09/15/2024
So it was a whirlwind of a weekend. First, I'd like to thank everyone who helped me get here, including Jim Drago at ESR for overnight shipping me the new head last week, David Boles for helping confirm my thoughts on the motor, and everyone at SilverHorse Racing who puts up with me when I have to take a day to get it done. An additional shout out to Paul Ronie at RSR for willing to help even though he already had a gaggle of cars to deal with.
We went to Homestead this weekend for our final regular season SARRC race, new head was installed Thursday and I wrapped that up around 11pm. Loaded up and on the way Friday. Saturday morning had a pretty big oil leak to deal with, figured out cam cover gasket got caught and folded a corner. Due to lightning delay was able to get that fixed before the race. Sent it on a wet track but on slicks, and the track came to us as the rain stopped and had a 1st in class finish. After the race, replaced brake pads, swapped tires, removed the thermostat to test why we were running hot, brought the timing to full advance, and I'm sure a couple other things, and had it ready for this morning's final points race.
Took the start today around 1030 am, and the car was perfect. It was brutally hot and humid with heat index over 100 degrees outside the car (and worse inside) but engine stayed right at 175 degrees down from 205 the day before. Had full power, and ended up winning again, meaning we end the season with 5 wins and one 2nd place since only your best 6 count towards the points.
Special thanks to my wife Lynn Lynn Chadbourne Canitano for being the one to push me to get it fixed in time, and to anyone else I may have missed that had a hand in this weekend's racing. Next up is our championship race next month, where it will be a winner take all due to how close the top 5 drivers are in season points. Going to be fun!!