Never the Same #35 The Second Half of Summer Unfolds

Bad conduct on the track or otherwise, Kirk feels changes are on the wind.

 

For once, Kirk felt quite proud of himself. The van’s paint job came out better than he ever thought possible. He had thought long and hard about painting the van Panther Pink with the custom touch and there it sat. He couldn’t admire it all day, because he had to get ready for the weekend’s Mid-Season Championship at Perry Raceway. Kirk felt especially excited about this race after his surprise qualification two weekends ago at Holland. Qualification and actually racing in a big championship as Kirk’s first feature event proved a remarkable memorable experience. Too bad about how the race finished for him. He'll remember to put plenty of high-test gasoline in his tank this weekend!

Mike, on the other hand, didn’t seem so enthused after his crash. Yeah, he planned on racing this weekend, but with his car not looking so pristine and silvery, he just seemed indifferent about it all. The oil leak problem plagued both cars though Mike’s seemed worse than Kirk’s. Kirk tended to be more fastidious about wiping the oil off the engine and compartment whenever he could. Maybe Mike’s was worse because his car was slightly faster, and he usually raced the features which are longer races. Most recently, he had contacted the Dodge Factory Performance Rep to see if they had any suggestions other than the seals and gaskets the two racers had already tried. It appeared that Dodge was unaware of any of these problems because their performance concentration lay in drag races powered by the big Hemi V-8s and not oval track races. Understandably, Mike became even more bummed with the news.  

Well, Saturday night under the lights at Holland International Speedway came too soon. Being paranoid about running out of gas like he did at the championships, he almost filled his smallish tank to the top. Overkill, for sure. Anyway, the night of racing went pretty much the same as before the championship that being he didn’t qualify for the feature. He had already figured out that his closest competitors, meaning the slowpokes were relatively closely matched, so a lot of finishing positions relied on luck, mishaps, or as in the championship, more qualifying positions for the feature. They traded positions back and forth as usual, but in the end the finished as usual. Nevertheless, Kirk never tried to fool himself into thinking his car was fast.

Anyway, we could go through the blow-by-blow races with all the noise, the rush, rubs, bumps and grinds, close calls, and so on but making that long narrative shorter Kirk didn’t qualify in the heat nor the consolation race. Kirk undoubtedly was bummed after his championship high, but in all reality, he anticipated the finishes the way they had occurred which was fifth in the heat and third in the consolation. So close yet… On the other hand, he looked forward to the next day, Sunday afternoon, at Perry which would be their Mid-Season Championships that had been delayed due to the rain. He fostered high hopes that he’d qualify like last time. For Saturday night’s racing program, Kirk still hung onto twentieth place. He attributed his failure to rise any higher in the points for two reasons being that he usually placed in the same position with the same competitors and the fact that those same competitors were like him�"they showed up for most of the races. Kirk convinced himself that his standing remained “good enough” rather than wish for better and dwell on the issue.

***

Being paranoid in anticipating qualification for the championship, Kirk topped off his gas tank on the way to Perry Raceway. The sun shone and the heat boiled across the highways during the long trip. Heading to the gate, the shiny cars glinted in the afternoon brilliance with the mid-summer overhead radiance. On entry to the track, the technical inspectors were busy doing spot check walk arounds on the stock cars. As usual, Kirk had wiped his engine of all the oil that had leaked out. Mike on the other hand had been busy on departure so planned on wiping his down at the track. The official froze and eyed up Mike’s messy engine. He gestured Mike over and discussed, apparently, the oil leak. There was a lot of back and forth out of Kirk’s earshot, pointing and gestures. Kirk decided to stay out of it, but afterwards Mike acted quite displeased with the interface. Pulling into the pits, the pair unloaded the cars as usual, but this time Mike worked hard at cleaning up his engine and compartment. Kirk kept his quiet distance.

Sunday afternoon unfolded pretty much the same as other race days and particularly because it was the Mid-Season Championship, Kirk paid special attention to the notes posted on the line up board. Sure enough, same as in the previous championship his class would qualify fourth place in the heat and third in the consolation races. Kirk was silently elated knowing that he’d be a shoe in to race in the championship feature. He would start fifth in his heat behind his usual nemeses in the orange and yellow cars. Waiting for his class to come around he piddled around with his car. Offhandedly he checked wheel lug bolts, suspension parts, oil level and so on. Perry had always been his favorite of the two tracks, so he was pumped and ready to do battle on the track with his eye firmly on the feature race. Mike went out first for his heat, so Kirk knew it was time for him to get ready for his.

Donning his helmet and buckling his five-point harness, Kirk brimmed with confidence. No need to worry here, today, he mused. It suddenly struck him. Don’t be over confident, Kirk. You know what happens when you get too confident, things go wrong.

With that thought, he punched the starter button thinking the engine wouldn’t start or some other problem would arise, but the engine fired off and rumbled as usual. Kirk cruised over to the line up and slipped into his spot. Even though he started in fifth, that place placed him on the inside of the track which would help him fend off opponents and provide a better shot at passing. As Kirk’s heat rolled onto the track the winner of the other heat rolled out�"that damn cash car. It seemed no one could, or very rarely, beat that brownish, overly clean, unblemished, high-dollar car. 

With a firm grip on the wheel with one hand, Kirk shifted up to his racing gear before grasping the wheel with both hands. He directed a laser focus on where he wanted to go and that was up two spots to third, not fourth, but third. For some reason, the guys in front put up fingers for an extra lap. Okay with Kirk, he remained glued to the back of the yellow car who kirk knew was going down. After the extra lap, they got the white flag. The yellow and orange cars waggled around a bit to supposedly warm up their tires. Kirk wasn’t convinced of the practice or the so-called gains. He stayed on the straight and narrow as they picked up speed for the green. They were on their way!

Confidently guiding his stock car around the turns and down the straights, Kirk suddenly noticed that things weren’t going according to his plans. On the straightaways, both the yellow and orange cars pulled away from him and the blue car behind pushed just as hard right on his bumper. Try as he might, braking later, on the gas earlier and staying on it later didn’t seem to change anything. He had only eight laps to make up the single spot he needed to qualify for the feature, but with every straight he just couldn’t take up the gap between him and the other cars. Despite being in the race, he couldn’t place the problem, the difference between the two tracks. He desperately fought off the cars behind as he tried to get that little bit more oomph out of his car. He’d be on their tails out of the turn but they’d slowly creep away on the straights even with Kirk flooring the gas pedal. Did something change in the car? The laps ticked by; he ended up just as he started, fifth.

With a defeated sigh, he left the track and circled back for the consolation race. Even though he would start up farther than the heat in third he’d still be competing with the same bunch of drivers.  Yeah, without covering the race lap by lap he finished in third, just out of qualifying. His confidence had fizzled away, his bright day turned to gloom. Of course, Mike had qualified for the feature.

Kirk headed for the concession stand and purchased his vinegar fries and a Coke without ice. He sat there pondering his unpredicted loss wondering what the hell had happened. The mini-stocks and Charger classes just went round and round the track as background noise to Kirk. He had replayed his qualification at Holland because that’s what it was and surely not a victory, and questioning why it hadn’t occurred just the same there at Perry. Don didn’t say anything to Kirk knowing that he was befuddled and glum.

His class rolled to line up for their mid-season championship which bothered Kirk more then he would admit seeing he could see his main competitors the yellow and orange cars lining up albeit on the back. But there they were. Mike started up in tenth about where he usually ran in features. After a couple “show off” warm up laps, the feature was on. Right off the start on the back straight someone pushed too hard on a bumper sending a guy spinning out causing a yellow. The spin out victim fell in at the back and with two slow laps they were on again. Kirk could see as always that Mike drove aggressively even though his car didn’t have the horsepower to just press and pass as they say. He did a lot of pressing, bumping and grinding on the other cars probably more as intimidation techniques than actual sportsman-like driving techniques. Kirk had worried back when he had bumped other cars three times, wondering if he’d get black flagged. From bench racing with Mike after Kirk’s concern, Mike reassured Kirk that the officials tended to be lenient about bumps and grinds as evidenced at the moment by Mike’s behavior. Kirk theorized that if you spun somebody out obviously intentionally you might get away with once but not twice. He had seen black flags hung out for drivers that must have been for that very reason and not anything else Kirk could work out.

The race continued though Kirk didn’t follow it closely. Suddenly, halfway through, he snapped out of his doldrums to a crash and a squeal on the second turn. He saw Mike’s silver car with its rear bumper up against the wall. At least he wasn’t upside down or on his side like last time. Mike rolled down the bank and rejoined the pack squeezing in where he thought he was. The track crew pulled one mangled car off the track and another bent car coasted to the infield on his own accord. During the red flag period, the track officials came out and repositioned the cars in their respective positions. When they reached Mike’s number two car, Kirk saw Mike gesture and have heated words with the other. Of course, the officials get the last word. Afterwards, Mike accelerated around the other cars in a high-powered huff, apparently. They had stuck him in last place because he was involved in the crash.

The track got cleaned with speedy dry and push brooms by the track crew who made pretty fast work of the mess. Soon, the yellow flag flew and the cars coasted about the track. Mike swerved back and forth aggressively like he was going to hit the other cars even before the race started. Two laps blew off the speedy dry and the green flag flew. Mike had almost passed one of Kirk’s close competitors before the flag stand, a definite no-no. He pushed hard passing three cars on one lap. He went high around and low below cars with a little shoving involved. By the halfway point he was about hallway through the pack. Kirk thought that with the progress Mike was making up in the field, he was really on a roll albeit a reckless roll. No doubt the race provided exciting viewing for the spectators.

After another couple laps, Mike wasn’t making such good progress coming up with his usual competition. He tailed a red car, not really a hot dog, but Mike was right on his bumper. Just then, going into a turn it appeared Mike didn’t even hit the brakes. BAM! He slammed hard into red’s bumper who swerved and spun sideways. Mike blasted by him. Kirk watched closely at every move. He’d fake high, go low or the other way around. As this went on, with laps ticking by, Mike hooked a blue car’s left bumper and steered right. Another car out of the way into the infield dirt. What happened next surprised Kirk but it shouldn’t have�"the flagman hung out the black flag and pointed at Mike who seemingly, completely disregarded it. Another lap. And another. A car behind Mike spun out and struck the guardrail. The red flag came out. While they towed the car away, an official trotted out to Mike’s car and with some wild gestures thrown about and shouting ensued. With an over-revved engine and a squeal of tires, Mike spun out and parked the car in the infield. Kirk knew there’d be no bench racing that night.  

After the race, Kirk decided he wouldn’t even broach the subject of the black flag because as we’ve seen he was one to shy away from confrontations which Kirk was sure that a wrong question would escalate into. As usual Mike ran his car up the trailer and onto the truck. Don and Kirk cinched it down. Kirk noticed the oil on the engine frame and side of the car. When Mike crawled out of his car, Don didn’t have a problem in asking.

“What happened out there?” Don asked Mike while Kirk stood aside. “They black flag you for simply racing cuz’ you weren’t out to get anyone knocked out.”

Mike remained tight lipped for a while probably too pissed off to answer. When Kirk loaded his car and they cinched it down, the three guys stood alongside the rig as they downed a Coke.

“Those anal officials black flagged me for the oil leak,” Mike finally admitted. “Obviously, it’s not that bad.” He said turning back to his car that was now up above eye level. Kirk thought that Mike maybe took a too-long pause when seeing his car at that angle. “They wouldn’t have noticed it if they didn’t shuffle the cars around in that completely wrong order. Either they were not keeping track of the cars’ order before the crash or something else is going on. I’ve had it with racing politics!”

“Yeah, they obviously have their favorite drivers,” Don said.

Kirk just stood by silently.

“And you,” Don said, with a point to Kirk. “What happened to you? You couldn’t make up one place to qualify after the other championship where you did?”

“I dunno,” Kirk said meekly. He seemed to be in sort of daze after Mike’s quandary. “The car just seemed a bit, sluggish, slower on the straights like it wouldn’t pick up speed the same.”

“Shorter track, less gear,” Mike said simply as he stowed the tools. “You must have noticed the difference between the tracks before now.”

“Maybe I did,” Kirk slowly said rolling the last races through his mind. “The guys I can beat at Holland I can’t beat here, even though I thought we were evenly matched.”

“Yeah, I heard the Late Model guys in the stands mention once that they change gears between the tracks.”

“What a pain that has to be,” Kirk said.

“Not if you’re a top runner and need that extra push, you know?”

“I s’pose.” Kirk pondered that a second. “Can I get different gears?”

“Nope. Well not production Ford gears they’re too widely spaced. Custom numbered gears are expensive. Probably number twenty-nine probably changes gears because he can afford it.”

Don scoffed. “He probably has someone change ‘em for him!”

“Probably,” Mike said, seemingly loosening up. “Course tire diameter changes your gear ratio as well. Look at the difference in our tire diameters. Makes quite a difference.”

“Is that why your car is faster than mine?” Kirk carefully ventured.

“Well�"there’s other factors between the cars. You know that! Come on, no reason to stick around this afternoon, I’m not getting fifteen dollars for finishing the feature this time or any time.”

Kirk should’ve known all that and maybe he did, but hadn’t thought it through. One thing for sure after the Mid-Season Championships, Kirk would go through some changes and you might as well say he was Never the Same.