Lucky 7 Sportsman Race
New Smyrna Speedway
09-05-09 - VIDEO

Can you hear me knocking? I'm right there at the doorway to a victory.  Finally, all our hard work is starting to pay off.

After last weeks race I was pretty happy with the car but it seemed that there was still something not quite right about the motor. We decided to pull the carb off and have it rebuilt and boy am I glad I did. (more...)

Turns out that even though I had a pretty good carb, it was one of the older castings and the new ones flow quite a bit more. So they changed out the parts to upgrade it and I can really tell a difference. It was much more responsive off the corner and the motor pulled really hard all the way down the straight-aways.

My tires were getting pretty old and it would have been great if I could have got a new set for the race. I have a system where I purchase 4 tires and then 2 races later I get new right side tires and then 2 races later I get another complete new set. Last night was the last night on this set and I just didn't have the grip entering the corner to really drive it in as hard as I wanted to.

I started the race on the pole and I got a good jump but for some reason I just can't get going when I'm on the inside coming off the corner. I held on to about the flag stand but then the outside pole sitter pulled ahead and beat me into turn one. That gave him a better entry into the corner and he rolled the outside and off much faster than I did so I fell back about a car length and settled into second place.

My car was pretty much as fast as the leader but I made a mistake on lap 3 and slipped up in turn 2 and let him get about a 5 car advantage on me that lasted the rest of the race. From there we ran the remaining 17 laps playing follow the leader and I finished the race in 2nd place.

Next week we bolt on new tires and they are usually good for about 2 or 3 tenths of a second per lap. That should put me right in the hunt. Plus, since I finished second, I will probably start on the outside pole or maybe 3rd inside so that will make the race more interesting for sure.