8 is the Lucky Number for David Elliott

Most people associate 7 as being a lucky number, but for David Elliott, 8 was the lucky number on June 25th at Delaware Speedway.

David survived a wild night of racing, earning two 8th place finishes and solidifying the 8th position in the Late Model points standings.

During the week, the team made a number of changes to the car to help make it more competitive with the ASA motors run by several top teams at Delaware . While these changes helped with horsepower, they presented a challenge as the team struggled to find the best gear to run with their new configuration.

 

David managed to find enough speed to qualify in the 10th position for the evening’s twin 50-lap feature races.

With a full moon rising above the track, fans knew they were in for an exciting night of racing. After taking more than 45 minutes to complete the first 6 laps of the first feature, the drivers settled down to some real racing.

The #37 Pennzoil Impala stuck around the 10th position as David complained about either an electrical or a carburetor problem.

 

“The car would sputter and burp coming out of the corners,” explained David. “If it did the same thing every corner, I could adapt my driving style by getting on the throttle earlier in the corner.”

But every few laps, the car wouldn’t burp and sputter and, as David got into the gas early in the corner, the car would break loose and try to spin out.

David nursed the car home to an 8th place finish in the first race and the crew got to work trying to remedy the issue for the second feature.

Having made adjustments to the carburetor and plug wires, the team crossed their fingers hoping they had found the problem.

 

David started 8th in the final feature race and quickly moved up to second, despite the fact that the engine problem had not been corrected. David maintained the second spot for a few laps before breaking loose coming off turn four and allowing Jamie Ramsay’s #22 to get a nose inside.

“Once Jamie got under me, I was stuck in the outside lane and got freight trained,” said David.

By the time he was able to get back down into the low groove, the #37 was running in 8th place…a position David would maintain until the end of the race.

“I’m not happy with the issues we had with the car, but at least we brought it home in one piece,” said David, referring to the number of cars which sustained major damage in crashes during the two feature races.