Wednesday, July 24, 2002
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Wednesday, July 24, 2002 |
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Awsome pit crew keeps Clanton positive Hello race fans! This year the Steve Dale Motorsports team has had pretty good luck, but not this past weekend at Salem Speedway in Salem, Indiana. We finished an unlucky 13th in the event, a finishing position that matched our weekend. We had trouble with the car's handling right from the start of the first practice. During the first and second practice sessions I brushed the wall earning my first Salem stripes of the weekend. Salem Speedway is a high-banked half-mile oval that can be really tough to race on. You run so close to the walls that if you are at all loose you can pretty much say goodbye to the paint and decals on the right side of the car. Once we finally got the car handling to where I needed it, we found a problem with the braking system. Unfortunately, because ASA officials impound the car following qualifying, the team had to make a tough decision: go out for qualifying and risk the problem with the brake system, or skip our qualifying run and fix the brakes. For safety's sake, we chose to fix the brakes. We took a provisional and started the race 21st. Salem is a tough track to pass on because of its high banking and narrow driving grooves. I did my best to work through the competition, but my progress was slower than I had hoped. Fortunately, my pit crew made up the difference for me. On my first stop, I entered into the pits in 10th, took right side tires and fuel before heading back out onto the track. The pit crew did such an awesome job that I gained eight spots in the pits, allowing me to line up right behind the leader for the restart. It's nice to know that even if the car isn't handling where it should be, I can count on the pit crew to make up the difference. Our pit crew, in my opinion, is the best in the ASA series. They practice every Wednesday night and make five to 10 stops per practice. Our crew chief Bond Suss decided right from the beginning of the season that we should try to find local help to make up our pit crew. With guys all from the Atlanta-area, we are able to practice each week and keep up our skills. Those practices really help to keep up the guys' confidence and to make sure that we can work any kinks out before we go to the track. Practice isn't the only thing that makes our pit crew the best in the series. We have come up with quicker ways to complete a two-tire pit stop. For instance, in ASA there is no limit to the number of people that go over the wall for a pit stop. Most teams use seven people, but our team has found an eighth man (one extra person to pull off the front tires) really helps to improve the speed of the pit stop. That extra bit of pit stop strategy worked for the first few races until the rest of the teams caught on. Now a lot of the teams are doing that same thing. We constantly have to improve to keep ahead of the competition. Despite our unlucky and disappointing weekend, we are still leading in the point standings and hopefully on our way to our first championship. Our next race is at Madison, Wisc. International Raceway on July 28. If you are looking for exciting short track racing, be sure to tune in to the live broadcast on TNN beginning at 1 p.m. Until next time, Joey
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