The first task of the week for the team was to diagnose the hiccup in the transmission of the #80 car, which with the help of Garett Gamsby, driver of the #33 Emo Street Stock, we were able to diagnose the issue to one of two possibilities – either a clogged filter or an internal seal that had gone bad. To confirm either possibility, parts are needed. An oder was placed on June 16, but the soonest that the parts could arrive is June 21, so I knew my car was out for the weekend. A requirement of all drivers is to provide volunteers to help keep the track operating each week and since I knew I wouldn’t have a car I chose to spend the evening volunteering. Although I would prefer to be helping my Dad throughout the evening there is no better seat in the house than what volunteering can provide whether it be from the Announcers booth, the Flagstand or the best yet, where I spent this past weekends racing, from the middle of the infield.
As for the #28 car everything ran fine as the car was parked after last week’s racing however as Doug was making final preparations on the car late Saturday morning the car no longer wanted to start and run. We were able to make the car run for a short time but only with whatever fuel we could force feed into the carburetor but the engine would not pull its own fuel. We started with checking the fuel filters which were both clean, we then switch to our spare carburetor wondering if there was an internal fault but the same issue persisted. As a final step we pulled a known good fuel pump off of the number #80 car to put onto the #28 for diagnostic purposes, but just to be certain there was no clogs we blew through all the fuel lines just to confirm they were clear, which they were. With the ‘new’ fuel pump installed the car still did not run but with no access to parts to continue diagnostics and only 1.5 hours to race time we came to the grim conclusion that 3D Racing wasn’t going to make it to the track, so Doug joined Wendy in the grandstands and took the opportunity to enjoy being a spectator.
As the new week has begun we will be back in the shop trying to chase away the couple of gremlins that have creeped into both cars and get prepared for the next night of racing action. We have one night of racing left to prepare the cars before the Race for the Fallen 2 day show, so we will have to work hard to get both cars race ready. If you ever have any questions about the cars, what it’s like to be a race car driver, or anything else feel free to come down to the pits after the racing is over and any driver would be happy to talk with you because racing isn’t the same without those grandstands packed full of fans cheering us all on. Who knows maybe your favourite driver with have pictures or even some merchandise so you can show all your friends who your favourite driver really is!
