Redline Raceway Friday May 29th

Sorry this is late this week, didn’t get home until after 2AM again, and had to be to work in the morning. It was not a good night at the track. The car wouldn’t go in the heat, Kevin started 6th and finished 5th with 4 to qualify. That didn’t hurt us to bad as we started 13th where we would of started 11th had we finished in one of the qualifying spots. The car still didn’t want to turn for Kevin in the feature. He held his own after dropping back a few spots on the start he had made his way back up to 12th when the first yellow flew on lap 6. On the restart coming out of 2 we were in the middle of the second yellow of the night. A car came off the wall and caused a jumbled mess in front of Kevin. He tried to check up and from the stands it looked like he missed everything. HOWEVER, when he came in front of the stands the right front was toed out about a foot. The car ended up with the axle bent back on both side and the tie rod at a 45 degrees angle. The car is still not working right and needs some work. We will be making major changes this week.

Friday May 22nd Redline Raceway…

For the second week of racing the starting line-ups for the heats were decided by the luck of the draw. Drawing the number 15 pill for the second week in a row put Kevin in the 5th starting spot in the first heat. In a uneventful heat Kevin made his way up to 3rd which put him 7th in the feature line-up with the field going heads up. With the midnight hour approaching 20 modifieds took to the track. The initial 11 laps were caution free, and when the first yellow flew Kevin had moved the 55 into 4th behind the 3X of Shupp. On the restart Kevin started working on the 3X while at the same time the 8jr of JR Crouse was starting to apply pressure from behind. Kevin had to go and got around the 3X when contact was made between the two cars coming out of turn two. He then set his sights on the 13z of Calaman and was along side on lap 21 coming out of turn 2 when the red flag came out for the 24 of Andrews who got upside down in front of the flag stand. The remaining four laps were run with Calaman hugging the bottom and when the checkered flew it was the 119 of Malcolm winning from the pole for the second week followed by the 13z, the 55 the 8jr and the 3X rounded out the top five. It was a solid night of racing for Kevin with the car getting better, however we still have some work to do to get where it needs to be.

Kevin Hartnett in Turn 3

Added another Photo Link…

As you may have seen I added a link off to the right for Redline Rover Photography. I have about 50 of the pictures I took from the infield of all 5 divisions on opening night at Redline Raceway. There are also a bunch of the 55 on there, as well as in the Photo Album at Sitler Kline Racing. The video I took of our heat race is now up on Sitler Kline Racing Video Page.

Friday May 15th Redline Raceway

Kevin started the 2nd heat in 3rd and finished 2nd. The car still had a few problems and the crew did some fine tuning. He started the feature in 5th because of the heads up start. He passed the 19 of Brent Boyer on lap one and was forth when the first of many yellows flew. Kevin charged pass the 17 of George Kostalansky and quickly made his way into 3rd behind the 52. Three times Kevin was along side the 52 and the yellow came out, on the forth time he made the pass and was followed by the 19. With time running out on the 30 minute time limit the stage was set for a three car battle for the lead. Kevin got along side of the leader, the 119 of Brian Malcomb a few times, but on lap 23 the yellow flew for the last time along with the checker and second it was for this week. All in all it was a good night, after a few adjustments after the heat, the car is starting to come around. Great run for Kevin on the first race of 2009.

3 Simple Mistakes new race teams make…

Be it new to racing, new to a track, or new to a division there are three simple mistakes race teams often make. Albert Einstein once defined “Insanity” as “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” How many race teams go out to there local track and get beat. I mean BEAT, nothing broke, didn’t have the wrong gear, no one took them out, anything like that, they just plain got beat. They are getting passed by cars that are just a little faster a little smoother in the corners. The first mistake teams make is to never try anything new. How many teams go home and set the car up the same for next week, and go back only to get, you guest it, beat again. So unless you are happy finishing in the back, make a change, see what it does. Don’t however make to many changes at once, and try and stay with changes that can easily be undone if they make things worse. Mistake number two is to not make friends at the track. Ask around, you’d be surprised how many teams will help, if you just ask. But remember, you can’t be out there chopping, blocking, and running over people and then expect them to help you. If a faster car gets by, drop in behind learn the line see what’s making him faster, don’t let your helmet spin around backwards, barrel into the next turn way over your head, and take both of you out. And mistake number three is not going to the people who you are giving your money to for help. The people who’s parts you use actually do want you to win (looks good for them), give them a call tell them you are using there parts, what you are doing, they may be able to give you a few pointers. Hey, it’s not always going to work, you may go back and really get beat bad. However, you may find that little bit more to get you to the front. That’s MY TWO CENTS, Good Luck and remember keep it fun!