June 11th, Toledo Speedway-AVSS
More details at the Toledo Speedway website!!
Results
Toledo Speedway, Toledo, OH (1/2 mile paved)
Qualified: 22nd
Heat: Started-7th, Finished-6th
Feature: Started-19th, Finished-14th
Well, Friday was our first race outing of the season. And it was not without action to say the
least. All day there were showers threatening the Toledo area. During the two practice seasons, I
mostly got used to the car again, and tried to make some adjustments to help it out. The big problem
the whole day was that the car felt tight. I didn't have the confidence to hold the throttle to the
floor for the whole lap...since that is what you do at Toledo. For qualifying, we made a gear change
and a couple shock changes which picked us up about 6-tenths of a second. After qualifying, a rain
shower moved through which delayed the show about an hour-and-a-half until the track was dry again.
For the heat, we went a little farther with the changes we did for qualifying. Again, it made the car
better, but still not quite fast enough to make any major movements. In the feature, we didn't make
any changes because I just wanted to get a good solid 30 laps in. The car felt pretty good at the
start, and I was able to stay with the pack for a good 6 laps or so. Then, in the center of the turn,
especially in 3 and 4, the car picked-up a push. It wasn't shortly after that, that the leaders
started coming up to put a lap on me. Earlier in the day, they said lapped cars were to stay on the
bottom, so I kept my car on the bottom to stay out of their way. At lap 10 there was a red-flag period
after the 35 car lost his right-front tire and rolled the car. The driver had a slight limp when he
got out of the car, but otherwise looked ok. On the restart, I moved to let the faster cars get by
before trying to settle into a good line for a couple laps. The car would still have that tightness in
the center of the turn though. At that time, the leaders had caught up again, so I moved back to the
low line to just ride it home. Then, as we were coming to the checkered flag, going into turn 3, I
noticed a shadow out of the corner of my eye, and then felt a smack. The next thing I know, I was
spinning across the track. Luckily, the car stopped before hitting the outside wall. Apparently,
someone decided to try and go UNDER me going into 3. Even though, being a lapped car, I was told to
stay on the bottom and did so. They felt they needed to get by and went through the grass to try and
pass. So, the left-side of the car got some pretty good damage....nerf-bar crushed, front radius rod,
bent rim, headers/muffler crushed and dented, and the wing side-board was bent/ripped. I'm not sure
how damaged the other car was, but ours could have been much worse. Either way, we came home 14th.
We're gonna try and get the car fixed by the Angola show June 25th, but due to work, that may not
work out. Otherwise, the next race would be back at Toledo with USAC on July 2nd. I'll keep you posted
on what is decided. I have to thank Ryan Schimmoeller for coming out to help us out, and Dale and
Sandy Kremer and Jason Steinhurst for coming out and cheering us on!
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