Well, this weeks race report is about 3 things. First, we are learning a lot about tires; second, Late Model racing in Florida is going through a big transition; and 3rd, I think my plan for this year is going to work really good!

What we have learned about racing tires is that the sizes they write on the outside of the tire are meaningless and that trying to qualify on stickers tires will usually hurt you more that it will help you because the tires change so much when they get hot. Also, we thought that the tracks would stock up on tires for big races but we have come to the conclusion that they use the big races to clear out the old and un-saleable tires that they have accumulated. We ran better a few weeks ago in practice with an old set of half worn out tires then we ran last night with brand new ones.

Late Model racing in Florida has always been different from other parts of the country because FASCAR has done a real good job of keeping NASCAR out of asphalt stock car racing in the state. I guess that worked pretty good for them until the car counts started dropping. Then, the ASALM cars came on the scene but had no place to race in Florida on a Saturday night. Florida Limited Late Models and ASA Late Model look the same so the tracks decided they would let them race together to get the car counts back up a little. The ASA guys jumped at it because they had no place to race but it sure has caused a stirring amongst the drivers and owner of the Florida Limited cars.

The ASA car is basically a Super Late Model with a lot of light weight parts and a crate motor. They are 100 lbs. lighter and run 2% more left side weight than the Limiteds. The Limiteds are old technology, stock clip cars, with built or "spec" motors that put out a good bit more horsepower than the crate motor. Add things up and the cars look pretty equal but the ASA cars are far better on the small tracks where horsepower won't help you much and the Limited are far better on the big tracks where it does.

The race we ran last night was a Limited Late Model race in a series that has been running at the track for years. The ASA cars came and stole the show. The out qualified the Limiteds, out raced them, and took the top 5 or 6 spots and therefore most of the money. The track countered the Limited driver's and car owner's complaints with the argument that the ASA cars are not awarded points because they don't run our rules. We get points, they get the trophy and the money! I think we should get an ASA car before we run at a track like this again!

Regardless, I had my own problems to deal with. We have never run Hoosier tires before so we didn't know what to expect. We bought tires that were marked with sizes that were similar to the sizes we have been running on the Goodyear tires. When we mounted them they weren't even close and they were about 2 inches smaller than what they said they were. Then, we ran them for one practice session and checked them and they grew like the Goodyears do but each tire grew differently. You couldn't predict what you would get when you bought them or what they would do when you got them hot. We went and bought a second set of tires but we only had about 8 tires left to choose from. We matched the numbers up and the sizes and, once again, when we mounted them they were all over the place.

Then we got this idea. Since the race wasn't for a while and it was a bright sunny day we thought we would set the tires out in the sun for an hour and see what they would do. When we came back and checked them, they hadn't change much so we set the pressures and size again and went out to qualify.

This track did things a little differently then we are used to. They gave us about 5 hot laps before they lined us up. I didn't want to hot lap the tires so I just drove around slowly on the bottom for a few laps. Still, I think that put a heat cycle in the tires so who knows what it did to the settings we had. When I went out to qualify I got hard in the gas coming off the corner as I had been doing all day in practice and the car was loose at it could be. I just couldn't get back to the gas so I qualified pretty bad. There were 21 cars registered and I qualified 20th.

All things considered, the race went pretty well. The ASA cars were up front and they sort of ran a race of their own. The Limiteds were in the middle and they followed behind the ASA cars in their own race. There really wasn't a lot of wrecks or caution flags so the race came off with about 3 fairly long green flag runs. At the end I was right in with my group of Limited cars and still on the lead lap.

I ran every lap as hard as I could. A few times I got over my head but I never spun out or got into anybody until the very last lap. The car was tight so I kept putting more rear brake bias into the brakes to help it turn in. That worked pretty good until the last lap when I had a chance to pick up a spot and I drove in to turn 3 real hard. When I got hard into the brakes and turned under the car in front of me, the rear end came around and I spun out in the middle of turn 4. The car I was trying to pass spun out too. After it was over I just let my car roll down the banking and got going again. I wound up passing the other car on the way to the checkered flag to take the position finishing up the race in 12th. (Note: They penalized the car ahead of me one position for jumping the re-start and the winner was DQ'd so I was credited with 10th place.)

These long races really take a lot out of you and your car. If you are not well rested, and you don't prepare your car properly, you will not finish the race. Fortunately, I was ready this time and so I got what I came for, 200 laps of practice racing with the best drivers in the state and I know I'm a better race car driver today than I was a few weeks ago.