Jim
We asked fo them to save us a trailer spot, they saved us an entire private very exclusive pit section on the back stretch of th old 1/2 mile track and even furnished an escort to get us there. We did have to share our pit with the track grader, wheel packer and several other pieces of track prep equipment along with several million mosquitoes. Lucky for us our years of racing at Lawrenceburg had taught us how to deal with them bugs and we found a 6 pack of "Off" stashed in the trailer. We did have one small race fan venture back to our pits but he didn't spend much time because of not being protected.
Those guys up there have sure spent a lot of money on equipment, I can testify to that because we pitted along side of all that heavy machinery. They also have the personal to use that stuff on the track. Like you said they gave us one heck of a race track, maybe a little too good for us. We missed the set up a little again this time also. We were expecting a typical Saturday night race track with deteriorated track for the Main.
What did they do but invite the fans down to the pits for intermission and autographs then take all that equipment out and re do the track all over again. We have been to two tracks that do this, Tulsa at the Chili Bowl and Hobustad Indiana, two very swanky race tracks. Looks like now we have been to three, they did an exceptional job last night. We also noticed a lack of them pesky big old tires that sure was neat.
After getting there just a little late like half an hour or so, we didn't know about all them detours. They found time for us to take a few hot laps by ourselves, not many track will do that, we started the heat in our usual position on the tail of the last heat, that is about how we draw also so that didn't affect us much. We managed to work up to forth place in the heat. Doug got the chance to race with an old friend of mine from way back in my Quarter Midget days by the name of Robby Parish. The last half of the heat race Doug and Gary Gipson traded diving and crossing over passes on each turn changing their position back and forth between each other each lap, just like them good old days It had to have been a good show for the crowd.
That forth place in the last heat was good enough for a 12th place starting spot in the Feature and we managed to work our way up to an 11th place finish. While not good enough for hard charger it was good enough to capture the $100.00 for highest finishing Sportsman Midget posted by Watson racing. That was just enough to buy gas to go back home on and 6 White Castles and a couple of pops. For us Sportsmen type Open Wheel racers that is considered a good night.
You Mini sprinters should look into racing up there on your free nights. We weigh a little more than the Midget do because of a grown up driver and all of my race analyzer hardware that I keep on board. (some of us like to piddle) We sure aren't the fastest Mini Sprint out there but we raced close to the top ten that we were shooting for. There are a bunch of Mini Sprints out there that could do that. Had we started further forward we could have done better.You also have the chance to race with some great drivers like Robby Parish and Hot Rod Heidenreich. I was amazed at the attitude of all the racer we raced against last night they raced both aggressive and very clean I don't think I saw any wheel banging last night at all. You young drivers lucky enough to be racing at Montpelier take notice of those older very experienced drivers that you are lucky enough to be racing with , they have a lot to teach you if you are willing to learn. The reason they are there is because Harold has provided them an opportunity that supports economical Midget racing and they can afford to do it once again.
Keep an eye out for us we just might be back.
Honest Dad himself
