#73 Larry Barnett

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Next Mod Race - Thursday, July 25th

First, an update on the Sportsman car:
On July 18th at Thompson, we picked up our 4th win of the season, our 67th win overall, in the first of two features. During the second race, the car was heavily damaged, when I was turned directly into the wall off turn 2 by Joe Plonski. He will get an assist for anyone winning a race the remainder of this season.

It will be the last race for this year in my #73 sportsman car, and may be the last ever. I have no plans to make any repairs to the car. All good things come to an end eventually. With oval track racing potentially ending soon at Thompson speedway, it is hard to justify the work and money to make repairs.

I will sell my awesome Nat's Racing Engine for $6,000 now, or mothball everything for possible use someday.

Modified update:
We are almost done with preps to bring the car to Thompson speedway on July 25th. I had hoped to concentrate on driving the mod on some of the shorter tracks, but do look forward to the better power under the hood I have this season. We will plan our next event for the mod after the Thompson event.

Possibles:
Beach Ridge on August 3rd (tough because most of my crew can't attend)
Waterford August 10th(sorry, but I just don't like this track)
Or Seekonk on August 17th

For those who want to enjoy the video of an in-car camera when pummeling the car against the wall (without feeling the pain), see you tube video which should be posted soon. It will be Here, on 3400 modified videos.

Cheers,
LB

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Seekonk Speedway Race Update, June 8th

Modified:

See photo by Howie Hodge and it tells the big story from seekonk speedway event. Great shot, Howie!
http://www.racerhub.com/photos/showphoto.php?photo=257091

My goals included driving to the car's potential. Of course who knows what that is without pushing the limits a bit. I spun more times this event than the rest of my career combined!

Essentially we attempted to run per Brad's advice on set up, but could not get anywhere close to the correct sized tires ( very limited supply). We learned from a few set up mistakes for sure. I tried to drive through the issues, and failed a few times.

Next Race?
Next mod race planned is for Lee Speedway on June 28th. Possibly Oxford plains event will follow next. Without any sponsorship, it is one race at a time.

Sportsman 73 at Thompson. Thank you John Simlick for helping out with some funds for fuel and tires. It means a lot! We still lead the point standings, but have only finished 3 point races completely. We have had 3 rain outs. Two rained out after we had our heat races. I plan to keep going back till I run out of time and money to prep the car. No promises as to how much longer my team can keep it going. So far the racing has been fun.

Whelen Tinio #44 team.
I will be zipping all over playing spotter for the 44 team. A few weeks ago Bobby Santos won the pole at Stafford, then managed to finish 5th with a Quirky brake issue. I also went to Waterford to spot for the team. Riverhead Speedway is next for the NASCAR tour type mods.
See everyone at the tracks!
Larry.

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

May 28th update

My night shift assignment is finally over. Most weeks have been 75 hours at work. Little time for anything at all. I am back to day shift and 40 hours a week.

I have no sponsorships for either car so far this season, but then again, you can't get money if you don't ask. I will race when and where the fun is. And where and when the crew can attend. I am hopeful that the modified will respond to adjustments much better after getting the frame repaired. I suspect it was not perfect when we got it.

Sportsman: The old sportsman car is spot on. We won both races at the Icebreaker, and it ran flawlessly on May 19^th for practice and the heat race before the rains came. Was told that 32 cars were in attendance on the 19^th. Things are looking better at Big T.

I am considering running the next race at Thompson with the Sportsman car. Money and smiles will be the biggest factors.

Modified schedule??? Plan to finish up car this week. Hopefully can bring it to Brad’s shop to allow his eagle eye to look it over. I will be running the Seekonk race on June 8^th. I will be skipping the Stafford Speedway event. I currently plan to attend the race at Lee Speedway on June 28th.

I will be playing spotter for each of the Whelen Modified races, working with Sully Tinio’s #44 and driver Bobby Santos. Great team.

See everyone at the Tracks.

Larry

Monday, May 6, 2013

Frame Repaired

Northeast Race Parts has replaced these parts of the frame of the 73 modified. Several components were bent - these were the two biggest. We are now trying to get the car back together to race at Thompson on the 19th, we'll see how quickly we can get it back into shape.
P.S. Congrats to Bobby Santos and the 44 Tinio team on their win at Stafford Speedway last week.

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Thompson Speedway Icebreaker Weekend

We pulled the sportsman car out of its winter storage in time to attend Icebreaker weekend at Thompson Speedway. Luckily the car was race-ready when put into storage, so limited prep time was good enough. I was able to leave work from my night shift assignment, catch a short nap of about 2.73 hours, and make it to the track before the Saturday AM practice. My last minute decision to attend the icebreaker, along with many of my crew members having to work, ended up with a one-person crew on Saturday. David Nichols was there at Thompson for his first time ever! I drew a #2 chip (very rare for me to draw well), and then headed out for practice. Car was awesome. No need for more practice.

I started in the front row in the heat race and pulled away leaving the others to battle. NO issues.

Then comes the “Best of the Rest race”. I was asked to participate. I was there to race as much as I could, so I agreed, based on the other cars that were expected. The plan was for me to start dead last. I was penalized for going three wide (even though that wasn’t the cause of an accident) part way through the race. I had to start last yet again. Car was perfect, and I slowly picked off the cars. I was able to pass multi-time winner Bill McNeil, Kevin Mason, and eventually former champ Scott Cook with three laps to go to take the win. I thought it was one hell of a win. Far from any walk in the park for sure.

Win # 64

Sunday: Another great race. A couple of race starts vs. Steve Kenneway in which I was able to inch my way to the lead, then a side-by-side battle vs.Jesse Gleason. What a race. He had me beat - I thought, but I fought my way back over about 5 laps to finally take back the lead. Lots of fun. Win #65 in the books.

Win #65

My Spotter duties for the day did not go quite as well. Todd Ceravolo would finish a lonely 5^th in his Sunoco Mod, Danny Gamache joined the masses with a DNF is his light mod debut, and then Bobby Santos finished 18^th in the Tinio Whelen Mod. All will do better the next time around.

Modified plans: I will not be attending the monadnock vMRS race. The car is nearly ready for a visit to North East Race Parts to get the frame checked and repaired. If that goes well, we might be able to race at Thompson on May 19^th. Sportsman car? Depending on the modified, crew help etc. I will consider racing the May 19th show with the Sportsman car. Stafford: I will be at the Sizzler to play Spotter for the Tinio / Santos # 44 Whelen Mod. Looking forward to running up front where we belong!

Boston Marathon: On the Monday after the IceBreaker I was finally able to manage going to see my big brother David run his 19th Boston Marathon. His goal was to finish in 3 hours 10 minutes, so his son Jake, daughter Marie, and her boyfriend Xander joined the race at ~ mile marker 18 to help him power up the hills and maintain a pace needed to complete the race at his goal. All three kids (ok, not kids...in their 20's) are excellent runners and figured their presence would give him a kick in the pants.

LB and Mom Janet wait at mile marker 25 for David to come by.

David runs every year in memory of our father Phil, our brother Jack, our uncle Bud, and others who have passed away due to cancer. He has raised an astronomical amount of money for the Dana Farber team, and this year was no different. David beat his goal of 3 hours 10 minutes with an official finish of 3:07:52.

Marie, David, Xander, and Jake approach the family at mile marker 25. Nice to see these smiles.

Sounds like his son Jake will join him next year, and his goal is to beat his own personal best Boston Marathon performance of 2 hours 46 minutes. Way to go, guys, we were all very proud of each of you on Monday! Thankfully none of the family was directly involved in the chaos that ensued about an hour after David crossed the finish line.

LB's niece Marie, her boyfriend Xander, and his nephew Jake after they helped their Dad run the hardest 8 miles of the marathon. They weren't even winded -- ah, youth.

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Waterford Speedbowl 4-6-2013

After a great team effort by LB and so many friends and family, LB did not qualify for the race yesterday. That’s what makes it so depressing. Even worse is seeing your car hit driver’s side square up against the turn one wall in the consi.

The day started out crappy; LB drew 49th out of 50 to qualify. So, he started 10th in his heat out of 11 cars. He got stuck behind a slow car for a lap or two, and his car wasn’t responding to his efforts to get it to pass other cars. He ended up spinning out in turn two by trying to force a pass. The car seems not to be responding as it should be. Consensus on what would be causing this crappy handling is that the frame is bent.

Failing to qualify in the heat had the crew making some adjustments to the car to make it less tight. In the consi, LB noticed a definite improvement to the heat but still the car was still not right. Enter a tap from behind during a tense and all-out effort to qualify, and the turn one wall ends the hopes of qualifying in Sunday’s 100 lapper.

LB planned to next race the modified at Thompson at the end of May. LB and crew will be stripping the car down to the frame so that it can get tested to see if it’s bent. From there, we’ll make a plan on how to proceed.

Monday, March 25, 2013

Update for March

The 73 car rolls off the trailer after having been treated to some attention by the Tinio #44 Whelen Mod crew.

We are behind schedule…..but so far ahead of normal! Last season we were hanging just-painted panels up to dry at 4am one day before the Waterford season-opener event. We then had to mount the entire body Thursday night. Friday we were trying to stack boards in an attempt to fit the modified into the car trailer. That was not pretty!

The 73 crew installs the motor

This year, we are far ahead of that. Chassis set up is nearly complete, thanks to Rob Clorite and also to the Tinio #44 Team. There are a few things to finish up, but car has been adjusted and scaled already. The body is mostly done, but we hope to make a couple of new front tin pieces.

The revamped pit box

We still are fine tuning the pit bull modifications, but it has been along for the journey to the Tinio Shop. It fits nicely into car trailer now. Yes, thanks to everyone’s help, I am hopeful for a solid run at the ‘Bowl on April 7^th.

Audrey is growing and looking forward to seeing her Grandpa race for the first time.

The Icebreaker is the following weekend. I will be there on Sunday to spot for the 44 Tinio Car. It will be tough to pull off as I likely will work Friday and Saturday night shift. The 73 Sportsman being there is only a long shot, based on work schedule. I would love to get it there, but it seems unlikely I will have the free time to run it. Maybe later on in the year if not at the icebreaker. Cheers! LB