Victory is Sweet
In
only my second race with The Legends of the Pacific I experienced the sweet taste of
victory by winning the heat race Saturday Night. Unfortunately our weekend didn’t
start off so sweet. We decided early in the week that the team should practice on Friday,
that way we could get a good set-up for Saturdays race at our home track.
Practice was going well until the
second session when I got loose in turn three and spun car into the wall backwards
damaging the left rear fender, axel housing, trailing arm and other chassis components.
The worst part is having the car owner who owns a tow service bring me in on the hook. I
was bumbed out, but with the help of my crew we gathered the new parts, removed the axel
housing so I could take it home and weld it up. In less than hour and a half I headed back
out on to the track, after shaking down and a few adjustments the car it felt good. The
practice times then stayed consistent in the 16.2 ‘s so we decided to take the car
home and repair the fenders and other body parts.
Saturday morning I got to the track
and unloaded, the car was looking good if you didn’t look to close. In practice the
car had a slight push off the corners. With a few adjustments I felt the car wood be good
for qualifying but as it turned out it seemed to have made it worse. With a lap of 16.4 it
put me 14th on the grid, just making the main event by two spots. After
qualifying I explained my situation to crew chief Dave Clement, he decided to change the
right rear spring, with the change made I headed out to the heat race where I would start
on the outside pole.
Racing
with master legend driver Jack Humphrey #49 was a real thrill for me, I’ve watched
Fred and Jack go at it years. Fred says sometimes you can learn more racing with Jack for
five or ten laps than you will learn all night. Well I have to agree, Jack and I raced
hard, battling each other for the lead lap after lap. After trying all the standard moves
on him to no avail so I made a move deep on the outside in turn 1 let her slide and waited
for traction. Knowing he has more horsepower than I do, with his new Hank Scott motor, I
knew I had to have a run on him when we got to the backstretch. I finally got traction and
the run I needed on the outside, down the back stretch we flew, Jack saw me out there and
let me have the high groove, which was just enough for me to take the lead on the way off. Then the caution flew a lap or two later bunching
the field together. While getting ready for
the restart I could see Jack in my mirror getting ready to set me up. On the restart Jack
tried to make his move on the inside but I managed to hold him off and take the checkered
flag for my first win in a legend car.
In the main event I started 14th,
as the green flag flew I quickly started to gain positions towards the front. Battling
several drivers it took all 30 laps to get to 8th place, my final finishing
spot. My final battle was with Pro driver Rob Lathrop #57 it lasted several laps before I
finally got him towards the end. It was a good clean race we both had a lot of fun,. With only 2 cautions it a very fast paced race. You have to make every lap count with the legends
because they don’t make a lot of mistakes and the cars are very equal. Overall it was
a good night and a great race.
As always
a special thanks goes out to all the sponsors that make my racing possible.
This
weekend is an off weekend but the cars will be on display at the Linden Cherry Festival
and Car Show.
Next
week, memorial weekend we will be in Lakeport, CA for a three-day show.
Ductape
David Ball
Dave Sullivan surveys the wreck The next day
The start of the heat race
The Pass