Here I am passing Mikey Kile in the 65. The bottom groove worked really well for me in turn's 3 and 4. I was able to get the car in real deep, then jump into the throttle and rocket off the turn. I like how the nose is down and the left side is just skimming the track in this picture. Tuesday, November 4, 2008
A nice family picture here. Ryan really enjoyed the "big, big race". Lisa had fun watching me too. She probably overdid it a little, chasing Ryan all over the garage area. Ryan liked working on my car but he also wanted to check on his car (Brett Butler's 99 Verve Energy car) and Mommy's car (Tim Bainey's 00 Aaron's Dream Machine) far too often. In this picture he's pointing to Daddy's car during the drivers autograph session.
Here I am wading through traffic. Michael Ritch in the 28 used the top groove exclusively for much of the race. I tried the high groove but my car didnt like it. The further up the track I went, the worse the car turned. The bottom groove was the best for me. Another observation here, the 06 of Bobby Gill surprised me. He wasn't very fast and seemingly struggled all day. I was expecting him to be very strong. He usually excels at the faster tracks on the circuit.Rockingham Rocks!
The USAR Hooters Pro-Cup Series held their final race of 2008, Saturday at Rockingham Speedwayin Rockingham, North Carolina. I had a lot on the line, I knew I needed to finish 23rd in order to place 30th in the points and take home some season ending cash. I was also nervous about racing at The Rock. Keep in mind that our series is a short track series. We usually race on half-mile bullrings and until Saturday, had never raced at anything over a mile in length. I was nervous because, quite honestly, I wasn't sure if I could handle racing at a fast track like Rockingham. Several teams had Data Acquisition on their cars for the open test and reported that they were hitting 170 at the end of the front stretch. I was apprehensive to say the least.
The weekend was a bit different than a usual weekend for us, with practice and qualifying held on Friday and the race on Saturday. I was a bit worried because our crew chief/consultant, Robert Huffman, was in Texas helping a Nationwide team and not at Rockingham helping us. Robert and I have developed a great chemistry and I was nervous not having him there. He had arranged for Shane Huffman, a former series champ and crew member of the 81 Knights Racing team, to be there in his place. Shane jumped right in and worked with my team well. We were only able to get an hours worth of practice for various reasons. That wasnt a lot of time for me to get used to the track and to fine tune our setup, but that was what we had.
I'm proud to say that I got comfortable with the track, the speeds and the line easily. Our car was tight during practice. We were only able to make a couple of changes during the hour that we had so Shane and I came up with a game plan after practice. We changed the sway bar, front shocks, rear track bar and front camber to help the car turn better. Shane was confident in the changes and so was I. We had a mid-pack draw for qualifying and before it was my turn to go, Shane gave me some last minute instructions. Thanks to his advice and the last minute changes, I was able to qualify the car in 17th place with a time of 24.608 at about 147 mph. We picked up .7ths of a second from our practice time, so obviously I was ecstatic.
For race day, Shane had to go help the 81 car and their quest for the championship. Brandon Ward, last seasons Rookie of the Year, showed up at Roberts request to help me call the race. Brandon was great help and I appreciate all that he did for me. The race for me was a typical Michael Kidd race, steady and smooth. I was able to race hard when it counted and take care of the car to get it home for the finish. We ended up 12th. Had it not been for some trouble in the pits (a faulty regulator was severely hampering our pit stops) we would have finished in the top 10 easily. I thought we should have finished 6th or 7th.
I'm really happy with the 12th though. Going into the race weekend I was nervous and apprehensive. At the conclusion, I am proud and happy of our accomplishments. I surprised myself and I really feel like I accomplished something great by pushing myself past my comfort zone. I have much more confidence in my abilities and most importantly, I had the most fun that I have ever had since I first started driving race cars. Rockingham Rocks indeed!
The weekend was a bit different than a usual weekend for us, with practice and qualifying held on Friday and the race on Saturday. I was a bit worried because our crew chief/consultant, Robert Huffman, was in Texas helping a Nationwide team and not at Rockingham helping us. Robert and I have developed a great chemistry and I was nervous not having him there. He had arranged for Shane Huffman, a former series champ and crew member of the 81 Knights Racing team, to be there in his place. Shane jumped right in and worked with my team well. We were only able to get an hours worth of practice for various reasons. That wasnt a lot of time for me to get used to the track and to fine tune our setup, but that was what we had.
I'm proud to say that I got comfortable with the track, the speeds and the line easily. Our car was tight during practice. We were only able to make a couple of changes during the hour that we had so Shane and I came up with a game plan after practice. We changed the sway bar, front shocks, rear track bar and front camber to help the car turn better. Shane was confident in the changes and so was I. We had a mid-pack draw for qualifying and before it was my turn to go, Shane gave me some last minute instructions. Thanks to his advice and the last minute changes, I was able to qualify the car in 17th place with a time of 24.608 at about 147 mph. We picked up .7ths of a second from our practice time, so obviously I was ecstatic.
For race day, Shane had to go help the 81 car and their quest for the championship. Brandon Ward, last seasons Rookie of the Year, showed up at Roberts request to help me call the race. Brandon was great help and I appreciate all that he did for me. The race for me was a typical Michael Kidd race, steady and smooth. I was able to race hard when it counted and take care of the car to get it home for the finish. We ended up 12th. Had it not been for some trouble in the pits (a faulty regulator was severely hampering our pit stops) we would have finished in the top 10 easily. I thought we should have finished 6th or 7th.
I'm really happy with the 12th though. Going into the race weekend I was nervous and apprehensive. At the conclusion, I am proud and happy of our accomplishments. I surprised myself and I really feel like I accomplished something great by pushing myself past my comfort zone. I have much more confidence in my abilities and most importantly, I had the most fun that I have ever had since I first started driving race cars. Rockingham Rocks indeed!
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