24 August - A Tough Day For Those Conlin Girls
After both of our entries ended up parked off the track at the end of the first round of heats, it looked like it was gonna be one of those really tough days. It was for Tracy but Dana's day improved.
It was an all female front row for the first Briggs Stock Medium heat with Tracy on pole and Jenna Gearhart to her right. At the start Tracy led all the way to Turn 5 where Eric Fagan slipped by with Jacob Gearhart, Bo Strawser, Tyler Tatman and Jason Karr close behind. As the laps wore on, those class leaders got by but Tracy was doing a good job of holding down sixth place, staying just ahead of Jenna. At Turn Five on the last lap Tracy made a rare mistake (she hasn't spun in a race without help all year) and the rear wheels passes the fronts.
Jenna very nearly got caught up in it, just barely clipping the 99 kart's nose as she squeaked by. But Tracy was stalled on the racing line and could do nothing but wave her arms and watch the big eyes of her competitors go by as the fought their karts to miss her. They all did, John Spangler even flinging himself off in the grass and out of the race to miss her. John is our hero of the day for that. Where Tracy came to a stop the karts are going between 40 and 45 mph around an all but blind corner. A collision there would not have been good for either racer.
Having started first in Heat One, Tracy started tenth in the second heat. Unfortunately she only improved one spot struggling with bad handling and not being able to find a safe place to overtake Matt Rice whose kart was very tight and "bicycling" several times a lap.
With poor performances in both heats, Tracy was gridded tenth out of the eleven karts for the feature. On the run out of Turn One, Matt or his kart bobbled and Tracy had to veer to the left to keep from running into the back of him. At the same time, new karter Ron Hoy got a run on both of them and going into Turn Two and Tracy once again found herself as the meat in a kart sandwich. Unlike the week before, all the karts got straightened out and continued but the impact had twisted Tracy out of position in her seat and hurt her back.
Unlike most sports where an injured player requires a time-out and that player being excused for the rest of the game, racing doesn't allow that. And Tracy is a racer so she was determined to carry on. But first she had to get herself settled back into her seat properly. To do this she had to get out of the racing line and out of the throttle. By the time she was repositioned she had fallen to the rear of the field - even the Junior racer's (who start behind the Briggs Medium field) karts were past her.
Dead last a 1/2 lap into the race, Tracy poured it on passing new Junior racer Bryce Reall then Hoy. Next she caught and passed Debbie Picklesimer (Junior Unrestricted). Then had a several lap battle with Matt before getting by for good between turns 5 and 6. On the last lap she got inside John Spangler going into Eight and finished 7th. Not a bad finish all things considered and a heck of a run past five other karts.
Dana's day looked like it was heading in the same direction about 12 seconds into her first race. John Fox was unable to get his blown engine repaired in the six days since the last race and had to sit this one out. Roberto Zayas showed up as expected but when Barry Hatcher showed and said he had brought his Margay/HPV, we new we were back in the deep end. Barry has earned a great deal of respect among Ohio kart racers having won club, regional and national championships.
So when Dana won the fight to the first turn from the pole, it was a matter of how long could she keep it. It turned out to be Turn 4. But it wasn't the result of Barry's experience - going through turn 3 Dana made a rare mistake of inches and dropped the right rear tire off the pavement. That allowed the chain and sprocket to momentarily make contact with the track. Damage was done there and when she applied full power at the exit of Four the chain snapped and she instantly turned into the grass to get out of Barry's and Roberto's way. Barry went on to win but was found to be under weight at the scales after the race. So even with Dana only getting as far as the backstraight, she earned second place points. Even better, Roberto got his first HPV win!
Equipped with a new chain, Dana got another jump in Heat Two and led again through Turn One. This time she kept all her wheels on the black part and finished first, Barry never more than a couple kart lengths behind. Barry had also entered his other Margay in Spec 100 where he won over a large field.
Barry and his dad were pitted across the way from us and we could see them making changes to their for the feature. Dana was pretty pleased with the handling of her Biesse Viper so the changes we made were minor, accounting for track and temperature changes only.
At the green it was Roberto that got the jump on everyone and led through turns 1 and 2. But at Three that unpredictable Birel of his had him out in the grass at the exit and Dana went by into first with Barry right on her bumper.
Lap after lap Barry stayed there looking for a way around at Three and coming out of Seven. His Margay also seemed to have more legs at the end of the backstraight but Dana's launch out of Four would give her a couple kart-lengths that Barry couldn't make up as they neared Five. Dana and I had talked a bit about the ethics of using a defensive line since last weekend and it was gratifying to see that she wasn't driving off line throughout the race. She did, however, make her kart a little wider on the last lap. As she said after the race, "I figured if he could get by in the first seven laps, he deserved it. But if he didn't, I wasn't gonna let him on the last lap".
Whether that defensive line was necessary we can't be sure but Dana did keep Barry behind and won her 13th race in HPV. We felt pretty good about another win, especially over a new opponent but we quickly began to realize we had underestimated the accomplishment at hand. Many people visited with us afterward and emphasized the significance of the win. Mike Unger was quick to let Dana know how impressed he was. An other one was John Fox, there to crew for his son Ryan's kart, who said, "Beating up on an old guy like me is one thing but beating Barry Hatcher - now that's doing something." Even Barry, while we were in tech, had good things to say to me about Dana as a driver.
But before our heads get too big, we remind ourselves how humbled we are when we run the Great Lakes Sprint Series against the likes of Scott Rettich, Chris Livingood and Lance Hancock. And even though Barry pushed Dana to her best ever lap of Circleville Raceway Park, I can't help but think he was not having his best HPV day and that we still have a lot to learn as a team.
Just for kicks, Dana took Tracy's Briggs out for a few laps of open practice after the races. It had been about 10 months since she last drove that kart and had done a lot of miles in the HPV. The reclined driving position, popular among the 4-cycle set was foriegn and uncomfortable to her now. Still, she got to within .6 of Tracy's time in a few laps. I don't think she'll be going back to Briggs.
17 August - Another Good Day For Those Conlin Girls
With seven races down and six to go in the 2003 championship, we set up on the morning of August 17 with Tracy tied for 5th in points with Marc Rice and only 20 points behind Jenna Gearhart in 4th. Dana, in HPV, was "enjoying" the slimmest of leads over seasoned veteran John Fox - 2 points. So the second half of the season promised to be just as intense as the first.
And it was intense right from the get-go as Tracy's class immediately lived up to its rough-and-tumble reputation. Starting fifth, Tracy lost a position to series contender Bo Strawser on the first lap but was struggling with a very loose kart to find a way past Jim Fisher right from the start. At the same time she had Justin Gearhart snapping at her heals. On lap three Tracy got a run on Fisher coming out of Six and took the inside line going into Seven. Jim saw her coming and gave room and there was no drama until Tracy's kart betrayed her and stepped out at the apex. The momentum she lost from that about matched what Fisher lost by running wide and it turned into a drag race for Turn Eight.
But a drag race usually involves only two competitors but this became a three-way race as Justin managed to keep his momentum up while Tracy and Jim faltered in front of him. Unfortunately, they were all headed for a piece of track that could only accommodate two karts. By Fisher's account, he had two wheels in the grass and was looking to ease back on the hard part. Justin was running out of pavement and Tracy was the (insert your favorite lunch meat here) in the sandwich. It was easy to see it was getting ugly fast and Tracy was the first to exercise discretion and got out of the throttle.
But it was too late. The squeeze was on and Fisher's right rear climbed over Tracy's left front and hooked him to the right. The shock of that through the chassis sent Tracy off the track driver's left. Justin was just able to get ahead of Fisher's kart as it sliced right, across the track. Matt Rice wasn't as lucky. He T-boned Fisher before he could get to the grass on the right hand side of the track. Tracy was able to return to the track and finish the race. Matt got going again but had to retire due to the damage his kart suffered and Jim had to retire on the spot. Tracy finished seventh but considered herself lucky to finish that one at all. Between races we had to repair damage to the nose and straighten a tie rod.
As the accident developed, all Tracy saw was a black nose coming up the inside of her and thought it belonged to Matt Rice. Of course, when the dust settled and Matt was scrambling to get back on the track too, it seemed to confirm her assumption. But, we learned later, Matt was probably the most innocent victim this time - the gap he was going for to get around the mess suddenly closed. The MSOKC BoD was on the track for this race to watch for intentional rough driving and Mike Unger, Mike Long and I were all near Turn Seven when The Big One happened. From my vantage point I could see how the karts got three-wide but couldn't see who moved on who. From Mike's and Mike's positions further up the track they said the three karts just ran out of track and they were trying to go three wide where three wouldn't go. They both said Tracy just held her line and got squeezed. We all agreed it was just a racing accident.
Dana started her first heat on the pole and was only able to eke out a meager lead over John Fox for the first 2 1/2 laps after which he fell off the pace altogether. Later investigation revealed a twisted piston ring and John was done for the day. Roberto Zayas spent the first heat fighting the effects of a bent axle which was damaged when he went for a wild ride in practice after his throttle stuck.
In her second heat, Tracy started sixth but was up to fourth by the backstraight on the first lap. Jacob Gearhart demoted her to fifth as he charged through the field. A few laps later she got the position back when Marc Rice went off at Six. She finished a strong and uneventful fourth.
For Dana's second heat, John was a no-show and Roberto, with his axle replaced, had the pole. At the green Dana got a jump and had Roberto following closely for a few laps. Eric Fagan running his Briggs Super Controlled in the same race was able to match Dana's pace and then gain towards the end of the race but was still behind Dana at the flag. Two for two for Dana.
In the first two heats Tracy reported the engine cutting out late in each race. Daryl Dillon, who has earn a great deal of repect as an engine builder, happened by and offered some suggestions. A tip of the hat to Bob at Strawser Racing for lending us the jet we needed.
In Tracy's feature, she started sixth again and was into fifth going into turn three. At the end of the back straight she slipped under Jenna Gearhart for fourth. That move forced Jenna a little wide at Five and Jason Karr wasted no time freight-training her and thus started a entertaining race-long duel between the two. Up ahead Tracy was gaining on Brandon Rees, driving Eric Fagan's Briggs Medium kart and was looking for way past when a mistake in Eight lost her a chunk of time and all contact with Brandon. Tracy maintained fourth the rest of the race. Meanwhile, coming out of Nine on the last lap, Karr dropped two wheels into the grass and gave Jenna a run at him. The lost momentum hurt him all the way onto the main straight at the line it was Jenna by half a kart length.
Roberto and Dana were dead even at the start of the HPV feature and went into Turn One side-by-side. Roberto had to concede the line and Dana went ahead. Again, he was able to keep up for a while but then faded. Roberto has just not been able to make that Birel kart handle to his liking and Turn Six seems to be his biggest problem.
Soon Fagan was around Roberto and closing on Dana. Before the feature, Eric's dad Mike stopped by to say the were taking some weight off their kart to make the feature a little more interesting. Since the two were in different classes, first or second on the track would still be a class win for each. So it came down to pride and bragging rights.
Receiving signals from her crew each lap, Dana was well aware of Eric's proximity. She used the defensive driving lessons Fox taught her several weekends earlier perfectly. Too perfectly, almost. I started to feel sorry for the poor guy. Dana gave Eric one chance when she got sideways in Four but he had to check up to avoid hitting her and couldn't capitalize. Otherwise, Eric tried every trick in the book, even backing off early going into some corners to be able to exit harder but to no avail. Dana was able to keep him in check until the checker.
With Fox's retirement, scoring zero points in Heat 2 and the Feature, Dana got a big jump in the HPV Champ points. But not enough to relax though - we could have a bad weekend and things could even up real fast. Tracy, with her 7th, 4th & 4th broke the tie with Marc Rice but lost a little ground to Jenna. Fourth is now Tracy's goal for the championship but Jenna has been running strong so we'll have to see how the next five races play out.
While all this was going on, our pit were full with visitors. Fred (Fred!) Scheltz came out to spend the day racin' with us. My old friend Curt Edwards and his two nephews came out to see what all my time is spent on. And two ofTracy's frineds, Liz Stelzer and Jamie Willcutt were on hand to cheer her on. Thanks for coming out everyone.
After racing, Dana took up Mike Unger's offer to drive his Biesse/Leopard. The Leopard is a 30 horsepower "Touch and Go" motor that many feel is the future of karting. The "Touch And Go" means simply that it is equipped with a starter and battery allowing the kart to start at the touch of a button, alleviating the need for a pal to start the engine. Dana couldn't get comfortable in the kart, her usual driving position being hampered by the radiator. Nevertheless, she was quickly down to the 47s (Mike runs 45s with the occasional 44) while trying to not run over Noah Unger lapping in his Kid Kart.
03 August - Dana Wins (We Think) At BeaveRun
Setting out for Pennsylvania on a bright sunny Saturday afternoon, we had hoped that Dana could place ahead of Christy Snell and keep her third place in the Great Lakes Sprint Series championship in Sunday's race. We even allowed ourselves to think with he dry set-up we found the week before in testing we might even get up there with Lance Hancock - maybe get a little closer to second. Most of all we were hoping it would be dry.
We rolled through the BeaveRun Motorsports Complex gates about 3pm, leaving enough time to watch a few of the Saturday classes run and locate our fellow MSOKC-ers, Bob Strawser and the Gearharts, John, Jacob and Justin (Jenna, like Tracy feels she's not quite ready for regional level competition). We found a nice, close pit area left the trailer here under the watchful eye of BeaveRun's crack security team and headed off to find our room and some vittles.
The weather forecast didn't look good for Sunday but we've learned to not put much stock into those forecasts. We did, however, put stock in the thunder and lightning that woke us up about 3am race morning and looking out the hotel window at dawn didn't give us too much hope for a dry race. Back at the track it had stopped raining but just as soon as we started thinking about the track drying, another band of dark clouds would come in and dampen everything again. This, it would turn out, would be the order of the day.
Bryan O'Hara had shared the Biesse factory rain settings recommendations with us last April when a chance of rain was forecasted for the race in Norway, Illinois and I hung onto them like they were gold. The changes, for Tracy and I, would take about 30 - 40 minutes to implement so the uncertainty of weather made things a bit anxious around our pit area - which despite our preventative measures became a quagmire in no time. I really wondered whether we were doing the right thing by going to a rain setup when John Gearhart came by and said he was waiting to see what the weather was gonna do. I put more faith in John's forecasting ability than any local TV Weather Man - he's a farmer for crying out loud. But as it turned out, it stayed wet and we were ready.
In the practice sessions Dana found the Biesse Viper more fun and drivable in the rain than our Margay, which she drove in her only other rain race a couple years ago. She adapted well and worked on finding a good wet line. For qualifying we learned that Snell had not entered and that series leader Scott Rettich and Chris Livingood, a regular on the Stars Of Tomorrow circuit were not coming out to qualify - they'd take their chances starting from the back. That left only Hancock and Dana out there for the HPV Senior Light qualifying session. And for three of the four laps it was close. As the announcer reported the times Dana trailed Lance by less than a tenth of a second. On their last laps Lance found another couple tenths and won the pole.
As the karts lined up for the heat race (GLSS runs one heat and the feature) it became obvious that Rettich, although entered was not going to even take the green. Livingood was there though ready to follow Lance or Dana, whoever got the better start, through. On the pace lap, just as they formed up on the main straight for the green, Dana's visor fogged over to the point where she could see almost nothing and fell back. Even Hancock looked over to see where she went as they approached the starter.
The green fell anyway and instantly she was in third place. Once moving, her visor cleared and she quickly got up to speed. Ahead of her, Livingood jumped around Hancock and was doing a disappearing act. Lap after lap Dana got closer and closer to Lance. Going into the last corner of the last lap she was as close as she had been all race and made a lunge down the inside. Momentarily out of control, she thought she was about to take them both out. Instead, the kart gripped at the last possible second (Dana wasn't sure if they made contact or not) and avoided a crash but she had to settle for third. Meanwhile, Livingood drove off to a lead so great that he was able to crash (yes, crash) off the course, get himself out of the tirewall and stay in first place.
For the feature, Dana got a better start but was still third going into the first turn with Livingood again storming out into the lead. Dana had made mental notes in the heat race of where she thought she was faster than Lance but she also new it was a long race (10 laps - long for us) and she wouldn't necessarily have to rush making a move. For several laps she drove through Lance's spray making more notes. But on the third lap, it all became moot as Lance caught the big puddle leading out onto the main straight and the torque on the chassis was enough to throw the chain. Immediately he signaled he was slowing and in one anxious moment (for me anyway) Dana dodged right and went around into second. From there she drove a steady race, missing the biggest puddles and learning a lot about driving in the rain.
Upon arrival to tech inspection, Livingood was conspicuous by his absence. Earlier his father mentioned to me that this GLSS race was local for them and since the CART Stars Of Tomorrow series was as far away from Pennsylvania as it gets (Norway, Illinois), they decided to come do this race just for fun. So I wasn't completely surprised when they chose not to go to tech. In karting non-regulars will often do that - run and if they win not report to tech so as to not screw up the points of the regulars. Also means not having to reassemble your motor afterwards too. But for us it meant we moved into first place - our first win at the regional level.
We'll be the first to say we were extremely lucky in getting that first regional win. But Roger Penske says that luck is when opportunity meets preparedness. When the opportunities presented themselves at BeaveRun we were prepared: Brain O'Hara not only shared with us his factory setup but also lent us some rain equipment we needed; Tracy and I didn't let the miserable conditions keep us from doing everything that needed to be done; and Dana drove with her head, keeping the kart on the track all day when most others didn't (she only spun once, in practice). And, we know Mom puts up with a lot of crap during the race season so I can focus on prepping the karts. Finally, a big thanks to Julie for standing out in the rain (after being brow-beaten out of the nice dry scoring tower) managing to keep the video camera dry and rolling to capture the images seen here. Lucky, maybe. But it was still a lucky team win.
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