Night of Challenges Ends With Top-10 Finish
The David Elliott Racing Team began June 16th by
displaying the car at Rose-Hill Liquidation in Waterdown.
David spent time talking with customers, taking pictures
and signing autograph cards.
Once the fun part of the job ended, the team loaded up
the car and headed to the track.
While the races wouldn’t result in a repeat of the
damage David Elliott’s car suffered the previous
weekend, it doesn’t mean the night wasn’t filled with
challenges.
The evening began with two frustrating practice
sessions. During the first session, the motor wasn’t
running properly. The team diagnosed a fouled spark plug
and David returned to the track for the second session.
While the motor ran better during the second practice,
the car still wasn’t handling properly.
To
compound matters, the #37 was scheduled to start in the
middle of heats stacked with strong cars. David knew his
chances of winning either heat were slim, so he decided
to focus on improving the car’s handling for the
evening’s feature. David spent both heats mired behind
cars that he felt he should be able to pass, but was
able to determine the changes he wanted made for the
feature.
David and the crew made significant changes to the
chassis before rolling the #37 into the 12th
starting spot for the 25-lap feature race.
The car immediately felt better and David was able to
weave his way through some of the cars who started in
front of him. A couple of quick reactions by David kept
the #37 from colliding with spinning cars during the
early segments of the race. With 10 laps to go, David
had climbed to 7th place and came over the
radio saying the car kept getting better. Unfortunately
the laps ran out before he could make up any more
positions.
While the car improved as the night went on, David and
the team knew there were still issues remaining from the
previous week’s wreck. When the car was unloaded at the
team’s shop after the race, the crew found a problem in
the rear end which prevented the car from getting the
bite David needed to pass effectively.
“Last weekend didn’t give us the finish we wanted,” said
Elliott. “But we still came home with a top-10 finish
and I’m confident we’ve now got the car back to the way
it was running before the crash.”
If the car is completely repaired and
David’s confidence in his machine is back, the #37 Monte
Carlo will be hunting for checkered flags again this
weekend when they return to Flamboro Speedway this
Saturday.
Gates open at 5 p.m. and racing
begins at 6:30 p.m. See you there!
If
you have any questions please e-mail them to
davidelliottracing@yahoo.com
