Our first ever Mike Stevens Memorial was a good run for us, though almost a disaster….thanking my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for keeping me safe and having His Angels guard over me and all the racers, staff, fans and families.
Thanks to Brian Birt for this photo.
On about lap 78 I felt a loud clunk followed by something smashing through the hood. I stopped in turn 4 thinking I lost something in the engine, pulleys, pump or some driveline part. Check the hood close and you can see on the left side, not far from the drivers side windshield, a piece sticking up about 4″ tall and 3″ wide….the size of a chunk of lead. While sitting there the car was idling fine and all the gauges were showing no issues.
I headed to the pits and our crew checked everything over, made some repairs, taped the hood down (it was bad) and sent me out.
The full story and pictures of how serious this freak mishap could have been, will be on the Message Board soon. Go to the Message Board, click on General Chat and then on Dairy of a Season 2020. I should have the full story up by tomorrow….we are working on the car tonight.
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7th Annual Mike Stevens Memorial Petty International Speedway Sept 19th
This will be our fourth trip to Petty in 2020 and our first Mike Stevens Memorial race. Mike died in a very unfortunate incident in 2013. He was a great racer, loved by everyone and we are truly honored to be in this race.
I did some testing on Tuesday after Kerry and Aidan came over Monday to work on the car. The results were positive, no slipping of the clutch after replace the pressure plate. Quite certain the pressure plate was tired but I am so glad it’s fixed.
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Scotia Speedworld Pre Race Intro
The track had an out of car driver intro for Saturday. Normally this is an exciting time for drivers, getting to relax a little, wish other racers good luck and focus on what’s coming. It wasn’t that way for me, fans cheered and clapped for all the drivers including me, I felt bad knowing I would be pulling off on lap 2.
Clutches took us out again….2 weeks in a row, but a different part this time….the pressure plate….different and more expensive.
We got the new part put installed on Monday, Kerry and Adrian came over during the day. I booked practice at Scotia for Tuesday to make sure it’s fixed. I am praying we got this fixed, it’s so frustrating not being able to race our car.
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Clutch Issues Again Mess Up Debut At Scotia Speedworld
It was a busy crazy week and I didn’t get a chance to update this front page until now.
Our first visit to Scotia Speedworld, the closest track to my house was disappointing. After all the work my crew and I did during the week and last weekend at 660, it seemed only fair that we would have had that issue beat….but we had to do it all again at Scotia.
From the first set of hot laps I knew we were in trouble with the clutch slipping. I couldn’t go much more or they would get burnt out.
The full story will be on Diary of a Season 2020 soon.
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Speedway 660….Tough Night For Us
We had a very disappointing night at Speedway 660. Did not make the feature due to damaged clutch discs needing replacement. We worked on them for hours, over 3 and almost made it.
Special thanks to my crew Tyler Hallahan, Chris White and Kerry Fry for getting incredible exhausted and filthy dirty working on the car with less clearance than that of the Polar Express when it entered the tunnel.
Shannon Riley and Jeff DeCoste also worked hard, and we got some good help from Dean Wallage and the owner of the 2 car, Brad.
The full story on Diary of a Season 2020 soon.
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Speedway 660…New Track For Gary Elliott Motorsports
We will make our debut at Speedway 660 this weekend. It’s a 4 hour drive with practice Saturday during their pull program, then again Sunday prior to the full schedule of races plus the Re Max Pro Stock 250. Ontario has always called them Pro Late Models, I have always called them just Late Models. This will be a tough day with tons of very competitive cars, a new track and 250 laps. The last time I did 250 laps was Riverside International Speedway in 2016 and 2017, prior to that it was at Delaware Speedway in 2008 and 2009.
I am looking forward to the challenge on the track and getting the set up right, stagger and weight distribution wise……main thing I am working on is me, my attitude. I soon need to concentrate on having fun being in the race, instead of being discouraged if I can’t run with the pack….our goal is to finish unscathed and have a fun day.
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Some of our 2020 Crew at Petty
It’s near impossible to race without enough help and this series demands a good size crew. My all new crew for 2020 have been doing great and I appreciate them very much. Left to right Chris White, Tyler Hallahan, Kerri Fry and Bob Landry. Jeff DeCoste and Shannon were not available for this photo and of course Ray Doucette hasn’t returned to Nova Scotia yet but will join us later this year or for sure in 2021.
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Best Car Set Up Yet…..Driver Still Improving
We had a good night in many ways except the score board.
* Pit crew were amazing
* Best qualifying laps for us so far this year
* I haven’t driven a Late Model this hard in 7 years.
* Loaded the car with no damage at all
The pits were full, and the grand stands were quite full….a great site to see…..it was an excellent night of racing.
Our 150 lap feature was pretty well accident free, maybe 2 spin outs….no carnage this time.
We can learn from here because the car is in good shape, I will be in good shape in another day after that work out. 🙂
Diary of A Season 2020 will be done soon.
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August 15th Petty International Raceway….Race #3 For Our Team
Thanks to Paul Costley at Inscapes Graphic Printing for making this advertising promo. Paul also designs my autograph cards.
If you would like to inquire about designs or ads for any advertising call George Connell at 905-825-2626 and tell them I sent you.
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Canadian Tire Show….. August 8th…. Truro Nova Scotia
We had our car on display at the Canadian Tire in Truro on Saturday August 8th. It was a great day, lots of fans came by to see the car, get an autograph card.
Our next race is this coming Saturday August 15th at Petty International Raceway.
More pictures on Diary of a Season 2020
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