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I've been racing for various classes for 16 years now, and I've been to
countless races along the way, and never in my life have I had
something like this happen to me.
Night 1 of the PA Speed Week was a
race to forget, after running second in the first heat and then last in
the second heat race I found myself stuck in the C-Main on a one-grove
race track. I made it to the B-Main, but only managed to squeeze my way
to 12th. Not a good start, but could be worse.
Night 2 started better, just looking at the track (Lincoln Speedway) I
knew I would have a good run. Big track, plenty of grip, is what I love
in a track. I started 3rd in the first heat, behind Dicely and followed
him for several laps before passing him  into turn 3, and won the first
heat. In the second heat I was supposed to line up 8th and on the first
lap I found my way to the front to win heat 2. Winning both heats and
getting plenty of passing points should have put me firmly at the front
of the A-Main. I was happy, we fueled up the car for the main and
worked on setup, and then 10 or so minutes after the heat someone came
up and told me we have to re-run the heat race "You've go to be kidding
me!" I said. Come to find out Ben Murphy (whom is related to track
promoter) was late getting to the grid in time and so they decided he
needed another chance to get points. Huh? I listened to them argue, and
just walked to my trailer, and started draining fuel to re-run this
heat race again. All the while I'm thinking, what-if I crash in this
one and don't make the show, what-if I blow an engine and don't make
the show. Here I am going from being on the pole (or close to it) in
the A-Main to being back in a heat trying to make it again.
So I walk back over to the Speed Week promoter and promptly tell them
that if I have to re-run this heat race I'm leaving in the morning
headed home, and I have a good mind to pack my stuff up now and leave.
Do you think that they would allow me to re-do a heat race if I missed
it? They'd be like "Tough S***!" Never in my life have I seen such
blatant favoritism. Its hard enough to win a race in Pennsylvania, let
alone be screwed over by someone's inability to pay attention and then
use his "get out of jail free" card to bail him out. I busted my tail
getting to PA, I worked hard getting my car ready, I payed attention at
the drivers meeting ("We're not going to wait on you they said!"), I
counted the heat races in my head and knew exactly what race was out at
all times (Heat 8 on the track, calling 9 to the grid, 10 on stand-by).
Why should I be penalized by someone else's mistake was all I could
think about.
Well we finally get to this re-do heat race. I line up 8th again, and
Ben Murphy is on the pole. I make my way through the pack and end up
2nd to Murphy who checked out pretty good. In the end this put me on
the outside pole of the feature, not a bad place, but anything could
have happened. Mike Dicely ran 4th in the re-run race (instead of 2nd
in the first one), putting him further back of the main. It was just a
plain sorry way to handle the situation. Penalize 9 other drives for 1
drivers mistake.
In the feature I start outside pole and lead the first 11 laps, after
the caution I look down and Shane Lewis slides under me, then out of
nowhere Jake Murphy slides under both of us, and down the backstretch
he comes up just as I go to turn under him and we touch. Just the tip
of my nose wing caught him and he hit the fence. I narrowly escape
flipping myself. Truly not an intentional move (contrary to Jake's crew
members), I can't say I've ever had to wreck anyone to win a race and
nor will I ever. It was a racing deal, two cars going for same
real-estate. I go over after the race and offer my apology to Jake
Murphy (much to their dismay). All I could do was offer that. Jake's
crew members made it uncomfortable after the race running their mouths
at me, but I can take it.
After the red flag was over, I resumed the lead, and led for maybe 3
laps and got passed by Ben Murphy for the lead, he was going pretty
good and I couldn't manage to keep pace and settled in for 2nd place.
When the checkered flag dropped I couldn't help but think back to that
re-do heat race and the fact that Ben Murphy shouldn't even have been
in that race cause he was late getting to the line. Oh well, to the
scales, and then to the tech area. I watched as Ben crossed the scales
and then they backed him up and tried again, and again, and again. To
no avail Ben Murphy was 4 pounds too light handing me the victory. Now I
hate to win by default, but considering the circumstances of the heat
race situation I'll take this one, because I earned it, I was at the
staging area early for my races, I payed attention to the race order, I
managed to get my job done, and I don't like getting taken advantage of
by favoritism by family members.
In the end, and true to my word, my race team and I loaded up and left
Pennsylvania for home. Like I said above it is hard enough to win a
race in PA, even make a race in PA, to have to worry about this kind of
stuff taking place is absurd. I can go to my local tracks and enjoy
myself without having to deal with this. I have won a PA Speed Week
race (the first for a non-PA driver), I am honored to even be able to
race at a fine venue like Lincoln Speedway, and I have many, many
friends who I enjoy visiting with while in Pennsylvania. I hate that
this sort of thing happened, and hope all goes well the rest of the
races. I hate that Jake Murphy and I got involved in a wreck and hope
that we can race against each other in the future without incident. I
am glad I made the trip up, we had a great time and I had something
happen to me that I could never forget, re-do, re-do, re-do....
Wish us luck this coming weekend at Riverside Speedway for the big ASCS show. Friday and Saturday night.
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