The Valenti Modified Series was a late-season addition to the
World Series line up. We decided to give it a shot with the modified,
and for a while, I considered trying to get the sportsman car there also. Eventually, common sense changed my mind on the sportsman car.
Preps for this event were a challenge (big surprise) as we
had some damage to repair from the Seekonk race the week before. Meanwhile I
was in week two of my outage night shift assignment. Hours were ramped up this
week too…SO I leave home at 5pm and do not get home until 7:30 am. I tried to
allow for two hours on the car each day, it wasn’t easy. The crew all pitched
in, and then Rob C. and Jonny took on the big challenges. Jonny even prepped
our (new-to-us) pit bull, finding a way to mount our normal tool box inside it
(Rob and I had failed).
Race day: (Saturday the 13th)
I managed to leave work early, allowing me the chance to get
home, pack my stuff for the camper etc., load up the coolers, and arrive at the
track near 6am. I turned over the keys to Rob C. And climbed into the camper.
I managed to get about 2 hours worth of a nap in while the crew prepped the car
for practice.
Next up: practice
Climbing into a mod on a cold morning, after logging 72 hours
at work that week is tougher than you think. Another thing….Thompson is my home
track, but just because I have 53 wins there in a sportsman car, it really means
squat when it comes to driving a mod. It may even be a disadvantage! I know
how everything should feel in a sportsman car, and it may just make it harder to
crank up the speeds in a mod.
I hit the track, handling isn’t bad (a bit tight), but
something under the hood (ok just above the hood actually) is really messed up.
Our Proform carburetor is causing a major stumble. I was a bit sleepy, so we
headed back out for one more round of practice. Yup, carb was the issue. We
quickly (as in Jonny did it) bolted up our carburetor we originally used on our
sportsman crate engine. Meanwhile Rob made a chassis adjustment, and we also
figured we better scuff our new set of tires. Stumble off the corner solved,
push went to a tad loose, but power on the straights was killed with the small
carb.
The heat race:
Of all times….We had drawn the pole for our heat race. I
think the 5 fastest cars were in our heat to boot. Jonny found a blown out
power valve in our carburetor, so we bolted it back on thinking it would run
much better. Meanwhile, I had run off to spot for Bobby Santos during his Whelen
mod practice. We finally got back out on the track for our heat race. I decide
to keep my pole start position knowing I had to finish 9th or better
and that 6 cars would not make the race. I nailed the throttle taking the
green, even shifted very quickly, but the carburetor stumble was back in full
glorious force. I was 4th across the line, and 8th by the
end of lap one. I did manage to get the speed up enough to finish
9th and make the race. Everyone on my crew told me that the talent behind me would be more than capable of finding a way around me if they needed to (and boy, did they need to!) and they were right.
The feature:
Boy, was it cold! We were nearly frozen by the time our race
was ready to start. It also turned out that the Sportsman division ran their
race directly before the vMRS series, so I was really glad I left the sportsman
car home (it was supposed to follow with two divisions in between). The race: I
was holding my own, mostly due to borrowing a carburetor from my Uncle Dale
Holdridge. Several times I lifted to avoid getting pinched into the wall coming
off turn 4. We pitted for adjustments around lap 40.
At lap 50 we were up to
11 place, as a few cars fell out of the race, and several cars pitted. Around
lap 50 the 53 car must have thought he cleared me off of turn two, he drifted
into my left front wheel, and caused me to go careening off the back straight
wall. Luckily, all the other cars avoided ramming into me as I landed and slid
sideways down the back straight. (youtube vidios of the highlights coming soon)
Our race day was done. Lots of broken parts.
We had already decided to skip the race at Lee before the
Thompson race had even started. The accident ensured we did not change our
mind. The Lee event can get a bit silly anyways. They try to fit a bit too
much racing into a short window of track time. And my night shift assignment
runs for another few weeks.
Future?????
After the dust settles from our challenging 2012 season, we
will assess how much racing we can afford to do in 2013. 2012 did a serious bit
of damage to the racing budget. We attempted to make 11 races in 2012. We may
choose to do a limited schedule in 2013 also. We certainly have learned a lot
this year, have started to aquire the needed tools and equipment. The results
are sure to improve next season. My crew did a great job this year trying to
make a rookie competitive with a limited budget.
Cheers,
Larry
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