Adventures
At Mid-Ohio
07/30/01
We racers love to travel don't we? It was a long trip that started from Dallas. Nineteen
hours of driving later and we were waiting at the gates of Mid-Ohio with six hours to go
before the gates opened. We took the opportunity to relax and watch some movies before we
started the big weekend. Being the first one's in, we picked a nice place near the exit to
set up camp. While Mike and Orlando prepped the car for race day, Dad and I took a long
walk around the track to get a glimpse of what was to come. It was to be my first time at
the track and I wanted to get a good feel for it so that we could spend the majority of
our time on the track trying to set up for the Runoffs in September.
Saturday morning's qualifying session gave me some good experience and it didn't take long
to start to feel the track. Some driver inexperience and a miscalculation in the setup had
us sitting back in fifth position for the start of the race. We tightened the suspension a
little bit and added some downforce in the wings adding a great deal to the handling of
the car, however it was not meant to be. The experienced Denny Sideri won the race with
the fastest time of 1:27.872. The best I could put on the board was a 1:29.258.
Immediately after passing the checkered flag, the car began to backfire and died. We spent
the rest of Saturday afternoon and evening trying to chase the problem. The car would run,
but at 6,000 RPM the electronics would shut off and the car would backfire. We searched
everything; timing pickup, electronic box, tachometer wiring, and fuel lines. At one point
we thought we had the problem solved when we found that our fuel pressure was much lower
than optimum. But it didn't solve the problem, which sent us back to the electrical
area.
We never made it to qualifying on Sunday and exhausted our options just before the race
and packed up to go home. It was disappointing, but I feel worse for the guys. They did
everything they could do short of buying a new car. We will be back in September for the
Runoffs with the strongest motor Don Preston has ever given us and I hope to shave about
four seconds off my previous time. It will be a challenge, but it can be done. We'll see
you at the next one!
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