500 first place prize money. A good start to the weekend. But there was still that 30 lapper to deal with tomorrow.
SUNDAY OCT 4th
We all got a good night's sleep at the LaQuinta inn, got to the track early as Connelly had to break in a set of tires for the #3 Pro Challenge that he was driving again today. We got that all done and put one good hard run on the Legend--can't forget the #32.
QUALIFYING:
Pro Challenge-- Connelly qualified third out of ten cars, not bad as we had a couple of new cars tonight.
Legend--Connelly qualified the #32 on the pole for tonight's race at a 13.063 looks like he got his concentration back. The legend participants from last night were joined by Jeremy Lundy in his #1. It looked like Hunter was "off his game" tonight as he qualified 5th.
30 LAP FEATURE:
Pro Challenge--Connelly started inside second row behind Brad West on pole and Joseph McArdle outside front row. Connelly got inside of Joseph and was able to take second where rode for a few laps when he made a mistake and Joseph took the position back. He rode there for a few laps (trying to conserve tires) then he made a move to get second back when Joseph spun right in front of Connelly and gave Con the position back. Brian McArdle was now in third behind Connelly and he made a good pass to the inside for second, Connelly gathered it up and re passed Brian coming to the checkered flag for a second place finish. A really good fun race to watch (and drive in) Top five finishing order, 1st Brad West, 2nd Connelly, 3rd Brian McArdle, 4th Andrue Nolen, 5th Jo Jo Floyd.
This was a very interesting race. Connelly just loves these cars.
Legends--The participants tonight were the same as last night except for Jeremy Lundy #1j. Starting lineup 1st #32 Connelly, 2nd #32j, 3rd #14, 4th # 10, 5th #7, 6th #1j, 7th #96, 8th 01, 9th #5, 10th 04, 11th #28, 12th #6, 13th#1 a very strong field of cars. At the start Connelly got a clean start and Conner #14 got by the #32j and for the next nine laps Conner was never more than one or two car lengths behind Connelly and for a good portion of the race it was the Conner and Connelly show then on lap 10 the oil filter on the #96 loosened and a couple of quarts of good ole' hot oil was laid down on the track bringing on a 70 minute cleanup, allowing everyone's tires to cool down-it was a cool night anyway, now all the tire strategy went out the window and it is just another 20 lap feature. With cool tires and no need to conserve, everybody was going for it. On the restart the 32j got by Conner and spun Connelly coming out of turn 4, Connelly just looped it 360 degrees and drove it away. This could have been a disaster as the whole field was coming full bore and could have really done some damage, there was some bumping but no serious damage to anyone. After the restart things settled down and with cool tires, Connelly was able to open up some space between him and the #32j who now was in second. The race concluded with Connelly winning the #32j in second the #14 in third with the #1 in fourth and the #7 rounding out the top five. What a weekend, won both legend features, defended two nights of BOUNTY ran second in the Pro Challenge, locked up the track championship in the Legend class and went home with a nice payday. Glad this season is over, but we will be looking to race something in a couple of weeks. To Connelly's fans who came out to watch us race, a very heartfelt THANK YOU please continue your support next season.
SATURDAY OCT, 3rd:
We arrived at the track around 2:30 as it opened at noon, got the pits setup, got registered went through tech, got on the track to finish breaking in our last set of tires. We got that done and got in a couple of really good "hot" laps. The track had a ton of grip (almost too much) but we were able to post a fast lap on the transponder of 13.00--not bad. Our old friend Hunter Lewis was back with a new '34 Ford coupe, he was really quick, I had him on the hand held stopwatch in the very low 13's. We also had a few cars in from Atlanta, who got rained out, one of which was a '34 Ford coupe also with the #32 on it, he would be classified as the #32j. All in all we had 12 cars registered to race, a very good field. I guess the extra $500 and the bounty brought in some out-of-towners in to compete.
QUALIFYING:
Connelly felt like he had a good shot at the pole, but he went out and overdrove the car and wound up 5th a full quarter of a second slower than he practiced. Hunter Lewis in the #7 got the pole with a 13.109, #32j Jorgendon 2nd with 13.152, #14 Conner Okrzesik 3rd with 13.180, #96 Robbie Johnston 4th at 13.198, #32 Connelly 5th at13.244, followed by #10, #01, #04, #5, #28,another Atlanta car and #1.
The lineup for our heat was Hunter, Conner, Connelly,#01Treyce, #5 Brandon #28 Arlas.
Connelly starting from third told me before the race "Pops I can win this heat race" my response was "prove it". He got a good start and by the end of the first lap he had the lead which he never gave up and went on to win with Hunter in second and Conner rounding out the top 3.
FEATURE RACE:
Connelly threw a 3 on the invert dice meaning he would start third in the feature with Hunter on the pole and the #32j outside font row with Conner outside of him. Connelly got a good clean start and by lap 3 had the lead which he held on to for the remainder of the race. There was some very good racing taking place throughout the pack with positions being challenged constantly. Top 5 finishing order #1 Connelly, #2 Hunter, #3 Jorgenson, #4 Conner, #5 Robbie. Connelly drove a very good race, he had to as the new #7 Hunter and the #32j were both wicked fast and it was all we could do to win it, he had defended one leg of his two race "Bounty" as well as winning the $500 first place prize money. A good start to the weekend. But there was still that 30 lapper to deal with tomorrow.
SUNDAY OCT 4th
We all got a good night's sleep at the LaQuinta inn, got to the track early as Connelly had to break in a set of tires for the #3 Pro Challenge that he was driving again today. We got that all done and put one good hard run on the Legend--can't forget the #32.
QUALIFYING:
Pro Challenge-- Connelly qualified third out of ten cars, not bad as we had a couple of new cars tonight.
Legend--Connelly qualified the #32 on the pole for tonight's race at a 13.063 looks like he got his concentration back. The legend participants from last night were joined by Jeremy Lundy in his #1. It looked like Hunter was "off his game" tonight as he qualified 5th.
30 LAP FEATURE:
Pro Challenge--Connelly started inside second row behind Brad West on pole and Joseph McArdle outside front row. Connelly got inside of Joseph and was able to take second where rode for a few laps when he made a mistake and Joseph took the position back. He rode there for a few laps (trying to conserve tires) then he made a move to get second back when Joseph spun right in front of Connelly and gave Con the position back. Brian McArdle was now in third behind Connelly and he made a good pass to the inside for second, Connelly gathered it up and re passed Brian coming to the checkered flag for a second place finish. A really good fun race to watch (and drive in) Top five finishing order, 1st Brad West, 2nd Connelly, 3rd Brian McArdle, 4th Andrue Nolen, 5th Jo Jo Floyd.
This was a very interesting race. Connelly just loves these cars.
Legends--The participants tonight were the same as last night except for Jeremy Lundy #1j. Starting lineup 1st #32 Connelly, 2nd #32j, 3rd #14, 4th # 10, 5th #7, 6th #1j, 7th #96, 8th 01, 9th #5, 10th 04, 11th #28, 12th #6, 13th#1 a very strong field of cars. At the start Connelly got a clean start and Conner #14 got by the #32j and for the next nine laps Conner was never more than one or two car lengths behind Connelly and for a good portion of the race it was the Conner and Connelly show then on lap 10 the oil filter on the #96 loosened and a couple of quarts of good ole' hot oil was laid down on the track bringing on a 70 minute cleanup, allowing everyone's tires to cool down-it was a cool night anyway, now all the tire strategy went out the window and it is just another 20 lap feature. With cool tires and no need to conserve, everybody was going for it. On the restart the 32j got by Conner and spun Connelly coming out of turn 4, Connelly just looped it 360 degrees and drove it away. This could have been a disaster as the whole field was coming full bore and could have really done some damage, there was some bumping but no serious damage to anyone. After the restart things settled down and with cool tires, Connelly was able to open up some space between him and the #32j who now was in second. The race concluded with Connelly winning the #32j in second the #14 in third with the #1 in fourth and the #7 rounding out the top five. What a weekend, won both legend features, defended two nights of BOUNTY ran second in the Pro Challenge, locked up the track championship in the Legend class and went home with a nice payday. Glad this season is over, but we will be looking to race something in a couple of weeks. To Connelly's fans who came out to watch us race, a very heartfelt THANK YOU please continue your support next season.
Friday, September 25, 2015
Saturday Sept. 19, 2015
We arrived at the track a few minutes after gates opened, as we had a lot to do. We had to partially break in a set of right side tires for the Legend (hopefully the last set of the season) and there is a new wrinkle for the #32 team. While driving back to school last Sunday Connelly called me and said, "Pops since we have the points almost wrapped up, call Mr. Billy Elmore (who owns a pro challenge car) and ask him what it would take for us to rent his car for the next race". Billy hasn't been racing every race so I gave him a call. He wasn't planning on racing the 19th race, so we were able to put something together. He bent over backwards for us, set the car up for Connelly 165# vs. his 210, got the stagger right, added lead to get the balance right and made his track assistant available to us. Connelly's statement to me was." I just want to see if I can drive a pro challenge" So in addition to breaking in tires on the #32 Legend we had to get the feel of a totally different car, scuff in a set of tires for it, qualify it and the Legend and race both cars. I was worn out before the race even started.
Connelly took to the Pro Challenge like a duck to water, his line on the track was good, his times with only a couple of laps under his belt were respectable. He got a couple more laps of practice and got ready to qualify.
QUALIFYING:
Connelly qualified the Legend on the pole, with Jeremy Lundy a very close second. He then qualified the Pro Challenge second by 2 one hundredths of a second behind Brad West. very respectable.
HEAT RACE:
In the Legends heat race Connelly started on the pole and led all laps for the win. In Pro Challenge he started outside front row but started in the wrong gear and got eaten alive going down the front straightaway, by the time the dust settled he was 4th. These cars are very vunenable to tire wear, since the heat race pays no prize money, Connelly just rode there saving his tires for the feature.
FEATURE RACE:
In the Legends, there were 10 cars competing, Connelly started third as a result of rolling a 3 on the invert dice. Conner Okresik in the #14 was on the pole and Jeremy Lundy #1j outside front row. By lap 3 Connelly had gotten the lead and held on for the rest of the raced for the win. Top 5 finishers were #32 Connelly, #1j Jeremy Lundy second, #14 Conner Okresik, third, #96 Robbie Johnston fourth, #15 Dustin Harvison,fifth. Conner and Jeremy put on quite a show for the fans racing for second/third, they changed positions more than once and were never more than one car length apart, good racing.
In the Pro Challenge feature we had 6 cars competing tonight. Brian McArdle on the pole, Connelly outside front row, Joseph McArdrdle third, Dave Nolan fourth, Brad West fifth and Conner Okrzesik sixth. At the start Connelly got the correct gear this time and was able to get a fender in front of Brian, although on the outside, he maintained the lead abusing his tires more than he wanted to. He was finally able to get to the bottom where he endured a couple of cautions and restarts and several laps of the #14 of Conner right on his rear bumper challenging hard, his spotter kept telling him, "he is there, just keep hitting your marks". This was the first time Connelly had a spotter, he said it really helped. Connelly held on for the victory. What an unbelievable night --swept the Legends and won the Pro Challenge the first time he sat in the car, a tribute to how well the car was set up and how well Connelly drove it. I keep expecting to wake up and find out I was dreaming. We will probably never forget tonight. The next race is the Dixie Clash on Oct 3rd and 4th, $500 to win both nights and they put a bounty on Connelly again in the Legends and OH! by the way, Connelly is driving the Pro Challenge again Sunday night. If you have the opportunity come out on the 3rd and 4th, come treat yourself to some really great racing and see if Connelly can "pull it off again" see you there.
Connelly took to the Pro Challenge like a duck to water, his line on the track was good, his times with only a couple of laps under his belt were respectable. He got a couple more laps of practice and got ready to qualify.
QUALIFYING:
Connelly qualified the Legend on the pole, with Jeremy Lundy a very close second. He then qualified the Pro Challenge second by 2 one hundredths of a second behind Brad West. very respectable.
HEAT RACE:
In the Legends heat race Connelly started on the pole and led all laps for the win. In Pro Challenge he started outside front row but started in the wrong gear and got eaten alive going down the front straightaway, by the time the dust settled he was 4th. These cars are very vunenable to tire wear, since the heat race pays no prize money, Connelly just rode there saving his tires for the feature.
FEATURE RACE:
In the Legends, there were 10 cars competing, Connelly started third as a result of rolling a 3 on the invert dice. Conner Okresik in the #14 was on the pole and Jeremy Lundy #1j outside front row. By lap 3 Connelly had gotten the lead and held on for the rest of the raced for the win. Top 5 finishers were #32 Connelly, #1j Jeremy Lundy second, #14 Conner Okresik, third, #96 Robbie Johnston fourth, #15 Dustin Harvison,fifth. Conner and Jeremy put on quite a show for the fans racing for second/third, they changed positions more than once and were never more than one car length apart, good racing.
In the Pro Challenge feature we had 6 cars competing tonight. Brian McArdle on the pole, Connelly outside front row, Joseph McArdrdle third, Dave Nolan fourth, Brad West fifth and Conner Okrzesik sixth. At the start Connelly got the correct gear this time and was able to get a fender in front of Brian, although on the outside, he maintained the lead abusing his tires more than he wanted to. He was finally able to get to the bottom where he endured a couple of cautions and restarts and several laps of the #14 of Conner right on his rear bumper challenging hard, his spotter kept telling him, "he is there, just keep hitting your marks". This was the first time Connelly had a spotter, he said it really helped. Connelly held on for the victory. What an unbelievable night --swept the Legends and won the Pro Challenge the first time he sat in the car, a tribute to how well the car was set up and how well Connelly drove it. I keep expecting to wake up and find out I was dreaming. We will probably never forget tonight. The next race is the Dixie Clash on Oct 3rd and 4th, $500 to win both nights and they put a bounty on Connelly again in the Legends and OH! by the way, Connelly is driving the Pro Challenge again Sunday night. If you have the opportunity come out on the 3rd and 4th, come treat yourself to some really great racing and see if Connelly can "pull it off again" see you there.
Catch up on Races Aug 15, 29, Sept 12
Connelly has had an incredible run of races since the middle of June. Since the "big wreck" coming out of turn 4 on June 6th where we did extensive damage to the body of the car, Connelly has won every pole, every heat and every feature. In the Aug 29th race it was sort of un-officially announced that the McArdles would no longer compete in Legends. Joseph's car was said to have been sold, Brian's car had been prepped for the nationals and would not be raced until then and put up for sale after the nationals. The McArdles will be fielding 2 or 3 cars in the Pro Challenge division. In fact Joseph ran his car last race and won in a very impressive showing.
The effect of the McArdles leaving the Legend division has yet to be seen. They have been a fixture in that division since we have been racing, and a very dominant fixture I might add. We will certainly miss racing against them
The effect of the McArdles leaving the Legend division has yet to be seen. They have been a fixture in that division since we have been racing, and a very dominant fixture I might add. We will certainly miss racing against them
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
Saturday Night Aug 1st, 2015
The DMS team got to the track in a timely fashion, got all of the prep things done; set up pits, check in, register go through tech and get ready to break in tires. We got a break in that what we needed to do, got done so we put our race tires on for a late test run as the track was still blistering hot--128 degrees. At 6:30 the track was still 118 degrees so we just decided to forego the last test session, we wouldn't learn much so we just "saved our stuff".
QUALIFYING: The track was still quite hot at qualifying, 106, coming down but still hot. Qualifying results were: On the pole, Connelly Dubuisson #32--13.081, 2nd, Conner Okrzesik #14, 3rd, Joseph McArdle #44, 4th Dustin Harvison #15, 5th, Robbie Johnston #96, 6th Treyce Capers #01, 7th Brad West #94, 8th Dawson Keener #04, 9th Brandon Slater #5, 10th William Wilson #30, 11th Fred Laing #6, and 12th Wyatt Heffington #1. Quite an impressive group--the whole field separated by less than a second.
HEAT RACE: In Connelly's heat race were the #32, #44 ( Joseph McArdle was driving his dad's car as Brian was not competing tonight, due to a medical issue) #96, #94, #6, #5. Connelly starting from the pole got a good start and led start to finish in what was an uneventful race (about time after last weeks marathon). The top five finishing order was #32, #96, #44, #94, and the #6. Now to get ready for the feature.
FEATURE RACE: Tonight's feature started out the exact opposite as last weekend's race. Last week we ran the first 10 laps in 3 1/2 minutes, this week it took us 15 minutes to record one complete lap, two red flags and three cars on the rollback. Our good friend Robbie Johnston #96 got loose coming out of turn 4 on the start spun and got "T" boned by the #5 both cars were taken of on the rollback. On the ensuing restart the #1 and #30 got together going into turn 1 and wound up against the wall at the entrance to the track where pit road comes in, another red flag. Now we are 15 -20 min past the original start and 0 laps completed, another restart--false start someone jumped the start, another restart--this time it "took" and we got a start. Conner #14 was on the pole and he was protecting the inside with Joseph #44 on his rear bumkper trying to keep Connelly #32 on the outside. It worked for a lap or two when #32 finally fell in behind Joseph and got to the inside where he could race, in another lap he got by Joseph #44, then another lap or so he got by Conner #14 for the lead, all three drivers gave each other plenty of room to pass and there was no incident. There was another caution when the #94 got loose and hit the wall almost head on right at the start/finish line. He took a really mean hit, thank goodness for all the safety equipment as Brad was fine. Another restart, again Connelly got a good restart and was able to keep the lead for the rest of the race. Conner #14 and Joseph #44 were always within striking distance should #32 have made a mistake they both were in a position to "pounce". The top 3 in Pro division were #32, #44, and #15, The top 3 in the young lions/semi pro division were #14, #04, and #01. All in all a very entertaining race, with a little too much action--hate to see all those cars get torn up. Looking forward to the next race on Aug 15, come on out and treat yourself to some really good racing.
QUALIFYING: The track was still quite hot at qualifying, 106, coming down but still hot. Qualifying results were: On the pole, Connelly Dubuisson #32--13.081, 2nd, Conner Okrzesik #14, 3rd, Joseph McArdle #44, 4th Dustin Harvison #15, 5th, Robbie Johnston #96, 6th Treyce Capers #01, 7th Brad West #94, 8th Dawson Keener #04, 9th Brandon Slater #5, 10th William Wilson #30, 11th Fred Laing #6, and 12th Wyatt Heffington #1. Quite an impressive group--the whole field separated by less than a second.
HEAT RACE: In Connelly's heat race were the #32, #44 ( Joseph McArdle was driving his dad's car as Brian was not competing tonight, due to a medical issue) #96, #94, #6, #5. Connelly starting from the pole got a good start and led start to finish in what was an uneventful race (about time after last weeks marathon). The top five finishing order was #32, #96, #44, #94, and the #6. Now to get ready for the feature.
FEATURE RACE: Tonight's feature started out the exact opposite as last weekend's race. Last week we ran the first 10 laps in 3 1/2 minutes, this week it took us 15 minutes to record one complete lap, two red flags and three cars on the rollback. Our good friend Robbie Johnston #96 got loose coming out of turn 4 on the start spun and got "T" boned by the #5 both cars were taken of on the rollback. On the ensuing restart the #1 and #30 got together going into turn 1 and wound up against the wall at the entrance to the track where pit road comes in, another red flag. Now we are 15 -20 min past the original start and 0 laps completed, another restart--false start someone jumped the start, another restart--this time it "took" and we got a start. Conner #14 was on the pole and he was protecting the inside with Joseph #44 on his rear bumkper trying to keep Connelly #32 on the outside. It worked for a lap or two when #32 finally fell in behind Joseph and got to the inside where he could race, in another lap he got by Joseph #44, then another lap or so he got by Conner #14 for the lead, all three drivers gave each other plenty of room to pass and there was no incident. There was another caution when the #94 got loose and hit the wall almost head on right at the start/finish line. He took a really mean hit, thank goodness for all the safety equipment as Brad was fine. Another restart, again Connelly got a good restart and was able to keep the lead for the rest of the race. Conner #14 and Joseph #44 were always within striking distance should #32 have made a mistake they both were in a position to "pounce". The top 3 in Pro division were #32, #44, and #15, The top 3 in the young lions/semi pro division were #14, #04, and #01. All in all a very entertaining race, with a little too much action--hate to see all those cars get torn up. Looking forward to the next race on Aug 15, come on out and treat yourself to some really good racing.
Wednesday, July 22, 2015
Saturday Night July 18, 2015
Saturday night found the #32 team at the pit gate at 5 pm. a little later than usual, but we had already done our tire break in and worked on our setup issues last Wednesday night when we rented the track, plus it was blistering hot, not a good time to tweak setups. Got our pits setup, went through registration and tech went out for a trial run--the only thing we could find out was "did it start? would it stop? would it turn left? Yes to all three. The track was so slick you could hardly run, track temp was 126.7 degrees, so we just parked it with the intention of getting another run in right before qualifying. The track temp only dropped by a couple of degrees, so we just went into qualifying with what we had.
Qualifying:
Connelly qualified on the pole by the narrowest of margins 11/1000 of a second over Brian McArdle #44 who was back after last week's absence, qualifying third was Joseph McArdle, #44jr., followed by Dawson Keener in the 04, Robbie Johnston, #96, Brad West, #94, Conner Okrzesik #14, Treyce Capers #01, Dustin Harvison #15, Brandon Slater #5, Fred Laing #6, Michel Beasley #114, William Wilson #16, Wyatt Heffington #1, and Devin Corry #18, all within one second of each other. If my math is correct--and it rarely is--that one second equates to 100 feet on the track and the top two qualifiers are separated by about 11inches--real close. So I look for a really competitive race. We have 15 cars available to compete tonight.
Heat Race:
Our heat race had 8 cars in it with Connelly starting on the pole, he got a good start and led all of the 8 laps, it was an uneventful race with only one quick caution on lap 3 caused by a spin. Top 5 in the heat race were: #32 Connelly, #96 Robbie, #44jr. Joseph, #15 Dustin, #14 Conner.
Feature Race:
After winning the heat race Connelly threw the invert dice and rolled a three putting him in the third starting position, with Robbie #96 on the pole and Brian #44 outside front row, Brad #94 outside second row, and Joseph #44jr rounding our the starting front five. Connelly got a good start then a quick caution before the completion of lap number one--complete restart. He got another good start and had the lead by the end of lap one. Brian and Joseph battled for second place for about four laps allowing Connelly to get away form both of them by about 8 car lengths. Right at halfway (10 laps) a car spun bring out the yellow. On the ensuing restart Connelly got a good start then right past the start finish line the #94 got into the side of Brian in the #44 which triggered a Daytona type "big one". I counted no less than 8 cars involved. Connelly was clear of the wreck and said he looked in his rearview mirror and all he saw was smoke and cars spinning and getting into each other. Resulting in a red flag which lasted the better part of 15 minutes, we had run the first half of the race in 3 1/2 min. at least 8 cars went off the track for repairs including Brian in the #44, so they all had to go to the rear, however they all came back on to run the rest of the race. The field then went into a "yellow fever" mode with the remainder of the race having 4 more yellow flags and two more red flags.
Brian worked his way back up to second, the repairs he made behind pit wall seemed to help because he then ran the fastest lap of the night for any legend including qualifying, with a 13.015 which was quick considering the track temp. It seemed to take forever to get the last 3 laps in. The top three in the Pro division were Connelly #32, Brian #44, and Brad #94. The top three in the Semi Pro division were Robbie #96, Dawson #04 and Conner #14. It should be noted that Treyce Capers in the #01 was exiting turn 4 looking at the checkered flag for his first podium finish when he spun dropping him to sixth, man you gotta keep that thing under you SSR began a new payout procedure tonight. Even though all the legend classes (4) run together they began paying separate prize money and trophies for each division--a really good idea. The race took over 55 minutes to run with the first half only taking 3 1/2 minutes. Long night we got home at 3:45 Sunday morning.
Qualifying:
Connelly qualified on the pole by the narrowest of margins 11/1000 of a second over Brian McArdle #44 who was back after last week's absence, qualifying third was Joseph McArdle, #44jr., followed by Dawson Keener in the 04, Robbie Johnston, #96, Brad West, #94, Conner Okrzesik #14, Treyce Capers #01, Dustin Harvison #15, Brandon Slater #5, Fred Laing #6, Michel Beasley #114, William Wilson #16, Wyatt Heffington #1, and Devin Corry #18, all within one second of each other. If my math is correct--and it rarely is--that one second equates to 100 feet on the track and the top two qualifiers are separated by about 11inches--real close. So I look for a really competitive race. We have 15 cars available to compete tonight.
Heat Race:
Our heat race had 8 cars in it with Connelly starting on the pole, he got a good start and led all of the 8 laps, it was an uneventful race with only one quick caution on lap 3 caused by a spin. Top 5 in the heat race were: #32 Connelly, #96 Robbie, #44jr. Joseph, #15 Dustin, #14 Conner.
Feature Race:
After winning the heat race Connelly threw the invert dice and rolled a three putting him in the third starting position, with Robbie #96 on the pole and Brian #44 outside front row, Brad #94 outside second row, and Joseph #44jr rounding our the starting front five. Connelly got a good start then a quick caution before the completion of lap number one--complete restart. He got another good start and had the lead by the end of lap one. Brian and Joseph battled for second place for about four laps allowing Connelly to get away form both of them by about 8 car lengths. Right at halfway (10 laps) a car spun bring out the yellow. On the ensuing restart Connelly got a good start then right past the start finish line the #94 got into the side of Brian in the #44 which triggered a Daytona type "big one". I counted no less than 8 cars involved. Connelly was clear of the wreck and said he looked in his rearview mirror and all he saw was smoke and cars spinning and getting into each other. Resulting in a red flag which lasted the better part of 15 minutes, we had run the first half of the race in 3 1/2 min. at least 8 cars went off the track for repairs including Brian in the #44, so they all had to go to the rear, however they all came back on to run the rest of the race. The field then went into a "yellow fever" mode with the remainder of the race having 4 more yellow flags and two more red flags.
Brian worked his way back up to second, the repairs he made behind pit wall seemed to help because he then ran the fastest lap of the night for any legend including qualifying, with a 13.015 which was quick considering the track temp. It seemed to take forever to get the last 3 laps in. The top three in the Pro division were Connelly #32, Brian #44, and Brad #94. The top three in the Semi Pro division were Robbie #96, Dawson #04 and Conner #14. It should be noted that Treyce Capers in the #01 was exiting turn 4 looking at the checkered flag for his first podium finish when he spun dropping him to sixth, man you gotta keep that thing under you SSR began a new payout procedure tonight. Even though all the legend classes (4) run together they began paying separate prize money and trophies for each division--a really good idea. The race took over 55 minutes to run with the first half only taking 3 1/2 minutes. Long night we got home at 3:45 Sunday morning.
Sunday, June 28, 2015
Saturday Night June 20, 2015
Tonight found us arriving late as we encountered a huge traffic tie up outside of Slidell, we left an hour early but it took us 1hour and 40 min to go 4 miles 6 lanes of traffic reduced to one--what a nightmare. We had to shake down the car start breaking in tires. We got on the track and the car was not to Connelly's liking. Just couldn't get it to "feel right". He got it "close" but in a series as competitive as this one you really don't want close.
QUALIFYING: Connelly qualified on the pole with a relatively slow 13.122, however the track did not seem to have a lot of speed in it. The track was very hot at qualifying 126 degrees. The remaining competitors in order of qualifying were the #44jr Joseph McArdle, #96 Robbie Johnston, #14 Conner Okresik, #15 Dustin Harvison, #94 Brad West, #01 Treyce Capers, #6 Fred Laing, #5 Brandon Slater, and #1 Wyatt Heffington. The #32 was a sight to behold, a new unpainted white fiberglass body with a black and orange hood complimented by a black deck lid with an orange
fleur-de-lis on it, going down the straightaway away from you it looks like a car with the trunk open, all this with a blue painters tape #32 on the passenger side door. It desperately needs to go to the paint shop.
HEAT RACE: Connelly started on the pole and led start to finish. The top 3 were #32, #96, #01. It was a uneventful heat which was great after last race wreck fest.
FEATURE RACE: Connelly threw a 4 on the invert dice, starting us from outside row two. He got a good start, got to the inside by lap 2 and had the lead by lap 4. Connelly went on to win closely followed by the #44jr of Joseph McArdle, the #96 of Robbie Johnston, #14 Conner Okrzesik, who wrecked his primary car in his heat and had to go to a back up for the feature (lucky he has a backup) and #01 of Treyce Capers for his first feature top 5. Congratulations Treyce. We are looking forward to the July 18th race, but we have a lot to do before then, thankfully we have three weekends before then to get it done. It should be noted that #44 Brian McArdle was not here tonight to race.We look forward to seeing him soon.
QUALIFYING: Connelly qualified on the pole with a relatively slow 13.122, however the track did not seem to have a lot of speed in it. The track was very hot at qualifying 126 degrees. The remaining competitors in order of qualifying were the #44jr Joseph McArdle, #96 Robbie Johnston, #14 Conner Okresik, #15 Dustin Harvison, #94 Brad West, #01 Treyce Capers, #6 Fred Laing, #5 Brandon Slater, and #1 Wyatt Heffington. The #32 was a sight to behold, a new unpainted white fiberglass body with a black and orange hood complimented by a black deck lid with an orange
fleur-de-lis on it, going down the straightaway away from you it looks like a car with the trunk open, all this with a blue painters tape #32 on the passenger side door. It desperately needs to go to the paint shop.
HEAT RACE: Connelly started on the pole and led start to finish. The top 3 were #32, #96, #01. It was a uneventful heat which was great after last race wreck fest.
FEATURE RACE: Connelly threw a 4 on the invert dice, starting us from outside row two. He got a good start, got to the inside by lap 2 and had the lead by lap 4. Connelly went on to win closely followed by the #44jr of Joseph McArdle, the #96 of Robbie Johnston, #14 Conner Okrzesik, who wrecked his primary car in his heat and had to go to a back up for the feature (lucky he has a backup) and #01 of Treyce Capers for his first feature top 5. Congratulations Treyce. We are looking forward to the July 18th race, but we have a lot to do before then, thankfully we have three weekends before then to get it done. It should be noted that #44 Brian McArdle was not here tonight to race.We look forward to seeing him soon.
Saturday Night June 6th, 2015
Got to the track and went through our normal routine, got a practice session in, car was OK but not perfect. When they called the cars to the grid for qualifying it started to rain--dried the track than another shower, so qualifying was cancelled--dried the track again and drew pills for starting positions in the heat races.
HEAT RACE:
Connelly drew inside last row in heat #1, 7th out of 8, he got a good start and worked his way toward the front, by lap 5 he had the lead and went on to win the heat, followed by Brian in #44, Conner in #14, Dawson in #04, and Chad in #10. We had a total of 16 competitors going for the win tonight, a very respectable field of cars.
FEATURE RACE:
At the drawing for heat starting positions the announcement was made that there would be an invert of 4 cars. Connelly was to start from the outside of row #2 fourth place, but Brian failed to go through tech after the heat race and was disqualified for the heat race resulting in him having to start last in the feature, he was scheduled to start from the outside of row #1 allowing the entire outside line to move up one spot when he went to the rear. Now Connelly is starting outside row #1. We managed to get the lead and held on to it for the first 3 or 4 laps when the #01 spun and was collected by the #18 and #5 a red flag resulted and all three were retired having suffered significant damage. After the restart we continued to lead, with Brian in the #44 working his way up to second. We still had a nice lead but a caution bunched the field up putting the #44 right on our bumper. On the restart we got pushed all the way down the backstretch, missed our braking mark, in the next turn we had a "bump and run" executed against us and the #44 got under us going into turn #3 coming to the checker, the two cars got together coming out of turn #4, the #44 "wheel hopped" us--his right rear went over out left front---the #04 then slid sideways into the rear of our car, the #10 then got into the #04. The #44, #32, and #04 had significant damage. The race finished with the #14 winning and the #96 in second and I think the #94 third. The #44 finished 11th and Connelly finished 12th after leading the first 19 laps, but the lap that pays the prize money is the 20 th. We felt like we could have been raced a little cleaner, in fact the race director warned the #44 for the pushing incident, but the wreck still happened. Could both sides have "given a little" and avoided all of the "carnage", probably!! what caused the wreck???? opinions differ but it is what it is. We need to get a whole new body on the car and have it checked out. We will be at the next race if we can get it all done. This race took its toll on race cars, four had to be taken off on the roll back, the #18, the #01, the #32 and the #04, the #5, #10, #44 were able to limp off under their own power but had significant damage. Hopefully we will get it all done and be ready for the next race.
HEAT RACE:
Connelly drew inside last row in heat #1, 7th out of 8, he got a good start and worked his way toward the front, by lap 5 he had the lead and went on to win the heat, followed by Brian in #44, Conner in #14, Dawson in #04, and Chad in #10. We had a total of 16 competitors going for the win tonight, a very respectable field of cars.
FEATURE RACE:
At the drawing for heat starting positions the announcement was made that there would be an invert of 4 cars. Connelly was to start from the outside of row #2 fourth place, but Brian failed to go through tech after the heat race and was disqualified for the heat race resulting in him having to start last in the feature, he was scheduled to start from the outside of row #1 allowing the entire outside line to move up one spot when he went to the rear. Now Connelly is starting outside row #1. We managed to get the lead and held on to it for the first 3 or 4 laps when the #01 spun and was collected by the #18 and #5 a red flag resulted and all three were retired having suffered significant damage. After the restart we continued to lead, with Brian in the #44 working his way up to second. We still had a nice lead but a caution bunched the field up putting the #44 right on our bumper. On the restart we got pushed all the way down the backstretch, missed our braking mark, in the next turn we had a "bump and run" executed against us and the #44 got under us going into turn #3 coming to the checker, the two cars got together coming out of turn #4, the #44 "wheel hopped" us--his right rear went over out left front---the #04 then slid sideways into the rear of our car, the #10 then got into the #04. The #44, #32, and #04 had significant damage. The race finished with the #14 winning and the #96 in second and I think the #94 third. The #44 finished 11th and Connelly finished 12th after leading the first 19 laps, but the lap that pays the prize money is the 20 th. We felt like we could have been raced a little cleaner, in fact the race director warned the #44 for the pushing incident, but the wreck still happened. Could both sides have "given a little" and avoided all of the "carnage", probably!! what caused the wreck???? opinions differ but it is what it is. We need to get a whole new body on the car and have it checked out. We will be at the next race if we can get it all done. This race took its toll on race cars, four had to be taken off on the roll back, the #18, the #01, the #32 and the #04, the #5, #10, #44 were able to limp off under their own power but had significant damage. Hopefully we will get it all done and be ready for the next race.
Saturday, May 30, 2015
Sunday 5-24-15 second half of Momorial day Classic
Well here we are at the pit gate of SSR for the Sunday race of Memorial Day Classic. We bedded down at the La Quinta Inn, I fell into a "coma" I was exhausted, ate the classic La Quinta continental breakfast and got to the track for opening time (12 noon). We still had a lot to do, had to change the oil and filter on the race car, nut and bolt it and check everything for today's race. The weather was threatening and I wasn't entirely sure we would be able to get the race in. We got in a practice session and the times were just fair, but every one else said the same thing, oh well we all have to race on the same track. We had the drivers meeting and qualifying was set for 3:30. At 3:29 it started to rain, the track got respectfully wet, Mr. Wayne got out his tractor with attached blower, and in about 30-40 minutes the track was ready. We got qualifying in and guess what--more rain-- got the track dried and started heat racing, more rain, more track drying. Finally got finished with the rain and started racing.
QUALIFYING: The cars available for today's racing in order of qualifying were the #44 Brian McArdle on pole 12.977, #32 Connelly Dubuisson 2nd, we had some brake issues and I think it got into Connelly's head, #96 Robbie Johnston 3rd, #44jr. Joseph McArdle 4th, #14 Conner Okrzesik 5th, #10 Chad Robinson 6th, #94 Brad West 7th, #15 Dustin Harvison 8th, #6 Fred Laing 9th, #114 Michael Beasley 10th, #01 Treyce Capers 11th, #30 William Wilson 12th, #5 Brandon Slater 13th, and #38 Jayme Corry. Again another strong field of cars the first 5 are all within a quarter of a second of each other. Should be a good race.
HEAT RACE: We were in the second heat due to our qualifying time, but we were starting on the pole. Got a good start and led from start to finish without incident, a good shakedown. The car felt better, the track had cooled down a little and had a little more grip, and I think Connelly got the brake issue out of his head. (somewhat) Finishing order for top 5: #32, #44jr., #14, #10, #30.
FEATURE RACE: As the winner of the first heat, Brian #44 had to roll the invert dice, he rolled a 6 putting him on the outside of row 3 with Connelly to his inside. The race started just fine with Connelly getting a good start, after one lap he was up to 3rd, after the second lap Brian got by and he was 4th, by lap 5 he was back to 3rd behind Brian who was second with Joseph on the lead. They rode like this for a few laps, which I found strange because Brian can and will pass Joseph at a moment's notice. At the crossed flags (halfway) Connelly said, "enough of this, it is time to go" and he passed Brian and Joseph. Brian immediately passed Joseph for second with Connelly now in the lead. It appeared to me that Brian and Joseph were trying to set up something where Brian could stay in front of Connelly until the last lap and shoot ahead of Joseph at the finish and gain some extra points. Who knows ?????? sounds like a plan that I would implement if we had a teammate. Connelly ran in front of Brian for a couple of laps, and then while going into turn one Brian got into the back of Connelly and spun him out. The race director, by rule sent them both to the rear. Now we are restarting 12 out of 13 with 6 laps to go. On the restart Connelly passed up one car #6 and coming out of turn 1 the #5 spun right in front of us and Connelly got into him--no big damage but the #6 then slammed into our left rear bumper bending the bumper and both rear frame horns. Pretty hard impact, Connelly thought he was finished but the car was still raceable. Because we did not complete a lap--complete restart--again starting 12th. We began to pick off cars in front of us with Brian "in tow" we both moved up to a 6th place finish for Connelly and 7th place finish for Brian.
The top five finishers were #44jr. with the win, #14 2nd, #96 3rd, #94 4th, and #10 5th. Connelly said he was so mad he didn't know who to be mad at. He finally cooled down and soon after we got home Brian texted Connelly and accepted responsibility for the accident. The good news we didn't lose any points to Brian in fact we gained two. However we did lose about $300 in prize money and points bonus. Well such is racing, if you can't stand the heat stay out of the kitchen, but if the kitchen is where you want to be you have to learn to deal with it. We will have to go through several things on the car to get it back in top form for the next race on June 6th--we will be there if the good Lord allows us.
QUALIFYING: The cars available for today's racing in order of qualifying were the #44 Brian McArdle on pole 12.977, #32 Connelly Dubuisson 2nd, we had some brake issues and I think it got into Connelly's head, #96 Robbie Johnston 3rd, #44jr. Joseph McArdle 4th, #14 Conner Okrzesik 5th, #10 Chad Robinson 6th, #94 Brad West 7th, #15 Dustin Harvison 8th, #6 Fred Laing 9th, #114 Michael Beasley 10th, #01 Treyce Capers 11th, #30 William Wilson 12th, #5 Brandon Slater 13th, and #38 Jayme Corry. Again another strong field of cars the first 5 are all within a quarter of a second of each other. Should be a good race.
HEAT RACE: We were in the second heat due to our qualifying time, but we were starting on the pole. Got a good start and led from start to finish without incident, a good shakedown. The car felt better, the track had cooled down a little and had a little more grip, and I think Connelly got the brake issue out of his head. (somewhat) Finishing order for top 5: #32, #44jr., #14, #10, #30.
FEATURE RACE: As the winner of the first heat, Brian #44 had to roll the invert dice, he rolled a 6 putting him on the outside of row 3 with Connelly to his inside. The race started just fine with Connelly getting a good start, after one lap he was up to 3rd, after the second lap Brian got by and he was 4th, by lap 5 he was back to 3rd behind Brian who was second with Joseph on the lead. They rode like this for a few laps, which I found strange because Brian can and will pass Joseph at a moment's notice. At the crossed flags (halfway) Connelly said, "enough of this, it is time to go" and he passed Brian and Joseph. Brian immediately passed Joseph for second with Connelly now in the lead. It appeared to me that Brian and Joseph were trying to set up something where Brian could stay in front of Connelly until the last lap and shoot ahead of Joseph at the finish and gain some extra points. Who knows ?????? sounds like a plan that I would implement if we had a teammate. Connelly ran in front of Brian for a couple of laps, and then while going into turn one Brian got into the back of Connelly and spun him out. The race director, by rule sent them both to the rear. Now we are restarting 12 out of 13 with 6 laps to go. On the restart Connelly passed up one car #6 and coming out of turn 1 the #5 spun right in front of us and Connelly got into him--no big damage but the #6 then slammed into our left rear bumper bending the bumper and both rear frame horns. Pretty hard impact, Connelly thought he was finished but the car was still raceable. Because we did not complete a lap--complete restart--again starting 12th. We began to pick off cars in front of us with Brian "in tow" we both moved up to a 6th place finish for Connelly and 7th place finish for Brian.
The top five finishers were #44jr. with the win, #14 2nd, #96 3rd, #94 4th, and #10 5th. Connelly said he was so mad he didn't know who to be mad at. He finally cooled down and soon after we got home Brian texted Connelly and accepted responsibility for the accident. The good news we didn't lose any points to Brian in fact we gained two. However we did lose about $300 in prize money and points bonus. Well such is racing, if you can't stand the heat stay out of the kitchen, but if the kitchen is where you want to be you have to learn to deal with it. We will have to go through several things on the car to get it back in top form for the next race on June 6th--we will be there if the good Lord allows us.
Saturday Night May 23, 2015 Regional Qualifier
Tonight is the Regional Qualifier. What this is all about is if you are a Regional winner you are guaranteed a starting spot in the feature of the National Championship race, so if you go to the nationals and do not have a good qualifying run you still have a spot in the finals. The car is more or less ready-we had to burn some midnight oil to get it ready as Connelly had to work in addition to all the graduating, but we got most of it done and got him and Graham graduated and are here at SSR for the regionals. Want to just take a couple of deep breaths and relax for about a day or so, but not so fast we have a race today and tomorrow, so just "suck it up" and go for it. We still had to put one heat cycle on our race tires for tonight, so no time to waste. Got the pits set up, got registered, went through tech, got on the track got the tires finished and "busted them" for a couple of laps. They felt good but the track temp was 134 degrees and we didn't learn much, but we are as ready as we can be.
QUALIFYING: The participants in todays event are in qualifying order #32 Connelly Dubuisson at 12.923, #44 Brian McArdle 2nd, #44jr. Joseph McArdle 3rd, #94 Brad West 4th, #96 Robbie Johnston 5th, #8 Donovan Ponder 6th, #14 Conner Okrezesik 7th, #10 Chad Robinson 8th, #01 Treyce Capers 9th, #15 Dustin Harvison 10th, #30 William Wilson 11th, #18 Devin Corry 12th, # 5 Brandon Slater13th, #114 Michael Beasley 14th, #6 Fred Laing 15th. A very competitive group, the top 5 are all within a quarter of a second of each other.
HEAT RACE: There was a slight departure from the usual regional qualifier format. This year we will have heat races and a dice throw for invert positions, in years past we just had qualifying and race the feature, no big deal you just "dance with who brung ya". Connelly started on the pole in his heat race as a result of his qualifying time, he pretty much led every lap and went on to win his heat. The top 5 were #32, #44jr.,#96, #14, #30. Now go get ready for the feature, the Regional Qualifier. As a result of winning the first heat Connelly had to the roll the invert dice, so he put the fans on the engine to cool it down and went to throw the dice-- he threw a 1, which kept him on the pole, no invert for the feature. He checked the car over thoroughly and felt that everything was as good as he could make it then sat down and rested.
REGIONAL QUALIFIER: It was an impressive sight, 15 cars in the parade lap for the feature, getting ready for 35 laps of intense racing. Connelly got a good start but an early caution came out, "complete restart", did not complete one lap, restarted, didn't get as good a start as the first time and Brian in the #44 snookered him and took the lead, after a couple of laps Connelly un-snookered himself on lap 5 and got under Brian and outside of Joseph to run 3 wide down the front straightaway--he was the meat in a McArdle sandwich, he took the lead and managed to increase his advantage to 3 or 4 car lengths which is where he ran for the first one third of the race. Then another caution, got another good restart, same drill, got out to about 3 or 4 car lengths was able to maintain that until another caution. At this point the race is about 2/3 complete. Connelly got another good restart and again was able to get about a 4 car length advantage over the #44 and held on for the win. A very impressive performance, won the regional qualifier, the $1,000 added prize money, a guaranteed spot in the finals of the national championship race in November, what a great day for the #32 team. Got to get ready for tomorrow, the second half of the Memorial Day Classic, cant wait!!!! The top 5 finishing order was #32 1st, #44 2nd, #8 who had a technical issue in post race inspection and was disqualified, moving the #14 up to 3rd, #96 4th, and #94 rounding out the top 5.
QUALIFYING: The participants in todays event are in qualifying order #32 Connelly Dubuisson at 12.923, #44 Brian McArdle 2nd, #44jr. Joseph McArdle 3rd, #94 Brad West 4th, #96 Robbie Johnston 5th, #8 Donovan Ponder 6th, #14 Conner Okrezesik 7th, #10 Chad Robinson 8th, #01 Treyce Capers 9th, #15 Dustin Harvison 10th, #30 William Wilson 11th, #18 Devin Corry 12th, # 5 Brandon Slater13th, #114 Michael Beasley 14th, #6 Fred Laing 15th. A very competitive group, the top 5 are all within a quarter of a second of each other.
HEAT RACE: There was a slight departure from the usual regional qualifier format. This year we will have heat races and a dice throw for invert positions, in years past we just had qualifying and race the feature, no big deal you just "dance with who brung ya". Connelly started on the pole in his heat race as a result of his qualifying time, he pretty much led every lap and went on to win his heat. The top 5 were #32, #44jr.,#96, #14, #30. Now go get ready for the feature, the Regional Qualifier. As a result of winning the first heat Connelly had to the roll the invert dice, so he put the fans on the engine to cool it down and went to throw the dice-- he threw a 1, which kept him on the pole, no invert for the feature. He checked the car over thoroughly and felt that everything was as good as he could make it then sat down and rested.
REGIONAL QUALIFIER: It was an impressive sight, 15 cars in the parade lap for the feature, getting ready for 35 laps of intense racing. Connelly got a good start but an early caution came out, "complete restart", did not complete one lap, restarted, didn't get as good a start as the first time and Brian in the #44 snookered him and took the lead, after a couple of laps Connelly un-snookered himself on lap 5 and got under Brian and outside of Joseph to run 3 wide down the front straightaway--he was the meat in a McArdle sandwich, he took the lead and managed to increase his advantage to 3 or 4 car lengths which is where he ran for the first one third of the race. Then another caution, got another good restart, same drill, got out to about 3 or 4 car lengths was able to maintain that until another caution. At this point the race is about 2/3 complete. Connelly got another good restart and again was able to get about a 4 car length advantage over the #44 and held on for the win. A very impressive performance, won the regional qualifier, the $1,000 added prize money, a guaranteed spot in the finals of the national championship race in November, what a great day for the #32 team. Got to get ready for tomorrow, the second half of the Memorial Day Classic, cant wait!!!! The top 5 finishing order was #32 1st, #44 2nd, #8 who had a technical issue in post race inspection and was disqualified, moving the #14 up to 3rd, #96 4th, and #94 rounding out the top 5.
Saturday Night 5-16-15
Here we are at SSR the first time as a "Wanted Man"--- Bounty!!!! Got to our pits got set up registered and went through tech and got on the track as we had tires to break in. Got that about half done and got our race tires on for tonight and went out for a few hot laps, the car was good, so we put it up until qualifying.
QUALIFYING: Tonight's participants, in order of qualifying #32 Connelly on pole at 12.904, #44 Brian McArdle 2nd, #44jr. Joseph McArdle 3rd, #96 Robbie Johnston 4th, #10 Chad Robinson 5th, #14 Conner Okrzesik 6th, #114 Michael Beasley 7th, #30 William Wilson 8th. #01 Treyce Capers 9th, #18 Corry Devin 10th, #15 Dustin Harvison 11th, #6 Fred Laing 12th, #5 Brandon Slater 13th,
#1 Wyatt Heffington 14th; a very strong field with the top 5 all being within three tenths of a second of each other.
HEAT RACE: Connelly was in the first heat race and sat on the pole as a result of his qualifying run. He got a good start and led the entire race, had a good run. The heat race was incident free with the top 5 finishers being #32, #44jr., #10, #114, #01. All in all a good competitive race.
FEATURE RACE: Connelly threw a 6 on the invert dice, relegating us to a 6th place start, on the outside and in the middle of the field, the task here is to get to the bottom where you can race and not get caught up in someone else's wreck. Connelly got a good clean start and by the end of lap one was in 4th place, by end of lap 3 was second, by end of lap 7 had the lead. Connelly and the #44 were very close with Connelly never more than 3 or 4 lengths ahead of Brian in the #44. As the race progressed they began to overtake and lap slower cars. We lost about 2 lengths lapping the #6, letting Brian get too close, then while trying to lap the #5 with two laps to go he didn't heed the "move over" flag holding us up and forcing us to go to the outside of him, he then came up giving Brian racing room at the bottom and Brian being the expert driver that he is took full advantage and got the lead. Connelly got to Brian's back bumper but with only two laps to go was not able to get by and finished second, giving Brian the $100 bounty. A tough way to lose when you had a winning car. The top 5 finishers were the #44, #32, #44jr. #14, #96. We will just have to get ready for next race the Regional Qualifier on the 23 of May. Going to be tough and we have one grandson graduating from 8th grade on Thursday, Connelly graduating from Brother Martin High school on Friday and I have an all day appointment in Mississippi all day Wednesday--not much time to work on the car.
QUALIFYING: Tonight's participants, in order of qualifying #32 Connelly on pole at 12.904, #44 Brian McArdle 2nd, #44jr. Joseph McArdle 3rd, #96 Robbie Johnston 4th, #10 Chad Robinson 5th, #14 Conner Okrzesik 6th, #114 Michael Beasley 7th, #30 William Wilson 8th. #01 Treyce Capers 9th, #18 Corry Devin 10th, #15 Dustin Harvison 11th, #6 Fred Laing 12th, #5 Brandon Slater 13th,
#1 Wyatt Heffington 14th; a very strong field with the top 5 all being within three tenths of a second of each other.
HEAT RACE: Connelly was in the first heat race and sat on the pole as a result of his qualifying run. He got a good start and led the entire race, had a good run. The heat race was incident free with the top 5 finishers being #32, #44jr., #10, #114, #01. All in all a good competitive race.
FEATURE RACE: Connelly threw a 6 on the invert dice, relegating us to a 6th place start, on the outside and in the middle of the field, the task here is to get to the bottom where you can race and not get caught up in someone else's wreck. Connelly got a good clean start and by the end of lap one was in 4th place, by end of lap 3 was second, by end of lap 7 had the lead. Connelly and the #44 were very close with Connelly never more than 3 or 4 lengths ahead of Brian in the #44. As the race progressed they began to overtake and lap slower cars. We lost about 2 lengths lapping the #6, letting Brian get too close, then while trying to lap the #5 with two laps to go he didn't heed the "move over" flag holding us up and forcing us to go to the outside of him, he then came up giving Brian racing room at the bottom and Brian being the expert driver that he is took full advantage and got the lead. Connelly got to Brian's back bumper but with only two laps to go was not able to get by and finished second, giving Brian the $100 bounty. A tough way to lose when you had a winning car. The top 5 finishers were the #44, #32, #44jr. #14, #96. We will just have to get ready for next race the Regional Qualifier on the 23 of May. Going to be tough and we have one grandson graduating from 8th grade on Thursday, Connelly graduating from Brother Martin High school on Friday and I have an all day appointment in Mississippi all day Wednesday--not much time to work on the car.
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
WANTED!!!!!!!!!!!!
This afternoon I pulled up the track website and low and behold Connelly is a wanted man. As a result of him winning all the races at SSR so far this season, a BOUNTY has been placed on Connelly and the #32 Legend. If anyone can beat him fairly and cleanly that driver will win an additional $100, if no one wins the first week it increases to $200 in week two, and then to $300 in week three, if Connelly continues to win, and no one claims the money after week three then Connelly gets the #300. So pull up the face book page off of the sunnysouthraceway.org website and check it out. Now we have a bulls eye on our back---good problem to have.
Thursday, May 7, 2015
Saturday Night May 2, 2015
Well here it is race night again and we are in line at the pit gate, about 10 minutes past opening time as we have a lot to do--break in a new set of right side tires. We got unloaded, set up our pit area, got registered and went through tech and were the first car in line to go onto the track. As planned we were the first car on the track got one good heat cycle on the new tires, cooled them down with water and got right back in line to go out again, got another good heat cycle on them then went to cool the engine down. Got that accomplished got back in line to go out again but another car blew off an oil line and oiled down turns 3 and 4 and the whole front straightaway along with turn 1, what a mess. It took a half hour to clean up but an oil down of that magnitude will impact the track for the rest of the night. We went back out under a yellow/green light with about 7 other cars--go about half throttle and be careful, which everyone did and let that count for another heat cycle. Finally got the last heat cycle in and got ready to qualify.
Cars available tonight were the #32 Connelly Dubuisson, #44 Brian McArdle, #44jr. Joseph McArdle, #10 Chad Robinson, #94 Brad West, #96 Robbie Johnston, #14 Connor Okrzesik, #114 Michael Beassley, #15 Dustin Harvison, #6 Fred Laing, #18 Devin Corry, #30 William Wilson, and #01 Treyce Capers; a very strong and respectable field of competitors.
QUALIFYING: we had an early qualifying run and Connelly felt he had made a couple of mistakes which he did, and that we wouldn't have that good of a time, however with all of that we were still able to post a 12.974 which was good enough for the pole. Other qualifiers were
#44-13.058, #44jr-13.144,#10-13.155, #94-13.181, #96-13.289, #14-13.314, #114-13.396,
#15-13.462,#6- 13.518, #18-13.586,#30-13.797, #01-13.923. I feel the oil down of the track contributed to the slower times--we usually have at least 2 or 3 cars in the 12 second bracket. Even so the first 5 cars were within 2 tenths of a second of each other, good competitive field.
HEAT RACE: In our heat Connelly started on the pole due to our qualifying run, Joseph McArdle in the #44jr. started 2nd. with #94 of Brad West third, #14 Conner Okrzesik fourth, #15 Dustin Harvison fifth, #18 Devin Corry sixth, and #01 Treyce Capers.
Connelly got a good start from the pole and was able to lead all of the laps to win the heat race, Joseph McArdle finished second with #14 Conner Okrzesik rounding out the top three.
FEATURE RACE: Connelly rolled the big dice after the heat and rolled a 6 meaning that the cars scheduled to start in positions 1 through 6 would invert, the car scheduled to start 6th would now start first and the car scheduled to start on the pole--Connelly--would now start 6th, a tough starting spot-back in traffic and on the outside. It would be tough to get to the bottom and then get to the front. I told Connelly in our pre race talk just be patient, drive your race and above all else have fun.
He got a good start and was able to get to the bottom after turn 2 got to 4th by end of lap 1, then to third and by turn 3 of lap 3 and was passing the #10 for second. Connelly was clearly under the #10, but they got together #10 left front wheel contacted our right rear tire and the #10 lost his entire LF wheel, it rolled down the entire front straightaway and across the infield. Connelly's RR fender was knocked loose and was flapping like a beach towel in the breeze. The race went into a red flag situation, all cars stopped. We had to rip the remains of the fender off the car so he might be able to continue racing. The #10 didn't fair as well as he had to be taken off on the roll-back. I went down to check on the car (he stopped at the entrance to the pits) the RR wheel was bent in slightly but it was holding air, Connelly wanted me to change it, we had another RR but it was an older tire and wouldn't match up with the brand new RF on the car, so I opted to stay pat, "better devil you know" Connelly was so mad he needed help getting belted back in. Mr. Joe who was running the pit gate told him, "son chill, - chill you got a fast car just go out there and drive it". Connelly would have to start last 12 out of 12 because we had worked on the car which automatically sends you to the rear. As the red flag was replaced by the yellow the cars started rolling Connelly waited until they were well into turn three and he got on the backstretch and blasted it to see if it would handle, it seemed to be alright. At the restart he passed two cars before lap was completed, another caution-complete restart, back to last. Another restart still last, passed two in lap 1 got another in lap 2 and another in lap 3, gradually worked our way up to 6th when another caution came out. We took the choose which put us in 4th place but on the outside. He got a good restart got to third in one lap then passed Joseph for second and began to chase down Brian who had the lead. He got right to Brian's rear bumper when another caution came out, two cars took the choose so we now had Brian in front of us with two cars to our outside. After the restart Connelly was able to get by Brian for the lead, then Brian pulled a great "crossover move" which he is famous for and got by Connelly, who then returned the favor with a "crossover move" of his own, only to be followed by another one by Brian and another one by Connelly. It was fantastic to watch it was like a ballet on wheels. Another caution came out with 2 laps to go, Connelly was able to hang on to the lead for the final two laps to win the race. From last to first in 16 laps, it was truly on of the best races that Connelly has ever driven, I know it was one of the most entertaining and the fans got their money's worth. The top five finishing order were 1st Connelly Dubuisson #32, second Brian McArdle #44, third Joseph McArdle #44jr., fourth Robbie Johnston #96, fifth Conner Okrzesik #14.
I looked at the video of the incident with the #10 a number of times and I don't think there was anything intentional on either drivers part--as Richard Petty used to say "just one of those racing things" With all of that, we now need to go through the car with a fine tooth comb to make sure nothing is bent, need to replace a fender and be ready for the 16 of May oh by the way Connelly has final exams for his senior year of high school all next week. We will be ready I hope, looking forward to the 16 of May.
Cars available tonight were the #32 Connelly Dubuisson, #44 Brian McArdle, #44jr. Joseph McArdle, #10 Chad Robinson, #94 Brad West, #96 Robbie Johnston, #14 Connor Okrzesik, #114 Michael Beassley, #15 Dustin Harvison, #6 Fred Laing, #18 Devin Corry, #30 William Wilson, and #01 Treyce Capers; a very strong and respectable field of competitors.
QUALIFYING: we had an early qualifying run and Connelly felt he had made a couple of mistakes which he did, and that we wouldn't have that good of a time, however with all of that we were still able to post a 12.974 which was good enough for the pole. Other qualifiers were
#44-13.058, #44jr-13.144,#10-13.155, #94-13.181, #96-13.289, #14-13.314, #114-13.396,
#15-13.462,#6- 13.518, #18-13.586,#30-13.797, #01-13.923. I feel the oil down of the track contributed to the slower times--we usually have at least 2 or 3 cars in the 12 second bracket. Even so the first 5 cars were within 2 tenths of a second of each other, good competitive field.
HEAT RACE: In our heat Connelly started on the pole due to our qualifying run, Joseph McArdle in the #44jr. started 2nd. with #94 of Brad West third, #14 Conner Okrzesik fourth, #15 Dustin Harvison fifth, #18 Devin Corry sixth, and #01 Treyce Capers.
Connelly got a good start from the pole and was able to lead all of the laps to win the heat race, Joseph McArdle finished second with #14 Conner Okrzesik rounding out the top three.
FEATURE RACE: Connelly rolled the big dice after the heat and rolled a 6 meaning that the cars scheduled to start in positions 1 through 6 would invert, the car scheduled to start 6th would now start first and the car scheduled to start on the pole--Connelly--would now start 6th, a tough starting spot-back in traffic and on the outside. It would be tough to get to the bottom and then get to the front. I told Connelly in our pre race talk just be patient, drive your race and above all else have fun.
He got a good start and was able to get to the bottom after turn 2 got to 4th by end of lap 1, then to third and by turn 3 of lap 3 and was passing the #10 for second. Connelly was clearly under the #10, but they got together #10 left front wheel contacted our right rear tire and the #10 lost his entire LF wheel, it rolled down the entire front straightaway and across the infield. Connelly's RR fender was knocked loose and was flapping like a beach towel in the breeze. The race went into a red flag situation, all cars stopped. We had to rip the remains of the fender off the car so he might be able to continue racing. The #10 didn't fair as well as he had to be taken off on the roll-back. I went down to check on the car (he stopped at the entrance to the pits) the RR wheel was bent in slightly but it was holding air, Connelly wanted me to change it, we had another RR but it was an older tire and wouldn't match up with the brand new RF on the car, so I opted to stay pat, "better devil you know" Connelly was so mad he needed help getting belted back in. Mr. Joe who was running the pit gate told him, "son chill, - chill you got a fast car just go out there and drive it". Connelly would have to start last 12 out of 12 because we had worked on the car which automatically sends you to the rear. As the red flag was replaced by the yellow the cars started rolling Connelly waited until they were well into turn three and he got on the backstretch and blasted it to see if it would handle, it seemed to be alright. At the restart he passed two cars before lap was completed, another caution-complete restart, back to last. Another restart still last, passed two in lap 1 got another in lap 2 and another in lap 3, gradually worked our way up to 6th when another caution came out. We took the choose which put us in 4th place but on the outside. He got a good restart got to third in one lap then passed Joseph for second and began to chase down Brian who had the lead. He got right to Brian's rear bumper when another caution came out, two cars took the choose so we now had Brian in front of us with two cars to our outside. After the restart Connelly was able to get by Brian for the lead, then Brian pulled a great "crossover move" which he is famous for and got by Connelly, who then returned the favor with a "crossover move" of his own, only to be followed by another one by Brian and another one by Connelly. It was fantastic to watch it was like a ballet on wheels. Another caution came out with 2 laps to go, Connelly was able to hang on to the lead for the final two laps to win the race. From last to first in 16 laps, it was truly on of the best races that Connelly has ever driven, I know it was one of the most entertaining and the fans got their money's worth. The top five finishing order were 1st Connelly Dubuisson #32, second Brian McArdle #44, third Joseph McArdle #44jr., fourth Robbie Johnston #96, fifth Conner Okrzesik #14.
I looked at the video of the incident with the #10 a number of times and I don't think there was anything intentional on either drivers part--as Richard Petty used to say "just one of those racing things" With all of that, we now need to go through the car with a fine tooth comb to make sure nothing is bent, need to replace a fender and be ready for the 16 of May oh by the way Connelly has final exams for his senior year of high school all next week. We will be ready I hope, looking forward to the 16 of May.
Saturday, April 25, 2015
Saturday April 18, 2015
Well Mother Nature won this past Saturday. Rained out!!!!!! Race will be made up in July.
Next race will be Saturday May 2, 2015 Can't wait.
Next race will be Saturday May 2, 2015 Can't wait.
Saturday, April 11, 2015
Saturday Night April 4, 2015
Well here it is race night again and Betty and My 51st wedding anniversary, what an understanding woman and here we are at the pit gate ready to racing. (promised her a chicken sandwich as our anniversary dinner). Our last two race weekends were very successful to say the least, hoping for a three-peat. We got checked in, registered, teched and got on the track for a short practice. The track felt very slick and our times were not where we wanted them to be, but everyone else said the same thing so we just waited for the track to cool down. Connelly went out again shortly before practice ended, it had cooled down and gotten better.
We had a very strong group of cars in competition tonight, there were #32 Connelly Dubuisson,
#44 Brian McArdle, #14 Conner Okrzesik, #44jr. Joseph McArdle, #96 Robbie Johnston, #10 Chad Robinson, #01 Treyce Capers, #6 Fred Laing, #1 Michael Beasley, #5 Brandon Slater, #18 Devin Corry. A very good mix of drivers, should make for a very interesting race.
Qualifying:
The track had indeed cooled down and the times reflected that. Connelly got a really good lap and posted a pole position time of 12.928 seconds, second was #96 Robbie Johnston at 13.079 with Conner Okrzesik #14 at 13.092 third, #44 Brian McArdle fourth at 13.124, and Joseph McArdle #44jr. fifth at 13.209. A really close field with the top five separated by a tick over a quarter of a second, which equates to a little over one car length on the track. The rest of the qualifiers in order were not too far behind , #10 Chad Robinson, #01 Treyce Capers, #1 Michael Beasley, #5 Brandon Slater, #18 Devin Corry, #6 Fred Laing all posting times in the middle 13's.
Heat Race:
In our heat, Connelly had the pole, outside of him the #14 of Conner, #44 and 01 made up row two with the #5 and #6 making up row three. Connelly got a good start but there was a spin shortly after the start-- complete restart. We made another good start with Conner and Joseph in close pursuit. Connelly got about a 3 to 4 length lead over Conner and was able to hold the #14 off for the heat win. Treyce in the 01 was third followed by the #5, #44jr. and the #6. That #14 is really coming on, look for good things from Conner and the #14 team. Heat #2 was won by #96 Robbie Johnston, with #44 second, #10 third, #18 fourth, followed by #1.
Feature Race:
As the winner of heat # 1 Connelly threw the "big" dice to see how many cars would "invert" he threw a 2 meaning the first two starters would invert so Connelly would start on outside row 1 with #96 on the pole, row 2 #14 and #44, row 3 #01 and #10, row 4 #5 and #18, row 5 #44jr. and #1 with #6 on row 6.
At the start the #96 got loose and Connelly was able to get out front with the #44 and #14 right on our tail. On lap 3 the #18 had a suspension component fail bringing out a caution and forcing him to withdraw from the race. On the restart, again Connelly got a good start and got back out front with the #44 in second and #14 in third. On the third lap after the restart with the cars still all bunched up, in the middle of turn 4 someone in 4th or 5th position got loose and the whole field scattered like a covey of quail, there were cars going everywhere down the front straightaway. The drivers demonstrated extreme driving skills and there was no further contact and no spins. It was amazing to watch them all save their cars. That could have been one of those things where half the field was taken out. Again some really special driving. The race went caution free the rest of the way the #5, #6 and #1 were trading positions in the middle of the field, hey good racing is good racing whether it is for 1st position or 5th position it is still very entertaining. Connelly was able to hold on to first place and we won the feature, with #44 in second and #14 third, #44jr. in fourth and #96 rounding out the top 5. The finishing order for the rest of the field: #10 Chad, #01 Treyce, #6 Fred, #1 Michael, #5 Brandon and #18 Devin. Another great night for Connelly and the #32team, the "frog" has touched the "alligator" on the nose again and didn't get eaten. Folks, these cars are putting on some really good races. Come on out and treat yourself to a night of family fun and excitement. See you on the 21st.
We had a very strong group of cars in competition tonight, there were #32 Connelly Dubuisson,
#44 Brian McArdle, #14 Conner Okrzesik, #44jr. Joseph McArdle, #96 Robbie Johnston, #10 Chad Robinson, #01 Treyce Capers, #6 Fred Laing, #1 Michael Beasley, #5 Brandon Slater, #18 Devin Corry. A very good mix of drivers, should make for a very interesting race.
Qualifying:
The track had indeed cooled down and the times reflected that. Connelly got a really good lap and posted a pole position time of 12.928 seconds, second was #96 Robbie Johnston at 13.079 with Conner Okrzesik #14 at 13.092 third, #44 Brian McArdle fourth at 13.124, and Joseph McArdle #44jr. fifth at 13.209. A really close field with the top five separated by a tick over a quarter of a second, which equates to a little over one car length on the track. The rest of the qualifiers in order were not too far behind , #10 Chad Robinson, #01 Treyce Capers, #1 Michael Beasley, #5 Brandon Slater, #18 Devin Corry, #6 Fred Laing all posting times in the middle 13's.
Heat Race:
In our heat, Connelly had the pole, outside of him the #14 of Conner, #44 and 01 made up row two with the #5 and #6 making up row three. Connelly got a good start but there was a spin shortly after the start-- complete restart. We made another good start with Conner and Joseph in close pursuit. Connelly got about a 3 to 4 length lead over Conner and was able to hold the #14 off for the heat win. Treyce in the 01 was third followed by the #5, #44jr. and the #6. That #14 is really coming on, look for good things from Conner and the #14 team. Heat #2 was won by #96 Robbie Johnston, with #44 second, #10 third, #18 fourth, followed by #1.
Feature Race:
As the winner of heat # 1 Connelly threw the "big" dice to see how many cars would "invert" he threw a 2 meaning the first two starters would invert so Connelly would start on outside row 1 with #96 on the pole, row 2 #14 and #44, row 3 #01 and #10, row 4 #5 and #18, row 5 #44jr. and #1 with #6 on row 6.
At the start the #96 got loose and Connelly was able to get out front with the #44 and #14 right on our tail. On lap 3 the #18 had a suspension component fail bringing out a caution and forcing him to withdraw from the race. On the restart, again Connelly got a good start and got back out front with the #44 in second and #14 in third. On the third lap after the restart with the cars still all bunched up, in the middle of turn 4 someone in 4th or 5th position got loose and the whole field scattered like a covey of quail, there were cars going everywhere down the front straightaway. The drivers demonstrated extreme driving skills and there was no further contact and no spins. It was amazing to watch them all save their cars. That could have been one of those things where half the field was taken out. Again some really special driving. The race went caution free the rest of the way the #5, #6 and #1 were trading positions in the middle of the field, hey good racing is good racing whether it is for 1st position or 5th position it is still very entertaining. Connelly was able to hold on to first place and we won the feature, with #44 in second and #14 third, #44jr. in fourth and #96 rounding out the top 5. The finishing order for the rest of the field: #10 Chad, #01 Treyce, #6 Fred, #1 Michael, #5 Brandon and #18 Devin. Another great night for Connelly and the #32team, the "frog" has touched the "alligator" on the nose again and didn't get eaten. Folks, these cars are putting on some really good races. Come on out and treat yourself to a night of family fun and excitement. See you on the 21st.
Monday, March 30, 2015
Saturday Night 3-21-15
Here we are at the second race of 2015 season, we celebrated setting a new track record last race and winning both the heat and the feature race. It would be nice to be able to repeat, but you are racing
the McArdles and from sweet little Josie in her pink Bandolero (don't let her sweet smile and quiet demeanor fool you, she is a racer) to Brian and Joseph in their Legends, they are formidable competition. You might be able to outrun them now and then, but it is like a frog going up and touching an alligator on the nose, you might be able to pull it off now and then, but sooner or later the alligator (McArdle) is going to get you. As if that is not enough, you still have to deal with, Conner Okrzesik #14, Robbie Johnston #96, Fred Laing #6, Ernest Morris #3, Chad Robinson #10, Trace Capers #01, Devin Corry #18, Brandon Slater #5 and Connelly Dubuisson #32, plus throw in Brian McArdle #44, and Joseph McArdle #44jr. and you have your work cut out for you. All in all a very respectable field of cars, it will take a perfectly prepared car and a driver who has brought his "A" game to be able to win tonight.
In practice Connelly said the #32 just didn't feel very fast, I had forgotten to bring our in car electronic timer so we were relegated to the old hand held stop watch. With the hand held I had Connelly off of what we ran last race by one and a half tenths in practice. I timed some of the competition and no one was posting really good times, I think a combination of track conditions and air temp & humidity had everybody off by a few ticks. We checked over everything and all seemed OK so it was on to qualifying.
QUALIFYING:
Connelly won the pole with a 12.958 over a tenth slower than last race, Brian was second with a 13.131, Chad Robinson third with a 13.166, Joseph was fourth with a 13.167, one thousandth of a second out of third, and Robbie Johnston fifth with a 13.174. The top five separated by just a touch over 2 tenths of a second, pretty sporty.
HEAT RACE:
In the heat race Connelly started on the pole with Chad #10 outside, second row Robbie #96 inside and Treyce #01 outside, row three Ernest #3 inside and Brandon #5 outside. Connelly got a good start and led for the first 8 laps then a caution came out, with less than 3 laps to go, single file restart, again Connelly got a good start and led the green white checker run to the finish with Robbie and Chad in very hot pursuit. Finishing order #32, #96, #10, #01, #3, #5.
FEATURE RACE:
Connelly had to throw the big dice to determine the "invert" he rolled a 1 meaning no invert, starting positions determined by your heat race finish. Connelly started on the pole and since Brian had won his heat he started on the outside of the front row Robbie and Chad had the second row with Conner and Treyce covering the third row, the rest of the field was comprised of Fred, Everett, Devin and Brandon. Joseph had to tag (start last) due to him breaking a suspension component and not finishing the heat. He had to pull out a backup car for the feature, which had him starting last.
Connelly got a really good start from the pole and got about a 3 car length lead, then a couple of quick cautions on lap 2 and the subsequent restart, I thought "here we go again another caution plagued race"-- not so fast exhaust breath-- we ran the rest of the race, 18 laps under green. Connelly and Brian put on quite a show, with the lead never being more than a couple of car lengths, on about lap 5 or 6 Brian got a big run on us out of turn 2, got his right front wheel under our left rear, got loose had to correct and did a slight wheel hop--a big cloud of tire smoke erupted, both drivers displayed outstanding driving skills and neither lost control but could easily have wrecked. From that point on they were never more than 1 or 2 lengths apart. Some passing of lapped cars took place which tightened the front two up even more with Connelly prevailing at the checkered flag by about two car lengths. There was good racing throughout the entire field with multiple passes in the middle of the pack. It was a very entertaining race in all respects, except for the "wheel hop" which almost gave me a heart attack. Finishing order of the top five was Connelly in the #32, Brian McArdle #44 second, Conner Okrzesik #14 third, Joseph McArdle #44jr who had come through the field from 11th starting position to finish fourth, and Robbie Johnston #96 fifth. We had another sweep; won qualifying, heat race and feature. We touched the alligator on the nose again, and didn't get eaten. Next race is April 4, Betty and my 51st wedding anniversary. I told her that our anniversary dinner will be a chicken sandwich at the track snack bar--big spender right????? Come on out to Sunny South Raceway and treat yourself to some outstanding racing.
the McArdles and from sweet little Josie in her pink Bandolero (don't let her sweet smile and quiet demeanor fool you, she is a racer) to Brian and Joseph in their Legends, they are formidable competition. You might be able to outrun them now and then, but it is like a frog going up and touching an alligator on the nose, you might be able to pull it off now and then, but sooner or later the alligator (McArdle) is going to get you. As if that is not enough, you still have to deal with, Conner Okrzesik #14, Robbie Johnston #96, Fred Laing #6, Ernest Morris #3, Chad Robinson #10, Trace Capers #01, Devin Corry #18, Brandon Slater #5 and Connelly Dubuisson #32, plus throw in Brian McArdle #44, and Joseph McArdle #44jr. and you have your work cut out for you. All in all a very respectable field of cars, it will take a perfectly prepared car and a driver who has brought his "A" game to be able to win tonight.
In practice Connelly said the #32 just didn't feel very fast, I had forgotten to bring our in car electronic timer so we were relegated to the old hand held stop watch. With the hand held I had Connelly off of what we ran last race by one and a half tenths in practice. I timed some of the competition and no one was posting really good times, I think a combination of track conditions and air temp & humidity had everybody off by a few ticks. We checked over everything and all seemed OK so it was on to qualifying.
QUALIFYING:
Connelly won the pole with a 12.958 over a tenth slower than last race, Brian was second with a 13.131, Chad Robinson third with a 13.166, Joseph was fourth with a 13.167, one thousandth of a second out of third, and Robbie Johnston fifth with a 13.174. The top five separated by just a touch over 2 tenths of a second, pretty sporty.
HEAT RACE:
In the heat race Connelly started on the pole with Chad #10 outside, second row Robbie #96 inside and Treyce #01 outside, row three Ernest #3 inside and Brandon #5 outside. Connelly got a good start and led for the first 8 laps then a caution came out, with less than 3 laps to go, single file restart, again Connelly got a good start and led the green white checker run to the finish with Robbie and Chad in very hot pursuit. Finishing order #32, #96, #10, #01, #3, #5.
FEATURE RACE:
Connelly had to throw the big dice to determine the "invert" he rolled a 1 meaning no invert, starting positions determined by your heat race finish. Connelly started on the pole and since Brian had won his heat he started on the outside of the front row Robbie and Chad had the second row with Conner and Treyce covering the third row, the rest of the field was comprised of Fred, Everett, Devin and Brandon. Joseph had to tag (start last) due to him breaking a suspension component and not finishing the heat. He had to pull out a backup car for the feature, which had him starting last.
Connelly got a really good start from the pole and got about a 3 car length lead, then a couple of quick cautions on lap 2 and the subsequent restart, I thought "here we go again another caution plagued race"-- not so fast exhaust breath-- we ran the rest of the race, 18 laps under green. Connelly and Brian put on quite a show, with the lead never being more than a couple of car lengths, on about lap 5 or 6 Brian got a big run on us out of turn 2, got his right front wheel under our left rear, got loose had to correct and did a slight wheel hop--a big cloud of tire smoke erupted, both drivers displayed outstanding driving skills and neither lost control but could easily have wrecked. From that point on they were never more than 1 or 2 lengths apart. Some passing of lapped cars took place which tightened the front two up even more with Connelly prevailing at the checkered flag by about two car lengths. There was good racing throughout the entire field with multiple passes in the middle of the pack. It was a very entertaining race in all respects, except for the "wheel hop" which almost gave me a heart attack. Finishing order of the top five was Connelly in the #32, Brian McArdle #44 second, Conner Okrzesik #14 third, Joseph McArdle #44jr who had come through the field from 11th starting position to finish fourth, and Robbie Johnston #96 fifth. We had another sweep; won qualifying, heat race and feature. We touched the alligator on the nose again, and didn't get eaten. Next race is April 4, Betty and my 51st wedding anniversary. I told her that our anniversary dinner will be a chicken sandwich at the track snack bar--big spender right????? Come on out to Sunny South Raceway and treat yourself to some outstanding racing.
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
MARCH 7, 2015--OPENING NIGHT FOR 2015 SEASON
Well it has finally arrived, opening night of the 2015 racing season. It seems like the off season went by in a flash and before we knew it the 2015 season was here. It felt like we never got to do all of the things we wanted to do before the season started, but we got all of the important things done. Saturday morning Connelly was nut and bolting the car and waxing it before we loaded it up and tied it down. We made the 1 hour and 47 minute trip to SSR without incident (always the best kind) got to the track got into our new pit location very close to the flag stand where I usually watch the race (trying to save the old sciatic nerve) got unloaded, went through tech and registration, checked air pressure, fueled it up and got on the track. He made about half a dozen laps to get some heat in the tires and "busted it" for about 5 laps. Connelly got some really good times and he said the car felt great, so much so that he said "I am done". Well he lied, because right before the track closed for practice he went to Mr. Joe and asked "do I have enough time for one more pass?" He got his pass and the car was still good--why wouldn't it be we hadn't changed it or done anything to it.
We had a very good field of 12 cars tonight. We had a group of cars down from Monroe as well as the usual local competitors. Tonight's lineup was Robbie Johnston #96, Chad Robinson #10, Treyce Capers #01, Conner Okrzesik #14, Dalon More #99, Devin Corry #18,
Connelly Dubuisson #32, Joseph McArdle #44jr., Brian McArdle #44, Ronny Freeland #9, Chris Freeland #91, Fred Laing #6, all in all a very strong and competitive field of cars which included several seasoned veterans as well as some up and coming newer drivers.
QUALIFYING:
In an attempt to get the racing program completed at a reasonable hour, qualifying was held before the drivers meeting--a great idea which saved at least 15 or 20 min. In qualifying Connellly laid down the lap of his life posting a time of 12.840 seconds for the quarter mile which calculates to 70.093 mph. I wasn't sure at the time as I couldn't remember what the old track record was, but I went up to Mr. Joe at the post qualifying tech inspection and told him I thought that we might have broken the track record. Obviously we qualified on the pole with Brian McArdle second and Robbie Johnston third. When we got home and I pulled up the records on the track website and found that Connelly had indeed broken the track record set by Hunter Lewis last season at 12.869
HEAT RACES:
Because we had 12 cars in competition there were 2 heat races of 6 cars each. Connelly#32 won his heat followed by the #96, #14, #10, #99, and #18. In the second heat race Brian McArdle #44 won his heat followed by the #9, #44jr., #91, #01, #6.
FEARURE RACE:
In the feature we had a two car invert--Connelly threw a 2 on the big dice which inverted two cars putting Brian on the pole with Connelly outside of him, the #96, #9, #14, #44jr. #10, #91, #99, #01, #18, and the #6 completed the starting lineup, in that order. A case of "yellow fever" broke out from the start. The #14 had a terminal mechanical issue on the first lap--red flag-- then a series of minor spins and mishaps ensued bringing our a number of cautions. It took 11 laps to complete 3 green flag laps. The drivers just fought through and a sense of normalcy finally prevailed. I don't know whether it was an opening night thing-- just being rusty, or the cold track. At the start of the feature the track temp was 52 degrees--probably a combination of both. It took Connelly a few laps but he finally got by Brian in the #44 for the lead. Some really good racing was taking place all around the track, they were two wide and in some cases three wide, really good stuff, some of which probably contributed to the cautions. Connelly won the feature race for his first sweep of the season. The top five finishers were Connelly in the #32, Joseph McArdle in his #44jr. (he beat his dad) Brian Mcardle #44, Ronny Freeland #9, and rounding out the top 5 was Chad Robinson in the #10.
It was a weekend made in heaven for Connelly and the #32 team, Broke the track record, sat on the pole, won his heat race and the feature race and was able to roll the car back on the trailer, which is the most important thing. Looking forward to next race already. Come on out to SSR and treat yourself to some really great racing on March 21.
We had a very good field of 12 cars tonight. We had a group of cars down from Monroe as well as the usual local competitors. Tonight's lineup was Robbie Johnston #96, Chad Robinson #10, Treyce Capers #01, Conner Okrzesik #14, Dalon More #99, Devin Corry #18,
Connelly Dubuisson #32, Joseph McArdle #44jr., Brian McArdle #44, Ronny Freeland #9, Chris Freeland #91, Fred Laing #6, all in all a very strong and competitive field of cars which included several seasoned veterans as well as some up and coming newer drivers.
QUALIFYING:
In an attempt to get the racing program completed at a reasonable hour, qualifying was held before the drivers meeting--a great idea which saved at least 15 or 20 min. In qualifying Connellly laid down the lap of his life posting a time of 12.840 seconds for the quarter mile which calculates to 70.093 mph. I wasn't sure at the time as I couldn't remember what the old track record was, but I went up to Mr. Joe at the post qualifying tech inspection and told him I thought that we might have broken the track record. Obviously we qualified on the pole with Brian McArdle second and Robbie Johnston third. When we got home and I pulled up the records on the track website and found that Connelly had indeed broken the track record set by Hunter Lewis last season at 12.869
HEAT RACES:
Because we had 12 cars in competition there were 2 heat races of 6 cars each. Connelly#32 won his heat followed by the #96, #14, #10, #99, and #18. In the second heat race Brian McArdle #44 won his heat followed by the #9, #44jr., #91, #01, #6.
FEARURE RACE:
In the feature we had a two car invert--Connelly threw a 2 on the big dice which inverted two cars putting Brian on the pole with Connelly outside of him, the #96, #9, #14, #44jr. #10, #91, #99, #01, #18, and the #6 completed the starting lineup, in that order. A case of "yellow fever" broke out from the start. The #14 had a terminal mechanical issue on the first lap--red flag-- then a series of minor spins and mishaps ensued bringing our a number of cautions. It took 11 laps to complete 3 green flag laps. The drivers just fought through and a sense of normalcy finally prevailed. I don't know whether it was an opening night thing-- just being rusty, or the cold track. At the start of the feature the track temp was 52 degrees--probably a combination of both. It took Connelly a few laps but he finally got by Brian in the #44 for the lead. Some really good racing was taking place all around the track, they were two wide and in some cases three wide, really good stuff, some of which probably contributed to the cautions. Connelly won the feature race for his first sweep of the season. The top five finishers were Connelly in the #32, Joseph McArdle in his #44jr. (he beat his dad) Brian Mcardle #44, Ronny Freeland #9, and rounding out the top 5 was Chad Robinson in the #10.
It was a weekend made in heaven for Connelly and the #32 team, Broke the track record, sat on the pole, won his heat race and the feature race and was able to roll the car back on the trailer, which is the most important thing. Looking forward to next race already. Come on out to SSR and treat yourself to some really great racing on March 21.
Monday, March 16, 2015
THE 2015 RACING SEASON
Well the 2015 racing season is upon us, on Valentines day we had the open practice at SSR. The weather was perfect after a week of rain. It was great to be back at the track after being "gone" for the off season. We had some work to do --break in tires-- got that done. Ms. Debbie served some awesome chili and soft drinks I understand there were roses for the "sweethearts" but since Ms. Betty didn't come with us we didn't get a rose since I am not anybody's sweetheart, but that is what happens when you are old and ugly.
We got our tires broken in, visited with old friends and just had a very relaxing afternoon at the track. Connelly only ran it hard for a few laps and he was very satisfied with the car. He said it was really good and was looking forward to March 7 --opening day-- See you there on the 7th.
We got our tires broken in, visited with old friends and just had a very relaxing afternoon at the track. Connelly only ran it hard for a few laps and he was very satisfied with the car. He said it was really good and was looking forward to March 7 --opening day-- See you there on the 7th.
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