First, a big round of applause for the Mahoning Valley and Steel Cities regions for doing everything they could to make this weekend enjoyable. Every part of the event administration went very smoothly from everything I saw. The regions fed every participant (officials, drivers, crew) who was interested on Saturday night - and the food was good. Even the weather was great.
Second, the one big negative, the track surface. Nelson is a great layout, but the track itself has been really awful for many years. Except for the carousel and back straight which were repaved a few years ago, there isn't more than five feet of track without major problems. The place is a car-killer and the number of repairs that were made in the paddock on things that "never" break, was legion. I'm not going back until the place is repaved. Period.
Third, the results for DSR:
Qualifying
Fourth, "my weekend" - the very condensed version. My biggest concern was whether I could get the engine to live. Having seized rod bearings (leading to broken rods, holes in block) twice and having wiped a cam once in my last three outings, my machine shop guys and I went to great pains (let us not discuss money) to avoid these problems. These measures seemed to have worked. I have a Mecca inspection filter in the oil system which I checked after every session and there were no shiny bits at any time. Hooray!
I noted above that the track surface at Nelson is dismal. I spent a fair amount of time fixing stuff on the Friday test day (threads stripping in the crank sensor mount pinch bolt, bolts backing out, etc.) due to the intense pounding the car takes. (Softening the suspension is a mixed bag because bottoming out is the likely result.) As a result, I didn't get a lot of time in the car - something I freely admit I sorely need.
During a.m. practice Saturday, I got meat balled. A rear body latch popped loose and the bodywork was flopping around. The tech guys at black flag reattached the latch and sent me on my way, but at that point I found the steering wheel not to be level when I was going more-or-less straight ahead. I came in. More loose stuff!
In p.m. qualifying, things were going well mechanically (even if I was still slow) until the brake pedal got very long in one of the two hard braking areas on the track. I went off fairly gently (but, of course, the lip of the front splitter got chewed up a bit) and decided to come in early. More loose stuff!
Sunday's race started out OK for me, but Jerry Bergman had an engine problem on the pace lap and dropped way back. Jerry's problem cleared up and he set out to chase me. For about five laps we waged a pitched back markers' battle (he would catch me in corners - I said I need more seat time - but I had enough grunt to stay in front on the straights). Then, suddenly, my car developed a terrible vibration at third and fourth gear speeds. I waved Jerry by and went to the pits. I had a friendly pit marshal check for a loose wheel, a flat tire or whatever. He found nothing amiss and I went back out. The vibration was so bad, I retired immediately. The car is still in the trailer, so I don't know what the problem is yet. I was told by a spectator that at some point Al Beasley, Jr. looped his car causing his third place finish. Beyond that, I have no real information on how the battle went up front.
I loaded up, and started home. About 10 miles from the track, the trailer started to pull badly. Flat tire. It took about a half hour to get the spare on. (Thanks to Bob Gelles and Kevin Firlein who both stopped to check to see that I was going to be able to get it fixed.)
Next stop, Mid-Ohio National, June 2-3.
Second, the one big negative, the track surface. Nelson is a great layout, but the track itself has been really awful for many years. Except for the carousel and back straight which were repaved a few years ago, there isn't more than five feet of track without major problems. The place is a car-killer and the number of repairs that were made in the paddock on things that "never" break, was legion. I'm not going back until the place is repaved. Period.
Third, the results for DSR:
Qualifying
Al Beasley, Jr 1:06.372 Beasley-DeckerRichard Leslie Jr 1:06.700 RadicalBen Smith 1:07.360 Beasley B-2Mike Sirriani 1:11.480 RadicalJerry Bergman 1:13.129 Beasley B-2Dave Gomberg 1:14.393 CheetahRaceRichard Leslie, Jr 1:07.250 23 laps Margin of Victory 22.14 secondsBen Smith 1:07.855 23 lapsAl Beasley, Jr 1:07.305 23 lapsMike Sirriani 1:12.909 19 laps (not running at finish)Jerry Bergman 1:13.459 19 lapsDave Gomberg 1:17.689 7 laps (not running at finish - DNF)
Fourth, "my weekend" - the very condensed version. My biggest concern was whether I could get the engine to live. Having seized rod bearings (leading to broken rods, holes in block) twice and having wiped a cam once in my last three outings, my machine shop guys and I went to great pains (let us not discuss money) to avoid these problems. These measures seemed to have worked. I have a Mecca inspection filter in the oil system which I checked after every session and there were no shiny bits at any time. Hooray!
I noted above that the track surface at Nelson is dismal. I spent a fair amount of time fixing stuff on the Friday test day (threads stripping in the crank sensor mount pinch bolt, bolts backing out, etc.) due to the intense pounding the car takes. (Softening the suspension is a mixed bag because bottoming out is the likely result.) As a result, I didn't get a lot of time in the car - something I freely admit I sorely need.
During a.m. practice Saturday, I got meat balled. A rear body latch popped loose and the bodywork was flopping around. The tech guys at black flag reattached the latch and sent me on my way, but at that point I found the steering wheel not to be level when I was going more-or-less straight ahead. I came in. More loose stuff!
In p.m. qualifying, things were going well mechanically (even if I was still slow) until the brake pedal got very long in one of the two hard braking areas on the track. I went off fairly gently (but, of course, the lip of the front splitter got chewed up a bit) and decided to come in early. More loose stuff!
Sunday's race started out OK for me, but Jerry Bergman had an engine problem on the pace lap and dropped way back. Jerry's problem cleared up and he set out to chase me. For about five laps we waged a pitched back markers' battle (he would catch me in corners - I said I need more seat time - but I had enough grunt to stay in front on the straights). Then, suddenly, my car developed a terrible vibration at third and fourth gear speeds. I waved Jerry by and went to the pits. I had a friendly pit marshal check for a loose wheel, a flat tire or whatever. He found nothing amiss and I went back out. The vibration was so bad, I retired immediately. The car is still in the trailer, so I don't know what the problem is yet. I was told by a spectator that at some point Al Beasley, Jr. looped his car causing his third place finish. Beyond that, I have no real information on how the battle went up front.
I loaded up, and started home. About 10 miles from the track, the trailer started to pull badly. Flat tire. It took about a half hour to get the spare on. (Thanks to Bob Gelles and Kevin Firlein who both stopped to check to see that I was going to be able to get it fixed.)
Next stop, Mid-Ohio National, June 2-3.

















