Pete McKay
06-16-2008, 12:11 AM
Sequoia Speedway hosted the first of its LifeLike Professional Series races on Sunday, June 15, 2008. Entry fee was $5 per car and there were 19 entries among 8 drivers. Time qualification saw one car in the go-or-go-home position with only the top 18 being qualified for the event. The #71 Dave Marcus Real Tree Monte Carlo driven by Dan Islas posted the slowest time and was sent to the motor home for this event.
The remaining 18 cars were randomly drawn and placed in their lane assignments for the first of three rounds of heats, and then the heats were run. One point was given for a win, two for a second and three for a third place finish. After the first round was completed a second and then a third round were run in the same way. Cars were then arranged by their heat points, lowest to highest with the top nine cars being selected to run the mains. Four cars went perfect in the night winning each of their three heat races. Another three cars had to be sorted out for the final two positions in the mains, and that was determined by which had the fastest qualifying times.
The final nine cars were arranged by their heat points with one car being placed in each of the mains from the A back to the semi-feature. The consolation race would have the three highest point scoring cars, with lane choice determined by qualifying and drivers preference. Two cars would transfer to each of the following mains. Ray Islas, Andre Ramos, and Chuck Munford unfortunately failed to make the mains but stuck around to watch the mayhem consume the rest of the event.
In the consolation race it was James Hicks and the NAPA Chevrolet running against Yoshi’s Home Depot Chevy with my own DeWalt Tool Taurus having a very bad push. The push continued and I crashed out on lap two, leaving Yoshi and James to transfer to face my #88 UPS Taurus.
The semi-main ran without incident and I sent James’s NAPA car home by transferring with Yoshi to the E Main, where we faced another of Yoshi’s cars, the #1 Steve Park Pennzoil Monte Carlo. I led the E Main from flag to flag with the Pennzoil Chevy breathing down my neck with James at the handle. Yoshi trailered his Stewart car 10 laps later.
The UPS Taurus and the Pennzoil Chevrolet had to face the current points leader, the #2 Miller Genuine Draft Taurus in the D Main. I moved over to drive Rusty’s car, leaving James to race the UPS Ford in my place. Yoshi resumed driving Park’s car and proceeded to smoke the other two cars for 9 laps, only to crash hard in turn 3 of the final lap and be passed by first the Miller Taurus then the UPS car, transferring both my owned cars to the C Main to race with Yoshi’s Jeff Gordon entry.
The C Main suffered through 3 false starts with me as the culprit. I was docked track position on the 4th start and had to make up a lot of distance with the Miller Taurus. Too much in fact and I settled for last place in the 10 lap contest. The #88 car had transferred all the way through from the semi main, and had now won the C Main to meet David’s #48 Lowes Monte Carlo and the ever fast #24 DuPont Monte Carlo with Yoshi at the handle. The two who transferred from this main were sure to pick up some of the cash, as only the top 4 would share the winners purse. With James’s #6 Valvoline Taurus already sitting in the A Main, he would be guaranteed at least 15% of the $95 purse, or $14.25 in hard cash.
The B Main was 25 laps, a fast start and no accidents meant this one was over in a rush. When it was all over Jeff Gordon waved goodbye and loaded up his car for the long drive back home. Brothers David and James would have to face the track record holder, the event dominating UPS Taurus owned and driven by….me.
We took a short break; Yoshi drew his 10% of the winnings ($9.50) and offered his services as starter. After taping and some oiling, a bit of track cleaning and drivers refreshments we lined up with the UPS Ford getting first choice due to my qualifying time of 1.00 seconds. I took the middle (#2) lane. The #48 Lowes Chevy driven by David with a Q-time of 1.03 seconds took the high line in lane 3, with James’s Valvoline Ford (1.07 seconds) having to take the shorter but tighter inside lane 1. After a couple of warm up laps we got a fair start and ran 30 of the 50 laps before James and David tangled in turn 1 after James spun up the track and took him out. By then I had already lapped them so during the caution I taped my tires and drew the one lap penalty, the start would be straight up for lap 31. There was no catching me at that point, I drove off and in the remaining laps built up about half a lap lead. David and James however continued to run side-by-side, with the finish being essentially a dead heat, only 0.03 seconds between them. David took second from his older brother, and drew 25% of the purse with $23.75. James took home $14.25 for his efforts, and I drew the 50% winners share of $47.50. The UPS Ford came from about as far outside the mains as you could be to come back and win, showing just how valid this sort of program can be compared to lane switching.
This was the first such “professional” series race I have held in recent memory, it won’t be the last. It was a great success and even those who failed to make the mains were very happy with how things went. This race was accompanied by a BBQ and watermelon feast, with my grilled shark being the main course with some nice brown rice. Other than some hot weather as is normal for this time of year everything went very well.
The remaining 18 cars were randomly drawn and placed in their lane assignments for the first of three rounds of heats, and then the heats were run. One point was given for a win, two for a second and three for a third place finish. After the first round was completed a second and then a third round were run in the same way. Cars were then arranged by their heat points, lowest to highest with the top nine cars being selected to run the mains. Four cars went perfect in the night winning each of their three heat races. Another three cars had to be sorted out for the final two positions in the mains, and that was determined by which had the fastest qualifying times.
The final nine cars were arranged by their heat points with one car being placed in each of the mains from the A back to the semi-feature. The consolation race would have the three highest point scoring cars, with lane choice determined by qualifying and drivers preference. Two cars would transfer to each of the following mains. Ray Islas, Andre Ramos, and Chuck Munford unfortunately failed to make the mains but stuck around to watch the mayhem consume the rest of the event.
In the consolation race it was James Hicks and the NAPA Chevrolet running against Yoshi’s Home Depot Chevy with my own DeWalt Tool Taurus having a very bad push. The push continued and I crashed out on lap two, leaving Yoshi and James to transfer to face my #88 UPS Taurus.
The semi-main ran without incident and I sent James’s NAPA car home by transferring with Yoshi to the E Main, where we faced another of Yoshi’s cars, the #1 Steve Park Pennzoil Monte Carlo. I led the E Main from flag to flag with the Pennzoil Chevy breathing down my neck with James at the handle. Yoshi trailered his Stewart car 10 laps later.
The UPS Taurus and the Pennzoil Chevrolet had to face the current points leader, the #2 Miller Genuine Draft Taurus in the D Main. I moved over to drive Rusty’s car, leaving James to race the UPS Ford in my place. Yoshi resumed driving Park’s car and proceeded to smoke the other two cars for 9 laps, only to crash hard in turn 3 of the final lap and be passed by first the Miller Taurus then the UPS car, transferring both my owned cars to the C Main to race with Yoshi’s Jeff Gordon entry.
The C Main suffered through 3 false starts with me as the culprit. I was docked track position on the 4th start and had to make up a lot of distance with the Miller Taurus. Too much in fact and I settled for last place in the 10 lap contest. The #88 car had transferred all the way through from the semi main, and had now won the C Main to meet David’s #48 Lowes Monte Carlo and the ever fast #24 DuPont Monte Carlo with Yoshi at the handle. The two who transferred from this main were sure to pick up some of the cash, as only the top 4 would share the winners purse. With James’s #6 Valvoline Taurus already sitting in the A Main, he would be guaranteed at least 15% of the $95 purse, or $14.25 in hard cash.
The B Main was 25 laps, a fast start and no accidents meant this one was over in a rush. When it was all over Jeff Gordon waved goodbye and loaded up his car for the long drive back home. Brothers David and James would have to face the track record holder, the event dominating UPS Taurus owned and driven by….me.
We took a short break; Yoshi drew his 10% of the winnings ($9.50) and offered his services as starter. After taping and some oiling, a bit of track cleaning and drivers refreshments we lined up with the UPS Ford getting first choice due to my qualifying time of 1.00 seconds. I took the middle (#2) lane. The #48 Lowes Chevy driven by David with a Q-time of 1.03 seconds took the high line in lane 3, with James’s Valvoline Ford (1.07 seconds) having to take the shorter but tighter inside lane 1. After a couple of warm up laps we got a fair start and ran 30 of the 50 laps before James and David tangled in turn 1 after James spun up the track and took him out. By then I had already lapped them so during the caution I taped my tires and drew the one lap penalty, the start would be straight up for lap 31. There was no catching me at that point, I drove off and in the remaining laps built up about half a lap lead. David and James however continued to run side-by-side, with the finish being essentially a dead heat, only 0.03 seconds between them. David took second from his older brother, and drew 25% of the purse with $23.75. James took home $14.25 for his efforts, and I drew the 50% winners share of $47.50. The UPS Ford came from about as far outside the mains as you could be to come back and win, showing just how valid this sort of program can be compared to lane switching.
This was the first such “professional” series race I have held in recent memory, it won’t be the last. It was a great success and even those who failed to make the mains were very happy with how things went. This race was accompanied by a BBQ and watermelon feast, with my grilled shark being the main course with some nice brown rice. Other than some hot weather as is normal for this time of year everything went very well.