Who is left?

[mitchntx]

:(

[Rob Liebbe]

I'm still here. I'll be driving up to the track in the morning - early morning. It's right at 1 hour from my house.

[Mike Bell]

Still here, but I plan on dropping off tonight sometime (depends on when i get it all loaded up).

[mitchntx]

I guess it should have read "Who is remaining?"

[marshall_mosty]

Mitch,
I'm still remaining.... can't fit a 5 hour ride and 40 hours worth of work on the car before 7am tomorrow. I guess I'm going to shoot for October in Houston. :cry:

[mitchntx]

I can't make Houston because of work schedule.

So, my season is over.

[gt40]

Mitch,
I'm still remaining.... can't fit a 5 hour ride and 40 hours worth of work on the car before 7am tomorrow. I guess I'm going to shoot for October in Houston. :cry:Same here -- no money for TWS, and there are parts waiting to be installed.

[Mike Bell]

Here's an update for those at home (like me now!):

Saturday R1 - Group 5 and 8 combined to help NASATX get caught back up in the schedule, 30 cars take the green. Great up front action between Matt and Chris Marvel, Chris prevailed by a fraction of a second at the line to take the win. In CMC I believe Juan Pablo Burch took the top spot but his tranny is destroyed. My car blew up on lap 2 so I'm out. The #27 Camaro driven by Amber Love also blew the motor.

R2 - Group 5 alone this time, great 4 way AI battle for the lead, Donovan won followed by Irwin/Marvel/Lyons/Brooks. Great stuff. In CMC it was a 4 car lead pack with Landrum taking the win followed by Micah Bishop (WTG Micah!!) and Rueth and then Liebbe. Varner parked his car on lap 1, overheating issues caused him to pack up and head home too. Boudy let Burch start the race in his car to get points, then did a driver swap on lap 2 to allow Robert to get seat time.

As always, some great camaraderie in the pits. Folks swapping tools and helping each other out. Corey had to change a fuel pump prior to Qual, I saw Donovan changing a tranny, Liebbe had to change a harmonic balancer between R1 and R2, Lyons working on carb/fuel problems, Pedersen's crew working on a distributor problem. Just another typical (and I mean typical) AI/CMC weekend, all the drama of the past was gone and smiles all around.

Good times gents, good times indeed.

[mitchntx]

Wow! Some serious carnage.

What happened with your motor, Mike?

Is it the heat?

[Mike Bell]

I'm scratching my head Mitch. I think the motor had head gasket problems (hence the low dyno numbers) because it overheated in Qual after 3 laps, blew all the radiator contents out via the overflow. I refilled it all, secured the hose and hoped she'd last through R1.

I was on the grid for R1 the water temp was 220, on pace lap it spiked at 250. Somehow I was getting compression in the radiator, kept blowing out the water through the overflow. I tried to back way off and short shift just to stay out but it finally gave up the ghost on lap 2. I'm going to get a reman longblock and have it installed over the next month. Car was handling well, I was 4th on the CMC times in practice even with a low power motor so hopefully a dependable mill can help me get out there and get seat time for an entire race weekend.

Much rust for the driver at TWS and driving a CMC machine there proved to be a challenge for me! However, hauling my stuff out to the track for 9 laps of track time isn't a great value. I knew the motor was suspect, but just had to try lol.

[CMC17]

CMC17 had similar problems to CMC18. I'm not sure if my problem is a head gasket, but it was overheating all day Saturday. After the last race I was able to make it back to the pits, but when I went to start it to get it on the trailer it wouldn't fire and we had to push it.

I've been fighting power issues from the beginning of the season. I guess whatever I touch turns to crap. lol I'm thinking that my season is over since I don't have the desire to sweat in a garage for weeks prior to an event only to have major problems.

However, it was great to see everyone once again and there were some fierce battles out on track. I have to thank Corey for not making my car a sub-compact when I lost power in T2. :D

[mitchntx]

That's too bad.

You guys have certainly had more than your fair share of issues this season.

[NASA13]

CMC17 had similar problems to CMC18.

However, it was great to see everyone once again and there were some fierce battles out on track. I have to thank Corey for not making my car a sub-compact when I lost power in T2. :D

I am sorry I didnt see you sooner. I am just not used to #17 going that slow.
It was a rough weekend for everyone. I am just happy to get mine home in one piece.