I am a little behind, but have been extremely busy the past 3 months and more so the past 3 weeks. Our first Hot Rod race on June 15th was every disappointing. The car was hard to drive, steer, brake and corner. A 604 Crate engine with no chip is dangerous for the engine as they are not built to exceed 6400 RPM.
All these things made it tough for me to continue racing this 1990 chassis, especially when most of the other teams had newer chassis.
So even though I had not raced the Hot Rod yet I knew I would not be liking the chassis.
On June 14th we raced the Late Model in PEI and while there I asked Chris Duncan, one of the other LM drivers who was parked beside me, if he knew of anyone with a fairly current LM chassis for sale. He said “yes I do, I have one for sale, a 2028 model”.
We went to Lake Doucette after PEI, a 5 hour drive from my place and it wouldn’t be long before I would be calling Chris back to make a deal on his chassis. Maybe I didn’t give the old chassis much of a chance but I couldn’t race a car that I couldn’t set up for many reasons. I spent a lot of money on the Hot Rod after buying it but my heart wasn’t in keeping it.
On June 16th, after some long conversation and deal working, my crew member Bob Landry and I drove to St Johns New Brunswick to get this complete chassis less engine and transmission, although I did buy a spare transmission off Chris.
On June 17th Bob and I and at times some of my other crew started transferring driveline, body et onto the new purchase. We spent long hours and worked most every day of the week and on July 11th we were ready to race this car in the second series race with the Hot Rods.
It would be at River Glade Speedway a track where we only raced once since coming to Nova Scotia. Twelve Hot Rods made the show. We had issues with the brakes after the first hot lap session, but got that sorted out before the heat. We only got one set of hot laps, then thrashed on the brakes, bleeding the system for what seemed like hours until the brakes felt good.
With only one set of hot laps we hadn’t much time to feel the new chassis out.
We started 5th in our heat race and finished 3rd. The car seemed okay but again the brakes were spongy. After the heat we worked on them again and finally go a firm pedal.
In the feature we started 11th of 12 cars. The pack ran close for 15 laps and then on lap 15 going hard into turn 3 I spun out. Too much rear brake. While sitting there expecting the yellow to come out, I adjusted the brake bias to give me more front brake, but while doing that the yellow did not come out and we went down a lap. Now they were coming again and looked like we might be two laps down. My spotter Jack Lynds told me to get going because the field was coming fast. I got the car started and pulled out onto the front chute with the leaders coming off turn 4 at high speed.
The were only a few car lengths behind me, but over the next 10 laps we pulled away by over 10 car lengths. Though down a lap being out in front of the leader allowed me to race hard to test how the car felt. It was good. I was able to lap 2 cars and another pulled off, so we ended up 9th in the feature.
When I came in the pits my crew was very happy. Shannon told me we had the fastest lap of the race at 16:09 and the leaders fastest lap was 16:49. Overall it was a great night for us.
Our next Hot Rod race is August 2nd at Oyster Bed Speedway in PEI, my favorite Maritime track.
JULY 4th….Scotia Speedworld
We ran the first of two 75 lap Late Model races at Scotia on July 4th. Not many cars made t. we finished 6th in our heat and 5th in the feature.
Coming UP
Dash For Cash Riverside July 16th a Wednesday night show and then on July 19th the IWK 250 at the same track. This will be the first time in decades I will race 3 nights in 8 days….
I love it.
Thanks for visiting our site
God bless you all
