Thunderhill Crown Vic team?

Yea, we clogged up the penalty box on Saturday. Enough that we were parked just after lunch time. Seems that swaybar we added before the race wasn't such a good idea after all. (the rest is purely from my point of view so may be colored with bias). But Sunday we had the swaybar off and were running a clean race...

Until that Crown Vic was coming onto the track right at turn 1 and apparently didn't see us or think to ride the outside line until it was up to speed.

And there I am barreling down the track --ok, maybe not "barelling" since it was only 68-70mph top speed where everyone else was between 100-110, but it felt fast. It was the fastest part of the track for us, let's put it that way-- and I'm already committed to turn 1, which for us is 4th gear and just a quick lift to get the rear end to wiggle out and then floor the throttle at corner entry to transfer the weight. Problem is here comes this huge-ass crown vic that is cutting all the way to the inside line from the "track on" lane. If I would have touched the brakes, I would have spun right into it. The only thing I could do was lift and plant again and hope it gives me a tighter line.

I climbed up on the inside curbing (and maybe a little in the dirt) just as the vic was coming alongside and momentum had me drifting right out into it, making contact driver's door to driver's door, and the vic prevented me from sliding out another 2-3 feet as I would have done naturally as I pressed door to door using him as the outside berm. I held my wheel steady to complete the turn, and the vic driver seemed to veer gently to the outside of the turn and let off the throttle and I completed the turn without any more contact, watching the vic drift further back in my rear view mirror. Fortunately it didn't result in a pit maneuver as I pulled ahead. And somehow I didn't stain the driver's suit...

I should say we didn't get a black flag, but entering turn 2 the car was shooting opposite directions depending on whether I was on or off the throttle (something was amiss in the steering) so I came in at the end of the same lap. It ended up being the steering arm locating dowel was knocked around and wallowed out the arm giving us variable toe. We peened it and then tightened up the bolts and all was good.

As I said, we didn't garner a black flag, but since I was already in the pits, was the "captain" and only one who on Saturday didn't get black flagged, I drove on down to the penalty box. When I waved Jay and Johnny over to the mini, the eyes rolled back into their heads. I told Jay that we made contact with the vic and never saw a black flag but wanted to come in anyway so I couldn't say my shit didn't stink. Johnny checked the radio reports and he said, "They're clean. Nothing on them" and Jay let me go back out.

I think we weren't flagged because the flag station is after turn 1 and we were obscured by the vic, and of course because it was gentle enough that we left no blatant evidence. A scrubbed front rim, a little tiny bit of extra paint on the side, and our roof-flashing fenders were smushed a smidge. I meant to come over later to exchange "pucker moment" perspectives but never got around to it.

As far as contact goes, it really was pretty gentle but enough to give me another good story to tell. I just wondered what it was like from the vic driver's point of view. I'm imagining it was something like: "I'd just eaten lunch before my stint. As I got on track and started to take my line, I felt a little gas bubble rumble in my tummy but by the time I was through turn 1, I felt better."

Oh, your vic has our mini beat experience-wise. It's done 3 Lemons races with 12 different drivers behind the wheel. None of us Thunderhill drivers had any race experience beyond 2 Lemons races and 1 VARA race.

As I said, it was no big deal and just something for each of us to learn from and to use to make future adjustments.