I know this race wasn't on my schedule but I just couldn't think of a better gift than to take mom to the race track for Mother's Day!

We've been doing a lot of different things lately. A sponsor of mine has an old Sportsman car that he used to race about 5 years ago. I've been begging him to let me race it so I could get some experience in a different type of car. He finally broke down and told me to come and get it. We picked it up and brought it back to the shop. After going over the car and fixing a few things that weren't right, I took it to the track to practice it and see what we had... (more)

The car was fast right off the trailer and it was really fun to drive. Since it had been sitting for 5 years the valve springs seemed to be a little weak but we still were able to run pretty respectable lap times. In my last practice I was really getting comfortable with the car and driving it into the corners harder and harder and then the right front ball joint gave way and I skidded up the track and hit the wall. It wasn't my fault but when you borrow a car you have to put it back to the condition you got it in so I'm out looking for a summer job so I can buy some parts.

We've also been practicing the Late Model a good bit too. Last Thursday I went to Orlando Speedworld and ran about 100 laps to get the car set up for the Goodyear Challenge race there next week. I think we did real well. In fact, we did so well, that we thought we would go ahead and run the Mother's Day race at New Smyrna.

I woke up on Saturday morning and I just had a great feeling about the car and my chances to win. I have been getting better at driving every time we go to the track because the car has been really fast and handles great with this new set up we've been running. At the track we made a few practice laps and adjusted on the car a little to get it where I wanted it. Then, when we went out to scuff our new tires, they seemed to make the car a little tight. So, we checked the stagger again and made another minor adjustment to the car and then waited to be called up to qualify.

My first lap in qualifying was kinda slow. The car was tight and if I got hard in the gas it would push up off the corner so I had to ease into the throttle instead of just matting it like I wanted to. The second lap was a little better and I ran an 18:56. Now I've gone faster at this track but back then I was a half a second off the pole. The track has been slowing down a little and the pole for this race was 2 tenths of a second slower than last year. So, when you subtract the pole time from my time I actually picked up 2 tenths of a second over my previous best qualifying time.

I've told you about the ASALM cars now running with the Limited and how they have an advantage at the smaller track. I guess they have figured out the bigger track now too. Last night it was the same old story. The top 3 qualifiers were ASALM cars. New Smyrna let them take out their rev chip which must have helped them but it really was close between all the cars. We were 3.5 tenths off the pole and qualified 15th! Usually that would get you in the top 10 at least.

I guess I was a little upset because I really thought I would run better than that. After a little while I got over it and began thinking about what I wanted to do to the car before the race. My crew chief said he looked over the notes and realized that we had been running a spring rubber in the right rear spring at this track and he didn't notice it in the notes before. That sounded like exactly what I needed so we put in the rubber and got ready for the race.

19 cars took the green flag and, since I was on the inside for the start, I just watched closely up ahead to make sure I didn't get into the wreck that is common to happen in the first couple laps of a race. Sure enough, we made it one lap and then coming off of turn 2 the leaders got bunched up and one of them spun and I had to get hard into the brakes to avoid the wreck. I made it through and that moved me up 2 spots as they sent the cars that were involved in the spin to the rear.

On the next start I was working on getting around this one car but I just couldn't set myself up to make the pass. He was bottoming out and that would send him up the track but he would get back down before I could get under him. We ran like that for a few laps and then the caution came out for another spin at the back of the pack.

When we restarted again, I went back to work on the same car trying to get under him and make the pass. I could get to him and I even got under him a little coming off the corners but he would drive it in harder and cut down on me before I could get by. I think I even nudged him coming off the turn a few times and, after about 10 laps, he finally ran it in the corner a little too hard and that gave me the opening I was looking for. I dove under him coming off of turn 2 and made the pass which put me up to 9th place.

I had at least a half a straight away between me and the next car so I tried running the fastest I could to catch up. I was catching him a little each lap and then all of a sudden my feet got really hot. A few moments later my spotter came on the radio and said I was smoking and to bring the car to the pits. Just after that a fire ball came out from along side the dash and scared me half to death. I pulled the car down on the back stretch as I shut the motor off, took off my belts, and took down my window net and as soon as the car came to a stop I was half way out of there. I ran about 10 feet and then looked back and by that time the fire was already out. The safety crew came and took off the hood to make sure the fire was out and we looked around and found that a small oil line that goes to the oil pressure gauge on my dash had dropped down onto the headers and melted causing a small oil leak and the fire.

I don't know how far up I would have made it if I could have keep running but all the cars are so close that starting in the back makes it pretty hard to get to the front. I ran laps all night at the time that I qualified and I was just as fast as most of the cars ahead of me but the top qualifiers some how get a few tenths more in qualifying so I am just going to have to start working on qualifying better.