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EVENT REPORTS
20: AWARDS BANQUET, October 24, 2009. [PHOTOS] [SHADOW REPORT]
The 2009 season ended with the Delaware Speedway Awards Banquet at the London Hellenic Centre. While we didn't have a lot to celebrate this year, it was a good opportunity to acknowlege and congratulate the Speedway's division champions and special award winners. Congrats to all!
Speaking of 'special' awards, Gert was awarded a "Dellie" by the moderator and contributors on the Canadian Racing Online Delaware Forum. "The Little Engine that Could award goes to Gert. As Super Stock cars go, Gert’s a pretty old girl, but when Team Perkins found themselves with their A car messed up for the season, they pulled the tarp off the old girl and went to work. It was a tough go for a while, but at the end of the season, she was hanging pretty well with the frontrunners, managing a 3rd place feature finish late in the season." Neat.
Thanks to Uncle Don, Steve Williams, and the rest of the Team for all of the hard work and help offered during a very tough season. And again, congrats to all this year's award winners. Have a safe and enjoyable off season everyone.
 
19: RACE NIGHT 11, September 04, 2009. [PHOTOS] [SHADOW REPORT]
I was not able to race tonight (I joined Jens Peters in wearing a cast on my wrist a couple of weeks ago, and I have started my DeGroote MBA program) so Duane Manning agreed to give Gert a run tonight.
I undertand that Duane had fun, Gert stayed together, and we ended the season in one piece. Thanks Duane, and congrats to Jason Lidster on his Super Stock Championship.
18: RACE NIGHT 10, August 14, 2009. [PHOTOS] [SHADOW REPORT]
Last week was unexpected fun and we hoped to keep things going tonight. Gert was tight (understeering), as expected, to start practice. More of a problem, however, was the fact that our RPM problem returned. Steve Williams thrashed away during the driver's meeting and found the problem (bad plug wire) and we were off to the heat races.
Gert ran pretty good in the heat race, I was able to make a couple of passes and finish second. That put me in third place for the Feature. I was able to get a good start and early in the race made a pass for the lead. Gert ran her best times ever and I was able to hang on to the lead until around lap 18 or 19 when a caution came out. During the caution laps something "snapped" in the front end and the steering didn't feel quite right. When we took the green flag it was clear that something was wrong, but I was able to hang on and finish in third place. Way to go Gert! Thanks to the Team for all of the hard work needed to get Gert ready to do some real racing.
17: RACE (DAY) 09, August 9, 2009. [PHOTOS] [SHADOW REPORT]
After practice Friday night we were optimistic about today's racing (a hot and humid Sunday afternoon race, due to a rainout last night). It seemed that Gert's engine RPM problem was solved, but in practice everything that could go wrong did go wrong. We broke a front sway bar and a front left rotor, and got no laps to work on handling (which was terrible tight).
Since we really didn't know what to expect, I decided to start my heat race at the back (I was gridded on the outside pole). I was able to advance from 11th place to 8th, but it was exhausting trying to muscle Gert around the track when she didn't want to turn. That finish put me in 15th starting position for the Feature.
Somehow I was able to get free of slower traffic, and got into some clean, door to door racing (fun). I climbed to a surprising 6th place finish. It was exhausting, but it felt like a win.
16: PRACTICE, August 7, 2009. [PHOTOS] [SHADOW REPORT]
We're pretty frustrated with Gert, but the Team decided to try a couple of more fixes to see if we can solve her engine RPM problem. Gert will never hit max RPM again (the crate engine is 6 years old), but she ran OK in three practice sessions. That let us spend a bit of time on handling which also needs lots of work (tight, tight, tight). Uncle Don has a couple of ideas to try for our scheduled race tomorrow night. Stay tuned.
Note: It was a huge night of racing at the Speedway tonight, with ISMA Supermodifieds, Late Model double feature, and Trucks. Check out the SHADOW REPORT for details.
15: RACE NIGHT 08, July 31, 2009. [PHOTOS] [SHADOW REPORT]
We decided to give Gert another try. After a long week of work trying to diagnose our engine problem we headed back to the Speedway to see if we had the problem solved. It seemed that way to start practice, and we used the first 2 sessions to focus on handling. However, in the third session our engine problem returned. Uncle Don swapped out some electrical components (again) and I headed to my heat wondering what to expect.
Gert seemed to rev enough (but not max RPM) to race but the handling was off, she was way too tight. I pressed pretty hard, too hard in fact, and bumped the wall coming off turn 2. I headed to the pits to check out the front end and we re-grouped for the Feature. I started the Feature at the back of the field and very soon it was clear that the engine problem was back, Gert would rev past 4,500. Rather than have the engine come apart or get run over I parked Gert for the night. Frustrating. We have been over and over Gert, the problem just defies detection. Maybe we need to park Gert and take a break from the frustration.
14: RACE NIGHT 07, July 24, 2009. [PHOTOS] [SHADOW REPORT]
The Team worked long and hard during the week to find out why Gert would not rev past 5,000 RPM. The fuel system was replaced, and the electrical system checked out. Heck, we even bought Gert some new shoes (right side tires) for her encore in Super Stock. However, despite our best efforts Gert just didn't want to rev. Maybe her old motor is, well, too old and tired.
13: RACE NIGHT 06, July 17, 2009. [PHOTOS] [SHADOW REPORT]
We worked hard over the past week tweaking Gert to get her ready for Super Stock racing. It was a surprise how much had changed (and we have learned) since she last raced as a Street Stock (2004). In practice she was tight (as expected) but she ran her best time ever, so we were optimistic heading to our heat race. She started OK, I was able to advance from 8th place to 4th before the handling went away big time (a bad right rear tire was the culprit). We borrowed a tire from the #77 Lake team and I started 5th in the Feature. I never got to test the handling any further, Gert didn't want to run on the straightaways, and I finished a frustrating 13th. We don't know if it's a fuel, electrical, or other problem. We will give it some thought and find a solution, we think that Gert should get another chance to see what she can do.
12: PRACTICE, July 10, 2009. [PHOTOS] [SHADOW REPORT]
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Well, we don't have the resources to fix Scarlett, so we decided to see if Gert might be resurrected for racing duty. Gert is an old Donnie McRae street stock, purchased from Kelly Williams, and last raced in 2004. Since then she has been used for giving rides at our annual Appreciation Day event.
Uncle Don, Steve Williams, Dad and I worked hard during the week to get Gert out of storage and ready for practice (the Super Stocks were off tonight). Gert is a true street stock, and as a result she is heavy, under powered, and a real handful to navigate (muscle) around the Speedway. Kind of like a clydesdale compared to the 'thoroughbred' Delaware Super Stocks of today.
After taking the Speedway Tech Crew down memory lane during tech inspection, we hit the track to find out if Gert would be quick enough and handle well enough to try a Super Stock race. We had some brake problems, she is down on power, and it was a real workout trying to get her around the Speedway. However, we do have some ideas on how to squeeze a bit more speed out of her (including borrowing a few more parts from Scarlett).
So, what's the verdict? We think that we should do a bit more work and give Gert another try. Let's go racing old school!
Congratulations to Kathleen Hosang for her big win in the Demar Aggregates Truck division tonight (JWO Racing Photo).
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EVOLUTION OF GERT:
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11: RACE NIGHT 05, July 3, 2009. [SHADOW REPORT]
Tonight was advertised as Delaware Speedway's "Night of Destruction" and it certainly turned out that way. The car was great in practice and in our heat race. In the Feature I got boxed in by traffic, then wrecked by #67 coming out of turn 2. The car is done. Over and out.
10: RACE NIGHT 04, June 26, 2009. [SHADOW REPORT]
After what seemed like months away from the track due to bad weather it was nice to arrive at the track to clear skies - not a cloud in sight!
We finally had a complete, 3 session practice, with no major problems and that let us work on setup a bit. The times we put down were good but the car was a little tight coming off the corners. Talking to other drivers seemed to indicate this was par for the evening.
We made a minor adjustment for our heat race (only our second one of the entire season!). I started on the third row, outside, in the second SuperStock heat. There were some really stout cars on the inside of me (11, 77, 52) so I wasn't anticipating a hole opening up for me to drop to the bottom - I would have to try the outside. I was able to stay up top for quite a few laps beside the 22, not losing any ground but not completing a pass either. The sun setting just over the billboards in turns 1-2 made it really difficult to see my marks entering the corner. I made one mistake, driving in blind and missing my mark, washing up the track and losing a bunch of spots. I exited the corner in last place. I was able to pass the #2 and catch up to the pack in front. On the last lap I decided to throw the car deep into turn 3 and see if I could make something happen. It stuck, but a car washed up in front of me (the tight track), forcing me to check up and killing my momentum. The #2 was able to get inside of me again but I held him off at the line. The finish didn't reflect the quality car we had and we were pretty excited for the feature with more laps to advance.
The poor heat finish handicapped us back to the 20th starting position, on the outside again, for the Feature. But we had 25 laps (or so we thought) and a good car to move toward the front. Uncle Don made a minor adjustment to loosen the car up and it seemed to work - the car was quick. Unfortunately the track had really become one-grooved, with everyone hugging the bottom. I tried to be patient, avoided some trouble, and worked my way up to 6th place when a caution came out at lap 20. In the process I had some fun side-by-side racing with #51 and others. Number 77 pulled off the track (running 2nd at the time) so I found myself in 5th position (on the track) for the upcoming restart, with the leaders in sight. The only problem - there was no restart. Our race was called 5 laps early. Really disappointing for us because we had such a good car and felt we had something for the front runners.
Oh well, still a fun night of racing. The car was good and it's in one piece. This gives us something to build on for next week.
Congratulations to Brad Clarke (SS 52) on his new baby girl Delana, and to Jeremiah Rabideau (SS 51) on his marriage to Justine Hammond.
8: RACE NIGHT 3: NACTS 50 LAP EVENT, June 6, 2009. [PHOTOS] [SHADOW REPORT]
We practiced last night (we still hadn't had a chance to see how the car was after extensive repairs) and hoped that our racing luck would turn tonight. However, it didn't start out that way. During my first practice laps the car developed a bad miss, I spent the rest of our practice session in the pits. Uncle Don and Steve Williams took everything apart and finally got the car running again 10 minutes before our big 50-lap (2 - 25 lap 'segments') feature. The miss was gone but our handling wasn't sorted out (no practice) and a bad vibration developed in the steering (steering box), so I wasn't able to take full advantage of a good starting position. I was able to get a couple of decent finishes and, all things considered, it was a good night. It's nice to go home with the car in one piece.
6: RAIN OUT, May 29, 2009.
 Uncle Don and the Team worked unbelievably hard to get the car ready after last week's debacle, including yet another transmission swap. So, it was pretty disappointing to arrive at the track facing yet another gloomy weather forecast.
Right on cue a huge thunderstorm roared through the Speedway, bringing lightning, heavy rain, and hail, and flooding the pits. We're frustrated but can you imagine how frustrated the new Speedway owners must be having put so much into Speedway improvements and then be rewarded with so many rainouts.
Hopefully this gets all of the bad weather out of the way for next week's HUGE weekend of racing.
5: RACE NIGHT 02, May 22, 2009. [PHOTOS] [SHADOW REPORT]
Tonight was a double feature night (and no heat races) due to the rain out last week, it turned out to be a double trouble night for us. We had a surprising amount of work to do to the car after last week (including a transmission swap), but we were pretty happy that the car was good in practice (the 3rd practice session included some good, fun laps in heavy traffic).
I started 16th for the first feature. On lap one, turn one, there was a wreck. I had room to avoid the mess but as I slowed I was hit from behind and driven into Ray Morneau (#98) who had been spun sideways on the track. During a long caution I zipped into the pits to have the front fender pulled away from the tire and then resumed the race at the back (21st). I was able to climb to 9th place, but late in the race a caution came out. On the restart the flagman gave us a yellow flag but the race director called for "one more lap" in turn 2. In turn 3 he called "green flag". Some cars reacted, some did not, and I had to check up. I was clobbered from behind and had to go to the pits for major repairs.
We duct taped the rear body work together for the second feature. Early in the race the front left sway bar bracket broke and I had to ride out the rest of the race at the back of the pack. An unbelievably frustrating night, and again, not necessary. Looks like we have to do a lot of work again if we want to go racing next week.
4: RACE NIGHT 01, May 15, 2009. [PHOTOS] [SHADOW REPORT]
If it's Friday it must be raining. Again. The forecast wasn't good when we arrived at the track. The car was unbelieveably loose in the first practice session, I had to come in after 2 laps. We went over the car but couldn't find anything wrong. I went back out and on the first lap the left rear wheel came off the car in Turn 1. The hub pulled completely out of the wheel! The Team worked like crazy to fix the rear of the car, I went out for one more practice session and cut a front right tire. Geesh, this night was getting expensive.
We drew numbers out of a hat for starting positions and, for the first time ever, I drew a great position - pole for my heat race. At the start of the race the car was pretty good, but as the laps wore on it got looser and looser. On lap eight (of ten), in turn 2, the second place car hit me in the left rear and spun me out. Not good. It's much too early in the season for that kind of driving.
The Late Model Division got in their 50-lapper from last week and then the rain returned, ending the night and canceling our Feature race. Looks like next week will be a double-feature night, hope our racing luck changes quickly.
3: PRACTICE, May 8, 2009. [PHOTOS] [SHADOW REPORT]
Since we we're rained out last week and got zero laps in, we decided to come out for practice tonight. We had a good time, getting in 3 sessions before heading to the stands to watch the full racing program. Unfortunately a severe thunderstorm cancelled the program 3 laps into an amazing 29-car Late Model Feature.
2: SEASON OPENER, May 1, 2009. [PHOTOS] [SHADOW REPORT]
Tonight's program was rained out before we could get one lap on the track. Not good, but whattayagonnnado?
1: PRACTICE DAY, April 11, 2009. [PHOTOS] [SHADOW REPORT]
After a long offseason we were finally back at the track for our first practice session. Scarlett needed a bit of work after a trip into the turn 2 wall last fall. The front suspension and steering box needed a close look too. Uncle Don, Steve Williams, and Dad worked long and hard through the winter to get her ready. Thanks!
I took it easy at first, just trying to shake things out. Once confident everything was holding together I tried a few hot laps. Scarlett was pretty good, the steering felt great. I was able to put down some pretty good laps on old tires on a surprisingly cool day. Throughout the rest of the day the Crew worked to dial the car in. We had some problems - a broken sway bar bracket, and a bad ignition coil - but it was fun to get back on the Speedway once again.
There were some great looking new cars out today (check out some photos here), should be a good year in Super Stock. Our next chance to get back on the track will be our season opener May 1st. See you then!
PREVIOUS SEASON RESULTS
- 2008 - 7th Place, 2 Feature Wins, 8 Top 3 finishes, 14 Top 5 finishes (24 races).
- 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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