Alright...I have done just about everything that I can think of to get these bad luck bugs off my back. Things better turn around for me tonight! I had the car scaled at Saatco Performance a couple weeks ago and put a couple of new springs in the rear, changed tires around for the right stagger, got new spark plug wires, put in spark plug heat shields, have a new module in the distributor, new plugs, new hoses and have checked just about everything that I can think of that might cost me another race. I should be good to go now!!!

During hot laps, one of the guys in the pits told me that it looked like my right rear wheel was wobbling pretty good, so I decided to change my rear tires. I had to change both of them so that I could keep the stagger that I wanted. Unfortunately the tires that I put on had no grip on a wet track, so even though I started the heat race on the front row, by the time the first lap was completed, I was in last place because all I did on the start was spin my tires. By the time the checkers flew I had worked my way back into third and was able to transfer directly to the A feature! It had been so long since I have been in an A that I jokingly asked a couple people how the A feature worked. That got a few laughs, but it was time to "get 'er done" for a change. I decided to put my original tires back on the rear of the car so that I had some grip again. The only other thing that I did was ask some advise from Kent Aulner (the person who scaled my car at Saatco) about tire pressures. I did make air pressure changes in 3 of the 4 tires, topped the car off with fuel and got myself ready to go for the feature. Tonight I get to start on the outside of row 1! Things are looking better all the time. The car is finally running good and nothing has fallen apart or broken. Knock on wood...this is my night!!!

At the green flag, I got a bit of a slow start because #73 Randy Bruggeman jumped a little early and got about a car length lead over me by the flag stand. Going into turn one, I just burped the throttle a little and jumped right back on the gas hoping the car would stick. By the exit of turn 2, I had the lead and was feeling good. I kept the car up high and was flying! I have never driven this car this hard before and have never had the car this stable before. It is amazing what a set of scales, new springs and some strategically placed extra weight will do to the handling of this car! I am loving it and having fun for the first time since week one! Three laps into the race, the first caution came out. Up to this point I haven't seen anyone or heard anyone close to me so I must be doing something right. I just kept telling myself during the caution laps to stay focused and be smooth and keep doing what I am doing...DON'T COST MYSELF THE RACE!!!

The restart was good. I think I caught the others off guard a bit because I put 'er to the floor in the middle of 3 and 4 (we are allowed to take off anywhere from the middle of 3 and 4 and the cone that is placed at the exit of turn 4). I hit my mark going into turn 1, burped the throttle for about 1 second and put er to the floor again. This car is sticking and feeling great! Turns 3 and 4 are just a little bit different than 1 and 2, so I was just a little loose and had to play with the throttle a bit more and not get back on it as soon as I could in 1 and 2. On about lap 5, I thought I heard someone trying to get under me going into turn 3 so I moved down a bit to do a little bit of blocking. Turns out that I was hearing things... or so I was told after the race. I was told that after a lap on the restarts I had about a half a straight lead on everyone else, and that I had "everyone covered" tonight.

At this point, the rear end of the car started to feel real light, like someone was pushing me. After thinking about it after the race, I must have just been on the ragged edge and that was a new feeling that I was experiencing. It is not necessarily the most comfortable feeling, but now I know what it feels like. Anyway, back to the race. Coming out of turn 4, once again it felt like someone was pushing me and the car just kept drifting up the track and before I knew it I slammed the wall pretty hard but just kept my foot on the floor because I was not gonna let this race get away from me! One more lap and the second caution came out. During this caution, I reminded myself of what I needed to do on the next restart. I also was feeling relaxed and decided to have some fun with the pace truck. I have never has this opportunity before, so I took advantage of it. A couple times I would get right on the rear bumper of the pace truck and "draft" it for a while. Come to find out later, the driver of the pace truck had never done this before and I had made her VERY nervous! Ah, but it was fun! Besides, this was a long caution and I was getting bored.

At this point, we had completed 6 or 7 laps of the 12 laps that we get for the A feature. I wasn't sure because the scoreboard wasn't working. Restart number 2. I took off and got a little bit of a push from the 7W of Justin Wildfeuer because I started later than the first time. 2 or 3 laps went by and I drove the car into turn 3 a little harder than I should have and it got a little loose on me. I guess without thinking, I got back on the gas harder than I should have and all of the sudden, the car broke loose and got completely sideways in the middle of 3 and 4. (this is where all Hell breaks loose!) I over corrected and the next thing I knew I was facing the grandstands. I over corrected again and I was now facing the infield. At the time the car had almost come to a complete stop in the worst possible place on the track...right in the middle of the exit of turn 4. I looked up and all I could see was the big black front end of #2ez Scott Borkowski coming right at my door!!! Just like in slow motion, I had time to think that this was gonna hurt! (reminds me of last year when I hit the wall and totaled my car) Scott later told me that he was on the brakes hard, but it still felt like he hit me at full speed. That pushed my door bars in about 8 inches and spun me around so that I was now facing the oncoming cars. About 4 of them got by and I was just starting to think that I might make it through this relatively unharmed and then #89, Todd Holter hit me in the front with a kind of glancing blow as he tried to turn to miss me. That pretty much took my front end off. Then, just to top it all off, #61 Don Brady, Jr. spun himself out to try and miss me and hit me in the right rear. When everything finally came to a stop, all I could feel was an intense pain in my left elbow.

Nothing was broken, but I took a heck of a shot to my elbow when Scott hit me in the door. For a couple hours afterwards, I had a hard time bending my elbow. One good thing though, my elbow is nowhere near my heart, so I didn't think I was gonna die! The car however was a different story.

On Monday I took the car to a frame shop to have it looked at. The guy that looked at it told me he was at the races and saw the whole thing. What a coincidence. He also told me that he has never seen a frame get so twisted! That's not a good thing. It can be fixed but I suppose by the time it is all said and done, it will be about $500...which I don't have. I have had three people offer to help me out by putting my motor in their car and getting back on the track again. The one thing that I really like about the people that I race against at I-90 Speedway is that there is always someone willing to help me out. Especially this year since I am pretty much on my own.

I guess I have some decisions to make. If I can get my car fixed somehow, I would like to get 'er back out on the track by the end of the year. I could take my body, engine and tranny out of my car and put it into Eric Beman's car that he is not racing this year. Gary Zitterich offered to let me run the truck that Mike Zitterich ran last year, or another friend of Gary's has offered to let me use his car. I do have some options, so I will have to do some thinking. Thinking usually hurts, so I try not to do it too often.

Anyway, it is now the following Thursday and I am still kicking myself on many levels. One is that I thought my luck had finally turned around because my car was finally running great again and was handling almost perfectly and I was told that the race was mine because no one was going to catch me. Then I beat myself and let that trophy get away from me again. Also, I feel terrible that in the process of spinning myself out, I also took out the points leader, Scott Borkowski and Todd Holter, who may have been in the top ten in points at the time.

I will let you guys know what the plans are as soon as I figure them out myself. Stay tuned!

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