Welcome

T & E Racing had a very decent night of racing at the Fort Wayne Rumble.  Compared to our previous attempts at conquering a concrete race track, we have come a long way in a short time.  We started the day with two hot lap sessions, then we went out for qualifying.  Due to the program running late, they only gave us one lap!  I am very happy with the result nonetheless, as we qualified 14th out of 30 cars. 

They ran 4 heat races.  We started out on the outside of row two.  We were told that three cars from each heat would transfer to the feature event, so when we passed one car, I was content to follow the second place car over the finish line for a third place finish.  Only after returning to the pits were we told they were only going to transfer two.   So, we got the car ready for the consi. 

They ran two consi races.  We started the second race, inside second row.  They were going to take the first three finishers of this race, plus the fastest car that didn't transfer to the feature.  Right out of the box we passed the second place car, and for the first few laps, we a strong second.  Then the car behind me hit me so hard that he jumped my bumper, hooking his front bumper to my rear.  I had trouble keeping up with the pace pulling him along...  I was forced to stop so they could lift him off of my bumper.  We both got sent to the back.  I worked back up to maybe 6th place for the finish, I'm not really sure (I just checked, it was 7th place).  With the wildcard transfer in my mind, I went right outside to fuel up just in case.  Sure enough, when they posted the feature lineup, my car number was in the last row.  We were the fastest qualifier from our consi that didn't already transfer, which gave us the last transfer spot. 

We started on the back row of 16 cars.  As the race wore on, we passed a few cars and attrition took out some.  We were running a comfortable 9th or 10th place when a car trying to lap me, hit me hard enough in the side to drive me into the front stretch wall.  Up on my side I went.  That was the end of our run for Friday night.  There were still 10 cars on the track when my car went out on the forklift, so that should have given us an 11th place finish.  Not the greatest, but with the poor showings we have had in the past, we feel our finish was respectable. 

I will have photos and video as time provides it.  In the mean time, I'll leave you with these photos from tonight...

Time to get some sleep, and we'll try it all again tomorrow. 

See ya!

Bill

We have an internet connection at the Coliseum!! 

Got the car all back together, and went out for a session of hot laps.  All seems good with the blue car. 

We got paid for last night.  They scored us in 10th place!  I'll take it. 

More later. 

Bill 

Page 2

When we were putting the new axle in the car this morning, I was hoping to add to our success by trying an even more aggressive setup on the car.  During the hot lap sessions I noticed it had a little push again, but I had also noticed that most of the rubber laid down the day before was no longer on the track.  The warmer weather must have put moisture into the concrete and allowed the rubber to flake off.  Despite this, I still felt confident in that decision.  Going out for time trials later in the day, the track had started to build up again, but it was still pretty bare concrete, but without the aid of the coke syrup we had at the beginning of day one.  I still had a slight push, but it wasn't bad.  I qualified 4/100th of a second slower than on Friday, but many others had gotten faster.  We were 15th fastest out of the 27 cars that remained. 

We started our heat race inside of row #3, right behind Larry Sroufe.  They were going to transfer 4 cars to the feature out of the heats, so I felt all I had to do was stick close to Larry, and I should be able to make it.  On the first lap the 35z car spun out in turn #4, leaving me no place to go but right into his left nerf bar.  The car felt okay after we got started again, but now I was in the back of the pack due to no fault of my own (something I've grown accustomed to this year).  The only problem was, I must have bent something, because the push was worse. 

After the restart I started pushing the car to get around the slower cars in the back of the field, but I made little headway.  Then my old nemesis the corner tire reared it's ugly head.  This time I stayed in the car as the fork lift took us off the track.  We had two bent radius rods, and the axle was slightly bent.  I decided to replace the radius rods, and make up for the bent axle with a lead adjustment.  We got it all back together in plenty of time for the consi.  But when I went to turn the steering wheel so I could adjust the toe, I found that turning the steering wheel didn't turn the wheels.  We had a stripped spline on one of the u-joints.  We have never seen this before, and didn't have a spare.  No one else did either.  We loaded up, watched the 600 and Midget features, got paid, and headed home. 

Despite our not too great performance Saturday, we had a great weekend, and look forward to the Rumble Series next year.  We have come so far in just a couple of races, from the slowest car in the pack, to one that doesn't handle too bad, and can be competitive.  Now to build on that with some major changes I want to make to the car over the summer.  As a side note, there is word in the wind that Indy may be added next year to make it a four event series. 

Everyone keep warm, enjoy the winter, and we'll see you in the spring!! 

Bill