June 12th, Toledo Speedway-AVSS


More details at the Toledo Speedway website!!

Results

Toledo Speedway, Toledo, OH (1/2 mile paved)
Qualified: 19th, 14.095 sec
Heat: Started-7th, Finished-8th
B-Main: Started-4th, Finished-3rd
Feature: Started-18th, Finished-20th

It's hard to belive that it's June, and it was only our 2nd time racing this year and the first time for the sprint-car! We just could not miss the race the closest to home though. The show is billed as "The Fastest Short-track Show in the World," and it definitely lived-up to that. Both classes (Sprints & Super Modifieds) broke their respective track records with Jason Blonde of the Super Sprints setting the overall track record with a blistering lap of 12.744 secs! Unforuntaley, we weren't very close to that, but for the 4th time in the car, I was very happy with our speed. For the first practice session, we had last year's tires on still, making the car very skittish, with limited grip. Mostly, we used that time to get used the car again. The 2nd practice we put on new tires, and there was plenty of grip. The car tended to be a little tight from the center out of the turns though. During qualifying, I was able to find a little more speed though by getting back to the throttle quicker. That really helped the car turn in the center, and not push the nose so much coming off. I was concerned the car may have been bottoming-out on the left side though. So, for the heat we raised the left-side of the car a little. Our qualifying time put us in the first heat with many of the fastests cars....including the new track record holder. The top 5 finishers from the heat would automatically go to the Feature, so starting 7th I would need to pass 2 cars. During the pace-laps for the heat, I was starting to smell a lot of alcohol (our fuel) fumes in my helmet. I ended up having to turn my helmet fan off because they became so strong. At the drop of the green, the car was not handleing too well. The front-end didn't seemed to have any grip as the nose just slid through the turns. Not even giving it more throttle at different points would help much. Thankfully, the race was only 8 laps because after the race the tire temps showed the RF was getting extremely hot. We came home 8th in the heat, so we had to run the B-Main or Last Chance race as it is sometimes called. It would be our last chance to make the 30 lap Feature event. We made a few adjustments to try and get the push out of the car. We started 4th in the B, so I had to be able to at least maintain that position for 12 laps. After we started the car, I was still getting alcohol fumes, so again, I shut off my fan. The car raced pretty well throughtout the race. It was back to being only a little tight from the center of the turn off. But, about 6 or 7 laps in, the engine sputtered on me. I thought it stalled for a second before picking back up again. Shortly after that, the 3rd place car blew his motor, and under caution, my engine seemed to be running just fine. For the remaining 5 or 6 laps, everything seemed to run just fine. The most important thing is we came home in 3rd place which transferred us to the Feature. We were starting 18th out of 20, but first you have to be in it if you have any chance to win it. We made a couple minor adjustments to try and get the front of the car to grip more and added all the fuel we had left for the 30 laps. It was getting to be about 10pm, and the Mayflies were starting to come into the track. Luckily, there weren't all that many, so the racing surface stayed cleared. Once again after we pushed off, I was getting a smell of alcohol, and again, I shut the fan off. At the drop the green, the car kinda stuttered and the car behind me was able to pass. I got back by him coming off of 2 though, and stayed right with the pack. The car was handling a ton better, and I felt we would have a good run. On the 4th lap though, the engine really started to stumble coming off the 2nd turn. It really started vibrate as it got into higher RPM, and started to miss-fire as well. I thought maybe it was just a one time thing, but it did it on the front-stretch too. I looked at the fuel-pressure gauge while going down the back-stretch, and it wasn't even getting close to the pressure it needed. I decided to pull the car in instead of trying to make it the rest of the race. So, after 6 laps our race was done, being credited with 20th place. While we were loading the car, we didn't see anything sticking out as the problem, and we decided then, we would not be going to Ft Wayne for the race on June 13th since it could be any number of things. Saturday morning we really dug into the problem, and it appears a fuel-line fitting had loosened-up causing the pressure in the fuel-system to drop and air to get in. That was the reason I was smelling alcohol in the cock-pit too. We also found a couple water-system fittings loose. Everything seems to be all tightened up now, but we'll probably be heading to Sandusky Speedway to start the car during the week just to make sure. I have to thank everyone that was able to make it out to Toledo to support us like Jason Steinhurst and Mr. and Mrs. Bud Chasteen! I'm thinking there were a lot more of you there, but I either didn't see you directly or haven't talked to you to make sure you did make it! I also have to thank those of you that came to the pits to help out, Dale Kremer, Gary Patynko, and after the races Matt and Tammy Myers. It looks like we'll be racing the sprint-car again June 27th in Plymouth, IN.

AVSS


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