Saturday March 19th 2011

Saturday, March 19th 2011
We raced at the Mohave Valley Raceway Saturday night. There was a lot of wind in Vegas, so we left early to try and not have to rush getting to the track.
The track looked to be in great shape, and by the time I got changed into my racing gear and strapped into the car they had stopped wheel packing and called for the races to start lining up. Just as the mini stocks took a few laps in their first heat trouble hit. The lights went out on the corners and back straightaway. The track officials worked on them, getting them to turn on, then flicker off. This went on for about an hour until an electrician showed up and shortly had the lights working.
I started on the pole in the heat race, but lost the race to the first turn. The car was running good, but I still had a big push going into the turns, the third turn seemed worse then the first turn but I adjusted my driving and was running pretty well. With one lap to go I got passed for second, and finished the heat in third.
We made some adjustments to the car for the main event and I started on the pole again. I got a great start and took the lead. The car still pushed getting into the turns, but was working great thru the turns and down the straight-aways. After a couple of yellows the brakes started fading and I had to slow down a little earlier for the turn. This allowed the cars behind to catch up and try a bonsai move under me getting into the third turn. The resulting contact pushed us both off the track and the almost the whole field went by while we got back on the track. From then on it was wasn’t pretty, with little brakes I drove as best I could avoiding problems, but still got into the back of one car when the pack in front of me decided to wreck each other.

Sunday we found the brake line had gotten pinched in the rear suspension and smashed. So this week we will make another front bumper and fix the brakes and get back after it.

Remember, words of encouragement, sponsorship offers, or general communication can reach me at rick@duricaracing.com

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The off season

I have finally got back to work on the racecar after not doing much during the Christmas season.
The first project is the Rear suspension; I built a new Birdcage for the right rear, based on the birdcage I built for the left rear. So I now have two new birdcages on the rear suspension.
This year I am also trying out a new mounting location for the R/R shock and spring. I have always run the combination clamped to the rear-end, but most of the four bar cars seem to run it mounted in front on the birdcage, So I am going to try that the first race of the season and see how the car ( and driver)reacts.

Saturday Night September 4th 2010

Well, back to the races after our summer break, another ownership change at the track, but it was nice to see some familiar faces at the track again.

We had spent a lot of our time off working on the rear suspension in a quest to get more forward bite on the dry slick racetracks. But we went to the track with lots of ideas to change to a muddy or tacky track depending on what we were presented with.
I started on the outside pole for the heat race and was able to get a good start and jumped into the lead. The changes we made had a drastic effect on the handling and the car was pushing terribly getting into and out of the corners. I managed to stay out front though by using most of the track getting through the corners and I didn’t hear anyone behind me, but shortly a yellow flag came out. Riding around on the yellow flag I heard what I thought was an exhaust gasket but I figured I wasn’t stopping for that. On the restart I again jumped out to the lead, but now I was under heavy pressure from second and not able to use up the whole track to get through the corners. The second place car slipped by into the lead, and about that time my header broke completely. I managed to hang on the rest of the race to second.
Back in the pits the search was on for a welder to fix the broken header, luckily Steve Simpson came to our aid with a welder, but then the generator quit running. Thankfully Shane Geer helped us out with a generator and we were able to get the header fixed up for the main. We also made a few adjustments to the suspension to help the car in the main.
I started inside the second row in the main event, and at the start, the leader spun out going into the first turn, everyone managed to get past him without incident, and I was on the pole for the new start. I jumped into the lead at the drop of the green and the car was running really well. The changes we made over the break seemed to be helping a lot, but still the car pushed into and out of the turns, but the track was still a little tacky. I was out front and saw a little challenge from second, but I was able to keep my momentum up through the corners and stay in the lead, when a caution came out.
On the green I was able to stay out front, but soon pressure on the inside caused me to drop to second. Running behind the new leader I was able to keep him a car length or two in front of me and as the track dried out, my car seemed to get better in the turns and I began to close in on the leader. I was making up a lot of time getting in turn one and two, but not so much in the third and fourth turns. Finally I got a good run thru turn three and four and was on his bumper going into the first turn. I was able to drive under him as we came out of the second turn and we raced side by side down the strait. We bumped wheels and I had to let off the gas to avoid wrecking and the next lap we got the white flag. I wasn’t able to catch the leader and settled for second place. Overall the car handled very well and I think some small adjustments will have it really good.
Until next time

Saturday night at the races June 19th 2010

The last race before the summer break at the Mohave Valley Raceway. There were some additional cars and that is always good.

The track was really wet during wheel packing and we had to clean what seemed like a ton of mud off the car before the heat race. I also freed the car up a little because I thought the track would be tacky in the heat

I lined up on the outside pole for the heat race and managed to get to turn one ahead of the pole sitter. I took off into the lead, I knew I had made the wrong adjustments when I saw how the track had really slicked off. The car was pushing getting into the corner, and spinning the tires getting out of the corner. Being out fron I could adjust my line and get through the corners pretty fast. However a yellow flag soon came out and allowed the field to catch up.
I led the next lap or two but the second place car was able to get by me for the lead when I went a little too high in the second turn and hit a really dry slick spot. I did hang on and finish second.

I lined up third in the main, and on the start I moved into second place. I was racing with third when the yellow came out. On the start the leader got too good of a jump on the field and the starter didn’t throw the green flag. However someone in the back didn’t pay attention and pinballed through the field bouncing off my Left rear tire. We finally got going again and I maintained second but then the car snapped around going into the second turn a crazy fast double 360 spin. I thought the L/R tire went flat from the previous contact and headed into the pits for a tire change. Doug and Bailey checked the car over and didn’t see any damage and sent me back onto the track. When the green flag dropped I knew there was something wrong as the car seemed not to have any forward traction at all. I headed back to the pits to try and figure out what was wrong.
Doug jacked up the back and right away we saw a problem with the Left rear as it just spun freely. We quickly checked and found a broken axle. Doug put the car back together and I went back out onto the track. From then on I just stayed out of the way and hold on to finish 7th.

May 1st 2010

Another night at the Mohave Valley Raceway .After a week of high winds and cold weather (for Las Vegas) Saturday was great, unfortunately very few IMCA modifieds took advantage leaving us a short field of 9 cars.
I lined up 3rd in the first heat and on the first start the second place car drove down on me on the front straight so I slowed down a little, not wanting to be the numbskull that wrecked out for the night in a heat with only 5 cars.
Slowing down turned out to be a good thing because that same car gave the leader a wicked shot in the rear bumper getting into the 1st turn, spinning him around directly into my path. I took evasive action, and was able to drive between the two cars into the lead. However the yellow flag came out so we had a complete restart.
With the pole sitter going to the pits, I assumed the lead. When the green flag dropped I took off into the lead. The track was pretty tacky and the car was HOOKED UP! I had made a lot of changes on the car in the last couple weeks trying to get more traction on the slick tracks and I had a push going into the corners, that allowed the second place car to catch up and we put on a pretty good side by side battle for a few laps, but I held on for the win.

Somehow that found me lined up on the pole for the main event, the crew and I went to work on the car trying to get some of the push out for the main, while maintaining the forward bite.

On the start the car was good, but still pushing going into the corners. I was out in the lead, but the 18 car of Bill Meyers had closed up and we raced side by side a few laps until the yellow came out. Scoring put me back to second, and on the start I dropped back to third, while racing with the fourth place car I missed the cushion getting into the first turn and spun off the track bringing out the yellow. On the restart I started passing cars again and made it back to fourth place. The car had pretty good drive off the corner, but I had to slow down too much to get the car to turn into the corner so I wasn’t really a factor in the battle for the lead. However, I did finish fourth, without any real damage to the car, so it is hard to complain.

Also, due to an early season rainout the track added another race on May 29th, 2010.
Hope to see you at the track

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Mohave Valley Raceway April 17th 2010

It's hard to believe, but we are almost halfway done in the Mohave Valley Raceway season with the running of the 5th race of 12 IMCA points races this Saturday night.

We made a lot of changes to the car since the last race, hoping to be able to find more traction on the dry slick track that has become MVR. I Lined up outside of the front row for the heat and got pushed out of the groove coming out of the second corner. The car was pretty fast, but pushed terribly if I missed the corner entry even a bit. It seemed I was fighting a losing battle so I figured I would pull in and make more changes to get the car better for the main before I wrecked. Just as I slowed the engine started making horrible sounds, but after a quick check of the gauges everything still looked good but I pulled into the pits to get ready for the feature.
We found the header had busted at the mounting flange, I checked and adjusted the valves just to be safe, borrowed a welder from Bill McIntosh and welded up the header and changed the R/F spring to something a little stiffer in hopes of fixing the handling.

I started inside the second row for the main and on the start the leader pushed up in the second turn and I was able to move under him for second. A lap or two later I was able to make a move on the leader while the third place car was racing under me and I moved into the lead. We raced pretty much side by side for a lap or so when the yellow came out. Scoring had me in second so I lined up on the outside for the restart. When the green came out I drove hard into the turn, but lost the battle and settled into third. I followed the race for the lead, the car was handling pretty good now and I was able to maintain third with some pressure coming on from fourth. with just a couple laps to go, the second place car jumped the cushion and I drove under him into second place, where I ended up finishing.
On the front strait the car was spewing water from the vent tube, so I hope it is just a bad radiator cap, but I need to pull the one head off the car and give it back to Tim so he can get his engine put back together. Also it looks like I need to rebuild the transmission again because the clutch was slipping badly when I drove into the pits.

Until the next time thanks for reading and check out our website http://www.duricaracing.com for more information and pictures

Mohave Valley Marh 6th 2010

Saturday. March 6th 2010 Mohave Valley Raceway

After many 2 blown engines in the last two weeks, we scraped up enough parts to put one more together for Saturday nights racing at Mohave Valley raceway.

One good head of my engine, one good head from Tim’s, Cam, lifters and oil pan out of the 383 that spun a rod bearing crank and rods from the engine that kept eating cams, a freshly machined block and a little luck we were ready to race ( we hoped).
Threatening skies greeted us at the track and they promised to get the program run off as quickly as possible. The track looked fast and when I went out for hot laps the new engine ran great, we did however have an oil leak from the valve cover. We pulled off the valve cover and re-glued it in place and went out for the heat race.

I jumped into the lead from the pole position and never looked back, the track was super hooked up and the car was handling great, allowing me to go around the track nearly full throttle. I did however have one small slip in the second turn and I thought someone would be trying to pass, but afterward I found I had a huge lead the entire race.
But, the oil leak persisted; we took the valve cover off again and applied some silicone to the gasket surface. I checked the valves quickly and every thing was good to go.

I started on the pole for the main and jumped into the lead with the drop of the green flag. Once again I was nearly flat out around the top of the track, just needing to use the brakes just a little bit to get the car into the turns.
I was tearing off the laps, not hearing anyone behind me when the race was slowed by a caution. Again I took off at the green flag but now I could hear cars behind me.
The cushion started getting a little beat up and I was using more brakes getting into the turn but the pedal was getting softer. I changed my assault of the corners trying to use less brake but soon, I had hardly any brakes, Of course, when everything is going good the yellow flag came out again.
This start I had traffic on my back bumper, with little brakes I was rim riding the top, but the second place car could run the middle groove a little better and soon he slid underneath, he also brought the third place car with him and it was a three way battle for the lead. Just as things were heating up, the oil pressure light started flicking on when I threw the car hard into the turns, I adjusted my line a to drive straighter into the turn, but that allowed the first two cars to get ahead. I was now hoping the white flag would wave before I ran out of oil, when the yellow flag came out again for a spin. When I slowed down the oil pressure dropped to zero and then finally came back up, but it was much lower then normal, so I pulled into the pits. Just as I hit the pits it started raining, the track threw the checkered flag and reverted to the last green flag lap so I finished third.

So far this year we have won three heat races and finished third in the two races I finished, and we were able to drive the car into the trailer (always a good thing as my Mom points out)
And at least this week I will have something to work with and I will put a new set of bearing in the engine just to be safe.

Lest we forget, we are always open to offers of help, donations of time or equipment and cash...
www.duricaracing.com

1-9-2010 first race of the year

The first race of the year is always exciting. This year we started out at the Pahrump Valley Speedway, where they have gotten their IMCA sanction back for 2010.
We started the day looking at a 1956 Cadillac in pahrump, my daughter Bon has decided she likes the 50's caddy and would like one for her first car.
Then over to Jerry Buesigs JEM machine to drop off a block to get ready to build a new engine. Jerry has a new location in Pahrump just behind Wulfy's casino and RV park
We got to the track and got ready for some wheel packing. The track was still pretty sloppy when they waved off wheel packing and announced they were having "hotlaps" for the modifieds ( I stayed at the trailer and scrapped the mud off the car)
My pill draw had me lined up third in the third heat, and during line up we were told we would get three warm-up laps before the green. I went out and did my three laps and saw the flag man giving me the black flag so I pulled into the pits for a consult with the crew.
We found the limiting chain on the R/R had snapped the bolt ( perhaps from the roughness of the track?) and told the track we wouldn't be ready for the heat and got the car ready for the main.
After careful observation after the heats I decided to really loosen the car up and take as much side bite out by adjusted the cross weight and the panhard bar because the track looked very tacky, but rough and starting in the back I knew I would have to be careful and work my way up through the field.
At the start of the main I knew I had made the right adjustments, the car would drive through the corners without catching the ruts and would give me great drive out of the corners. I avoided a couple wrecks and passed a few cars but every time I passed a car the yellow would come our and I would have to go back behind them. Once after a particular wreck I was up to 7th, but after scoring re-aligned the field I was back to 12th. During one wreck I hit the brakes to avoid the malay, but the brake pedal went to the floor and I rammed another car also taking evasive action. During the yellow, I adjust the brake bias and the brake pedal responded with slowdown power so I decided to stay out on the track. However after a few laps of racing the pedal was again mushy. A lap or two later a car pulled in front of me to slowdown and I rammed him when my car wouldn't slow down so decided I had better take the car to the pits before something major happened.
After inspection back at the house we found that one of the brake lines had started to leak and caused the brake problem so we have that fixed. Also the clutch started acting up in the Bert transmission, so I took that out and rebuilt it and we found some bend steering parts that we have changed and now I only have to build a new front bumper and nose piece.

Check out ( and maybe buy a few) pictures of all the action at the photocross website

Until Next time!