Well, here we go again for another week of racing. There wasn't too much to fix over this last week except for the fact that the engine has been runing a bit too warm. I moved the radiator back about 1 inch in order for the fan to hopefully be able to suck some more air through the radiator and keep it a bit cooler. That little project ended up taking about 4 hours. I had to move the mounts and then trim out the fan shroud on both ends in order for everything to fit again. That is what took about 3 hours of the 4, because I needed to keep reinstalling everything in order to make sure the cuts were right and in the right places.

Alright, everything is back together and time to load up and head to the track. We get to the track at about 6:15pm, get signed in and get set up. Good timing...we just missed the tech inspector. Not that we have anything to worry about, but he does make me a bit nervous. We sit through the pit meeting again and nothing new is said other than the tech inspector telling us that the rules are the rules and if you don't like it...tough. He showed a bit of attitude in his talk, but I suppose he gets every excuse and complaint known to man so maybe he just needed to let off a little steam.

Packing the track went fairly quick and it looks like the track is going to dry out pretty good again tonight. Hot laps went ok. Couldn't really tell what the car is going to do yet. Seems like it is pushing a bit.

Time for the heat race. I start inside second row. Green flag! The first lap isn't too bad with everyone just trying to settle in. By the second lap I could tell that something was different with the car. It is pushing very badly in the center of the corners. I didn't think that there would be very much competition in this heat race due to the way we ran last week compared to the way the others in my heat faired, but now it was just a case of survival to make it into the feature on the first try. Jerry, my crew chief, made air pressure adjustments on the car trying to make it better, but that wasn't the case. That's alright because we can't go any faster unless we try new things. Jerry used to race on asphault so setting up the car for dirt can be a bit different. Anyway, back to the race. I am running 4th trying to hang on to the position to transfer to the A main through most of the race. At one point, I beleive I made it to 3rd but that didn't last long. Every lap I am being passed and having to pass back to maintain a transfer spot. ON the last lap, I am running 5th and it's not looking good but on the back straight the 4th place car of Scott Borstad has some sort of problem and slows giving the final transfer spot to me! Made it.

Alright, lets fix this car cause I can't turn it. The track has dried out again but not nearly as bad as last week. At least we will be able to see. Jerry made his final adjustments and I am ready. I am starting in the exact same spot as last week. Inside 3rd row. This is really wierd because in the world NASCAR Racing on the computer, I hate starting and running on the outside. In real life racing, I hate starting on the inside. I still have to work on the problem of always wanting to run low through the corners, but I think I am getting better. I also have to remember that in computer racing, I can dive down low entering the corner, push the brake pedal to the floor and make it stick. I learned quickly that if you do that on dirt, push the pedal to the floor, the car will not turn. *Note to self...stop driving like I do in video games-it doesn't work the same! Side tracked again...stay focused. Green flag! God I suck at my starts in the feature! I went from 5th to 12th in the first lap. Time to dig my way out of another hole. For the first 4 or 5 laps I am trying to force the car to do things it doesn't want to do. Namely enter the corner too low and dive under people. Can't do that. Finally, everyone gets settled in and I can move up to the middle and top of the corners again, just relax and let the car do what it wants. After another 4 laps or so I have worked my way back up to 8th and the car is working pretty well again. Caution with about 3 laps to go. The car is running hot so this is a good chance to cool it back down again for the final run to the checkers. After a fairly lengthy caution period we get the green again. I restart 8th and finish 8th. I'm happy with that.

All in all, I am very happy with the way this year is going. Last week we got our first heat race win and this week crack the top 10 in the feature! It helps a lot to have a crew chief that knows what he is doing. It makes the work of the dumb driver a whole lot easier. Thanks to this weeks efforts, we have moved up from 17th to 11th in the points standings.

Things to work on for next week..

1. Stop being a wuss on the starts of the features. I can't be worried about hitting other cars. As I have heard before..."rubbin's racing". Learn it. Know it. Live it.
2. Stop trying to go low in the corners! I scrub too much speed off every time I do that. Refer to the last three sentences in goal #1!

MORE DIARY ENTRIES >