NASCAR/MISC: Madera Winston West personal report 


>From: Claude E. Watson




Tuesday night, August 6.


        Bill McAnally had Jessie (his Mom) ask if I would work in his pits
Saturday in Madera.  Some milliseconds later I said , "Sure!"  Talked with
him on the phone and got the lowdown on how to get signed in, so I am 
pumped for the weekend.


Saturday, August 10.


        Got up and headed for Sacramento, where we were to have lunch with
Bill McAnally's wife and daughter.  They are expecting Alex any time now, 
so she did not go to the races with Bill.  Enjoyed meeting them, and had 
a nice lunch near their house.  It was about 12:40 when we rolled out of 
there, andI'm sweating because Bill wants me in Madera by 4:00.  We roll 
down I-99 at the speed limit + (mumble) and blow right by the racetrack 
on the first pass, but I see it and make a flip at the next exit.  Get to 
the pit gate about 4:10 pm, so everything is still OK.
        I passed through the pit gate at 4:15 pm, and Gail went up and 
found a seat in the stands.  Jessie and JoAnne are finding a hotel and 
will join her later.
        I wander on through the pits and find the trailer, where I
introduced myself to the rest of the crew and almost immediately got 
sucked into a pool on where Bill would qualify.  One person had the pole, another
had third, and the next best placing was 7th.  I took sixth, since they 
said he had practiced very fast.  I figure it's only a buck, but I hope 
that Suzi(picked the pole) would take my money. ;-)
        Bill comes back from the drivers'  meeting and we meet in person 
for the first time.  The crew goes over the car again some and it's time 
to go through tech to qualify.  I help shove it to tech, and NASCAR has 
finally drug out the height jig for the rear end of the car.  We are 3/4 
inch low,so we commence to raise it up, wondering whether this is going 
to screw upthe handling.  Passed tech and put the car in line, where I acted 
as "car guard" while the others put together some tools to go into the 
infield.
        Madera had a full program that night, with T-Cups (like Mini-Cup
cars), Legends, and 360 modifieds as supporting divisions to the Winston
West race.  WW was the last to qualify, so I got to see most of the other
divisions qualify.  While I stood there I got to talk with several WW
regulars like Butch Gilliland and some of the Pete Graham crew, then Bill
came along and we talked for a while.  he tells me that if he can hold the
bottom around 1 and 2 we will be quick, so I know what to watch for.  Bill
is about 7th to go, so he gets strapped in and I walk back up the bank to 
watch.
        It's two lap qualifying, and the first six were in the 15.10's and
above, so I have the stopwatch on Bill when he rolls out and takes the
green.  On the first lap he comes of turn two way sideways and still 
manages a 15.00, so lap two will be great of he can hold the car.  He 
ends up with a 14.97 and sits on the pole for a while, but finally gets bumped 
off.  A letdown, but he ends up qualifying fifth (and gets his tires free 
from Goodyear) so it is a great day so far. (Plus I got the pool money 
for being closest. )
        As a note, a rep from his sponsor was at the track and we talked
quite a bit about various forms of stock-car racing like ARCA and ASA, as
compared to WW and WC.  He was a great guy, although he later captured my
less flattering side on videotape. ;-)
        The guys hit the checklists and go over the car while I help put 
the new brake ducts on the front.  There were a couple of things that 
will be on the checklists for next time, but that will show up later.
        Line them up, fire them up, and go racing.  Bill is running fifth
and working on the fourth place guy pretty good for the first 50-55 laps.
Then big smoke out the back.  A valve cover had started leaking so he 
dives in the infield to get that worked on.  While there, the car overheats and
blows the water out, so he comes back again and they get some water in it.
He is laps down now, but still running very fast until halftime (lap 126)
when they all come to the pits outside the track.  We fuel it (I held the
catch can) and get him out of the car because he is hot as heck.  He tells
me to check his helmet cool air system and the hose has fallen off at the
cooler end.  I'm hanging in the passenger window putting it back and
tightening it all up while the sponsor is videotaping the rest of the
action.  My butt will be famous there, I guess. ;-)
        Back out after halftime he is still running well, but the car
overheats again and finally he pulls it into the infield.  Big letdown for
me and the crew, but better than blowing the motor all to pieces.  I start
l;ooking for Pete Graham to see how he is doing, and things are looking OK
when a loud "Pop" and sudden shutdown end his night.
        At about 20 laps to go we head back to the truck to put stuff away
and get out his autograph cards and T-shirts.  He sets up a table after
every race to deal with the fans, and his sponsors love that.
        Lance Hooper wins the race and we finally get the car back to the
pits.  A fifteenth place finish isn't bad, but we had a top three car.  
All told the day was mixed, with the car running good but some obvious 
things that were missed.
        I did my part of helping load up and walked down to Pete Graham's
pit to meet him and Evelyn.  Talked with Pete for a few minutes but Evelyn
was very sick, so we didn't bother her.  It was way hot there and I hope
that is all it was.
        Bill and the guys head back to Sacramento while we all hit a motel
there in Madera.


Saturday, August 10 (post race)


        After the race and loading out we head for the motel at Madera.  
We decide to get something to eat first,, and stop at a 24 hour 
restaurant down the street from the track.  The sign on the door says "Closed", as 
does the sign on the door of the other 24-hour restaurant next door.  
This is peculiar, until we figure out from the flares in the road that 
Madera had participated in the 7-state power outage that we had heard about on 
the radio.  Luckily Wendy's Drive-Thru was still open so we didn't starve.






Claude Watson   -   Cincinnati, OH
cwatson@tso.cin.ix.net  -- http://www.tso.cin.ix.net/user/cw/cwatson/


They wouldn't say, "Stuff happens!", if it didn't.








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