11/9/2010
Kevin Donahue
Texas Motor Speedway
Last weekend (November, 6-7, 2010) I got to try out the semi-banked 5th mile oval outside Texas Motor speedway. Needless to say it was awesome and I enjoyed the sharp, but well banked turns. Although the straight-aways were short they offered high acceleration. I quickly learned that the turns required use of smoothness on the steering wheel and hard braking coupled with rolling into the gas pedal slowly to keep the car stable.
It was definitely short track racing at its best and I did not have even a second to relax. Mistakes did not go unpunished either. There was plenty of rubbing tires and bending bumpers as 15+ legends cars hit the track for three feature races that weekend.
On Saturday it began with a "pill draw" for position (drivers draw numbered chips from a hat when qualifying is not available) and lucky for me I drew a 2 for the heat race and started pole.
Unfortunately due to some shifter linkage issues two cars passed me early on because I had trouble getting it into 3rd gear. I had a great battle for third but had to settle for a fourth place finish in the heat race. The Harper crew made some quick adjustments to the car, fixed the linkage, and I was ready for the feature.
The start of the feature was really good and I managed to pass a car on the first lap, from there on I focused on catching third who had pulled away a little bit. I was gaining on him fast as my tires came around during the long green flag run, but when I made the pass a caution came out and I gave back the position. The race restarted with some great runs but not enough time to advance past a solid forth place finish. The final race of the day was a Dash for Cash and I decided not to risk my new chassis in an aggressive race.
The next day I ran every single practice run because my car was set-up perfect, This time I drew a much higher number during the "pill draw" and started out in the back during the heat race. I began in 6th for the feature and being on the outside I lost a few spots. With my well setup car I began picking off my competition one by one and with no contact. I eventually passed my teammate- Paul Fusko, who was running fourth and started to gain on 3rd but just ran out of laps.
Running this race helped me to realize the importance of having a good start, even if the driver starts on the outside, it also taught me lots of car control. I would like to thank Michael Harper and Jarred Carpenter for all the hard work setting up my car and teaching me how to drive the track, I would also like to thank all my teammates for racing me clean and helping out.
-Kevin Donahue
Submitted By: Admin Account
