SCR Motorsports

July 19th.  Our Saturday "spotlight" show went very well. The feature certainly helped make up for a lot of uncertainty from practice. Practice the car was so loose, it was like driving on ice. Brand new tires may have been part of the reason. New tires have a certain slickness(is that a word?) that can sometimes take a couple heat cycles to get rid of. The other reason for the looseness had a lot to do with a very hot track, that had a few very different types of rubber compound on it. So, long story short, we had to scramble to figure out what to do with the set-up and tires for the feature. We hit it pretty well. The car was very stable from the beginning of the feature race. A long caution free period at the end of the race had the tire growth up to a point where the car had a push off the turns at the end. This prevented us from a top 3 podium finish, as I could not get a run off the turn on the 22 car. I was better into the turn, but without contact I was not going to get the position. Overall happy with a 4th place finish.

July 9th        Dissapointed. That sums up this night in one word. We started 20th with a car that was surely fast enough for a top 5. The beginning of the race was chaotic. We have several drivers who feel they are at the carnival and riding bumper cars. We were stuck behind a couple of these drivers several times. On one restart after a caution we got stuck in the slower line. At one point I was in the middle of a 3 wide with Greg Sr. inside, and Jr. outside. Chose not to push a bad position. If in that position again, things will be different. Being nice and cautious cost us a car on this night. With 5 laps to go there was another caution. I think everyone was getting antsy to get this one over, especially after the 5 extra "courtesy" caution laps we endured while Greg Moran Sr. got a tire changed. At the restart we were 10th. 1 lap later, moving into 8th/9th, coming off of turn 2, the leader slipped. There was contact, and cars were all over. I saw the leaders car in the air as it made hard contact with the outside wall. I was trapped on the outside, attempted to slow, and was struck in the left rear. The contact turned the #14 machine and we were then struck hard across the front of the car. The tires were up, and the car refired. We went into the pits. Steven and Travis pulled the fender out and thought that was all that was needed. Attempting to go back onto the track, I was told the radiator was leaking. Upon returning to the pits it became very clear that we were not going to get the help we needed to change the radiator and return to the track (but that is another story better left for in-person explaining), although more than enough time remained due to the extensive cleanup required and the fact that several cars had to be towed off the track. Suffice to say Steven and Travis couldn't do it by themselves and we never thought they would have to. Officially we were credited with a 16th place finish. This has dropped us to 3rd in the points. The frame is bent, and the body is very bad. We will do everything we can to get it straightened and competitive again for this next weeks 3 races in 7 days stretch.

July 2nd          A very good night. Tonight the car was loose entering the turn as it has been lately. We decided to try a few different changes. It worked. The car was actually tight during the race, but was still pretty fast. This allowed us to enter the turn with a little more speed, and the stability made it possible to go in pretty low. From a starting position of 19th, we were on the move from the drop of the green. We followed the 22 car, and we were followed by the 63 of Greg Moran. A few cautions near the end of the race had us restarting 6th. With the white flag in the air, we were 5th, and happy enough with that. Last turn, one car spun, and another slowed. We found a gap and went to 3rd across the finish line.  We then prepped the car, and returned to the track after one of the other divisions completed their feature. We participated in a race car version of musical chairs. 7 of us started, with the object being to stop next to a cone on the track when the lights changed from green to red. This went on til Greg Moran and myself were left. In the end, Greg beat me by about a half car length to the last cone. A lot of fun, and a great show for the fans. No trophy, no money, just bragging rights and a chance for the fans to see their favorite drivers "letting loose" a little. We are still first in points in what has emerged as a 4 or 5 car points race at this time. Happy 4th of July to all.

June 25th  Thank-you for cautions. The car was not the best, but was not horrible. There are so many fast/faster cars this year. The competition is tough and if gaps open up, it is very hard to play catch-up. Tonight was like that, but the cautions helped to bunch us back up twice when I needed it most. Overall the car was loose into the turns, but was great everywhere else. Greg Moran pulled off win number one for the season. Congrats to him. We are still the points leader, but only by 4 over second place. At 2 points per position, that is not a safe lead at all. We will continue to do our best..... try to be safe and not push bad positions.....hopefully bring home a straight car every week....and let the points fall where they may. Our goal coming into the season was another top 5 in points, with hopes for a top 3. We are on track for that.

June 18th   Rained  out again. This time we were at track, unloaded and ready to go out for practice, with aprox. 40 deploying National Guard members from my unit in attendance. We were at least able to get some nice pictures before loading up and going home. 

June 11th  Starting in 23rd with a loose car, this night turned out to be a battle of hits and misses. Moving forward through the field from the start, the #14 machine did feel solid enough for a top ten. Several near misses during the race resulted in having to avoid and slow enough that we then had to play catch-up because of no caution. Caution with 3 laps to go had us in 11th. On the restart we were able to clear one of the cars that had been causing a lot of grief for several of the faster cars stuck behind him. Last lap, last turn, the top 5 cars had significant contact and were scattering as they crossed the line. We had to slow and were immediately struck in the right rear. The right rear tire was struck, cut, and lost air. As the tire went down we spun, but thankfully were not struck again. Unfortunately, we lost a brand new tire. All-in-all, satisfied with a top ten, but dissapointed with the race as a whole. Too much drama within the field has created an almost hostile driving style out of some. We are still first in points, but the top 5 or 7 positions are all closer overall as far as the spread is concerned.

June 4th  Races called for rain. At least we were not loaded up yet. Extra time this week to try different changes with car on scales.

May 28th     Arrived, unloaded, and proceeded to wait for the power to come back on. Accident up the road had power lines down. Night was called off when power company said it would be 4 hours to repair, and we were already almost 2 hours late.

May 21st   Car was good in practice. On the stopwatch it was the best it has been all year. Right rear tire had some sort of slow leak, so that was changed before feature. Tire change and adjustments resulted in car being on the "tight" side (Turn wheel and car still wants to push straight). Started feature in 24th. Due to push, car was better low on track(helps loosen car up). The Animal mobile was still mighty fast and as we neared the end of the race we were in the top 5. A late caution set up a green-white-checker finish. J. Porter and Greg Moran were 1-2 and fighting hard. Lots of contact, and Animal and I had the best seat in the house. Rather than push a bad position and possibly wreck all 3 of us, I decided to wait and see how this would shake out. Was faster than both, but could not get by without major contact. Finish of 3rd has put us atop the point standings by a slim margin.

May 14th   A Very good night. The chassis went thru a bunch of changes at home this past week, and the scale numbers looked good, but ya never know til the rubber meets the track. Practice was an indication of a much improved car. The feature was even better. After starting 17th, the #14 machine could be put anywhere I wanted it. High, low....it handled well all around. With 2 laps to go we cleared the 2nd place car, but did not have enough time to reel in the leader.  We believe we have even more speed to find in this car, but the big picture is clean, consistant finishes.

May 7th   Opening night. The #14 practiced well, and it was great to shake off the cobwebs. Although the fact that we were starting 31 cars in our feature made me nervous, I was still just itching to get the first night in the books. Drew a moderate starting position of 13th. Lap 2 our world took a spin.....literally..... as we were hit hard in the left rear going into turn 3. Animal and I held on , avoided being hit, completed the 360, and pulled back into line under caution. After restarting somewhere near 20th, we were on a mission to make the best of the night, gain positions, and not wreck a very loose handling race car. Several times during the rest of the feature we had to avoid spins and contact. I expected opening night to be "rough", but did not expect all the roughriding that was going on. At the checkered we finished 7th, in one piece, and drove the car onto the trailer. Changes to the chassis this week should help the handling issue.

April 9th -   We are currently full steam ahead for the "08" racing season.  Several major changes to the #14 machine over the winter have us looking forward to the start. Several changes were implemented due to rules changes. These included a safer set-up for the fuel cell in the rear, that meant cutting out the entire trunk area, adding support bars and fabricating a fuel-cell mount. We also installed a center windshield bar to the cage as well as a bar in the center of the "halo" part of the cage in the roof.

Driver safety has also been improved. Our seat now has shoulder supports. A right side "cup style" head net was added.  A Kickdown bar has been added to the cage. This bar attaches from the cage to the frame in the drivers leg area. This has 2 benefits. It protects the drivers legs better, as well as adding a little more stiffness to the chassis to help keep the frame from "folding up" in the event of a hard front impact.

Other rules changes we have dealt with are a higher left side frame height rule and less camber(inward tilt) in the right front wheel.