11.28.06
We all hauled off to the South Boston Speedway for the
inaugural Mason Dixon Meltdown on Thanksgiving morning. No
less than 17! people joined our merry caravan and headed
south to help out the 66 super late model.
The trip down was uneventful, other than another flat on the
trailer. Thanks to some help from Mike Paul and Dana Shepard
we had the tire changed in like 10 minutes and finished our trek
to the speedway. Thanksgiving dinner was jovial and fun for
sure, with a delicious Shoneys turkey buffet and some pre race
chatter with a local Monster Truck dude.
Friday morning brought the monumental task of unloading
everything we owned from the trailer and somehow organizing it
in our standard issue pit stall....thanks to so many helpful
people it went well and we were all set for the weekend. We got
our tires early and got the car through tech, etc....no problems
there. Practice went well, with only some minor chassis tuning
with spring rubbers and the like. Mike was still getting used to
the car and such, searching for the comfort and speed that we
needed. Our Hofmann Race Engine ran absolutely flawlessly all
weekend, turning a team high 8100 rpm for most of the
weekend. Boy those 4brl motors are a different breed for sure.
Our times were about halfway down the speed charts on friday,
with some MUCH better funded teams a bit slower, so that made
us feel pretty well, as teams with tractor trailer haulers and dry
sump unobtanium motors scratching their heads to go faster
than our rag-tag bunch.
Time trials didnt go so well...Mike got loose BAD off of the
second corner on his good lap and lost a couple tenths placing
us 37th out of about 50 cars. Not Good. This would lead to
more badness as the qualifying process wore on. The heat
race went bad as well, as Mike was running in 6th place on the
last lap and got turned around coming out of two. Bummer deal,
but no damage. The consolation race was uneventful, but we
couldnt get higher than the 5th position giving us a 6th place
starting position in the Last Chance Hooligan race. With only 5
minutes to ready the car for the LCQ, we noticed that the rear
differential was making really strange noises and clunking
around. We took out the axles and examined the splines for
obvious damage, but determined that our rear differential was
on its way out. No time to look further, it was off to the LCQ.
Mike worked his way up to the lead of the Hooligan race (only
the winner gets a spot in the main event) and the car looked as
good as it had all weekend. After a caution for a wreck, the
track put down HUGE amounts of speedy dry and attempted to
clean up some fluids from the racing surface. Upon restarting
the race, Mike went into turn one and slid in the remaining
speedi dry and slapped sides with second place runner
"radical" Rick Martin. Apparently unaware of the speedi dry and
the previous 15 laps he was circling the track avoiding it at all
costs, Rick decided that Mike was roughing him up or
something and smashed into Mike coming our of two , picked
the rear wheels off the ground, and sent him into the wall ,
effectively ending our weekend.
What a huge letdown for our team, as we were showing some
real speed and consistency at that time. Oh well, c'est la vie,
right? We are already at the shop preparing for a much
determined assault on the PASS North tour in 2007.
Before I go, we would like to personally thank everyone that
took time off of work and spent hundreds of their own dollars to
go to this race with us. The help, fun, laughs, etc that we all had
will be a great memory for me forever, no doubt about it.
Thanks to (in no particular order):
Beth and Kelly Adams
Linda and Steve "gobolognago" Kimel
Rob and Kelly Williams
Dana Shepard
John Hoyt and Hoyt Racing Enterprises
Mike Paul
Rob Thompson
Gaily Doolittle
and of course the "regular" crew, you know who you are.
We all hauled off to the South Boston Speedway for the
inaugural Mason Dixon Meltdown on Thanksgiving morning. No
less than 17! people joined our merry caravan and headed
south to help out the 66 super late model.
The trip down was uneventful, other than another flat on the
trailer. Thanks to some help from Mike Paul and Dana Shepard
we had the tire changed in like 10 minutes and finished our trek
to the speedway. Thanksgiving dinner was jovial and fun for
sure, with a delicious Shoneys turkey buffet and some pre race
chatter with a local Monster Truck dude.
Friday morning brought the monumental task of unloading
everything we owned from the trailer and somehow organizing it
in our standard issue pit stall....thanks to so many helpful
people it went well and we were all set for the weekend. We got
our tires early and got the car through tech, etc....no problems
there. Practice went well, with only some minor chassis tuning
with spring rubbers and the like. Mike was still getting used to
the car and such, searching for the comfort and speed that we
needed. Our Hofmann Race Engine ran absolutely flawlessly all
weekend, turning a team high 8100 rpm for most of the
weekend. Boy those 4brl motors are a different breed for sure.
Our times were about halfway down the speed charts on friday,
with some MUCH better funded teams a bit slower, so that made
us feel pretty well, as teams with tractor trailer haulers and dry
sump unobtanium motors scratching their heads to go faster
than our rag-tag bunch.
Time trials didnt go so well...Mike got loose BAD off of the
second corner on his good lap and lost a couple tenths placing
us 37th out of about 50 cars. Not Good. This would lead to
more badness as the qualifying process wore on. The heat
race went bad as well, as Mike was running in 6th place on the
last lap and got turned around coming out of two. Bummer deal,
but no damage. The consolation race was uneventful, but we
couldnt get higher than the 5th position giving us a 6th place
starting position in the Last Chance Hooligan race. With only 5
minutes to ready the car for the LCQ, we noticed that the rear
differential was making really strange noises and clunking
around. We took out the axles and examined the splines for
obvious damage, but determined that our rear differential was
on its way out. No time to look further, it was off to the LCQ.
Mike worked his way up to the lead of the Hooligan race (only
the winner gets a spot in the main event) and the car looked as
good as it had all weekend. After a caution for a wreck, the
track put down HUGE amounts of speedy dry and attempted to
clean up some fluids from the racing surface. Upon restarting
the race, Mike went into turn one and slid in the remaining
speedi dry and slapped sides with second place runner
"radical" Rick Martin. Apparently unaware of the speedi dry and
the previous 15 laps he was circling the track avoiding it at all
costs, Rick decided that Mike was roughing him up or
something and smashed into Mike coming our of two , picked
the rear wheels off the ground, and sent him into the wall ,
effectively ending our weekend.
What a huge letdown for our team, as we were showing some
real speed and consistency at that time. Oh well, c'est la vie,
right? We are already at the shop preparing for a much
determined assault on the PASS North tour in 2007.
Before I go, we would like to personally thank everyone that
took time off of work and spent hundreds of their own dollars to
go to this race with us. The help, fun, laughs, etc that we all had
will be a great memory for me forever, no doubt about it.
Thanks to (in no particular order):
Beth and Kelly Adams
Linda and Steve "gobolognago" Kimel
Rob and Kelly Williams
Dana Shepard
John Hoyt and Hoyt Racing Enterprises
Mike Paul
Rob Thompson
Gaily Doolittle
and of course the "regular" crew, you know who you are.
