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.