Pat Stair did his magic and rebuilt our motor so we could go to Memphis. Conrad Jorgenson did his normal stellar work to get the chassis ready and off we went on a fantastic adventure South to run the last race of 2009 in the United States Super Truck Challenge Series.
Bill’s notes:
I have never run a high banked oval. Memphis was my first and what a ride! Running at 125 mph, barely touching the brakes, and then diving down the hill into the steep bank turns. Honest to God, this was the experience of a lifetime. I had no idea how fast fast was until this weekend.”
Pat Stair and Craig Furlong were the foundation of a successful weekend racing. They both worked their butts off and got dirtier than a couple of six year olds playing in the mud. Mary Brown pitched in and took pictures and did the official spotter work atop the grandstand while Craig and Pat did the real spotting from atop the hauler in the pits.
We drove down to Memphis on Thursday Nov 5th. This event was a supporting race for the ASA stock car series. We had two practice sessions on Friday and Bill was 1.2 seconds slower than the fastest truck after the first session. After a long phone conversation with Andy Jirik (who built the truck) back in Minnesota Bill was determined to find more speed. He went a half second faster in the second session by using less brake and rolling into the corners. Andy and Bill talked again, Craig and Pat worked on the truck and everybody was excited for the race.
Saturday’s schedule had a one hour practice session with the last 15 minutes to serve as qualifying. After a 90 min break the race would start at noon. Bill took another half second off and qualified 15th out of 24 race trucks.
The race started and Bill started to move up. There were three cautions and Bill could do a little better than the competition at the start of the run and passed several trucks after each caution. The truck was a little off in the middle of a run so Bill would drop some of the positions he gained after about 6 laps. If the green stayed out more than 12 laps then most of the trucks faded while Bill ran consistent times and got stronger at the end of a run so he would move up again.
At one point Bill was running 6th with hopes of more. Bill ran right with the lead group in 6th after a late caution for several laps. The tires went off a little and a couple of trucks got by dropping Bill to 9th. The last three laps Bill held off a close challenge from the #16 truck of Scott Trailer from Kansas City (with encouragement from Craig on the radio) to get a top ten finish in his first USST Challenge Race.
Bill’s notes:
This was nothing short of a blast! I was driving into the turns with the best of them. I need to work on my exit….I don’t get on the gas as hard as I should but I need to work up to that in steps. I don’t want to put it in the wall (some of the drivers did). I did get loose a couple of times but had no trouble keeping the truck underneath me so I am sure there is more speed there.”
During the race Bill ran lap times there were just 4 tenths off the leader. 125 mph on the straights for an average of 110 mph. His times would have put him into the NASCAR Camping World Truck Race at Memphis this summer.
The truck ran great with Pat and Craig’s help. The motor turned 7500 RPM in the race which is really screaming for that small block Chevy.
Some of the drivers crashed their trucks up but everyone was safe and sound at the end of the day.
The USST Officials did a fantastic job. The event was well organized and very professional. The Southern Hospitality was great!
Bill’s notes:
For the first time ever, a preacher came up to me while I was strapped in on the grid and prayed with me to have a safe race. How cool is that?
The worse part of the weekend was knowing we would have to wait until 2010 to do it again.
We did have a close call on the way down when another truck swerved over into our lane on I55 in Illinois. Craig was alert and handled the situation well (scared the you know what out of Mary and Pat riding in the sleeper). On the way back Craig did a great job at getting our mileage up to 7.22 mpg (excellent for a big rig).
We all took turns in the “sleeper” to catch a little sleep or check out the internet.
It was a great trip. We worked hard, had a nice southern dinner on Friday night, told a lot of stories and laughed. Boy did we have fun! Life does not get any better than having a good time with good people!
It is going to be a long winter waiting for the next race. Maybe we will have to do some ice racing just to stay in practice????
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