We get an extra race in this weekend! One of our sponsors, Green Clean Carpet Cleaning, decided that he wanted to see us run at Huset's for once so he paid our entry fees and gas for the night. Can't pass up a deal like that now can I...racing for free! This track is the same size as I-90 Speedway, however, it is a bit tighter and less banking. This will mean a different driving style to get in and around the corners. Hopefully it won't take too long to figure it out. Another difference from our track to this one is the rules are a little different. A couple main differences are here at Huset's, cars can run headers and they can run bigger, more race specific tires. We are starting out at a disadvantage, but let's see what happens.

Being our first time at the track, I get to start at the back of the heat race. It took about 3 laps to figure out how to run the corners here. At first I couldn't get the car to turn anywhere in the corner so I lost a lot of ground. After about 3 laps, I started to get a handle on how to run the corners and was able to keep up with the "veterans" of this track. By then, of course, it was too late to play catch up. I just ran the rest of the race trying to get a feel for the track and learn as much as I could. Checker flag and I finish last. At least at this track there are not enough cars to field a B, everyone transfers right to the A. That can be good and bad. Good in the sense that I made the A on my first try here at Huset's, but bad in the sense that I won't be getting a whole lot of track time before the feature.

Jerry made some tire pressure adjustments to the car and I get to start dead last in the A. The green flies and away we go. One of the cars a couple rows ahead of me had some engine problems so when the green flew, all I could see was blue smoke for about a half a lap. It's a good thing that I was glued to the bumper in front of me because with all the smoke being blown out, I had no idea where the corner was. The first lap was real tight, everyone pretty much holding the side by side formation the whole way. Coming out of 2 on the second lap, cars started bumping and banging and that finally got everyone separated a bit. The car so far feels 100% better than in the heat. I'm sure it was a combination of a new set-up and a touch of driver experience. I am able to keep up for the most part, however, our disadvantage caused by the different rules was starting to show a bit, not as bad as I figured, but enough to show that we have no real shot at winning here unless we spend another $750. Maybe some day.

Anyway, back to the race. Things are going pretty well until about the 5th or 6th lap. I got to feel the front straight wall a bit as I was letting the car roll as free as I could. I don't know if that had anything to do with my next problem or whether it was just coincidence, but all of the sudden I have no brakes! I didn't realize that until a lap later when the caution came out. That was an interesting feeling trying to slow down to get lined up again! I did actually have a little brake, but nothing that would do me any good if I really needed them. I'm not giving up. For the most part, you use very little brake on dirt anyway, so let's hope I don't need them. By the caution, I had worked my way up to 10th and was holding my own the best I could. During the last half of the race, I had to develop a 3rd driving style in one night to compensate for no brakes. I was catching the Y-4 of Dave Beeman while trying to hold off the charge of #40 Tim Dann, who is currently 3rd in points at Huset's. I tried 2 or 3 laps to get by the Y-4 on the high side but he stayed up just high enough that there wasn't enough room to get the job done. The only way I was going to be able to get him was to pass him on the inside. That is pretty hard to do since I had no brakes to be able to dive under him and not push up the track and take us both out. This was the battle until the last lap when #40 finally got under me on the exit of turn 4. I ended up finishing 11th. That was't too bad considering the rule differences, no experience at this track and no brakes for the second half of the feature. I don't know if we will come back here and try it again, but it was fun. All we need to do is replace a brake line and we are ready for the next weekend of racing.

Thank you, Green Clean, for giving us the opportunity to try something new.

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