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Join us at the races(12 reads) |
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 jwebb writes "We are coming to the end of the race season. Come out and join us at the races.
Special note:
We are going to join the BWR group in the VIP section Aug 29th. We are required to turn in a head count to secure our spots. If you want to join us, let us know as soon as possible.
Cost: Adults (ages 13 and up) $20.00
Youth/Child (12 and under) $10.00
Drivers and Crews with Pit Pass $10.00
***Children in strollers are complimentary – meaning babies and those 2 and under***
Included in the costs are all you can eat and drink Barbequed Hamburgers, Cheeseburgers, Hot Dogs and all the fixings. Salad, Baked Beans, Chips, Dessert, Pepsi-Cola Soft Drinks, Bottled Water & Coffee
Cash bar (CNS will card and issue Legal to drink bands. Guests will be responsible for purchase of their drinks. We will serve Coors, Coors Light, Bud, Bud Light, Mike’s Hard Lemonade, Red Bull & Vodka.
Prices are: $3.50 for Beer and Mikes, $4.50 for All Hard Drinks)
Here are final dates for racing at Colorado National Speedway.
08-15-2009 Toyota/NAPA "150" NASCAR Camping World
08-29-2009 Colorado Hall of Fame & CVOR Race of Champions
09-06-2009 Pepsi Labor Day Weekend Shoot-Out
09-12-2009 Snap-on Tools"
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Posted by Div on Thursday, August 06 @ 22:22:14 MDT
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Mid Season Status Report(14 reads) |
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jwebb writes "It’s the beginning of August and the team is sitting pretty at 7th in points and only 8 points from 5th. Every week we are consistently finishing in the top 10 and our expectations are always high. Maybe to high, it’s obvious that any finish under 6th at this point is disappointing. A few years ago, any top ten would have started a party in the trailer.
Just when we thought we knew what to do to get the car in top shape, the glass house falls. None of the adjustments on the car seem to have the scientific and expected effect. Typical adjustments to loosen or tighten the car result in the exact opposite conditions when put to the track. I’m not talking about untested, living on the edge, the cats are out of the box changes. Standard, every one knows, every book agrees changes. We are going to start tearing the front end apart looking for a gremlin. The last time I had this feeling the idler arm in the steering package was just slightly bent. To just look at the part, it appeared fine. It had to be taken out and directly compared to a new one to see how broken it was. It took weeks to find that issue and as soon as we changed it out, the car was amazing. I think we have another issue just like that and are back on the hunt.
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Posted by Div on Thursday, August 06 @ 22:21:10 MDT
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Aug 31st 2008(237 reads) |
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writes "Jeff Webb/ Driver
After losing part of our crew to the CSU/CU football game, we needed help for the next race. The call went out to long time racing guru Rex Skaggs, our friend Mike Zeman and his son Kenny. We have found over the years that filling in positions on a race crew isn’t as simple as just finding out who’s available. Getting the wrong people can just kill the energy on the team and make for a bad race day. We definitely made out this time. Rex’s experience, knowledge, and attitude combined with Mike and Kenny’s quick learning and enthusiasm made for an incredible day at the races.
The day started with training for our stand-in crew of Mike and Kenny. Mike should be very proud of his boy. He learns quickly and isn’t afraid to jump in. We didn’t have any time to do the appropriate level of instruction, but it didn’t matter, Kenny picked right up and made it happen. Mike’s mechanical background became apparent right off the bat. Everything on a race car seems to have something to do with measuring, math and record keeping. Mike clearly had no issues with all three.
With the car all buttoned up and its setup in place, Jennifer was about to get her first shot of fear/adrenaline. Rex was running a little late and that put her, reluctantly, on the stage for the spotters’ position. Jennifer did a decent job keeping the car from pinballing down the track, while the crew kept a lookout for Rex at the gate. However, the car wasn’t performing. The leaders were passing with little effort. Maybe they should be able to pass us, but they should have to put some effort into it. Half way into the hot laps and after a bit of a shell game on the radios, Rex’s voice came over the com loud and clear. Taking advantage of the hot laps, we continually came in, made adjustments and went out again.
During hot laps, the engine wasn’t right. It seemed like it was occasionally missing. Mike and Rex bent over the car, dug into it and fixed a few issues. And then, in what turned out to be the first of two appearances from the top shelf of racing, Rex showed up with a guest. Ricky Wilmerton started looking into the details of the engine operation. Ricky has been responsible for trackside tune up for the engines of cars at the very highest level. He’s flown around the country tweaking cars for the Nextel Nascar series. It was fun having that caliber of skill looking into our issues. He quickly identified the details that kept the car from being all it could be. Now we were ready for happy hour.
With the lucky bear buckled in, it was time for the next hot lap session. It was only a few laps into happy hour when the best phrase we’ve heard in a very long time came from Rex over the headset…. “She’s fast Jeff, really fast, you don’t need to be out there, you can come in”.
For qualifying we got some luck from the easy come, easy go department. We were in a heat that had only 2 other top ten cars, and one of them was in the back. This left us a great chance for a 2nd place finish in the qualifier. Sounds easy… then came the rain. Contrary to the forecast, we had 2 hours of rain. Easy go, the A-mains will line up by points.
During the rain break, Rex got a tip from one of Jeff’s racing hero’s, Jerry Robertson. Jerry is one of the greatest short track drivers to ever get behind the wheel. One of the most impressive races at CNS, Jerry took the “Pepsi Challenge” and raced a very qualified field of cars starting at the back and won. As it turns out, the tip was exactly what we needed.
As mentioned, the A-Main lined up by points. So to put this in perspective, every pass was going to be a challenge. The first challenge was being lined up behind a historically, over aggressive car. Who just a few weeks earlier had caused a severe accident going three wide on a restart. Not to disappoint, only two laps into the race he bumped Craig Holmes in the corner pushing him high and took him and Bruce three wide. Even though the car was very strong, we backed off, passing each car on the following lap. A few laps later, the aggressive driver slammed into lapped traffic, Stephanie Brown, causing her to spin. Because of our earlier decision to back off, we had time to negotiate the crash without damage. Bruce was not so lucky. The track officials must have been watching, for the aggressive driver was sent to the rear. From that point forward, it was an amazing run. The Car, driver, and spotter in perfect sync and making passes. Since we consider Jim Bob the best driver in our division, passing him was an all time high. For the second race in a row, we make an exciting final pass right at the finish line. Fourth place!!!
As if that wasn’t enough, Jerry Robertson came to the trailer for a post race discussion. What a great guy!! He gave a quick look at our setup records and gave us a few pointers for a future setup. The perfect end to a great night of racing. To top it off our missing crew members, Nick and Shylah, rushed to the track from the big football game to join our celebration.
Our thanks go out to Rex, Mike and Kenny for participating in our day.
"
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Posted by Div on Tuesday, September 02 @ 22:58:19 MDT
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Race Day: Aug 2nd 2008(196 reads) |
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writes "Jeff / Driver
The car has been horrible for long enough!! We’ve been looking for the problem, we know its there. Somewhere hiding is a bent ball joint, or a bent bolt or a loose something. We’ve replace with new almost everything component. We just can’t find it, we’re sick of looking and driving a crap setup. We decided to make drastic changes, in bulk. Yes, we know, the best thing to do is make minor changes and see how each one works out. I can hear some old veteran, in my head, telling me to make one change at a time…So now that we got out of the way, we’ll get right to what we would be doing, making a lot of major changes. Front springs, rear springs, upper A arms, Upper ball joints, just about everything that has anything to do with setup. Basically if we’ve ever learned of a change that will reduce the push on exit, we are changing it.
Half way threw the repairs we ran into trouble. The upper ball joint on the drivers side is frozen and will not come off. The bad news was that Jennifer, Nick and Jeff are all going to be out of town when the replacement will arrive… Enter Stephen. Stephen and Dottie are able to show up and make all the final changes to get us to the track.
Game day arrives: As is the tradition, something is very wrong right off the bat. Two laps into the first hot lap session the car starts jumping all over the place. It changes lanes without any steering input. This is a flashback of when the car climbed over Lehey #5 a few races back. Jennifer and Stephen took a look and everything looks right, but then…. Stephen notices the idler arm is moving and not in a good way. It should move left and right, this one is also moving up and down. Is this the smoking gun that has made us crazy? It’s hidden from a top view by the radiator hose. We could have easily looked past this in every inspection. This needs changed and fast, the team jumps into action. This is where we need to put out some big props to John Witthaur. He was able to get us a new one, so quickly, we were able to install it and make the happy hour.
Happy hour: Things are a lot better than last week. But not perfect
B-Main: I won’t spend much time on this, but this was the dumbest line-up I’ve seen in a very long time. The first B-main had only one car in it that was in the top ten in points. Our team and all the other top ten teams where in the second b-main. The good news is the car is doing even better. The push is getter lighter after every adjustment. We finished somewhere near 7th.
A surprise: The long lost bear makes an appearance. We thought we would never see the bear again. We are surprised to get a guest appearance from the original bear. We take to time strapping him in and getting him ready to race.
A-Main: Since the theme of the week has been throw hazard to the wind, we make more changes in bulk. Move the tire from the back to the front, change the shocks, drop the sway bar (a lot) and change the tire pressures, take some a few turns out of the diagonal, and remove some of the break bias that was put in last week. Not much left untouched.
On the first lap…… SMASH. Yup, the first lap. The officials said on the radio that 98, Lee Kimmit, ran threw 46, Eric Blackard. The entire front end is smashed. The crew inspects the damage from the stands, the temps looked good on the engine. Together we determine we may be able to stay on the track. The major issue for the driver, is the big bent hood blocking 85 percent of the view, but that’s what spotters are for, right?
Some GREAT, side by side, hard racing. Both car 84 and 8 gave us lap after lap of really enjoyable racing. The kind of racing you get once a season. Bruce in 84 had a loose condition. We thought about going high right off the bat, but he would have had a really difficult time holding the car low and not getting us both tangled. Giving him his high line ended up making about 8 laps a really fun racing. The best part was hearing the tone change in Stephen’s voice when, midway into our battle, I decide not to break off and took it three wide. That was my way of saying welcome back to the headset. My hat is off to Bruce for keeping his car, as loose as it was, in check. This ended with one of the slow cars coming up into us. I dove low and I don’t think Bruce made. The slow traffic collected him. What possesses the slow cars to jump up like that is beyond my comprehension.
Immediately following the race with Bruce (car 84) car 8 came in. This time we were up high and again, what a great time. Walbraum would get a jump and then we would get a jump. This traded back and forth for what seemed like forever. Stephen is running the mic, calling the race, watching the slow traffic and our battle. This is the type of racing you have in a dream. This is the type of racing they put in the movies. The intensity is crazy. Slow traffic is everywhere. One mistake and you loose ground, hit your marks perfectly and a little gain. At the checkered flag, it’s us, by a length and a fifth place finish. What a great race.
This week ends in a weird place. We haven’t had a good race in weeks. Then the bear shows up, were back on top. I’m not into superstition, but that’s freakin me out.
"
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Posted by Div on Tuesday, August 05 @ 23:10:51 MDT
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Racing Update(297 reads) |
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writes "Jennifer / Crew Member
Sat June 28th - The return of the pesky push
After melting a front tire during hot laps, it was evident that the push from
the previous race had returned. Even though the tires resisted bursting into
flames, the car still was attracted towards the wall during the B-main. The
A-main was a challenge and difficult to complete with an ill performing car,
and yet we were able to navigate through a few difficult situations and
finished in one piece. It is a sad state of affairs when the highest goal for
our race team is to complete a race.
Sat June 21st - The beginning of the persistent push
Although an abundance of time and effort was put into repairing the car, she
returned to the track slower and displayed mannerisms difficult to counter.
During hot laps it became clear that the car was pushing towards the wall.
Although the team attempted to correct the problem, the B-main showed little
improvement in the car's handling. Again, we continued to make changes to
improve her performance, and again she continued to push through the A-main.
Mid-race in the A-main event a brake check went through the line on a restart
and we received damage to the rear bumper from the #5, one area we had not
had to repair in a few weeks. However, at this point, we were just happy to
finish the race.
Sat June 14th - Fathers Day
The driver's birthday and Father's day have never been lucky for our driver
and this was no exception. During the A-main race the number 40
unintentionally pushed our car into the wall causing damage to the upper
control arm, thus, rendering the car basically non-steerable. Regretfully
this malfunction resulted in a collision with the #5 car. The #5 car was on
the inside of turn 3 while we occupied the outside lane. Mid-turn between 3 &
4, as the #5 car drifted up the track the #58 turned inward impacting the
side of the car in such a manner that our car actually climbed the side of
the #5 car. This encounter sent us spinning and ended with a side impact with
the wall. Happy Fathers day Jeff."
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Posted by Div on Saturday, July 19 @ 10:41:10 MDT
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May 31st Race 2008(305 reads) |
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writes "Jennifer / Crew Member
It has been a very long hard week as the crew endeavored to restore the car to its former state. This was quit the challenge, considering that the entire front of the car had been destroyed the previous race. Furthermore, she was fast and her set-up was perfect before she was unjustly left in ruins. May 31st arrived and it was time to go racing. Repairs were still taking place minutes before hot laps. It appeared as if she was actually going to stay together. Time to celebrate!
Before the B-main qualifiers, the crew cruised over to the hospitality area and enjoyed the festivities with Big West Racing and friends. Colorado Nation Speedway’s VIPs receive red carpet treatment with all you can eat food, drink and a great view of the races. Time flies when you’re having fun, and we almost missed our B-main race.
With a mad dash back to the pits, we threw the driver into the car and rushed to inspection. The B-main race revealed that not only was the car going to stay together but she was fast. Time to celebrate (Again)! Although this time we would resist returning to the hospitality area.
The A-main confirmed that the car was fast and proving to be a contending for the checkered. Moreover, the driver and spotter were in the zone and partnered to navigate the car through traffic and a nasty wreck between turn 2 and 3. We were in 6th place when side-by-side racing eventually bent the steering tie-rod and the night ended as we were forced to exit the track. This was a blessing in disguise. Moments after we left the race, an accident destroyed multiple cars that we were racing door to door with. Luckily, this week we only have one thing to fix, it could have been much worse.
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Posted by Div on Sunday, June 01 @ 12:59:39 MDT
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Race Day May 24th 2008 - The Poem(298 reads) |
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writes "Shylah / Crew Member
Another race day begins passing the roaring engines and pit crews,
the smell of heavy fuel promises entertaining races for Big West news.
Our search for the Big Blue Beauty is the first challenge of the day,
her radiant sparkling webs soon tell us the way.
With our newly synchronized threads and all of our gear so nicely in their spot,
we start the day optimistically thinking we might finally have our shot!
Over the loud speaker we hear in a cracking mumbling voice,
Sportsman; bring ‘em down, gentleman you don’t have a choice.
After a few glances at the book and a quick run to the potty,
word of running the bad tire has Jennifer screaming “over my dead body”.
A few bolts here, a quick change there
we salute the good call and are glad we didn’t take a dare.
18.3’s, 18.2’s we are getting faster with each lap,
with this car’s set up, we could shoot any gap.
Confidently we enjoy happy hour on our tushes,
ready for another ½ turn adjustment if the car feels like it still pushes.
As we eat endless muffins and yummy boneless wings,
we all wait in anticipation to see what the B Main lineup brings.
Green Flag, door to door, 10 intense laps,
we finish 4th with souvenir marks from Meyer’s love taps.
Getting ready for the big race always brings butterflies and jitters,
we get her ready with a coat of wax to make sure she glitters.
Excited to start 6th in the fast line were behind,
Dottie’s got the lineup taped for when she needs to remind.
Radio check, gut check, lets roll to the scales,
we yet again explain our crate engine to the clueless smoking male.
All strapped in we wave and wish good luck,
then head to our spot in the stands; heads running amuck.
Another caution adds to the prolonging wait for our race,
please tell me we’re next so I no longer have to pace.
The award ceremony ends as Jeff announces “good temp level”,
the most exciting sound of the day is here, the intro to “runnin’ with the devil”.
Pace car is off, two more turns and a start hopefully clean,
Nick promptly yells over the radio Green, Green, Green.
A chaotic mass of cars scream into turns one and two,
no time to pick a line right now anything will do.
Gaining power through the straight away and ripping through the turns,
we pass again anticipating what a few more laps will earn.
Door to door clean racing oh what fun,
wait what was that? A hit from behind, we were spun.
Guess Who? It’s 8, who would have thought?
The guy who has to push instead of earn his spot.
An amazing recovery and we are back in the race,
another intentional blow this time ruins Carter’s face.
Out of the race and pissed as hell,
a round of applause works since we can’t yell.
Wrapped up in the drama and forgetting why we are there,
hundreds of fans appear showing how much they truly care.
Ring Pop, Push Pop, take a muffin please, please,
In fact take an extra one to throw at the #8 sleaze.
Every night for a week we will work so we can again meet
Rubbin’ may be racin’, but revenge is freakin’ sweet.
"
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Posted by Div on Saturday, May 31 @ 01:52:45 MDT
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