Monadnock Race–8/25/12

Here is LB’s update on last Saturday’s night’s race at Monadnock Speedway:

Crew duties for the day...

The day started out a bit rough as practice did not go well. Car was basically un-driveable. The hope was that RR tire was just shot. That is the downside of not being able to buy tires for practice. The upside is that if I had to buy tires for practice each week, I would never be able to afford to race at all.    

A rare moment when the driver is present, everyone is smiling, and there are no wrenches being thrown.  

In the heat race we got collected in an accident and suffered a flat left rear tire. We were able to change the tire, and still qualify for the event (24 cars made the show out of 31 cars). Getting the flat tire in the heat made adjustments for the feature a total crapshoot for us. We bought yet another tire to replace the flat, and had to guess on wedge adjustments, and what the stagger of rear tires would come to with the new tire. 

Book Beeotch and the driver discuss numbers while everyone else takes a break.  

In the feature, the car was not handling well right away, but I thought it would get better as the race went along. In hindsight, I believe the right rear tire may have had a slow leak. The car got tighter and tighter, I finally pitted for an adjustment. Soon after, I pitted again to swap the right side tires. The stagger had closed to 1”. The left rear tire was bigger than expected, and the right rear tire was smaller than it was at the start (it must have lost some air already).  

Jonny, Alan and Bob bleed the brakes before the feature. 

The car was better for a few laps, but then the red flag was thrown for an accident. After sitting for the red flag, the car again got really tight, and then I rolled the right front tire off the rim. I was towed in off the track, Bob, Jonny, and Alan again flew into action and got us back out just as the green flew.  

Brake Bleeding while Book Beeotch oversees the distribution of fluid. 

The car actually started coming in after a few laps, and was finally race-able. Too bad so many issues held us up for so long. Over the last 10 laps I was able to wheel the car a bit, passing several cars, finally passing Max Zachem (who had an injured car, but I still get a soda out of the deal) to finish 13^th.  

Linda and Bob

Upcoming races:  This could change, but money and help is a bit short, so I currently plan to skip the MRS races at both Stafford and Waterford. I hope I can manage to race the next two races with the Sportsman car at Thompson Speedway August 30^th, and then again on Sept. 8^th and 9^th. This will also allow me to keep my commitment to be spotter for Bobby Santos and Todd Ceravolo.    Selling the SK engine could get the MRS car back on the track sooner, but we most likely will choose to run about 2 more MRS races this season.

Alan in the driver's seat.  

Cheers,
Larry

Finished Second with Sportsman car 8-23-12

With yet another rain out last week for the Modified (seekonk event cancelled), we decided to race another time at Thompson Speedway.

This season there were several rule changes for the Sportsman cars. Minimum weight from 3100lbs to 3000lbs and Left Side weight % from 53% maximum to 55% maximum.

Our car was built and tuned for the old rules very well, it requires much more work to make the car perfect for the new set of rules.  In our first race back at Thompson this year, I only had time to remove 100lbs.  In each race since, we have tweaked things to get the proper balance as well.  Results have improved each race with finishes of 6th, 4th, 3rd, and then last night finishing 2nd.

We still have lots of work that could be done with helping us make the car even better.  Our Nat's engine has made our car wayyyyy faster down Thompson Speedways long straights, and last night we were very good in the corners as well. 

Jesse Gleason started ahead of us, he made it through a mess of spinning cars on lap one, then got out front on lap 4.  We made it through that mess also, but it took until lap 12 to get to second place from our 12th place starting position.  Jesse was a full straightaway ahead by then.  I closed the gap some, but we were so far apart neither of us had any reason to go at 100% speed.  Several cars had mechanical issues, and had leaked fluid etc.  Pushing the car to the limit would have been risky.

Next up for us is to race the modified car at Monadnock Speedway, I will consider racing again next week at Thompson, but not sure if work schedule will allow it.  We are also short of help to prep and race both cars in the same week.  Call it a maybe.  I would really like to get a win this year, and you can't win if you don't race.  Sounds as silly as the Lotto slogan doesn't it.

See everyone at Monadnock!

PS: We still have many tee shirts available.  Tee's $15 dollars, long sleeve $20.
Larry

Sportsman Race - Thompson Spdway 8/16/12

An update from Leadfoot after his 3rd place finish:

Thursday 8-16-12 we shook the cobwebs off the #73 Sportsman car at Thompson. I was amazed how rusty I was at going so slow (compared to a modified). After 3 very short rounds of practice, I was just starting to get reacquainted with driving the slower, higher, heavier, slow-or-no-response- handling of a sportsman car.

By feature time, I was ready to go for it out on the track.  I took the green in 10^th, behind all of the guys that have been running near the front of the races each week. Car was going pretty good, our Nat’s open rules engine seemed to gain on nearly everyone down the straights. Finished 3^rd.

Saturday the 18^th we will be heading to Seekonk with the Modified to hopefully run as quickly or maybe even better than our first trip to Seekonk.

Upcoming schedule…. We will be attempting to make every race on the vMRS, sprinkling in another race or two with the sportsman car, and I will be helping out with the Tinio 44 car on the whelen tour as Spotter.

Cheers,

Larry

Thompson Speedway Recap 7/29/12

Bob and Jonny listen to the engine, with Big John standing security.

LB's Recap of the Day:

Sunday July 29^th the MRS series raced at Thompson Speedway. 34 cars attended, heat races were cancelled due to a short rain shower delay.

We attempted to run practice session with our used tires from the monadnock race a few weeks ago. They had about 60 laps on them, but I had lots of rubber build up on them, and possibly flat spotted them on the lap 48 accident that race. The car had such a bad shake in the front end, I thought the tires were bad. We changed to a different set of used tires, shake remained. I hoped those tires were also bad in some way.

Jonny and Bob talk carburetors

We mounted the new set of tires, and were ready to run the heat race, when the shower passed through. Heat races cancelled. I started the race in 16^th position, and finally narrowed it down to two possible problems.  The shake was either caused by a sticking front left brake caliper and warped rotor, or an issue with the power steering servo. The condition made front brakes slow to react on corner entry, and then steering wheel shaked violently through the corner until the pads were pushed away far enough from the rotor. A single problem on the car, caused me to lift off the throttle early, and then fight a shaking steering wheel all the way through the corner.  Luckily the car balance was very close, we were able to pit for an adjustment that helped me in dealing with the brake issue some (a stagger change and some wedge).

 

Amy and dad John converse under threat of darkening skies.

The crew did a great job ( Jon, Amy, Bob, Big John, Marty, Kim, Jen, Victoria, Linda) helping me get the 16^th place finish in spite of the car issue. We also were without our Troyer expert Rob Clorite, and crew members Alan and Jimmy.

We will not be attending open wheel event at Seekonk(with our car), but should have car ready for each of the August vMRS races. We are always looking a for a bit more help on the crew, as current crew members cannot all attend each race.

I will also be helping as spotter at several events coming up, including Whelen Mod events with Bobby Santos at Stafford and Thompson.

The Barnett crew with their homemade carts, etc, amidst other more financially flush teams.  Gotta love this picture.

Link to the vMRS Points pages:
vMRS Owner's Points
vMRS Driver's Points

Howie Hodge's Chrome Horn Photos:
Amy, Jen, and Victoria
LB, Barrett, and Jordan
LB and Hinckley
LB and Pasteryak
LB, the 56 and Barrett
LB and the 55
GREAT shot of LB getting into the rear of another during the turn 4/frontstretch incident
Starting to make his way through the incident
Squeezing through...
Uh, this is starting to look bad....
Looks like if LB had been a little bit slower this could have been a whole lot worse...
And there he goes...

Busy Race Week

LB ran well at Monadnock.  He started 7th in the feature and all was quiet until lap 48 when he was involved in a minor accident that broke a tie rod - putting him out of the race.  Check out the in car camera from the feature here. Monadnock Feature Race

He is currently scrambling to prepare for the race at Canaan Fair Speedway this Saturday night.  This was a last minute addition to LB's schedule.  He has committed to spotting for Bobby Santos at Loudon earlier in the day.  Currently, LB doesn't plan to race at Seekonk on the 18th.  More updates on Monadnock to follow later......

I've never seen so many numbers on tires as I did at Monadnock on Saturday...

LB, Ron and Bob make final adjustments before the feature. 

Vote for Leadfoot's kitty cat in the Fantastic Feline Photo Contest

Vote for ME-EOW
Caster Barnett is a month short of her 16th year as Leadfoot's right hand bee-yotch - she deserves some kind of reward for that! Few women in LB's life have put up with him for that long.  After a drawn out custody battle, LB was forced to keep Caster in a divorce settlement. 
He's been trying to get rid of her ever since. 

After 16 years with her, he's almost able to tolerate her.  She says the feeling is mutual - and only at dinner time.  Vote for Miss Cassie B!

Lee USA Speedway Recap 6/29/12

LB had his best showing in the 73 modified this season at Lee USA Speedway. In his first visit to the 3/8th mile oval located in Lee, New Hampshire, he made significant progress in the car.  The most exciting part of the evening came on lap 98 when LB was making an attempt to overtake the race leader.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.  Highlights of the day: 

• LB had two excellent practices where he learned the track, posted his fastest time of 15.092 (6th fastest car in both practice sessions), and had no mechanical issues.
• Started 4th in his heat and finished 3rd.
• Started the feature in 7th position of 24 cars. 

On to the feature.  LB started out well and quickly realized his car was too loose.  He was experiencing left wheel hop, had to fight to keep it going straight, and went from 7th to a lap down over the course of the first 45 laps.  It's pretty discouraging when your car is not handling well enough, and you're going backwards way too fast. 

Thankfully, a caution came out and LB pulled into the pits where the crew made the necessary adjustments to get the car pointing forward.  Once he went back out and established that the modifications were working, he began moving forward. We were given the "lucky dog" for being the first car a lap down during a caution.

Near lap 85 another caution flew, and we pitted again.  Car was now a rocket ship compared to most everyone else.  We were now able to pass any car that gave us some room.

Fast forward to lap 90.  A major wreck involving several of the front runners red-flagged the race for several minutes.  Unfortunately, cousin Mike Holdridge (0) was unable to avoid being collected up in the incident and was unable to finish the race. 

Once the action continued, and dust from the wreck settled, not only was he on the lead lap, but he was in sixth position. 

The race restarted on Lap 90 and over the course of the next 8 laps, LB passed the 5th, 4th, 3rd, and 2nd place drivers, all without incident. 

On Lap 98, LB was heading for race leader Jeff Malave (3).  The car was awesome and while he was excited to have gotten up to where he was, he was never going to settle for just riding around to collect 2nd place when he knew his car was at that moment better than Malave's.  Heading down the front stretch he nosed up under Malave coming out of turn 4, and was up to his door by the start/ finish line.  By multiple accounts, Malave  turned left and chopped down on LB, which caused contact and both cars spun. 

Minor damage was done when LB hit the turn one wall, but to make matters worse, when LB restarted the car to take off, he came down the track too far and the 47 of Tim Jordan could not avoid him, causing damage to his car.  LB finished the race in 16th position - his highest of the season yet. 

The day ended on a bit of a sour note as Jordan was so mad at LB that there was a verbal sparring match in the pits.  LB was about to apologize for crossing in front of Jordan, but apparently he and his team didn't want to hear it.  Instead, they proceeded to let LB and his team know they were pretty much "Thompson Trash" (BIFF!!)  (and demonstrated so by dumping their trash directly behind our trailer) (POW!) and in so many words, let LB know that he was over his head in the "big leagues" (KAPOW!!!). 

To each his own, I guess, but we were all pretty surprised that one of our competitors was so NOT classy.  For the record, it was an accident LB takes full responsibility for.  LB suspects that he will cause fewer accidents this year than Jordon did last year.  LB stated that with his RF tire against the wall, he just gunned it too hard with the wheel cut too much trying to get going.  The 47 ran into us after the caution was out.

Front bumper unscathed

The only damage from the Malave contact - tire on tire rubbing

Right side Nerf bar damage from contact with the 47.