a) approximately 15 gallons of Sunoco race fuel,
b) about 18 Hoosier rubber trees, and
c) energy in his arms so he could go out and plant a tree or two,
if he simply didn't make it into the 100 lap race! And so, race 2 is complete and LB's name doesn't have any points next to it. And you thought he was just a jackass oblivious to the fate of Mother Earth...
The positives: the car rolled off the trailer in one piece, and did its part in saving the earth. Special thanks to Stan Chmura for building the new ramp system.
All joking aside, a couple thoughts on Monadnock...
from the female perspective (lol)...
I can say I'm still not disappointed LB didn't make it into a 100-lapper, yet. It's not easy to watch someone you know and love hop into one of these cars. I'm sure it gets easier with time, but to start out, man is IT scary. My dad -Yer Dad- (LB's father-in-law) was sitting beside me at the start of the consi. As the cars entered turn three, ready to take the green for the start of the race, he spoke three words with conviction which summed up my thoughts, exactly. "OH...MY...GOD", he said. It's funny thinking about it, now, but truly-he nailed it. 'What is our LB doing out there? I don't want to see this! Is he nuts?' We'll get over it, I'm sure, with time. At least, I hope we do!
from LB's perspective...
Practice...
During the practice session, he was upset at how bad the car was handling. Monadnock is a straaaannnge track to begin with (turn 1 and 2 are completely different than turns 3 and 4) and it has a very rough surface. Everyone told him it would take a few times out in practice to begin to figure out how to drive the car to respond to the track. First time out in practice, the car was so tight it was hard to even drive it. With a half hour of practice to correct it - the crew did indeed do just that. However, it cut down on the time LB could use to actually learn the track and figure out how drive it.
On to the heat race...
LB started 5th and during the race incurred the first penalty of his rookie career. Now, that's progress! The 04 of Joey Jarvis went around the outside of the 73 and then dove in front of him going into turn three, braking hard while entering the corner. LB quickly realized that his brakes aren't as good as Jarvis', because he couldn't slow the 73 down fast enough. LB bumped him, causing them both to spin. To the rear went the 73, and so too went his hopes for qualifying in the heat. Such a delinquent!
Cousin Mike Holdridge, behind the wheel of the 0 car, would not be outdone. He ALSO exhibited delinquent tendencies. "Anything Larry can do, I can do better. I'm actually fast enough to run into a champion!" (Mike didn't really say that out loud, but we like imagining that he did...ahahahahahaha.)
Keeping it "All in the Family", Mike spun out the 28 of Dwight Jarvis (father of Joey Jarvis) and also got sent to the rear for his role in the incident. They tell me they are not trying to start the Jarvis vs. Holdridge Family Feud, they both just made honest mistakes. I am glad to hear that, because Dwight is one of my all-time favorite drivers and personalities in the vMRS series.
And now for the consi...
When drivers with names like Jarvis, Mechalides, Annarumo and Holdridge are four of the six guys starting in front of you in the consi...and you're a rookie starting seventh...and you need to finish in the top four to make it to the feature....and you're thinking that amongst the four of those guys they probably have more than a hundred wins....and the guy beside you is Bateman, who is probably thinking "Dude get out of my way or I'm taking my engine back..." Uh....uh......uh..... what do you do? What do you do?
You give it your best shot, that's what you do. And sometimes your best ain't good enough. But at the end of the day, I think LB can say that he had fun and he gave it his best shot. Sights are now set on Thompson, where LB thinks he'll have a better chance at qualifying. "The track is so big there I'm thinking they won't have to send anyone home. Maybe I'll finally get a chance to race!"
Later this week...
In-cockpit video from the consi race...and some stats on time/speed, etc.
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