Race #6 & #7 at Columbia Motorsports Park
04-22-06

Man, what a difference a year can make! Last year at this time we were almost rebuilding the car after each race. I did good just to finish the race! This year there is hardly a scratch on the car so now we can focus on getting the car better and better. This week we tried a little bit softer springs on the left side of the car to make it turn in a little bit better. It really seemed to help... (more)

Our schedule was for a make up race so we had to run 2 feature races instead of a heat race and a feature. I finished second in the prior race which meant I had to start at the end of the inside row on the first feature race. On the start something weird was going on. They put 2 race cars that weren't with our group on the track behind us. Then, when they gave us the green flag the yellow lights were on so we weren't sure if we were supposed to start or not. It was the slowest start I have every seen and since I didn't really fire I didn't make any headway on the start and found myself at the end of the line in last place with everybody driving away from me! I got on the gas coming off of turn 2 even though the flag man was actually waving the yellow flag because everybody else was hard at it on the back stretch. By the time I got back to the flag stand I caught the car ahead of me and passed him going into turn one. Then, I caught the next car and passed him on the back stretch. The 4 cars ahead of me were sort of racing for position and they were side by side so I had no trouble catching them on the next lap. I slowly worked by each one, lap by lap, until at half way I found myself in 2nd place. The leader had check out on the start and he had a half a lap lead on me. I ran as hard as I could, if fact, I ran the fastest laps I have ever run, but I just could not make up the distance in the remaining laps so I finished the race in second. We never did figure out what the flag man was doing or why those cars were on the track.

Of course, because I finished second, in the next race I had to start in the back again on the next race but I didn't let them get a way from me this time. I found out that the fastest way to get around someone at this track is on the high side so I got a run on the start on the outside and passed all but the first and second place cars. The problem was that I have been getting tight in the last laps of the race so I took a little bit of wedge out of the car before the race and that caused me to be a little too loose in the beginning. I slipped up in turn 2 and let a few cars gain a little on me but I got hard in the gas on the back stretch and held on to the 4th position. Coming off of turn 4, the 3rd place car went high so I tried to turn under him and got in the gas like I usually do but the tires weren't quite there yet and I almost spun. I got my car back under me but the car behind me got a run off the corner while I was busy keeping the car out of the infield and I lost that position falling back to 5th. One lap later the 3rd place car spun out in turn 2 and that brought out the caution with me in 4th. On the restart the leader fired real early going into turn 3 and caught me and the cars in front of me by surprise. By the time we hit the flag stand the leader had 8 or 10 car lengths on us. The second place car was pretty slow so the car infront of me and I got around him in about 2 laps. Then it was pretty much single file until the end of the race. I would gain a little and then I would drive the car into the corner a little too hard and have to wait too long to get back in the gas losing everything I had just made up. All the while the car seemed to tighten up a little bit each lap. At the end I was right on the second place car's tale but I couldn't get around him before the end of the race and finished in 3rd.

We have 2 weekends off before we race again. We have never done anything to the motor to see if we can get any more out of it so we plan to get the car on a dyno and play around a little with the fuel injection and ignition timing before next race. I'm kind of excited about that. There is also a good chance that I will get to drive a fast truck too so even though you won't hear a lot from me I'll still be pretty busy.