Pylons and tires and Burkes, oh my! Okay, here's the reason we've titled this installation this way: It concisely describes everything we managed to run into during Race 2 of our season. In my races I managed to get significant pieces of Mike Hyde's and Sean Wilson's tires; Dana attacked a helpless pylon minding its own business during her feature; and as a final insult, as I was wheeling our kart (still on its stand) up to the grid for Dana's race, I managed to have an accident with Rich Burke who was wheeling his daughter Erin's kart through the pits. In spite of all this abuse our results were fairly good.

Preparations

There wasn't too much to do to the kart after our last race. Basic maintenance and a few repairs. We discovered that a seat brace had broken sometime during the last outing and McCall Motorsports was called into service to weld the pieces back together (they do pretty nice work over there). A ten pound weight that we had mounted towards the nose of the kart was moved back to mid-chassis to eliminate the front-end bounce we had encountered. Other than that, it was just a matter of getting the damaged nose back to original appearance.

Since the the first race, Dana and I had done some "classroom" work at home on the lines around CRP. We made a big map of the Circleville circuit and studied the fastest lines around the track, especially on crucial corners. We also reviewed overtaking lines and the compromises they make of speed and safety. Before the track was open for practice Dana, Butch and I walked a lap of the track discussing in full-scale the theories Dana and I discussed on the living room floor a week earlier.

Walking the track has been a ritual of mine in every form of racing I've participated in. Even 2.5 mile road racing courses. There is a sort of intimacy you can establish with the asphalt in doing so. Things like the amount of adhesion available in various corners, bumps, cracks and holes, road camber or banking and even elevation changes are some of the things that can be better assessed as a pedestrian. But as team owner/manager/transport driver/accountant there is little time left for driver luxuries like walking the track on raceday. But it is a habit I'd like Dana to get into as she starts her racing career.

Double Duty Again

Some major changes in the plans for Dana's McCall Motorsports ride had popped up since the last race and once again her kart was just short of being race ready. Conlin SpeedSports faced another day of double duty, running our kart for both Dana and I. It promised to be a lot of work, but having been through it three weeks earlier, we knew what to expect and knew we could do it.

Jim's Practice

As good as the kart was last time out, it was anything but when it hit the track Sunday morning.

Exiting the pits the clutch was slipping, but once engaged, it seemed to stay hooked up. But after the session the memory on the tachometer was showing the motor had hit over 7000 rpm - well over our redline. We had been meaning to rebuild the clutch but it looked like we had waited one race too long.

We also had a slight but annoying misfire that showed up on all sections of the track but seemed to be aggravated in the right hand corners. Accompanying this was a lack of engine temperature. This was new, unexpected and worrisome. Because it seemed to be influenced by G-force and the kart's general attitude, we suspected the fuel system.

Even most surprising was the lack of grip at the rear of the kart. With the exception of different tire pressures, we kept the set up that worked so well on April 8th but here, 3 weeks later, it was as if we were back at square one. But at least I kept it on the track this time!

Dana's Practice

Before we knew it Dana's practice session had come up and we only had time to get the kart refueled and checked over. We set the tire pressures back to a familiar number and sent her out.

The misfire was still there but the handling seemed to have come around a bit - at least it seemed that way on the clock. Dana was able to crank off some quick, steady laps. In fact she was able to do five in a row that didn't vary by more than .2 seconds from one end to the other.

But when she came in, the engine temp was even lower and the tach showed an even higher max. And although she was able to manage respectable times, she complained of the kart being uncomfortably loose, too. We had our work cut out for ourselves before Dana's first heat race.

Dana's Heat 1

During the break, I managed to swap to our spare clutch and widen the front track while Tracy tended to the regular checks and maintenance. We still didn't have a plan on dealing with the misfire - we'd have to deal with that after her race. We had never run the spare clutch and the initial spring settings were to factory specs - which would be close but probably not perfect. On the grid with the motor running I could see that it was engaging at about 3500 rpm, a bit lower than optimum. Another change to note for after her race.

Dana elected to start from the back row again this being only her second Seniors race meet but it looks to be the last time. She was gridded inside the third row with Bryan Rose and Joe Fagan on row One and with John Fox and Bo Strawser making up row two. One of the areas she had been advised to work on was staying in tight with the pack on the pace lap so as to not give anything away even before the start of the race. At her reluctance to bump the guy in front I told her bumping and jostling was part of the deal on the pace lap and that no one would get angry for some pushing coming up to the flag.

She took the advice to heart and stuck on Fox's bumper like glue. And she was right with them as they took the flag but was just a little slow to respond to the others' cue on acceleration leaving her adrift just a little. But she was able to stay with them the first two laps even registering a 52.75 on her second lap. It looked like she'd have a good run.

But, her run only lasted to Turn 3 on the third lap where the still loose kart got away from her and she stalled it. When she got back to the pits she was quick to admit she had simply overdriven the kart turning into 3.

Jim's Heat 1

There wasn't time to do the clutch adjustment to get the engagement speed up. We had replaced the fuel pump diaphragm though in an effort to get rid of the misfire that was probably more to make us feel like we did something about it.

I drew the outside front row starting position next to Mike Hyde and in front of Gary Frazier. Next to Gary, on the inside of row two was Sean Wilson. At the drop of the green, Mike got a good start and I tried to go around the outside of him in One but couldn't do it. And as Mike followed a normal line to the exit of One I found myself running out of road fast. I guess I'm not used to that long nose on the front of the kart yet because before I thought to lift I had it grinding against Mike right rear tire.

While Mike and I were applying a very fashionable blue side wall stripe on his Dunlap tires, Sean was on the inside taking the race seriously and slipping into the lead. I can't remember where I got by Mike but I managed to work past him into second and set my sights on Sean. But Sean had us covered in that race. (Not to take the suspense out of this report or anything but he pretty much had us covered all day.)

The kart was still loose and still misfiring and the clutch was engaging too low (how's that for a list of excuses?). In spite of all that, we ran some good laps the best being a 52.37. But if we were going to get close to Sean, it looked like we'd have to solve some of these problems.

Dana's Heat 2

We had a little more time between my first heat race and Dana's second one so we were able to make the adjustment to the clutch to increase the engagement speed. By the clutch engaging below the rev range that produces the most torque, the kart engine has to struggle through the less powerful range on its way to its power band. The result is slower acceleration. We also made a tire pressure change that we hoped would get more bite at the rear tires. We had also taped off some of the air to the engine in a desperate attempt to get it up to operating temp.

Dana was in fifth again, behind Bo Strawser and Joe Fox on the front row and Joe Fagen and Bryan Rose in row two. At the green she stayed with them pretty well but still fighting the miss and the handling she wasn't in a position to challenge for position. She ran a good, steady race again putting together a string of 52 second laps. And although her fastest lap was about a tenth slower than my fastest in my first heat, her average for the race was better than mine! Makes a dad kinda proud.

Jim's Heat 2

The tape did the trick, the motor temperature was right where we wanted it during Dana's Heat #2. The clutch seemed smack on the money too. Things were looking up. Now if we could get the handling and the misfire to submit, we could maybe give Sean a hard time.

For Heat 2, I was starting on the outside of row one with Sean. Mike was behind Sean, Gary was behind me. Coming up the green, a little cat and mouse was played out between Sean and I. Cruising onto the main straight, Sean got on the power and I was ready to respond and stayed with him. Seeing that, he back peddled a little to throw me off a little hoping I'd get out of sync with him as we neared the flagman. I did a pretty good job of not giving too much up and still staying with him - if I do say so myself. Too good in fact because as we approached the flagman's threshold I was ahead just a little and although I know better, I backed out of the throttle for just an instant so as to not cause a wave off. Well, you know what happened, the green dropped and I lost just that little bit of momentum.

So through Turn One, instead of being a nose ahead of Sean like I was coming up to the Start/Finish line, I was a nose behind. Sean gave me room to race all the way through Two and as we approached Three he had more than half a kart on me. It was an act of purest optimism that had me try a move down the inside at Three. But Sean was fast in there and had the corner. I had to get on the brakes hard to keep from hitting him and with the tires still cold the back end snapped out as I missed him by a hair. So violent was that snap that for an instant I didn't think I was going to catch it. It seemed pretty scary from where I was sitting. I can't help but think it gave Mike and Gary mild heart attacks.

From that point on it was Sean's race to lose. My bobble gave him lots of ground on the rest of us. He was probably about 8 or 10 kart lengths ahead of me as we spilled out onto the back straight. I was able to gain a little on the second lap but then threw it all away on lap three with a big slide somewhere. I made up a little bit again on the final three laps but from what I could see, Sean never put a wheel wrong.

Dana's Feature

The Lunch Break which quiets the track for half an hour between the Heat races and the Features finally afforded us the time to hunt down the source of our misfire demons. Butch had come over to lend a hand and it wasn't very long before the problem was found. And it was so silly and basic I refuse to say what it was here out of embarrassment. But it's a good thing we found it when we did because I was just about to tear the engine down and work my way out from the crankshaft to find it.

During lunch Dana was considering whether or not to take her rightful starting position rather than starting in the back again. She was indecisive for a while but finally decided to go for it. The kart was still loose in my race so, also in the break, we made a chassis adjustment in a last ditch effort to bring the track to us. At that point all we could do was hope for the best.

Arriving on the grid, we found that the other racers assumed she would be starting at the back and her place was already filled in. It was okay, we decided not to make an issue out of it, one more start from the back wouldn't hurt but it would be the last time. Once started, the engine sounded more responsive and looked like it was back at its peak. The front row would be Strawser and Fox with Rose and Fagan in the second.

When the green flew, Dana was not as close as she'd been in her Heats but she worked at staying with them. In Turn Seven, still on cold tires, she had a big sideways moment and lost some ground to Rose. Putting that behind her, she got to work and soon she was reeling him in. Each lap she seemed a little closer until the margin stabilized and I could tell she was thinking about how she was going to pass him.

She seemed to have better exit speed out of Turn Ten onto the main straight but tended to give it away by pinching it down on the exit to avoid following Rose. On lap Five or Six she carried a little extra momentum down the straight and eased inside Bryan going into One. Still a little new to passing, she misjudged how much room he was going to give her there and dropped her wheels off the inside of the track. Not only did it put an end to the passing attempt but it victimized a helpless pylon bravely protecting the inside of the turn. As a final act of defiance, it left a black streak from one end of our kart to the other.

Dana was able to close in again but never got close enough to try again. Coming out of the last corner she went to the inside on a run at him but there was not enough race left. It looked good though.

In tech inspection she was moved up to third place, the result of another driver not getting through tech. In all that commotion we forgot to record Dana's lap times before using the stopwatch for the Super Heavy Feature. A shame since some of those tidy laps she ran trying to catch Bryan would likely have been impressive.

Jim's Feature

With the clutch pretty close to perfect, the misfire gone and engine temp exactly where we wanted it to be, hopes were higher going into the Feature. While waiting to fire engines I joked to Sean that it would help a lot if he'd make a mistake or two in the race. The grid was set in the same order as in Heat 2 so I would get a rematch with Sean on the race to Turn Three.

I wasn't caught out this time at the start and and Sean and I ran side-by-side through One and Two. Through Two Sean seemed to have a little more pull but I had the inside line going into Three. Hard on the brakes to keep from drifting into Sean I had the lead exiting Three. I had to take a defensive line going into Four because it was likely the longer radius Sean was forced to take through Three may have given him the speed to shoot down the inside. Heading down the back straight I had the lead.

But then I lost my composure. Finding myself in the lead with the recent memory of how fast Sean had been earlier in the day, I got in the mindset that I was going to have to drive the wheels off our kart to stay ahead. I know better than that - once in the lead I should have just gone into practice mode and drive consistent, tidy laps. Let Sean find a way around me if he could. But in the heat of battle that's easier said than done.

Trying too hard, I was making a lot of mistakes but on lap two messed up Turn Four pretty bad. I moved over a little to make it a little difficult for Sean if he had done Four well and had a run on me. I had just about given up on him when I saw the nose of his kart just out of the corner of my eye. To his credit, he thought better of the move and backed off giving me the corner.

On the next lap I botched Four again. At the end of the straight I was so preoccupied with the expectation of Sean trying another inside move that when it didn't happen, I missed the turn-in to Five and had to whoa it right down to stay on the track. This time Sean showed up right on schedule, zipping by the inside on the way to Six. With him having to slow just a little for Six due to his compromised line, I got just a little too close falling in behind him and picked up another big rubber smear off his right rear.

In the second half of the race I was able to realize what I was doing and settle down, maintaining the gap to Sean I lost being a wildman, but he was out of reach. Sean got a well-deserved win and we were happy to have second, all things considered.

A long day, with more challenges than we really needed, but we never gave up and that's what it's all about. We head into our third race with Dana third in points in Briggs Medium and me leading the points in Briggs Super Heavy. And we have a few ideas in our bag of tricks that will give us a little extra for Sean.

And Sean: I know you read these things - you better be workin' too.