Brake Woes Plague Elliott at Delaware

The David Elliott Racing Team was hoping the two 30-lap feature races at Delaware Speedway on June 12th would mark a turn of fortunes after the previous week’s frustrations at Flamboro.

Early in the practice session, David knew there was an issue with the car’s handling.

        

“It had a bad push going into the corners, then it would snap loose,” David explained.

The team made several adjustments to the #37 Pennzoil Impala and rolled it out for qualifying. While he qualified in the top 15, David still complained that it was “the worst handling car” he’d ever had at Delaware.

Prior to the first feature, the team installed new brake pads. But even before the green flag flew, David came over the radio to say that the problem was still there.

      

David knew he wouldn’t be fast in the first race, so he focused on taking care of the car and avoiding trouble. Taking advantage of other drivers’ misfortunes, David nursed the #37 to an 11th place finish.

During the break between feature races, the team again changed brake pads, ground the rotors and repacked the left front bearing. David rolled off 11th for the second feature and said the car felt better than it had all night. While it still wasn’t perfect, it was at least competitive…things were looking up.

David’s turn of luck ran out on lap 8, when he clipped a spinning car in turn two, snapping the right front tie-rod. The wounded #37 wobbled to the pits where the crew began repairs. After losing just 6 laps, the Pennzoil machine returned to the track.

       

David opted to run at the back of the pack and use the race as a test session. But even that plan wasn’t meant to be. While trying to pass the #41 of Steve Adams, the two cars got together, nosing David’s #37 into the wall and also collected the #3 of Chad Rijnen.

“That was totally my fault,” admitted David. “I should have stayed away from everyone else and just turned laps.”

The team will spend this coming week making repairs to the body and brakes in preparation for two more 30-lap feature races this coming Friday night (June 19th) at Delaware.

See you there!