Good Setup on Old Tires
Before I get in to this week's story I would like to give a big HIGH FIVE to Charles. He is the official that drives the tractor with the broom on the back. I know he must have spent hours and hours on that broom to get the track as clean as it was without the aid of the big street sweeper GOOD JOB CHARLES I know the drivers, owners and crews really appreciate it.
And now on with the story. We unloaded with the new hot setup on new tires but after the first set of hot laps we knew either the set up was off or the tires didn't like the setup so we changed all four tires and went out for the second set of hot laps. The car felt really good. Not knowing if we would get a third set of practice laps we decided not to make any other changes and run on the old tires.
We qualified fifth and started our heat race in fifth position. I made two good passes but got passed by Mark Bailey and Frankie Winchel, both Legend Masters and previous main event winner, finishing in fifth. After I got back to the pits, my mother took the tire readings and we analyzed all the information we had on hand. We decided the track would get better as it cooled down and elected not to make any changes to the car. About this time David Winchel, driver of the 0 car, came by and suggested a few changes we might try but he added don't change it now as it might affect our ride height.
As I rolled through the gate and on to the track for the main event I saw Charles on his tractor sweeping the rubber from the previous races to the very top of track and out of the groove, this really helps us high riders during the race. We lined up in ninth position for the start of this thirty lap main event. As the green flag went up I dropped two gears and stood in it, this was probably not real good on "Old Smoken' Joe", as our motor is become known as. I knew I had to get good start with four cars faster than us on my bumper, so I ran her down into turn one as deep as I could on cold tires gaining a couple of spots. I got good traction coming off of turn two and we were on our way. I could see that Kelly Martin, driver of the 38 car, had got a fantastic start and was already pulling away from the field. I rode in the pack trying to get to the outside next to the wall where my car works the best but just as we came off turn three I saw the red lights come on and the flagman frantically waving the red flag bringing the cars to a stop. Now this will raise the adrelin level of any driver as they search the track to find the reason for the red. I saw the entire infield running toward the backstretch where it seams I would find out later Donny Stone the driver of the # 1 car, a car painted similar to mine black with flames, had flipped two or three times. With the similarity of the two cars my sister and half the infield thought it was me. Donny wears all the safety gear and was not hurt. I think it's time to buy that Hutchins device I have been putting off.
On the restart we lined up forth and I decided to go for the two-gear start again and hope for the best. It worked out well and we was able to get by Jack Humphrey, in the #49 car, and stay close to Rick Andrews, driver of the #58 car, who I managed to get under a few laps later putting us in to second. By this time Kelly was about half a straightaway in the lead and when looked in my mirror and saw Mark Bailey, Ryan Mosher and Frankie Winchel, coming hard they flew by me one every lap for the next three laps. I watched them catch and pass Kelly the same way. I was gaining on Kelly myself, but there was not enough laps left and I don't think I could have passed him even if I could have caught him Old Smoken' Joe was getting pretty hot and starting to lose power.
After the race we went to tech, there we found out Frankie was disqualified for his car being to high, this moved us into fourth place for the evening.
Fred #55
For all that are interested we will have the car on display at The Need 4 Speed in Lockford on Saturday June 26, 2004.