07.27.2010

Saturday consisted of many laps and some good long run testing.

Practice was difficult to judge our progress since the tires we were using were a few races old. We felt that with some new rubber on the car it should be competitive.

70 - Knight 23.516

12 - Moriarity 23.742

00 - Lang 23.953

28 - Kerslake 23.960

22 - Johnson 24.022

78 - Zaretzke 24.043

48 - Hughs 24.240

34 - Mugge 24.376

16 - Moore 24.536

20 - Sole 24.590

We scuffed in the new tires in the final practice session. The car felt much better with the new tires. We also decided to change the gear to get a little more pull up out of the corners. On the first lap, I was getting up to speed and the gear seemed to be just about right. But when I came down the front stretch to get the green, we were already on the rev limiter by the start/finish line. It was different but it seemed to be effective.

70 - Knight 23.522

12 - Moriarity 23.594

78 - Zaretzke 23.611

16 - Moore 23.694

34 - Mugge 23.775

3 - Hubbert 23.781

28 - Kerslake 23.831

20 - Sole 23.958

48 - Hughs 24.110

00 - Lang 25.551

We started the main in sixth place. Within the first few laps we worked our way up to fourth place. At about lap twenty we passed for third place and ran there until the mandatory caution on lap 75. We made a few changes to help improve the handling along with two new right side tires. We didn’t make it back out on the track in time and we had to start in the back. We then work our way up to fifth till the tires really began wearing out. We finished the first main of the night in seventh.

78 - Zaretzke

70 - Knight

34 - Mugge 23.775

20 - Sole 23.958

12 - Moriarity 23.594

3 - Hubbert 23.781

16 - Moore 23.694

48 - Hughs 24.110

28 - Kerslake 23.831

00 - Lang 25.551

The second main of the night was the Triple Crown Race. We wanted to use this race to our advantage to learn more about how to improve the car on long runs. After making some changes during to break between races we were ready to start the race. Since we didn’t qualify, we had to start in the back. We pulled in the pits a few times to make some more changes to get the car to handle better. After a total of 260 laps throughout the night, we finish the Triple Crown race in fifth place. It was fun to run that many laps. We will see if we can apply what we learned this weekend on the 3/8.

39 - Harding

20 - Lang

78 - Zaretzke

22 - Johnson

16 - Moore

70 - Knight


Team Members on Hand: Dan Moore, Daniel Moore, Dexx Griffith, Joe Ellis,Shawn Fitzpatrick

5.25.2010

After a horrible race on the 15th, we decided to seek some guidance. We took the car to JZ Motorsports to have John help us get the setup where we need it to be. With some borrowed components from Jeff Knight and our shocks rebuilt at least five or six times perfecting the dyno curves,we finished up the car about 2 a.m. Saturday morning. The car was ready to roll out onto the track Saturday afternoon.

We took the car out for the first practice session of the day. The car felt great. It has never handled that well before. Now it was up to me to gain confidence with the new setup and push the limits. The car was just a bit too low during the first session so we brought the car in to the pits. With some more borrowed parts from Jeff Knight, we went back out for the next practice session. The car felt even better! Since we fixed the ride height adjustment, we decided to run some laps and see how the car will handle on a long run. The final practice session we just scuffed in the new tires.

With the new tires on, we were ready to lay down a fast time in qualifying to get the night going. When it was our turn, we pulled out onto the track and got up to speed. The car was handling pretty good till something bad happened. Coming out of turn four the right rear upper shock mount snapped off of the frame. Since the shock and spring are both attached to this mount, the right rear of the car was now just floating. The wheel well traveled down and put a few good slices in the surface of the tire. We were able to pull into the pits without any problem.

00 - Lang 23.004 *

28 - Neissner 23.218

12 - Moriarity 23.267

70 - Knight 23.338

11 - Holden 23.512

6 - Hall 23.657

3 - Hubbert 23.660

4 - Stordahl 23.750

26 - Prudnick 23.882

2 - Blackwood 23.944

15 - Bennett 24.112

20 - Sole 24.162

16 - Moore 28.615

When the shock mount broke, it felt like something in the front of the car broke because the car hopped up in the front. When the car returned to the pits, we looked over the car trying to see what was wrong. Once the problem was identified, we had to figure out how we were going to fix it. The shock mount is a small ring that the adjuster rod is threaded through. So there wasn't much material to weld the pieces together. We welded what we could on the original pieces, then welded on some plates to the sides as gussets, then welded on the weld, and finally finished with some more welds. The problem was the welder we were using isn't very powerful and the power source wasn't either. But with the car repaired, and now five pounds heavier, we were ready for the main.

We had to start in last place since our qualifying lap was cut short. We lined up in the 7th row ready for the green flag. As we came to the start/finish line we moved to the outside. By the exit of turn two, we had already passed two cars. We passed another car on the back stretch. We continued to move our way up through traffic in the opening laps. By lap ten, we had passed eight cars and found ourselves in fifth place. We ran the rest of the race in fifth with the 11 car hot on our heels at the end.

This race was a great improvement over were we were a week ago. With some fine tuning I think we will be able to be even faster. We are looking forward to the next 3/8 race on June 5th

00 - Lang

70 - Knight * -6.299

28 - Neissner -7.169

12 - Moriarity -12.869

16 - Moore -18.519

11 - Holden -18.881

3 - Hubbert -1 Lap

6 - Hall -1 Lap

2 - Blackwood -1 Lap

4 - Stordahl -1 Lap

26 - Prudnick -1 Lap

15 - Bennett -1 Lap

20 - Sole -13 Lap

 

 

05.08.2010

Top three, three weeks in a row! Although this week was cutting it a little bit too close.

We didn't make any big changes to the car from the previous week before we went to the track. We did change the ride heights a little bit but nothing too crazy. Unfortunately this season we have not had a very good selection of practice tires since the two tire rule was started. The reason why is with this new rule, we only change out our right side tires every week. The left and right tires are different sizes so they have to be used on the respective side. This means that this weekend was the third race weekend that we have on our left side "race" tires. The worse part is that our left side "practice" tires are from last season. That pair of tires have seen two race weekends and about four practice sessions this season. So needless to say, we are looking forward to the 5/8 race this weekend to replenish our left side tire supply. On Saturday, we tried a couple of changes during the practice sessions but the stagger of the practice tires was way off so we didn't want to chase something that would most likely disappear.

We didn't get a chance to scuff our new tires in before qualifying and these new tires are not very good without at least a heat cycle in them. We ended up qualifying fifth.

70 - Knight 17.732*

12 - Moriarity 17.774

2 - Blackwood 17.916

26 - Prudnick 18.072

16 - Moore 18.202

20 - Sole 18.267

15 - Bennett 18.517

In the heat race, we just could not seem to find any speed. We tried running a few different lines but we just couldn't improve.

12 - Moriarity*

70 - Knight

2 - Blackwood

20 - Sole

16 - Moore

15 - Bennett

78 - Zaretzke

26 - Prudnick

 

We started on the outside pole for the main race. We needed to fix the way the car was entering the corner before we had any hopes of making the car faster anywhere else on the track. We decided to change a few things in the front end to see if that would make any difference. Unfortunately, they didn't help much. As we came to the green, we were right with the 20 but the car washed up in turn one and we slipped back to second. We were racing with the 2 car coming out of four when I decided to adjust the rear brake bias. The lever that spins the adjuster is next to the switch panel. When I flipped the handle around, my sleeve caught the ignition switch and killed the motor. The 70 was running right behind us and had no where to go. Once I realized what happened, I flipped the switch back on and took off. Didn't affect us much but it sure did bunch up the pack. For the next half of the race we slipped back to sixth place. In the closing laps we were able to move up to fifth place. On the last lap two cars tangled coming out of turn four and we were able to pass them coming to the finish line.

78 - Zaretzke

20 - Sole

16 - Moore

2 - Blackwood

70 - Knight*

12 - Moriarity

15 - Bennett

26 - Prudnick

04.26.2010

Getting closer! Saturday's race was one crazy night. There were lots of cautions, a couple reds and a few tore up race cars.


I was able to make it back Thursday night to get the car prepared for the second race of the season. I spent most of the day Friday doing the weekly preparations and organizing. When we arrived at the track Saturday afternoon we were ready to roll the car out and practice. During the first practice, the spring change we made was working well despite the old tires we were running. We decided that since the stagger wasn't right that we would scuff in the new right side tires and wait for qualifying.


We qualified third fastest with a time of 18.354 on the second lap. On the first lap I got into turn three a little hot which threw off the exit of turn four which hurt our second lap's time.


70 - Knight 17.843 *
12 - Moriarity 18.163
16 - Moore 18.354
2 - Blackwood 18.374
6 - Hall 18.487
20 - Sole 18.556
26 - Prudnick 18.798
15 - Bennett 18.963

 

 

We needed to find some speed from somewhere if we were going to have any chance of doing well in the main. The solution we came up with was to throw away the bump stops and take 50 pounds out of the car. We turned some rounds in across the front to help keep the car off the track. When we headed out to the heat race, we were not convinced that the car wouldn't bottom out getting into the corners. We lined up for the start and I drove it in turn one. Surprisingly, the car didn't bottom out! We ran the whole heat race in third place and that is where we finished. It took some adjusting on my part to get a feel for the car without bump stops.


12 - Moriarity
70 - Knight *
16 - Moore
6 - Hall
20 - Sole
26 - Prudnick
2 - Blackwood
15 - Bennett

 

 

The main race was a long one. We couldn't manage to have a run longer than 10 laps. Unfortunately our car didn't come alive until about seven laps into a run. We started on the outside of the front row. Exiting turn two we pulled out into the lead and cleared the 6 car by the finish line. We created a small lead until the first caution came out. On the restart, we were on the pole with the 6 car outside. We pulled back into the lead until another caution came out. Another restart and we cleared the outside car by turn one. There was a big pile up behind us and then another caution. The next restart was single file, for some reason, with the 70 behind us. We maintained the lead on the restart and broke out to a three car lead. We were able to get a few laps on the board then one of the cars leaked a bunch of rear end oil all around the track. The officials decided to red flag the race while they spread absorbent around the whole track. Once they cleaned the track we lined up for a restart. There was speedy-dry everywhere on the restart yet we found some bite and got a good start. But the officials were not impressed so we had a restart. The 20 car worked his way by us on the next segment of the race. We began reeling him in and the caution came out. We chose to start on the outside and we got back into the lead within a couple laps. We lead another segment until the caution came out again followed a red. We didn't have any time to scrub the tires before the next restart and the 12 car got around the outside. We ran the remaining laps in second with the 70 looking for an opportunity. He was able to get his nose outside coming to the white flag. We ran side by side to the checkers where we crossed .011 seconds ahead. It was a flat out drag race coming out of turn four. I think with a few minor changes we will be able to get the car handling better. It was amazing how the car performed with the radical call we made with the bump stops. We are looking forward to the next race in a couple weeks. See ya there!


12 - Moriarity
16 - Moore
70 - Knight *
20 - Sole
26 - Prudnick
15 - Bennett
2 -Blackwood
6 - Hall

 

Team Members on Hand: Dan Moore, Daniel Moore, Dexx Griffith, Jim Ellis

It was a night of thirds for us at the first race of the 2010 season at Evergreen Speedway. Throughout the night the car stayed more consistent than we ever have in in the past. The problem is that we were consistently one to two tenths off of the pace.

When we arrived to the track we were more prepared than we have been for most opening nights. Usually we are still putting weight in the car or attaching body panels. But the car was ready to roll out of the trailer and onto the track on Saturday. We went out for the first practice session with tires that have one race weekend and three practices on them, needless to say, they were worn out. The car was okay, but with the old rubber, we were not expecting much. We made some slight adjustments for the second practice and went out to see if they made any improvement. The class before us spilled some fluids on the track so they brought us back in to the pits so they could clean up the track. We took this time to put the sticker tires on so that we could scuff them before qualifying. The car handled well once we got the green for the second practice. We got some heat in the tires then parked it till qualifying.

On our initial qualifying run, our hard wired transponder was not registering with the track's computer timing system. We were brought in and we put on one of their transponders on the car. They held us till the tires cooled off and sent us out for another try. We ended up with a time of 17.820 which was good enough for third place.

Qualifying

70-Knight 17.725*

12-Moriarity 17.728

16-Moore 17.820

26-Prudnick 18.188

2-Blackwood 18.213

20-Sole 18.254

15-Bennett 18.644

 

The heat race starting order was straight up by qualifying times which placed us on the inside of the second row. When we came down to the green, the 70 and I got a good jump on the pack, but the officials didn't approve so we bunched back up for another attempt. On the second start, we got through the first few laps and found ourselves running in fourth. That is where we stayed for the majority of the laps until the final lap when we passed the 20 car for third place.

Heat

12-Moriarity

70-Knight*

16-Moore

20-Sole

15-Bennett

26-Prudnick

6-Hall

2-Blackwood

 

For the main race, there was a four car invert. That meant that the 26 was on the pole with us starting on the outside. We had no choice but to get around the outside of the 26 otherwise we could have easily fallen to fourth or fifth place. When we came to the green, we had a good start and we were able to clear the 26 by the backstretch. We quickly broke out to a small lead of a few car lengths. By about lap four or five, the 70 car caught us and was waiting for an opportunity to get by us. I drove it in a little too hard and the nose bounced up out of the groove and let the 70 get his nose in under us. He got by us and started to break away. We fended off the 12 car for the next segment of laps up to the only caution. We had the choice on the restart whether to choose the inside or outside for the double file restart. We talked about it, and decided that with the way the car was performing, the only real chance we had to fend off the 12 was to make him start on the outside of the 70 hoping that the 70 would out run him and we could follow the 70. Yet the 12 was able to get around the 70 on the outside. At this point we were running in third place. The remainder of the race consisted of us fending off the 6 car and watching the 12 and 70 drive away. Once again, we were a third place car all night, a couple of tenths off of the leaders.

Main

12-Moriarity

70-Knight*

16-Moore

6-Hall

26-Prudnick

15-Bennett

20-Sole

2-Blackwood

 

(...* identifies fastest lap)

 

So what changes do we make for the next race? We were losing our competitors in a few crucial portions of the track. This 2010 season has a few new rules compared to last season. While I hate to say it, but the first two finishers were running about 150 pounds lighter than our car per the 2010 rules. While there are advantages to the setup we are running, it seems as if they are not enough to keep up with the lighter cars. We were also having some issues with our rear tires forming some irregularities on the tread surface. We are not sure if this setup is too hard on these tires since we are heavier than last season. We could also try running without the bump stops which will allow us to bring the margin of weight to only 100 pounds. Or we can choose to adopt the new shock package since it seems to be faster that the previous shock packages, in Saturday's case, about a quarter of a second a lap. The weight break was meant to equalize the disadvantage of the new shocks, but it seems as if it has gone beyond that. Chances are that the rules will remain the same since it is beneficial for the track to supervise the building of the shocks. The last option is to keep after it with our current setup and risk watching the points slip out of our fingers till we strike it right.

 

04-12-2010

04-08-2010

Only two more weeks till our first race of the season! We spent this last weekend making some changes to the chassis and preparing the car for paint. Dan and Dexx will be taking the car up to A&B Custom Collision for paint. Deyoung Inc has supplied us with a great rendering of what the car will look like with all of the graphics. Look for another entry later this week!

03-29-2010

With only a few weeks to the first race, we are excited and busy getting everything ready for this 2010 season. MMS would like to announce Work'n More's commitment to another year with our team. Our first practice session was held last Saturday on the 3/8s at Monroe. We were able to get the car our and run a few laps. The car wasn't very pretty to look at but it will be looking great with a new paint job and graphics. Stay tuned for what I hope will be weekly blog entries.

03-24-2010

To see blog postings from the 2009 season click here.