Fantastic weather, beautiful Fall foliage, good crowd, lot’s of friends and fans but what I think was a boring race. Saturday practice was a good one for Eddie and the 10 car. It was a day of testing race set-ups as we felt we had a pretty good car for time trials. It’s hard to beleive that just .042 seconds was the difference between 4 and 14th. Less than one half of a tenth of a second! So, that where we started, 14th. Thought we had things in control for the race but we were once again duped by tire performance. They just didn’t do what they did on Saturday. I think that might have been the case for a number of car in the race today. I think the race proved the times of the cars on Saturday just how close the competition was and that lead to freight train racing with little passing. That atleast what I observed. The tires didn’t do what they did in practice and because of that we just didn’t have a car capable of attempting to force any issues so we were just another freight train car. Well, the good news is we came home in one piece and will get ready to bring our best gun to the gun fight next week at Thompson. So far, the weather looks good with temps in the 30’s at night and 60’s during the day. Hope to see you at the season finally.
Miricles do happen! Two 150 lap races at Martinsville and no body or frame damage. I think the staff at R & C Auto Body are still partying because they don’t have to paint our car hours before we need to load it for Stafford. Yes I said two 150 lap races because that is exactly what it turned out to be even though it was billed as the 300. NASCAR decided to lift the tire change ban during the competition caution. Shame on them for not listening to experienced people in the know. Shame on the flagman for not giving the move over flag after the fifth place car went by.
8th Place! Can you beleive it!!!! After the season that we have been having it’s almost as good as a win. The 10 Team, Eddie and the 10 car were ready for action when practice began. Eddie and the 10 car were fast out of the box so that left time to experiement with some different set-ups to see if anything worked better. Since this was an impound race we had to be carefull with our time trial set-up since we would have to start the race without any changes to the car except air pressures. A loose condition during time resulted in a 28th starting spot. Not exactly where we hoped to be. Hard racing by Eddie, sharp spotting, hard work by the crew and a bit of luck missing some big wrecks resulted in our top 10 finish. YEA TEAM!!!
See you at Stafford.
I guess those two names best describe our last two outings, Thompson and New Hampshire. While the weather forecasters had them on a certain course there is no doubt their eye winked at us as a black cloud continues to hang over us. What can I say. It’s like a broken record. Thompson, a bolt broke in the front end and sent the 10 car into the walll on lap four. New Hampshire, a victim again. Wrong place, wrong time, no place to go. In both cases great work by the crew got Eddie and the 10 car back on track.
The forecast for Martinsville in the wake of Hanna and Ike calls for sunny skies. I’ll let you know a week from today.
MIS-CALLS, BRAIN FADE, POOR JUDGEMENT, MISTAKES, VICTIMIZED, OVER LOOKED & FORGOTTEN just to name a few.
RESULTS: POOR FINISHES, WRECKED RACE CARS, DROP IN POINT STANDINGS, A TON OF MAN HOURS AND A BIG MONITARY EXPENSE
That sums up the last two races. What does the future hold? Thompson, and a RACE to the finish. We will not be beaten down by anyone or ourselves. See you in Victory Lane!
It’s hard to beleive that here it is Wednesday night and I’m just writing this . The night before we leave for the next race at Thompson. What could I say, we want to be number 1 in everything we do except the time trial draw. There I was at the Bingo tumbler hoping for a high number when just after one roll Lucky number 1 appeared. I tried to sell them on the fact that it was really I-8 but I couldn’t convince them of that. Even though we knew we had a good race car with the number one drw I hoped for a top fifteen spot at the worse. Well eighteen is were we landed so a positive atitude for the race, a good pit stop by the crew and a great job by Eddie behind the wheel and the 10 car and team found themselves in second place at the end of the race. Thanks to all our fans that came out to see us and for the treats enjoyed by all.
Hope to see you tomorrow at Thompson.
OK, here’s my take on the day and our’s. The format should be trashed! Totally unfair earning you time trial spot from your practice times. The luck of the draw is how this should be kept. In our case it wouldn’t have made a difference this day. Time trials were about what you would expect at a short track. The locals dominating the time sheets. Heat races, I just don’t see what the fans get out of watching basically twenty five laps of freight train riding. I think no heats and a 200 lap race would have been much better for the fans last night. The feature, for a quarter mile bull ring, about what you would expect. Thankfully there was no big one that destroyed cars or hurt anyone.
Now for the 10 car, this best sums up the night after starting the race with what we thought was going to be a pretty good race car.
????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
That say’s it all.
See you at Stafford
As some of you know, one of my hobbies has been photography. A hobby that has been very rewarding and satisifying. Yes, I did manage to find a subject with speed. No, it doesn’t have wheels. “Fast Pitch Womans Softball” is the game and the World Famous Brakettes are the ladies that are filling my viewfinder with amazement. I should point out that while the emphasis is on fast pitch, these ladies are mighty swift runners and super athletes as well. This speed has proven to be quite a challenge on my photography skills. Needless to say a little more fine tuning is still necessary.
It’s interesting how many of the problems that exist in our NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour also exist in the Brakettes organization and I’m sure with other teams as well. Let me give you a few examples. Sponsorship for one is very hard to come by in both sports. Because of the shortage of dollars the Brakettes chose to host over fifty home games and not travel except to defend their championship. Modifieds can race a SK home track or limited True Value Traveling series. Attendance for both are down but get this: An average ticket to our race is about $35 and concession prices are high. Go to a Brakettes game and the ticket price for adults is $6 for bleachers behind the baselines or $8 for seats behind home plate. Yes, you read it right $6 & $8 for double header games. Concession prices, how about $1 for a bottle of water or $1 for popcorn. The sad thing is there are less than a hundred people in the stands. We are the best racing Tour in NASCAR and can’t fill the stands like we used to. Some people blame the high ticket prices and now the gas prices. What is it with the Brakettes? World famous history, exciting games, a 40 win and zero loss season and ridiculously cheap tickets and food. There must be a Ben Dodge of Softball somewhere?
I just want to acknowledge the powers that be for giving me the privilege to attend and photograph the soldout USA Olympic Team vs the Brakettes game this past Sunday. It was an awesome experience that has engraved a lifetime of memories. Please check the Photo Gallery page and I will have some player pictures posted shortly. So, on your raceless weekends get out and experience a FAST Pitch womans softball game. You just might like it and you won’t break the bank.
One down and two to go and they can’t go fast enough. Spencer Speedway was our host and while they were hospitable the racing had a lot to be desired. Unless you were one of the top finishers of course. It’s very hard to come off one of the best races and race tracks (NHIS) and come to a track with no banking and poor lighting and try to race the way modified should. It just can’t be done.
As for the 10 car we were doing just ok, nothing great but not a bomb. Early in the race a car came from the infield that was involved in an incident and hit our left front knocking the toe out. After a few pit stops the toe was corrected and we had a car that could race again. Ten laps to go while in eighth place the right front got hit from behind bent the tie rod. Thus, the 10 car limped to the finish the last car on the lead lap for a 16 place finish.
Congrats to Matt on his first Tour win.
Two words that decsribe the start and finish of all of the events at the New Hampshire International Speedway. A rain shortened Thursday practice session found Eddie and the 10 car at the top of the speed chart. Not a bad place to be, but we knew we still had work to do in order to be in a position to win the race on Saturday. Due to the rain the starting field was determined by points and Eddie and the 10 car was to start 9th. Friday was a day off for the tour and it gave us a chance to meet, greet and walk around the changing grounds of the race facility. Saturday started with weather that looked threatening, was cloudy all day but that’s all it was. An early practice gave us a chance to try a few things and look for some more speed. As for the race, it was one of if not the best Modified race ever held at the Magic Mile. A photo finish for the winner and a third place finish for Eddie was a nice reward for the crew that worked extra hard getting the car ready after the wreck at Thompson last Thursday night.
Some time off and it’s off to Spencer Speedway in New York State, hope to see you there.
Special Thanks go out to all the servicemen and women in this country and abroad for their sacrifices and dedication to keep our land free.
Racing at mid-night and getting home at 3 AM is not what anyone had in mind when this Memorial Day weekend started on Friday. Beautiful weather was what we had right up to race time. Then that “chance of a passing shower” became a reality. Cheers! to the fans that stuck it out in the stands during the rain and track drying proceedures.
Once again a early time trial draw didn’t help qualifying efforts. Eddie and the 10 car was religated to the 17th starting spot. A couple of close calls during the race got some hearts pumping a little faster but in the end 7th place was the best we could do. Not bad for a impound race on a cold damp night.
Next race, Thompson. 75 green flag laps. Hope to see you all there.