I totally understand Tim's decision. We were in the same heat and if I am not mistaken Jon was on the pole and Brady Bacon was outside the 2nd row. That would be the top two qualifiers from the USAC race the night before and clearly very fast car/driver combinations at the Burg.
We started 4th row inside and BC was scheduled to start by himself in the 5th row. I knew that even if I gave Jerry a perfect car (I didn't) we would most likely be running 3rd because due to an 8 lap heat with the track conditions (very fast but narrow in the third heat) and the best that we could start, because of the format, would be 3rd in the B and 13th in the feature.
As it turned out we started 6th in the B and 19th in the feature. The car was much better in the feature and we were racing hard to get by Damion when we got caught up in someone else’s mess. We too made a business decision (took a risk) and it turned out badly. The crew and I will be making major frame repairs (most of the left side and some of the right side from the motor forward is junk) this week to try to get the car back together and test it prior to the end of the season. Probably $2k to $3K in crash damage and we made, I believe, $225 but Jerry gets $90 of that!!
Yes we knew the risk when we went on the track but we also knew the odds were VERY long against us when we saw the heat race lineups. I would liken it to drawing to an inside straight in poker - yes you might win a nice pot but it is unlikely. We actually considered putting the car back in the trailer as well. As it turned out that would have been the smart thing to do since the costs we had to get there and sign in would have been 1/10 what we will spend to get everything back together. But we are racers and nobody ever accused us of being smart!!!
I don't think we will be attending many more MSCS races under the current format. I don't like draw formats in general but at least with a passing points system you can be rewarded if you are forced to start in the back of a heat and can move forward.
Rob Hoffman