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Well another season has begun…After a huge amount of
work by the team, we have rebuilt the old girl again. The damage from Vegas was
extensive to the truck as well as the driver.
The truck was almost a complete wreck, just about all 4 corners were damaged in
one way or another, here's a partial list of what I remember us having to do…
Rebuild the motor
Section and replace the drivers front corner of the frame
Fabricate new upper and lower a-arms
Replace shock shaft, rebuild all 4 shocks
Replace rear axle housing, fabricate new bracketry
Replace passenger side axle shaft
Replace the front brake master cylinder
Replace front caliper
Build new front and rear bumpers
Replace the factory bumper, grill, both front fenders
Repair the fiberglass bedsides.
Paint and sticker body
Resolder a broken wires in intercom system
Now the driver…Patty had surgery to pin her kneecap and has been in physical
therapy since July last year, she still walks with a limp especially after a
long day at work. She hasn't been in the truck since the accident and I wasn't
sure that she would be willing to climb in the seat at all, and if she did would
she be willing to drive aggressively.
Practice Saturday Afternoon...
Patty was fairly nervous starting out practice on Saturday, she had uncertainty
of her own commitment and skill, the knee injury was the worst by far that she'd
ever suffered and there was a lingering doubt that maybe the accident in Vegas
was somehow a lack of skill instead of a simple mistake that went way wrong. Add
the fact that she didn't know what to expect from all the fairly extensive
repairs, we also had a bad intercom so she was cut off from her spotter as well
as her co-driver. She ran the first couple of laps getting the feel of the truck
again, making sure it wasn't going to come apart on her, she increased her speed
to just about normal race speed for a few more laps. As her confidence increased
she started doing something I don't recall her ever doing before, she was
backing the truck into the top hairpin. Backing the truck in takes a fair bit of
commitment, you start the truck sliding in the braking zone on corner entry and
continue the slide through the middle and out the exit, it's the best way to
carry your speed through the entire corner. It's a fairly normal way of driving
a tight corner in a 2 wheel drive dirt vehicle but she usually hasn't been
willing to throw it into the corner that hard on entry which combines precise
timing and excellent car control…For her the fractions of seconds gained weren't
worth the risk of spinning it out and losing seconds trying to correct an over
rotation.
Qualifying - Saturday Afternoon
We checked over the truck prior to qualifying and sent her up to the line for
her timed qualifying lap to determine gate pick order for Sunday's Land Rush
start. She laid down a fairly fast lap but over cooked the corner at the end of
a long straightaway and ended up hitting the next jump while sliding sideways
which is always a risky move. The truck took care of her this time and she was
able to straighten it up and hammer down for the rest of the lap. She qualified
1st in class for the first time in years... I was very excited, I had my race
car driver back!
Racing - Sunday
9 trucks on the line, it's by far the biggest field we've seen in 4 years.
There's some really fast trucks and this is going to be a good challenge. We got
to run the longer 1.5 mile track variation, it only happens maybe once a year
but it's a way faster and more difficult track. The long track adds 2 more
jumps, a blind right hand off camber sweeper, another straight section leading
into a fast left sweeper that goes around spectator hill. The extra straight and
spectator hill sweeper allows you top carry much more speed and Patty was racing
in 4th gear for the first time ever. We we're running out of possible speed, she
still wanted more, since the truck was apparently geared wrong for this track
and this motor, we've never had that particular problem before...We qualified
1st but VORRA was sleeping when the lineup happened, we were on time but trapped
behind all the other trucks and they didn't wave us around to get the 1st gate
pick. Luckily, Patty found a decent spot with a line to the first corner so it
didn't really affect us much… BUUUUUUZZZZZZZZ….That's the sound of the alarm
clock we should have put on the dash!!! Patty was caught sleeping on the start,
actually she hadn't raced on this track in a year and forgot the race gets a
green flag at the flag stand way up the hill instead of the at the starting line
with the other flagger so she was watching the wrong guy…The field got about a 2
second jump on her but she hammered down and drove the outside line managing to
get around all but one truck in the first 200 yards or so, I really love this
motor!! The race was a great one between Patty & KC, Patty was faster in a
couple of areas, KC was faster in a couple of areas and for about 3/4 of the
track they were dead even. KC held us off for the moto win but It was a blast to
just race again. Moto 2…Not sleeping this time, Patty smoked it hard off the
line and grabbed the holeshot to the first corner, KC was tangled behind another
truck and we were able to gap 2nd and 3rd by 20 or 30 yards to have some
breathing room. Patty held the lead until the sweeper at Spectator hill when she
felt she was losing time so decided to drive it in a bit deeper and ended up
sliding up the berm and bouncing through the big holes that had formed during
the other races since we last ran. KC got around her then and we pulled in
behind to await an opportunity to pass. The truck sounded a little labored on
lap 2, I thought it was missing again but she kept going around again. Both
Patty and Stephanie started hearing something fairly loud and unexpected in the
drive train so decided to pull off on either lap 2 or 3 and park it so the race
day ended a bit early for us. After all the hard work the decision was a good
one, when we got home we found that we had destroyed a rear end gear and it was
unlikely it would have gone another lap anyway.
Overall, the weekend was a success for us: we made the race, we qualified great,
we had a great race, and best of all drove it into the trailer when we were
done. The class looks very healthy this year and we are looking forward to
racing in 2008...
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