May 29th, Spartan Speedway
Results
Spartan Speedway, Mason, MI (1/4 mile paved)
Qualifying: Rained-out
Heat: Started-2nd, Finished-4th
Feature: Started-1st, Finished-12th
Sunday, we went into the race feeling a little rested and more prepared. Right before our first hot
laps though, the track had a brief rain shower. Once the track dried, I found out that it was still
pretty slick out there as the car "dirt tracked" through the turns. Actually, I was driving the car
really deep into the turns, the car would break loose, and I'd slide through the turns. I guess some
of the stock car guys that were watching liked it. Anyway, as we were getting ready for the second
hot laps, a much bigger rain shower came through and thoroughly wetted everything. It was decided
that we weren't going to be able to qualify, so we drew numbers for out starting positions in the
heats. It was also decided to draw for the feature as well, but in the drawing order would be how we
finished in the heats. They did allow us to have a second hot laps session though, and the car
handled great. We drew 2nd starting position in the heat, and quickly fell into 2nd behind Phil
Rutledge at the drop of the green. By the second lap though, Derek Snyder was moving up, and passed
both Phil and I. We were all nose to tail though, and very tight when the caution came out. When the
restart came, Derek started us really, really slow which caused my engine to almost stall, and the guy
behind me to go around me a little early. Well, the officials didn't like that and we had to start
again. Even though the start was slow again, nobody passed to early and we were back racing. We were
all very close together as the white flag flew and going into one I saw a nose beneath me. I gave the
guy room, and he was able to pass going done the back-stretch as we came to the checkers. When we
redrew for our feature positions, I was the lucky, or unlucky, one to pull number 1. Unlike the heat
race, I started the field a little bit quicker. I was able to hold the lead until turn 3 when AJ Lane
got inside me. That was a really bad thing though because I just got freight-trained after that. I
wasn't able to get back to the inside until the 10th position. We were all very close though, and
most of us were experiencing a bad push of off the turns. The caution flag flew about 8 laps in
though as two guys got together. Another guy got passed me on the restart since the car was pushing.
About 4 laps later I saw a car had spun in front of us. I started to slow down right away, and
followed everyone ahead of us. All of a sudden the cars ahead stopped quickly and I was forced to try
and miss them. I didn't completely though, and went of the right-rear of the guy right in-front of
me. The car took off up the track and luckily went into the pit entrance area. I couldn't get it
stopped in time though, and hit the water barriers there head-on. I thought we were done, but they
looked over the car and said it was ok. When we restarted, I could hear something was different in
the sound of the motor, but the gages said everything was fine. So, we started racing again. The car
didn't come up to speed right away, but things cleared out once we got going. About 3 laps of green
later, just about the same thing happened in the 2nd turn. I went way high to avoid anything this
time though. Under this caution, the motor would not clean out though, and I decided to take it to
the pits. Once back, we found out there was a little more damage than we thought. The exhaust
headers were all bent, which was why it sounded different and wouldn't come up to speed. We also had
a bent shock mount, broken oil fitting, and broken motor mount bolts. We didn't notice until later
that the front axle is also slightly bent too. So anyway, we ended up finishing 12th.
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