EldridgeRacing.com Blog

2011 – Race #2: Working out some issues!

2011-06-16T17:42:00.004-04:00

The second race of the season was held back at Canaan Dirt Speedway on a Friday night, May 27^th, were we visited only one week prior. With a busy work load all week, I didn't have much time to work on my car. I figured there shouldn't be too much, It was just a matter of putting a new wheel together for the one that came of the previous week, change my gearing, assemble my wings, wiring and a few odds and ends items. I took Friday off of work like I always do for Friday races, and started work on the car early in the morning. I already had all the parts I thought I needed, so things should go like clockwork.

I couldn’t have been more wrong. The wheels went together fine, gearing was ok, but when I assembled the wing, I couldn’t get the wiring for the top wing slider to work. Our cars have a linier actuating motor that allows us to change the position of the wing while in the car. Works out great for fixing minor issues in handling when track conditions can change throughout a race.

I took apart the switch and rewired it. The wing then worked fine. I proceeded to install the switch in the dash and when I was done, the wing would only move in one direction. I took it back apart and got it working again. Reinstalled in the dash and what do you know, the cycle started over.

At this point, I figured it was the switch, and I was now running late to boot. I stopped and picked up a switch on the way, and figured I could get it installed at the track.

Drew on the other hand, was still stuck at work and ended up leaving for the track close to 45 min or so behind me. By the time I got to the track, I just missed practice laps. They only give us one session of a few laps for practice. Much unlike the 3 or 4 practice sessions we would have on asphalt. I proceeded to try to wire the slider, but was unsuccessful by the time of my heat race. The wing was stuck in the forward position and I would just have to deal with it.

I started on pole in the heat, and at the drop of the flag, was quickly passed by multiple cars going into turn one. Even though I changed the gearing, my car would still not keep up. For the rest of the heat, the car was tight going into the corner, loose in mid corner, then tight again coming out. Or it could have been reverse from that, I can’t quite remember and I don’t have my notes in front of me. I finished 5^th out of the 8 cars that started. Drew, unfortunately, had not arrived yet, and missed the heat.

I worked some more on the wing slider, and during the process, accidentally moved the wing all the way back. I couldn’t get the forward to work, and it was stuck in the back position. This was going to make the car tighter than it already was. We made a few adjustments to try to compensate for the wing. It was all we could do as we ran out of time and headed out to the heat. Drew had finally arrived in time for the feature.

The way lineups are set, depends on a handicap system determined by the last 3 events. Those finishing in the top spots consistently, move to the rear, and vice versa. Penalties are given for no shows and rookies start in the rear for the first few races. I started the feature on the pole. The drop of the green, again left me to be passed by multiple cars into turn one. Running about 4rth or 5^th at the time, Drew made a move around me and I just felt like I kept back peddling. The car was now pushing through the whole turn and I had to consistently jab the break and throttle to get it to turn. With two laps left, Dave Morgan, #37 running second and battling Crooker #21 for the lead, had an unfortunate incident on the front stretch, in which I had a good view of him upside down. Dave was ok, but would have much work ahead of him in the weeks to follow.

We went green, white, checkered for the last laps. Drew finished 5^th, and I finished 6^th.

June, 16^th, it’s now been 3 weeks since that last race, and I’ve had some time to figure out what’s wrong with the car. For starters, I was wrong to say that nothing was damaged during my flip in Race #1. After further investigation, I found my front axle was bent just enough on the right side, that I would expect it to upset the car. It was pushed back behind the left side wheel which ends up changing the way the car transfers weight in the corner. Next, the accident upset my toe. Toe, is the amount of angle between the left and right wheels as they point forward. Toe should be set slightly positive or pointing outward. My toe was pushed in making the car darty and unpredictable. The motor on my wing slider was junk. Not the switch.

The most embarrassing thing that was wrong… well, I consulted my very organized gearing chart to see what I could do about gearing again. To my surprise, the gearing I was running called for the car to be run in 3^rd gear. I was running it in 4^th. Way too high a gear to get off the corners. Gearing problem solved. My bad.

Last but not least, during this next race, I’m going to make a drastic change in spring rates. I believe the springs that that are on the car were thrown together by one of the previous owners just to sell it. They are not what should be on this car.

Now that all my new supplies have arrived, the question will be if I can complete the work I need to do before Saturday, June 18th. I have 2 evenings and 1 morning to complete the work I need to do. Wish me luck, and I’ll check back in and let you know how it goes after Saturday. If anyone would like to join us at the track, we would love your help in the pits. Look for us, Drew #7, Derek #8. If we don’t know you, introduce yourself. We welcome everyone!

Author:

Derek Eldridge #8

600cc Mini Sprint

Northeast Mini Sprints

EldridgeRacing.com

2011 – Race #1: Rubber side down!

2011-05-25T17:26:00.001-04:00

This was definitely an experience I did not expect as I prepped the car for the 2011 NEMS (Northeast Mini Sprints) season opener points race last week! It was raining all week long, and not having room in the garage to work on the car, I was forced to finally start construction under an easy up tent in my driveway. Why so late, everyone asks me. For starters, I took on more tasks than any one human should take on by themselves during the winter months. But we can talk about that another time. The bigger reason, it’s been cold outside, snow, rain, and not all of my parts had arrived yet. Without room to work inside, I ended up working on the car for over 25 hours in the rain last week to get things prepped for the season opener.

Friday morning (race day), I was up at 6 and headed out to finish getting the car prepped. During the week I spent most of the time on suspension and component fabrication. (I designed a few new custom components) I dropped the motor in on Thursday night, and wiring, water, and fuel were on the list of things to do. After that was done, and the car had been fired, I set the ride heights and checked to make sure everything was tight. One last check of the wheel nuts and onto the trailer it went. It was already a long day but at least I hadn’t seen rain yet. As I watched the forecast, it became more and more promising that the rain was going to miss Canaan altogether.

Finally on the road, I was running a bit later than usual. In the past couple years, I’ve rushed a bit too much heading up to the track on Friday’s and caused issues I could have avoided with a little more attention to detail. This was not going to be one of those days. So in preparation, I put my fire suite on before I left the house. I figured, one less thing I had to do at the track.

Wearing my suite to the track actually paid off. When I arrived, the Mini Sprints were lining up to get a few practice laps in. I paid the gate, quickly parked the truck, rolled the car off, started it up, jumped in and bucked up. Directly off the trailer and onto the track I went. It was kind of slick I must say.

I got about 3-4 laps into the practice and could feel that the car was a bit loose and unstable. I forgot to mention this was a wingless event. My first time without my 600 wing and I didn’t really have a baseline for setup. I had to just wing it this time around. Or not wing it, whatever. It was good that I get the practice laps in. When I got back to the pit I found that I forgot a wire tie on one of my water hoses and was starting to cut through it with the chain. Easy fix. Shortened the line and re-routed through a different area. Crisis averted.

Now it’s time for the heat. 8 cars showed on account of the rain and other life obstacles. That was expected with high fuel prices and pending rain. But it was a good group of 8 non the less. I started in the second row inside. Drew started on the outside third row diagonal from me. We took the green and bombed into turn one…..

Now imagine for one second, there are some things in life that we take for granted. Physics are one of those things. Gravity pulls us to the ground with a constant acceleration of 32.2 ft/sec, and friction helps us slow down. Now imagine heading into turn one at over 80mph to find when you step on the brake the car doesn’t slow. Not only that, but you try to turn left, and the car doesn’t turn. In the blink of an eye, I saw Drew, attempting to pass me on the outside, then a quick flash of his bright orange 7 as I was vaulted up into the air. As I experienced this amazingly unexpected turn of events, I couldn’t help but think, “My god, I just wrecked both our cars”. Then as I was transcended to an orbiting altitude, I tightened my eyes. “This is gona hurt.” I felt like I was on a spinning ride at a carnival with the exception of someone hitting my helmet with a baseball bat 3 times. That’s how many times I counted as the cage slammed the ground and finally came to a rest on the top of my car.

Upside down, and blood rushing to my brain, I told the first official that reached my car, “I’m fine, just please flip me over”. (I can’t stand being upside down, oh yea, and I can’t stand being spun on the tire swing either!) At this point, I was counting my fingers and toes, and inventorying the rest of my body parts. Keeping very still as I did. At last, I slowly lowered my head to feel my neck. Everything was in order and I exited the car.

I was still a bit stunned and couldn’t help my mind reeling through the entire morning to find what went wrong. What caused my flip was the fact that the left rear came off the car. Nut and all. It just came off. That’s why when I stepped on the brake, or tried to turn, nothing happened. In the 600cc Mini Sprints, we run only one brake. We run a live rear axle and one disk brake on that axle. With the loss of friction from the left wheel, I wouldn’t doubt the fact that the brake most likely pulled me to the right. The wild part about it is, I distinctly remember tightening all my axle nuts prior to putting the car on the trailer.

Amazingly, there was no catastrophic damage to the car. The front bumper was a bit tweaked and the radiator was bent, but nothing show stopping. Looking further, I found a leak in the water system and thought I cracked the block. It ended up being a drip from the hose I cut shorter after the practice laps. The hose clamp was stripped and wasn’t on tight enough. Talk about things happening for a reason, if I had finished the 10 laps, I just may have blown up the engine in the process. Flipping the car saved me an engine. It’s a little extreme, but I’ll take it.

The only other damage was to the spline on the inside of the wheel hub that came off. Drew lent me his spare and I was able to make the feature. Although it was a different offset wheel and may disrupt the car a bit more than it was already, it would have to do.

Now starting on the pole of the feature, Drew starting 3^rd we took the green. I could defiantly tell a difference with the left rear kicked out a bit more, I felt as though the car was mostly skating on top of the ground. Grip was difficult to achieve. I also then realized that the gearing I had on the car was for one of the other tracks we run at and it was too much for this track. I was having a difficult time getting off the corners.

After a few cautions, I had to do something. Running around 4^th and 5^th, I decided to attempt to shift on the restart. My shift controls are a bit stiff and upside down from an intuitive motorcycle shifting direction. Both motorcycles, and my fiancé’s car both shift as up is down shift, down is up shift. In my car though, up is up shift and down is downshift. Knowing that, I repeated it to myself during the entire lap leading up to the green after the last caution. UP is UP, DOWN is DOWN! Up is up, down is down. Up is up, down is down. Got it… The green drops and what do I do…. DOWN…. You’ve got to be kidding me. Sometimes habit and instinct and reaction cannot be overpowered by short term thought provoking. Oh well. 8o) it could have been worse. I sucked it up, found the right gear and finished the race. In the end, Drew wrapped up a respectable 4^th place finish and I brought home 6^th.

Did I mention Drew finished 4^th with a flat? He got tripped up on a confusing restart along with other drivers, bent the front axle and cut his tire. Not a bad finish!

Thanks for reading everyone and please, drop a message on the Eldridge Racing face book page to say hi. Our next race is this following Friday the 27^th of May back up at Canaan. I look forward to telling you all about it. Till then, keep the rubber side down and keep it safe.

Author:

Derek Eldridge #8

600cc Mini Sprint

Northeast Mini Sprints

EldridgeRacing.com

All photos in this post complements of Alan Ward Photos

Race #10, 11, & 12: The battle is ON!

2010-09-21T18:00:00.005-04:00

Race# 10

With 3 races left, and 5 points to catch my brother for the rookie points lead, the battle was on. August 14^th, Bear Ridge Speedway, a track I’ve done well at our last visit with a 3^rd place finish. This would be my opportunity to make up the points spread right away.

As we made our way from the pits, I was having trouble starting my engine. I couldn’t hear the fuel pump turning on, and my gauges wouldn’t light. I banged on my switches hoping there was a loose connection that I could get to move and finally got it started. I had a similar problem in the morning before heading to the track and I checked all my connections with a multimeter without finding the issue. It just cleared itself.

Starting on the outside pole with my brother Drew inside second row, I felt I had a good chance at gaining some points. Within the first lap, something was wrong. I couldn’t get the car to stick one bit as the car just seemed to be disturbed in the corners. With 5 cars in the heat, and sliding high on the track, all 3 cars including my brother were able to make the pass. I can’t say that Drew did much better, as we finished 4^th and 5^th. This gave him 1 more point on me making me 6 points down.

Back in the pits, I could hear the engine randomly cutting out or “burping” if you will. “Is my fuel pump starting to fail?” I took the fuel pump out, cleaned my fuel filter, and ran the pump dry for only a few seconds to listen for it cutting out. When I removed it from the car, I did notice that the leads were really close to the belly pan as the pump was sliding out of its bracket.

With everything clean, I put everything back together and wound tape around the pump leads to stop them from grounding out if that was the issue. After that, it seemed to run better. Only way to tell, would be to run it in the feature and hope for the best.

With 11 cars in the feature, the lineup placed Drew in the 4^th row inside and me 3^rd row outside. From Green to checkered, it was a fairly uneventfully race as we stayed together finishing one place forward from where we started. Drew finished 6th and me 5th. This gave me back the 1 point I lost to Drew in the heat to make me 5 points down once again.

Race# 11

Two races to go, and still 5 points down when we arrived at Big Daddy’s Speed bowel on Saturday August 21^st. The pressure was eating us up as Drew was trying to figure out how he had to finish in order to stay ahead in points. Me, trying to figure out how to put cars between us.

Last time I ran Big Daddy’s I was running out of gear at the end of the straight always. This time, I was planning to change my gear. When we arrived, I wasn’t sure I had enough time to put the new gear on before we went out, so I left the old one on. As time passed, I realized I would have had enough time, but not anymore. Oh well.

I started the heat on the outside pole once again, with Drew inside second row. This happens to be the same as last week because the way GSMSRC lines up the heats is by points. The field is split in half for two heats, then inverted to give the lower point contenders a shot at running up front. These two weekends we lost a few cars to another track that runs on the same day, so the field was split one spot behind me to contain 5 cars in the heat.

The flag dropped and I stayed wheel to wheel with the pole starter Doug McPhail in the 13m. After a few laps, I took the lead and the car was running great. Well, almost perfect, if it wasn’t for hitting the rev limiter before the end of each straight away. Still, I was holding a great lead all the way up until the last few laps. With 2 to go, I made a mistake and came into turn 1a little too low. It caused me to have to lift enough to get the car back under control before I could get back into the throttle out of the corner and get back to pace. Meanwhile, Luke Greenwood in the 89 was able to make up the distance during my error and caught me going into turn 3 on the last lap. Luke came up next to me on the backstretch and I managed to hold the throttle a little longer into the corner pushing me back to the lead. Trying to leave him fair room to race and driving it into the corner a little harder made me exit the corner high on the track where the looser clay took away my grip. It was enough that Luke could get out of the corner faster then I, leaving me to a second place finish.

Not bad though, without knowing, this put a few cars between Drew and I. Drew ended with a 7^th place finish. This was enough to gain 6 points on Drew pushing me to a lead by 1 point.

For the feature, I was able to get the new rear sprocket on the car and not too soon either. The old one was so worn it didn’t resemble teeth anymore. I can’t believe it made it that far.

Now with the features, we invert the finishing results of the heat, so Drew started inside 3^rd row and I started inside 5^th row. I had some ground to make up. After a few laps, I had Drew in my sight. The new gear was working great, I was now only hitting the rev limiter once in a while if I held it longer into the corner, but even then it would only bounce of the limiter once before I was out of the throttle for the corner. In the heat race, it would bounce more like 10 times off the rev limiter.

I was slowly catching Drew for the first ¾ of the race. After that, I wasn’t getting the same forward bight out of the corners and started to back pedal. With a few laps to go, Terry Reil in the 11 took 5^th away from me and put some pressure on Drew. Drew finished 4^th while I finished 6^th. Drew gained 2 points back with that finish, putting him back in the lead by 1 point.

Race #12

This is it! Last shot to make up 2 points to win the Rookie points championship. Anything could go wrong. With freshly regrooved rear tires, I was looking to get my forward traction back that I lost towards the end of the last race.

Both of us nervous, neither of us wanted to smack talk and put the other down. Instead, we played a delicate game of psyching each other out, immediately followed by condolence. We both wanted each other to be at our best when it came down to the end. What fun would it be if one of us won knowing the other wasn’t bringing their A-Game.

In the end, our A-Game was what we brought. Maybe not overall compared to the other cars on the track… a matter of fact, there minus well have been no other cars on the track. Our only concern was how we finished in relationship to one another.

We started in the second heat, Drew outside 3^rd row, I started inside 3rd row. As we took the green, I moved to the inside of the 28 of Tim Beard, who started in front of me, to make the move past 2 cars to 3^rd after the start finish line. For the rest of the race I held 3^rd to the 89 of Luke Greenwood and the 75 of Johnny Chestnut. Drew finished 6^th behind Beard and the 11 of Terry Riel. The two cars I beat to turn one at the start of the heat.

Just what I needed! 3 points on Drew coming out of the heat put me up by 2! However, it was still anyone’s game. With only a 2 point lead heading into the feature, one mistake, one mechanical malfunction, one bit of bad luck, and Drew could easily take the lead back for the win. All he needs now is to put one car between us before the checkered flag to tie the point’s race. 2 cars to win it.

Knowing what was at stake, we started the feature with 13 cars. Drew started 4rth row inside, I started one row back (5^th row) outside. The green dropped and I was held up by a car having mechanical difficulty in front of me. I waited for the cars to my rear to head around me, not wanting to jeopardize jumping in front of someone and wrecking. I needed to play it safe, but I needed to catch my brother as well. Now with 5 cars between us, I moved through the field gaining track position with every lap. Diggin hard in the corners, I finally had my brother in sight. As we dove into turn one, I caught a rut that turned me around. “You have to be kidding me!” I thought as I moved back to the tail end of the pack.

Not to worry, within a few more laps, I was right back up behind my brother as I put the pressure on to make the pass. I could have just played it safe and stuck to his rear bumper. But what if he passed a car or two, before I could, at the end of the race. No, I needed to push for the pass! Besides, what would be the fun in not making it interesting?

I poked my nose under Drew once or twice before I got a good run on him off turn 4. He was well aware I was there. In fact, there was no way he was letting me get by him. Drew chopped down hard on me as I tried to use my momentum to pass him and I was forced to use the breaks hard. I see…. I understand…. I know that game. Grinning, I continued to work the track to get low exit position to pass him. The next attempt I was so low, he pushed me down again and I drove right over the half buried tires marking the inner part of the corner. Still I came up short.

Managing through lap traffic, Drew then lost his rear as he spun right in front of me. As I straightened the wheel to go around him, the wheel jerked out of my hand to the right. I quickly grabbed the wheel and jerked it back to the left but it was too late. It jumped back to the left, but completely turned around as well. That would return the two of us to the back of the pack.

With only a few laps left, I had to make sure Drew didn’t put cars between us. And that’s exactly what he needed to do. Keep me behind him, and push to put cars between us. With 2 to go, he did just that when he passed the 65, driven by Larry Sheridan. The white flag dropped and it was going to be a hustle. I caught Larry on the backstretch and buried it into the corner on the high side. Succeeding in making the pass on the outside coming out of turn 4, Drew and I finished 8^th and 9^th respectively. Drew managed to get 1 point back but it wasn’t enough. The final points results would be 672 to 671.

So to recap, Going into race 10, the points spread was -5. After the heat, I moved back to -6. The feature, back to -5. Race 11, after the heat I was +1 up on Drew to take the points lead. After the feature, back to negative 1 to hand it back to Drew. Race 12, after the heat I gained 3 points to take the lead by +2. After the feature, Drew gained one back leaving me with the rookie championship by only +1 point. Unbelievable!

Besides the rookie points race, Drew and I finished 3^rd and 4^th in the overall points race out of 24 cars this year. Defiantly a respectful finish for our first year driving 600cc mini sprints.

What a run! I had so much fun! Win or lose, I couldn’t have had more fun rubbin open wheels with my brother for the championship. Drew kept me fighting all year long to try to catch him. He led the rookie point’s race from the very beginning and I didn’t think I was going to catch up. It makes me proud to call him my little bro. Keep it up Drew, I’ll be expecting more pressure next year!

Author:

Derek Eldridge #8

600cc Mini Sprint

Granite State Mini Sprints

EldridgeRacing.com

2010 - Race #9: All for Show

2010-07-27T18:00:00.001-04:00

We got a nice early start on Sunday heading to the track with time to spare. Scattered T-Storms were in the forecast for Big Daddy’s Speed bowl, but only at a 30% chance. We ran into that 30% about 15min away from arriving at the track. Thankfully, within 5min of the track, the weather completely cleared up.

After Mother Nature watered the track for us, it didn’t take much for the water truck to finish it off the job and get us out for practice. I have to say, it’s nice to get a few hot laps in at the beginning of the day to see where the car’s going to settle in. Very often we don’t get to practice, or if we do, we only get 2-3 laps worth.

Drew and I started out the heat, I was on the outside pole, drew started inside second row. The green dropped and we took off. Worried about a bad clicking sound, I let off early into turn 1 and Terry Riel in the # 11 car immediately got under me to take the lead. Turned out, the chain had stretched a little from when I first put it on and the clicking sound was my chain rapping against my nerf bar.

The first few laps where a little rough until I could find where the car wanted to run. Starting off a bit too tight, a quick adjustment to the top wing position solved the problem. The next issue arrived as I ran out of gear by the end of the back stretch and ran the engine off the rev limiter for about a full second or more before the turns. It’s been the same gear I’ve been running all year, but with a few changes I made to the car this past week, it was accelerating much faster than before, and running out of gear. This posed a new challenge as I couldn’t quite keep up with the top running cars. In the end, I finished one spot in front of Drew.

I didn’t have the sprocket needed to change my gear ratio at the track, so I would be forced to run the feature the same way. Starting 7^th (4^th row inside) and Drew 6^th (3^rd row outside) we started the feature. The first few laps were shear pandemonium. With the fast cars at the rear, they made their presence known immediately. Everyone shuffled for track position. At the first caution for a spun car, I found myself back 2 places in 9^th on the restart. A few laps later, I found myself turned around after hitting a huge hole between turn 1 and 2. After that, I pushed my wing all the way back to avoid the loose situation again.

Now at the back of the pack, I had to work back to my original position. From 12^th back to 8^th, I found myself 2 spots back from Drew with the 73 of Jacob Williams between us. Still running out of gear before the end of the track, I couldn’t quite get enough of a run on Williams to get by. He was running the track pretty low and I tried a few times to go high, but came up short. I just didn’t have the power to run that high. I had to keep digging for the inside. Finally, in turn 1, Williams got a little too high on the track and I was able to get up beside him. We ran wheel to wheel for about a lap until Drew’s engine locked up in front of us and we were forced to avoid him. Williams went around on the high side, as I locked up my breakes and turned the car around to avoid Drew.

Sitting sideways on the track, I panicked to start the car and get out of the way as I saw other cars heading into the corner. I fired the car, dropped the clutch, and I shot into the infield to safety. As I made my way to the right to head back to the track I caught one of the mud puddles in the infield. I hammered the gas to try to power through it…. Yea, not a good idea…. The stagger in the car allowed the puddle to turn me left and suck me in like quick sand. Now covered in mud, you couldn’t tell that my car used to be blue. 8o) I ripped tear offs from my helmet to find a clear view. After pulling my last tear off, I was left with mud streaks down the inside of my shield. Man that’s annoying. Luckily, I could still see. It was more annoying than anything.

Drew went to the pits with a blown engine. Terry Riel (#11), behind me when I spun to avoid the wreck, was placed back in front of me for the restart. I let it go. With around 5 laps left, I finished 7^th behind the #11. Not bad out of 13 cars and the challenges handed to us. Drew finished out 11^th.

After this race, I gained 5 points on Drew in the Rookie Championship. Now only 5 points out, Drew’s feeling the heat with a cooked engine. Not the way I want to gain ground. Luckily, Drew has a spare engine that he started the season with and he will be able to get that back in the car before the next race. The next race will be in 3 weeks. It will be nice to get two weekends off. With 3 races to go, it’s coming down to the wire. Good Luck Drew! You better give me a good run! 8o)

If you haven’t already, please join us on Facebook to get the latest scoop, pictures and chatter. Invite your friends, invite your family and we’ll see you in 3 weeks.

Eldridge Racing

Author:

Derek Eldridge #8

600cc Mini Sprint

Granite State Mini Sprints

EldridgeRacing.com

2010 - Race # 6, 7 & 8: Overcoming Obstacles

2010-07-23T05:00:00.002-04:00

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve been able to send out a blog update, and I apologize for that. I’ll try to recap that last 3 races in this single blog. It all started with a hot, dry day at Big Daddy’s Speedbowl in Rumny, NH June 27.

Race #6 Big Daddy’s Speedbowl

Drew and I started in the second heat. I started outside front row (2^nd) and Drew started inside 3^rd row (5^th). Right off the start, I took the lead from the 28 of Tim Beard. Later I lost the lead to the 75L of Johnny Chestnut and the 11 of Terry Reil to finish up the Heat in 3^rd. Drew, not far behind, finished 4^th.

When the Feature started, the heat of the sun played its toll on the track. Traction was a hard thing to find. Starting 7^th (4^rd row inside), Drew 5^th (3^rd row outside), my car would run well, as long as I leaned on the cushion at the top of the track when heading into the corner. At times, corner exit was more of an issue coming out of turn 4, as all 4 wheels on the car would want to slide up the track. Come to find out, Drew was having the same issue.

It was a green to checkered race, meaning we had no cautions. At least until the last lap. The 89 jumped from 4^th to 1^st before turn one and soon after the field completely spread out, head to tail on the track. It would have been a hard race to follow from the bleachers. The 89 of Luke Greenwood taking the charge. Luke was so far gone, that second and third place cars, 3v of Brian Gray and 2 of Josh Boissoneau didn’t stand a chance at even seeing Luke again for the rest of the race. By the end of the race, Luke managed to lap the field all the way to just in front of the 6^th place, the 73 of rookie Jacob Williams, and the 11 of Terry Reil. I was running running 8^th behind the 73 and 11. On Lukes last lap, to complete 20 laps, the 73 and 11 dropped off the pace on the backstretch. With only seconds to make a decision to go around or under the two cars, I committed to the line I had been running all race against the cushion as my car handled the best there. At the time, there was plenty of room where I committed. It wasn’t till last second, that the 73 of Jacob Williams turned right towards the pit opening. At that point, I had nowhere to go. I locked the breaks, cut hard left and hopped he would be gone by the time I got there. Unfortunately he was not. With both cars pitched on an angle, my right front hooked the right rear of his bumper sending Jacob forward and to the right. Being that these cars are left side heavy, his left wheels dug in as his car lifted and rolled over. My car spun around 180 degrees and stopped almost instantly. With the rest of the field coming off the checkered flag, the red flag was out.

I was told after the race that I had missed the checkered flag. For this, club president Terry Reil, Vice President Dean Hanson, and Tech Inspector Troy Boissoneau made the decision at the track to suspend me for two weeks. I have since reviewed the video provided by a fellow club member Micheal Scott, and tracked the 89 as he completed his laps. I now have no doubt that the 89 was on his last lap of 20 laps when the accident happened directly behind him. Micheal Scott, who the video is focused on, only one lap down, only completed 18 laps. I’m still upset that the accident happened at all. But I refuse to point fingers at anyone for fault because I feel it was just that, an accident. The accumulation of all decisions, commitments, and circumstances added up to a poor outcome. I can only be thankful that we both walked away without injury.

Race #7 Canaan Dirt Speedway

The following week was an off week. The next race would be at Canaan, two weeks from the accident. My two week suspension was allowed to count that off week, so I would only miss the Canaan race.

At Cannan, I attended and helped my brother, Drew, with his car. Drew started in the first heat, 2^nd row inside (3^rd) and struggled from the start. Engine not running right, on his last lap running 7th, with the leader’s right behind him, his engine shut down completely. We think it may have been a fuel issue and made some modifications for the feature.

For the feature, Drew started 3^rdonce again. On only the 2^nd or 3^rd lap, while holding 3^rd, the 2^nd place car of Brian Gray #3v lost his footing coming out of turn 4 right in front of Drew. Drew managed to pitch his car hard enough to move down the track and over the inner turn tire barrier missing the 3v by only inches. I can’t say the same for the following group of cars directly behind them. It was shear pandemonium as the 13m of rookie Douglas McPhail, 28 of rookie Tim Beard, and the 11 of Terry Reil all piled in. Douglas McPhail took the brunt of it as the first car in and toppled over like a badly tossed horse shoe. Terry Reil, the only one without major damage restarted the race. The other 3 all walked off the track.

Drew went on to finish 6^th out of the 12 cars that started the race. Later in the pits, I visited Douglas at his trailer to see how he was doing. Icing his foot, I didn’t want to just sit down and start talking incase he was still upset about the accident. After only a few seconds of looking at his car, Doug asked me what had just happened. He said “I’m just coming out of it and I’m looking at my wrecked car, what happened?” I explained what had just happened thinking he was expressing that it happened so fast he couldn’t remember. That’s when he told me that he didn’t remember any of it. I figured it would be best to have the ambulance crew take a look at him now.

Doug’s seat had actually bent forward almost 6 inches during the wreck. The last time he put his belts in, he accidentally missed putting the belts over the cross member that supports them. When I saw that, I feared the worst for Doug. In this situation, as the seat moves forward, the belts reduce in height, in turn compressing your spinal column. Doug was brought to the hospital to be checked out that night, and it wasn’t until the following day that we got word that his back was ok. Doug suffered from a concussion and a broken foot. Considering the alternatives, I would consider Doug very lucky.

Race #8 Bear Ridge Speedway

With that, we come to Race 8. Mending my damaged car, and machining some new components, I was ready to come back strong as we arrived at Bear Ridge Speedway. It was a hot day, with not much for shade. Defiantly a day for the easy-up tents. Last time we were here, the track started out with a tacky surface during our heat and I went on to place first in the heat. By the feature, the track loosened up too much for my setup and I suffered an extremely loose car. This week, anticipating the heat drying the track, I set my car up more for a dry loose track than I did before. It just may have paid off.

Drew started the heat 4^th (2^nd row outside). Still feeling the repercussions from my penalty, I started at the back of the pack 7^th, (4^th row inside). One of the rules we have for starting positions is that if you miss the week prior, you must start in the rear. I was then technically penalized for being penalized the week before. Interesting how that worked out. With not much action to talk about, I was able to move to a heat finish of 4^th just in front of Drew in 5^th.

The feature was much more exciting. Drew started on the pole position (1^st row, inside). I started, again with the rearward penalty for my penalty, in 6^th. If it wasn’t for that, I should have been starting next to Drew. That aside, the race was on! Right off the bat, the 75L of Johnny Chestnut made his move as he split the 7 of my brother Drew Eldridge and the 11 of Terry Reil, to make an early push for the lead. I don’t know if it was that lap, or the next that Chestnut got a bit too sideways in between turn 1 and 2 in front of Drew for the pass. Drew doing his best to push his car down the track, clipped Chestnut’s left front, with his right rear. Chestnut’s left front wheel and nose wing where torn off as a result sending him to the pit early.

On the restart, Terry Reil #11 and David Morgan #37 pushed for the lead. Morgan in his first time out with a brand new car. Drew and I were left to battle it out for 4^th. Shortly after passing the #2 of Troy Boissoneau, 3^rd. Drew was able to get a good jump on the restart, leaving me with track distance to make up. Inch by inch, I made up the distance while I used Drew’s draft to my advantage. I tried multiple times to pull under Drew coming out of the corners but just didn’t have the power to do it. Lap after lap, I tried high, I tried low, and it wasn’t until 4 laps to go that I was able to get a run on Drew. I got my nose under him in turn 3 and finally let him know I was there. It was the following lap that I got under him the rest of the way and made the pass with 2 laps to go. Holding Drew off for the last two laps, I finished 3^rd, while he finished right behind me in 4^th.

It wasn’t until later that I found out Drew’s right rear had been cut when he went over the 75L. It had caused a slow leak that lasted the rest of the race. During the last two laps, it had drained a good amount causing him to lose traction and give me the opportunity to get under him.

Drew and I continue to lead the Rookie Points and reside in 3^rd and 4^th in the over championship. Only 10 points out from Drew in the Rookie Points, I’ll be making a strong run at overcoming the gap over the next few weeks. With only 4 races left, it won’t be easy.

Author:

Derek Eldridge #8

600cc Mini Sprint

Granite State Mini Sprints

EldridgeRacing.com

2010 - Race #5: Closing the Gap

2010-06-22T19:00:00.002-04:00

This weekend was a hot one for sure, and that played a big role in track conditions. Drew and I started in Heat 2. I started on the outside pole. (front row) Drew started 5^th, inside 3^rd row. When the green dropped, my foot hit the floor and never came up. My car stuck to the tacky track like it was glue. After we reached the half way mark I wasn’t sure where everyone went. Did I miss something? Are they on my tail? With 3 laps to go I gave a glance back to see if I could catch sight of anyone behind me as I came out of turn 2. I caught a glimpse of Chestnut in the 75L entering turn 1 as I rocketed out of turn 2. From there it was on to the checkered flag for my first Heat win of the season. Drew went on to finish 4^th while fighting a non-handling car.

Drew was having a hard time with his setup. After taking a look at his car, we made a few changes that helped him drastically in the Feature. While not realizing the role that the heat would take in drying the track, I left my car set up for the tacky surface we raced on during the heat. Not a good idea.

They ran coupes in between the 500’s and 600’s this week to give a few of the guys that run both, a chance to change cars between races. As we waited for the coupe race to finish, it seemed to go on for a very long time. Caution after caution extended the race longer and longer. The track only seemed to get more and more dusty and it was hard to see the cars on the track. That worried me as I thought about how it was at Big Daddy’s two weeks earlier.

Starting 10^th and Drew starting 7^th, we took the green flag for the feature. To my surprise, my car became extremely loose on the dried out surface. I fought to maintain control as I had to lift off the throttle quite a bit. Managing to make my way to 7^th, I could see Drew running not far ahead in 5^th. Running strong, his car looked to be handling 10 times better than in the heat.

I made a move to pass the 73 of Jacob Williams for 6^th. I tried the high side without luck, my car wanted to turn right around. I tried the low side with the same result. After a few attempts it seemed to be getting worse as was the dust. The wall actually ended up disappearing in dust. I could see the inside of the track, but couldn’t tell how far up the track I could climb when coming out of the 4^th turn.

I held my position in 7^th with Williams in front of me and the number 74 of Justin Eldridge behind me. Yes, I said Justin Eldridge. No relation that we know of to Drew and I. Ironically, Justin ran his first race with GSMSRC this past weekend.

On the last lap, leader Matt Robbie #75 was lapping Drew on the back stretch, when Drew just ran out of track. Keeping up with Robbie and holding on to his lap, Drew was sucked into the softer dirt at the top of the track which in turn sucked him into the wall. Drew’s wreck moved me to a 6^th place finish, while Drew finished up in 9^th after other cars dropped out earlier.

Drew totaled the right rear rim, tire and radius rods and also bent his frame, wing and a few other components. Drew, though a little sore the next day, is ok. But it’s going to take a lot of work for him to get his car back in shape for next week’s race at Big Daddy’s Speedbowl.

The point’s race is starting to get very exciting for us. After this weekend, Drew has moved to second in the championship point’s race, while I have moved to tie him for the second position. With Terry Reil #11, only one point behind, our eyes have fallen on the current point’s leader Johnny Chestnut #75L. With 36 points to make up, it’s going to be a hard run for the championship.

In the rookie points race, while not including the one drop week the club has for points, Drew still leads the race by only 6 points from 2^nd place holder Douglas McPhail in the #13M. I managed to gain 9 points on Drew from last week placing me in 3^rd with 8 points to catch up.

Next week is Race #6 at Big Daddy’s Speedbowl in Rumney, NH. The half way point to the total of 12 points races this year. Things are getting more and more exciting as we find our setups and work out the bugs. Will we close the gap for the championship? Only time will tell.

Author:

Derek Eldridge #8

600cc Mini Sprint

Granite State Mini Sprints

EldridgeRacing.com

2010 - Race #4: Light the fires and kick the tires!

2010-06-12T05:00:00.002-04:00

I would consider this a very successful weekend with my #8 600cc mini sprint. With the first 3 weekends proving to be a nuisance, we were able to collect good information to make the proper adjustments at Canaan Dirt Speedway this past weekend.

Friday race days tend to add a level of difficulty when preparing and maintaining the car at the track. The fact is, it’s hard to get help on Fridays because of work schedules. This often leaves me by myself on Friday races. Not only that, but with less time to prep the car, in the past, I’ve tended to rush through what I had to do. This in turn creates problems that could typically be prevented during preparation.

That said, I believe within the Race #1 update, I mentioned it was the first race that I had actually finished at Canaan. Though it may have been with three quarters of my throttle, and a few laps down, I was happy that I finished. This week, will have been the first race I actually finished at Canaan with a respectable position. I can’t say that the night went off without a hitch, but I can say I am extremely happy with the results.

I was very fortunate that my uncle of Patriot Fuels in Canaan NH, was able to join me on Friday and give me hand in the pit. I greatly appreciated all the help he gave me and without him, I could have had another disastrous, stressful Friday night.

So let’s get into the details. We didn’t get to start with any practice laps this weekend due to some issues with preparing the track. So the track, behind schedule about 15-20 minutes had us head straight out to heat races. I started on the poll of my heat race. Bringing the cars to the green, I had the pleasure of running wheel to wheel with the 28 of Tim Beard. After a few laps and a caution, my car was handling quite rough, most likely because I had too much pressure in my rear tires that made the car bounce over the roughly graded corners.

I’m not sure how many laps in, I was able to get by Beard and was passed by the young Johnny Chestnut in the 75L. Soon after while entering turn 3 my car would not turn. Confused, I jabbed the gas to attempt to turn the car with the stagger. It turned enough that I was no longer looking at the far off wall head on, but not enough to get me through the corner. I coasted up to the pit track entry gate, where I came to a stop. I had broken the left front steering arm, which ended my heat.

Finding a new steering arm, we got the car back together for the feature. We made some tire pressure adjustments and changed some cross weight in the car to help with the ruts and we were ready to go. When I got in the car to prep for the race, that’s when I realized the switches were still on since the heat. Apparently, while I was distracted with the damage to the steering arm, I forgot to turn the ignition off. The battery was dead!

No one around, and no 4 wheelers in sight to give me a push, my uncle and and cousin Jordan, pushed me though the pits by hand to try to jump the car. We had no luck. While I was in a panic to get the car started, Drew came to the rescue. Drew all buckled in and ready to go racing, pulled up behind me in his car and gave me a push through the pits. Wish someone had a camera. We had joked about pushing a mini sprint with another in the past but never thought of actually doing it. Thank god, he was able to get me started and the battery was able to charge up while I heated the car in the prep area. Good thinking Drew! And THANK YOU!

Now, I started 3^rd row outside while Drew started 4^th row inside. Heading down the back stretch, they told us we were going green that lap on the radio. We came out of turn 4 ready to race, just to see the yellow flag still waving. Though, again, we heard something along the lines of “bla bla GREEN” on the radio. Not next lap, but now! That’s when I saw Drew come up in his #7 and pass everyone on the inside after the flag stand. I said to myself, “where’s he going”. And so did the man on the radio. Even though it was the radio’s fault Drew thought we were going green, the man said oh well, were going green on this one without him. I think he made it back to the tail end of the line just as we took the green.

I can’t quite remember the start of the race, but I think I was running in the top 3 or 4 until we came up on lap traffic and I lost track. I have to say, the hardest thing to do when you’re driving on instinct, is remember which cars are ahead of you.

Throughout the race, I used a few tear offs as my visor filled with mud. Then at one point, things were getting extremely blurry so I pulled off another tear off with no difference. I thought, oh crap, the dirt is between my tear offs and I’m losing my vision. Then I blinked. “Wait a min…!” I blinked again… Eureka!! I could see once again. There was so much dust and dirt coming up under my helmet that my eyes were filling up and glazing over with dirt. I kid you not! With my adrenalin pumping so hard, and no time to blink, I couldn’t even feel the dirt in my eyes.

After a few more laps of what I can’t quite remember I was running behind my brother when a caution came out. Immediately after the yellow, they through the red and all I heard on the radio was, “Yellow Flag! Yellow Flag!....Red Flag!!! Red Flag!!!” I immediately looked around and thought, “Oh crap, did someone flip! What happened??” Then I heard, “Number 8 you’re on fire!!”. I immediately looked down at my engine and then down at my belly pan to look for oil or fire and found nothing. I thought, No I’m not, you’re on crack. Then he said “Your breaks are on fire!”.

When the officials got to me they said the same thing, and I replied “So put it out!”. Naturally they did. I just sat in my seat and waited for them to be finished. Fire extinguishers are typically one time use, and considering they are filled with CO2, a very cold non-flammable gas, I asked them to empty the extinguisher on the brake. I knew that this would most likely cool the brake almost enough to touch, and I would be good to go. Lucky thing is, there are no vital systems nearby my brakes. My fuel is not stored in my tail like other cars. I’s stored 3 feet away in a side tank forward from the brake. After they were done, I drove the car to the front streatch and check my brakes multiple times to be sure they felt right. All was good.

The brakes got that hot because I was using them…. a lot! Considering I’m running a steel rotor and racing pads, the only worry would have been if the pads were gone or the brake line itself saw enough heat to be damaged. If there was a fire, it would have been the pads and pad dust that was in flames. You can feel if you are on pads or steel on steel when you step on the brake. When I tested the brakes I could feel that the pads were still there. To test the brake line, I stomped on the brake as hard as I could to lock up the rear, multiple times. If the line was weekend, it would have popped. I was 100% confident that the breaks were ok.

The officials then asked me to have them checked out in the pits. After re-checking them multiple times in the pits myself, and also having my crew visually inspect for damage, I was good to go. After receiving the o.k., from the track official at the gate, I headed out to the track. I lost my position as I caught the tail end of the line just before the green. With only around 4 laps to go, the fire moved from my brake to my aggression. I wanted my position back… NOW! 8o)

With my foot to the floor, I flat footed the whole track and made it back to my brother by the last lap. Coming out of turn 4 I passed Drew to take 7^th place out of 15 cars starting the feature. Drew went on to finish 9^th without traction as his tires glazed over sometime in the middle of the race.

What an eventful race! The fact that we were able to overcome obstacles and make it back to finish 7^th was such a thrill. I can’t wait to climb back in next week at Bear Ridge Speedway in Bradford VT.

Till then I hope you’ve enjoyed the update, and I’ll see you next week.

Author:
Derek Eldridge #8
600cc Mini Sprint
Granite State Mini Sprints
EldridgeRacing.com

2010 - Race #3: Round and Round I go.

2010-05-31T05:00:00.003-04:00

Our first time out on the all new Big Daddy’s Speedbowl in Rumney, NH. The track formally known as Rattle Snake Motordrome, was recently purchased and rebuilt over the winter. Revisions to the track included hauling in dump truck upon dump truck full of new clay for both the track and pits. They widened the track and also changed its shape and added more bleachers. Now with a “D” shape and a new surface, a new setup will need to be tuned for this track.

I started outside pole in my heat. As the green dropped I raced into turn one with Richard Crooker in his # 21. Running on the outside, once we hit the turn, my vision went to ZERO. Working my way out of the smoke screen, we worked our way down the back stretch to turn 3 and 4. Vision in that corner wasn’t as bad.

During the first few laps, I struggled to catch my vision in turn 1 and 2 until Terry Reil #11 made the pass to take the lead. As Reil and Crooker navigated the corner, I was absolutely blinded by the screen of dust they left behind. At one point I almost caught the rear of Cookers car, another headed towards the infield. I minus well have been driving with my eyes closed. It was ridiculous.

At that point I made the decision to back off and let people by. Not only could I not see in the dust, but I feared that if someone spun out in front, the whole field would have hit them. It wasn’t worth the added risk. During one of the cautions I called it quits and pulled off the track. I decided to save it for the feature.

We had a great turn out of cars! 15 cars and starting towards the rear of the pack I was excited to get some good racing in. The green dropped and I made my way by a few cars during the first 2 laps while battling an extremely loose car. Although short lived, on lap 3, the loose condition got the best of me and I spun in turn 2.

Back to the rear, I prepared for round 2. I managed to make it 2 more laps before losing the rear again while the #28 of Tim Beard hit my rear bumper.

Aggravated and with one last attempt, I only obtained the same results. After three spins, it was time to call it quits as I was black flagged for holding up the race. At least I can say we learned a lot about setup for the new Big Daddy’s Speedbowl and we will be back in 4 weeks to try it again.

Author:
Derek Eldridge #8
600cc Mini Sprint
Granite State Mini Sprints
EldridgeRacing.com

2010 - Race #1&2: Welcome back

2010-05-24T05:00:00.004-04:00

As we start the second season of racing with Granite State Mini Sprints, we start the second chapter in the Eldridge Racing blog. It has been a long winter, though I can’t say that it has been uneventful. For those of you who have followed us on facebook, you already know that Drew and I (Derek) have made a move up to the 600cc mini sprints for the 2010 season. Drew, purchasing his car towards the end of the 2009 season, while I purchased mine while the snow was on the ground.

Over the winter I worked diligently on rebuilding the used car I purchased. With the help of a good friend, Joe Payne Sr., we went through the whole car. Starting with the frame, we cut and welded new body tabs and other mounting brackets. We built an entirely new body and belly pan. We repaired various broken components, and we mounted a new motor. To say the least, this is no longer the same car I purchased a few months ago.

With time running out, I didn’t think I was going to complete it before our first race at Canaan. It seriously came down to the wire. Friday morning before heading to the track, I spent more time than I thought finishing the final wiring and car setup. I didn’t leave the house until 2 hours later than I intended. But the bottom line, I made it!

Arriving at the track by myself, Drew somewhere behind me, I unloaded my car and got ready to go racing. I suited up and buckled in to head out to the first practice of the day. Terry Reil checking breaks, I stomped on my break to provide a test and everything was fine. I rolled down to the starting grid and then found that my break went away. Realizing something wasn’t right; I pulled the car back to my pit and skipped the practice. Turns out, the break line blew just as I tested it on my way to the starting grid.

Fabulous, the black cloud that follows me to Canaan every visit seems to have found its way to me once again. That’s ok, I’ll manage. I was able to purchase a break line and borrow two fittings to get the break back together just in time to head out to the Heat.

Starting in the rear of a 7 car heat, we took the green and everything felt great. After about 4 or five laps I started to feel an extremely violent vibration coming out of turn 2. Honestly, I thought it was the track, but when I reached turn 3, the car felt like it shut off. Knowing I wasn’t going to make it back around the track, I exited the track through the entrance. Drew was in the 2nd heat of 7, not sure where he started, but finished 4th

So, what now! The chain guide was bent into the chain and the chain was riding over it. At least I know where the vibration was coming from now. Back to work. I was able to purchase a new set of chain guides and replaced the one that was damaged. Again, just in time to head back out to the feature.

I was supposed to start in the second to last row. But with the way things were going, I opted to start last. And thank goodness I did. Because when the green flag dropped, the field pulled right away. My car not getting up to full speed, putted around the track like a pony in a parade. OK, I admit that sounded better in my head. Problem was, my throttle had come loose when the chain came off and I overlooked it when I replaced the sprocket guides. I could only manage to get it up to 1/2-3/4 throttle. Not only that, but it would stick there. So I rode the breaks for all the caution laps. I think drew passed me 2 or 3 times before the end of the race. In the end, I can live with that. I’m pretty sure I didn’t finish a race at Canaan last year because of mechanical problems. Just staying out of trouble, I rounded up a 7th place finish. Drew, though many laps ahead of me, finished 6th while using my crappy backup wing. Drew wrecked his wing last year in an accident and has not been able to afford a new wing yet.

That rounded up Day 1 of our double header, season opening weekend and it was on today two.

Day two started with breakfast and more work to the car. I’d like to send a special thanks to Doug Leach, of Patriot Fuels for helping me with the car on Saturday morning. Without his help, I would not have been able to get the car back in order, for Day 2.

That being said, I’ll skip ahead to practice. When I took the green for practice hot laps, I almost had a cow! I don’t think I ever had full throttle before now. Man the 600’s move! It’s only been practice and I’m ecstatic.

I was in Heat 1, started in the rear, and finished 3rd behind Terry Reil and David Morgan. For some reason, I can’t remember any of it. There seems to be some lost time between the drop of the green and the checkered flag. I do remember that the car was starting to cut out coming out of the turns.

Drew finished 3rd in his heat.

After getting out of the car, I noticed that my sprocket guide was busted up again. The new guide was fine, though the one I reused was broken off and spinning around the axel. No problem, I have a spare. Or do I. Nope, I gave it to another driver who was in need of it more than I was before my heat. Luckily, I was able to borrow one from someone else. With that, we check the ground wires that could have caused the cutting out. We secured them, and headed back out for the feature.

Almost missing the feature the cars were already on the track while we were finishing up the work that needed to be done. I caught the field on the back stretch slipping in front of drew in the third row outside. We took the green, scattering for position, I was in 4th by the first lap. The caution came out for something behind us, and the flagman gave us a complete restart. Back to 6th, I did it all over again. The green dropped, and back to 4th I went, Drew at my heals. The restart was a little rough, with the car directly in front of me not on top of the start. It caused a gap between the 3rd place car and myself. But I was slowly narrowing that gap. Then about half way through the race, my car bucked, and chocked coming out of turn 4. I tried to put it into the infield but it seized at the edge of the track. Apparently, I was going so fast, the car got scared and pissed oil all over everything.

Yes, the motor is toast. But what a ride it was! I finished up the night in 7th and Drew brought in a 5th place finish. GO DREW! It’s a lot nicer to have Drew in a good car this year. He had such bad luck with his car last year.

Sunday morning I pulled the engine out of the car to find it turned into an expensive paper weight. I’m on the hunt for a replacement engine. Hopefully I can find one by the end of the week and get it in by Sunday. Time will only tell.

Till then, welcome back. Keep it safe, keep it on the track and we’ll see you next time at EldridgeRacing.com

Author:
Derek Eldridge #8
600cc Mini Sprint
Granite State Mini Sprints
EldridgeRacing.com

Indoor Racing in the Off Season.

2009-12-07T12:30:00.007-05:00

This past weekend I attended an indoor TQ (Three Quarter Midget) event at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Providence, R.I. This was a two day event with over 50 cars competing for the chance to win the “Dunkin’ Donuts Cup”. The driver to win, leaves with one “cup”, and another will be on display with the driver’s name at the center till next year’s event.

This was the first indoor event I have attended, and to my surprise, there was an extreme diversity of cars at the event. From 750cc TQ’s to 600cc Mini Sprints, all competing together for the cup. The variety in chassis design, drive trains and setups, would blow your mind.

I was attending to help crew for Joe Payne Sr’s A-Plus Towing & Recovery sponsored, #66 TQ. The car was driven by Danny Shirey of Oberlin, OH. Danny also drives a Mini Sprint for owner Dick Hathaway, a 305 Sprint Car for owner Andy Roberts, and a Supermodified owned by Jim Shirey, Danny’s father.

So what does in door TQ racing look like? Well, it was in a hockey area where they removed the ice, and pushed back the first section of seats. The infield was basically the size of the original hockey rink while the space where the bleachers once sat became the race track. Being flat concrete, coke syrup is sprayed down on the concrete to establish the first bit of traction the cars will utilize while cornering. After many laps of practice are run, rubber from the tires replaces the coke syrup, or mixes with it depending on your view, and becomes even tackier.

Friday night started with a chance to feel the car out with a few practice sessions. During the first practice, Danny was fighting a push, as well as instability when getting on and off the gas. After making some adjustments to stagger and break bias, the car became too loose and during the time trials the rear end broke loose spinning Danny out and loosing the second time trial lap. With a time in the mid 9 seconds for his first lap, we started to the rear of our heat.

After time trails, more adjustments were made to get the car to perform more stable. Fortunately, the changes paid off. Starting 10^th in the heat of 12 cars, Danny was able to fight and claw his way up the field and finished with a respectable 4^th place, in turn qualifying for the feature event.

24 cars started the feature Friday night. We started 12. After many laps, and 11 cars heading to the pits from wrecks, Danny made his way to 6^th place, where he was forced to lay hard on the breaks as a car involved in another accident stopped abruptly in front of him. The force in turn snapped the left break caliper off its mount and proceeded to rotate forward and lock the front left wheel from turning. This ended the night with a 13^th place finish. An excellent finish when you consider there were 50 plus other cars competing in the same event.

Danny’s father, Jim, welded the caliper back in place Saturday morning for the start of day two of racing at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center. Unfortunately, the event did not give the opportunity to re-qualify for day two. This was too bad, because with the changes that were made to the car, it was at least a second faster than the day before.

This placed us starting in the back of the pack of our Heat. As many accidents threatened to take the #66 with them, Danny was able to avoid them all while sacrificing valuable track position. The heats consisted of 12 cars competing for the top 4 spots in only 10 short laps. This time, it just wasn’t enough to pull off a 4^th place finish. We would be forced to run in the concy. The concy would be the last opportunity for the drivers to make the feature who did not make the top 4 from the heats.

With the same number of cars and laps as the heat, the concy proved to be just as difficult to come from the back of the pack. Danny was able to advance to 5^th, being slowed only by wreaking cars in front of him. But in the 10 short laps allotted to advance it proved to be and impossible feat and we would be forced to watch the feature from the stands.

It was a pleasure to meet and work with Danny Shirey and his father Jim this past weekend. Their knowledge, experience and professionalism in open wheel racing gained my respect as a driver and competitor. I’ll be working with them again in January 2010 at the Gamblers Classic in Atlantic City, and I’m looking forward to it.

Author:
Derek Eldridge #8
500cc Mini Sprint
Granite State Mini Sprints
EldridgeRacing.com

Post Season 2009 Updates: Facebook & Twitter

2009-10-14T13:02:00.005-04:00

It’s been a few weeks since I posted the last blog. I’d like to take the opportunity to tell you about the additions to Eldridge Racing over the last few weeks. Additions both to family, and website.

First, and most importantly, I’d like to wish a belated Congratulations to Jordan and LisaEllen who gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Isabelle, late in the race season. Both are healthy and well and I’m sure a lot of you have already met Isabelle during the last few races.

Secondly, there have been a few blog delivery methods added to EldridgeRacing. You can now find us on Facebook, as well as twitter. Both have been provided to allow you to use your preferred method of following Eldridge Racing.

On Facebook, you’ll find pictures, event updates, blog updates, and status updates not found on the Eldridge Racing website itself. You’ll also find links to the Granite State Mini Sprint Racing Club Facebook page as well. If you haven’t already, visit us on Facebook and become a fan. Once there feel free to join in the conversation, ask questions, and leave comments. We look forward to you joining us.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Eldridge-Racing/135515379794

On Twitter, you’ll find updates to the blog, as well as status updates from Facebook. If you prefer Twitter to Facebook, you can receive all the same updates and never miss a beat.
http://twitter.com/EldridgeRacing

Another addition, or update if you will, has been made to the promotions page at www. EldridgeRacing.com. I've found that updating the Eldridge Racing promotions page with html to be tedious and time consuming. Because of this, I have not been able to deliver as many money saving opportunities as I originally intended. But have no fear, I've found another way to deliver more savings on a daily basis rather than just updating the page once a month. To do so, today I have launched a new blog called Deals_4U. Every day I will be adding at least one new deal to save you money at various merchants. Each deal will be updated to Deals_4U on Twitter as well as Deals_4U on Facebook. I have separated these updates from my original blog to allow fans to choose to get Eldridge Racing updates or promotional updates independently.

Please use the following links to check out the Deals_4U posts that I am adding to daily.
http://deals4u2.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/Deals_4U
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Deals_4U/186409019391

A few other things in the works…. I promised that T-shirts would become available soon and I’ve been working hard on a design that you will see soon. So keep your eyes out for that. Also, I’m working on a short blog series that I’ll be talking about the safety equipment we use in mini sprint racing. It will cover things to know if you’re interested in getting involved as a competitor and common questions concerning the different technologies available today.
I think that wraps it up for updates and things to look forward to for now. Until next time, we hope to see you on our Facebook page.

Author:
Derek Eldridge #8
500cc Mini Sprint
Granite State Mini Sprints
EldridgeRacing.com

Results for Race #14: Trophy Time

2009-09-12T12:00:00.013-04:00

Like the last race, we loaded the cars in the pouring rain on Saturday to head to Rattle Snake Motordrome in Rumney, NH. This time, the forecast was only 30% chance of rain in Rumney, though it was purring at home in Massachusetts. In fact, it rained the entire drive to the track until 5 min before we arrived. Sometimes I think these tracks have been placed geographically strategic to wind currents and weather patterns. Though, that doesn’t always work out as we’ve seen some rain outs during the racing season. Once at the track, the rain held off for the entire night.

Before I say anymore, I wanted to thank Dan Bowne for all the hard work he put into preparing the track surface for us this past weekend. Dan, one of our Granite State Mini Sprint members, arrived at the track bright and early around 7:00am to lend a hand and start preparing the surface. He did a terrific job. Thank you Dan.

Being the last race, we voted a few weeks ago to go wingless. Wingless adds another dimension of challenge to the minis sprints. The wing acts as down force to gain grip when accelerating and it also adds side force to help straighten the car in the corners and help prevent spinning out. Without the wing, mini sprints have less grip and must use the breaks to slow down more for the corners. So in essence, it makes the track feel slicker without a wing. In my personal opinion, I think it makes for a more exciting race.

As we took the track for the heat, I started on the outside poll. When the green dropped I put my foot to the floor and to my surprise, my car didn’t move… It quickly reved up as the other cars split around me. I quickly shifted to 4th and the car finally came up to speed.

The 500cc mini sprints (as well as the 600cc) run a motorcycle engine including a normal motorcycle transmission. In other words, we can shift the cars during the start of the race. Because we run on a ¼ mile track, most of us will start the cars in 3rd gear when we take the green flag and quickly shift to 4th by the end of the front stretch and then leave it in 4th during the rest of the race. The reason we don’t shift during the rest of the race is because shifting will actually cause us to lose track time. Once up to speed, shifting is not necessary. We only use 3rd to get a good jump on the green flag.

At this point, I thought that maybe the track was a little slicker than I thought and I just spun the tires on the start. Jordan Eldridge #57, Zack Herbert #4, and Lacey Hanson #33 all made it by me before I was able to get my car up to speed. The rest of the heat, I worked hard to catch up. My car being too loose, I encountered my first solo spin in turn 1. During the restart I was able to move my way back to 4rth and on the last lap, Lacey got a little too sideways in turn 4 and I was able to make it around her to finish 3rd in the heat.

Back in the pits, I made some tire adjustments to tighten the car. When a car is loose, it has a tendency for the rear end to come around. Tightening a car is to create the opposite. Taking some of the overseer out of the car so that it will travel in more of a straight line through the corner. Tightening a car too much, will make it push. A push is when a car doesn’t want to steer and the front end wants to travel straight up the track in the corner. The goal in making car adjustments is to get the right balance between a car being tight, and loose. Ever changing track surfaces and conditions can have a big impact on this balance. I’ll explain more about track conditions in a future blog.

I started on the pole for the feature. Confident that my changes would also help with the wheel spin when we took the green, I put my foot into it with the same results as the heat. The car quickly reved and once again, didn’t get out of its own way. That’s when I realized it wasn’t wheel spin that I was experiencing. It was my clutch not fully engaging or slipping when I got hard on the gas. I managed to get it back into 4th gear and left it there for the rest of the race, ultimately sacrificing acceleration on my re-starts.
There were quite a few cautions during the race. Without wings, there were some spin outs and also some car troubles that some of the other cars experienced. There was so much action and position changes its really hard for me to remember and note them all. So I’ll try to note the important ones that stand out in my mind.

With all the restarts and spins I was able to make my way back to the front after having that initial problem with the clutch. On one of the restarts, with Zach on my outside we took another green and Zach quickly took the lead back from me as I couldn’t get a good start still starting in 4th gear. This was short lived as another caution came out and we regrouped. This time, I was on the outside poll with Zach on the inside. On the green, Jordan came from my rear to bump me back to 3rd.

Now, Zach and Jordan in front of me, we bombed down the back stretch and into turn 3. Jordan, entering the corner too fast and not working enough break, drove into…..onto…..up…..over…..and then down Zach’s car. I passed them on the high side in soft clay to avoid the accident. Jordan landing on all 4 wheels continued on, incidentally breaking his tank cover off the back of his car. I wasn’t able to see the damage to Zach’s car as I drove by, but I believe Zach headed to the pits shortly after that. Jordan on the other hand was black flagged for the incident and also had to leave the track.

Left to start back on the pole, with Lacey starting to my outside we took the green once again. As was the rest of all my restarts, Lacey was able to get the jump on the start, running in the correct gear, and left me to fight for position after the start.

I tried high; I tried low, a few times getting my noise down under Lacey but the losing momentum before exiting the turn. With around 5 laps to go, my car started to sputter in the corners like it was running out of fuel. The fact was, I started the night with a full tank of fuel but we have never run so many caution laps in one race this season. The extreme amount of caution laps ate up a lot more fuel than usual and I was in fact starting to run out. When I came into the corner to hard, what remaining fuel I had left would slosh to one side of the tank and the engine was sucking in air. So for the last 3-4 laps, I had to let off a little more in the corners so I wouldn’t run out. Fingers crossed, I was extremely happy to settle for 2nd rather than push too hard for 1st and run out of fuel. And that rounds up my 2nd place finish.

On a different topic, Drew Eldridge #57, didn’t bring his 500cc car this past weekend. Instead, Drew has purchased a 600cc mini sprint and brought that. Last week I mentioned that Drew’s 400ex engine that he was testing for the club suffered damage from a cracked block. He was not able to fix it in time for this last race and decided to concentrate on the 600cc.

Race week #10 was Drew’s first run with the 600cc at Canaan Dirt Speedway in Canaan, NH. Drew planned to start in the back and just feel the car out and get some track time. During the heat, a car spun out in front of Drew, leaving him nowhere to turn. Drew collided with the spun car sideways. The collision caused Drew to roll his new car over crushing his wing and damaging the rear axial. He walked away unscathed, though he would have work to do before running the car again.

This week, Drew brought the 600cc out for the second time this year bearing the #7 not the #57. Starting 7th out of 7 cars in the feature, Drew worked his way through the pack. The 600’s were also wingless for this race, and there were a lot of cautions. As Drew worked his way to 3rd, cars in the back of the pack developed problems and dropped out, but not before Drew had the opportunity to pass. Drew was able to overcome all wingless disadvantages, ran an excellent race and placed a strong 3rd in his first ever 600cc feature event. Congratulations Drew!

Drew will be running the 600cc car this coming Saturday, the 17th of September, and over the next few weeks at Whip City in Westfield, MA. Feel free to attend and lend him a hand in the pits if you would like to get involved. Whip City’s website is http://www.whipcityspeedway.com/ for more information.

I’d like to thank my sponsors, TheRaceDepot.com; Christopher Bean Coffee; Amsoil; Aluminum Rapid Shelters from Caddis Sports; and Patriot Fuels. Be sure to check them out. Remember, checking out Ads by Google on the website helps pay for these blogs as well, and all it takes is a click.

Well, that wraps up this seasons run with Granite State Mini Sprints. I hope you have enjoyed the blog this year as our first season played out. Over the winter I’m hoping to make additions to the family history page at EldridgeRacing.com and would like to invite you to keep visiting to see the updates. If you haven’t signed up for email updates to the blog, I encourage you to do so. You don’t have to worry about spam and under NO circumstances will we EVER sell your email address. Your privacy is my utmost concern. If you should decide to cancel email updates, there is a convenient link at the bottom of each email to conveniently cancel.

The blog will not end for the off season. There will be at least one more blog reporting the final results for the point’s race this month. Also, once or twice a month, I may send out blogs to let everyone know what’s going on, between site updates and information that may be useful. If you sign up, or stay signed up, you’ll also be the first to know when the new schedule posts after the new year for 2010.

Website Updates:

Home Page:
Save us as your home page!!! I’ve added a Google search bar that conveniently searches the entire web from the Eldridge Racing Home Page. I’ve also added a Blog Updates list to the home page that lists the latest blogs. Using us as your home page and performing your Google searches from EldridgeRacing.com is yet another way you can help support EldridgeRacing.com. The search engine will return all the same results you would get from the Google website with the added advantage of being able to see if there are blog updates every time you use the internet.

Get Involved Page: (NEW!)
I’ve added a new page labeled Get Involved. The Get Involved page lists 6 ways you can get involved with Eldridge Racing or Mini Sprint Racing in general. Check it out.

Other than that, keep it safe, keep it on the track and we’ll see you next time, at EldridgeRacing.com

Author:
Derek Eldridge #8
500cc Mini Sprint
Granite State Mini Sprints
EldridgeRacing.com

Results for Race #13: Rain again? SYKE!!!

2009-08-30T12:00:00.004-04:00

We packed up our gear on Saturday in the pouring rain. Yes, the pouring rain, and headed two and a half hours north to Bear Ridge Speedway in Bradford, VT. We were hoping to see a hole in the clouds over Bear Ridge, where the sun may possibly poke through. Instead it rained most of the trip. It wasn’t until we got much closer that the rain died back, though the overcast still prevailed. With 90% chance of rain in the forecast, and the luck we’ve had with races getting rained on or rained out, you can understand my skepticism. That’s why I was shocked when we arrived at the track and found it to be reasonably dry. Not to kill the suspense, but it stayed dry for a great night of racing.

We unloaded our cars and started the night with a few hot laps to warm up our cars and feel out the track. Drew Eldridge (#57) broke his chain and headed to the pits early to start replacing it before the heat race. We were scheduled to go out after 2 or 3 other classes that would lead the night’s heats. When hot laps were over, we hit the pits. I wasn’t even out of my car yet before we received the announcement for us to line up. Last minute the track decided to run the Mini Sprints first. So, I buckled back up, and headed out for the heat. Drew, not having enough time to finish connecting his chain, was forced to miss the heat.

Starting on the inside second row lead by Troy Boissoneau (#77) and Jordan Eldridtge (#58). Jordan jumping to an early lead, was having engine issues allowing Troy and myself to pass after lap 2. I then fought to find an opening to make it by Troy. As I worked the line, I lost my footing allowing Lacy Hanson (#33) by without a fight. She then passed Troy after a few laps leaving us to battled it out for second. Two cautions came out without a position change between the top three. Both cautions were caused by Jordan Eldridge (#58). Apparently, forgetting to put fuel in the car for race day, the changeover from the hot laps to the heat was so quick Jordan wasn’t able to fill up, sending him to the pits after the second caution.

Back under green, lap after lap I fought for an opening, each time, looking for the fastest groove. Then finally, with only a few laps left, I was able to get my nose far enough under Troy to race side by side for the 2nd spot. With Troy on the outside, after a few laps, I was able to push forward to secure the second spot for the checkered flag.

In the pits, Drew was hunting down JB weld. Why you ask… aside from the chain coming apart during hot laps, there was a large crack down the block of his 400ex engine that let all the oil out before he lost his chain. His plan…. JB weld, some more oil, a little prayer, and run that baby into the ground for the feature…. At least these things sound good when you have a plan….

We took the lineup for the feature, Mr. JB weld Drew on the pole and Zack Herbert (#4) on the outside pole. I started 5th with Jordan and his full tank of fuel to my rear in 7th. The green dropped and I made my move to the outside of the #55, Don Freeman, to take forth to Zack, Drew, and Troy. Within a few laps, Drew snapped another chain and headed off to the pits. Now in third lead by Zack, and Troy, Lacy Hanson (#33) made her move to take it away. When the first caution came out for a spun car. Jordan, not seeing the caution right away, rocketed past my slowing car on the back stretch. When we lined back up, I took my spot back in 4th and Jordan challenged the spot under caution. Jordan not realizing that the lineup goes back to the last completed lap, I thumbed him back to his place behind me and the flagman agreed as he only made one adjustment to swap Troy in the third position with the second place car of Lacy, apparently under the same circumstances.

The green dropped once again, and within a few laps, Lacy and I were able to pass Troy for the second and third spots respectively. The second caution came out when Troy’s #77 car busted a hyme end from a hole in turn one. Troy was taken off the track by the wrecker.

The green dropped for a third time and that’s when I thought all hell broke loose. I shifted on the restart as I passed the flag stand and there was a loud pop as the engine instantly sounded like it over revved. Immediately assuming I grabbed the wrong gear, I franticly hunted for the right gear and dropped off the pace allowing Jordan to take 3rd. What went through my mind at that point was not good. I thought that was it, end of the season, one race early cause I just blew it up. After trying a few more gears, I found my way back to forth gear within the lap and got back into it. But what’s this, I knew I was in the correct gear now but the engine sounded awful. Again, nothing but bad things running through my head... Should I pull off… should I stay out… should I take it easy….did I spin a bearing…did I drop a valve….why’s it still running…. Forget it, if it had a chance to survive, its gone now, put your foot back into it.

Now, I’ve had engines pop on me. In my experience, they just go. Bing, Bang, Boom, and they go up in smoke as they stop running. I’ve had others that drop a cylinder but can push on to limp home. This was different. Feeling a lack of power like I lost a cylinder, in my single… cylinder… engine, cough cough, the god offal sound, and my temperature rising quickly, I couldn’t figure out how it was still running, if in fact, it was in the process of blowing up. I could see the muffler was still there to my right so that couldn’t be it.

Thinking every lap was the last lap I poured everything I could into it, just trying to keep up with Jordan and Zack as they battled for 2nd. I could only hope that my engine would hold on and I could finish a decent 4th. And that’s what I did, I hung on till the end and finished 4th. Jordan not able to pass Zack, placed 3rd.

It wasn’t until I got to the pits and was able to get out of the car that I found the real problem. While having the right gear in the first place, when I shifted the car during the last green flag launch, the collector joint between the exhaust manifold and muffler snapped in half. Though, the upper part of the muffler has its own mount so it stayed put. This made the car much louder. Something I haven’t experienced yet with this car. Not realizing what was happening, I thought I missed the shift and over revved it causing damage to the engine. I’m very grateful it wasn’t worse.

One more race to finish the season. We’ll be back to Rattle Snake Motordrom in Rumney, NH on September 12 where we’ll finish the season without our wings. Come join us for the last race and visit us in the pits. Racing starts at 6:00pm and we’ll be there early to set up.

Be sure to check out our sponsors TheRaceDepot.com; Christopher Bean Coffee; Amsoil; Aluminum Rapid Shelters from Caddis Sports; and Patriot Fuels. Also don’t forget to check out the promotional offers on the Promotions Page at EldridgeRacing.com

Other than that, keep it safe, keep it on the track and we’ll see you on the 12th.

Author:
Derek Eldridge #8
500cc Mini Sprint
Granite State Mini Sprints
EldridgeRacing.com

Results for Race#12: (8/22/09) Rain Out (Canceled)

2009-08-22T16:46:00.002-04:00

Nature has not been kind to the racing world this year as another race day falls victim to a rain out.

I’d like to remind all my readers to check out the Promotions page at http://www.eldridgeracing.com/ as more money saving promotions have been added. Promotions to companies like Auto Parts Warehouse & Parts Train, Netflix online movie rental, Christopher Bean Coffee, Target, Sears, Vistaprint, Stamps.com, Famous Footwear and Doteasy web hosting. Be sure to use the special offers before they expire, and remember, I add new offers every week.

The next and second to last race of the season will be held next Saturday, August 29th at Bear Ridge Speedway in Bradford, VT. See the Schedule page for the track location and directions. If your ever wondering if a race is going to be canceled by rain, what the ticket prices are, or what time the event starts, the individual track websites are the best source for that information. Website links to all the tracks can be found on the Schedule page. See you then.

Results for Race#11: The spark plug from hell

2009-08-16T12:00:00.001-04:00

Hello readers and welcome back after last weekend’s break. My story this week starts on the 7th with one week to race day. After the last race, I felt the engine wasn’t performing to its full potential. Early in the spring, I had purchased the car with only a few weeks to start the race season, so I wasn’t able to become familiar with the 500 engine I am dealing with. My main concern up to this point has been mostly geared around chassis setup, and getting the car to handle the way I want it to. The engine ran, it seemed to keep up, so I decided not to touch it. Though this week I felt I should probably give the engine the attention it deserves. Aside from changing the oil, I have to say I’m guilty of neglecting to even check things like valve lash and the spark plug.

Being a right side engine, it doesn’t make it easy to pull the spark plug. This was one of the reasons I neglected it. With the tools I had, I was forced to un-mount the engine to gain access to the plug. This wasn’t so bad, removing four bolts and sliding the engine to the side with the chain still attached, made this a fairly easy task. The trouble started when I tried to remove the plug. The plug was so hard to come out it ended up breaking off at the threads when I tried to remove it.

Now my task shifted from a simple spark plug replacement to pulling the whole head off to extract the plug. Luckily I was in fact able to extract the plug with a little heat and an extractor tool. The next step was to reassemble the head. Sounds simple enough. Though we are talking about a 29 year old aluminum head that has most likely been taken off quite a few times. None of the bolts were original, and for good reason. It appeared that over time as the threads were stripped out larger and larger bolts were used to create new threads. When it was my turn to reassemble the head, most of these bolts were starting to strip as well. With time running out, I was forced to do my best. With a lot of details left out of this story, I invested about 12-15 hours into the engine to get things back the way they were between the spark plug breaking, dealing with stripped holes, and some other things not worth mentioning.

When Friday came about, we headed to the track with our fingers crossed that the bolts would hold the head together for at least this race. When we came in from hot laps one of the bolts from the valve cover came out and leaked oil down the side of the engine and all over my side panel. We also lost one of four exhaust studs at the same time. Hunting around for a slightly larger bolt we were able to come up with a replacement valve cover bolt from one of the other drivers. So we were good to go to the heat.

Something we tried a little different this week was gearing. When we went out for the heat I still couldn’t produce the needed power to keep up with the top 3 other cars. We decided to change the gearing after the heat and worked on it right up to the feature. Changing the gears in a right side motor is not very easy. First, the rear gear is under the car and not very easy to get too. Next you need to remove the seat to access the front gear. Lastly, you have to hang inside the car with the seat out to connect the master link if you change the chain. (Side note, if you ever have to change a compression master link on a chain… buy the tool! My hands are killing me.)

Just barely making it out to the track we took the lineup in the last nick of time. We took the green and the car felt great. I finally had a setup that felt good, and the car felt like it had some good power too. Though, there is not much more to say then that because on the 2nd or 3rd lap in my car just died. I thought at first that I hit the kill switch and quickly found out that was not the case. I immediately pulled into the infield to end my night. At that moment, I thought the top end may have come apart. It wasn’t until after the race that we found that the carburetor had fallen off. It’s kind of an important part of the engine for those of you who don’t know engines. I’m sure you could imagine the kick in the pants after all the work that was put into the car to make this race. But, what more can I say, that’s racing, we’ll take it in stride and we’ll be back next week to try again.

On a good note, a congratulations to Jordan Eldridge #58 who came up with the win. Jordan was able to take an early lead that he was able to hold on to till the end. Also Drew Eldridge #57 finished 4th with his club trial 400ex engine.

Next week on the 22nd of August, we will be back at the Rattle Snake Motordrome in Rumney, NH. Hope to see you there.

Results for Race#10: Momentous Day for 400ex

2009-08-02T12:00:00.001-04:00

Hello everyone. I’d like to start by saying thank you to everyone who has taken the time to show their support by signing up for blog updates. Be it via email updates or RSS feeds, thank you for your support.

This past Saturday was a momentous day as the future looks good for the 400ex alternative to the 500cc mini sprints. I believe I have mentioned before, and some of you already know, my brother, Drew, has been testing a new alternative engine for the 500cc class. The engine is a 400ex four wheeler engine including upgrades that bring the engine to the same horse power level that the 500cc engines are putting out. With the last race amounting to setup issues with Drew’s #57 car, changes were made for this weekend that gave him the opportunity to finish 2nd in the Heat. That’s right, the car that has barely seen the back of the pack finally had its opportunity to feel the cool breeze of fresh air as it led the first few laps.

As for my car, I can’t quite say the same. The last time we visited Bear Ridge Speedway in Branford, VT my 500cc #8 had a push that I was fighting all night. After some changes this week, I was able to reduce the lack of steering, but just not enough. During the heat, Stuck on the outside, I lost ground on the initial start Jordan in the #58 right along side of me. Each lap, I would catch Jordan in the corner, fighting his own handling issues, and then had to back off as I couldn’t get my car to handle high enough to get around him. We stayed in that order till the end of the heat.

The feature lacked the excitement some other races have seen. Right after the green 3 cars immediately jumped to the front. The #33, #04, #58 in that order with my #8 following in 4th. It was amazing the way we spared out without a fight. As the groove started to appear, Drew in the #57 spun in turn 4. Drew made some changes anticipating the cooling temperature of the night but caused his car to be extremely loose. This tightened the pack. But it didn’t matter, the green fell once again, cars in single formation, and spread right back out without a fight. At least there weren’t any battles within my view that is. In the end, Jordan #58 took 3rd and my #8 finished 4th with Drew #57 finishing 6th.

Before I go, I’ll remind everyone to check out the new promotions page found on http://www.eldridgeracing.com/. where you can find new shopping deals and coupons from Christopher Bean Coffee, Target, Sears, Famous Footwear and Stamps.com. More deals are under negotiation so be sure to check back often so you don’t miss out.

One last note, the “email author” link at the bottom of the blogs has not been working properly. If anyone would like to send me a message, you can send it to Derek@EldridgeRacing.com .

We’ll see you again in two weeks when we return to Canaan Speedway in Canaan, NH on Friday the 14th.

Results for Race#9: Rain Out (Canceled)

2009-07-27T07:01:00.002-04:00

Nature strikes again, causing another rain cancelation this past Friday at Canaan Dirt Speedway.

We’ll see you again next week back at Bear Ridge Speedway.

Results for Race#8: The push that kept on pushin

2009-07-19T10:00:00.000-04:00

What is with this rain! With the way things have been going, I honestly did not think we were going to get a good night of racing in. But I was happy to be wrong this time. With only AM showers before we left home, it turned out to be a gorgeous day at Bear Ridge Speedway in Bradford, VT this past Saturday.

We had a great turnout this past Saturday with 9 cars starting the feature. The order was:
77, 57
58, 2
8, 4
33, 7
14

I started 5th on the inside third row behind Jordan Eldridge in the #58 car. The track conditions were fairly rough as the big cars tore some fairly large holes into turn one and two. The type of holes that swallow our cars.

As we took the green, Jordan darted out and took an early lead. With a hooked up car, he pulled away with a lead I thought we would never recover. He was hooked up for sure. Until he caught one of the huge holes in turn one that caused him to spin out and head to the back of the pack for the restart.

I had been fighting a push all night getting into turn one. The position of the hole that Jordan hit was right where wanted to drive my car. If I tried to go under the hole, my car would push right towards it and to avoid it cost me too much speed. This forced me to drive in above the hole, but the bad part about this was that it allowed other cars to get under me going in.

On the restart lead by, Troy (#77) and Zack (#4) I started on the second row. While avoiding the gaping hole once again, I lost further ground to Lacy (#33) and then to Mike Bubnis (#14), rounding up a 5th place finish for the night.

This was Drew Eldridge’s (#57) 2nd night running the new trial 400EX motor to compete with the 500cc class. With some motor work done between races to bring the horse power up to a competitive level, he was able to keep the pack within sight all night. This is a big accomplishment considering the motor challenges he must face. The next step for him will be to fine tune the gearing to put that competitive power to the ground. With small improvements every week, it won’t be long before he starts to push the envelope.

Before I leave you, I’d like to invite you to visit a new page on the EldridgeRacing.com website. I’ve recently added a Promotions page where I will be posting promotions from affiliate sponsors. Look forward to an assortment of new promotions like coupons, free shipping, and free merchandise from vendors like Christopher Bean Coffee, Target, Doteasy webhosting, and others to come. Redemption instructions will be listed on the promotions page at EldridgeRacing.com You can use the following link, copy and paste it into your address bar, or navigate to the website directly. The link is: http://www.eldridgeracing.com/pb/wp_885ffeb7/wp_885ffeb7.html

Next week we will be traveling to Canaan Dirt Speedway in Canaan, NH on Friday July 24th. Hope to see you then, if not, tune in next week to get the blog update. If you haven’t already, be sure not to miss future blogs by signing up for email updates. I promise you won’t get spam, just one update per race week. You can use the following link:
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Results for Race#7: Victory in the “Heat” of battle

2009-07-12T10:00:00.001-04:00

The week started with a 40% chance of showers for Saturday night. By Friday the weather reported 60%, and then by Saturday morning it dropped to 20%. Game on. We arrived early afternoon to sunny weather, and though the pits were filled with granite state mini sprints, there weren’t many other cars from other classes. Apparently another track announced that the Rattle Snake Motordrome had closed. This couldn't be further than the truth. The track is open and in full operation. There were two Saturdays that were rained out in the past 3 weeks but it was because of rain not that the track was closed.

After the track was worked in we took the 500's onto the track for our heat. It was muddy. I started outside second row with Troy (#77) on the pole and Drew (#57) in front of me on the outside poll.

The green flag flew and I passed Drew on the outside in turn 2 to take second place to Troy. As I worked the track to find the best groove Zack (#4) poked his bumper under me just in time for a yellow caused by Jordan (#58) who spun in turn 2.

We lined back up, myself on the inside second row, lead by Troy and Zack. We took the green and in no time Lacey (#33) was to my inside moving me back to 4th. The three of us ran a tight pack as Troy was over run. Lacey and Zack ran wheel to wheel battling for first while the whole time I was no more than a bumper away. That's when Zack got a little too loose and I was able to take second back. Now to catch Lacey.

With not much time left I dug and dug until 2 laps to go when I came out of turn 4 with a bumper ahead of Lacey to take the white flag. Heading into turn 1 Lacey and I still side by side we bumped wheels in turn two and I came out in the lead to take the checkered flag.

Just after our heat, when the 600cc mini sprints hit the track, they got 3 laps in before it started to rain and they were forced off the track. As the rain continued to roll in, the rest of the night was canceled including the 600cc heat and both of our features.

Next week July 18th we’ll see you at Bear Ridge in VT, where I hope the weather starts to clear up.

Results for Race#6: Rain Out (Canceled)

2009-06-28T12:00:00.000-04:00

Unfortunately, I don’t have much to report this week. This past Saturday’s race was canceled on Friday night due to a prevailing thunderstorm forecast. It had been raining all week long with more rain continuing through to the following week.

The biggest disappointment for us was that our Grandfather Bill Eldridge had come to visit from Arizona just to see us race. With the race being canceled and his flight home being scheduled for later this week, he won’t have that opportunity. Hopefully, he will be able to come back before seasons end to catch at least one race before the winter break.

The next race is in two weeks on the 11th of July back at the Rattle Snake Motordrome (Legion). See you all then.

Results for Race #4 & 5: The Bitter Sweet Double Header

2009-06-15T22:11:00.002-04:00

June 12th and 13th consisted of a double header between Canaan Dirt Speedway in Canaan, NH and Rattlesnake Motordrome in Rumney NH, respectively. With mechanical problems ending the night early on the 12th, we were able to pull off second place the next night in Rumney.

On June 12th I didn’t arrive at the track until 5:00pm due to the fact that I had only finished reassembly of the rear axle and setup of the car 3 hours before in Marlboro, MA at my sponsors shop, TheRaceDepot.com. Without help from Bobby Seymour, the owner of TheRaceDepot.com, to set up my cross weight I wouldn’t have been ready in time.

When I arrived at the track I still had a few things left to do including bleeding my breaks, installing a new shut off switch and other odds and ends I wasn’t able to finish earlier. Unfortunately, my crew, consisting of Rich and Kathy, weren’t able to make it for the night and Drew and Jordan were running even later because they had to work during the day. I had taken a vacation day from work so I could get the work done to the car and make it to the race. Pressed for time before practice, I was able to get the breaks working and switch installed just as they were rolling out to practice. I got to fire the car, run a few hot laps and it felt good with the new setup.

Between the practice and the race, I installed a new bleeder valve because the first one seemed to loosen up by the end of the practice and I wanted to be on the safe side.

Time for the heat. As we all started around the track, I forgot to turn on my fuel and stalled the car before lining up for the green. I got re-pushed off and joined the pack for the start of the heat. I ignored my starting position for the heat and started to the rear of the pack because I was in such a hurry to get in the car I forgot to look at the lineup before heading out. But that wasn’t my problem. I’m actually glad I did, because as we took the green and made a few laps I was in the process of passing my brother Drew on the inside as I caught some of the bad bumps at the bottom of turn 1-2 and my chain skipped off destroying my chain guide in the process. Luckily I had enough momentum to exit the track to the pits and push it back to my pit myself.

At this point I anxiously disassembled the rear sprocket and mangled chain guide. With only 1 hour until the feature, I was worried I wasn’t going to make it. Trying to figure out what made the chain jump, I noticed that the sprocket carrier had moved an inch to the left of the car. Figuring that the carrier must not have been tight enough, I loosened it back up and repositioned it in line with the front sprocket.

That’s when my Mom, and her boyfriend Dan showed up. Just in time to help me remove the seat and put the chain back on, remember I have a right side engine which means the seat has to come out for chain work, and we were able to finish just in time to head out for the feature.

With a reverse order lineup for the feature, I started on the pole position. As we took the green Jordan immediately shot out to take the lead in turn one. That’s when something didn’t feel quite right. The car was getting harder and harder to turn and I back peddled a few places. Then coming out of turn 4 the chain came off again. At this point I was high on the track and decided to stay there because I didn’t know who was behind me and coasted to a stop between turn 1 and 2. I got pushed to the infield where I got to watch Jordan lead the whole race and take the win. Congratulations Jordan on a job well done!

That night, looking at the fact that my sprocket carrier had move to the left once again, lead me to find out that the pan hard bar, the connection the keeps the axle from moving side to side, had loosened up allowing the axle to move to the left during both races and caused my chain to jump. The second time it jumped it bent all the bolts that were holding the sprocket in without the sprocket guide and was going to require more tools than I was traveling with.

DAY 2 June 13th – The Wingless Race

Thanks to my uncle Doug Leach, owner of Patriot Fuels of NH, I was able to meet him at his shop Saturday morning and put the car up on a lift to cut out the old sprocket and fabricate the new split sprocket and sprocket guide. I was able to get a solid sprocket and guide from Richard Crooker of Superior Race Parts who happened to run with us Friday night. Richard usually runs at Whip City and this was the first time I had met him.

If it wasn’t for my uncle and use of his shop, I wouldn’t have been able to race on Saturday at Rattlesnake Motordrome. We finished up without a moment to spare and I raced back up to Rumney for the race. Arriving at the track at about 4:00pm I was met by my crew Rich, Kathy, and Rich’s father who all had been there for 2 hours already, and not knowing where I was because of shoty cell phone service.

Finally, I could breath, Rich helped finish up the last minute adjustment before the heat and we took the lineup. Starting second row inside with Troy and his son Josh on the front row, and Drew beside me, we took the green.

The lack of wings for this race made it interesting. The cars where much faster on the straights, though we slid a lot more in the corners. Driving style had to be adjusted quite a bit. As the race went on, I was able to work my way up through the pack and take second place in the heat. At that point, I started to get very excited. The car was finally running the way it should.

We kept all our settings the same and got ready for the Feature. Because we start inversed order of finish from the heat, I started inside third row. We took the green, and I slowly worked my way up to third place where I could see Jordan and Zack just out of my reach. That’s when the caution I needed to catch up came out.

During the caution, my car was making some really loud ticking noises from the chain, and I was nervous I was losing my chain once again. On the restart Jordan and Zack battled lap after lap for first place as I sat right on their rear bumpers waiting for one of them to make a mistake.

That’s when I got my break. Jordan got too loose coming out of turn 4 and saved it from going into the infield.

As he headed back towards my line, I swerved around to his left for the second place position. This put me to low heading into turn 1 and Jordan was back on my tail. Jordan swooped down to my inside as I drifted to far up the track and took back second place. But I wasn’t done yet. I came back to his inside coming out of turn 2 as we leap forged positions once again.

We had only a few laps left and my temperature warning light started to flash. I was running dangerously hot. I had to start letting off the gas a little earlier in the corners to let my engine cool and make up for it by driving a different line. This was tough, because I knew that Jordan was right there waiting to take second back away from me. The last two laps I stuck my car to the bottom of the track forcing Jordan to try the high line. Two laps left, one lap left, CHECKERED! I did it, I held off Jordan to take second place.

I have to thank my sponsors, TheRaceDepot.com for helping me with the setup, Amsoil, Christopher Bean, and ARS for their support, my crew Rich Price, and Kathy Horn for their hard work. My uncle Doug Leach of Patriot Fuels for his hard work and support to fix the sprocket that morning, and everyone else involved in helping this come together.

I also want to give a special thanks to my brother Drew. Drew is the one responsible for finding Jordan and I two cars with a history of being top running cars. Drew introduced us to Granite State Mini Sprints after he found his car, the only one for sale at the time and purchased it. To his misfortune the car he purchased was not run last season and didn’t have a history of any extra work put into the engine. He has been rigorously working on troubleshooting motor and carburetor problems, as well as dialing in the suspension set up. Coming from 8 years of motocross racing, setting up 4 wheels has been a new challenge for him. Fortunately for me and Jordan, our cars were mostly turnkey from the start and we have had less challenging bugs to work out. Just don’t lose hope yet. It won’t be long now before Drew gets a handle on his engine problems and makes his way to the front to challenge the rest of us. And challenge us he will!

Till next week, thanks for reading, and be sure to sign up for email updates or RSS feeds to be the first to read next week’s post.

Results for Race#3: Trouble Visits Again

2009-06-08T12:22:00.003-04:00

Hello everyone, this will be the first official blog sent out through the RSS news feed to everyone who has signed up. If you haven’t already, please be sure to visit our sponsors and sponsor links to help support the site and keep the blogs coming. In the blogs to come, I will be describing the races through my own eyes. Sometimes, when sitting in the stands, or possibly not being able to be at the track, there are often questions about what happened during the race. I hope this blog can answer some of those questions. Please feel free to comment on the blogs or ask further questions about the race. I’ll do my best to answer all questions that come in through the comments of each blog.

First, I’d like to congratulate my cousin Jordan #58 on his third place victory.

Driver Perspective: (Through the eyes of Derek Eldridge #8)

The day started off with a few great practice laps. Car felt good, and everything was good to go for the upcoming heat race. When we started the heat, that’s about the time the little black cloud that seemed to leave us last week returned. You know how they say that bad things happen in threes? Well that saying held true for this past weekend.

As I started to say, it all started with the heat. As I took the green on the outside second row, the car just wanted to move. It was hooked up nice on the high line and I held my ground on the two cars that started on the front row. I can’t quite remember what lap it was, they all seem to blur after a while, but it was within the first few that I was going to make my move on the outside to take the second position. As I entered turn 4 the car was stuck to the grove like a bullet train on tracks. Then just as I reached the apex, wham! The chain snapped, the car over reved, and I coasted down the front stretch to turn one where I stopped. The chain being lost in turn three four, ended my heat, and I was pushed off to the pits.

Luckily, yes I do consider I had some good luck during the night, one of the officials was able to find my chain after the following race, and I was able to borrow a master link from Lacey Hanson #33, to get it back together for the feature.

We started the feature back on the outside of the second row. Ready to make up for the poor luck in the heat, we took the green and again, the car felt real good. After a couple laps, I was ready again to make my move. That’s when problem two struck. The car started bucking like it was starving for fuel. I reached for my fuel shut off and the fuel was properly on. At this point I started dropping like a rock and the field pulled away from me. Then it dawned on me, I reached under the instrument panel and grabbed the back of the shut off switch wires. As I pulled on the wires, the car came back to life. I let go, and it started to buck once again. Somehow, the wires were grounding out and trying to shut the car off. After playing with it for a few laps, I was able to move the wires into a position where they only started to fail a bit in the corner. That’s when the field caught up to lap me. First Lacey #33, then Zack #4. I could almost hold onto their pace though the car was still kicking out a little in the corner. I watched as both Lacey and Zack both were taking the low line through the corner so I stayed high to let the following cars pass on the same groove That’s when I saw Jordan #58 poke up under me coming into turn three.

Now, for bad luck number 3. As Jordan poked under me in turn three, I made sure to give him as much room as I could to catch Zack. I thought, way to go Jordan! Go get em! With two or three car widths to fit under me. I think Jordan got a little too low. Half way through turn three four, he either clipped the track tire in the turn, or caught a rut, either way; it launched his car, front wheels in the air, up the track and directly at me. His car came right up to my front end and I thought for a split second he may actually pass by my front, though with the launch slowing his speed, and I still having my momentum, I was going to run right into the back end of his car. That’s when I made the biggest rookie mistake, and the sad fact is, I know better. That mistake was, I turned right. Never ever turn right, my father often told me growing up.

In that split second I feel I was faced with a decision. In my mind I had two choices. One, run into the back of Jordan, possibly taking us both out and also possibly whoever was behind us. Or two, take my chances and try to turn right around him, possibly taking myself out. Needless to say, I chose choice number two. In the blink of an eye, I turned hard right, then back to the left to try to hold on and correct it. The car immediately spun back hard to the left as it slid straight to the wall. It turned around backwards driving the back of the left rear tire hard into the wall.

Jordan went on to do a great job and finish third. The second bit of luck for my night was that we only destroyed a rear axle and some radius rods. I got out of the car without injury thanks to my safety equipment and with a little frantic reassembly we will be back to run next week.

Results for Race#2: 4th place finish

2009-06-01T17:16:00.000-04:00

It was a good weekend with nice weather. The little black cloud that plagued us seems to have lifted. With a 4th place finish, things are starting to turn for the better. Not bad for our second rookie start.

Our heat started out a little rocky with the car not handling very well. I had to fight the wheel through the corner and was scrubbing off way to much speed. Afterwards, the scales reviled cross weight that was just way out of wack. Thanks to my Crew Chief Rich Price and my uncle Doug Leach, we were able to make the drastic adjustments needs to get things back on track. During the feature, the car handled 10 times better than the heat. With smoother cornering I ran in 3rd up till the last few laps of the race. Led by 2008 Champion Lacey Hanson in first and veteran Joshua Boissoneau in second, Joshua spun in turn 3-4 causing a caution to come out after Lacey and I passed the finish line with about 3 or 4 laps to go.

During the restart, I was under the impression we would be starting single file, as we had only 3 laps to go, and that is what they did in the prior heat race with the 600cc class. Rookie Zach Herbert, proceeded to pass me under caution and take the outside front position which is where I should have been. The next mistake was mine, while I waited in the 3rd position, I had trust that the scorers would correct the lineup during the next lap. I was wrong, during the next lap, the green flag was dropped and I was left starting one position back from where I was. After that, the last 3 laps, were a blur, but apparently, Joshua came back from the rear, passed Zach and me and took second place.

All that behind us, I was happy with the way the car ran and we’ll come back harder next week. Thank you to all involved.

Results for Race#1: DNF (Equipment Malfunction)

2009-05-18T17:11:00.000-04:00

So far, a little black cloud has been following over my head as we head into the first race of the season. After bending a rear axle during practice I replaced it with a spare that I bought with the car. The spare axle also ended up having a slight warp to it though it got us though a second practice. I ended up replacing it with a third axle before the first race.

Race #1 The heat went well, though the car was quite loose in turn 4, and after making a few adjustments we were ready to run the feature. That’s when the little black cloud returned. As I removed my first tare off for the night, the tare off post on my helmet broke off and all my tare offs came off at once, leaving me with a bare shield. As we took the green I followed my brother Drew to the high line where the track was much wetter to pass a slower car. As I did, I was sprayed with a face full of mud that covered my shield. I was able to wipe my shield once if not twice, through turns 1 and 2 but by the time I got to the back stretch my shield was unwipe-able, and I could not see. I brought the car towards the infield coming into turn 3 where I contacted the inside burm and snapped the front left hub and spindle right off the car, and damaged some radius rods.

For now, back to the shop to fix the front end and with a little change of luck, we will be back for race 2 on May 30th back at the Rattle Snake Motordrome. (aka Legion Speedway in Rumny, NH)