Gleason Bros. Racing

This post is going to be more of a reflection on the year than a post about the last race.

So my rookie year has come to a close. It was a frustrating year, but you know what... it really could have been a lot worse. I had my bumps and bangs, I spent nights repairing damage, but I didn't have to clip the car or replace suspension parts. But I only mustered a single top 10 (personally, when Brad drove the car it finished 8th) and to me, that's not good enough. I'm a very competitive person and when I can't do as good as I should do, then I get upset. I don't blame anyone else for my poor season, it's all a learning experience. 


I learned more about racing this year by having a poor car than I probably would have if I was up front all the time. If I had a good car, I wouldn't have learned what it's like to drive a car that was underpowered, that wasn't handling, that had a vibration I had to diagnose. I wouldn't have learned how to pass someone when I had a push, how to induce oversteer, how to apologize to someone for spinning them out. I will say, our season may be shorter than most tracks, but it's still just as stressful as any other track. 


I spend a LOT of time in my garage working on the car. During the season, I was in the shop every night. The most frustrating thing about the year was, it performed on the track like I left the car on the trailer during the week. It looked like I didn't touch the thing and just struggled the whole year. Nothing could be further from the truth. I had the car on jackstands, looking it over, tweaking this or that, checking all the parts, driving 40 minutes to Niantic to borrow springs and scales, cleaning the carb and fuel system, changing plugs, all the stuff I should be doing. But nothing was working. Not a bit. Toward the end of the year I began receiving a lot of help from fellow racer and good friend, 2-time Sportsman Champion Chris "Moose" Douton. With his help we began finding things wrong with the car. Chassis binds, caster issues, camber problems, shock difficulties. We started to sort it all out, but then the end of the year was here, and it wasn't quite there yet. The car had a new problem, and it wasn't the chassis. The motor felt pretty doggy and just wouldn't go. I felt like a little fish in a sea of sharks. I was told it looked like I was driving a 3 cylinder Yugo. I still don't know what it was, but towards the end of the year, I just seriously lacked power. I'll figure it out.


So onto the race. Moose and I made a mountain of changes at his shop, A-1 Auto Center in Niantic, the night before and I was feeling pretty good about my chances for improvement. When I took it out in practice, it was rotating a lot better than the week before, but still lacking oompf. I replaced the alternator because my previous one had broken the week before, and the new one I put in was charging at 18 volts. I couldn't have that, so I disconnected it and ran on battery the rest of the night. Moose came through for me again and let me use his generator and battery charger. In the heat race, there was a pretty bad wreck between Keith in the #19 and Steve in the #14. Keith was heading to my inside, and I gave him a lane, but I didn't see Steve on the far inside. Apparently they touched and hooked together, all I saw was them head into the fence in my rear view. You never want to see that, especially in a heat race, and especially during the last race of the year. I know what it's like to have a car wadded up and have to spend all winter repairing it, so I feel bad. In the feature it was more of the same. Car not handling as well as it could, and it was a pig, so I kept her clean and just finished.


I made sure I walked over and congratulated Scott Michalski on his championship. He should have been a champion at least 3 times by now, so it was good that he finally got his. His son Trevor should win Rookie of the Year, he's a good kid and I found I could always race him clean. Trevor didn't even know how to drive a stick before this year, so he shows promise. I wish I had his car during the year, but we can't have everything! 


I have something up my sleeve for the World Series. As is always the case with my writing, I will not slam, badger, or give away any secrets online. We'll be experimenting again and I will say, it's either going to die, or fly. I will be in the Outlaw race because of time constraints. See you then!


~Brent~