Ok, looks like good weather for a change this weekend. This strange spring weather is not cooperating for getting much racing done. Up to this point, 2 of the 3 race dates have been rained out.

There was a meeting at the track at 4pm dealing with a national contingency program that the track has gotten involved in. Something like 50-65 thousand dollars are up for grabs throughout the season. The meeting got done at about 4:50pm, so we had about 10 minutes to kill before the gates opened for the night. We were signed in and unloaded in the pits by about 5:30pm. We had plenty of time to sit and relax. We just made sure that the fuel was in the car and that everything was ready to go. We made a couple little adjustments and then relaxed some more.

Driver's meeting at 6:45pm. Nothing new. Mainly reminders.

7:00pm. Time to pack the track to get the water worked into the surface. That takes about 15-20 minutes. Hot laps were immediately after the track was worked in. I couldn't really tell what the car was doing because the track was still a bit too wet.

Now the fun part...scraping all the wet, sticky mud off the car. Any volunteers to do it for me?

Jerry McCaw, my crew chief, set the tire pressures and it was off to the first heat race. I was supposed to start on the outside of row 2, but for some reason, the car the was starting on the outside pole didn't make the start. I now get to start on the outside front row! This is looking good. 6 laps of a mad scramble to try to be one of the top 4 cars to transfer directly into the A main. Green flag!!! My foot slipped off the gas pedal again. We need to fix that. It's a good thing the pole sitter got a bad start also, cause I still ended up hitting the starting line first. I am leading my first race! Wow! Racing with power steering is nice! Come on! Focus!!! The car is handling perfectly!

The only time I had a problem in the corner is when I missed my line. Driver errors. Still working on that. 4 laps down and still in the lead, although I did catch a glimpse of another car trying to get under me going into turn 3 with a lap and a half to go. Close the door on him! He left some of his paint on my left rear fender, but I didn't even feel it. White flag and I am still leading! Can I do it? I have to mess this up somehow. I can't win a race in only our second night out! I missed my line going into turn 3 on the last lap and the car pushed badly so I had to get out to the throttle. Could this be the mistake that costs me the race. I'm looking for another car to go by. No one did!!! I win my first heat race! That was cool! No trophy yet, though. Come to find out, the car that came in second was the number 33 of Marlo DeJager who won the feature last week. This is a very good sign.

Before the feature, in which I will be starting on the inside of row 3, we adjusted the tire pressures for the changing track conditions and made sure everything was up to par. The track is very dry and dusty now. Hope my contacts last thru the race! Time to go. Green flag!!! Wow! This car is incredibly loose. Don't know if it is just the dry track or if our set up is off, or as I realized later, a combination of both. Bad start. I am in 7th or so and trying for dear life to not spin out. There is a big rut that has developed in the middle of 1 and 2 and is throwing the car around pretty bad when I hit it. Half way mark and I am holding my own but it is almost impossible to see at times due to all the dust. Especially going into turn 3. I can't see the corner at all. Heck, I can't even see the cars in front of me!!! I am just going by feel and hope I don't completely miss the corner or plow into another car that has wrecked.

It's just like going through a big NASCAR wreck that you see on TV using the in car camera. All you see is smoke and hope the driver gets lucky enough to make it through in one piece. That is was it was like going into turn 3 every lap! On about lap 8, while just trying to hang on, I hooked the rut in turn 2 with my right rear tire and around I went. I come to a stop on the infield burm just at the exit of turn 2 and look up to see the number 111 of Justin Selken coming right at me! This is gonna leave a mark! Bang! Oh, that wasn't too bad. I'm glad he has good brakes! I hope the car starts again. A little cranking of the motor and a push from a corner worker to get me unstuck and away we go. Now I have to start at the back of the pack. With only 3 or 4 laps to go, there isn't a whole lot of opportunity to make up some ground, but I'll do what I can. After the last few uneventful laps, mercifully the checkers come out. I finished 15th. I moved up one spot in the season points race after tonight. 18th to 17th. I'm pretty happy with that considering there are currently 35 cars in my class. It could have been better if I hadn't lost it in the feature tonight. Chalk it up to experience.

I learned 2 things tonight. How to win and how to blow any opportunity to win.

At least I now know the limits of the car. That was the first time I have ever spun out. I guess I am now driving hard enough. I have been told in the past that if you have never gone over the edge at least once, that means your not driving hard enough.

Time to pound out a couple minor dents and straighten out my bumpers.

Some things to work on for next week...patience. You can't over drive a car on a dry slick track like we had this week. You need to feather the throttle through the corners and not drive so hard into the corners. I knew that already, but never had the opportunity to put the knowledge to work. In the heat of the battle, sometimes that knowledge is left in the pits. Also, I need to keep working on my line around the track. I did great in the heat race, running in the middle of the corners and see what happened...I found out that we are capable of winning. In the feature, for some reason, I went back to the old habit of wanting to run low through in the corners. I am getting better. I just need more seat time.

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