8/4/2018
Hunter Fischer
Gremlins Return
Day 2 at the I-55 Raceway Iron Man 55, in Pevely MO, Fischer Racing began the day by doing the normal routine cleaning and maintenance. Soap and water cleaned up the Bolted Spine Design graphics, showing off the Flying Tee Golf logo in brilliant colors! Tires were changed, dispensing the used-up rubber from the previous night and the battery was placed on the charger to ensure the engine got enough spark. Support from BOSS chassis came to our pit (thank you Austin Brown) to check out our ignition box and see if he could detect anything via his laptop. Timing map checked out, no low voltage alarms, no issues detected. Fuel lines and nozzles were cleaned (again) and a new fuel pill was tried. Another suggestion was to change out the spark plugs, so we did just before the hot laps were ready to hit the track. All seemed to run well and we were hopeful.
Once again, Hunter drew a low number and started on the front row of Heat 1. However, it didn’t take long for the familiar “pop pop” sound to resurface as the #24 car began to fall back again. Similar to Friday night, Hunter was able to hold onto 8th place (out of 9 cars), placing him 9th in the B Feature.
Obviously frustrated, Hunter remembered that we had another set of crank trigger pickups in the trailer. Taking a shot in the dark, he began pulling the old triggers out and putting the new ones in before the B Feature hit the track. Throwing some fuel into the car and making a quick air pressure change, the team was able to hit the track barely in time. Hunter needed to make up only 3 spots to transfer into the A Main from his 5th row starting position. The car seemed to have liked the new triggers and was hooked up. Running the top, Hunter made it up to 5th and was about to throw a slider on 4th when the car began to push horribly towards the wall. Dropping down to the bottom groove to avoid a nasty altercation with the wall, he made the decision to pull the car to the infield suspecting something went wrong in the rear gears. Upon inspection in the pit, Hunter discovered the right rear wheel would spin independently of the axle. The wheel hub splines had deteriorated enough to strip completely smooth. Dad gets credit for keeping those old wheels in the rotation and costing the team another starting position in the A Main. I think this is firing #3 for the season but at least the car was running a lot better!
Bring on the next race! We will be participating in a non-point race at the local (to Tulsa) track at Creek County Speedway on Thursday, August 16. The USAC Non-wing Sprints will be there and the POWRi West Midget series was invited to join them for the evening. It is a great opportunity for our local fans to come out in support of Fischer Racing and our sponsors Flying Tee Golf in Jenks and B&C Custom Woodworks. Thanks again to Eric Fenton for the loaner truck and his team’s effort with the POWRi West!
Article Credit: J. Fischer
Submitted By: James Fischer