What a mess this race was. We didn't even make it past turn 1 before cars were wrecked. We did so well the last race! I didn't have a good feeling about this race heading into it. I just was not into racing for some reason. I was just shifting into 3rd gear when the #68 was turned around right in front of me. I had someone on the high side really crowding me, I thought I was going to hit him, but instead I got hit on the left by the #04. That was the first time while racing at Thompson that I thought, "It's over, I'm toast". You know what, there's not really a lot of damage to my car, but he got me pretty solid. I whacked my head off my left headrest pretty good, and my foot slipped over to my clutch pedal so when I went to hit the brakes again, I pushed the clutch in. Awkward. Needless to say, I wasn't sure if the car was damaged bad or not because it was a pretty solid hit. I brought it down the pit road to the photographers and firemen, and I asked them how bad it was. They looked it over and said it was ok, so I went back out. I knew there was something wrong with the front end, but I decided to tough it out. The first corner under speed was kind of sketchy, but after a while, I started to figure it out. It was really boring sitting back in the pack because the car wouldn't handle. I measured the toe this afternoon, and I found out that it got knocked in 1/8". That would explain why it developed a loose condition. 


I figured my excitement was pretty much over, since I could barely keep up. I don't know what I was thinking. Many other cautions to bunch up the field led to some hairy moments. With approximately 4 to go, the #52 blew a motor or something (since I never saw any speedy dry go down) going into turn 3. The 55 was ahead of me, and he went straight through the oil and smacked the fence. I dove down low to try and miss the trail, but I guess I drove right through it. The car flew sideways at the wrong point, the entry of the turn. Instinct must have kicked in, because I just matted the throttle and kept the car from slamming into the wall. Glad my mother got that on film, that was entertaining. And what's the saying? Crash in front of the cameraman? I did it twice in one night. I also ended up going down pit road twice, once on my own accord, and once spinning. I've spun cars out before, but not that fast. I just wish I hadn't cracked open my helmet to get some air in there. Rookie mistake.



I have so much work to do to get this car to settle down in the corners. If I had a set of scales, I'd have it on those every week, trying new stuff. But until then, it's going to be a slow process to get this thing to handle. If I can get it to handle by the end of the year, I'll be in good shape. 


~Brent

 


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