Race #1 at New Smyrna Speedway
08-05-06 - VIDEO

Pinch me! Is this really happening? I just ran my first race in a Limited Late Model!

This turned out to be the perfect race to start out. First, it was a double points night so at least in the points it was like running 2 races. Who knows? If I run all the last races I might get a top 5!

Then, it was some kind of fan appreciation night where they lined up all the cars after the heat races on the front stretch and let the fans come down to meet the drivers. I had about 50 t-shirts left over from the TQ so I decided to give them all away and I have a new hero card with my Late Model on it so I brought some of those to sign and give out too. I like this kind of stuff almost as much as driving a race car.

Finally, because of the long intermission, they cut the feature races to 15 laps. That made it a little easier on me because I wasn't sure if I was ready to run a long race yet. Turns out, I was. (more)

Ronnie Enfinger was my new crew chief for this race. Last year my old crew chief (dad) realized that he was a little over his head so we started looking for someone with a lot of racing experience to come in and help us out. Ronnie has been around racing for years and knows this kind of car really well. He came in a few weeks ago at our practice and just jumped right in and went to work. I was thrilled and I think my dad was relieved. Ronnie really helped me out this week and plans to be with us at least for the rest of the year. Thanks Ronnie!

On Saturday morning Ronnie came to the shop and we double checked everything and put on a fresh set of tires. Once we got to the track, we went out as soon as they started calling cars to the grid to scuff the tires in. Ronnie told me to take a couple laps to get the motor warmed up and then a couple laps to get some heat in tires and then come in so he could set the stagger. The new tires felt so good I didn’t want to come back in but I did what he said.

In the practice, the 2 cars that were the fastest came up on me in about 4 laps because I wasn’t pushing the car at all so I just pulled down and gave them the preferred line on the track. After I came in I decided to go around and introduce myself to all the other drivers. Just as I was walking up to one of them I heard him say, “Did you see what that guy in the 27 did? He pulled over and let me go by him. No one ever did that for me before!” I stuck out my hand and said, “Hi! I’m the guy in the 27!” We shook hands and had a laugh and I think I made a new friend.

We waited until the last practice to go out again. This time I got in line and ran with the other cars to see if I could learn something from how they drove the corners. I stayed with them pretty good so we all thought I was ready to run the race.

I guess my dad was not quite ready to give up the crew chief job though because he told Ronnie that he wanted the car a little tight. So, Ronnie made it a little tight. Well, in the heat race I had to start last which was fine by me. I took it easy on the start and fell in behind the other cars with the intentions of just running safe and getting some seat time. The car was way too tight getting into the corners and I didn’t like it at all. Still, I held on to the cars in front of me and finished the race right where I started. After that, my dad decided to leave Ronnie alone and he knew exactly what to do to adjust the car so it was just the way I wanted it.

Then, they had the intermission and I took my car up to the front stretch and signed my hero cards and gave away my t-shirts. It was a great time. I meet a lot of nice people and even got interviewed by the track announcer but it wasn’t too long and it was time to head back to the pits to get ready for the race.

In the feature race I started last again and I got a pretty good start but I had decided to take it easy and let the front runners sort things out before I really tried to run hard. On lap 2 we all sort of fell into place and then I started trying to catch the car in front of me. On about lap 5 I realized that he wasn’t going to give me any chance to pass him on the bottom so I gave it a try on the outside. I got a pretty good run off turn 4 but not good enough to get a nose ahead of him going into turn one so I had to back out a little to try again later. I ran him hard for about 4 more laps and then I got a great run on him coming off of 4 and had about 2 feet advantage on the outside going into turn one. I held my line and crowded him a little coming off of turn 2 so that he couldn’t get back in the gas as hard as he wanted too. That gave me a terrific run down the back stretch and I beat him into turn 3 by about 2 or 3 car lengths. Entering the turn I realized I had run it in a little too deep and slide up the track but I got it going back the other way and closed the door behind me so that he couldn't get back around and then I just checked out as I ran down the next car. With clean air in front of me, my lap times got better and better and I was gaining on the 4th place car pretty quickly. Unfortunately, I ran out of laps before I could see if I could make the pass for 4th.

All in all, this was a perfect night. No problems with the car or the other drivers and I didn’t cause any problems for anybody else either. Everybody was happy that I came out to race with them and I was happy to meet and race them too.