Meanwhile, Fred and his dad had also completely changed their #55 cars setup. They had decided to try a setup similar to the one we had used at Lakeport but with much more attention to detail and somewhat softer springs. They tuned a little bit on it at the track and ended up being rewarded with a very adjustable and fast car. Fred qualified 5th fastest (17.210) out of the 15 cars present for the race.
Dave Ball had also done some experimenting with his springs and chassis setup. Surprisingly, Keith was just a bit faster in the first set of hot laps than Dave, but Dave was much more consistant over the two practice sessions, with his best laps in the 17.3 to 17.4 area. In qualifying Dave turned a fast lap of 17.375 to place him 6th fastest just behind Fred.
Keith and I knew we were in a deep hole with little else to do but make a big change and see if we could come up with an answer to our handling problems. We made a big spring change to the front of the car and went back to a more comfortable rear spring rate setup. After noticing exactly which corner of the car needed help while on the scales we borrowed a spring that I thought might be more correct than what we had. Voila!! The car responded well to this change when we put it on the scales but it was still not right. I was confused and unsure what to do next. Keith stepped up and said "let's just swap the front springs and see if that doesn't put us right where we need to be". When we took the car back to the scales after making the change Keith couldn't have been more correct. The setup was now very close to the one Freddy was having good success with. Eureka!!! We had found it!!!
Keith was on the outside of row 1 for the first heat and he was anxious to test the new setup. He quickly realized that he had a good steed under him while heating up his tires in a couple of practice laps before the race. As the green flag flew he made sure he didn't jump the start while pacing with the #65 car of Mike Firebaugh on the pole. Once the green came out though he grabbed the lead quickly in turn #1 and began to pull away from the pack. A newcomer, the #04 of Ryan Reed had other ideas however. He quickly disposed of the cars ahead of him and began to chase Keith down lap by lap. With one lap to go the #04 pulled alongside our #8 going down the backstretch. As they rounded turns 3 & 4 coming for the checkered flag it looked like the #04 was going to snatch the victory from Keith's hands. It turned out that the 4th turn would be our best friend all evening. Keith blasted the #8 off of turn #4 in a last ditch attempt to slingshot back by the #04. As they hit the start finish line it was Keith in the #8 pulling off a thrilling victory in a near photo finish. (.022 secs.) This wasn't the only time I saw him display a "refuse to lose" attitude as the evening progressed. Kinda reminded me of his mom when she was driving our old #48 stock car in the Chargers division.
Fred and Dave were both in the 2nd heat with Dave lined up on the front row outside and Fred in the second row just behind pole sitter Kelly Martin in the #38 car. It is very difficult to hold a car on the outside groove of Madera and Dave found it very tough going indeed. Kelly and Fred jumped by him and left him vulnerable to the old freight train deal. Anyone who has ever raced this track can sympathize with his plight. Fred gave it his all to try and catch Kelly but his car seemed just a bit too loose and having to let the car slide up the track a bit eventually left him vulnerable to the fast advancing cars behind him. Kelly would hold off all challengers to get the victory but received a couple of very hard shoves from Matt Scott in the #35 who finished second. Fred finished 5th and Dave was 7th when the race ended.
As the cars made it through tech inspection and began lining up for the Main Event Dave discovered his car would not start. He and my brother finally managed to get it to fire up and they brought it up into the staging line. Dave tried to keep it running but it eventually died and would not even attempt to start. I asked Keith to pull in behind him and push him out onto the track in hopes that Dave could pop start it. It all went for nothing though as the the #3 could not be brought back to life and was sent to the infield for the remainder of the race. This was really tough for Dave as his last race here had ended with front suspension failure after only one lap of the Main Event.
The Main Event starting field.
The lineup for the Main now found Fred starting in the 4th position and Keith in the 12th spot. (He actually should have started 11th when Dave was unable to start, but the officials fouled up the lineup.) Keith seemed to be feeling very good about his car and more determined than ever to make a good showing at this track that has dealt him more Jokers than Aces. Fred was hoping to turn a good starting position into a chance for a win. The initial attempt at a start found cars all out of position and spread out around the track. The flagman waived off the start and sent the field around for another attempt. As the green flag finally came out you could throw a blanket over the first six or seven cars as they completed the first lap. Keith was trying to make a move but was blocked by the #99 car of newcomer Donnie Darter (former 99 Speedway ALSC champion) and the #49 of Jack Humphrey as those two dueled side by side. Meanwhile back up front, as the field entered turn #3 for the second time the #53 of Cole Cabrerra tried to force his car under Fred in the #55. Cole was traveling at much too high a speed for this manuever to have any possibility of success and he ended up slamming into the side of Fred's car. With that heavy contact the #55 jumped into the air and turned nearly head-on into the wall. Fred said later that he didn't realize his car was airborn and he tried to make some corrective manuevers. A split second later the #55 slammed into the concrete wall with such force that both front wheels were completely ripped off of the car. A spectacular and scary wreck that had everyone in the pit grandstand worrying about whether Fred was okay. After a few anxious moments he emerged from the car under his own power, however he had sustained a very painful sprained wrist that he initially thought might be broken. Given the incredible violence of the wreck I was amazed once again about how tough these little cars are. (The drivers are pretty dang tough also!!!)
The #55 took a very hard hit into the turn #3 wall. But it has been fixed and will race again.
After the field regrouped and was given the green flag once more our #8 car was running in the 9th position. (Cabrerra in the #53 had been sent to the back of the field for rough driving.) Keith would still have to contend with the #99 and #49 dueling with each other in front of him. He slid his car up high a few times and then finally managed to squeeze the #8 inside of Darter in the #99. Once again he would use that great launch off of turn #4 to slip by the #99 car. Now he was chasing the #49 and pressuring him every lap to try and find a way by. As this action was taking place the #04 car spun in turn #4 off the front bumper of the #05 car of Robby Czub and that would bring out the yellow flag once more at the end of lap #6. Keith now found himself running in the 7th position and starting behind the #5x car of Rick Clark.
Clark in the #5x got a terrible restart that allowed the leading pack of cars, including the #49 of Humphrey to leap away from Keith. Now he was in a true dog fight with pressure coming from the #53 and #04 cars who were both trying to work their way back to the front of the field. The #53 slipped by a couple of laps later coming off of turn #2. Keith attempted to follow the #53 by both the #5x and Jack in the #49 but Clark in the #5x slammed the door on him going into turn #3. Now Keith would have to regroup once again. He began receiving a lot of pressure from the #04 and decided he would have to make a big move. Putting the little #8 on the outside and three wide with the #49 and the #5x he would power his way by the #5x and then draw along the outside of the #49. (I don't know about Keith but my heart was pounding out of my chest at this point.) It looked like he was definetely going to be able make a pass on the #49 when they came up on the #05 of Czub. The #05 was having some sort of problems at this point and he elected to move high to allow the faster cars behind him to pass low. That was great for Humphrey as he would use the #05 as a pick to force Keith to back off. Because of the loss of forward momentum, and once again having to run three-wide to the outside to pass the #05, Keith would find himself falling victim to the #04 of Reed. Czub in the #05 had done nothing wrong but definetely cost Keith big time on that lap. The daring move to the outside of the #05 was the only thing that kept him close.
The one good thing to come out of all this action was that Keith dropped down behind the #04 and followed him as he passed the #49. Keith would pull alongside the #49 and seemed destined once again to get by. As they approached turn #1 Keith had a bit of an edge going into the turn but Humphrey would hang tough to the outside of him. Unfortunately our car had been continuing to have a left front brake lockup occasionally and this time it happened at the worst possible time. The brake lockup caused the #8 to side slip probably no more than a foot or so on the track, but that was enough for contact to occur between Keith's car and Humphreys. The #49 jumped up into the air similar to what had happened to Fred at the beginning of the race. Fortunately he only slapped the wall but it still did a lot of damage to the car and his race was over at lap 15. Keith would later appologize for the contact but Jack and all of us knew this contact was only the unfortunate result of some good close hard racing. When you elect to hug another car down to try and break their momentum and keep the driver from getting back to the throttle, contact is likely to result. It is a calculated risk that all drivers, especially the good ones, are willing to take to try and hold a position.
With the race now half over and the field closed up once again by the yellow flag, it was going to be a sprint to the end. Once again circumstances would dictate the changing of positions. Keith would begin in the 6th position to the outside of the #04 car and behind the #53. The #53 had been experiencing some sort of ignition issue and he got a poor restart that pushed Keith backwards and off the pace a bit. Then the #53 recovered and once again shot ahead of the #04 car but as his car faltered again a lap or so later Keith managed to follow the #04 back by him. Just as quick as he got by the #53 though the kid switched lanes and just threw the car into turn #1 to force Keith up the hill and allow both the #53 and the #5x to slip back by.
Breaking out that "refuse to lose" attitude once again Keith put the #8 on the outside of the #5x and blew back by him coming off of "good old reliable" turn 4. As the two cars raced down into turn 1 the #5x tried the same "blitz the turn" manuever that had got the #53 by Keith. He threw his car in so hard though he ended up spinning himself out as Keith steamed on by to the outside. (And I thought my heart was pounding before!!!)
As the race continued I think some of the hard racin' and contact with other cars started to take its toll on the #8 car and on my driver. The right front fender had become dislodged at it's front mounting point and kept flaring up in the wind as he circled the track. This combined with the front wheels being somewhat towed-in due to the contact with the #49 slowed Keith's pace enough that a resurgent #05 car of Robby Czub slipped back by and the #99 was able to close in on the #8's rear bumper. With a continuing "refuse to lose" and "up on the wheel" performance he would bring the car to the finish in the 7th position just ahead of the #99. I have to say that I have seen Keith show the heart of a champion more than a few times in the past, but I have never seen him put on a better show of determination than in this race. I wish everyone could have been there to see it. I do have some video and it will be among my most treasured keepsakes from our days of racin' Legends.
This is what our #8 car ended up looking like after the Main Event. It saw a lot of scary stuff on this evening of racing and I think it was just trying to cover it's eyes.
Next race for the #8 - Ukiah Speedway on July 12th, as we will not be running the July 4th weekend 2-day race at Lakeport.