2005 Diary

Kari's notes from the 2004 season...

photos thanks to Markus Hoesli of MHC Media

Sunday, May 2nd:

Well, what can I say?  There's never enough time on race day to get everything ready!  Once again the first day of the season was hectic and rushed.  On Saturday we worked from 8AM-3PM.  Then we headed over to Raceway to get our race cars and trailers.  This would be the first time all winter/spring that we have worked on our cars.  (It's tough to work on the cars when you don't have a place to do it!)  I worked on my car until late Saturday night.  I had a lot of things on my list to do, I decided to start with the most important things that would immediately affect the handling.  I have had a continuous problem with my car being tight, so I thought that by replacing the struts, it would loosen it up.  The reason I thought that new struts would help is because I have hit the front stretch wall head on for the last 3 years in the car, and the front end was bound up.  The new struts did help free up the front end a bit more, but I would need to turn some laps to test it out.  I was looking forward to Sunday morning to get out to the track early to test out the new set up.  Unfortunately, we were unable to get to the track early enough for the warm ups.  Troy had a lot of work to do on his Figure 8 car, and I had a lot of little things to finish up on my car, like draining the anti-freeze, changing the oil, and giving it a good wash from all the winter dirt!  We pulled in at 5:00PM!  The races start at 6, and we still had to get our cars through tech for the initial safety inspection before we could even race.

Ok-so my car is unloaded and ready to go, as much as I can get it ready.  I'm in the second heat race for the short trackers.  I started 3rd.  My car was still tight!  I also felt like my car lacked some power coming out of the turns.  I was able to finish the race 5th, with the car in one piece.  Now it's back to the pits to make some adjustments for the feature race.

Feature race time, I started 10th.  After moving some shims around, I was able to loosen my car up.  I was still lacking power coming out of the turns.  With 9 laps to go, all of the sudden my car starting sounding really weird.  I backed off a bit to see what it was and to make sure I still had oil pressure.  I did have oil pressure, so I got back on the gas full speed ahead.  I found out what the noise was, it was a piece of my exhaust!  By this time I had already lost all my momentum and the pack was about a 1/4 of a lap in front of me.  I ended up finishing 7th - which actually isn't too bad considering I didn't have any warm-ups or time to try out different setups!  My goal for the next race is to WIN!  HAHA!  That's my goal every race!  I have some work to do on my car this week and hopefully things will work out better so we can get to the track by 3PM so I can have some time to make adjustments.  Talk to you next week! 

Sunday, May 9th:

There's both good news and bad news for today. 

The good news is, we got to the track early enough for warm ups!  I found that my car was pushing terribly in the turn from the middle-exit.  So I started with air pressure adjustments and it didn't help at all.  Then we swapped springs.  That helped, but there was still a push in the middle of the turn - not good!  I had to slow way down when I should have been getting on the gas!  I finally figured out what my problem was, stagger, but didn't get another warm up to try it out, so that will have to wait until next week. 

The bad news is that the races got rained out!  I always hate when that happens because you look forward to the races ALL WEEK and you bust your butt to get the car ready, then race time comes and it rains!  Oh well there's always next week! 

Sunday, May 15th

The rain threatened us Sunday night, but we were able to race.  At about 4:45 it started to rain and let up at about 5:20PM.  The races started at 6:15PM.  The stands were pretty sparse because of the weather and fishing opener.

I was able to get 2 warm ups in.  For the first warm up I just ran it at my normal tire pressures to see how the car was handling.  It was tight coming out again so for the second warm up we swapped rear springs.  That helped loosen the car up, but I was experiencing a "sputter" coming out of the turns when I got on the gas.  At the driver's meeting it was pointed out to me by our track photographer, Martin DeFries, that my right front tire was rolling over and my left tire was standing straight up going into the turns.  So after the meeting I went back to investigate.  After jacking the car up and taking the tire off, Troy came over to see what I was up to.  I told him what Martin had told me and he moved my wheel and found that my struts had come loose!  Not good!  He tightened them up for me since he's a lot stronger than I am!

  (This is what my car looked like from Martin's view)

For my heat race I started 3rd (inside behind pole).  Unfortunately, the pole sitter is a rookie and kind of slow.  In this particular heat race we only got 8 laps because they were trying to speed the show along to avoid the threatening weather.  I gave the guy on the pole 2 laps to get going, finally I couldn't take it anymore so I went 3 wide coming out of turn 4.  I made it around him, but at that time the outside lane was also working around him, and the outside pole sitter already had a huge lead on all of us.   

I ended up finishing 4th in my heat, so I missed the inversion for the feature race lineup.  I could have finished 3rd, but toward the end of my heat race I was experiencing the sputtering problem again coming out of the turns.

For the feature race I started 11th.  I was experiencing several "technical difficulties" during my feature race, so I finished almost last.  We think my ignition box is going out again because it acts funny when it's going out.  This week I'm going to put in a new ignition box and give it a tune up.  My car was a bit loose now, so for next week I'm going to tighten it up just a little.  The only positive thing out of the last 3 weeks is that now I will start up front for my heat race, so hopefully my car will work so I can hold them off to win.

Sunday, May 23rd

It's the rainy season!  The races were cancelled due to rain!  Next week's forecast doesn't look good either!  Memorial weekend always seems to be rainy!  Hopefully we'll be able to race this Sunday! 

Sunday, May 30th

Rain again!  We got our warm ups in and our heat races, but the rain didn't hold off for the rest of the night!  The races were called!  I finished 3rd in my heat, but I should have won!  We found a vacuum leak on my intake, which explained a little bit of the lack of power.  I just want one good day of racing with NO RAIN! 

Sunday June 6th - Sunday June 27th

I was in North Carolina for business for 4 weeks!  It wasn't fun and I went through racing withdrawals!  But I am back now and ready to win!  Unfortunately since I've been gone so long I don't have a 2 week point average so I will be starting in the back for the next 2 weeks!

Sunday, July 4th

Well I'm back!  I started last in the heat race and finished 1 position better.  The pack wasn't moving at all, so I had nowhere to go.  For the Feature I started 3rd to last and finished last.  I was doing great, I moved up to 5th due to cautions and my excellent driving ability, however the track officials didn't do a good job cleaning up the mess on the track so when we restarted, some debris flew into my eye and I could only see out of 1 eye!  I wear contacts so it makes it even harder!  Anyways, I'll be back next week and see what I can do! 

Sunday, July 11th

Since I didn't have a 2-week point average I had to start in the back for the Heat Race.  I started last and moved up 3 positions.  In the Feature Race I again started in the back since I missed the inversion for the lineup, and finished 6 positions better than I started.  I think I have the solution to my problem of not having power coming out of the turns...I will try to fix it this week and let you know what it was after I figure it out.  I will be racing this race car at Raceway in a special 40-lap Short Tracker Feature. 

Friday, July 16th

Special 40-lap Feature race.  We drew for positions and as my luck would have it I started in the back!  My car was terrible!  There was no power and I almost got lapped with 3 to go!  After the race we found that my timing had jumped to 41 degrees (it should be 34-36 degrees) so that would explain why I didn't have the power.

Sunday, July 18th

I'm still having handling problems in the turns.  I am hearing a knocking sound when I turn the wheel.  I started on the pole in the heat race because of my terrible 2 week point average, but I wasn't able to hold off the fastest car in the class.  He got me with 1 to go.  I started on the pole in the Feature and I led 18 of the 20 laps.  I pushed it way too hard in turn 3-4 and I lost it right there!  The 28 car was able to get ahead of me and then the 8 car followed him.  I still ended up finishing 3rd, but I was extremely disappointed in myself for letting them pass me!  After the race they teched the intake and of course I passed.

Sunday, July 25th

We made some adjustments to the front end of the car and replaced the steering rack.  I was just a tad loose, but overall I was happy with the handling of the car.  However, I was experiencing a lack of power during warm ups which is directly related to my intake gasket causing a vacuum leak.  (It's inevitable that the thing that was teched the week before will cause problems the next week...)  I started 5th in the heat and finished 3rd which isn't too bad considering the vacuum leak.  Once the car warms up, about 3-5 laps in, it starts acting up.  By finishing 3rd in the heat I made the inversion for the Feature and I started 7th.  I was able to get up to 3rd place by lap 5, but then the vacuum leak kicked in again.  I ended up dropping back to 6th, which is still better than I started.  Now we know what the problem is so next week I should be flying! 

Sunday, August 1st

I missed all of my warm ups because I was working on my car at the shop.  We fixed the vacuum leak, however the car would not idle.  In my heat race I started dead last, 7th, and ended up finishing 6th.  I missed the inversion for the feature race so I started in the back, 11th.  I ended up finishing 8th.  My car started coming around toward the middle of the feature, but it wasn't soon enough.  Next week I should be starting up toward the front so hopefully I'll have a chance...

Sunday, August 15th

I decided to take the night off because my car hasn't been working right, and it's my mom's birthday and I'm not in the points run since I missed 4 weeks.

Sunday, August 22nd

Still experiencing difficulties with my car cutting out.  I started in the front for the heat race but ended up last because of the lack of power.  The car wouldn't start for the feature race so I didn't get to race.

Sunday, August 29th

Rained Out.

Sunday, September 5th

Rained Out

Sunday, September 12th

Finally!  My car is working again!  We still don't know exactly what was causing all the problems but it's working now!  I was flying during warm-ups and I was pumped for the heat race.  I started on the pole in my heat race and 2 laps in I took a lead.  Then out came the black flag.  I was so upset because I knew that I wasn't leaking anything and the others on the track said they didn't see anything.  I decided to take the rest of the night off.

Saturday, October 2nd

Once again the night was a complete disaster!  I am so ready for my luck to change!  We had to work until 2:30 so we didn't get out to Elko until about 3:30.  I got there just in time for the short tracker warm ups.  I was expecting the car to run great like it had the last night at Raceway.  (We hadn't touched the car since, so you'd think it would run great.)  Nope!  I got out on the track and gave it gas and it started popping again!  I just kept going, and eventually it just quit.  When I got back to the pit slab we discovered that I lost a rocker arm, the mousetrap broke and it couldn't handle the power at the high RPM's.  We fixed the rocker arm and decided that I would run in 3rd gear for the heat race.  I started 2nd row inside.  After I shifted into 3rd it went downhill from there.  I wasn't hitting my RPM's - it was only getting up to about 4500, which is slow - but I finished the race - surprisingly not last.  I started 8th row inside for the Feature.  Troy and I decided that I needed to run in 2nd gear for the Feature if I wanted a chance at being competitive.  The first 2 laps were great, then it happened again.  The rocker arm fell off and I was forced into the middle of the track.  I can't tell you how terrible it feels to sit in the middle of the track with a disabled race car and watch the rest of your class race!  It is the worst torture ever!  I just sat there thinking about how badly I wanted just one last race before winter, but I couldn't have it. 

All I can say about the 2004 season is THANK GOODNESS IT'S FINALLY OVER!  I can't wait to start fresh in the 2005 season, hopefully my luck will change over the winter!  I'm not sure what I'll be racing next year, but I will keep you posted throughout the winter.  I really want to sell my short tracker so that I can move up, so if you know anyone who wants to buy it, let me know.  Have a safe off season and I'll talk to you soon!  Kari 

This site was last updated 09/09/06

Sign Guestbook      View Guestbook