Shed Racing competed in
NASA's second race of the
year April 1st and 2nd at ThunderHill Raceway. This time it was
Ron Swett and his wife Cindy making the trip as Tom Aiken was preparing
with his
wife Shannon for the arrival of their son Alex who was due April
3rd.
Side note
Alex James
Aiken
is here, and every body is doing well. Congratulation to the
Aiken
family!!!
Shed Racing decided to get an early start and left Fremont at 1:45
pm Friday, unfortunately I realized after driving for 45 min that I
forgot to pack the tool box, doh!!! Cindy was following the RV
and racecar in the Ranger and she graciously volunteered to go back for
the tools, never a uneventful weekend when heading to the track, Thanks
Sweetheart!!
I pulled into T-Hill at 5:30 followed by Cindy at 7:30, the track was
pretty empty and the weather was a bit wet and cold.
Miller Motorsports
arrived a short time later and Saturday morning
Scott
Neville pulled in. This would be a
two
GTI weekend.
Saturday turned out to be dry and cool which is better than wet and
cold, morning practice saw Shed Racing turn a 2:19.201 while Scott
Neville
ran a 2:16.361.
Saturday morning practice
After practice qualifying followed Ron,
Scott, and Marcus from Miller
Motorsports spent most of qualifying passing each other having a good
ole time, as the RX-7 could not shake the two yellow Bunnies. Once
times
were posted Shed Racing had earned its second pole of the year with a
2:15.653 to Scott’s 2:16.667.
The Miller Motorsports entry for the
weekend
Its race time, the GTI’s were careful to
line up
about 25 car lengths back from the main field has to have our own
little race. The green flag drops and I pull in right behind
Scott. I’m following Scott real close just riding around waiting
for the last few laps to try and make some sort of move. Well
that did not last long as after about 3 laps I almost ran into the back
of Scott entering 14, I thought it was
a brake issue but realized by turn 1 it was a stuck throttle!! No
fun.. I made it around as safe as possible and shut the car down
on the back
straight and coasted onto pit road. Scott Miller saw me come in
and
ran over to help; he checked everything over and could not find the
problem
so I was forced to call it a race. Scott M thanks for the effort
its
appreciated! After returning to the paddock Scott M and I
started
looking at things again, turns out a homemade throttle stop screw was
the
issue, it had decided to back itself out and hang the throttle
open.
Of course this screw had been on there since the last event and all the
morning session but decided 3 laps into the race to be an issue.
An
executive decision was made at this point and the screw services were
no
longer needed... :-)
Side note: I made that screw, so you
might say I screwed myself .
My best lap out of 3 was a 2:15:824
Scott Neville turned a
2:16:281. Race win Saturday goes to Scott Neville, congrats
Scott!!
Scott's wife and kids made it out
Saturday to see his win.
The Kitty Cat pajama wearing crew
chief makes a return visit.
We were not as lucky with the weather
Sunday, as we woke up to cold
and wet. Scott, Marcus and I went out for morning practice I made
it a whole 2 laps before more throttle issues came into play.
This
time the throttle cable came out of the pedal exiting turn 2, I
coasted
to a stop 3/4 of the way up to the hill to the crows nest. Then
for
the second time in my brief racing history I was towed back to the
paddock.
Fixing the throttle cable issue was nothing a few zip ties could
not
handle, and just like that we are ready to go again! Best
time is practice me 2:31.731, Scott 2:16.421.
Tom's tow hooks used again.
Photo from taken by Scott Miller
Use of Tom's tow hooks:
Ron : 2
Tom: 0
Why is the pedal stuck to the floor??
Due to an altercation in turn 2
qualifying was cut short to 4 laps,
for track cleaning and car removal from the very wet outside of turn
2. This turned out to be Shed Racing's 3rd pole for the year with
a time
of 2:17.058 to Scott's 2:17.578.
About an hour before the race it was
clear that it
would be a rain tire kinda race. With full tread race tires
bolted on I
headed for the grid.
Getting ready to go in the rain, #68
Marcus Miller, #43 Ron Swett and
#44 Scott Neville
As per our norm Scott and I stationed
ourselves 20+ car lengths back
from the rest of the field. The green flag flies and this being
my first race in the rain I drag race Scott down to about the starters
stand and then pull in behind him. I figure I will follow Scott
for a bit and use his past experience in the rain to judge corner
speeds :-)
This works well for turns 1 through 3
however entering exiting 4 Scott
gets way sideways and out of shape, I do the same. For the next few
laps I follow Scott around, one thing I do notice is that Scott goes
through 8 a little slower than me, I keep a mental note on that since
it may come in handy and its the only place on the track I seemed
quicker. With in the next couple laps, I get a real nice run
through 14/15 and make a pass going into 1. Scott is right on me
and I'm real nervous about not going off track or spinning in the slick
conditions while trying to say ahead. So
going into 8, I decide this a good time to try and get a little space
between
us. I go in a little harder than I had earlier, hoping Scott
would
back off a bit, he didn't. I got a little loose and went
on, Scott
got a bit lose and ended up spinning to the inside of 8!! He gets
himself
slowed down and headed in the right direction. At this point I have a
pretty
good lead and Scott is driving fast and consistent. With no one
to
run with, my laps times go up a bit and since Scott driving very
determined
his lap times drop. With 2.5 laps to go I lock up the brakes
going
into 14 and miss the corner completely. As we cross the line with
2
to go Scott is right on my bumper. I run the fastest line I can and
Scott
is trying left and right to get by. We battle hard with me
putting a
block on Scott during the last lap going into 14 and cross the line
0.351 apart. Shed Racing gets win #3!!
My best lap 2:29.622 while Scott turned a 2:29.460.
Scott Neville and Ron Swett on the
podium Sunday the 2nd
Win #3 Shed Racing!!
