And Just Like That

Last week it was cold. And the blowing wind didn’t make it feel any better. What a difference a week can make. Warm, humid wind out of the south for the last few days has kept the temperatures on the above normal side of things. And with the late season explosion of the mosquito population made anything less than a snowmobile suit fair game for the record setting hoards of starving-to-death mosquitos. Multiple layers of bug spray didn’t seem to slow them down for long.

With the summer like weather, it didn’t seem like the race for points should be on it’s last night. But it was. Eighteen modified drivers had brought their cars for one last shot at the standings. In the drivers meeting, the track officials reminded everyone to race well, and drive clean. In other words, if you don’t have a shot at the division title, don’t screw it up for those that do.

In the Modified Division, eighteen drivers were ready with their cars. There were three heats of six cars each. Taco Dave was in the last heat, and was the last car in the lineup. The cars came around turn four, and the green flag was in the air. As the cars went into turn one, Dave found a line on the high side of the track and was able to pass three cars in his first nice move. As the eight lap heat race continued, Dave was able to find his way around the 89s car, driven by Noah Schepp. After he was around the 89s car, it was time to work on passing Jimmy Berkevich in the 19B car. Dave tried a couple of times to pass on the bottom of the track, but Jimmy had a good line and it wasn’t working on the bottom. Dave used the white flag lap to test the berm at the top of the track, and found it usable in turns one and two. As they raced into turn one, on the last lap, Dave went up and was able to find enough traction to put a fantastic move on the 19B car, came out of turn two in the lead, and won the heat race. Everyone always wants their favorite driver/car to win, but good racing is always fun to watch.

The A-Main Feature race line ups were posted, and Dave had an eleventh place start out of the  eighteen modified’s. The pace truck left the track, the cars came around turns three and four, the green flag was in the air, and the race was under way. And, it didn’t work out as well as it could have. Someone spun-out a bit, causing other’s to hit their brakes, and before you know it, there’s a mess. Our pit neighbor Jimmy, took an extra minute to try to teach one of the track tires a lesson. A couple of cars, including the 19B car, had to leave the track and get some of the unusual dangly sheet metal stuff removed, and were able to get back on the track while the caution was still on. But, leaving the track means you have to start at the back of the pack for the re-start. And since the two cars that had to go get repaired were in front of Dave, that means he moved up a couple of spots, for a ninth place start on the restart. Twenty laps and eight spots to pass. Not even a car per lap. So—if someone were to make 20,000 calorie per teeny tiny slice of Brownie-bottom-reece’s-peanut-butter-cheesecake desert, and someone ate some of it, would it make one jittery, or comatose? Yep, 20 laps, only 8 cars between Dave and the front—

The restart went a little better this time, and the drivers were able to find some lines to run, and settled in for the race. As the laps counted down, Dave was able to find some track to race on, and worked it to his advantage. Stay high here, and go under there. He was able to work his way up to second place by the time someone caused a caution on lap twelve. Sometimes cautions help, and sometimes they don’t. Dave was running second, and the second place driver gets to choose if he/she wants to start on the inside or outside. Dave chose the outside. The proper lineup was ready, and the cars came out of turn four for the green flag. Somewhere in turns one and two, Dave got passed and came down the back stretch in third place. Sometimes the caution helps, and sometimes it doesn’t.

The rest of the race went on without another caution. The front three cars had pulled away from the pack. The three cars were pretty well matched, and were able to run the lines they had, on a track that was pretty well spent. Mike Sandholm in the 33H car probably wishes the race was another ten laps or so. His car came on pretty strong by the end of the race, and maybe he could have been first instead of second. Don Scheffler in the 15S car won the race, and is probably glad it ended when it did.

All in all, it was a great season ending night at the races. Even with the mosquitos. Congratulations to all of the division champions, for a season well raced!