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Race #3 at Columbia Motorsports Park
05-07-05
WHOOPS! This may be a little harder than I thought..
The car was so good last race that all we did was take the trailer back to the storage lot and drop it off with the car in it. Then, on Friday, we went and picked up the trailer to bring the car home. We cleaned it up, changed the oil, and we thought we were ready to race. Turns out I wasn't quite ready for what was about to happen.
We are still adjusting from our air gauge fiasco so after each practice we take tire temperatures and let a little air out before we go back out. We really don't know how much air to put in or let out so we are just working back a little at a time. The car is still kinda loose but I like it that way. My crew chief say being loose like that means I'm probably not getting off the corners as good as I should. It's still a little hard for me to tell because, compared to the go-kart, it sure feels like I'm getting off the corners pretty good to me!
By the first heat race we thought we were just about right. In the heat I had to start last again because I'm a rookie but they all hesitated on the start so I went low and passed 3 cars coming off turn 4 so going into turn one I was in 2nd. With the exception of the last 2 laps I ran pretty much by myself until I got a little challenge from the #21 car. I held my line and was able to keep my position to finish in 2nd.
This week we had 10 drivers make the feature race. I have to start the features in the back for 2 more races regardless of how I finish in the heat so I started on the end of the outside row. On the start the car in front of me didn't fire so I dropped down and follow the last place car into turn 4. I passed him and another car on the front stretch and then set the next car up going into turn 3 and 4. In turn one, I just went high around the next car and in turn 3 and 4 I followed the 6th place car under the 5th place car and then set my sites on taking the 5th position.
My car felt so good. We had the air about right I think because it still felt a little bit free but it wasn't as loose as it was. My crew chief has been telling me to move down in the corners and I have been trying to do that but, with the handling being a little off, I was afraid if I turned the car down too much I would spin out. Now, the car was going where ever I would put it so I tried to get down as low as I could to get a run on the car in front of me. Then, I found out about what happens when you run off the track!
The paving drops off about 2 inches in the corners and my car only has about 3 inches clearance from the ground to the frame. When I turned down to get under the car in front of me my left front tire ran off the pavement. All of a sudden the steering wheel got jerked out of my hands. I grabbed the wheel just as the car slid back up on the track and it felt like the rear end was going to come around. As I steered up the track to stop the spin the tires caught and I went straight up the track into the wall. I got it slowed down pretty good before I hit but the right front tire caught the wall and it basically got ripped off.
So, I finished last, but it not as bad as it seems. We have a lot of work to do on the car to get it ready for the next race but my crew chief's not upset. He said that's all part of racing and now I know how far down I can can go for sure!
I also went up in the stands to meet some of the race fans again and you'll never believe what happened! There were these 2 girls named Shannon and Lindsay and they had made up their own t-shirts with my number design and name on them. That was pretty cool. This week I brought one of my neighborhood buddies along with me who has never seen me race before and he was pretty impressed. Impressed with the girls anyway!
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