[1121]

Often I see press releases come out on this, as well as other, message boards, that say something like, “Jack (or Jill) Smith persevered through a difficult night”. This perseverance is usually because of a wrecked car, blown motor or other such problem.

Now I love a good comeback story as well as anyone else. But I’m amazed how many times this perseverance involves Daddy writing another check and their paid crew puts the car back together or simply rolls out the back up while Jack or Jill send out Facebook or Twitter feeds on how they are “persevering”. Just once, I wish they would say, “Man, we sucked this weekend!”

So that brings me to our story for the weekend. We at PDP Racing (Payne, Delagrange, Paterson) were planning on running all three races for the King of Wings. For those of you that don’t know, this was the Midwest swing of this nationwide winged pavement series. We had races scheduled at Toledo (Friday), Winchester (Saturday) and Anderson (Sunday). All three of these races pay very well and we were hoping for a good payday.

Jim lost the coin toss so he had to drive for the weekend. We decided on three goals.

1. Make it to all three races.
2. Make the feature all three nights
3. Load the car in one piece all three nights.

It may not seem that ambitious, but for a low dollar team like us and with two very fast half mile tracks (Toledo and Winchester) and one very fast bullring (Anderson), anything can happen.

Unfortunately, the very first hot lap session at Toledo would prove to be our undoing. Because of the several rainouts we have had, Jim had not raced yet this year. He was building speed during hot laps when all of a sudden, the car snapped loose and Jim slammed the inside wall.

Luckily he was Ok, but the car from the radiator forward was destroyed. I texted friends and family to let them know Jim was Ok, but we were done.

Within 10 minutes, Sam Davis texted back, offering up his car. Sam is a lifelong family friend. He actually gave me my very first ride in a race car. He knew how important it was for us to run this weekend. Jim and I discussed it for a bit before we decided to accept his offer. So I headed back to Indiana, dropping Jim off on the way.

On a side note, we have come up with a new rule at PDP Racing. Whoever wrecks the race car has to buy dinner. So a quick dinner at Rudy’s Hot Dogs in Toledo was in store. Jim always was a big spender!

I got home to the PDP Racing Headquarters, just a block from the loop in Argos, IN, slept about four hours and met Sam at his shop to load the car.

The day looked bleak. It rained the whole way to Winchester. I was about an hour from the track when I received a phone call telling me that they were “pumping out the track,” and the start time was delayed.

Jim and I met for lunch and then continued on to the track. We found there was 3-4 feet of water sitting in turn three and four. It didn’t look good.

We went ahead a decided to change the seat and make adjustments to the car even though it was still drizzling. We knew if they got this in, they were going to be in a hurry.

We left the car on the trailer (the joys of an open trailer) and as I walked around to the right side of the trailer, I noticed the dust cap missing from the trailer hub. Upon close inspection, I noticed the wheel bearings were burnt up.

I was smart enough to put extra wheel bearings in the truck when I made the trip to Florida, but apparently, I wasn’t smart enough to put a seal in, so I sent Jim up to the parts store to get a seal while I worked on the hub.

Naturally, the inner races were seized to the spindle. I attacked it with hammer, chisel and other implements of destruction. Most of the time I was in a drizzling rain. Just as I was about to place the hub back on, we got word that the races were canceled.

I got the hub back on, but still didn’t have a dust cap. So we headed back to the parts store. I was driving my truck with the trailer and Jim was driving his ancient Ford Ranger. As I was pulling away from the track, I noticed water dripping from the bottom. I shook it off because Jim had just driven through the mud.

But when we arrived at the Auto Parts store, the Ranger was spewing water and steaming. My first thought was that somebody would be on Indiana Open Wheel saying we ruined the parking lot of the Auto Parts store like we ruined the Little 500. We probably won’t be allowed back!

But alas, it was not oil, but water. The Ranger had rusted through a freeze plug. So another two hours trying to knock the old freeze plug out and put a new one in. Again, all in a drizzling rain.

Jim and I both decided to head to our respective homes and sleep in our own beds rather than a strange hotel. We both managed to make it home without incident.

After a good night sleep, I awoke to a bright and sunny day. I finished putting Jim’s seat in the car. I also checked the wheel bearings on the trailer and gave them each a couple of squirts of grease. I am a chronic list maker. And I decided putting a couple of squirts of grease in each trailer hub would be added to our pre-race check list.

I checked the air in the truck and trailer tires and noticed one looked a little rough. In true racer fashion, I thought, “We’re just going to Anderson, it’ll make it.”

With all the trouble we had so far, you would think I would know better. Twenty miles up the road; it blew, taking out the tail light at the same time.

A quick US 31 tire change pit stop and I was on my way. I arrived at Anderson slightly before Jim and we proceeded to unload the car and get it ready. Jim likes the car different then Sam, so we made significant changes through the night.

Jim was running well during the feature until a wing malfunction (my fault) put us out. But we loaded the car in one piece and managed to get a pay check in the process.

The trip home was uneventful and I managed two good night’s sleep in a row.

Man we sucked this weekend!

Tom Paterson
PDP Racing
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[Kansasdirtfan]

That's the most enjoyable post I've read on here in a long time, Tom, and a great story. Thanks.

[stoney]

Just like beating your head against the wall; (feels good when you stop)!

[Can26]

I believe that you three are the luckiest team I know!

All bad luck, but luck just the same!

[Andrew S. Quinn]

At the start of the 1997 season Danny Dagasse had "1996 NASCAR Busch North Series Champion" lettered on the side of our trailer.I appreciated him feeling proud of us,but we've had just as many bad days as good days. Unless your going to put "Hit the wall all by ourselves in practice last week" right under it,I dont see the point. If we're going to overhype the good days,I think we should be willing to overhype the bad one's too.

From "Dynamite" Dave Dion's book "Life Wide open"

[Phylo82]

Great read.....I really enjoyed that!