Bad Call
My dad and I arrived at the track with out my mother, she had to work. She is also the person that takes all the readings (tire temps, air pressure and suspension changes) and keeps all the records, so the job fell to my dad, not the best person for the job, he prefers to tell other people how to do it. His job is setup and to make suggestions as to what will make the car go faster not get on his hands and knees. So I was happy to see Mike Clark, a mechanic on Paul's #57 truck (one of the race trucks Clement Racing is associated with) show up and help us out.
I new we were in trouble when I rolled on to the track for our first set of hot laps it seems the track had not been swept sense last week and they had two long races for late model and Grand National West series, now this is strange for Stockton 99 Speedway because the are real good about keeping it clean and have even had a big sweeper at the track every night this year. I hope it gets back by this weekend. I talked it over with my dad and he got out another one of his favorite sayings I think it came from when he ran a dirt track sum years ago "It's same race track for everybody".
We qualified fifth and started our heat race in fifth position. We rode around in the pack for eight laps and managed to finish fourth. As I pulled up in the pits and they hooked me up with a quick jack to drag me back in when David Winchel driver of the #0 car came down and told me to stay in the car because Frankie Winchel had broken and we would be in the dash.
We started the dash in fourth position and after four laps we finished in fourth position. But at least we didn't embarrass ourselves while racing the three fastest cars at the racetrack. It was a close fourth.
After the dash we had a few minutes before we lined up for the main event. This gave me time to confer with my dad on what to do to make the car handle a little better. We talked it over and he said that it was my call, so I called for another round of cross (Bad Call).
We started the main event in ninth position and stayed there until the first yellow flag that was for the #58 car of Rick Andrews who had buried it in the big tires at the infield entrance. As we circled around the track under yellow I saw my sister helping Rick out of the car. On the restart I managed to get under Billy Crisp, the #80 car and get a little breathing room down the back straight. That extra turn of cross came back to haunt me in the worst way. It not only didn't help the looseness; it actually made the car push like a dump truck. After spending about seven or eight laps on the outside of Kelly Martin, a legends master who drives the #38 car. In the split second you have going into turn three where you are waiting to see if you crashed or the car actually made the turn, I looked over to see if he was having as much trouble controlling his car as I was. He had a death grip on the steering wheel and it looked like he had is hands full. I finally got buy Kelly and would like to tell you how the rest of the race went but I was driving my butt off and can't remember. After finishing sixth I was so tired when I got back to the pits that I couldn't get out of the car. I sure hope the track is in better condition this week
Fred #55