Boys will be boys!

Well, another week has come and gone at the racing stables of Team LaCross and here is the latest news:

Mikey has been exploring purchasing a new race car since before the season began and after makign offers on 3 other pretty damn good cars, I think he ended up with a hell of a nice hot rod as he finalized the purchase of a new race car this week. The #10 Scirocco of former champion Steve Green and master Motor builder Jamie Thomas is currently awaiting a graphics re-design and will be at the track for the next race on May 2nd. This is in addition to a fine 3rd place finish in the Main for Mikey in his trusty Corrado. Next race, he will put his driving skills to the test and be starting from the back... but in what car??? Hmmmmmm.... Goooooooooooo Mikey!!!!

 

Can I just say "Whoa Nelly!" about our racing day? Being the Anal guys we are, 19.4's were not good enough for us week one... so we put a completely new set-up in the Honda. Much more of a Late Model style package, we were determined to go out and shave a couple of tenths off of the previous week's best time and spent quite a bit of time experimenting with sway bars while the car was sitting on the scales. We went out for 1st practice and it was noted that the car felt rather bouncy again and would require a bit of tuning to dial that out. Then... It happened... As Scott and Steve were side by side going through turn two after a practice restart, Scott clipped the uke tire with the left front wheel, breaking the tie rod and axle... when the car came down, it immediately shot to the right and hit Steve's car, sending him off the track and into the outside wall. Both guys hopped out of their cars and were ok, frazzled a little but still in good spirits.

As Steve's spotter Eric and I stood there staring at the cars on the track and shaking our heads, we could do nothing but laugh at the situation. The Flagman came walking up to us and I figured we were going to get read the riot act, but he just shook his head and said that he KNEW that it was an accident and that no intent was there because they are good friends and would never wreck each other intentionally. Steve drove back to the pits and Scott came back on the wrecker... both cars needed a fair amount of work, so we went at it on both.

While Scott and Mindy ran up to the Harriss homestead to grab parts for the Honda, I got it all apart, fixed the minor body damage and hoovered around Steve's pits offering help if they needed it. In the end, Steve was able to get his car fixed for Qualifying and we missed it by about 10 minutes... fortunately, we did get the car put back together in plenty of time to get a couple of safety laps in before the heat races.

Heat Races: Did I mention that we turned the fastest recorded lap of the year in the Mini-stocks Saturday? 19.240... nowhere near the track record, but still not too shabby. We finished an unspectacular 4th in the heat race as Scott drove predictably cautious for the first few laps after all the parts swapping done a couple of minutes earlier.  But then that 19.240 appeared shortly after a 19.3something. Funny thing is that the car was not handling very well and it still was pretty fast...

Main: Started in the back due to missing qualifying. Went green to checkered once again and we finished 6th. The car was still not handling very well and we think we have figured out the problem, so we are going to address it and possibly a couple other items and see what happens. Whoever drives the car next, we want it to have that bounce eliminated so they can drive it even faster than we have. We feel that we are just scratching the surface of the potential of Tonya and hope she continues to show well even after our time in her is done.

I'd like to point out that the show was great in the Mini's again this week, with Steve Green and Kris Harriss putting on the races of the night in both the heat race and the main... last lap passes and nose to tail/door handle to door handle racing between these two absolutely stole the show. Great racing from a couple of great competitors!

The big news of the week is
...

There is a light down at the far end of the Late Model Tunnel. We are going to start turning our attention back towards our Late Model program. We have been setting aside a little here and a little there and with a little gentle prodding from our fellow competitors in the class, the juices are flowing again to get to work. As work progresses and news develops, you will see it here first!

Next scheduled Team LaCross race date: Saturday, May 2nd, "Cinco de Mayo" Night at Evergreen (although shouldn't it be "Dos de Mayo"?) featuring the Street Stocks, Mini Stocks, Super and Stinger Figure 8's and the new Renegade 8's.

Also, please don't forget to head out to the track this Saturday night for the Super Late Models, Super and Stinger figure 8's, Hornets and Youth Hornets as well as Friday night for the WWRA racing schedule and Sunday for Drifting!

See you at the track!