I started fourth in the third heat and by the end of the first lap I was running second and trying to make a move on the leader. I tried just about every trick in the book unsuccessfully until the sixth lap when I finally got a run on him coming off of turn four. Unfortunately I hit the gas a little too early and spun out in front of the entire field; these guys are really great to race with, they all saw it and hit the brakes giving me time to recover from the spin, talk about lucky. I banged second gear, and dropped the clutch; the motor restarted and then a few seconds later my heart restarted and away we went without even causing a yellow flag. Needless to say I did not fair well in this heat with only two laps left. We did manage to finish fifth.
During the second heat races Jack Humphrey, a master legend who drives the 49 car, hit the back stretch wall, tearing the right front wheel and spindle clear off the car. By the time I got back from my heat there must have been 10 drivers over in his pits helping to put his car back together. I parked my car and went over to see if I could be of any assistants. My dad was already there and had me get in Jack's truck, get out two right side tires and fill Jack's race car up with fuel just in case they got it back together in time for the main event, which was coming up shortly. This work went on at a fever pitch until we had to line up for the main event. As I sat there waiting for the announcer to call off my name and sponsors, I took and look down the field and there was Jack in the line up with us. He was missing both right side fenders and part of the body that hooks to the firewall but he was in the race.
We started fifth in the main event. For the first five laps we maintained our position, as did everybody else. On the sixth lap the 0 made a move on the 38 car and I got under both of them to move into third. Two laps later I went on the outside of the 27 car for second. I let it all hang out and set sail for the 58 car, the leader. I was gaining on him but in the 13th lap we had a yellow flag when the 27 car hit the wall in turn 3. On the restart the 14 car got around me on the outside while I was racing with him the 52 and 40 got me on the inside. On lap 21 while riding fifth the 0 car got into my left rear fender and up on our running board; in trying to stay off me he spun bringing out the yellow flag. We restarted in fifth position and on lap 27 managed to get under the 58 car bring the 15 along with us. For the last two laps I switched into defense mode to maintain my position I had the 15 car all over me what a race. We finished fourth for the night missing only half of the left rear fender.
Next week we will be at Lakeport for their three-day show. We are expecting upwards of 60 Legends to participate in this show. This is a regional qualifier for the Nationals that will be held at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in October.
Fred #55