knute2
04-11-2009, 12:35 PM
Around 10am we left PIT in Mooresville for an 8 hour drive to Indiana after a few gas and food stops. We drove through North Carolina, Tennessee, and Kentucky into Indiana. The drive wasn’t so bad or boring, I kept myself busy by doing some reading and another kid on the team brought his laptop and we watched episodes of Friends and Elf. We arrived at the hotel which was a Quality Inn just after 6pm and grabbed food around 7 together. There were 9 of us from PIT for the weekend, pitting two separate teams.
On Sunday morning we all got together at 8am and took the 30 minute drive to Salem Speedway, the track had many people camping around it, and all the Haulers were also parked on the outskirts of the track, not in the infield. We all signed in and got wrist bands that allowed us access into the track. We had to walk down the banking off of turn 4 to get onto pit road because the track had no Tunnel. After we found out Pit Stall (ours was down near turn 1) we went back to the van and grabbed our equipment needed for the race. We had a lot of time to kill and relax so we were not in any rush to set up pit.
During the morning we got to meet some of the crew members of our team who work on the car. I’m not usually bad with names but all I remember is Dave and Troy. Dave is our tire guy, makes all the tire pressure adjustment within seconds which is great just before a pit stop. Troy is our Spotter; they both seemed like really down to earth good guys and were a joy to talk to before the race. In the next few races I will do my best to get everyone’s name and tell you a little about them.
Robb Brent was our driver; he’s 22 years old about, and from Michigan, he has ran in a few ARCA races, along with some Truck races I believe. However this was his first time at Salem. Salem is like an old Bristol. Half Mile High banked short track that hasn’t been paved in maybe 20-30 years. The track defiantly has many fast miles over its years.
Robb had a rough time at this monster of a short track; on Saturday in practice he banged the right side of the car a little on the wall. The damage was still there a little when we arrived on the right side of the car. The team decided to keep the car this way for the race because it was no big deal. Regardless Robb was a bit nervous because he still hasn’t gotten a good feel for the race.
We were also planning around the rain, the weather wasn’t looking good, and many team including us planed on racing to lap 100 which was half way thinking the rain would be there real soon. The morning and early afternoon was sunny with blue skies, but around race time the temperature dropped and it was getting a bit windy.
We set up our pit area when the start of the race got near. We had our main pit box with 4 TV screens for the guys calling the shots, along with 2 other tool boxes that had every too you could imagine and more to use on a race car and at home.
The race started just after 2pm, and our starting position was 18th, but we dropped back a little and Robb’s main focused was surviving. Cautions were flying like crazy for awhile and we were able to stay out of them. However you could hear on the radio that Robb was still nervous out there and was having a tough time getting through the corners. We were able to avoid all the little wrecks and came in for our first Pit Stop during a yellow flag. We were one of maybe a few cars on Pit road as most of the field stayed out. We did 4 tires and gas, thought the stop wasn’t perfect we still finished and were waiting for the gas to finish.
After just a few laps the yellow came out again and the rest of the field came in for pit stops. Watching most of the teams around us, some from other Pit Crew Schools, we all got to laugh a little. Our stop wasn’t perfect but it was still probably around 17 seconds, the other teams stops were 25-35 seconds. Some teams had jack men that couldn’t get the car up, changers who missed lug nuts multiple times, carriers who just didn’t know what they were really doing. I’ve heard some teams are bad but I didn’t think the whole field. I determined that our two PIT teams that were at the race were probably 2 or the best 3 pit crews on pit road, the other being a Penske development team. It was really an eye opener and a confidence booster too with maybe a little less pressure on pit road.
We kept racing and staying out of trouble, our crew chief was convinced it would rain any second, we reached half way and stayed out until we needed gas. We came in for a gas only stop but were the only car on pit road again and so were at the end of the longest line. So the crew chief had us come in again, do a 2 tire stop and give the driver water. This stop went very smooth, maybe 7-8 seconds; we weren’t timing the stops so I’m just going off of how smooth we were. Robb went back on the track and the key was again to just kept it clean and stay out of trouble.
A few times we came close to running into some guys wrecking in front of us, once on the backstretch we couldn’t see but we could hear our spotter very clearly “whoa back it down back…BACK IT DOWN!!!, up high go high” We couldn’t see if we got in it until Robb came back down the front stretch with a sigh of relief. Then once in turn 1 and 2, in perfect sight we saw another car get into our left rear fender and Robb got way sideways through the turns. However Robb did an amazing job of saving the car and keeping in off the wall, so good that he kept it going without losing much and no yellow flag.
At the end of the day we were 3 laps down but finished 10th, there was a good race for the win but eventually the #60 car pulled away for the win, his first ARCA win. It was one of those races were you are real happy with your finish cause you know you didn’t have a 10th place car, but you pulled it off anyway.
Took about 2 hours until our pit stall was clean, all the equipment was back in the hauler, which was rough cause we had to push all the pit wagons up the high banking of turn 4. After everything was done and the racecar was back in the hauler the 9 of us from both teams got back in the van for the 8 hour ride back to Mooresville, NC.
We got back home around 2am, I didn’t get home to Concord until 2:45am, and you could imagine I pretty much passed out.
There is no ARCA race this weekend, but next week we are at Rockingham NC on Sunday, and then Talladega the next Friday, so two races in 6 days should be a lot of fun.
On Sunday morning we all got together at 8am and took the 30 minute drive to Salem Speedway, the track had many people camping around it, and all the Haulers were also parked on the outskirts of the track, not in the infield. We all signed in and got wrist bands that allowed us access into the track. We had to walk down the banking off of turn 4 to get onto pit road because the track had no Tunnel. After we found out Pit Stall (ours was down near turn 1) we went back to the van and grabbed our equipment needed for the race. We had a lot of time to kill and relax so we were not in any rush to set up pit.
During the morning we got to meet some of the crew members of our team who work on the car. I’m not usually bad with names but all I remember is Dave and Troy. Dave is our tire guy, makes all the tire pressure adjustment within seconds which is great just before a pit stop. Troy is our Spotter; they both seemed like really down to earth good guys and were a joy to talk to before the race. In the next few races I will do my best to get everyone’s name and tell you a little about them.
Robb Brent was our driver; he’s 22 years old about, and from Michigan, he has ran in a few ARCA races, along with some Truck races I believe. However this was his first time at Salem. Salem is like an old Bristol. Half Mile High banked short track that hasn’t been paved in maybe 20-30 years. The track defiantly has many fast miles over its years.
Robb had a rough time at this monster of a short track; on Saturday in practice he banged the right side of the car a little on the wall. The damage was still there a little when we arrived on the right side of the car. The team decided to keep the car this way for the race because it was no big deal. Regardless Robb was a bit nervous because he still hasn’t gotten a good feel for the race.
We were also planning around the rain, the weather wasn’t looking good, and many team including us planed on racing to lap 100 which was half way thinking the rain would be there real soon. The morning and early afternoon was sunny with blue skies, but around race time the temperature dropped and it was getting a bit windy.
We set up our pit area when the start of the race got near. We had our main pit box with 4 TV screens for the guys calling the shots, along with 2 other tool boxes that had every too you could imagine and more to use on a race car and at home.
The race started just after 2pm, and our starting position was 18th, but we dropped back a little and Robb’s main focused was surviving. Cautions were flying like crazy for awhile and we were able to stay out of them. However you could hear on the radio that Robb was still nervous out there and was having a tough time getting through the corners. We were able to avoid all the little wrecks and came in for our first Pit Stop during a yellow flag. We were one of maybe a few cars on Pit road as most of the field stayed out. We did 4 tires and gas, thought the stop wasn’t perfect we still finished and were waiting for the gas to finish.
After just a few laps the yellow came out again and the rest of the field came in for pit stops. Watching most of the teams around us, some from other Pit Crew Schools, we all got to laugh a little. Our stop wasn’t perfect but it was still probably around 17 seconds, the other teams stops were 25-35 seconds. Some teams had jack men that couldn’t get the car up, changers who missed lug nuts multiple times, carriers who just didn’t know what they were really doing. I’ve heard some teams are bad but I didn’t think the whole field. I determined that our two PIT teams that were at the race were probably 2 or the best 3 pit crews on pit road, the other being a Penske development team. It was really an eye opener and a confidence booster too with maybe a little less pressure on pit road.
We kept racing and staying out of trouble, our crew chief was convinced it would rain any second, we reached half way and stayed out until we needed gas. We came in for a gas only stop but were the only car on pit road again and so were at the end of the longest line. So the crew chief had us come in again, do a 2 tire stop and give the driver water. This stop went very smooth, maybe 7-8 seconds; we weren’t timing the stops so I’m just going off of how smooth we were. Robb went back on the track and the key was again to just kept it clean and stay out of trouble.
A few times we came close to running into some guys wrecking in front of us, once on the backstretch we couldn’t see but we could hear our spotter very clearly “whoa back it down back…BACK IT DOWN!!!, up high go high” We couldn’t see if we got in it until Robb came back down the front stretch with a sigh of relief. Then once in turn 1 and 2, in perfect sight we saw another car get into our left rear fender and Robb got way sideways through the turns. However Robb did an amazing job of saving the car and keeping in off the wall, so good that he kept it going without losing much and no yellow flag.
At the end of the day we were 3 laps down but finished 10th, there was a good race for the win but eventually the #60 car pulled away for the win, his first ARCA win. It was one of those races were you are real happy with your finish cause you know you didn’t have a 10th place car, but you pulled it off anyway.
Took about 2 hours until our pit stall was clean, all the equipment was back in the hauler, which was rough cause we had to push all the pit wagons up the high banking of turn 4. After everything was done and the racecar was back in the hauler the 9 of us from both teams got back in the van for the 8 hour ride back to Mooresville, NC.
We got back home around 2am, I didn’t get home to Concord until 2:45am, and you could imagine I pretty much passed out.
There is no ARCA race this weekend, but next week we are at Rockingham NC on Sunday, and then Talladega the next Friday, so two races in 6 days should be a lot of fun.