August 4th...........
Peterborough Speedway
Race #9
High Lites
* 20 cars
* Cory Horner wins feature (hat trick)
* We have good night in spite of me being weak (sick)
* Michael Hearty Hard Luck
* 565 final
Results
1st Heat.......2nd
2nd Heat......2nd
Feature........7th
Winnings
$295
Repairs
Prepare for Sauble, maintenance, fix over heating, gears,
Crew
Louie, Hayden...me and Buttons
Conclusion
I had a real bad week. It started at 3am Tuesday morning, July 31st. I don't usually describe my health issues, because I am blessed with good health, but this was an insane attack. I started throwing up and it lasted for 3 hours, getting up every 20 minutes. It continued until 7 am, and by then I was heaving so bad I thought I was going to bring up my rib cage. There was nothing left to come up and that went on for another 2 hours. Then the runs started and that went until 10:30 am, I was totally wiped when finally stuff stopped leaving my body.....I was messed up, I mean totally wiped.
I finally walked Buttons and fed her around 11:30, and once she was fed I crashed until 5:30pm...exhausted.
By Thursday I was able to some small repairs on the car, but I couldn’t last very long, I got weak quickly. I called Brian Watson to ask him if he would do small repairs on the car, change the oil and clean the oil leak in the bell housing. He agreed and I was very happy and thankful.
Louie was going to come over on Friday and help finish the things left to do but his youngest daughter was having a baby and he wanted to be with her, and of course, babies come when they are ready. Louie offered to come Saturday and I agreed, no doubt. His family always comes first; in fact, all my crews families and personal life come first.
On Saturday I woke up and was beat. I had put our radio’s on charge, but had no more energy to do much more. I had charged the car battery on Thursday, but we still had some things to do including tire management and final nut and bolt.
Young Hayden came early Saturday, around 10:30; I wanted to get things done and leave before or at latest by noon. Once Louie arrived things got done quick, but not as fast as we should have and we ended up leaving around 12:45.
Louie offered to drive out because I needed to rest and I did, falling asleep in the back seat of my truck. Rarely do I fall asleep on race day, in fact I am usually too pumped to do anything but think about the race that day and all the things we need to make sure are done when loading at home and once we get to the track.
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We got to the track around 3:15 and the pits were packed. I am usually not the last Modified to the races, but this time we were and ended up parking just inside the pit entrance on the grass. But no worries, I was glad we were there and I had some recovery on my energy. I always look forward to racing no matter what and today was no different. In fact I was pumped in spite of my health because Peterborough is one of the most demanding and yet fun tracks to race, definitely has its own personality.
I went to the OSCAAR area to sign in and draw a number, I picked 13. There were 20 cars signed in, and that made me happy. There’s nothing like a good field of cars to compete against.
We went through tech with our car and passed inspection, and found that we would be in the 3rd heat starting outside pole beside the very fast and successful #79 Cory Horner.
Louie would spot tonight; he always does when Jim is not at the races. Louie does very well and has learned a lot listening to Jim, who is the best.
We made one set of hot laps and only lasted 6 laps. My neck was incredibly sore from trying to hold it up on this tight fast oval. I pulled to the infield pit lane and waited for this session to be over. Once back in the pits the boys asked me how the car was, and why I pulled off. Actually Louie asked me at the time why I pulled off. I explained the car was good, but I would last any time at all if we didn’t pad my head rest area because my head was leaning way too far to the right in the turns. Trying to hold it up was knocking me out. Louie and Hayden fixed that right away.
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First Heat
While lined up in the pits I noticed that Cory had 3 sticker tires, brand new, on the right front, right rear and left rear. I thought….yikes!!! I asked Louie “ can you see Cory’s left front tire”? He answered “yes”. I said to him “well I see 3 new sticker tires on the car, but can’t see the left front”. Louie said “call it 4”. I must admit, I have never seen 4 brand new tires on a car other than opening day. I wondered if he would have trouble since they were not scuffed…..I soon found out.
On the green Cory and I ran side by side into turn one. After that he pulled away, more and more every lap. Meanwhile #99 Luke Gignac caught up to me and was doing everything he could to get under me. I got a few love taps, not much but managed to hold on to second in this one. But to be honest I was disappointed to get beat so bad by the kid with 4 new tires…..but really, what did I think would happen when I was running my tires from the week before. I settled down. Oh and my neck was fine, no pain at all.
Before our next race we talked about the first heat. I asked the boys what they saw. Louie said the car looked like it was high in the corner, and Hayden agreed. That confirmed what I was already thinking and asked Louie to raise the pan hard bar, and he did half an inch. Then I got the book out, notes that suggest what to do with certain handling issues. The first of 10 was more right rear spring, the second was more stagger and the third was to raise the pan hard bar. I didn’t want to increase the stagger we had lots and I felt the issue was only a 3 out of 10 so that adjustment was minor.
Shortly before we went out for our second heat a family dropped by and I got a chance to sign autograph cards and get a picture with the kids. Fans are so much the back bone of our sport....Promoters, Racers, Fans and Sponsors
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Second Heat
We started 4th in the second heat and had a strong battle with #72 Bob Franks. Duane Cinnamon #41 started inside pole with Bob beside him and after some dueling, Duane started to pull away. Now it was our turn to battle the #72. After about 4 laps the yellow came out and that closed us all up. Duane would be pole with Bob outside and me 3rd, a perfect spot. Louie was doing a great job spotting and reminded me to stay glued to the #41 on restart, and I did.
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For the last 6 laps we ran bumper to bumper. Our car was awesome. It was a fun race and one that Duane never made a mistake giving him the win and our second place finish for the night.
We made no changes for the feature. The top 8 qualifiers drew for starting spots and I picked #1, but I didn’t want to start up front. I wasn’t physically fit to battle these rockets tonight. I needed a lesser stress route and decided to take scratch. That surprised a lot of people but I wasn’t feeling very strong and to me it was the right decision, even though, starting at the back can be dangerous trying to go through the pack. But many hundreds of times in the 2800 plus races I’ve been in, I have worked my way from the back and I was good with that, and so was the boys.
Feature
I went to the back of the feature, but a few cars, 4, wanted to go scratch, so we actually started 16th. I was pumped like I usually am for any race, but especially a feature, and in front of a big crowd.
When the green flew I was on the outside and made a move to get low on the inside. However I soon realized the inside lane wasn't going anywhere and before you know it was almost last. Finally on lap 3 Louie called "clear high". So I jumped on the outside going into turn one, Things were tight all the way to the front but I felt good on the outside. But no longer had I got to the outside lane when things went nuts. Cars were spinning in front of me, sparks everywhere. I saw a car sliding all the way to turn three. There was no where to go and I slowly checked up but kept letting my car roll ahead right behind Duane Cinnamon #41, He got hit and bounced off the car and wall, just trying to get clear. I managed to come to a stop, not hitting anyone or getting hit.
The red flag came out. cars were everywhere on the back chute. Finally they asked me to move ahead to turn four and as I drove around turn 3 I saw Mike Hearty #20 beat up pretty bad and needing two tow trucks to get him off the track.
The red last a few minutes and then the yellow came out. I believe I was maybe 17th at the time. Once the cars were sorted out and a few towed off and some making pit stops, we found ourselves in 12th.
Over the next few laps I got into a great battle with my good friend #56 Jason Cornell. Jason was driving a good line and has improved very much this season. He kept battling me until he pushed up a little and I was able to get under him.
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A long green flag allowed the leaders to get to a quarter track behind us but the yellow came out again and I took a big sigh of relief,
On that restart I was able to move into 10th and get by one car on the restart and fall in behind #09 Dan Price. Dan also drove very well and all I could do was stick with him although I tried many times to get him, and hit him at least 3 times.
I said to myself "stop hitting him'!!!!......I was very stern
Meanwhile at least twice in this race someone spun in turn four sending a huge dust cloud across the track making it impossible to see. I could have got by at least 2 cars had I not slowed up so much. This time it was John Harper #79 who caused the dust storm and as Dan and I came off turn four Dan made contact with John and I in turn hit Dan. We all kept going but I did put toe out of alignment close to half an inch.
Soon another restart brought the filed together and on this restart I got by #09 to take over 8th and over the final 7 laps would cross the line in 7th and I was sure happy not only with how well our car handled but also with how good I felt.....I was feeling very good physically and that 40 lap charge didn't affect me. I was very positive after the race and felt great. The boys were happy as well. No damage, a decent run and maintained our 4th place hold in the point standings.
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After I got out of the car and changed, and went to see Dan. He was all smiles and said "oh, no worries, that's just racing". We shook hands even though he wasn't upset with me even a little. I understood that it was me who was upset with me
Overall it was a great night for us. I was so pumped I drove home and let Louie sleep and made it no issues. Hayden and I talked all the way home making it a fairly quick trip.
Our next event is Thursday August 9th, putting our car on display at the Dairy Queen in Waterdown for their special day for McMaster Children's Hospital. "Miracle Treat Day". We will be there....Buttons and I, from 2 until 7. All Blizzard sales are 100% dedicated to the hospital.
On Saturday we will be heading to Sauble Speedway and I am very pumped for this race. This week we made some key changes to the Mod, better fuel, more timing and better tires. We are looking for career feature #40 and who knows, it could be this weekend.
We are 4th in points only 6 out of 3rd, kind of exciting to be running this close to 3rd in points in our 50th year.
Modified standings after August 4th
1st.......#79 Horner.......468
2nd......#79 Harper.......462
3rd......#51 Reinhardt....412
4th......#36 Elliott........406
5th......#4 Showler ......400
6th......#18 Keen.........384
7th......#33 Bowden......366
8th......#56 Cornell.......360
9th....#20 Hearty..........338
10th....#8 McLean.........334
