EVENT REPORTS
17: RACE NIGHT 13, September 6, 2009.
The final event of our season was a "Super Stock and Thunder Car Invitational", which included time trials and a 40-lap Feature. We were on the program with the OSCAAR Outlaw Super Late Models, which were returning to the Speedway after a long absence. We had brake problems in time trials, and handling issues in the Feature, finishing 9th. Details and some photos to follow soon.
In the meantime congrats to Darrell Lake (#77) on his feature win and congrats to Ray Morneau (#98) on his fourth Super Stock division Championship.
 
16: RACE NIGHT 12, August 29, 2008.
We really wanted to follow up last week's win with a good run but that was not to be the case - the night turned on something that we never, ever anticipated.
The car's handling was a bit off in practice and we experimented with a few things for our heat race. I started fourth (outside of course) and finished in fourth in a bumper to bumper race. In the post-race Tech Garage we were disqualified for having a loose chip in our rev limiter, despite it being OK'd in pre-race tech. What ....?
I filed a protest but was put to the back of the field for the Feature (22nd). It was pretty rough back in the pack, with a lot of bumpin' and bangin'. I spun out on lap 13 (while running 10th), cut a tire and made a pit stop, rejoined the race, and finished 16th.
After the race our protest was upheld, our car was legal, but the damage was done. It's hard to criticize the officials, they have a tough job to do. But it sure was frustrating. To say the least.
15: RACE NIGHT 11, August 22, 2008. [PHOTOS] [SHADOW REPORT]
We've struggled with a series of problems, like dominos falling, over the past few weeks (last week it was a seriously bent ball joint). Thanks Team for hangin' in!
Tonight the Speedway decided not to put coke syrup on the track which was a welcome change - good or bad, at least the track would be consistent lap to lap. The car was pretty good in practice so we felt encouraged heading into our Heat where I started 2nd, on the outside. Kris Lawrence (#28) was on the pole and took off, opening up a big hole behind him that I settled into. I remained there for rest of the race, finishing 2nd. Congrats to Kris, that was his first Super Stock checkered flag.
We made some more adjustments for the Feature race, trying to free the car up a bit through the centre of the corner. We lined up in 7th place, on the inside for a change. I knew that I would have to get through the traffic up front quickly because Ray Mornea (#98) and others would be coming in a hurry. The car was very good early and I made some passes low and high, eventually passing the #71 outside to take the lead. Unfortunately #98 was right behind me so I knew I would be under pressure for the rest of the race.
A caution came out at lap #20, tightening up the field. Up until then I was running well and Ray hadn't really challenged yet. I kept the pace slow leading up to the restart, to keep anyone from getting a jump on me. After the green flag, entering turn 1 the car collapsed over the front right tire, I could hear the front spoiler dig into the track and knew something was wrong with the right front. I was able to keep it from washing too far up the track and managed to keep the car low and hold onto the lead for the remaining five laps, capturing our second Feature WIN of the year!
After the race the Team discovered the front right tire was punctured so we were definitely blessed with some good racing luck to finish and hang on for the win. A big thanks (again!) to Ray Morneau and the #98 Team for racing us clean tonight. And a HUGE thank you to my Team for all their hard work - I was so glad to be able to reward them for that!
14: RACE NIGHT 10, August 15, 2008. [PHOTOS] [SHADOW REPORT]
The Team worked very hard to fix the damage from our last race - a bent rim,
pitman arm, and rad cradle. They also replaced the rev limiter which was coming on sporadically.
Tonight was Brian Finch Night at the Speedway and we were eager to do well in front of all of the Brian Finch staff who were in attendance. Things didn't turn out as planned.
Our first clue that something was not right was in Tech - the ride height was legal but not normal, not what we expected. In my first practice I found out I had no brakes and had to return to the pits for repairs. One the second run the new rev limiter malfunctioned and I couldn't put in a full speed lap. That persisted into the third and final practice session.
While the Team tried to find a solution I skipped the Drivers Meeting (with permission) and went up to meet the Brian Finch staff in the hospitality area. I met some very nice folks and had a good time. While I was doing that Uncle Don took Scarlett out for the Brian Finch parade laps, right behind a string of special Brian Finch vehicles. He used that opportunity to test the rev limiter and it seemed fixed.
I headed to my heat race without any real time (laps) to work on our handling. I started 3rd, on the inside (for a change). The car was still loose off the corners, but I was able to get up to second place at the finish.
I started the Super Stock Feature in 8th place, on the outside. The start of the race was very ragged, with the first four cars jumping the start. In the meantime I got shuffled back, the inside lane took off as expected. It was a one groove race track again tonight, I was able to get back to 10th place only.
I sure wish that we could have performed better for the Brian Finch gang tonight, but that's the way it goes sometimes. (Afterwards we discovered a bent ball joint - that might explain some of our handling issues tonight.)
Check out the Shadow Report for more on all of tonight's races (gee it's nice to see him reporting again, no one does it better).
Also, congrats to Jim Mairs (#5) on his first Super Stock Feature win.
[Kramer had a good run tonight - check it out!]
13: RACE NIGHT 9, August 8, 2008. [PHOTOS] [SHADOW REPORT]
After two weeks off it was time to get back to the track. So far this
year we've been struggling with really unpredictable handling. What was
flexing, bending, or broken? Maybe we're just paying a price for not
re-clipping the car in the off season.
In practice the car was tight going in (to the corners) forcing me to
use lots of steering input. This then produced a really loose car
coming off the corners, so much so that once again I couldn't get on
the gas. We discovered that the front left tire was rubbing the frame at
max steering input. This might explain our slowness in the centre of the corners over the previous weeks, but a fix would have to wait until next week.
We also used practice to try out a new fibreglass air dam on the front of the car - one like a lot of other cars have been using this year. It looked good and we noticed a small
improvement going into the corners, but a good looking front end seemed to be tempting fate.
We made a slight suspension adjustment for our Heat race. I started on
the pole, but right off the start #52 made the outside work and powered
by to take the lead. I was able to hang on for 2nd place but the car
was still really slow through the center of corners, no doubt holding up
cars behind me.
Uncle Don made a good call on a rear suspension adjustment just before
the Feature. I started 6th, on the outside. The car was OK but at the
start of the race the outside groove in turns 3-4 just wasn't there.
This caused me to get loose up top on about lap 2. When I let up on the
throttle to gather the car up #51, who was right on my tail, made
contact sending me sideways. The #11 was on the inside of us and
clipped my front bumper, shearing off our pretty new air dam (we saw
that one coming), cutting my LF tire (discovered later) and wrecking
the front alignment (toe). But, it also straightened the car out,
allowing me to continue although I did lose quite a few spots.
At about the halfway point I was running in a tight two-wide pack,
behind #11 and beside #77. I was beside #77 for a couple of laps but
coming off turn 2 I felt my right rear quarter panel get hooked to his
car. We were able to separate but it caused #77 to spin bringing out a
caution. It was tough to tell what had happened but a review of the race
video revealed that I got a bit loose coming off, wobbled a bit, and my
back end touched #77 causing the indicent. Not good. But it does happen
when you run so close together.
On the re-start I made some progress on the bottom but eventually got
into a tight single file battle. Going through turn 1-2 some of the
cars upfront suddenly slowed, causing everyone behind them to pile up.
I got into the car in front, getting me out of shape and before I could
gather it up #77 got into me from behind. I ended up spinning but
avoided collecting anyone else. Blame that one on being the guy stuck
in the middle of a sandwich, it happens.
So with only a few laps to go I had to start at the back. The front end
was a mess, the toe was out, it couldn't get any worse so I went for
broke on the outside. Everyone else was bunched up on the inside/bottom
and I was able to pass a ton of cars and got back to 9th place, almost
edging out the #76 for 8th at the finish line. A few more laps would
have been nice because the top was working surprisingly well and it was
wide open for me.
Despite it being the roughest race of the year we left the track feeling
pretty good because of the fun we had racing up top on the final few
laps. That's all we're looking for. Hopefully we can build on it next
week.
Congrats to Jens Peters (#66) on his first Heat and first
Feature win - a perfect night! Nice.
12: RACE NIGHT 8, July 18, 2008. [PHOTOS]
It was another hot and steamy night at the Speedway tonight. After our super run in the Super Stock Showdown we made no changes to our setup, hoping that it would work well again. As we hoped the car was very good in practice, I was still able to work on the outside (top) groove.
Immediately after the Driver's Meeting we headed to the front straight for a Super Stock Fan Appreciation Night autograph session. I had a fun time meeting lots and lots of great fans. We should do this more often.
I started in 4th, on the outside, in my heat race. Surprisingly the car was immediately loose and I was not able to advance at all. I got shuffled back in the pack and finished 8th. Why was the car suddenly so loose? Was it the track? Back in the pits we discovered that the back right tire was in bad shape (again) and made a change. We thought long and hard and then made some other adjustments to see if we could tighten the car up.
I started the Feature in 10th place, on the outside (again). The car was still very loose and I was holding some cars
up because I couldn't get off the corners well at all (I had to delay getting on the throttle until I could get a bit of traction). It also became clear that the track was a one groove deal tonight, with lots of single file racing. I managed to get as high as 7th and finished in 8th place. It was a bit frustrating, but at least the car was in one piece and we did get to meet a lot of nice fans tonight. Now we have two weeks off, a nice break and a chance for the Team to rest and relax a bit.
Congrats to Jeremiah Rabideau (#51) on his first Super Stock Feature win.
11: RACE NIGHT 7, July 4, 2008. [PHOTOS] [DELAWARE REPORT]
Uncle Don, Steve Williams, and the Team did a lot of work trying to make our race car better for the Peterbilit Super Stock Showdown, our division's "Daytona 500" event for the season. The Showdown Format included time trials plus 3 race "segments", culminating in a 20-lap finale.
We spent the week prior working on our cross-weight, believing some adjustment there would put us on the right path to a better handling car. We also replaced a right rear tire that was ripped - perhaps offering a bit of an explanation for the extreme loose condition last week.
The car was better in practice. It was entering the corner much smoother but through the apex there was a sudden looseness, the back end snapped around without any throttle (or warning).
Uncle Don made a change in the setup to try and fix this for qualifying. I was one of the last cars out for qualifying. By that time some quick times had been put down, including Ray Morneau (#98) shattering the old track record. I didn't match that but was quick enough to also break the old track record and qualify 4th. Even though I only did two laps it was enough to tell that the suspension change might have been a step in the right direction, the car felt pretty good and the sudden looseness was gone.
As the pole-sitter, Morneau rolled two dice to set the inversion for the first race segment. He rolled an 8, putting me in 4th place on the outside for the first 15-lap segment. Our plan was to stay on the outside as long as possible and try to make the car work up top. We knew if we could get it running on the outside it would pay dividends later. If it didn't and I faded back, oh well, the second segment included a full inversion of the field so I would have a good starting position then.
Once we went green I ended up running quite a few laps on the outside, staying side-by-side with the Kris Lawrence (#28) in third place. About 7 or 8 laps in I threw the car in a little too deep trying to complete the pass on the outside and washed up the track, losing quite a few spots. I settled back in around 8th or 9th where I finished. My tires were too hot from the hard racing on the outside and I couldn't make up any ground. We were still satisfied as we learned a lot about the car's behaviour on the outside line and made a couple adjustments to improve it for the next segment.
With a complete inversion of the finishing order for the second segment I started in 13th place, on the inside. Right off the start the inside line took off, shuffling the outside line to the back. Once this was done I started moving towards the front, making a few solid passes on the outside. After a few cautions and some more passing I found myself in 3rd place with the leaders in sight. However, Morneau in the #98 emerged from the pack and quickly closed on me. Knowing he was a lot faster and probably had a better chance at catching the leaders I moved up and let him by, happy to finish the second segment in 4th place. This gave us some solid points and put me in a good position for the final inversion. The car was still a little loose on the bottom, but was pretty solid on the outside.
The final inversion put me in 3rd place for the final segment, behind the Darrell Lake (#77). We knew that I would have to use the outside to get to the front so rather than try and fix the loose condition on the bottom, we made a slight adjustment to make it work even better on the outside - it paid off!
Right off the start I stayed tight to #77 and cleared the 2nd place car (#9x). Coming down the front stretch on lap 1 I made a move to the outside and threw it really deep into turn 1, putting me door-to-door with #77. The car stuck and I powered off turn 2 and completed the pass to take the lead. Ray Morneau (#98) followed and settled into 2nd place, right on my bumper. For the next 18 laps I raced really hard to keep the #98 behind me. I guarded the bottom line well, even though the car got really loose down there. Morneau was quicker and made quite a few attempts to pass on the outside but he couldn't make it work and I held on to WIN!!! This made me the first repeat winner of the Super Stock Showdown and gave me my first checkered flag of the '08 season - a much needed positive result for both the driver and the Team!
A HUGE THANKS goes out to Ray Morneau and the entire #98 team. They definitely had the best car but Ray raced me clean, even when I made the car "wide" a few times. Ray's the class of our division, both in skill and in sportsmanship. It's a real pleasure to race side-by-side with him.
Also, thanks so much to my entire crew - Uncle Don, Steve Williams, Dad, Steve Baldock, Brian and Kyle Cohoon, Matt Payne. It was a difficult start to the season for us. So much work goes into getting the car ready each week and when things don't go well, that work really starts to feel like ...well, work. To finally get rewarded for your commitment is a welcome relief!!! THANKS!
[ Kramer also made his debut tonight - check it out! ]
10: RACE NIGHT 6, June 27, 2008.
We headed to the track on a hot, humid night hopeful that all of our bad racing luck was behind us. Ah, but that was not the case. The car was loose again in the Feature, and to add insult to injury #76 spun us out on the white flag (last lap) of the race. Not good. More details and photos to follow soon.
Congrats to Scott Nagy (#99) on his Feature win - a door to door, photo finish battle with Don Dadson (#1). Nice racin' boys.
9: RACE NIGHT 5, June 20, 2008. [PHOTOS]
The weather was great tonight and we had high hopes for a good run on "Features Only Night" at the Speedway. Uncle Don, Steve Williams and the Team had worked hard to find the source of our handling problems. In Practice the car was better, not perfect, but better. I started in 8th place, on the outside (again) in the 30-lap (normally it's 25 laps) Feature. Very early in the race a car drifted up into me in turn 2, bouncing me up into the "marbles". Something broke and I spun out. It got the car restarted but realized something was wrong on the right side of the car. I headed to the pits where the Team quickly changed a punctured front right tire (the left front had a sidewall slash in it that we discovered later). Even though the Team executed a great pit stop I rejoined the race 3 laps down (laps take about 22 seconds each) and finished 16th. Whattayagonnado?
Congrats to Kris Lawrence (#28) who had a great finish (2nd) tonight, and Ray Morneau (#98) for his Feature win.
8: RACE NIGHT 4, June 6, 2008. [PHOTOS]
We arrived at the track on a hot, hot and humid night. The car was very loose the last time out, the Team worked hard to diagnose the problem (bad tire) and we were optimistic about the racing ahead.
Speedway officials sprayed coke syrup on track right before Practice, trying to create an upper groove (for us and the Auto Value Super Sprints who were making their first visit to the Speedway tonight). Instead it seemed to make the upper groove greasy. Still, the car was better than last time out. Did I mention that it was HOT tonight?
This was the first week that our starting positions were determined by our 3-week points average, putting me in 4th, outside, for Super Stock Heat #2 (the quick heat).
The car was OK but I was stuck on the outside and could not advance, finishing 5th. At least I was able to avoid a lap one wreck on the front straight involving #93, #76, #11, #77, and #9 (thanks #51 for giving me room to avoid the mess).
We decided to make no adjustments for Feature, we weren’t sure how the track would respond to the Super Sprint races that ran right before us. I started 9th, on the inside. The inside lane should have been good, instead it was very slow and the outside lane took off - #71 and #24 jumped out front and battled for the lead for quite a few laps. Meanwhile I was suddenly struggling with a very loose race car again, very much like last week. I hung on for the ride and finished a very frustrating 9th.
Congratulations to Stephen Richmond (#24) who started 4th and battled to get the Feature win.
5: RACE NIGHT 3, May 23, 2008. [PHOTOS]
Uncle Don and the Team worked overtime to get ready for this week. Steve Williams found us an old Saginaw gearbox and Ardal Transmission refurbished it for us (in one day!). The sway bar mount was repaired and the differential checked out (on top of our usual body repairs and maintenance). THANKS TEAM !
The car was fair in practice, but not great. The carb also started to give us a bit of trouble too. We made adjustments for our Heat race. This was the last week for the random draw for starting positions. I drew position #8, about as far back as you can get. The car was pretty tight but I was still able to make some progress, eventually finishing in 3rd place.
We decided to make a tire change for the Feature, to see if we could loosen the car up a bit. I started the race in third position (not sure how that happened) and hoped to take advantage by getting a good start. Unfortunately that didn't happen. Right away it was very clear that the car didn't like the tire change, it VERY loose, even on the straights. And the differential was noisy.
I raced as hard as I could and was quick enough to hold up Darrell Lake (#77) and Ray Morneau (#98) who were right behind me. I managed to hold onto third place but there was no way I could challenge the leaders (#51 and #11) for the win. Now we've got some work to do to diagnose our handling problems.
Congratulations to Jason Lidster (#11) on his Feature win.
4: RACE NIGHT 2, May 16, 2008. [PHOTOS]
Uncle Don and the Team worked hard to get our car handling better but we ran into a lot of problems that prevented us from taking advantage tonight.
Right off the trailer we noticed a noise from the differential. Turns out it was a loose pinion nut, so repairs were made and we were off to practice. The car was good in practice, not perfect, but good. I started 4th in my heat race and was able to finish in 2nd place.
Heat winner Ray Morneau (#98) rolled a “2” which should have put me on the outside pole for our Feature race. However, Speedway officials changed the starting procedure once again and I ended up in fourth, outside, next to #84 (J.R. Fitzpatrick, NASCAR CTS driver and former Junior Racing League driver). Not a big deal, or so we thought.
J.R.’s #84 was very tight and he got into me in turn 3. I was forced to back out of the throttle and lost several spots, still stuck on the outside but now in more traffic. Later I was spun out by a car in turn 2.
After the spin something was very wrong in the front end (turns out the front sway bar mount had pulled right out of the frame). I had to limp along for the balance of the race, the car was very hard to control at any speed. I finished in 15th place, very frustrating. Pulling into the pits I found out that the transmission was locked up, I couldn’t downshift. (Turns out the transmission case was cracked.)
Congrats to Feature winner Ray Morneau and the #98 Team, Ray was just awesome and they had a perfect night.
3: RACE NIGHT 1, May 9, 2008. [PHOTOS] [DELAWARE REPORT]
After a rainout last week it was nice to finally get the season underway. We started the evening by celebrating the 'thirty-ninth' birthdays of Uncle Don and Steve Williams, then it was off to walk the race track for Jesse's Journey.
In the first practice session the car was pretty good but not quite as good as it had been on practice day. We put on a new set of tires for the remainder of practice and struggled with an extremely tight racecar. We made some adjustments hoping to have it handling well for our heat race.
The starting positions for the heat races were set by random draw – I drew 6th place on the outside row - in the first heat. The outside lane was not working well in practice so when #66 had problems getting out of the pits I was moved down into 5th place on the inside.
As expected the inside lane pulled to the front right off the start, putting me in 3rd position. The car was still really tight but I was still considerably quicker than the #93 ahead of us. Numerous attempts to pass on the inside were blocked as he guarded the inside line. With a few laps to go I decided to try and make something happen and moved up to the outside lane for a couple of laps. I didn't work and I dropped back to 4th place at the finish. Darrell Lake in the #77 started on the pole and pulled away for an uncontested heat win, so a good start for that team.
For the Feature race we decided to try and fix a tight racecar by going with the old set of tires that had worked so well on practice day. A dice inversion for the Feature lineup put me in 7th place – on the inside at least. Once again the inside line was the quickest so I was able to advance to 5th place off the start but this was as far forward as I could get. The tire switch turned out to be a little drastic as the car was extremely loose. Once again I was stuck behind the #93 with any attempt to pass only worsening the loose condition.
The bad handling we fought all night was frustrating but we'll take a top 5 finish to start the year. We know the racecar will only get better. Up front the #98 and #52 had a good battle with #98 eventually winning the battle and the first Feature of the year. Congrats to #98 Ray Morneau and his team!
2: PRACTICE DAY 2, April 19, 2008. [PHOTOS]
Finally, after a long offseason, we were back at the track for our first practice session! At the end of last season we took a long look at Scarlett before deciding how to approach the winter months. We chose to work with the existing clip (which had been straightened last year) and focus on redoing the suspension. This included fixing the front springs, rear shock brackets, and sway bar with the hopes of making the handling of the car more predicable on the track and more adjustable in the pits.
In the first practice session we took it easy for the first few laps, just trying to shake things out a little bit. Once confident everything was holding together we tried a few hot laps. The car was really loose through the center and under acceleration. We actually expected this based on how we had the car setup so this was a good sign that the new suspension was working as we hoped.
Throughout the rest of the day the crew worked diligently to dial the car in. It got quicker and quicker each time out and by the end of the day we were churning out some pretty good lap times – definitely a good start. We were very pleased that the car was responding predictably to the changes we were making.
With the handling situation coming along well and the car holding together nicely we had a chance to try out some product from our new sponsor, Unicoatings. After two practice sessions we measured the temperature of our rear end. We then added some REWITEC nano coating fluid and went out for another session. Back in the pits, we measured a significant temperature drop. Amazing!
In other news Kris Lawrence made his Super Stock debut in the BT Racing #28. The car looked great, even after we made some contact on the track (sorry Kris!).
Also, the #24 of Stephen Richmond had an unfortunate incident involving a stuck throttle that saw him climb the turn #3 wall and exit the Speedway. It was a pretty scary wreck but the good news was that Stephen was okay. The car can be fixed and hopefully we see that team back on the track for our May 2nd season opener.
See you then!
1: CPT RACE EXPERIENCE, March 15, 2008. [PHOTOS]
I was flattered to be invited to join Kevin Bulmer's first ever CPT Race Experience event at the London Convention Centre this past weekend. Kevin, Bob Graham, and the rest of the CPT Team put on an awesome show for race car fans of all types. The show included Show Cars (including Dale Earnhardt's famous #3), interactive displays, autograph sessions, seminars, and live music. The show was well run, well attended, and we had fun giving out autographs to our great Delaware Speedway fans.
PREVIOUS SEASON RESULTS
- 2007 - 4th Place, 1 Feature Win, 1 Heat Win, 11 Top 3 finishes, 15 Top 5 finishes (24 races).
- 2006 - 6th Place, 1 Feature Win, 1 Heat Win, 7 Top 3 finishes, 9 Top 5 finishes (24 races).
- 2005 - 11th Place, 4 Heat Wins, 8 Top 3 finishes, 11 Top 5 finishes (22 races).
- 2004 - 9th Place, 1 Feature Win, 2 Heat Wins, 9 Top 3 finishes, 13 Top 5 finishes (31 races).
- 2003 - 2nd Place, 3 Feature Wins, 9 Heat Wins, 21 Top 3 finishes, 31 Top 5 finishes .
- 2002 - 2nd Place, 2 Feature Wins, 4 Heat Wins.
- 2001 - 2 Feature Wins, 6 Heat Wins.
- 2000 - 2 Feature Wins, 5 Heat Wins.
- 1999 - Senior Division "Rookie of the Year".
- 1998 - 2nd Place, Sportsman, Classroom, and "Best Appearing Car & Team" Award Winner.
- 1997 - 3rd Place, Sportsman, and 'Classroom Achievement' Award Winner.
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