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After 3 years of off and on working, we have finally finished
the new modified.
Guestbook: I would appreciate
it if you would sign my guestbook.
November 2000, Ocala Speedway, Ocala, FL -- 200 lap
race, $3000.00 to win. If it weren't for bad luck we would have
no luck at all. We made some changes including a new drive shaft,
but didn't get a chance to test before. The driveshaft was out
of round causing a bad vibration. Bought a used driveshaft, it
was no better - threw it on the track. Borrowed a third. Managed
to qualify middle of the pack (26 cars). Lap 50 the rear end
went out. The pinion bearings failed due to the drive shaft vibrations
earlier. The AMSOIL gear oil (Series 2000 75W-90) held up even
with the extreme heat from the failed bearings.
Late Summer/Fall, 2000, Ocala Speedway, Ocala, FL --
We ran 3 races, with finishes of 4, 5, and 6 in a field of 18
to 22 cars each race. Local drivers commented that they had never
seen anyone come in new to the track on new green tires and do
so well. This is a tricky track, 3/8 mile, only 3° banking,
very eggshaped, with an even trickier tire. Ocala uses a treaded
Hoosier Commanchee tire on the asphalt track. It's a very hard
tire, treaded so it has less gripping surface, but it has a big
plus -- it lasts forever; the more races run on it, the better
it gets. Some last a whole year. This really cuts down the cost
of racing!
April and May, 2000, Columbia MotorSports Park, Lake
City, FL -- While our good engine has been out for repair and
freshening, we put in a spare however cheaper and much lower
horsepower motor. We ran twice with a best of a third.
We are still learning this new car this year and getting closer
with chassis setup for it.
March 25, 2000, Columbia MotorSports Park, Lake City,
FL -- Once again we were fastest car on the track in practice,
with two others very close, we looked forward to a good race.
If it weren't for bad luck we would have no luck at all!
At about half way in our feature race, we dropped a cylinder,
but kept going. Running on a 7 cylinder engine and with a bad
push (track temperature cooled off a lot more than we set up
for) We finished 4th!. (Inspection after we got home revealed
a push rod / rocker arm problem.)
March 18, 2000, Columbia MotorSports Park, Lake City,
FL -- We were fastest car on the track in practice, by nearly
1/2 second per lap. Made some minor changes in practice -- the
car was drivable anywhere on the track. We finished 2nd in the
8 lap heat race -- #11 was too wide and drove too erratically
to get around. We can't figure Burt's starting grid lineup, we
were gridded 7th, the #11 1st??? We quickly got up to 2nd place
in the feature, but once again couldn't get around the #11 --
not that we didn't try -- our front bumper is broken in several
places from "hitting the horn." New car blues struck
again, 2 ways this week: 1. The oil from the fuel pump last week
caused the starter to burn up - we push started it. 2. Something
in the front end came loose late in the feature and rather than
take a chance destroying the car pulled into the pits.
March 11, 2000, Columbia MotorSports Park, Lake City,
FL -- First time on a track with the new car. Drew a 7th starting
position. Lap 7 had advanced to third and closing in on second.
We got spun out from behind and sent to the back. At the end
of the 20 lap feature we got back to a seventh place finish.
Typical new car, yes we had a new car problem: we lost a fuel
pump on the first practice session. We got it replaced, but lost
valuable practice time.
We would have liked a better finish, but overall we were satisfied
-- for a first time on a track anywhere (with only two short
practice sessions and no pretesting) we had a competetive race
car. |