Since I could not convince track manager Gregg McKarns to run a Powder Puff race as a preliminary event, and as girlfriend Felisha thinks she somehow inherited the Cavalier (that I had received from primary sponsor Andy Jones of JJ Precision Grinding) 4 cylinder stock car (and I did not think it was worth fighting over), I was forced to spend two weeks of my most recent work shut-down, preparing a mid 80s Chrysler Arias; to compete in the first outdoor event of the year – The Stone & Double T Enduro. Falling short of having my “fast” VW running in previous seasons, this was the first Spring Enduro that I was able to run.
Thanks though to the efforts of underrated driver and competent mechanic Ronnie Morse (who has helped me out since before I even raced the first time), we had the car sealed up to reasonable safety specs. Felisha did her part with preparation and pit set-up. I will also mention a special guest appearance from Mr.(dad) Dull was much appreciated in the shop Friday. The car was all but 100% ready Saturday morning. After some unanticipated problems loading (basically had to completely re-arrange the trailer), Felisha and I headed to the track well before the scheduled 10 AM pit gate opening. I was much surprised to see that more than half a dozen competitors were already unloaded and in the inspection line before we entered the track grounds though! After dealing with some unanticipated but non-Enduro related issues, we quickly made it through tech and was lined up to start inside the third row!
Although lined up in front of the majority of the other 84 drivers, I was overly cautious at the start (not trying to loose the race in the first corner) and gave up a lot of ground. I attempted to get into a rhythm running the low groove (an effort to miss the majority of the accidents that send wrecked cars into the outer wall) and discovered that the little old “K-car” was not THAT bad a ride. Liking the way it kind of “hooked” right in the center (I had to really baby the car going into the corner though and let it get turned before standing on the gas to avoid the RF pushing out), I did veer from my bottom feeding groove maybe slightly more than I had in the Fall Enduro. Also (maybe due to my early over cautiousness) the left corner of the back bumper cover got knocked off and then was waving off the back of the car - not to mention the whole LR corner was bent in; which also caused that corner of the car to lift up off the ground more at speed (a common problem for the low tech Hornets).
There were numerous ered flags (most only for cars that flipped) at the start, which allowed for us to work on the radio issues. Concerned about a problem in the pit area or something (health issues, etc.), the only confirmation I could get was from the scorer. Once they became aware that I HAD the headphones, Felisha and normal #1 spotter choice Joe LaMarca of North State Motors eventually attempted to help guide me through the traffic - but we kept draining the batteries in their headphones. Somehow, my radio was the only one to keep power, but it ended up being to no use.
On my own, I did get a better rhythm going, both in the lowest of the low grooves, and even slightly up the track (although the steering column in the car was loose and basically folded over entering every corner, it seemed the push got a little better). According to scorer Nick, our lap times went from the conservative 22 second range, to the respectable 17s (I am assuming that was on the high range though)! The little “car that could”, did not offer much power, and I kept shifting back from 2nd to Drive, as it seemed maybe the automatic tranny could not even keep up with what the worn out engine offered. Missing the accidents that sometimes stacked up four or more cars, we crept even higher up the track at times - attempting to keep some momentum going. With thoughts of previously spoiled Enduro efforts, when upper groove excursions ended my effort, and the words of former frontrunners such as Loran Strahorn and Ryan Nelson of VW Autohaus, I was apprehensive of living the high life for too long. Discarding Jack Hewitt’s motto that he’d “rather loose a race on the top, than win it on the bottom”, I thought of midget racing hero Kevin Olson and tried to keep the car in the low line as the laps clicked off. Surviving other red-flags, we ended up making it to the half-way point!
Felisha and Joe helped look the car over during the short break in the action, while I attempted to contact Jim Melvin for a radio charger while I added and released personal fluids. Felisha re-filled the fuel while Joe pulled off the hanging bumper, and I contemplated switching the worn out RR to the LR (the rules require approx. same size tires, so there was no real stagger). Being short on time, we did not do much more though.
We restarted toward the rear of the field, having been one of the last cars back on the track. The word from the scorer was we were 6 laps down at one point (if you look at the results, it is apparent being on the lead lap is not important in this race). Having let the tranny and car cool down, we got a good restart. We had not really done anything with the air pressures, so the tires just maybe cooled off a little and seemed to grip pretty well. I only ran the chicane once in the last few years (reasons including having not made it this far in an Enduro lately!), and was surprised at how well the old "K-car" (the results also point out this was one of the oldest cars in the field) got through the "Monza coarse". There were even a couple laps when I managed to get in a decent pocket coming out of the chicane in the turn 3 of the real oval (a point I figure to be the hardest on a car). With my desire to come off turn 2 - into the chicane - on the outside of the track (which would kind of mean the inside lane through the infield), I ran higher in this segment. My run was quickly slowed though, as going into turn one, it seemed that the car was getting really loose. Not sure if it was the track getting slippery, or my car, it took me a couple laps of about almost wrecking it, before I just really started to baby it in there. Trying different entrance methods, the car still got out of shape going into the corner. I then thought again of that LR/RR swap I desired during the break. In the end, we are not sure that was the issue though, as it appeared there was most likely oil leaking from the engine all over the RF tire. The old car started to lose power once I got used to the slip into turn one. I tried playing with the transmission selector again, but it was to no avail. Considering the 2 weeks of work I had put into the car, I did not want to keep running around and blow up the transmission or anything.
Pulling in after the car continued to slow, Felisha and Joe (eventually) discovered oil everywhere. They checked the transmission fluid too and added oil. Although it was dripping out, I asked them to dump in the rest of a bottle of Marvel Mystery lube I had and hoped to get back on the track (having confirmed that there were only about 30 cars still on the track). Taking our time to let the car cool and check what could be, I reversed out of the pit area and attempted to get back in forward gear. Once I put a load on the engine though, it started smoking REAL bad...not to mention the less than ideal noise from under the hood, and I finally gave up on my goal of getting into the top 20 (the only spots that pay out).
All in all, I only had about $85 into the car (most of that was for safety items) and even the entry fees were covered with trade-offs at the Speedway. Like I said before, after the disappointment and lack of outside interest after DuQuoin, I was ready for a break from the midget anyway (although I have checked out about all I could with the chassis and Felisha sprayed off some of the dirt). It is a lot of work for what you get out of it, but running the old automatic trans driven car, proved to me about ANYTHING could get a top finish in the event. According to our scorer Nick and the track manager Greg McKarns, we ran in the top 12. The car that I raced with the most (an orange #45X with a big spoiler of wing on it) finished 16th (the driver of that ride said he fought an engine problem as well...most likely the only reason the old K-car could go to battle with it)! Also word from the scorer was we got back to within 3 laps of the leader (you can see below, 3rd place finished 3 laps down). In the end, it may have been a heck of a last ride for the passenger hauler with the emblem of the struggling American icon auto manufactor, but after a couple weeks working on the midget, we will at least cut the filter apart and do a compression check before sending it to the scrap yard.
Please reference the upcoming schedule for future races and plans. It looks like the little outside interest we do have is steering towards a BMARA run at Beaver Dam on May 2nd, but if it is raining there, there will be nothing stopping me from putting the pavement set-up on and heading to the opening 2009 IRS in Indiana...or if it rains everywhere, hopefully Felisha and I can have the Cavalier ready for another Enduro (this WITH a preliminary "Powder Puff" race ahead of the big mayhem) at Rockford! Lacking a health issue or national disaster, I WILL be racing something on May 2nd!
ENDURO FINISH -
POS CAR# NAME Hometown Make Model Laps
1 311 Mike Jucius Oak Lawn 02 Saturn 200
2 192 Kyle Stark Waterloo, WI 92 Sentra 198
3 67 Eddie Wolf Thornton 97 Probe 197
4 5 James Stanis 197
5 33 Matt Jerry Pingree Grove 94 Saturn 194
6 93 Ryan Lagestee Dyer, IN 99 Accord 193
7 01 Josh Nelms Lockport 01 Galant 191
8 2 Roy Dennis Elburn 99 Saturn 191
9 96x Jimmy Hartmann Carpentersville 93 Escort 190
10 444 Kathleen O'Shields 190
11 182 Gabriel Alvarado Bartlett Saturn 189
12 11 Victor Young Genoa 91 Cavalier 187
13 52 Kyle Smith St. Charles 93 Cavalier 184
14 357 Rick Abel Salem, WI 91 Mazda 182
15 111 Devon Dixon Janesville, WI 92 Cavalier 176
16 45X Doug Finnern Des Plaines 94 Nissan 176
17 31 Michael Noordwal Machesney Park 94 Caravan 176
18 57D Donnie Schick Rock Falls 93 Cavalier 172
19 21D Dan Doherty Elgin Civic 172
20 3 Joie Dennis Marengo 97 Cavalier 169
21 43T Steve Goll East Dundee 98 Escort 168
22 23 Brittney Allen Sleepy Hollow 94 Escort 167
23 386 Alex Clubb Morris 91 Escort 161
24 37 Terry Biddick Evansville, WI 92 Probe 160
25 21 Ryan Schilling Bernard, IA 92 Escort 149
26 22J Cody Jacobson Kirkland 91 Accord 140
27 557 Daniel Beatty Aurora 91 Nissan 129
28 22 Charles Chism Jr Poplar Grove 91 Calais 129
29 11x Mike Cunz Courtland 93 Saturn 128
30 56C Scott Vetter Union 90 Eclipse 127
31 95 Freddy Wittmann Jr Des Plaines ?? 121
32 56 Jason Dull Machesney Park 86 Arias 118 (12 spots out of the
money!)
33 40 Kyle Wittmann Des Plaines ?? 118
34 69 Mark Bielefeldt Loves Park 89 Civic 118
35 92 Ted Diangikes Montgomery 94 Civi 120
36 24 Jeff Hooker Courtland 95 Saturn 101
37 99 Joe Dynek Kingston 93 Tercel 101
38 109 Jason Haberstoch Belvidere 89 Corolla 97
39 104.9 Jim Stone 92
40 3x Dale Markham Maple Park 92 Accord 89
41 10 Ralph Markham Maple Park 89 Infiniti 84
42 27 Derek Dixon Janesville, WI 97 Sunfire 85
43 2H Jim Klingel Aurora 92 Integra 81
44 77 Jon Zummo Beloit, WI 85 Cavalier 81
45 0 Rick Zifko St. Charles 93 Nissan 75
46 51 David Smith McConnell 95 GrandAm 70
47 101 Roger Schultz Rockford 93 Probe 65
48 107 Tony Doherty Aurora Cavalier 64
49 12 Mike Nihles Lancaster, WI 91 Accord 62
50 11m Roger Markham St. Charles 95 Mirage 61
51 19 Justin Pearson Belvidere 88 Accord 53
52 93L Tim Loomis Kingston 89 S-10 52
53 TT Double T 51
54 72 Mike Sorensen Bartlett 93 Civic 51
55 86 Nick Clubb Morris 95 BMW 48
56 808 Jimmy Stephens Maple Park 90 Civic 47
57 555 Brent Armour Hinckley 94 Talon 46
58 040 Harley Conkling Yeowardville, IL 92 Honda 41
59 15J Stacey McElliogott Union 95 Neon 40
60 44 Fred Wittmann Sr Des Plaines ?? 34
61 M1 Marl Mongan Oregon 94 Escort 33
62 66J Timothy Jones Rockford 93 Escort 29
63 590 Brick Boss Rock Falls 89 Celebrity 29
64 32 Jeff Allendorf Belvidere 93 Altima 27
65 177 Dan Harris Janesville, WI 94 Probe 27
66 82 Brock Boss Dixon 85 Skylark 23
67 04 Jacob Eufinger Bristol, WI 92 Shadow 23
68 17 Jeremy Bingham Beloit, WI 92 Tempo 13
69 7 Jake Vande Hei Milton, WI 94 Sentra 12
70 141 Matt Rowe Maribel, WI 90 Cavalier 11
71 113 Alan Bekielewski 11
72 B103 Captain Jack 7
73 34C Jerry Roach Kingston 90 Eclipse 4
74 07 Paul Klus Kingston 95 Neon 0
75 B13 Robby Bakes Genoa Cavalier 0
76 D23 Brian Desmond Rockford 89 Saab 0
77 31J Jason Roth Hazel Green, WI 94 Accord 0
78 50 Joe Darnell Machesney Park Golf 0
79 54 Andy Hill South Beloit 03 Mirage 0
80 60T Dan Green Garden Prairie 93 Escort 0
81 66 Terry Ciano Jr Janesville, WI 89 Mazda 0
82 91 Steve Mack Rockford 95 Hyundai 0
83 777 Michael Wallis Machesney Park 85 Prelude 0
84 872 Brandon Ritter Bristol, WI 86 Accord 0