Race #2 is in the books, and I must say that I am relatively pleased with the results. I'm not too happy with the outcome of Jess' race, which he didn't start because of a piston letting go. It really is a big letdown, because of the amount of work put into his car in the last 6 weeks. He should have had a chance at contending for a championship, and instead, he's racing for wins because he already missed a race due to mechanical failure. Of course, what goes wrong is usually something that you can't fix in the shop...

So on to my race. It was my first time racing on a hot day with the sun really beating on the track. I went out in the first practice, and I will say I wasn't ready. I wasn't used to racing a car where the motor pulled all the way down the track. So, my corner entry and line was atrocious. Not to mention the car has fairly new tires on it, so it was pretty greasy out there. I come in, and Chuck Rogers informed me that my right front was rubbing really badly. I extended the right front a-frame the 1" allowed by the rules, but I wasn't sure if it would clear the fender. I guess I found out! When I got it home, I found out I was barely rubbing the left front as well, so I had to cut that one too. All a learning experience...

I read Steve Romjue's website quite a bit. I've also been around racing for long enough and had so many good racing mentors like Brian McCarthy, Jess Gleason, Moose Douton, and Phil Smith, to know what I'm supposed to do as a rookie. My learning curve is going to be much shorter than most other racers, but success is still slow to attain, and if I'm going to be good, I need to start out right. I walked over to see Julie at the handicappers booth after practice, and said, "Put me to the back. Even if everyone crashes on the last lap and I'm the only one left, put me to the back of the feature too." She seemed to like the idea, saying that as a rookie I should start back there. I would much rather learn how to be on attack and keep up and try to pass than be bait, and drive over my head to try and not get run over. I also need to know how the car reacts in and out of traffic. Avoiding accidents is not what I need to learn, when I raced in Waterford, I learned that quickly. But, I'm getting it. From my first race at Thompson last year, to my fourth race, I've picked up over a second in my lap times. I went from 6500 rpms to 7100 at the end of the straight. And I'm still not fast enough in the corners. But, the comfort level is rising, and we'll get there.

Feature time comes, and I'm not dead last, but I'm close enough, so I don't bother dropping back the last couple spots. I started 21st or 22nd, I can't remember which, but I was back there. Green flag drops, and I go with the flow. Heavy traffic, but the guys were so much more respectful than the Icebreaker. I hope they keep up the good clean racing. I spent my time in the race picking off a few cars, but mainly line searching. I figured out that my car likes the middle/topside. I'm not scared to go to the top, so if the car likes it, I can deal. I'll work on getting it to go where I want it. It did get sketchy a few times, the car wanted to get real loose on exit depending on the line. I was steering right a lot on some of those laps. When all was said and done, I brought her back in one piece, in 16th. I also got a lot of good feedback on how the car controls were set up and I have since made a few adjustments to make them more comfortable in the car. I also lost my master cylinder during the race. I could stop, but I couldn't do it well. I had to swerve to avoid cars under caution a few times, but that has also been fixed with a new master. My exhaust also started to droop, and I heard it scrape a few times on entry. I also had to get that to stay up.

Needless to say, racing from this side is a much different animal. I'm used to wrenching, but being behind the wheel is a much cooler experience. 'Til next time!

Brent

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