Friday May 1 saw a second practice session for Drew and team at the Angola Motor Speedway with their Port City Aluma Trailers, Amsoil, Mid America Properties, Impact Racing Products Dodge Charger. This time we were on a different Hoosier tire compound that saw some differences in setup and the team scrambling to get the car on the track in the form that would be fast. In the first session the car was very loose so we brought Drew in after only a few laps, raised the ride height, changed a spring, and reset the shocks to the settings we were good on during our test there this past Saturday. The second session saw a great improvement and our fastest time .3 sec. faster than our previous practice fast time. We had found some timing things with the motor that should show results and did. Our third time out found us with an overheating problem that had been plaguing us in last week’s practice session. We thought we had it solved, but it is back to the drawing board for some quick changes before tomorrow’s big season opening Main Event Series (formerly the Ice Man Series) race. We did come up with second quick time of the session for all cars so that was very encouraging.

Saturday May 2 is the big day for Drew’s debut in the new class. Forty three of the best Outlaw Late Model drivers in the Midwest had gathered at Angola Speedway. Cancellation of the ASA race at Nashville had some top teams parking their Template Late Models for the weekend and pulling out their Outlaw Late Models.

Changes were made to the car and two sets of hot laps were taken on the track putting Drew 7th quick among the 43 drivers. Two more sessions were to be run but the team parked the car for the remainder of the tests sessions as the feel was good and the car was fast. With qualifying setup and sticker tires we should be in the hunt. Fourteen cars must qualify to make it in to the 100 lap feature on time, then the top three in two last chance races would make it to the feature, and finally 4 provisionals from last years points finish would round out the field. An invert of eight or ten would be drawn after qualifying to determine the pole and those eight or ten starting positions.

Drew blasted a lap around the 3/8 mile track in 13.94 seconds to put him in the 10th position, solidly in the show without having to come through the second chance races. Now the nail biting would come waiting for the draw, would it be 8th, or 10th place the starts on the pole? IT WAS 10th, and Drew was on the pole for the biggest race of his career in his first start!

The hard work, the years of racing, the hype, the parade laps, all came down to the start of the race. The outside car jumped the start by 3 car lengths, there was no restart, and the race was on. Drew fell into second place. After several laps and restarts from back marker problems, the race settled down for a few laps as one of the race favorites Jack Landis got by Drew. Drew’s car came in, he got into his rythem, and dogged the leaders showing them his nose several times with the front three breaking away from the rest of the field. A few more restarts saw Drew loose several car lengths to the two leaders at the start, only for him to quickly catch them and dog them hard. Then, things seemed to change, the brakes had been glowing red, the car started getting loose, and over the radio came “brakes are gone”! With this new “big bar soft spring setup a driver no longer sets the rear of the car in the corners, but drives it in hard, hits the breaks hard dropping the nose of the car to the track and hitting the gas as hard and soon as possible. And to add to that being faster than the two cars ahead and being patient takes a lot out of the brakes. Very disappointed, Drew pulled the car in to find not only a soft brake pedal, but the two speed Jerico transmission stuck in high gear and a bulging crack in the top cover and oil on everything from there back. The tranny was broke and oil had been getting on his right rear. And to make things worse we found out later that the two that had been running in front of Drew also had problems and dropped back. It was our race to win, Drew did his job, a part failure did us in.

It was disappointing to see our prized swap meet tranny break! It was very encouraging to see Drew qualify well, then to be one of the fasted if not the fastest car in the field. All told we deemed the weekend a success for Drew’s first race with the big boys, they knew he was there!

A special thanks to Aluma Trailers, Elmer Schaeffer our Amsoil Distributor and Impact Racing Products for letting us help them market their great products. Without their products and help our success would not be possible!