Gleason Bros. Racing

So it was an interesting week, mostly because it wasnt spent repairing the car. I didn't know what to do with myself. If I owned a set of scales, I would have had the car on them, but since I don't, I spent the week doing other things. I went after that stupid vibration instead by nut-and-bolting the car and changing out the driveshaft. I found a counterweight missing on my old shaft, so I thought it was worth a shot. 


This week at the track was just more of the same. I was fighting handling issues and I still had that stupid vibration. I'm beginning to think it's the wheels being out of balance. But for the past few weeks to a month, I've had debilitating handling problems. Not having scales is biting me in the ass. I've been involved in racing for over 10 years and this has to be the most I've ever worked on a car. But I'm keeping at it as best I can, there's no white flag here, so long as there is hope.


We didn't have much time to practice this week because the Whelen Mods were there, and practice started at noon instead of the usual 3pm. We did make the 3pm practice, but I spent the first practice scuffing in new tires. Second practice was spent on race setup because we were being thrown out there with no heat races. Still had a push. I made another wedge adjustment, a swaybar adjustment, and hoped for the best. 


Being down to prayers alone, I was starting 13th. As soon as the green flag drops, I get stuck on the bottom because the car will not enter the turn. I'm whittling down the possibilities as to why the car won't handle, but I'll get back to that later. We got things sorted out really quickly, by lap 2 we were almost all single file. A caution on that lap put us all back together. We go green again, and I'm looking at different lines to get around the track better with this handling condition. On lap 4 I'm behind the #7 of Romjue with Ian Brew in the #37 next to him. Coming down the frontstretch I tuck in behind Brew and try to get around the #7 coming into turn 1. Next thing I know, I've run over the #7 and we go spinning off into the turn. I collected the #20 of Pomposelli and got nicked by Tim in the #5. We had minor damage, but nothing too serious. I couldn't get the car started, so I rolled it down the banking and pop started it. 


I didn't know what happened, I thought I was in a safe place, I even lifted early so I wouldn't run into anyone and get a clean run coming out of the turn. I looked at my in-car camera, and I was right in the tire tracks of the #37. But, I didn't see the #7 come down either. I guess it was just one of those racing things. I didn't mean to get into him, but it's just a little puzzling. I guess if you were in the grandstands it would look like I spun him out, so that's what I believed. I apologized afterwards, and he seemed to understand. It still cost us better finishes, but sometimes things happen. We raced clean afterwards and like Steve said, it would have been an exciting race if we were 15 places forward. 


I put the car on borrowed scales this week and it would not adjust properly. So, I went back to basics, which is what I should have done in the first place. We measured the frame heights, and everything was wrong. I went back to my notes and asked a little advice, and after about 6 hours, 2 springs, 2 struts, and a set of sway bar bushings, I'm happy with the results. So, I have to wait a few more days to try the new setup, and I'm feeling a bit more confident in my chances for the next race. I basically took a setup sheet, balled it up, and tossed it at the car. I have to try something, I'm hoping it's like the "lottery" gag. I throw something at the car and it miraculously works. We'll have to see what happens, if it's good, I'll write about it. If it sucks, I'll complain about it!


Brent