Joe's Blog - May 2008 Race Results
June 2, 2008
It's
been quite some time since I gave a full report of everything going on with
Rhonda and me. What started out a couple of months ago as a simple testing
of the car at Summit Point turned into a 10 week, non-stop turn our lives upside
down bunch of weekends working on the car, testing, and running 4 races in a 5
week period!! But we have made it, and done better than I could have imagined.
As already posted, when I tested the car I had a
huge problem with the axle and
brake line, made it passed that, a couple weeks later went to NHMS and won
our first National race ever, first race of the year and first back from the
wreck. Two weeks later (and trying to prep in between normal life and
work) we were at Summit Point where although I finished well, I had a chance at
a podium spot but it slipped away. I finished 4th. A week later,
Memorial weekend was spent at Nelson Ledges doing the Double National. The
only thing that made the trip to Nelson easier was staying at Dave P's house as
opposed to a hotel. It was nice to be in a real house!
The thing that made Nelson especially tough (aside from the track itself that
can beat man and machine to death!!) was time constraints. Since I do my
own prep, alone, for budget reasons, I had very little time to fully once over
the car after Summit. I did encounter a potential issue but hoped it would
not manifest itself at Nelson. It did, as well as another bigger issue.
During the quals for the Nelson races my drivers side diff seal let go. I
had a spare but pressing that in did nothing to stop the leaking due to the
underlying problem in the diff. I had to nurse the rear throughout the
entire weekend. In addition to that, on the pace lap of the first race my
exhaust literally broke apart. All of the welds have began to fail, I
limped the car long enough to finish the race and pick up points. Thanks
to some savvy paddock welding and the support of fellow racers my exhaust made
it through the second race at Nelson, as did the rest of the car. Two
second place finishes, more points on the books. I do have a lot of work
ahead of me though.
Four races in a month, the testing prior, all the prep, the repairs, everything
has just made our lives hectic to the point where I barely have time to live day
to day normally. The lawn is tall, the dogs are crazy, man it's actually
nice to have some down time for a few weeks to get caught up and SLOWLY fix the
car!! The wonderful thing about sticking out such as rigorous (for us)
schedule is something I never would have imagined. I now sit 1rst place in
points for the Northeast Division in Touring 1. Who knows how long it will
last, the competition up here is insane and many guys want the spot, but for now
it really feels great to be at the tip of a tough division. To come back
from the Pocono accident, win my first race and sit for at least some time
number one in points is a dream come true to both of us. I'm trying to
enjoy the moment, wondering when someone is going to snatch it away from me, I'm
not going without a fight though!!
Rhonda is working on getting videos from the past 4 races ripped. Keep an
eye out, they will be on the site soon. Thanks everyone for keeping up
with us and special thanks to Pfadt Race Engineering for a shock that was able
to tame Nelson Ledges rough pavement a little bit!