6/19/2020
-
Lernerville Speedway Fab Four Opening
Night.
The gremlins have moved on...
emerged as
the No. 5 Street Stock, and finally we have completed our first racing event.
When we say this is a totally rebuilt racer, we mean it. Damn near everything
on this car has been replaced, rebuilt
or re-engineered. The
only original part is the radiator. The chassis has been totally rebuilt and
more than half of the original structure has been re-designed. The steering
geometry has been completely
re-engineered.
Gary's background
with Matt Machine has paid off with parts fabricating, chassis redesign and
safety features. James background in fabrication and welding has been
quintessential. He is a tireless worker.
He transferred all his
assemble skills to the race shop. His talent building a "land-speed" car is
displayed on the 5 car. Gary and James have brainstormed and transformed a
barn-find into an old-skool Street Stock.
Gary completed each
round, hot laps, heat race and feature. That is real success because "first you
have to finish, before you finish first". Our official finish was 14th. We were
lined up to start the feature
outside the second row, but we
knew we needed another second off our lap times, so Gary relegated the 5 car to
the rear. The data we have gathered is vital and we know where another
second or two
is located. The car was simply spinning the rear
tires, no traction...
Wash day after Lernerville, July 4th -- Where's
the Dirt!
7/3/2020 - Lernerville Speedway BRP tour,
410 and 305 Sprints, no Late Models.
Quite a night at Lernerville...large
crowd (don't tell the governor), lots of cars in pits, 24 Sportsman and we are
the only Street Stock there.
Made a gear change thanks to Scruff and
picked up a second off our laps. Started at the tail again. Finished 18th
according to the listing.
Moved some weight around, still the tires
are not hot enough so we must make more adjustments. Car remains very good on
turn entry and
Gary managed to run some laps up top, although this is
not our fastest way around. We don't have the camshaft for maintaining a high
power curve above 6500 so we must use throttle and run the bottom to make up
turn speed.
Circle track racing is all about power on straights and
smooth transitions throughout the corners. We have a good idea where we are on
three of the four corners, just need a little more bite off and some juice down
the straights.
The car
came home in one piece. That is a good night for a team that runs on a
budget...as always thanks for your support.
BTW: We are
trying to get the in-car Go-Pro videos up on the site.
Big files, stop back I might have an idea.
7/10/2020 - Lernerville ranied out.
7/17/2020 - Lernerville FAB FOUR showcase with the "sportsman pro stocks".
What a terrible night. The
track was really dry and the lack of rain since last Friday has everything
turning brown. Made some changes that
will effect turn exit. Heat
race was un-eventful. We went eight laps green to checker and managed to get
into the redraw. That sucked! We went
backwards in the lineup.
Again there was 21 cars in the pits so it was going to be a feature
plow-for-all.
Running 7th in the feature, it was the 5th lap and Gary found some debris on
the track; managed to cut down the right rear tire...of course it was brand
new that night!
So we end up with a DNF. Then on the way out of the
pits, we run over more debris and cut into our trailer tires. No, not the
older ones, the ones with
the least amount of wear. So that cost
another three hundred bucks to replace the trailer tires. It was a night
to forget.
Note that I did not post the GoPro videos...no
reason to waste the server space.
James makes his debut next
week...
Smokey posts the heat race lineups...
7/24/2020 - Lernerville RUSH NIGHT including "sportsman pro-stocks".
That means a lot of extra cars, no
regular sprint division, they ran on Tuesday in a special. The "wingless
sprints" from RUSH were on hand. That was a really decent race.
We
ran first in the heat and the feature. James Bertges made his "first ever"
feature event. Now understand that a lot of good drivers avoid the speed and
the competition at
Lernerville. Lernerville is not the best place
to make your debut, let alone race there without even the slightest amount of
seat time in your life. He relegated himself to last.
His heat
race was decent. He seemed to be comfortable, and so we all decided he would
take the feature green.
You will notice in the video, he was a
little timid at first, but that is totally understandable, but toward lap ten
he began to show some decent times. He had been lapped, but
only
three cars got around him. He was not a "full lap" down to the field. As he
gained speed, he gained confidence and turned a few nineteein second laps.
You do the math.
A half a mile at 60 MPH is 30 seconds,
if you travel straight...a
half a mile under 20 seconds, you are hitting 85 or better (average) while
you turn left twice for each lap.
James had some luck on his side,
but he drove very well for a rookie. He kept his nose clean, challenged those
who were lapping him, he raced them. Make no excuses, his father
won a hell of a lot of races in his days, but these are not those days...and
James proved that he deserves more seat time in the 5 car.
He put
the "5" on the board and turned lap times that were very respectable
considering we are underpowered by about 100 horse power. James gets a "top
ten" his first night out!
7/31/2020 - Lernerville NOSTALGIA NIGHT with "sportsman pro-stocks".
It was a fireball Friday when the 30 car detenoted the power plant in turn
one. James was back in the car again and had a nice run.
The
car count was up again and we started our feature a little later than usual.
The track was dry-slick and the yellow was flying for an unusual
amunt of cautions. Anytime a car goes up in flames, the drivers become
over-motivated.
The 5 car had a good setup but we still struggle
with tire pressures. Bertges drove the car to a 12th place finish,
but it was a finish. We have
only
one DNF this year and that we blame on a new wheel. That same
wheel is causing problems in the race-shop as well. We have wasted two brand
new tires and this hurts us because we are a budget team. Unlike
the front runner, we can't afford to spend 600.00 on tires to win a 300.00
purse.
8/7/2020 - Lernerville BIG RIG NIGHT with "sportsman
pro-stocks".
The big rigs came out to do laps on the track. The kids get a kick out of
this but the pits don't have the room to handle all these trucks. There
were cabs, dump trucks, tow trucks all with noi less than 10 wheels.
Sportsman car count was 16 on the board.
Gary was back in the 5
this week. He faired well in his heat race, and managed another top ten for
the team. Gary finished 9th and was moving up
when he ran out of
laps. The car was tuned well, however we seem to have a battery issue now.
The 16 volt electrical system is not holding a charge as
expected.
It is only one year old with very few laps on it last season.
Gary
took a left side pancake on the back stretch. These guys are all trying to
use the same real-estate. I can't understand why "driving over your head" has
become so popular with drivers and fans.
Stupid is not the fast way around
the track!
I am still looking for another half second. If I
can get the 5 car lap times down to the low 19's we will be a top 5 car.
This is the least we can
do...law and order is not rocket science.
8/14/2020 - Lernerville GO KARTS with "sportsman
pro-stocks".
The kids brought out their GO KARTS for
display. This is a weekly affair at "the BIG-E" Eldora Speedway. However
racing in OHIO is not
fairing well during the "mandemic". Tony
Stewart has had to make several schedule changes there. Dave Blaney's track
is not running at all.
We must show respect for the owners and
staff at Lernerville. We are truly
lucky to be racing this season. Sportsman class had 18 cars sign in.
James seems to bring out the "fireworks". Another fireball in turn
one. This time the 4 car. No one was hurt and the track crew cleaned up
things
quickly. I must say, the Lernerville track crew, officials
and the safety crew are the very best in the area. This is why we race at
Lernerville.
Other local tracks must get their act together...safety
for competitors and spectators is priority. Lernerville sets that
benchmark...
The feature was a "plow and wreck-fest". I won't mention
names or car numbers, but now there are a few drivers who have lost all
self-control.
The same handful of cars, they can be counted on for cautions
and tearing up equipment. No exception this week and because we are running
up
in the pack, we are consuming more "work time" every week. It is
hard enough tuning a car to go fast, we waste time fixing the car after
some "plow-boy" tries to take everyone out. One car, this week, took out 3
others and tried to slam James over the back stretch hill. James
had nothing to do with it and drove the car back up on the track, but it was
too late, the caution was thrown and the 5 went to the tail.
The
car that caused the caution was now 5 positions in front of James. Not long
after the restart the 5 was back up in 13th, when the same
"clown"
decided to "T" bone another car on the front stretch. This time we sat for 10
minutes while the cleanup crew cleared the debris. After the race,
some "chosen nominee" brought us the sheet metal from our right side door and
told us "hey, you guys might want this". What an ass! Learn to drive!
James finished out of the top ten at 11th. He avoided several on track
instances and kept the car moving along. He drove rather well, but in
the grand scheme, it was not a good night for the 5...
This set us
back. "Rubbin' is racin'..." bullshit!! This was not rubbing!! This
"incident" cost us half a grand.
8/21/20 - Lernerville, Fireworks
Night...lots of them on track as well.
James was in the 5 again this week. He ran a good heat and managed to make
the redraw. That was Ok, but tenth is not the best place to start.
The feature got off to an early plow-fest. The track was its usual slick and
slimey condition. I gave James a decent car, started out with the
tire pressure a little lower on the right, gave him some additional wedge as
well. He got off to a decent start and then managed to get into the front
stretch wall.
The previous week was a "half-grand" fiasco that
cost us a lot of time and money to make up for the damage. That always hurts
because it cuts into
our very limited tire budget. We could
use a new RF after last Friday and we busted up a bead-lock and bent another
tie-rod link. The new ball-joint
and A-Arm are not hurt. I did make
the decision to change out the right front spindle after noticing excessive
wear on the steering arm pivots.
After the incident on the 14th I
made an engineering adjustment to the jacking system. This change kept the front spring
aligned and probably saved the
suspension. We will
be good to go on Friday if the tropical storms slow down as they turn
right...there is a 50/50 chance as of now.
James finished officially 12th after returning to the
track to finish the feature. He was 5 laps down. The field started 20 cars,
so he was not the last of
the last. He will learn, and a few knocks
like these last two...you learn real fast.
Gary is in the car for
Friday. The 5 Street Stock (that is what the car is) has a firm grip on the
9th spot in the points. We need a
good finish.
Church-Built: The 5 car is a narrow-chassis
narrow body racacer. The body dimensions are that of a 1984 Monte Carlo, the
car weighs 3100 pounds and
carries a 406 Iron Block engine. We
rebuilt most of the car, which was fashioned from a CRC roll cage kit
installed on a stock chassis back in 2012.
Once in a lifetime
you get a picture like this.
Next Event to be
determined...please practice all social consideration in a harmonious and
graciious manner.
We are all neighbors. We are all Americans. Elected
officials live to make laws...don't let them run your life!!
Stay safe; racing will continue.
God Bless America, our firstline responders, our veterans and our "men in
blue...