The racing was pretty good across the board for most people, just not great on the Late Model side for me. The new body, inconsistent track conditions (not the tracks fault, it's mine for not adapting) and a number of issues with the Rocket kept me from being really competitive with the front of the pack.
The first thing I tried was to go up a tooth on my pinion. Seems to have been a mistake. I was pushing so bad on entry that it only made the problem worse. Switched a few things around, replaced a sloppy front arm, a bad bearing in the steering assembly and tweaked the springs, but nothing seemed to work for me. Even switched back to my old body and that didn't help.
The end result was placement in the B. I won the B and moved up to third before an incident on the last lap moved me back one in the results. Not a great day, but like I say, if you run the B, you get a shot at an extra race for the same money.
I would blame the track, but Butch Beebe set a track record in qualifying, so that can't be it. I may have to follow the old Jedi's advice and go down to a 17.5 so that I can use all of the motor instead of trying to feather my way through every corner. If there was any doubt about Butch's ability, he managed to TQ in every class and set a track record in Late Model. Probably would have done the same in Sprints if he could have gotten a clean run in.
The new body remains a work in progress. I feel like it's probably generating a lot more down/side force than my busted up old body and possibly, I'm not sure how, shifted some of the weight to the back wheels. I'm not giving up on it, just trying to figure out my setup. May even go to weighing the car to see if I'm right about weight distribution.
The sprint car was working pretty good, just slower than I would like. It's time with that one to move up to the big boy speedo and drop some timing into it. I feel like it can handle the speed and I also feel like I"m going to need it. Putting a 17.5 in so that it will be ready to run when we head out west in a couple weeks to the Outlaw Nationals.
Speaking of Outlaw Nationals, this will be my first travelling race of the season (sadly). It's a 3 day, all out trip to Rochester MN to see how my stuff stacks up against some of the Midwest's best. http://www.teashobbyshop.com/
Arnie Fie from Custom Works will be there along with Hays Reeling (Lefthander RC), Mark Corns, Dustin Malicot and others that I just don't know about yet. 160 entries, so I'm hoping not to finish last :) I will be blogging the whole time so keep checking here for updates.
Honestly, I think the way Butch Beebe is running right now, he stands a pretty good chance of making the A in one of the 17.5 open foam tire classes. You never know though. Foam tires are a whole different animal and the setup can change dramatically depending on the track.
I may be out next week to start shaking down the Intimidator and testing my foam tires. I don't expect to be competitive with the HB's, but I've got to get some track time in before this race.
Side Note: I talked to an Unknown Engineer who says that he is working on the prototype for a new 4WD dirt car. Sounds like it may be very competitive with the Dominator and TC4's out there. If I can get sneak some development photos, I'll get them posted here.
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