Friday night found the #32 crew at SSR at the appointed time got the car unloaded, pit set up, car registered, car through tech and got on the track. We were going to run the new tires that we passed on last race, they were about one tenth slower, but we felt they would come to us by the end of the
feature. We were going to use our "fast tires" for qualifying so we tightened the car up just a little as they have a tendency to be loose. Connelly went out to qualify and on lap one he experienced a really bad vibration then his clutch went out, he pulled in. The vibration had opened up the clutch bleed valve and all the clutch fluid leaked out. We refilled the clutch reservoir and bled the line got the clutch working, but where did that severe vibration come from? Connelly drove the car around the pits and no vibration, but he was going slow (speed limit in the pits). Went out for our heat race starting last,one lap vibration still there. Came in and started checking everything, found out that the nut that holds the coupler that connects the engine to the driveshaft had loosened up a quarter of a turn. It was enough to cause the severe vibration. We got it fixed just as they were calling the cars to the track for fan appreciation night. We were the last car out on the track and going down the back stretch Connelly nailed it and no vibration. We had it fixed. We got back to the pits in just enough time to give the car a quick once over put some fuel in it and get to the grid for the feature which we would start from the 15th position. It felt that we had been thrashing on the car for a week, and we still had the car set up a little tight for the qualifying tires, and we were running the newer tighter tires, but at least we were running.
Feature Race:
There were 15 competitors registered and it would be a chore to get to the front with that many cars unless we have a caution to help. The racers that were registered were Connelly in his #32, Andrew Johnson in the #66, Robbie Johnston in the #96, Dawson Keener in his #04, Dalton Chipley in the #33, another #33 of Dustin Smith, the #7 of Hunter Lewis, the #44 of Joseph McArdle, the #2r of Skyler Fleming, the #2 with Billy Elmore, Jr. driving, the #53 of Jeremy Lundy, the #94 of Brad West, the #59 of Terry Myers, the #91 of Jake Moore. I hope I haven't forgotten any one. At the start we picked up a spot here and there after 3 laps we had gained 3 positions, but the car just didn't seem to have the pop that it had last race, that is when I remembered that we hadn't loosened it up again after all the vibration/clutch issues. We would up going from 15th to 7th or 8th at the finish, I lost track, we did not get a caution which would have allowed us to close up or take the choose and significantly improve our position. Second race in a row that we really needed a caution but couldn't get one, the good news is that we weren't the cause of a caution. We will just have to use this race as our "drop" race. All in all a good save from what could have been disaster. Next race is the Friday/Saturday memorial weekend classic with Saturday being the regional qualifier, a 35 lap event. Hope we have gotten all of our gremlins out of the way. We'll be there next weekend.
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Monday, April 29, 2013
Friday Night 4-26-13
Friday night found the 32 team at Sunny South Raceway just 10 minutes after gate opening, which was good as we had some tires to break in. We got the car prepared, registered and through tech and was the first car on the track. The track was very slick and everyone was loose, Connelly almost spun by himself and was not really pushing it. We got our new tires on and got a heat cycle on them, need to finish them up next time. We knew we wouldn't have much practice time as there is only a little over an hour for all classes to practice. We got in a couple of practices in preparation for qualifying, but man that track was slick, everyone was sliding around.
QUALIFYING: We were in the second qualifying session and I had Connelly at 13.10 with the hand held stopwatch, not bad for such a slick track. Then they anounced that the track's computerized lap timer had malfunctioned, so all Legend drivers were called to the tech barn to draw chips to determine heat race starting positions. There were 10 Legends registered and Connelly drew 8th starting position--deep in the field. We had a really good field of 10 fast cars: #7 of Hunter Lewis, #32 of Connelly, #66 of Andrew Johnson, #04 of Dawson Keener, #96 of Robbie Johnston, #44 of Joseph McArdle,#33 of Dalton Chipley,#59 of Terry Meyers, #53 of Jeremy Lundy, and the #2 of Billy Elmore, Jr., a really competitive group of cars.
HEAT RACE: The start found Connelly deep in the field in 8th place after one lap he was up to 6th after 3 laps he had worked his way up to 5th, at which time a caution came out as a result of the #33 and the #2 getting together. The #2 of Billy Elmore broke his steering wheel in the accident and was forced to retire from the heat, he would be able to make the feature. At the restart Connelly took the "Choose" which put him outside front row in second, but he was on the outside, which brings with it the chance of being "frieght trained" and winding up deeper in the field than before taking the choose. Fortunately Connelly was able to get back to the inside in third place, so he went from 8th to 3rd in about 4 laps with the help of the "choose" behind the #44 of Joseph McArdle (who started on the pole) and the #53 of Jeremy Lundy. The first 3 cars were never more than a few car lengths apart with #44 and #53 right on each other, with Connelly about one or two car lengths behind. Coming to the white flag the #44 and #53 got together spinning both cars, forcing the #53 to retire and put the #44 to the rear of the field. Connelly avoided the spinning cars as did the #7 and the remainder of the field. At the restart for a green, white, checker (two laps of competition remaining) Connelly started single file from the front with the #7 right on his rear bumper, coming out of turn two Connelly got loose and went up the track allowing the #7 to get under him giving him a second place finish in the heat race. The top 5 were: #7, #32, #66, #04, #96, all in all a very entertaining race with a lot of passing and some hot action.
FEATURE RACE: After the heat race Connelly said, I don't know what to do to the car it is so loose I can hardly drive it. So I told him lets tighten it up, we took it to the tech barn and put it on the scales and made a chassis adjustmen to tighten it up--didn't want to go too far, as a slightly loose car is faster than a slightly tight car. We were slated to start second in the feature as a result of our second place finish in the heat. Howerer, our luck changed as the #7 who had to throw the big 3 foot dice to determine the number of cars to be inverted, threw a 2 inverting two cars, putting us on the pole for the feature. Now we had another decision to make, we had an old set of almost worn out tires that we knew would be wicked fast for about 10 to 12 laps, we just didn't know if they would last the whole 20 laps of the feature, if we get a caution about halfway through they would cool off and be right again for another 8 or so laps. If we use a brand new just broken in set of tires they wouldn't be quite as fast at the start and it might not be enough to win, what the heck go with the fast tires and we will try to hold them off. At the start Connelly made a good start got out to about a 4 or 5 car length lead which he was able to hold on to for 12 laps. Then just as we suspected the tires started "giving up" we started going back to the #7 in second and #44 in third (no caution to cool the tires) on lap 13 the front 3 cars went down the back stretch side by side 3 wide which won't work in turn 3 and 4, Connelly fell back to 3rd with the #7 in the lead, the #44 then passed the #7 for the lead, Connelly then passed the #7 back for second place with two laps to go which is where he finished. What a race, this one had it all, one car got out front and stayed thare for over half the race, then second and third ran him down passed for the lead and second place which then changed twice in the last 4 laps with the top three finishing less than a tenth of a second apart from 1st to 3rd. All cars finished on the lead lap which speaks to the quality of this field of cars and drivers. The top 5 being #44, #32, #7, #2, and the #96. This was a very entertaining race with the top two drivers being 16 years old driving like a couple of pros, I would have driven from Metairie to Mobile to watch this race even if I did not have a car in it. Can't wait for Fri the 3rd of May the next race. We'll be there.
QUALIFYING: We were in the second qualifying session and I had Connelly at 13.10 with the hand held stopwatch, not bad for such a slick track. Then they anounced that the track's computerized lap timer had malfunctioned, so all Legend drivers were called to the tech barn to draw chips to determine heat race starting positions. There were 10 Legends registered and Connelly drew 8th starting position--deep in the field. We had a really good field of 10 fast cars: #7 of Hunter Lewis, #32 of Connelly, #66 of Andrew Johnson, #04 of Dawson Keener, #96 of Robbie Johnston, #44 of Joseph McArdle,#33 of Dalton Chipley,#59 of Terry Meyers, #53 of Jeremy Lundy, and the #2 of Billy Elmore, Jr., a really competitive group of cars.
HEAT RACE: The start found Connelly deep in the field in 8th place after one lap he was up to 6th after 3 laps he had worked his way up to 5th, at which time a caution came out as a result of the #33 and the #2 getting together. The #2 of Billy Elmore broke his steering wheel in the accident and was forced to retire from the heat, he would be able to make the feature. At the restart Connelly took the "Choose" which put him outside front row in second, but he was on the outside, which brings with it the chance of being "frieght trained" and winding up deeper in the field than before taking the choose. Fortunately Connelly was able to get back to the inside in third place, so he went from 8th to 3rd in about 4 laps with the help of the "choose" behind the #44 of Joseph McArdle (who started on the pole) and the #53 of Jeremy Lundy. The first 3 cars were never more than a few car lengths apart with #44 and #53 right on each other, with Connelly about one or two car lengths behind. Coming to the white flag the #44 and #53 got together spinning both cars, forcing the #53 to retire and put the #44 to the rear of the field. Connelly avoided the spinning cars as did the #7 and the remainder of the field. At the restart for a green, white, checker (two laps of competition remaining) Connelly started single file from the front with the #7 right on his rear bumper, coming out of turn two Connelly got loose and went up the track allowing the #7 to get under him giving him a second place finish in the heat race. The top 5 were: #7, #32, #66, #04, #96, all in all a very entertaining race with a lot of passing and some hot action.
FEATURE RACE: After the heat race Connelly said, I don't know what to do to the car it is so loose I can hardly drive it. So I told him lets tighten it up, we took it to the tech barn and put it on the scales and made a chassis adjustmen to tighten it up--didn't want to go too far, as a slightly loose car is faster than a slightly tight car. We were slated to start second in the feature as a result of our second place finish in the heat. Howerer, our luck changed as the #7 who had to throw the big 3 foot dice to determine the number of cars to be inverted, threw a 2 inverting two cars, putting us on the pole for the feature. Now we had another decision to make, we had an old set of almost worn out tires that we knew would be wicked fast for about 10 to 12 laps, we just didn't know if they would last the whole 20 laps of the feature, if we get a caution about halfway through they would cool off and be right again for another 8 or so laps. If we use a brand new just broken in set of tires they wouldn't be quite as fast at the start and it might not be enough to win, what the heck go with the fast tires and we will try to hold them off. At the start Connelly made a good start got out to about a 4 or 5 car length lead which he was able to hold on to for 12 laps. Then just as we suspected the tires started "giving up" we started going back to the #7 in second and #44 in third (no caution to cool the tires) on lap 13 the front 3 cars went down the back stretch side by side 3 wide which won't work in turn 3 and 4, Connelly fell back to 3rd with the #7 in the lead, the #44 then passed the #7 for the lead, Connelly then passed the #7 back for second place with two laps to go which is where he finished. What a race, this one had it all, one car got out front and stayed thare for over half the race, then second and third ran him down passed for the lead and second place which then changed twice in the last 4 laps with the top three finishing less than a tenth of a second apart from 1st to 3rd. All cars finished on the lead lap which speaks to the quality of this field of cars and drivers. The top 5 being #44, #32, #7, #2, and the #96. This was a very entertaining race with the top two drivers being 16 years old driving like a couple of pros, I would have driven from Metairie to Mobile to watch this race even if I did not have a car in it. Can't wait for Fri the 3rd of May the next race. We'll be there.
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Friday Night 4-1-13
Again Friday night found us at Sunny South Raceway looking forward to another night of racing. There was an extremely fast group of cars racing tonight. In addition to the #44, #7, #32, #2r, Jeremy Lundy had his fast #53 there, also Billy Elmore, Jr. has a new car a beautiful green '34 Ford coupe #2, Billy is an experienced Legend and Pro Challenge driver and has been very successful at SSR, expect him to be fast. Additionally the #96, and #04 of Dawson Keener who won the most improved driver at SSR last season. The #39 of Daniel Thompson was back, #33 of Dalton Chipley and the #94 of Brad West is back, he was involved in the crash with Connelly in the blue 32 last season and had extensive damage to repair. Also available was the #66 of Andrew Johnson.
We had taken a big swing at the handling of the car in preparation for this race and when Connelly got the car on the track he said it was handling perfectly--good news. We qualified with a time of 13.035 which is very fast as the track was still green. In the heat race Connelly and Jeremy Lundy put on a show they ran nose to tail for the entire 10 laps with Connelly winning by a couple of car lengths.
Connelly threw a 4 with the big dice which gave us the 4th starting position outside second row. We ran 4th for a good portion of the race, made a pass for third, got passed back. Jeremy #53 spun right in fornt of us bringing out the caution with 2 laps to go. We were now third with two to go, on the last lap Connelly got under Joseph #44 going into turn 3, they got together, Joseph spun, Connelly got into him and by the time he got off of Joseph two cars passed putting him back to 4th. This all happened as the checkerd flag was being shown to the field. Top finishers were #7 first, #94 second, #66 third, #32 fourth, #04 fifth. All in all not a bad night we showed better than our finish, but it was a double points night and we didn't get hurt too bad on pointgs. The damage to the car looks like no more than bent bumper tabs and a grill mount bracket, very fixable. It doesn't appear that any signifigant damage was done. This season is setting up to be a very competitive one. There are several cars and drivers that are capable of winning on any given night. Looking forward to next race already.
We had taken a big swing at the handling of the car in preparation for this race and when Connelly got the car on the track he said it was handling perfectly--good news. We qualified with a time of 13.035 which is very fast as the track was still green. In the heat race Connelly and Jeremy Lundy put on a show they ran nose to tail for the entire 10 laps with Connelly winning by a couple of car lengths.
Connelly threw a 4 with the big dice which gave us the 4th starting position outside second row. We ran 4th for a good portion of the race, made a pass for third, got passed back. Jeremy #53 spun right in fornt of us bringing out the caution with 2 laps to go. We were now third with two to go, on the last lap Connelly got under Joseph #44 going into turn 3, they got together, Joseph spun, Connelly got into him and by the time he got off of Joseph two cars passed putting him back to 4th. This all happened as the checkerd flag was being shown to the field. Top finishers were #7 first, #94 second, #66 third, #32 fourth, #04 fifth. All in all not a bad night we showed better than our finish, but it was a double points night and we didn't get hurt too bad on pointgs. The damage to the car looks like no more than bent bumper tabs and a grill mount bracket, very fixable. It doesn't appear that any signifigant damage was done. This season is setting up to be a very competitive one. There are several cars and drivers that are capable of winning on any given night. Looking forward to next race already.
Friday Night 3-15-13
Friday night found the #32 crew at the track rearing to go, we had made some adjustments to the car trying to get it to turn through the center of the turns better and in practice we felt like we gained on it a little, but still no cigar. There was no qualifying as the track transponder was acting up, so we drew chips to establish heat starting positions. Connelly drew low chip and sat on the pole for the heat.
The cars that competed tonight were #7 Hunter Lewis, #32 Connelly, #2r Skyler Fleming, #44 Joseph McArdle, #11 Dustin Smith, #96 Robbie Johnston, #66 Andrew Johnson, #33 Dalton Chipley, #54 T.J.Thompson, and a second #54 from Texas Clayton Green. A very strong field. Connelly had a terrible cold, I do not know how he was even able to drive. He wound up second in the heat to Hunter Lewis in the #7. In the feature we started outside first row, which is a tough spot as you are usually 4th by the time you can get to the inside lane where you can race, which is exactly what happened. During the course of the race we would make a pass, then get passed back, we finished fourth .084 of a second behind the leader, there were four cars within .084 of each other at the finish. It was a very entertaining race, Connelly was not satisfied with a 4th place finish, but under the circumstances we will take it.
The cars that competed tonight were #7 Hunter Lewis, #32 Connelly, #2r Skyler Fleming, #44 Joseph McArdle, #11 Dustin Smith, #96 Robbie Johnston, #66 Andrew Johnson, #33 Dalton Chipley, #54 T.J.Thompson, and a second #54 from Texas Clayton Green. A very strong field. Connelly had a terrible cold, I do not know how he was even able to drive. He wound up second in the heat to Hunter Lewis in the #7. In the feature we started outside first row, which is a tough spot as you are usually 4th by the time you can get to the inside lane where you can race, which is exactly what happened. During the course of the race we would make a pass, then get passed back, we finished fourth .084 of a second behind the leader, there were four cars within .084 of each other at the finish. It was a very entertaining race, Connelly was not satisfied with a 4th place finish, but under the circumstances we will take it.
Opening Night Friday Night 3-1-13
That's right we are racing on Friday nights this season. We pick Connelly up from school at 3:10 and go straight to the track, which works out well as we stop at Grand Ban Subway for dinner and get to the track before opening. The 32 during practice wasn't rolling through the center of the turns to Connelly's liking and we were losing time there. We tried some air pressure adjustments that didn't help much we qualified third and ran second in the heat and held on to second in the feature. There were 10 cars for the first race. Under the heading of everything that is old is new again Skyler Fleming has a brand new car it is just like his old 34 ford sedan painted a sharp grey and bearing his old 2r number.
Betty's camera malfunctioned and we did not get the feature race but I do know the results of the feature were the #7 of Hunter Lewis was first with Connelly #32 second, Joseph McArdle #44 third, and Skyler Fleming #2r fourth. Will try to do a better job reporting in the future. Looking forward to next race already.
Betty's camera malfunctioned and we did not get the feature race but I do know the results of the feature were the #7 of Hunter Lewis was first with Connelly #32 second, Joseph McArdle #44 third, and Skyler Fleming #2r fourth. Will try to do a better job reporting in the future. Looking forward to next race already.
2013 Racing Season
I have been terribly remiss in my attention to our Blog. The 2013 season is well underway and I have not put up one post and for that I apologize. To bring everyone up to date, we had to get the 32 front clip replaced as a result of the wreck last race in July. We had that done and replaced all of the right front suspension parts as well as a new oil cooler, steering box and much of the right rear suspension parts as well including a new rear end housing. We had the car "set up" and put new tires on it and felt we were ready for the open test date in mid Feb.
The 2013 season kicked off with an open test date on Feb. 16 and we spent most of the day breaking in tires. The car felt good and Connelly turned in some fair times. The track was very green (no rubber put down) and was not very fast, but we were pleased with the car's performance considering all the repairs done. For a mid Feb date, the weather was great and we enjoyed the outing. Connelly was overjoyed to finally get back behind the wheel of his baby.
The 2013 season kicked off with an open test date on Feb. 16 and we spent most of the day breaking in tires. The car felt good and Connelly turned in some fair times. The track was very green (no rubber put down) and was not very fast, but we were pleased with the car's performance considering all the repairs done. For a mid Feb date, the weather was great and we enjoyed the outing. Connelly was overjoyed to finally get back behind the wheel of his baby.
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Final Update on 2012 Season
Well, the 2012 racing season at Sunny South Raceway has drawn to a close. We had an up and down season but overall it was very successful for us. We were not able to compete in the final race of the season. We had wrecked Mr. Joe's loaner car "The Blue 32" and only had a short week to repair it, we had the wreck on Saturday night Sept. 15 and the next race was the following Friday night. I tore the rear suspension down and repalced all the bent parts; trailing arms (both rear), the panhard bar, the pinion angle third link, the rear end housing, one rear shock, all heims, all bolts in the rear suspension. I did not have time to set the car up in that short week, so rather than put the car in harm's way plus we had over a 150 point cushion for 3rd. place points, I elected not to chance it and we didn't attempt to race on Fri night the 21st. That decision was further validated when Mr. Joe tore the car all the way down to go completely through it, which was his plan all along, he discovered that the top members of the frame were bent. So I made the right decision after all. It was tough to stay home and not race, but it was the right thing to do. We will have Mr. Joe's frame repaired.
On Nov 17th we attended the 2012 SSR banquet. It was a great affair and was held in a church, not the church's hall, but in the main church. It was very well attended the trophies were spectacular, the food was great and all had a good time. Connelly finished third in points behind Joseph McArdle who was second and Hunter Lewis who won the track championship. Joseph missed out on winning his second consecutive points championship by 11 points. That margin represents one position in qualifying, heat race and feature race for two races. Very close and since Hunter and Joseph were both involved in a couple of accidents/spins during the season it could have been either one of them's championship, just a matter of racing luck or one turn of the wrench in setup.
The record for the #32 team was one overall victory 3 seconds and 3 thirds a couple of fourths. We only had 2 DNF's (did not finish). Additionally we had one flat left rear that we changed with the help of half the people in the pits and got back on track without losing a lap to get a 3rd place finish, another replace a brake pedal bolt to get a 4th place finish with the help of Allen Luthor, another to get the right fender put back in place (thanks to Cliff Osmer),
another to re-install the nut on the upper front ball joint, we did loose a number of laps, but got back out there to finish the race--laps down. Some of this taught us lessons on pre race inspections and the true value of good friends. All in all we learned a lot, got some valuable seat time, and moved forward. We are now in the process of putting the black and orange #32 back together and are looking forward to the open test date in February that Mr. Joe announced at the banquet.
On Nov 17th we attended the 2012 SSR banquet. It was a great affair and was held in a church, not the church's hall, but in the main church. It was very well attended the trophies were spectacular, the food was great and all had a good time. Connelly finished third in points behind Joseph McArdle who was second and Hunter Lewis who won the track championship. Joseph missed out on winning his second consecutive points championship by 11 points. That margin represents one position in qualifying, heat race and feature race for two races. Very close and since Hunter and Joseph were both involved in a couple of accidents/spins during the season it could have been either one of them's championship, just a matter of racing luck or one turn of the wrench in setup.
The record for the #32 team was one overall victory 3 seconds and 3 thirds a couple of fourths. We only had 2 DNF's (did not finish). Additionally we had one flat left rear that we changed with the help of half the people in the pits and got back on track without losing a lap to get a 3rd place finish, another replace a brake pedal bolt to get a 4th place finish with the help of Allen Luthor, another to get the right fender put back in place (thanks to Cliff Osmer),
another to re-install the nut on the upper front ball joint, we did loose a number of laps, but got back out there to finish the race--laps down. Some of this taught us lessons on pre race inspections and the true value of good friends. All in all we learned a lot, got some valuable seat time, and moved forward. We are now in the process of putting the black and orange #32 back together and are looking forward to the open test date in February that Mr. Joe announced at the banquet.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
