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Wow, what a blast! First I really have to say
what an awesome series we are getting to run with! Wes & Company are incredible
from the professional way they carry themselves, the racing, but most
importantly the little details. For the first time in 15 years I have a 1st
place hat! My most treasured item from racing was our 1st place hat from BFG in
our very 1st outing in 94 and since we've not rated the attention that the
larger series have, I've waited all these years for a new one. The weekend was
very special as Patty's Aunt Jane came out to visit from Arkansas and support
Patty's effort to raise money for the 3 day walk for breast cancer in November.
It was a chance to spend quality time with her and expose her to what we've been
doing for all these years. She was in the pits and managed to meet just about
everyone and had a blast. Patty bought her a membership, got her banded, and
took her out for some practice laps on Saturday for an experience she'd never
had. Jane's a double breast cancer survivor with a verve for life that just
draws you in and almost forces you to take part in her celebration of life.
Everyone around her is "invited" to the party and her disarming southern charm
just grabs a hold of you and makes you family immediately, she's an incredible
woman.
We would like to thank all the participants in the raffle, poker run, and
donations, we raised $250 that all goes to the Susan G Komen Foundation for the
cure. We've never tried a fundraiser before and appreciate the help and patience
of everyone as we worked through the challenge. Some prize were not claimed and
Patty will post the unclaimed winning numbers on the Vorra site. Hopefully, we
can get some more sponsors involved for future races and continue the raffles
through the season although we have a couple of big ideas for the season
finale!!!
On to the races!!
Race prep went fairly easy even though the truck was still dirty from October
only a month before. We had to build new upper a-arms and get a new ring &
pinion but other than that just normal maintenance. VORRA pitched a changeup, we
were running my favorite, the long 2 mile track which we've only raced on the
2nd race of the year. It's a pain to spot for and video but the track is a gas
with lots of high speed and 2 more good passing zones so you get hung up less in
traffic.
Practice went well, Jane went out with Patty while she got warmed up and took a
look at the track then Stephanie took over so Patty could build speed and look
for lines. There was an old tree in the gully on the exit of the Spectator Hill
sweeper corner, I saw a number of fast cars coming close to blowing the corner
so advised Patty to take it easy until VORRA could get it cleared. Qualifying
was a fairly conservative lap for her, she ran a lap at 1:36 which got us the
Pole by about 3 seconds.
Race 1 - Patty pulled the holeshot and quickly moved out to a 5 truck lead. John
Manfroy was able to close up to a couple of truck lengths a few times but had
his hands full with KC Keller stuck to his rear end like Velcro for most of the
moto. Patty drove a very good race and took the checkers leading flag to flag.
Race 2 - Patty again grabbed the holeshot, John was again right behind her with
KC right behind him. She pulled out to a little bit of a lead early and got even
more room when John popped a motor. KC was pushing hard and closing fast, Patty
and Stephanie were dealing with a broken mirror (its 3' long) and was flopping
around in the cab. Patty and Stephanie though they had more time to get it dealt
with and had no idea KC was on them for the lead until he blew by. Patty dropped
the hammer and closed up over the next lap and a half and was able to get around
him when he blew a rear tire. At that point I looked around the track and saw
only Chris Fuhs was running but was a lap down so she was able to pull back a
bit and finish with the win.
The rules changes that came about this year really concerned me, first and
foremost I'm concerned about the health of the class. We've been here when we
were the only truck at a race as well as working hard along with all the "class
old-timers" like Manfroy, Koenig, Keller, and many others who fielded trucks
over the years in good times and bad. It has been a strong class with very few
internal problems between teams and racers, excellent competition, and solid
turnout. The class is one of, or even the one to watch at Prairie City and I
don't want anything to hurt that. The new group T class that Wes put together
was a complete shocker to me when it was announced. I was very concerned about
reducing the car count but still concerned about the future of the class since
new trucks keep coming in with very little consideration of rules or to the
fairness of those who already race here and have proven themselves for years
with their time, money, and dedication to the class and sport. Thankfully we had
13 cars between the 2 classes since the desert guys came out to support their
class and both classes have good seeds with what appears to be enough strength
to grow and become great in their own respects. We really do need 2 classes so
there's a reasonable entry point for new people to race a truck as well as a
place where you can open it up more with the right budget and time and now we
have it. My guess is the group T version of the class will get even more popular
in time since BITD's growing over the last 5 years and SCORE has remained about
the same or even shrunk some, only time will tell. I really enjoyed the
opportunity to see another truck class with good racing.
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