- Somehow, by some herculean efforts, we got Lacey ready for Roebling. This was after numerous (!) cylinder heads, clutches, blown head gaskets, more valvetrain issues than I thought possible and all sorts of other problems. Everyone contributed.
- We drove at Roebling. Highlights included finishing 14th out of 31 on Saturday, 17th out of 31 on Sunday, and even leading for a little while on Sunday. While the car was difficult to start after running, and several of us (including me) put the car off the track, Lacey kept running and gave us some confidence heading into the next race. It should be noted that we got a lot of help from non-driving friends, such as Doug Lawson, Dennis Andrews, and Mr. Wayne Andrews. We certainly couldn't have done it without them. We did lose a lot of oil, which led to Tim replacing the front seals and pan gasket with a little help from Jamie. Unfortunately, as it turned out, our team's confidence was misplaced!
- We tried to drive at Sebring. Again, the details are too painful to recount, but suffice it to say that over the course of Friday night/Saturday, we either rebuilt or replaced the following:
- alternator (twice)
- fuel pump (rebuilt and replaced)
- fan belt
- front carb float and jet
- rotor button (twice)
- distributor
- distributor cap (twice)
- spark plug wires (twice)
- exhaust system mounting
When we crossed the finish line at 9 pm, we were the last car still running, and the five cars preceding us in the finishing order had all previously dropped out, but still had more laps in than we did.
So now, we're licking our wounds and prepping for the next race. Chump Car is racing at Roebling at the end of January. Will we be there? Time will tell. I know if we are, Lacey will be a different car by then.
I'll try to post some pictures later.
Jamie
