Barber Motorsports Park

I am in disbelief…

Going into this North American Challenge event, I sat 2nd in the National Championship for K-Prepared. I had no one challenging me in class and all I needed to do was to finish 50% of the laps in ONE of the races (they were all worth 150% points) in order to secure the K-Prepared National Title. That should’ve been pretty easy…

In qualifying for the 90 minute Enduro on Saturday, I noticed the motor sounding rough in high rpms and it eventually lost some power, so I brought it in. I pulled the valve cover and spark plugs and found I had fouled a plug. While I sent my friend Eric to buy some plugs, I decided to gap the valves with my friend Julie (they were helping crew for the weekend). When I got to the #2 cylinder intake rocker, I noticed a LOT of play. Upon a closer look, the wear pad where the rocker contacts the cam lobe was worn completely down. I wouldn't be able to run the enduro that day, so I set to work on that with the help of Chuck Baader, who was paddocked next to me, as well as Eric, Julie, and a guy Leslie from work who had come to watch the race. We worked the whole afternoon and by the time we were kicked out at 7pm, it was put back together with a replacement rocker arm. We just needed to refill the radiator and top off the oil. We finished that in the morning and the car ran, but I knew the motor was hurt.





I went out in qualifying, shifting at no more than 5,000 rpm. I was slow, but I confirmed that it ran. The session was black-flagged after 3 laps for an incident, so we all went into the pits. I was going to go back out, but I decided to pull it in while it was still running. I pulled the valve cover again to look things over. Everything seemed ok. I just needed to nurse it through 50% of the first race…

I started the race from the back of the field. It was frustrating to shift at only 5,000 rpm, but after a couple laps I was ok with it and having a little fun with a couple other cars at the back of the field. I could hear a valve tick on the few left hand turns, which would have indicated oil starvation. I previously suspected a problem with the oil-sprayer that keeps the rockers and cam lubricated… On the 4th lap, coming out of the hairpin, the motor blew with a light bang and a huge plume of white smoke out the tailpipe. As it died, I coasted as far as I could, but I was only half-way around the track. I watched the race from over the fence until I was pulled in at the end.

Looking at the race results, I had finished 4 laps and the lead BMW’s had finished 10. Had I completed the lap that I was on, I would have completed 50% of the laps and the race would have counted for me. I was a HALF A LAP away from the National Championship.

I have one more chance at winning the championship and that is at Roebling Road, outside of Savannah, GA, in December. There will be some fast guys in my class there and I’ll have to either win the non-feature race, or place 2nd or 1st in the Feature race in order to still win the championship… By 1 point. Its going to be a lot harder than “simply finishing” a race. Stay tuned…