If you recall, I have named my two blown-up motors: The Bullet and Old Trusty. Well, I named my crate motor Miss Daisy.
We spent today watching the first day of racing and making Miss Daisy go faster. Or at least that's what we are attempting. We took the cams from Old Trusty, ground the head for clearance, and put them in Miss Daisy.
I somewhat learned how to build a motor, but I'm not gonna quit my day job. It was very interesting to say the least. Oh and tedious. Cleaning the valves and lifters was a pain, but I was glad to do it. Anything to get me somewhat back to where I was before is a good thing.
I don't expect to make up the 10 seconds I lost from Old Trusty, but we are thinking probably 7 or 8. Only Sunday will tell.
I went around with Austin and his dad to watch Louie Rivera in the GTL race. Louie runs Longhorn Raceworks, a shop based out of MSR Houston, and is a great friend. He finished seventh, making a sweet pass in the kink. Then I headed out with Holly, Dan and James to watch some more racing, including the CSR and T2 races. A friend's brother, Jason Ott, finished second in the T2 race, so congratulations goes out to him.
I had to make a trip back to the paddock to work on the motor, then went back out and shot the S2 race.
My Uncle Joe flew into Milwaukee and rented a car, so I went and picked him up from Registration. After we had a bite to eat, we went out and took some photos. He's never been to the track either, so we went all over, and had a blast. Road America really has some amazing photo vantage points.
A big shot-out goes out to Joseph McClughan and John Phillips, both Houston Region boys. McClughan had open-heart surgery just about two months ago and drove to a second-place finish in SSC. Phillips battled it out in the final laps and took fourth. Both are awesome guys, so I was thrilled for them.
I was in Canada Corner for the end of the race and met some local F&C (flagging and communication) volunteers who had been flagging races for over 20 years. It's so cool to get a chance to chat with these guys and gals. They all have some crazy stories from the many years of service to the Club.
Oh and another shout-out goes out to Eric Prill who finished third in the F Production race. He's a fellow Southwest Division-er who had a great race.
I ended the day watching the FA race from turn three. There was so excitement on lap one as the pole sitter dropped his right front off in the dirt and spun down track. Amazingly, no one made contact, and the best part… I got photos of the entire thing!
After the races were over, I went to dinner with “my boys” and their girls. Aimee and Daniela are in town for the races now, so it was like old times at dinner again.
It's now pretty late, so I'm gonna check out for the night. I'm running the morning hardship, so I have to be on grid at 7:30. We are gonna make sure there are no problems in the Modified Miss Daisy. If all goes well, we'll spend the rest of the day enjoying some more racing action.
Until then, here's to a little more GOOD luck, a lot of laughs, and 13 good laps.
-Syd