Ft. Worth, Texas • Sunday, September 3, 2000
There's only one way to describe the weather here at Texas Motor Speedway. It's hot, as in H O T. The temperature on the thermometer was 110° and in some places on the track, the asphalt temperature is 160°, and the asphalt is squishy.
The pretty ladies aren't even here; just some sweaty old men holding the manufacturers' flags, and they don't look too happy about it. I'm sorry, I’m loaded. I loaded myself with color film. If it begins to melt I'll be all ready for Halloween.
When you click on the thumbnail photos, notice the stands. They are empty. Looks strange because they're usually so full of people.
Don't know how the drivers are going to drive. Listen to me. I'm going to ride. That's almost like drive, well... because... it rhymes with it. Sorry about the bad joke. It's the heat, trust me.
A couple of hours ago they had an autograph session and some stalwart fans really showed up, stood in line for the autograph cards. Those are the fans that these drivers really appreciate.
If you have taken the time to go over the information from our test day at the Homestead Motor Speedway, I think that we are feeling pretty confident. This car is ready to roll. The crew has gotten the kinks out of the suspension and the maneuverability has improved by a hundred percent.
Matt still doesn’t think that the engine is very reliable. Let's keep our fingers crossed. Maybe, he'll be wrong.
I paid close attention to the qualifying round and thought that you might find it interesting. There were forty cars that went out for the qualifying round and 38 of those 40 finally made the grid.
The #1 car on the grid is Boris Said. His fastest lap was 1 minute 29.246 seconds and his speed was 93.745 mph. Charlie Barnes qualified in 38th place and his time was 1 minute 40.722 seconds and his speed was 83.064 mph. That's a little over 10 seconds time and a little over 10 mph between those times. Think how close those speeds are. When it comes to a race like that, that's not much time. 10 seconds between the first car and the last car. I think that's pretty exciting.
OK. The field is starting to form up and the officials have cleared the grid. The starter has the display board. Once he turns that display board sideways, that's just like saying green or go.
I heard last night that in Bobby Archer’s last qualifying lap, he broke the brake master cylinder. He has brakes, but no brake lights. When he pulled up to the grid, they saw that but they are going to let him go ahead and start even though later he will be penalized with an infraction.
Time to test the radio again. The chief says, "The radio contact sounds great. It's like you're standing right next to me here Matt." Matt says, "I'm barely even sweating in here."
Jokingly his crew chief said, "Don't worry, buddy, you will get over it. In an hour or so, let me hear you say that again. Keep your head cool, Matt. Let the race come to you like at Watkins Glen. Just start picking it up when you can. These guys will start going backwards. You start moving forward. Be safe and be clean."
Matt says, "All right. Tell me when the five second board comes up.” Crew chief says, "The five second board is up; five second board is up; board is turned... go. You’re running in 11th. Settle in. That’s great after being gridded at 17th. You are running at 11th. Let the race come to you."
Oh boy, yellow, double yellow; right now; full course yellow on the track.
Matt radios, "What happened? I got hit in the rear end but I don’t think I got hit too bad."
Crew chief says, "Cooper and Said got into it right at the start and it was carnage. Cars were everywhere. When you come by the next time, we will take a look and see what the rear end looks like."
"Start looked good. But Boris and Cooper are both out. They are both parked now. Position nine. Position nine as we speak. Can’t complain about that. That’s about 8 points. Yes, sir. You did a real good job about settling in. Give me the temperatures please."
Matt says, "The engine temperature is 206 and the oil’s 200." I know we are still under the full course yellow because the pace car is ahead of us. Just for information, I see the speedometer here in the car reads about 60 - 65 miles an hour. I get so used to going a 100 and 110 that 60 - 65 seems pretty slow. I had no idea that’s how fast the pace car was going."
Matt's asking where Archer is and crew chief tells him, "He is in the pit as we speak. He just joined the back of the field now, last position, 1 lap down. No, he just got black flagged for no break lights, so he is at least two laps down."
Uh-oh. Matt just radioed, "It feels like a wheel bearing has just gone out."
As we drive past his crew, the crew chief radios to Matt, "Front and rear looks fine from here." He radios to Matt and says, "Next lap is going to be green and I will call out green, green, green, green."
All right. Here is Lap 5; here's Lap 6; lap 7 . We're doing pretty good. Lap 8.
Oh... Matt just radioed, "I think we have an engine problem."
The crew chief says, "OK. Man talk to me. It sounds like what? Check the temperatures to see if you can still drive that car."
I heard Matt, but they can't understand what he is saying. The crew chief says, "Can't hear you, only can hear the engine. Can't hear you. It’s all gobbled. The oil pressure, Matt, can you tell me what it is?"
Matt says "54."
"Oh, that's good. That's what it is supposed to be. Your voltage, how about your voltage?”
Matt says, "No power, no power. It wants to die, feels like the valve springs have gone."
Chief says, "See if you can make laps. They are dropping like flies out here."
Lap 14. Lap 15. Matt says, "It's getting worse." Lap 16.
Crew chief says, "Bring it in."
Matt says, "Roger. I’m coming in."
The only other time I can remember being this frustrated was when one of my tripods was being replaced. It was really tough getting around on just two of them.
Matt and his crew are really disappointed and upset.
After the test day we all thought that this car was really ready to go and there it is again, if it is the valve spring, like Matt says he thinks it is, it's another little bitty part that put an end to this day.
OK. It's time for us to investigate... to find out where it is, what it does. It's like another David and Goliath, and you remember who won.
Let's start with the valves. The valves' job is to open and close the valve ports. Valve ports are openings in the cylinder head. Intake ports let the fuel mixture into the cylinder head and exhaust ports let the exhaust out.
If these ports are always open, the fuel exploded in the combustion chamber would leave through the ports. The explosion has to be kept in the combustion chamber to push the pistons down. If any part of that valve spring breaks, the explosion in the combustion chamber would be lost and the whole cycle would be interrupted.
I understand that different automobile manufacturers have different views on how many cylinders and how many valves and how many valve springs to use in an engine.
In some cars there may be 2 or 3... or 5... or even 12 cylinders and each cylinder may have anywhere from 1 to 3 to 6 to 8 valves and valve springs.
In my opinion, this just doesn't mean the more the merrier... it just simply means there's more room for trouble. We're going to tear that engine down again and see if it is one of the valve springs.
Wish the crew a lot of luck because the 10K run at this point sounds like it would be a whole lot easier.
Hope to see you at the next race with a car that will steal the show, one that will perform as well as the suspension and the maneuverability of this car. Something has got to give .
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