Our hard work is finally starting to pay off. This week the car felt great and we shaved another 2 tenths of a second off of our lap times.

After last weeks brake problems we completely changed the brake fluid and bleed the entire brake system. Then, we went over the front end to make sure that everything was set where we thought it was. Our left side tires had 3 races and we were trying to get 4 races out of them but that turned out to be a mistake. They were already feathered a little from the push I had in the car last week and, although the car was really good, by the end of the night there was no grip left in the tires... (more)

I knew immediately in the first practice that the car was going to be good. Basically, we are now back on the original set up that we ran last year except that the front end is now working better. Oh, I guess the rebuilt motor made a pretty big difference too. Last year we were running laps around 19:60. Last night I ran a few in the 18:40's. Now the new track surface has a lot to do with that, some people say that it's as much as a half second faster now so we have made up another half second and now run just a tick off the fastest of the regular Saturday night racers. We have another 1/2 second to go before we can say we are running with the best in the state but at least we're not holding anybody up anymore.

In the heat race I wound up on the pole again because the car that was supposed to start on the pole decided to move to the back. On the start everything went well and I jumped out to the lead with the 3rd place starter right on my bumper. Actually he was about a foot under my bumper there in turn one and 2 but I keep in going in the right direction and was starting to pull away a little when, on the second lap, 2 cars in the back got together and spun coming off turn 2.

On the restart I let the car drift up a little too much and the second place car got a run on me coming off turn 4. My crew chief has been preaching a good bit to me lately about my restarts because he thinks that's where I have been loosing the most ground to the other cars on the track. Sure enough, I wound up going into turn one high and had to soft pedal it through the corner which cost me the second spot too. Then, the same thing almost happened in turn 3 and 4 with the 4th place car behind me but this time I got back to the gas a little sooner and drove as hard as I could off the turn. When I got back to turn one I was ahead but not enough to get down where I needed to be but I still got through and off the corner good enough to hold onto 3rd place. By the end of the heat I had a fast car challenging me for my position but I held on to 3rd at the line.

In the feature race I was on the pole again. The outside pole sitter got a jump on me and beat me into turn one. I fell in at second and was getting a rhythm as my tires came to me but a car towards the back spun off turn 4 at the end of the first lap. They counted it as a completed lap and we lined up single file with me in second.

I didn't get the greatest start. I guess had a little trouble getting the distance right on the car in front of me and then getting going at just the right time when the green flag came out. The 3rd place car jumped to my outside and raced me hard through turns 1 and 2. I then found myself in a late model sandwich with me as the cheese going into turn 3. My radio came unplugged during all this so I couldn't hear my spotter so I was sort of blind and lost 3 positions before I could get down in the groove where I belonged. During the time were were sorting out the order I got hit in the side which pancaked the driver's door and left front fender. That got me mad and I started to drive with a vengeance. We ran several laps with me in 5th and I don't know if I was gaining on the leaders but I was getting everything I could out of that car. I probably tried to get a llittle too much because after 10 laps the car started to slid up in the turns and I could feel the car's grip going away. Then, just before we got the white flag, the second and third place cars got into it and spun. With one lap to go at the green I was in 3rd and held onto it for the checkers.

Every since we first started out in racing, my dad would work on the kart until he got it to handle better and then I had to learn how to race at the level. Then, after a few races I'd sort of get the hang of it and then he would have to step the kart or the car up a little bit more. It's sort of been a sea-saw back and forth. Well, the ball is in my court now. I've got to get better at the starts but now I have a car that I can do something with. I hope in a few more races it will be dad's turn again so I can win a few of these things soon.