It was a doubleheader weekend for the EBR team. We made our first trip to Gravity Park in Chilton, Wisconsin on Friday night and then were at our home away from home at Beaver Dam Raceway on Saturday. Since we posted about the Chilton race on the Facebook site, we'll cover BDR first.
Eric had Justin and Cody back. Brady took the night off, but Ryan Leigel joined us. Brady was missed in that he's getting really good at what he does for us and we appreciate his ability to do things without being asked. Ryan will get there too. Both boys hanging out with us is just our way to continue to encourage kids to get into racing, be it as a crew guy, fan or driver. Mary Jo and Stephanie were there too.
It was about 90 degrees with 90% humidity. The engine is strong, but there are some concerns we won't go into. The temperature outside didn't help. Eric started 6th in the heat and finished 2nd to Ryan Mech. Eric was charging at the end and given another lap he might have been able to make a pass. Coming off of turn-four to the checkers Eric got under Ryan a little bit but it wasn't enough. The stats show he was .2 seconds back.
The boys didn't change much on the car for the Feature where Eric started 10th. On the start it was a torrid battle to the front and Eric go shuffled out early as the bottom seemed a little better than the middle. The top was pretty high. The dust was flying and after the first lap, Eric had dropped back to the vicinity of 13th place. As has been his custom, he gathered things up and started picking off some cars. He settled into a battle between several cars either side of ninth. He then broke away from this pack with about seven laps to go and ran eighth with the lead pack, leaving ninth and beyond about a half a straightaway back.
If Eric knew for sure he had nobody behind him he might have tried to run higher, but he wasn't certain it was clear and he kept on the bottom. Off of the last turn on the last lap he got under Adam Clark for 7th. The car was smoking when he came off and he shut it down by the scales.
With the up coming Pepsi Nationals weekend at Angell Park Speedway on Sunday, July 7 (Prepare for an unusual amount of PR from us for this race), we have some decisions to make. In a perfect world we'd take the engine somewhere close for a rebuild which will likely solve the issue. Those logistics are huge and impractical, without putting a different engine in, which may not be as good in the car. We might have the ability to patch the concern and get by for another weekend. We'll see what happens.
Tonight was a night that the biggest job for Justin was to keep Eric from messing with the car too much. Justin continues to "Be the Adult," in the group. His calm and understanding of his driver is outstanding. We are lucky to have Cody and him helping us out.
THE CHILTON RECAP FROM FACEBOOK:
19th to 14th to 8th, We'll Take It!...
Long night, I'll keep this short.
The Wisconsin Legends Racing Dirt Series made their first visit to Gravity Park in Chilton, Wisconsin last night. The little oval reminded me of 141, as far as the actual track goes. Remember 141, on our first visit wasn't kind.
Eric drew poorly to start the night and knew it could be a tough one. Being without Justin and/or Cody didn't help matters and the driver was on edge. The track during hot laps was very tricky with part wet and part dry. Everyone was way loose in 3 and 4. "I'm just going to drive around and try to get out of here in one piece," was basically what he said. He had just Brady and me for the crew.
Eric started 7th and finished 7th in his heat, which meant his bad draw would stick. He started 19th in the feature out of 22 cars. The "Big One," he was concerned about happened in the first lap in turn two, in the front of the charging field of cars. Eric snuck by between the 8 car pile up and a tractor tire marking the inside of the course. He thinks he might have brushed someone getting through, but we have not looked at the car yet.
On the restart he was 14th and once he settled in, he started picking cars off one by one. Sometimes on the low side, sometimes high, it didn't matter. He got better every lap and looked strong. In the end he was scored in 8th place and the car was intact. We'll take it.
Congrats to Dave Eberle on the win.
AS FOR THE TRACK...
I will simply say, as a staff this was the nicest group of people we've encountered at a race track. They seemed really pleased to see the Legends. They thanked us for being there (two or three times) coming through the gate. The flagman stopped and chatted with us and the EMS 4-passenger 4-wheeler took some of our drivers on a tour of the racing surface.
The place is a bit rustic, but the portapottys are clean, the food was good and at a fair price.
On the way home, Eric said, "I really like that place."
AS ALWAYS, THANKS!
As always, a big thanks goes to all of our sponsors: Dog Guard Out of Sight Fencing, Storage & Handling Systems, Quest Civil Engineers LLC, Club LaMark (Madison’s Race Car Bar), Bullseye Games, BRS Radiator Machine & Fabrication, Ground Up Lifts, Wilcenski Farms, Grandpa Blumer, Blumer Antiques and Sun Prairie Pack 243 of the Cub Scouts.
And thanks to the crew and those who have had a hand in the car this year: Justin Hoium, Cody Weisensel, Mike Hughes, Greg Leatherberry, Joe Wipperfurth, Brian Benisch, Bill Tefft, Brady Kruchten, Phil Espenes, Stephanie Blumer and Ryan Liegel.