6/30/07
We started off the night pretty tight in warmups. We freed the car up a bunch a rolled off 8th in the heat. I immediately ran out of talent in the first turn, letting the car slip up a little too much and got into the 402 a little bit. I thought we would be okay, but then he turned hard left across my nose and I spun the car. On the restart I quickly made my way to 4th and followed the 95 around till the checkers fell. We freed up the car some more for hot laps and even more before the feature. I started 16th and was able to grab a couple of spots on lap1. Going down the back stretch the 5 got into some one and got up in the air and I was able to just squeak by on the outside to miss him. On the restart I was able to get a great run coming off of 2 to slip by a couple more guys and got a great run into 3 to try and get a few more when the 95 made another patented move and slammed into the guy running outside him. I tried to duck low and just missed them, but the 68 was coming up from the bottom and got into me pretty hard and I lost a bunch of spots. There was a caution the next lap and I found myself back in 13th. Another caution the next lap and I was able to miss the wreck again and restarted 9th. We actually got some racing in the next bunch of laps and I got myself up to 7th. The wasn't as good at this point but I was holding my own. I did have a front row view as the 68 and 22 tried to wreck each other the second time, but somehow they able to keep going. On the restart I got a run of of 3 under the 68 and for the 3rd time he just ran me over on the front stretch. I ended up getting into turn 1 a little hot and got up into Artie and lost a couple of spots. We finished the night 9th but the track moved Artie back to 11th for rough riding which moved me up one spot.
6/23/07
Determined not to make the same mistake as last week we paid pretty close attention to the racetrack conditions. We were good in warmups and left the car alone for the heat. I started 9th and already the track had slicked up quite a bit. I grabbed a couple of spots in the first 2 laps, but then got pretty bottled up. Finally time was running out and I stuck the car up top and made my way to 4th for the finish. We tightened up the car a bunch for hot laps and we were very good on a slick track. We decided to make a torsion bar change just before the feature to try and make the car a little bit better. I started 15th and there was just chaos in front of me. After about 4 laps I was 12th and just trying to stay out of trouble. That lasted about 1 more lap when I got turned around coming off of turn 4 and hit the wall hard. I limped back to the pits but we were unable to repair the car in time to go back out on the track.
6/16/07
So we picked up where we left off last week, with a very fast car. The car was awesome in warm ups so we left it alone for the heat. I started 8th and when the caution flew on lap 1 I made it to 4th. On the restart I was 2nd coming out of 2 and in the lead coming out of 4. The only change we made for hot laps was to try a new carb that Matt Quinn lent us. Once again the car was very fast and we made no changes. I started 13th in the feature and made some pretty good progress initially. Unfortunately the track slicked up quite a bit and the setup that was so good earlier in the night proved not to be the hot lick. I was ok on the bottom and terrible in the middle. It took me far too long to try the top and I struggled behind the freight train on the bottom. After halfway I got into the 83's rear bumper and lost a couple of spots. I was running 8th with 2 laps to go and we got another caution. On the restart I was able to go up top and grab one spot and the next lap I got a run down the back stretch and grabbed another on the high side of 3 and we ended up 6th.
6/9/07
The Valley had their Eye Rock race for the blind this week so heat races for the Sportsman got scrubbed. We got in 2 sets of hot laps and I used the first to bed in the new brakes. We were pretty good in the second set and the only change we made we made was a shorter spoiler to free us up a little bit more. The track was wicked fast, and the overcast conditions and no wind helped it to stay that way. We got ourselves a fine 5th place starting spot as the reward for our stellar performance the last two weeks. Couldn't pick a better night to have that happen. We took the green and within a lap the car was working perfectly. I slipped into 4th and a lap later I grabbed 3rd. It took a few more laps to get by the 95 for second and at that point it was 10 laps down and the 87 had checked out. I picked up the pace a little and started to gain some ground. I caught the 87 in about 5 laps and tried to take my time to size him up to see how I could pass him. Once I showed him my nose I think he started to over drive a little and about 2 laps later I was able to slip by on the bottom coming off of turn 4. We cruised to the checkers to grab our second win of the season.
6/2/07
So after replacing a bunch of parts from last weeks wreck we were ready for some more racing. The track still had tons of bite this week but in warmups the motor started laying down again. We checked for water again but I really didn't find any. We check all kinds of other stuff and in the end we poured some more dry gas in the tank and crossed our fingers. I started 6th in the heat and it took a little while to pass some cars. I was right on the first and second guys as we crossed the finish line. The car was pretty good but the brakes were giving me a little trouble. We had replaced the right front rotor and it wasn't working quite as well as the left side. Jimmy decided to change torsion bars for hot laps to see if we could make the car any better. It definitely made a difference and the brake problem seemed to be better. I started the feature in 10th and caught a few early breaks and made my way to seventh when the caution came out on lap 2 or 3. I knew I was in trouble right off the bat, the right front brake that wasn't working too well earlier in the night was now working way too well and every time I touched the brakes the car would pull hard to the right. On the restart I got ganged up on because I just couldn't take the car deep into the corner without getting in trouble with the brakes. I think I dropped back to 5th or 6th and was starting to work my way past the 83 when he slip up in front of me and hit him in the back bumper and spun. Luckily no one behind me hit me and I fell in at the end of the field. The car was actually worse to drive than after the wreck last week. Somehow we ended up with a 13th place finish.