Our first time out on the all new Big Daddy’s Speedbowl in Rumney, NH. The track formally known as Rattle Snake Motordrome, was recently purchased and rebuilt over the winter. Revisions to the track included hauling in dump truck upon dump truck full of new clay for both the track and pits. They widened the track and also changed its shape and added more bleachers. Now with a “D” shape and a new surface, a new setup will need to be tuned for this track.
I started outside pole in my heat. As the green dropped I raced into turn one with Richard Crooker in his # 21. Running on the outside, once we hit the turn, my vision went to ZERO. Working my way out of the smoke screen, we worked our way down the back stretch to turn 3 and 4. Vision in that corner wasn’t as bad.
During the first few laps, I struggled to catch my vision in turn 1 and 2 until Terry Reil #11 made the pass to take the lead. As Reil and Crooker navigated the corner, I was absolutely blinded by the screen of dust they left behind. At one point I almost caught the rear of Cookers car, another headed towards the infield. I minus well have been driving with my eyes closed. It was ridiculous.
At that point I made the decision to back off and let people by. Not only could I not see in the dust, but I feared that if someone spun out in front, the whole field would have hit them. It wasn’t worth the added risk. During one of the cautions I called it quits and pulled off the track. I decided to save it for the feature.
We had a great turn out of cars! 15 cars and starting towards the rear of the pack I was excited to get some good racing in. The green dropped and I made my way by a few cars during the first 2 laps while battling an extremely loose car. Although short lived, on lap 3, the loose condition got the best of me and I spun in turn 2.
Back to the rear, I prepared for round 2. I managed to make it 2 more laps before losing the rear again while the #28 of Tim Beard hit my rear bumper.
Aggravated and with one last attempt, I only obtained the same results. After three spins, it was time to call it quits as I was black flagged for holding up the race. At least I can say we learned a lot about setup for the new Big Daddy’s Speedbowl and we will be back in 4 weeks to try it again.
Author:
Derek Eldridge #8
600cc Mini Sprint
Granite State Mini Sprints
EldridgeRacing.com
