We arrived at the track early because it was kids night and everything was supposed to start one hour earlier. After setting up and signing in I was preparing for the first set of hot laps, when Rick Andrews came by with his hand full of gauges to check my tires he told me my right rear tire might have one race left in it if I was lucky. He was right, after the first set of hot laps we retired that tire. After the second set we swapped out the right front also. It looks like its time to invest in some new tires. Where's a sponsor when you need one.
After qualifying 6th we rolled out for the heat race. This race went smooth; we managed to pass two cars and got passed by two cars we finished where we started after 8 laps. After the race I brought the car back to the pits and ran up the hill to watch the second heat. I got there just in time to see Jack Humphrey #49 and Donny Stone #1 crash in turn 2. Donny was still moving, but the tow truck was picking up Jack. I ran back down the hill and told my dad to get the jack stands ready the tow truck was on its way with Jack Humphrey's.
I know that Jack brings almost a whole extra car in his pickup and I figured we could fix it with time permitting. So while Jack was getting the pieces, my dad coordinating what was going to be needed next, Kelly Martin, my Mother, and myself were able to get the left front apart. We replaced the spindle, tie rod, roader, calipers, and had this all done before the first call for our main event. We even had enough time for Kelley and Jack to show me how to take the calipers apart the easy way.
When we rolled for the main event the track had cooled off considerably. I though it would be good for smoking Jo as he runs hot anyway. As the starter waved the green flag I lost a lot of positions as cars were passing me on the outside and I had to wait for them to clear before I could move up and start regaining some of those spots. Patinas is the name of that game. After passing a few cars I tucked in behind the #58 car of Rick Andrews and spent about 5 laps trying to pass him. I was just about to back off take a deep breath, regroup and give Rick another try when I saw smoke from the #7 car of Rick Zollman. Thinking this may be my only chance to get by Andrews I drove it in deep on the bottom leaving Andrews the high side behind Zollman, I managed to make it stick and was able to come out just in front of them. The next several laps I spent trying to chase down David Winchel #0 and Kelley Martin #38. They were having a great race of their own and I wasn't sure I could even catch them. David made a great move to pass Kelley. We rode like this until the 26th lap when Kelley got a chance to get by David in turn 2 but couldn’t pull it off and spun right in front of me. I went to the out side but it was to late, you know the feeling you get when you go over a speed bump to fast well that is what I felt. The car lifted up and went thump thump and landed back on the track again. I got it pointed toward turn 3 and stood on the gas. By that time David was already gone. Thinking I may have bent the car I decided to take my fifth place finish and be happy I still had 4 wheels on it.
After the races a few of us drivers stood around signing autographs, and let all the kids sit in the cars just having a good time. Once the kids and beer was gone we loaded up the cars and got ready to leave. Always ready for another party I drove down to the infield where I found Amiee Sullivan the driver of the #10 pure stock getting ready to perform an Arabian sword dance, but the racetrack turned out the lights. So we took all the pickups and parked them in a semi circle and turned on the headlights. She put the CD in a car stereo and turned up the volume. When the music came on she stepped into the headlights and performed one of the most exotic dances I have ever seen. The Turkish Saber one of many that she dances with is the real McCoy. It is heavy, shinny, and very sharp. My dad would have liked to shot close up pictures but how do you get close to a woman swinging three foot long saber?
Fred #55 Legend