One More Lap

Must Sell

Mon, 1 Feb 2010 15:27:21 -0500

$1600 as it came off the track in Novembers Grandview race. No extra parts. Car will need a transmission.

2009 Results

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 14:07:39 -0500

April 18 Big Diamond Enduro 100 Laps Finished 5th
April 26 NEETS Enduro Spring Fling 100 Finished 23rd

May 24 NEETS Enduro 100 Laps Finished 31st

June 14 Big Diamond Enduro 100 Laps Finished 5th
June 21 NEETS Enduro 107 Laps Finished 1st

July 12 Big Diamond Enduro 100 Laps Finished 42nd
July 26 NEETS Enduro 150 Laps Finished 3rd

Aug 30 NEETS Enduro 100 Laps Finished 2nd

Oct 11 NEETS Enduro Fem Duro 100 Laps Finished 5th
Oct 18 NEETS Enduro Junk-a-Thon 100 Laps Finished 3rd

Nov 15 NEETS Enduro Mutha 150 Laps Finished 15th

Memorial Mess

Wed, 27 May 2009 11:02:46 -0400

The days events started out with excellent weather for racing at Grandview Speedway. The car passed safety tech and sat around awaiting the start of the big car race.

The four cylinder car ran their race with ideal track conditions. I was thinking that would be the case for the 8 cylinders as well. The temperature and sun changed the characteristics of the track after management watered the track just a little too much in preparation for the big cars.

I had a hard time keeping the car from slipping sideways on the track before the start of the race due to an overly wet track. As we were getting ready for the green I was wondering where the cars to be starting in front of me were. The car directly in front of me must have decided to back away from his position and that moved me up to the outside of the front row. I had to keep a slightly faster pace than the leader due to the car wanting to slide downhill into other cars.

I was on the gas when the flagman waved the green flag. The middle groove was fairly decent for the first few laps but as I was going through turn two the car went straight. I had the wheel all the way to the left and hard on the brakes but the wall was getting closer. I braced for impact. I knew right away there was major damage and tried to get to the pits but couldn’t make the right hand turn up the hill so I safely made my way to the infield. Done for the day after leading for four laps.

Monday Morning Quarterbacking was running rampant for the next 24 hours. But reality set in and there is nothing I would have done different. It is what it was. I hit the heavy mud and that sent the car into the wall.

The damage was extensive to say the least but the car can be repaired. The list of damaged parts is long and to summarize, the whole front suspension from left to right needs to be replaced.

I recently replaced the front suspension on the #1 car a few weeks ago from the damage caused at Mountain Speedway last year. It looks like I will be removing parts from the 1 car to rebuild the enduro car. The budget for racing is $Zero so I will have to do with what is available lying around the garage.

I should have the car ready for the June 14th race at Big Diamond, if not than for the 21st race at Grandview.

One final note. My safety gear the job it was designed to do. Keep me alive so I could race another day.

Duane

No Pain, No Gain

Sun, 3 May 2009 14:34:44 -0400

No pain, no gain. For the love of racing.
Last Sunday I raced at Grandview Speedway in the Spring Fling Enduro. One would think you must be crazy to race in 90+ degree weather. Well call me crazy. The temperature reached over 125 degrees inside the car and with a helmet on, I was cooking. While racing you do not pay attention the heat, only your surroundings.
I started the race in the 16th position out of 39 cars. As the green flag waved the race track was a little slick but dried out quickly from the hot sun beating down upon the racing surface. I was running my normal pace passing cars one by one.
A pack of cars ahead of me that looked like they were front runners so I managed to gain on them and shot hard into the high groove in turn one. At this point I had no idea I was in the lead.
The car was running super and the water temp was good. A lap later I noticed the water temp was up over 280* and the steering was getting tight. That is when I knew the power steering and fan belts came off the engine. Talk about man handling a car with no power steering, and on a dirt track. That was a challenge. As I was coming off of turn four I slid up the track and bounced off the front stretch wall. I sensed my arms were getting fatigued from fighting the wheel so the next lap I headed pitside. The car died as I made it over the pit entrance crest and I coasted straight ahead towards my pit stall. This all happened as I was leading the race. The #11 finished 23rd with about 25 laps completed out of 100.
The damage assessment was extensive. Blown head gasket, damaged piston and burnt spark plugs are on the list of repair or replace.
Something else was damaged and this happened from bouncing off of the wall. I felt the impact and it hurt when I hit. On Tuesday while working on the car I was hurting physically. The pain I felt was a cracked a rib. The last time I did that was in the Nazareth enduro in 1985 and the pain was identical.
I worked hard this week to change the motor (by myself with a cracked rib) and go through my safety checklist. When Big Diamond decide to cancel Sundays enduro race, I was extremely relieved. Now I can rest and heal before the next race. What people do for the love of racing. Crazy.
The car is ready to race, but will be gone over again for safety measures. Who knows, I might put the Hoosiers on and go racing at Mahoning next Saturday. It could use a shakedown.
Duane

Busy

Fri, 1 May 2009 09:38:13 -0400

I am currently busy replacing the engine and preparing the #11 for Big Diamond Enduro this Sunday, May 3rd. I will update this Blog entry in the near future.