SCORE Henderson 250 2nd
Place!
Here is
the rest of the rt seat story, On lap 1 pre-start strategy I only asked Mike
that if one thing he take it a bit easy thru the first rough sections between
RM 1 & 5 to let him get a feel for the truck in the new config, "lets the
rabbits run". He hadnt run the new set up in real bad rough yet. The strategy
worked good and we came out of the rough with a good dust free buffer and we
drove hammer down all the way to the first pass over the McCullough's. That
first lap I talked to Mike about the course every mile for mile as I could
remember from my preruns. Mike was now ecstatic on how the truck was working,
and how very different it was. We only had a very few cars pass us on 1st lap,
late in that lap one of of those was Keith Basso w/ Ward in the Rt seat @ Rm
42ish. The rest of the time we were cranking up so much dust when we were in
power sections no way anyone could see let alone pass us. Near the last part of
the first lap we came upon Nick Vanderway's truck broke in the cross grain
section at RM 66, pulled to the side of the race line I could clearly see his
Chrisman rear housing severed in two with axle dangling out the center. We came
into our main w poolman and crew and they did an outstanding job of delivering
us 30 gals of go juice and checking the front lower balljoints by request. We
had awesome radio contact for 5/6ths of the day. We could even talk to the main
over the mountains on the other side, crystal clear. Lap 2 we had our first
field stop-fix of the belts and front shock reservoirs @ RM 36ish, a shock
reservoir under the hood up front came loose and bounced around and tossed off
the alt & PS belt, no biggie I kept instilling in Mike that this is not a
setback, if this is all we have to do today were lucky. There was a blessing in
the timing of that stop as we were fixing the first group of TT's went by,
Vildosola, Herbst, Coyne. whew ! In the sharp edged rough around 42the Collins
TT got behind us and engaged us by giving us not a hit, but one hell of a big
push for a few seconds, Post passed us clean about 2 minutes later before Ck 2.
A few miles after Pit B, RM 50 the Rt front let go, we both got out did the
R&R, back on the rd in a few minutes. Cresting the summit back to the El
Dorado side, Mike gave me instructions to radio to main with what he wants done
when we come in on the 2nd stop. Gas, a new tire on the rack, off with the hood
and check that the reservoirs are on tight, and most important.. top the Gott
drink container with H20. The team with assistance from Ward did all we could
ever ask for and, properly outfitted by the team, we went back on our mission.
Starting Lap 3, in the first few miles at 5.5 we saw the Basso 12 car wrecked
and abandoned, the roof lid had passed the car by a hundred feet and was laying
in the course, looked like a shake n bake had happened, we didn't know if Rory
had been in the car at that point. A few miles later we were fast down a
straight short chute that had a severe L to R turn and at the end of the R
there was Pflugers PT rolled and at rest completely upside down everyone out of
the truck and OK, body glass strewn everywhere (took 2 snappys myself). After
that was a favorite 3 or 4 miles of great flat powerline heading west back
toward the pass. Mike said something ill never forget as he had already pinned
the throttle, full song down the powerline, and out the side window things were
getting blurry, "You know, not many people get to do this." With a big grin I
said "You got that right !". To try and share the enjoyment with Pool and crew,
I held the mic key open for a good long time to let them hear the Chevy engine
absolutely screaming, calling out.. "Mikes on a mission ! (long pause)...mach
1...mach 2...yeee haww !" Mike drove a great last lap, with new trust in the
suspension setup he and hung the truck out longer and harder then before in
many a section. Around the last 30 miles, we lost the connection to the antenna
somewhere before the summit coming back over east on last lap. A dzus or two
that hold the rear of the roof skin came off and the roof started flapping,
coax connection to the antenna had separated from the base. Possibly the worst
section of the day had to be on the Jean side of the track between RM41 &
43 before Ck2, part cross grain but moreover just beaten over-raced rocky rough
whoops with sharp tops that were really close together, we kina dreaded this
section and it was great relief whenever you finally exited it. Mike did
something near the end of each lap, on the crazy fast stretch home to main pit,
that gave me major jollies. At Rm 73 to home it was a near arrow straight path
with no rough at very high speed, there was a perpendicular road x-ing over a
double blade wide graded gasline rd (RM 75) which had a good drop down and over
and Mike did a 'fly it' over the crossing on all 3 laps. First lap it was my
mistake to not warn him of the crossover and Mike never lifting (and not
knowing) we really flew it at speed ! The next two laps id remind Mike that it
was coming up and we can fly it again and I couldn't see inside his helmet but
im sure he was grinning as we gassed it over the crossing again and again on
laps 2 & 3. It was nothing short of spectacular, I was like WOW ! The big
sigh of relief was the last mile marker as we headed into the main for the
final time ! Mike says the horse smells the barn. Pool and crew really had no
idea we were coming home, 809 with no working radio the last 30+ miles.
Needless to say a heavy right foot was applied by the driver for a loud by-run
in front of all the pits, including ours, a great sight the guys who took care
of us all day, the team, standing with arms up high and all thumbs up. With
temps already near 120, the spectator area was pretty much a ghost town as Mike
rolled up to get the checkers. A nice 180 broadie was roosted and we ground to
a halt in post-race. What a day.
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