AND THE HEAT GOES ON... & on (Part 175h)

AND THE HEAT GOES ON… & on (Part 175h)

Anticipation about our racing weekend trip and racing at the new track made the week creep by. Bret had been up to C J’s barn and reported back that C J was a bit leery of the track after finding out that 18 out of 32 cars that raced in the first race at the track had crashed or blown their motors… but he was still planning on racing. Hearing those statistics made me leery as well. By the time I left work on Friday night I was really nervous. When we raced in the Championship the previous October I’d already been to that track and seen six races so had a good idea of what to expect. In fact, over a dozen cars that we raced against on Saturday nights were also there and the drivers readily shared their experiences. For this track there were no other like racers to get information from. What concerned me even more was we’d only get a total of forty minutes practice in which to figure out how to set the car up. But, Cliffy was dead set on going.

I had the normal weekend chores to keep me busy Saturday morning and, for a change, was ready when Dick drove up with the racer car hauler We had to pick up Alan and Buster on the way to the track. I was surprised to find out we were pick Buster up but Dick said he wasn’t going on to Dover. I’d brought two changes of clothes with me and hoped it would be enough. When we got to the track Freddy was there waiting for us. He had some bad news. The Dover promotors hadn’t put out much information in the way of rules and what we’d heard was you could run what you raced with at your local track. But, somehow Freddy had discovered that the track didn’t allow alcohol as a fuel… and we were still running Freddy’s fuel injection set up and alcohol. While we unloaded the car Cliffy went to the track steward, Butch, to get confirmation. He found out Freddy was right but, we could still use the fuel injection system but had to run gas. It wasn’t good news but it was better than having to remove the fuel injection and replace it with a traditional intake manifold and carburetor.

We were all still grumbling about having to drain the alcohol out of the fuel cell when our qualifying heat was called out onto the track. We’d pretty much established that we were in the upper echelon of the regular racers which had us in the third heat. The only good thing about that was we’d be starting in the front. We’d had no real trouble finishing among the top six (out of 12 to 15) cars and avoiding the ‘last chance’ race. Freddy and C J were in the same race but were back a few rows. We started second, outside on the front row. I don’t think any of us were worried… but we should’ve been. The car that started on the inside was a good car and the driver was not considered to be a problem. However, when the green flag dropped that car on the inside never turned left and went straight taking us into the guardrail. It all happened so fast that I didn’t see what happened right behind us except to know that no one hit us. They had to stop the race to clean up the mess. Of the twelve cars that started only seven were able to continue. We got towed into the pits and as we saw the damage knew there was no chance we’d be going to Dover. However, we had to replace all the parts on the right front suspension just to get the car back up on the bed of the hauler. Alan started pulling the needed spare parts out of the locker on the truck while Dick and I started stripping the damaged parts off the car. It wasn’t long before Freddy was there to survey the damage. He didn’t stay long but when he left he told Cliffy to come get him when we finished it up. 

One of the biggest draws for the track was figure eight racing. Larry, the promoter, was one of the first in the country to offer it. Cars used the corners of the track but not the straight aways. Coming off the turns they would race through the infield from one side of the track to the other with the chance that they would collide in the middle. For all intents and purposes it was a more sophisticated demolition derby. The fans would ooooh and aaah at the close calls but every so often there would be a crash. On this night there was a very serious one causing one of the drivers to be taken to the hospital via ambulance. Racing was halted until it returned to the track. It was while the races were stopped that we got the car so we could move it. Looking at it we could see there was a still a problem as the front wheels didn’t line up with the rear wheels. Freddy had made a couple of trips over to see how we were doing and while he was there the last time Butch, the chief steward asked if we were going to run in the “last chance” qualifying race. Cliffy shook his head from side to side but Freddy mentioned that there were only six cars listed and suggested that Cliffy go out and just ride around. If only one car dropped out then we’d be qualified for the main event. Cliffy wasn’t ‘buying’ it but Butch told him if that happened all we had to do was take the green flag and we’d get $50. Since we had put the effort in to get it to this point the rest of us urged Cliffy to go ahead and do it.

Two cars didn’t finish the ‘last chance’ race so we made the lineup for the feature and Cliffy turned one lap to earn our $50. He pulled into the infield to wait until the race was over but there was a major crash that stopped the race. That allowed Cliffy to get into the pits. We immediately went about loading the car onto the hauler. We were about ready to leave when we heard there were only a few laps to go to the end of the race so we went out to the pit grandstand to see who would win. Freddy finished second with C J right behind him. We were walking back to the truck when the cars started entering the pit area from the track when Freddy’s car went past us and he was yelling for Cliffy to follow him to his pit. I was ready to head home and not in any mood to party… but Cliffy followed Freddy’s car.

Dick followed Cliffy but Alan and I continued on to the hauler. I remember us talking about the good luck we’d had for the past month and ruing the fact that we got crashed the night before the big race at Dover. I remember Alan telling me how he was going to spend his Sunday working on his house. Before long we saw Cliffy and Dick running towards us. By then, Beth and Ra had showed up. Cliffy told us we were headed for Freddy’s auto body shop. He had a frame straightener and Freddy thought he could fix our race car and that we could still make it to Dover. I know I had to have rolled my eyes after hearing that. 

Freddy’s shop was about a half hour away. Cliffy told us that Freddy’s car and crew would be heading to Dover along with C J as soon as they got their cars loaded and that Freddy would then go with us. We pulled into his place and saw the doors open in one bay with the lights on. Freddy was in business with his brother but the brother had nothing to do with racing… but he was there waiting for us. We got the car unloaded and onto the straightening rig in no time at all. In  about a half hour the car was back out on the ground and Alan and Dick were ‘stringing’ the car. (Stringing is the term used for measuring critical points on the car to make sure that various components are aligned properly.) That took almost as long as the frame straightening did but when they were done the mis-alignment was less than a quarter of an inch. It wasn’t long after that were headed for Dover. It was around 1am. What a night!

To be continued…