Never the Same IC#31 Kirk’s Not so Great Bad Weekend

After some optimistic happenings, Kirk’s weekend of racing turned problematic. Kirk experienced an upheaval in the emotional department with the major factors that made up his world.

 

Readers, you’re probably in stitches in total wonderment to what Kirk had in mind with his van’s paintjob. Yeah, so far it seemed like an unconventional answer to his frustrating paint job problem on his precious van, but he wasn’t done by any means.

We departed Kirk painting big, irregular blue and red splotches on that one panel on both sides of his van in an attempt to disguise the old sign that had etched the metal. Kirk never found out why a painted sign would leave marks in the metal unless there was some kind of stencil that penetrated the paint right into the metal. Who knows? Anyway, Kirk thought he’ll camouflage those marks with an innovative paint job. I guess you’ll remain in stitches about the van’s paintjob for now.

In the meantime, Kirk messed around with the suspension on his stock car. Taking the cue from the indicators on the shocks, he assumed the suspension wasn’t balanced and hence, the car could handle better meaning he could power through the turns faster. So overall he raised the front, lowered the back and “wedged” more weight onto the inside, left side of the car. Just making these minor changes elevated Kirk’s heart rate just a little bit. Would it make a significant difference?

On the other recurrent irritation to his racing career (HA!), Kirk again changed out the valve cover gaskets and seals to solve the oil leaking problem. Mike, his brother-in-law and teammate, actually doubled up the seals and gaskets on his engine to solve the problem. In actuality, there wasn’t enough leakage to lose copious amounts of oil, that is enough to cause engine failure or get black flagged off the track as a result of the two teammates were leaving nasty, crash-causing trails of oil, but the leaks just made messes on their cars. The oil dripped off during the races and with the wind flow, covered the frame rails and the side of the cars. When parked hot, the dripping hot oil would form small puddles of grass killing messes. Kind of embarrassing, undoubtedly for normally neat and clean asphalt racing stock cars..

Anyhow, another weekend of racing rolled around. Just this weekend before the Midseason Championships for all classes which provided another level of excitement for drivers and spectators alike. There would be more laps, more points, more money, and usually more crashes that delighted the spectators, but that was next weekend. Kirk remained optimistic and energized to try out his suspension adjustments. Without any guidance from Mike, the supposed veteran racer, Kirk would just have to try it out with an assessment by the seat of his pants.

At Holland Speedway, Kirk did his usual warm up laps, but as usual, the laps weren’t under the pressure of taking the car to the limits of its capability.  This meant that Kirk couldn’t tell if his suspension changes made it any better, but he really wanted the car to handle better so it felt better or so he thought. After biding his time while the other racing classes did their heats and consolations, Kirk geared up for his heat. As always so far in the season, he went in the second heat with Mike in the first. Mike still didn’t win a heat yet which Kirk knew bothered him to no end. Kirk would be happy to place well enough in the heat so he didn’t HAVE to race the consolation race, but of course, the coup de grace along with that would mean he qualified for the feature. He sure wasn’t setting his sights that high yet, but then again, it would sure feel darn good for the rookie racer Kirk.

Heading out on the track, Kirk again was sandwiched in between the nine cars in his heat, a situation he had more or less had grown used to, that is, driving in more wheel-to-wheel and bumper-to-bumper interactions of the racing type. Kirk, in these cases, felt sure he didn’t like the feeling, nevertheless he wasn’t as nervous as the first couple times he started a race in this configuration.  Starting in the thick of things surly was not like his imagining starting a heat race out on the pole position where he could put the hammer down and not worry about overtaking any other cars with only the checkered hanging out there to be taken.

So. One lap and the green dropped. Kirk let the field determine his speed so he stayed with the pack which was pretty much the limit of his driving ability and his car’s speed. Of course, on the second lap, the guys behind him started pushing hard and those in front of him started pulling away. Kirk thought about the status of his suspension, but it felt good so he didn’t hesitate in going at least as fast as before the adjustments. This was at speed, so Kirk couldn’t analyze the quirks and minor changes to the handling, he just hung on trying to work up through the pack and not let the others behind him pass him up.

As we know, the heats are 8 laps and the consolation races even shorter at six so you have to make a move early on when you’re confident with warm tires and driver. Kirk, had, in the last couple weekends, found a bit more speed and been able to bear down on that big aluminum foot print-shaped pedal on the straightaways, yet Kirk had not found complete confidence on the corners. Almost everyone was faster than him either on the straights or the turns so Kirk had to do something with those guys were pulling away bit by bit with the guys behind breathing down his backside. Engines continued to roar on the straights and coast on the turns, more or less. Remember early on, Kirk could just stay down on the pedal all the way around because the car just didn’t have enough oomph! It now had a little more and the handling? Well, to Kirk’s optimistic side which we know was inherently limited, the car felt better.

Taking a deep breath, he dove a little faster with a little more RPMs into the turn and the car rode the corner like a roller coaster on a banked turn. Kirk smiled as he gained just a little bit more on those guys ahead. Less than a car length to the car ahead. Next turn he felt the same. The race was growing short, white flag!  On the following turn he was on the guy’s bumper. Trying to psyche him out, Kirk went high, then low. The guy bobbled a bit, Kirk’s thinking that maybe the guy wasn’t sure of his car. (Kirk could empathize the feeling!) Next and final turn, Kirk did the same high and low maneuver and he saw an opening! Diving down, he stayed on the gas pedal hard going into the turn. Without warning, the car’s rear end swung out! PANIC! Kirk chopped the throttle. He was sideways looking at the infield, so maybe he steered into the slide instinctively, probably didn’t have that instinct under severe adversity, but it went so fast he didn’t know, didn’t care.

BANG! CRRIIIICCCKK! One car from behind slammed and raked him across the left rear, then went by as he spun going in the other direction. The other two cars slipped past as he went 180 degrees to face and stop the wrong way. He turned and drove down the bank toward the infield and back onto the track. He sheepishly, slowly drove past the checkered flag. The other cars were already off the track heading to the pits. He readied for the consolation race just like always. Kirk felt spooked after his spinout.

Seeing he staggered through finishing last place in the heat, the consolation race had him lined up in the last row on the outside. To make the short race shorter, Kirk didn’t even try in the race. He let the car on the inside just motor out past him, he dropped into the slot and basically tailed him around the track. He finished last, of course and he didn’t really care.

Things had not improved all that much for rookie Kirk. He sat forlornly on the pit stands thinking the spectators and other drivers were thinking mocking things about him after the heat and his obviously lackluster effort in the consolation. He foregone his vinegar fries in exchange for a moping sit on the stands. Besides the embarrassment and damp squib, the trouble Kirk wrestled with was the fact that he couldn’t decide if the car handled better or not. As usual when something vexed Kirk, he went linear to only focus directly on the problem buoyed by his downturned emotion. Don sat with him on the stands and with his usual humor tried to cheer Kirk up, but Kirk rudely put him off not wanting to snap out of his slump. He always ended up “stewing in his own juice.”

The only upbeat Kirk had in the racing scene was the fact that he moved up one place in the standings to 20^th. He’d joked to himself of being in the top ten by midseason championship but since that was coming around next weekend, he’d have to settle on being in the top twenty. That is, if he didn’t majorly screw up Sunday at the Perry races. After struggling to gain a positive attitude about racing it didn’t take much, it never took much, to send Kirk back down to his normal gloomy self again.

On Sunday, Kir had at least the forethought to check his suspension travel indictors those little rubber donuts on his shock absorbers. Indeed, the changes in his suspension “wedging” had improved how the suspension worked meaning that the movement during the races was closer all the way around on four corners. He couldn’t figure out why the car seemed to handle better, but had an inclination to let loose and slide without warning. Was it his driving? Could be. Was it those cheap, tall and narrow recap tires? More than likely. He didn’t have the money to buy tires and besides if he went to the low profile, wider racing tires, he’d have to dink with the final gear ratio which he didn’t feel like doing at all.

So he made a slight handling adjustment before going to the track and called it good enough for small time NASCAR racing. He gave the left rear of his car a cursory glance where the other car slammed into him. Kirk paid enough attention to see the nerf bar had a slightly flattened edge and was devoid of paint along the edge. He also noticed the rear bumper had a ding and scrape on it as well, but he told himself those minor impacts were nothing to worry about�"right?

Nonetheless, the racing scene always invigorated Kirk at least before the races. Arriving at Perry Raceway, the sun shining down and warm, Kirk took all the stock car activity in. He was always excited but with the sounds of racing engines straight through header exhausts, the smell of exhaust fumes and oil, and the sights of all those colorful cars, what gearhead wouldn’t be completely captivated and invigorated by the activity? Speaking of gearheads, all those gearheads Kirk went to school with never showed up to watch him race. Were they jealous or embarrassed by his racing? He didn’t know, and it bothered him�" intrinsically.

After unloading his car from trailer, Kirk pulled it aside the rig and let it sit there as he always did. He didn’t tinker with it, adjust it, check oil level, or anything. He just let it sit and waited out the heats of the lower-class cars. After Mike roared off for his heat, Kirk slowly geared up for his. No rush, he had at least fifteen minutes before his heat rolled out. Kirk began to treat it as a mundane experience though he still harbored a bit of hidden anxiousness lurking beneath his outwardly calm veneer.

Sitting in his shining silver racing coupe, he pulled the shoulder harnesses over to dangle down his chest in front of him, he pulled the lap belts to lay on his, well, lap, and pulled the crotch strap up into his well-endowed�". He fed all those metal harness ends into the crotch strap end and cinched them all down. Tightly. He donned his helmet, cinched it down, and pulled his gloves on and cinched them as well. Being borderline lackadaisical about the predatory process to racing, he cruised over to the pack of cars waiting for the first heat to finish. Being late, Kirk had to stick his front right wheel in between the third and fourth row cars. The fourth-row driver gave him the stink eye probably hoping Kirk wasn’t going to show up giving the other driver a position up forward. Kirk smiled, no such luck, sucker! 

As usual Kirk saw his brother-in-law Mike file first out from his heat looking not so happy. Kirk surmised that Mike must have come in second and the winner is cruising around the track with the checkered flag. Mike had won his heat a couple times this season, but winning the feature eluded him with his own little underpowered silver couple. Kirk had no preconceived notions of leading and winning a feature when he continued to be unable to qualify for the feature! The winning green car rolled out, that over-priced cash-cow stock car. This class of racing wasn’t meant to be a high dollar car event because the payback remained low, something Kirk hadn’t sampled yet. Maybe today!

Dream on, Kirk!

They rolled out onto lower banks compared to the night before. Fewer cars in his heat meant Kirk had a better chance of qualifying for the feature�"what�"maybe a 15 percent better chance? Kirk had delusions of grandeur! Again, he sat there on the fourth row on the inside groove as they turned the third and fourth turns, one lap warm up and acceleration on green.

 Kirk remained leery about slamming down on the accelerator on the first lap as he thought all drivers were a bit apprehensive “to go for it” before getting a feel for the competition, the tire grip and their performance. He had that recall from the night before that the car handled well up to a point, that point where he found himself sideways. Could he feel it coming? He gripped the wheel and pushed a little harder on the accelerator. Yeah, he made up that little gap between him and the car in front of him. The car beside him had dropped back and was not on his bumper. Good. Kirk felt good. The car felt good.

Feeling like he drove the Daytona 500, he hugged the wall on the straights, ducked down low to almost putting his left tires in the infield dirt. He was on that guy’s bumper in front of him. Out of the turn on the straight, he ducked down early just a little and stuck his front wheels aside and below the car in front. Almost but not quite; he backed off. Again, he tried it but then the guy blocked him. Only a couple laps left, so he tried a fake drop down on the straight and the guy dropped to block. Then Kirk went high and charged hard, going into the turn high and hard. He didn’t know if it would it hold beyond the limits of the tires cohesion. Making his way around the longer way, he got his front tires beside the guy’s rears. Kirk stayed on the gas and hung on gripping the wheel with sheer determination.

GRINDDDD! BANG! Bang, bump, bump, bump came from Kirk’s car rear end somewhere. With a jolt up his backbone and his heart in his throat, he backed off the gas and the guy was gone. The bumping, thumping continued only in a slower repetition as he slowed from racing speed. He stepped on the brakes. No brakes! The other cars sped on by as Kirk fought the ill handling car. A flat tire? Kirk guessed as he checked his mirror and dove for the infield with a couple jolts going onto the dirt and grass. Kirk pulled in a couple car lengths, hit the kill switch and sat there with depression setting in as the other cars flashed by on their last lap.

This was the first time Kirk didn’t finish a race. The first thing Kirk thought of was his point standings and not what had happened to his car. He pulled his helmet off, set it on the floor, and unbuckled. His automatic disembark procedure was to face butt to the window stick a leg out, scrunch his butt through followed by his body, leg and upper body. He remembered not to bang his head on the window frame which he had done several times.

 The track crew drew up already with the tow truck. Kirk then looked with surprise at his rear tire that stuck out at an angle about two feet out from where it was supposed to be. The tow truck crew pointed to him indicating that they’d hook on the rear of his car. Kirk nodded and waved them in. He took a look and instantly saw that the rear axle bearing had let go allowing the axle to slide out of the rear axle tube. On stock cars, the bearings are spot welded so they don’t slip out, but apparently this one did anyway. He noticed that the wheel had a hard dent and scrape in it. Did it get walloped on Saturday night and he didn’t see it? That could have caused the bearing failure.

“Well, that doesn’t look so bad,” said the tow truck crewman. “Could’ve been really bad if the axle had come all the way out. Good thing you shut down and headed in here so quickly.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Hey, we’re hooked up. You need to get in and keep the front wheels straight.”

“Okay,” said Kirk and crawled in.

It was a bit weird riding backwards with a severe nose down perspective. Because Kirk wasn’t strapped in (Was he supposed to be?) Kirk had to brace himself to stay in the seat. The going was slow and extremely bouncy and swingy until the tow truck dropped him next to the trailer. Don and Mike had waited for his arrival and cast their eyeballs on the dead stock car.

“Well,” said Don in his usual deadpan. He pointed. “Well. How about that? That’s not good.” 

Mike looked at the axle and the wheel with an air of Mister Know-it-all authority.

“That hit you took last night must have cracked the welds and the sideward pressure today broke ‘er loose.” He paused to look at the subdued Kirk. He shrugged. “Could’ve been worse.”

Mike still had to run the feature, so the broken car just sat there because Mike’s car had to be loaded first. The malfunction injured Kirk intrinsically because it could’ve been prevented, but in all reality, even if Kirk had seen the impact marks it wouldn’t have caused him to pull the axle in an investigation. So in further consideration, Kirk took it better than he might have after all.

After their class feature, Mike came roaring down the pit road faster than the posted and “enforced” 15MPH speed limit. Kirk and Don just stood there watching as Mike hardly slowed down and aimed for the car hauling rig. With a rattle and a bang, bang, Mike bounced up the trailer ramps, across the trailer, up the truck ramps and onto the truck. Kirk kind of gasped wondering if Mike was going to keep going and go over the top of the truck cab. Mike slammed on the brakes at the last moment and skidded the last couple feet to the wheel stops right behind the cab. He killed the engine. Kirk and Don threw the chains over the axle and cinched them down, Kirk didn’t know if Mike was pissed off or just showing off, which Mike was all about most of the time.

Kirk in the meantime had jacked up that left rear corner of his car and shoved the tire, wheel and axle back in place. Of course, there was nothing he could do about no brakes or fixing the problem out there in the pits anyway. Keep in mind that shoving the assembly back in place didn’t mean it’d stay there. Moving the car meant it would walk back out of the axle tube.

A word of note here that a normal passenger car or truck with an axle slid out like Kirk’s car wouldn’t go anywhere because of the differential allowing the rear tires to move at different rates and not drive at all if one wheel isn’t on the ground. Like, if you’ve ever been stuck in the snow, one tire will spin, but the other won’t spin. That’s what a normal differential does. But on stockcars the differentials are welded up solid so both axles drive equally all the time so when making a sharp turn the one wheel with the least traction slips to match the other side’s speed.

Anyhow, because of the solid differential Kirk could still drive his car albeit very slowly and carefully because the loose axle is just stuck in the axle tube. With some careful and slow maneuvering Kirk got the car lined up with the trailer. As he moved closer to the ramps Don kicked the tire repeatedly to keep the assembly from creeping out. Need to put four tires on the trailer. Kirk gave the car a short burst up the ramps onto the trailer and hit the kill switch. He just let the car lurch to a stop thinking that they could push it the rest of the way onto the trailer. Which they did and cinched it down.

Kirk quietly sat in the truck’s copilot seat on the way back to the garage with little to say or comment about the incident. He knew that it wouldn’t be too tough to repair the failure, but just the same after the incident, he’d never be the same.