Smoke Hound

 I would really like to race at Potomac Speedway on Sunday, Sept. 5th. I would also like to race at S.S.P. on Saturday, Sept. 4th. If I run at SSP (Susky) on Saturday and recieve any damage, it could mean having to miss Potomac on Sunday. Check back for decision making. Leaning toward racing both and hoping for the best on Sat. and Sunday!

 Got to thank Pat, Jim and Jack (all members of 00 crew) for working on my car this past Tuesday night. Look forward to trying the car out, to see if changes to car work. That is why I want to run Susky on Sat. night. Susky is more like Williams Grove (my home track) than Potomac is. Potomac is banked. But I would very much like to participate in the 25th annual Ronnie McBee memorial race at Potomac on Sunday. I didn't know Ronnie personally, but raced at Dorsey and Lincoln Speedways, when he raced there in Late Models. I also remember attending the 1st Ronnie McBee Memorial race at Hagerstown as a spectator and it was a tear jerker.

 Disappointing night! Spent a lot of time on the car this week, as well as fair amount of money and car was terrible. Worst finish of the year, 17th. Car was loose on exit.

 Suppose to run either Winchester on Sept. 17 or Hagerstown on Sept. 17 + 18. Not sure which one and after tonight's run, not very excited about either one. Will probably feel better about tomorrow. Probably come up with a new plan for next race.

 Not a bad night. Our feature was 1st, so we got to get home before 12 o'clock. Made some changes to the car to try and correct the "push" that I was having entering the turn and I believe it helped. Car is still too loose on exit, but I had to correct the entrance to the turn first. Finished 2nd in my heat and I think we had 11 or 12 cars in the heat race. We had 23 cars total and only 2 heat races, we needed 24 to run 3 heat races. Finished 10th in the feature. I don't know if anybody was behind me, but 7th to 10th was tight. If any of the 3 cars in front of me would have "bobbled" for just a moment, he was going to get passed. It was fun. No major damage to the car, just a tire scuff on the front nose piece, just paint over it with spray paint. Got a plan for the coming week to attack the exit problem and wind up our 5 races in a row this coming Saturday at the Grove.

 It was a wild, crazy and late night in the Street Stock division at Williams Grove Speedway tonight. It's after 2am and I'm just getting home. First of all, before I left the track last week, I got some "top secret" info on "the set-up" on the winning car. So I adjusted my car during the week to be similiar to the car that won last week. I drove the car in my Heat race and the car was junk. It wouldn't turn properly and then the rear end wanted to spin around, so in other words it was "tight" going in and "loose off". When I mentioned how bad the car handled to the driver who won last week, Korey, he informed me that last week the track was dusty dry and tonight the track is wet, you can't run that set-up. Yeah, no kiddding! Oh well. I was able to make some adjustments with tire stagger and had better results in the Feature.

 This is where things start getting wild + crazy. I had to start 18th out of 24 because of my terrible Heat race finish. The field takes the green flag and we got about 3 laps in, when I just starting to come out of turn #4, I see a couple cars get together and start to turn sideways on the track, when one of them stands up on its nose and starts to spin. I am on a collision course to run right into this car that is spinning around on its front bumper, so I spin the car on purpose because there is no way I can stop in time. The car that was spinning lands upside down, with a lot of other cars damaged. The race is red flagged, for track clean-up. I look at the score board and 00 is in 1st + 3rd. I hear the announcer say Pat McNeal is in 1st. We finally get to racing again, but about 8 laps later, I'm coming out of #2 and the track ahead, in the middle of the back stretch in blocked with wrecked cars all over the place. I stand on the brakes and steer the car, as its skidding through all these cars. Now, red flag #2. I drive away from the accident scene with what I found out later with the rear bumper bent out and some right 1/4 panel damage. Now the score board shows 00, 1st + 2nd. We finally get racing again. I can't see the leaders, but Pat was leading when we got restarted, but Korey past him before the checkered flag fell. Then the track wants to Tech inspect both 00 cars. Now the track hasn't checked a single Street Stock all season, but they want to check 2 cars tonight. Well, Pat's white 00 car past the "pump test" which means it was under the 358 cubic inch engine rule, but Korey's black 00K wouldn't crank properly for a good reading. The track officials wanted the cylinder head removed and "big" Pat said he wasn't taking his engine apart at the track. So, the win was taken from Korey and given to "little" Pat. The #16 car wound up with an 8th place finish, 3rd top ten in a row. Got some damage to repair and some more changes planned for the suspension, this week.

 None of the Street Stock competitors could get paid until the results of the 1st + 2nd place car"s tech inspection were complete. That on top of the fact that we were the last race of the night, made for a very late night!