SCCA: NHIS Double Regional personal report
- Jack Durbin
- MNI - Motorsport News International
- Tue Sep 10 21:58:11 EDT 1996
>From: rwelty@wizvax.net (Richard Welty)
>Date: Fri, 06 Sep 1996 04:53:43 GMT
Because of the nasty cold that my wife and I both caught as the
weekend was winding to a close, there's been some delay in this
report, but i'm almost recovered now, and she's getting better...
This racing season has been pretty limited for me. We bought a tow
vehicle in February, a new computer in March, and started renovating
the basement about 3 months ago. It was only mid summer when i was
told i could go ahead and pick up new front and rear sway bars for the
ITB Alfetta Sedan; that turned into a long and ugly saga, as the
nonavailability in the US of the factory bushings for the front end
links caused me to laboriously file the studs on the lower control
arms in front from 14mm down to 1/2" so I could substitute 1/2"
spherical rod ends. It's been a very frustrating season so far, and
as we approached the end of August, it became clear that there were
serious questions about even making 1/2 distance in two races to keep
my license. I resolved to make the Labor Day double at NHIS and run
conservatively in order to make it 1/2 way through the needed races.
This was going to be a bit different from previous events; Allison is
due at the end of november/beginning of december, and is now working
in more of a supervisory capacity, and I've not had a lot of luck
finding crew for such a bass ackward racing effort. Ahh well.
I got the car together in time; it was a little difficult to start,
but it drove onto the trailer under its own power, and we headed off
to NHIS, a little behind my schedule, but I tend to be very
conservative about these things and so we were really "on time". we
got to registration about 3 minutes before it opened, which was good
as I couldn't find the entry form so we were the worst kind of late
registrants -- we didn't even have a clue what the entry fee was, much
less a form that was at least filled out in advance. I hadn't even
been able to find my competition license; I figured out how to use the
fax software that comes with Windows 95, and got national to fax me a
letter that made the registrar happy, though.
They let us in despite all this, and we found a grassy area in the
paddock. The race car didn't want to start, but it was easy to roll
off, so we left it there next the trailer, unhitched the trailer, and
found our hotel. The Capitol City diner next to the Econo Lodge at
exit 13 of I-93 turned out to be a decent cheap (and popular) place to
eat.
We got there early on saturday. The race car still wouldn't start; it
appeared to be a battery problem. Cranking down on the loose positive
connector didn't help, so I checked and it was still loose. Obviously
the connector was shot; I regard these as disposable items anyway, and
dug a new one out of the spares bin. The car fired right up; the
battery was in excellent shape.
As a typical example of how the season is going, I couldn't find my
vehicle logbook. Since I needed an annual insepction anyway, I
figured I'd live; I even manged to present a blank page to the tech
inspector (being chief of tech for New York region means I have a page
book or two lying around.) The inspector who did my car had previously
worked for me in tech at lime rock earlier in the season; it went very
smoothly. It helped that the car was in good shape and my gear was in
good shape, of course.
We were slugs when we went for breakfast; I missed most of my first
practice session as a result, and didn't get any good information on
how the thing was handling with my guess at tire pressures and the new
sway bars.
Next came a qualifying session; i went out and just tried to take it
easy and learn about the car. This thing has been slow every time
it's gone out; I've been trying to work out why (driver? car? both?)
while staying out of trouble. We qualified about 8 seconds a lap
behind the second slowest qualifier, but faster than I'd run the last
time I'd been out at NHIS (or anywhere else), almost a year ago at the
late October race. The car felt good, reasonably balanced (although I
wasn't really going fast enough to push the balance that hard, in all
honesty.) The brakes went a little soft towards the end, but not too
bad. I bled the brakes after the qualifying session with help from
Mohud members Michael Pelersi and Kim Graff; there was a lot of air in
the RF brake line.
Next up was the qualifying race; we figured to not push it, just go
out and run at least 1/2 distance (the qualifying race counted towards
license renewal, and if I made 1/2 distance, no other race would count
towards renewal until monday, when there was a different sanction
number.) The pole sitter chose to take the admonitions of the chief
starter seriously (rolling, not flying starts in the SCCA, you
understand) and started the race in first gear. I wasn't caught out
too badly, until i inadvertantly went to 5th instead of 3rd at the
start and fell seriously behind, but then I was going to be seriously
behind anyway with my lap times, so it wasn't all that bad. The first
5 or 6 laps were fine; I was running at least as fast as my fastest
qualifying times, and starting to believe that I could push it harder,
despite my qualms about the rear sway bar end links (I still don't
feel that the whole thing went together right.) On the seventh lap, I
started suffering from major power loss at the end of the south end of
the oval, and had a car that barely made it up the hill after leaving
turn 3. The power would come back through the bowl, and go away again
passing through the south end of the oval.
On lap 9, it all came to an end. The car wasn't running well; things
were clearly coming apart, and I had all the laps that I needed. I
pulled in; the motor died as I rolled into impound. Tech was
impounding all IT cars for ride height checking; the Alfetta passed
easily, and then I popped the hood. We quickly determined that at a
minimum, my lower radiator hose had popped off of the water pump. I
didn't think that the water pump gasket itself looked too good, but
hope springs eternal, and figured that I could at least put the lower
hose back on and fill the cooling system, and see what happened.
I got a flat tow back to my paddock space. I heard a grinding noise
from the back on the way there, and decided to jack the car up and
look at the rear brakes first. It turned out that the left inside
rear piston had jammed, and worn the associated pad all the way down.
the other three pads were fine. nuts.
The rear calipers on an alfetta are a pain in the neck; they are
inboard and have associated handbrake bits and pieces. I fiddled a
bit, had no luck and decided it put it off until the next day. From a
license renewal point of view, I didn't have to race on sunday, only
on monday. I could start from the back on Sunday and take a few laps
to check the car out, but I didn't need to go 1/2 distance after I had
made 9 laps in the qualifying race.
The next morning, I went to work. I put the hose back on, and Allison
went off to fetch some water and fill the radiator. I crawled under
the back and went to work on the brake caliper. While operating the
adjustors for the left rear caliper, the whole assembly started
whizzing brake fluid, indicating a significant lack of sealage in the
assembly. Time for a rebuild (and a professional one at that; these
Alfetta rears are something that quite frankly I'd rather pay someone
who knows what they're doing to take care of.) While under there, I
saw something dripping in front; I went forward and found that water
Allison and I had just put in was seeping out the left side of the
block from the head gasket, another significant lack of sealage.
Between those two facts, and what with rumors of a hurricane coming up
the coast, it became a no brainer. We packed up and headed home. I
can do a rear caliper and rotor and and a water pump gasket and a head
gasket before the late october race at NHIS, right? Even if I do go
work tech and press at the Runoffs (by the way, I now have Valvoline
support for my Runoffs pages on the web; look for announcement in the
near future, as well as prompt results and regular reports on the
page; they will be accessible via Valvoline's Web site,
www.valvoline.com))
cheers,
richard
--
Home: rwelty@wizvax.net Work: welty@balltown.cma.com
me: http://www.wizvax.net/rwelty
unofficial SCCA page http://www.wizvax.net/rwelty/scca/
N. American Race Tracks http://www.wizvax.net/rwelty/tracks/
--
Home: rwelty@wizvax.net Work: welty@balltown.cma.com
me: http://www.wizvax.net/rwelty
unofficial SCCA page http://www.wizvax.net/rwelty/scca/
N. American Race Tracks http://www.wizvax.net/rwelty/tracks/
From indy500@freenet.scri.fsu.edu Tue Sep 10 05:29:55 1996
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Date: Tue, 10 Sep 1996 01:32:04 -0400 (EDT)
From: Jack Durbin
To: Nascar News List , ras-info@omega.metrics.com
cc: Autorace , majordomo
Subject: SUPERTRUCK: Standings after New Hampshire
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Status: O
>From NASCAR Public Relations
1996 Current Standings
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
After Pennzoil 200
Race Date: September 8, 1996
Race No. 18
Driver Points Starts Wins Top 5 Top 10 Winnings
1 Ron Hornaday Jr. 2954 18 4 15 18 312375
2 Mike Skinner 2802 18 6 13 14 375450
3 Jack Sprague 2778 18 3 13 15 298195
4 Dave Rezendes 2419 18 2 6 10 196350
5 Mike Bliss 2394 18 2 8 9 223725
6 Jimmy Hensley 2348 18 0 5 12 147210
7 Joe Ruttman 2315 18 0 2 10 112025
8 Butch Miller 2308 18 0 5 8 144350
9 Rick Carelli 2292 18 1 2 7 148005
10 Bryan Reffner 2275 18 0 3 7 117350
11 Bill Sedgwick 2153 18 0 3 8 122575
12 Rich Bickle 2148 18 0 5 6 134545
13 Doug George 2087 18 0 0 5 103675
14 John Nemechek 1973 18 0 0 2 101375
15 Bob Brevak 1866 18 0 0 0 96950
16 Walker Evans 1745 18 0 0 2 93650
17 Bob Keselowski 1735 18 0 0 1 92525
18 Bobby Gill 1688 14 0 0 4 83075
19 Lance Norick 1688 18 0 0 1 86600
20 Kenny Allen 1554 17 0 0 1 77800
21 Michael Dokken 1498 15 0 0 3 80150
22 T.J. Clark 1159 13 0 0 0 52150
23 Jay Sauter 968 7 0 2 5 52195
24 Lonnie Cox 868 10 0 0 0 39350
25 Mike Hurlbert 853 13 0 0 0 38700
26 Harry Gant 829 7 0 0 2 30750
27 Mark Gibson 820 8 0 0 1 31275
28 Nathan Buttke 811 7 0 0 3 30700
29 Charles Cragan 782 8 0 0 0 37725
30 Ron Barfield 649 5 0 1 3 32650
31 Mike Chase 607 7 0 0 0 26050
32 Randy Renfrow 522 6 0 0 0 19725
33 Jerry Glanville 515 5 0 0 0 26750
34 Steve Portenga 503 5 0 0 0 22000
35 Butch Gilliland 491 5 0 0 0 25050
36 Frank Kimmel 465 4 0 0 1 22025
37 Dan Press 450 4 0 1 1 25275
38 Joe Gaita 428 5 0 0 0 19700
39 Jeff Burton 423 3 0 1 2 17000
40 Andy Genzman 421 7 0 0 0 4200
41 Kenny Wallace 376 3 0 0 1 13700
42 David Smith 355 4 0 0 0 17975
43 Rick Johnson 343 4 0 0 0 11725
44 Ernie Cope 337 4 0 0 0 15575
45 Ken Schrader 325 3 0 0 1 15950
46 Johnny Chapman 322 4 0 0 0 15600
47 Geoff Bodine 318 3 0 0 1 16050
48 Joe Madore 301 4 0 0 0 8125
49 Johnny Benson 300 2 0 0 2 12550
50 Steve Park 290 2 0 1 1 14253
51 Robert Gerhart 285 3 0 0 0 11950
52 Tobey Butler 284 2 0 0 2 12125
53 Gary Lloyd 283 4 0 0 0 11050
54 Scott Lagasse 273 3 0 0 0 15800
55 Terry Cook 270 3 0 0 0 8800
56 Darrell Waltrip 268 2 0 0 1 9100
57 Ernie Irvan 243 2 0 1 1 10000
58 Robert Rizzo 243 2 0 0 1 9000
59 Boris Said 239 2 0 0 0 9175
60 Kenny Irwin Jr. 222 2 0 1 1 11550
61 Carlos Serrano 221 2 0 0 0 8600
62 Terry Mccarthy 214 2 0 0 1 12975
63 Rodney Combs 209 2 0 0 0 12000
64 Mike Colabucci 207 3 0 0 0 7725
65 Jeff Spraker 203 2 0 0 0 8225
66 Kevin Harvick 201 3 0 0 0 10300
67 Robbie Reiser 182 2 0 0 0 7925
68 Andy Hillenburg 176 2 0 0 0 8125
69 Wayne Jacks 173 2 0 0 0 4200
70 Joe Nemechek 170 1 0 1 1 20575
71 Billy Ogle Jr 170 2 0 0 0 4100
72 Mark Martin 165 1 0 1 1 12025
73 Steve Mendenhall 161 2 0 0 0 7050
74 Joseph Bessey 150 1 0 0 1 5250
75 Richard Beebe 149 2 0 0 0 4200
76 Mike Mclaughlin 138 1 0 0 1 4850
77 William Wallace 138 1 0 0 1 5100
78 Doug Thorpe 137 2 0 0 0 3650
79 Tony Stewart 134 1 0 0 1 5575
80 Davy Jones 124 1 0 0 0 4400
81 Kenny Bouchard 115 1 0 0 0 4250
82 Daniel Hieber 113 2 0 0 0 0
83 Wm David Stacy 112 1 0 0 0 4200
84 Ritchie Petty 112 1 0 0 0 8050
85 Kevin Grubb 109 1 0 0 0 4150
86 Jerry Robertson 103 1 0 0 0 4575
87 John Blewett III 97 1 0 0 0 3950
88 Daniel Obrist 97 1 0 0 0 3950
89 James Porter 97 1 0 0 0 4075
90 Gary St. Amant 88 1 0 0 0 4175
91 Wally Dallenbach 88 1 0 0 0 3975
92 Monty Klein 85 1 0 0 0 3650
93 George Tallas 80 2 0 0 0 0
94 Mark Day 70 1 0 0 0 3700
95 Bill Venturini 70 1 0 0 0 3825
96 Bob Strait 70 1 0 0 0 5750
97 Wayne Grubb 67 1 0 0 0 3750
98 Casey Atwood 67 1 0 0 0 3700
99 Bob Schacht 67 1 0 0 0 3825
100 Jimmy Davis 64 1 0 0 0 3100
101 David Green 61 1 0 0 0 3700
102 Perry Tripp 58 1 0 0 0 3800
103 Mike Wallace 58 1 0 0 0 0
104 Rick Markle 58 1 0 0 0 4750
105 Brandon Baker 55 1 0 0 0 0
106 Frank Davis 55 1 0 0 0 0
107 Rick McCray 52 1 0 0 0 0
108 Randy Churchill 46 1 0 0 0 0
109 Guy Thomas 25 1 0 0 0 0
Jack Durbin indy500@freenet.tlh.fl.us
Motorsport News International jackd@motorsport.com
(Moderators for "rec.autos.sport.info")
Homepage http://www.freenet.tlh.fl.us/users/indy500/index.html
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