Friday Night Aug 29, 2014

Well the weather bug caught up with us again this past Friday night.  Forecast had the track wet for most of the day and evening, so the race scheduled for tonight will be rescheduled for Oct 4, double points and all.  Next race at Sunny South is scheduled for Sept 12, 2014.

Friday Night August 15, 2014

Friday night Aug 15 found the #32 crew at the pit gate for about 5:20.  We got to our pits, set up, went through registration and tech and got the  car ready to break in tires.  We were breaking in a new set of right sides.  Two heat cycles with a water cool down in between got us halfway there.  Need another two cycles at the next race, OK for now.  We put our race tires on and did a test set, then put another set on trying to decide which to use in qualifying.  We got some real good times in practice on the second set and decided to qualify on those.  In qualifying we didn't get close to our practice times, and we qualified second a full tenth of a second behind Hunter Lewis who won the pole.  I think Connelly was overdriving the car, trying too hard.

There were 14 cars registered for tonight's event, they were in order of qualifying: Hunter Lewis #7, Connelly Dubuisson #32, Bred West #94, Robbie Johnston #96, Conner Okrzesik #14, Ramsey Whittington #4, Andrew Johnson #66, Dustin Harvison #15, Joseph McArdle #44jr, Brian McArdle #44, Chad Robinson #10, Michael Beasley #1, Treyce Capers #01, and Jayme Corry #18, a very capable and fast field.

After qualifying the race director threw the "big dice" and rolled a four meaning that they would invert the top four qualifiers, which put us starting from position #3.  We would rather start from the #3 position than the #2 spot as it is sometime tough getting to the inside lane where you can actually race and pass someone.

At the start there was a spin before all the cars had taken the green flag, so a complete restart.  The restart was clean and by the end of lap one Connelly was only about 3 feet from the lead.  by the end of lap #2 we had the lead, a spin brought out another caution, restart went well. We only lead two laps when Hunter Lewis in the #7 got by us for the lead.  So on to plan "B", fall back and ride saving our tires for a run at the lead late in the race.  So much for plan "B" a  late caution let everybody's tires cool off, but no big loss we were still in second place and we would see if we had anything for the #7.  The race restarted with nine laps to go, Connelly latched on to the rear bumper of the #7 and stayed within 3 or 4 car lengths of him for  the remainder of the race--we just didn't have anything for him--don't know if we missed something in the setup or we ran our tires off the car but we just couldn't get our lap times down to where they needed to be.  Giving us a second place finish. Connelly was very disappointed as he felt he hadn't driven hard enough.  He is still learning the coupe but he is getting it. We will try to improve for the next race.  The top 5 finishing order was the #7, #32, #96, #44 and I believe the #94 wound up 5th.  All in all a good race, not a lot of passing up front, but back in the pack there was some really good racing, hey--good racing is good racing no matter where you find it.

On another note we had a professional photographer come to the track and take a bunch of photos.  I'll post some when we get them back.  Looking forward to the Aug. 29th race already

Friday Night August 1, 2014

The #32 team arrived at SSR at about 5:30 pm got to our pit stall got it set up, got the car out and went through registration and safety inspection. We had a couple of things  we had to check as  we had made a couple of slight adjustments to the car before the feature race on July 12th and the car was trying to "step out" when Connelly pushed it really hard going into turn 3.  He went out and gave it a quick run and the loose condition was still there.  We un-did the change and it was back to normal.  This new car is very sensitive to even minute changes, so you have to be careful of what you do.  The track temp was blistering hot 118 degrees so we waited to go out for another test run until 20 min. before testing was over.   When we went out again we  tried a set of tires we had run on the sedan and they were fast, high 12.9's and low 13.0's, then we tried the set that had come with the car.  Connelly said that even though this set wasn't quite as fast only one 12.99 and the rest of the laps 13.0's  the second set was more comfortable.  We discussed which set to qualify on  and he wanted the second set.  I told him in qualifying you  go with your best stuff, you can hold onto anything for 3 laps but lets get a good qualifying lap.  He insisted he would get us a lap with the second set--OK--Mr. race car driver show us what cha got!!!  Well what he had was a 13.027, not a bad lap but on a night when the top 3 cars were all in the 12.9's it was only good enough for 4th place.  When they threw the dice for the invert they threw a 2 meaning we would start 4th on the outside with three really fast cars in front of us.  So much for the driver dictating to the car owner what tires to use.  Since the "more comfortable" set would be more appropriate for a 25 lap race we were in agreement to go with that set in the feature race.

Tonight we had 12 cars competing; Hunter Lewis #7, Brian McArdle #44, Andrew Johnson #66, Connelly Dubuisson #32, Robbie Johnston #96, Joseph McArdle #44jr, Brad West #94,Conner Okrzesik #14, Dustin Harvison #15, Ramsey Whittington #4, Chad Robinson #10, and Treyce Capers #01, a very fast field with the top four qualifiers all within a tenth of a second of each other and the top six within a tenth and a half.  We were starting fourth with three 12.9 second cars in front of us.  Good luck with that.  Connelly has a tendency to "get down" on himself when he makes a mistake and he felt terrible about the tire selection thing, so I reminded him of something that happened in a race earlier in the season, we had a solid second place going with a few laps to go and he made a mistake on a restart and fell to third, he then started pushing too hard made another mistake and fell to fourth.  So I told him we can't change the qualifying thing and he had come from 9th and 10th in the last two races to finish third, so just go out drive your race like you know you can and have fun and everything will take care of itself.  Did it ever!!!

At the start Conner in the #14 broke something in the rear end and spun in turn one of the first lap, every one was able to avoid hitting him, so we had a complete restart minus the #14. Connelly got a good start and stayed in 4th place on the outside for 2 1/2 laps when he was finally able to  get to the inside where he could race, the next back straightaway he got buy Hunter #7 (who was on the far outside) and really abusing his tires and Andrew #66 to take second place.  He stayed very close to Brian #44 and was able to pass him for the lead on lap 8.  Brian stayed glued to Connelly, never separated by more than one car length with Hunter a equally close third for the next 12 laps or so.  It was a very entertaining race. At about lap 20 or so Brian and Hunter had overheated their tires to the point that they were unable to challenge for the win.  Had we had a caution,  they both would have been able to cool down their tires as well as us, and things might have been different, but we didn't get a caution and no tires were cooled and we won our first Legend race of the season.  What a race? Connelly really redeemed himself and probably drove the best race of his career.
The final order of finish was the #32, #44, #7, #44jr, #66, #96, #94, #4, #10, #15, #01, a very competitive and exciting race.  Looking forward to the next race already  August 15.

July 18, 2014

Well the rain bug bit us again, due to heavy rain coming out of Texas and Louisiana and falling on the track, the race was called before we even left for Sunny South.  I have suggested that an alternate name could be "Rainy South Raceway",  just kidding we have been very lucky this season and have had only one rainout, which was made up last Saturday.  This race will be made up some time in Sept.  So now it is on to the next race on Aug 1st.

Saturday Night July 12, 2014

We got to the track about 2:30 as late checkout at LaQuinta was 1 pm.  We got let in to the track by the snack bar cook bringing supplies.  We used our time wisely, nut and bolted the car and Connelly waxed it, it had to look good for it's introduction.  It was so hot you could hardly breathe but we stayed in the shade and kept hydrated.  The track gates opened, we went through tech--with a new car they went through safety tech really close--we decided that with the track so hot we would wait until 20 min before practice ended to even go out.  We got out, made some hot laps and came in, the car was still good.  Then guess what, it starts to rain.  It just rained for about15 minutes and with the track so hot and just a small amount of rain it shouldn't take too long to dry.  10 to 15 minutes of several street cars making laps then another 20 hot laps with 8 legends and the track was ready.  Since we had no qualifying they decided to line up all the cars by points, and invert the entire field then throw the big dice and double invert whatever that throw indicated.  There were 11 cars in the show for tonight and since the big dice only has six spots we were going to start 10th out of 11 no matter what the invert roll came up with.  Another wrinkle--Hunter Lewis the #7 had a hundred dollar bounty placed on him--anyone who could legally and cleanly beat him would get an extra $100, if no one beats him tonight, next week it goes to $200, and if it goes to a third week it becomes $300, if he wins all three he gets the $300.  All that aside, we are still starting 10th out of 11 with an unfamiliar car, with this total field invert the higher points cars (faster) are at the rear and will take some work to get by.  Well we came from the back last week with the sedan so we will give it a try with the coupe.  In our pre-race instructions I told Connelly be safe, give the car a respectable run and have fun.

At the start we are almost dead last, within a few laps we are up to 6th, few more laps 5th.  The car looked like it was really hooked up and appeared to be handling well.  Then a caution comes out, Connelly takes the "choose" and works his way up to 3rd.  Brian McArdle and Hunter are going hard at each other for about 5 laps making 4 or 5 crossover passes in those laps, Connelly was able to close up to the back bumper of whoever was second.  For a while I thought these two are going to wreck each other and we are going to win this thing. Finally Hunter got about 2 car lengths advantage over Brian with two laps to go.  Connelly got a couple of real good runs on Brian and almost got by him for second place right at the finish.  All in all a very respectable run for our first time out, came from 10th to third and looked good doing it, no "gimmie" here Connelly earned it.  In tech Connelly kept looking under the left front suspension saying it felt like the left front brake was grabbing upon entry to the turns and he couldn't drive it as hard as he wanted to.  He had hit Joseph McArdle rear bumper with his left front tire in the turn three of lap one and drove the whole race like that.  I looked at the in-car electronic timer and we has several low 13.00's I told Connelly there couldn't be too much wrong turning those kind of lap times.  Upon checking the car at home we found that we had knocked the "toe" completely out of the front end giving the feel of the car not wanting to turn as easily.  All in all I felt that Connelly had driven a very good race, the car looked really good and with a little tweeking I feel that we will be competitive with anybody.  We have a short week as the next race in next Friday July 18.  Cant wait.

"New" #32 coupe

Well we took delivery on the  coupe, got it home, pulled the body off and got it over to Terry at Manhattan Collision Center for paint.  He did a spectacular gloss black and orange paint job.  He also did a royal blue distressed pinstripe accent that made the whole thing really POP.  We got the body home and very carefully re-installed it, placed the numbers and graphics, the result is excellent.  Now that the numbers are on it is officially the #32 coupe.  Our plan was to be able to go get the car home, get it painted, get the graphics on and get it to the track for a test session before the 7-12-14 rainout make up race.  Mission accomplished!!!!  

We called Mr. Joe got the track reserved for Fri. night the 11th, booked a motel in Mobile, planning to test Fri. and race Sat the 12th.  We were praying for no rain as the skies looked ripe.  We got to SSR about 6 pm unloaded got on the track and as you might suspect it starts to rain--a heavy drizzle at first then a light shower, then it stops, just enough to remind you who is really in charge.  We had some company at the track, Joseph and Brian McArdle were there with their cars Conner with his #14 Legend and #14 Pro Challenge and a couple of go karts, just enough activity to keep things interesting.

The track dried quickly and we only lost about 20 min or so,  Connelly got back out and said the car felt really good.   We wanted to try 3 or 4 different tire combinations which we managed to do, the fastest set was found out to be the one we weren't even trying to test, but because I laid out the wrong tires we learned something--sometimes being lucky ain't all bad.  Connelly had to feel his way with the coupe as they handle quite a bit differently than the sedan.  Most people describe the coupe as being a little "twitchy" when compared to the sedan.  Connelly had gotten so comfortable in the sedan that he knew what it was going to do before it did it.  He progressed quickly through the learning curve and was soon turning times in the low 13.00's.  We put that "fast" set of tires on and Connelly said he was going to go out and "bust it".  We had the electronic timing system set up and after 7 laps he shuts it down and comes off the track, which is unusual as you usually have to shoot him to get him off the track.  I walked back down to the trailer and he says come see something.  He scrolls through the times of those 7 laps and after his get up to speed laps he had a 13.02, 13.00, 13.00
12.97, and a 13.01, and that was with no tweeking or fine tuning the setup.  Connelly said there was nothing else I could learn from running more  laps, we are ready for tomorrow night.  We slept well that night looking forward to Sat. night's race.

Catch up on recent races

I have been terribly lax in keeping up with the race postings.  A lot has been going on--I'll explain later. 

Since last race we have had a fairly successful run of races, most of them ending with a third place finish with an average car count of about 10 to 11 cars. One of the most interesting races was the Friday night of May 23rd (The Memorial Day Classic) Joey Padgett from Charlotte was in for the weekend of racing--he is usually "blistering" fast.  Connelly got a good start and worked his way up to second behind the #7, held his position for several laps.  With about 6 laps to go a caution came out causing a double file restart.  Connelly missed a shift on the restart going from second gear to fourth, which coincidently dropped him from second place to fourth in the running order.  He just didn't have time to get past the cars in front of him.  At the finish--one of the closest I can remember there were 4 cars within 25 feet of each other (remember these cars are only 10 feet from front bumper to rear) Joseph in the #44jr was second, Joey Padgett #83 in third and Connelly #32 in fourth with Brian McArdle #44 in fifth.  All spread out across the track, it was very impressive.  I hated to loose a second place finish, but it was almost worth it to see that scramble for the runner up spot--I said almost!!!

In the June 6 th. race we got another third place finish, a good podium finish, but we are trying for better, I feel that will come.

The June 20th race was a very interesting affair, we had some very good practice times  in the low 13.00's so we felt good about qualifying.  Connelly as he often does was going to go out last in the final qualifying group, as he rolled forward to go out onto the track the engine just quit.  When I didn't see him come out, I rushed over to the grid and figured we must have a loose connection somewhere in the ignition harness.  I gave the wire bundle a good squeeze and a little shake and it started.  Magic!?!?!?!  Mr. Joe said he could go out for three practice laps --the same as qualifying-- but he couldn't score him as he had missed his qualifying attempt leaving us to start last. We taped up the wiring harness after the three laps and hoped it would hold for the feature.  In the feature we would have to start 9th of 9 cars, oh well sooner or later you have to learn to come from the rear might as well be now.  So we started 9th, by the end of lap two we up to 6th, by lap 8 we were 4th.  Shortly past halfway a caution came out we took the choose, by the time that all sorted out were third, which is where we finished.  It was a very impressive run for the #32 sedan.   It was fitting for the sedan to have such a good run, as this was to be its last.  For the next race we will have a "new coupe" new for us.   It comes out of the Atlanta area and has been campaigned very successfully throughout the country. We look forward to seeing what that brings.  Can't wait!!