I guess I should have stayed home today! I was just taking my time loading up to head to the track and got in the pick-up thinking it was 5:30. What I didn't realize was that my watch had stopped! It was already 6:30!!! That is the cut off time for checking in on time at the track. If you sign in after 6:30, you have to start at the rear. This was no big deal, because with my 2nd place finish last week, I would be starting last anyway. If there was a day to be late, this was the day!

During hot laps, the car didn't feel right for some reason. It just didn't seem up to par. Don't know... The car is handling fine, but it just doesn't seem to be running right.

I am starting 7th out of 7 cars in the first heat. We take the green and things seem to be ok. Coming out of turn 2, a couple cars get together and spin. After everyone got lined up again, I am now starting 5th. Another green flag. Once again coming out of turn 2, two more cars get together and I just about ran into #9, Andy Wieczorek. So far so good. Nothing wrecked. Finally after the mess was cleaned up again, I am now starting 4th. From here on out, the race goes green to the finish. The track is still fairly wet and for some reason, my car has no forward bite in the heat races and I have a heck of a time trying to move through traffic. This is a problem left over from last year. I need to find a fix for my heat race set-up. Anyway, as we get going, I settle into 5th for a couple laps. #55, Paul Van Beek is just ahead of me. I am a bit faster, but just can't get around him, no matter what I try. On the final lap, coming out of turn 2, I get a heck of a run on him on the inside. By the time we hit turn 3 I am side by side with him, if not just a litttle bit ahead of Paul. At this point, this is the final lap and this battle is for the final transfer position directly to the A feature. I didn't want to back out, so when I got to turn 3, I threw the car into the bottom of the corner as hard as I could, hoping it would stick a bit, Paul would back out and I could put on a slide job and take the position. Wrong!!! None of the plan worked. The car didn't stick, Paul didn't back out and I certainly didn't get the slide job done! My car slid up and hit Paul...hard. Luckily it was fairly flush on the side, so neither one of us had any damage other than a couple big dents. Paul moved up the track and I stayed on the bottom to come across the finish line in 4th. Unfortunately, I receive my first black flag for rough driving and was scored 7th.

Here is where it really went downhill. After pulling into the pits, the top radiator hose blew off from the top of the intake manifold and blew water right through the air cleaner and into the motor. After the steam cleared, there was Paul right beside me yelling at me for being stupid. Which I deserved! I admit it! He later came over and discussed the incident with me. Things are fine.

Rather than taking a chance on hurting the motor by running it after water had gotten inside and done who knows what, I decided just to park it for the night. Later, after the motor had cooled, I had someone help me pull the spark plugs and flush the motor out. While messing with the plugs and wires, we found that I had two burned plug wire boots. That explains why the motor didn't sound quite right. Anyway, the plug wires were replaced and the car started and sounded ok. I will see what the motor looks like later this week.

Time to lick my wounds to both my pride and car and call it a week.

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