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

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

We anticipated that we’d be in Dover around 5am. However, when we stopped to check on the race car Beth broke the news that she couldn’t find the slip of paper with the name of the motel we had reservations at. Cliffy and Freddy rode with Beth and Ra in his station wagon so they could get some sleep. From the rest stop it was about one hour until we saw the big roadside sign welcoming us to the city of Dover. Freddy’s crew (and wife Gerry) were staying at the same place so it was decided to just pull into each motel that came up to find Freddy car and hauler. I don’t remember how many we tried before finding it. However, the office was closed and we had no idea what rooms Freddy’s crew and wife were in. There were around 50 rooms at the place. It was built in the form of big W with the pointy thing in the middle of it being a restaurant. The decision was made to split into two groups and to walk from the office  towards the road hoping to find that Gerry or a crew member had left some sort of message. We all had chalk boards that we used to identify our pit space when the cars were on the track. Sure enough, they had. Gerry answered and also had the keys to our two rooms. Thank goodness! Cliffy and Freddy had been able to sleep but Alan and I had to keep Dick awake and we were almost out on our feet.

The track was to open at 7am to let cars into the pit area. Safety inspection of the cars was to start at 8am but the cars wouldn’t be let on the track until noon… local law. It was decided that we’d try to get four hours of sleep and show up for the inspection at 10am. I can tell you that it was a very fast four plus hours. However, Beth and Ra had gotten up early and gone to a diner just down the road and to get egg sandwiches and coffee for us. Driving into the infield was truly and ‘eyeopener’. The entrance was halfway down the front straightaway and when we pulled onto the track we quickly found out that it was banked more than the turns at our Saturday night track. In the cab of the hauler we had to put our hands on the dash to stay in our seats. The next thing was the pit area. Covered with metal benches to work on and level concrete as a floor… it was hard to believe. The first thing I noticed in the pit area was the lack of race cars. We’d been led to believe there would be at least 50 of the same class as ours. When I made a quick tour of the pit area there were less than two dozen. Adding in the larger, late model cars I figured there were about 35 in all. The main thing we had to do to go through the inspection process was to purge the fuel lines of the alcohol we’d been running. But it wasn’t that easy. We were required to run a fuel cell with foam in it and we needed either new foam or foam that had been used with gas. By then it was almost noon and the cars were lining up for practice. No foam… no race track. 

The cars were only on the track for a few minutes when the sound of the motors stopped. We were going from race team to race team hoping against hope that one might have a new set when the noise was quelled. The pit area was down in the first and second turn and when I saw people running towards the fence I looked out onto the track. One of the larger cars had hit the outside wall and spun down the track. I made my way down to the fence and saw a wrecked, smoking car just off the racing surface. I watched the driver get out and got the idea to find his team and to ask if we could use the foam from the call in the car.  Long story short, they agreed. By the time the foam was transferred we’d missed the first practice session which was  not a good thing for us. 

During the break between practice sessions the promoters of the races announced that both classes of cars would be racing together. The reaction to that news was definitely not greeted positively by the owners and drivers of our class of cars. That caused a mini panic and a meeting was quickly called for the owners and drivers of both classes of cars. What was agreed was that the purse money for both classes would be added together increasing the winnings for the winner and the next nine cars. To get the final OK to proceed the promoters agreed to let our class of cars start in front of the bigger cars.

Cliffy finally got on the track and only made a few laps at full speed before pulling in. He talked with Dick and Alan and they got under the front end and made an adjustment and sent him back out. He made a few more laps and pulled in again with more adjustments being made. In all, he got about a dozen laps in before the session was over. Time trials to establish starting positions were to start soon after and  we were to be the fifth car to go out. I asked Alan what Cliffy had told him about the track and I remember Alan rolling his eyes but not getting an answer.

We ended up turning a lap at 124.99 mile per hour. At that moment it was the fastest lap ever turned on a one mile track by a car in our class. It ended up being the fifth the fastest time but it was still exciting to start that far up, especially when looking at some of our competition. We started ahead of both C J and Freddy which was also a thrill. When the race started there were only 32 cars. A couple of more were eliminated by crashes in practice and a couple from our class didn’t want to race against the bigger cars. I had seen “Seeg”, C J’s father, when the cars were lining up on the track and he was very concerned about the bigger cars. The race was supposed to start at 3pm but because of the problems it was closer to four. The distance was 100 miles so there was no doubt it would finish in daylight. When the cars made there way around the track for the parade lap my heart was pounding so hard I could feel it when I put my hand on my chest.

At the start Cliffy fell back to seventh and stayed there until the first crash when the yellow flag came out to slow the cars. By the time thirty five laps had gone by there were only 25 cars still running. Cliffy was back up to 5th when the race restarted. What was impressive to me was he was still in front of a couple of cars that were considered to be among the fastest in our division.

       

We are #21

Right after the race restarted I had to go back to the hauler for a tool that Alan needed to make an adjustment on the front end the next time there was a caution. I was just starting back when I saw Cliffy coasting into the pit area. The reason... the transmission had broken.
To be continued...