Tonight, I’m hopin’ to make my first start ever in a stock car! Friend of mine has injured her back, and she offered to let me drive her four-sylinder Compact car tonight at the 1/4-mile Barberton Speedway!
In my 46 years around this sport, and growin’ up with a Late Model in our garage, I’ve only ever driven it once - for a “practice” night at SpeedWorld. This will be my first time drivin’ a race car in competition.
Thanks to my good friend, Colleen Norris, for givin’ me the opportunity!
If I am not mistaken, that is the track that as concrete seating like Lake City. Also if I remember correctly when you come out of turn 2 the track has starts a uphill climb. Good Luck
[QUOTE=Darren;169727]If I am not mistaken, that is the track that as concrete seating like Lake City. Also if I remember correctly when you come out of turn 2 the track has starts a uphill climb. Good Luck[/QUOTE]No, no “concrete” seating; wooden bleachers. The backstretch is more of a “roller coaster” with a few dips along the way.
[QUOTE=OldSchool+;169728]I will assume you have checked the seat, belts, cell, etc.
Best of luck, and kudos to Colleen for letting you run the car.
It’s fwd, I assume. Not a fan of fwd, but it will “pull” you out of trouble sometimes in those cars.[/QUOTE]I’m actually goin’ over to her place today to go over the car before we load up and go. First thing I asked was about all the safety equipment. Yes, it’s a FWD; the class is all four-cylinder, FWD cars. Lot of Sunfires/Cavaliers, a couple of Neons, and even a V6 Dodge Stratus.
Good luck at the paperclip. Let us know how many late models they have. Hopefully I will get back to the old home state next month as I want to get back to a few races at Columbus for their final season. It seems that barberton being open once again has somewhat squeezed the late model field between there and midvale. Best of luck.
[QUOTE=ancrdave;169734]Poor guy got rained out…[/QUOTE]Yep, we did, Dave.
Midvale (about 45 minutes south of us) called it early today. I watched the radar all day today, and it was clearing up mid-morning. As we were about to leave the house at about 1:30, I got the text that Barberton (the track we I was going to run) called it as well.
On a good note: I’m gonna get to practice the car in a coupla weeks in “open practice” mid-week; then we’ll try again a little later in the season.
L-R: my crew chief, Jake; me; and car owner and regular driver Colleen Norris.
We drove 'er on the trailer at the end of the night. It was a successful night.
I posted this on FaceBook last night after we got home:
"Well, kids…it’s midnight (well, almost - close enough :P) on a Saturday night after racing at Barberton Speedway. Our class, the Compacts, were up first tonight (usually, they’re the last class to run…), and we ran 30 GREEN-FLAG laps - the cleanest feature of the night. Nine cars in the class: two of the cars (were in the Dash) got together - one of those got loaded on the trailer after destroying the whole front clip, and the other got loaded up for “rough driving”. One more car didn’t make the call for the feature lineup; Joe Oliver (four-time feature winner this year) suffered a flat tire while waiting in line, and the officials wouldn’t give him time to change it.
I started ON THE POLE for the 30-lap feature- that’s right - this raw rookie started first in the field. Green flag drops - annnnnnnnnnd I promptly get loose driving down into turn one of the very first lap, and the rest of the field drives by (five other cars). I managed to save it and get back up on the track from the grass, and we drove 'er home to…well…sixth at the finish - BUT…we didn’t spin 'er out at all, didn’t cause any cautions, and didn’t get in anyone’s way. We went all thirty laps green flag - no cautions at all. Kept 'er off the wall, and finished in one piece with no more dings. Found out later on that the car that took second place “forgot” to go through post-race tech…so…we actually ended up FIFTH - and got my very first RACING “paycheck” - managed a whole forty bucks! At least I made my entry fee back - but, it all went back to the car owner (hey…I owed her $30 anyways :P).
Thanks to Colleen, Jake, and TJ for the help tonight! Thanks to Bob, Nancy, Tom, and Joseph for coming out and supporting me in my stock-car debut! Thanks to TK Tire and McWilliams Lawn Care! And a HUGE “I LOVE YOU” and thank you to the wife - Kyla - for puttin’ up with this mess! <3
Oh…we will be back!"
Rick: as soon as I get video converted, I’ll post it
At least I made my entry fee back - but, it all went back to the car owner (hey…I owed her $30 anyways :P).