The hauler left Wednesday and headed south to Kyle, Texas, for the first 2007 USAC National Midget Series pavement show. I had to stay in Indy and work through the week so I flew down early Friday morning. I met my boss, Jeff West, and we rented a car and were on our way to the track for the Friday night open practice.
I always go up to the fence of a track I have never raced to see what I will be running. When I first saw the track, it reminded me of a little Richmond International Raceway with the D-shaped front straightaway. The only problem I saw was on the back straightaway where a car could go off camber and into a dirt field because there isn't a fence.
The practice was scheduled from 5 to 9 p.m. The point of the first session was to shake the car down and get used to the track. We were 13th fastest after the session of the 28 cars in the pits. We made a few minor adjustments to the car and went out for the second session where we picked up some speed and moved up to ninth on the charts. We made a gear change and some other small adjustments and moved up again to seventh after the third session.
We went with a new set of tires so we could simulate a qualifying run. I told the guys I liked how the car was handling so we decided to put it in the trailer for the night. We were sixth quick on the speed charts in the final session.
My mom BBQ'd some chicken outside the motor home after practice. We ate dinner and watched some TV before going to bed. Unfortunately, we woke up to a soggy one. It was raining, windy, wet and very cold. The promoter was forced to cancel the race with no intentions to reschedule.
It was nice to get some track time on Friday, but I was really disappointed that the race was canceled. Being a small team with limited finances, we could have used the prize money to help pay for the travel expenses. The car was fast, though, so we’re looking forward to the next USAC race at Iowa Speedway on May 5. I will be in California the last weekend in April TBD on friday the 27th, and then on Saturday the 28th @ Kings Speedway for SCRA action.
Thanks to Red Line Oil and RaceFanRadio.com for their support at this race. I recorded several audio blogs over the weekend that you can listen to in the archives section at
www.RaceFanRadio.com.
See you at the races,
Chuck Gurney Jr.
Team Gurney Racing
