Alright. I think it's about time to put the new car to the test. Over the last 2 weeks, I have rebuilt the carb that was giving us problems and made a couple changes. Jerry put the carb on the car yesterday and said that it was still leaking as before. He went ahead and put a borrowed carb on the car and hoped for the best.

During hot laps, for some reason that I never figured out, we were never actually able to get up to speed. I don't know if someone spun or what, but a lap into the hot lap session, the yellow came out and they never let us get going again. I guess I will be going into the first heat race with this new car and see what happens.

Since I have missed more that 2 races in a row, I have to start in the back of my heat. I start 9th. Top 4 transfer. A half a lap into the race, the same carb problem bites us again. Man, this is getting frustrating!!! I have to pull off after only 2 laps.

Jerry pulls the carb off the car and puts our original carb that was just rebuilt back on the car. For some reason, now the carb seems to be working fine. I guess I will just have to keep my fingers crossed.

On to the B feature. This one is not looking good. I am scheduled to start 13th and only the top 4 transfer to the A. As it turned out, there were a couple strong cars in this B that couldn't make the start. That helped my starting spot a bit, but I still have a long way to go and only 6 laps to get there.

Green flag! The car is running right again! Whoo Hoo!!! Now the work begins. For the first 2 or 3 laps, the car is running good, however, the set-up is not. It is pushing pretty badly going into the corners and is loose off. To add to the problem of getting into the top 4, I am stuck behind #73, Randy Bruggeman , and the leaders are getting away. After getting frustrated in trying to get by without knocking him out of the way, I try to pull a slide job on him going into turn 3. I thought I had him cleared, but caught the front of his car. Neither one of us wrecked, so hopefully he wasn't too upset. Now on to try to pass one more car to transfer. Next in line is the #28B of Erik Beman, but he is a ways ahead of me and I only have 3 or 4 laps to get there. With the car not getting through the corners very well, things are not looking good. Don't give up, though! The last 2 laps I am starting to catch Erik in a hurry, but is there enough time? On the last corner of the last lap, I got a good run on him and thought I may be able to pass him on the outside and squeek by him at the line. At the worst possible moment, Erik moved up in my line and I ran right into the back of him pretty hard. Needless to say, I finished 5th and didn't make the A feature tonight.

I am kind of bummed because this is the first time in the two years I have been racing here that I have not made the A feature if the car was still running at the end of the night. However, I am happy that the bugs are finally worked out of the car and it is running right again. Next week, I will get my normal starting spot back and I won't be as tough to get where I need to be to transfer into the A. And one more thing, if I have it figured right, with this not making the A tonight, my point average will be such that I may get to start on the front row for the feature! This could possibly be my best shot at finally winning the A!!!

I can't wait for next week!

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