And I like it when I get to be the windshield!!!
All I can say is that its about damn time that we had everything line up our way. Saturday night, May 1st was the type of race day that keeps you coming back for more. It was that one day in a million that all the stars, moons, and universes line up in perfect order for you. Hell, I almost played the lotto on the way home because things were lined up that perfectly that I felt certain I’d win.
Mother Nature was the winner the week prior bringing rain to the track just after the heat races causing all events for the evening to be cancelled. This past weekend, Mother Nature played nice and kept all the rain away.
We showed up at the track a lot later than we normally do. We unloaded and skipped the first paractice because it was too hot and just didnt make a lot of sense. We ran the second practice just to shake the car down and everything looked good. We spent most of the afternoon lounging around telling lies and laughing at nothing because there was really nothing to do to the car.
Because Dillon Motor Speedway has gone away from qualifying and now runs heat races (THANK YOU!!!) our starting order is determined by drawing a number from a bag. We drew #46 and started 6th in the second heat race. With the heat race only being 7 laps, we went after it more like a dress rehersal pratice rather than a race. We did manage to pass 2 cars and finish 4th putting us on the outside of row 4 (8th over all) for the start of the feature race.
The starting line up was a great mix of really fast cars scattered through out the field. No one would run away with this one! At the start, we were caught on the outside and would get shuffled back to about 10th or 11th before finally getting in line. At that point we began picking them off. With the poor start and so many good cars in the field, it crossed my mind that a top 5 finish would be really good and if we could manage a top 3, that would be awesome. Winning didnt quite seem feasable given that we had so many good cars to get around. However, the breaks fell our way. Some laps we were able to pass 2 cars at a time! By lap 10, we had made our way into the top 5 and the car wasnt wearing out. We continued to make up ground on the 4th place car and eventually passed him around lap 14 then going to work on the top 4 cars. On lap18, the 2nd place car spun out bringing out the cauting and moving us up into the top 3! We would have 12 laps to work on Kevin Jackson and Heath Addy and we’d need all 12 laps because neither one of those guys give up anything on the race track. We wrestled with both Kevin and Heath for about 5 laps before taking the lead. Kevin and Heath continued to go at it with eachother allowing us to drive away. With them racing eachother so hard behind me, it allowed us to pull up out to about 3/4 of a straight-a-way lead. The win was just about certain until those two would wreck as we were coming to take the white flag. We’d have to hang on through a green/white/checker to win this one and with Mike Stafford and Bailey Miles starting right behind us, it would not be easy.
The wreck between Kevin and Heath was very messy and took a long time to clean up. Due to the mess on the track, we got the red flag and had to sit on the back straight for what seemed like days waiting to run the rest of the race. I now completely understand what the TV announcers talk about when the cup drivers have to sit through a red flag waiting to restart the race. Everything that could possibly go wrong was running through my head. After about 20 minutes, the track had everything cleaned up and we were ready to get back to it.
We took the green with Mike on the outside of me and Bailey on the outside of row 2. We needed to make 2 good laps but I had used up the car coming through the feild. Two good laps would not be easy. At the restart, I tried to beat Mike down into turn two, but he got there quicker than I did. Luckly, my car stuck to the bottom and we were able to drive out of turn 2 a little better than him. However, we would not be finished as Bailey was now on my back bumper and looking for more. After taking the white flag, we made it through turns 1 and 2 clean and only had one more set of turns to get through. After using up the car in the previous 29 laps, there wasnt much left of the front tires and the front end slid up towards the outside wall giving Bailey that opening he needed to make a run to the checkered underneath us. Fortunetly, we had just enough to get the car off turn 4 and down the straigh just better than Bailey and took the checkered!
We’ve been racing for close to 15 years now and I dont think Ive ever had to work so hard for a win. This was an awesome race! Due to my upcoming deployment to Afghanistan in August, this will likely be our only race for the 2010 season. Our intent is to be back at Dillon about a year from now after I return from Afghanistan for a post deployment race/ party! I already cant wait to get back to the track! What a way to step off!!!
I want to thank all the drivers in the 4 cylinder class at Dillon. The past two weeks we’ve had 13-16 cars and thats awesome! More cars make for better racing so thank you to all that showed up. I hope to see all of yall again in 2011!
Huge thanks to all of my crew! All of your continued support is what makes nights like last Saturday possible. Thank you so much for sticking by the team when we’ve had bad luck and tough nights. Saturday May 1 was awesome and it was only because of your hard work!
Check out the video!:
David Jeffcoat
by David
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