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Starr and MaxxForce team go back to school


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After a lackluster performance in California, David Starr and his MaxxForce by International Diesel team went back to school during the off weeks, testing, testing, testing. With only 4 weeks to prepare their team for Daytona, the newly formed MaxxForce team had put together some quality equipment but they were missing one key ingredient to a successful race team, familiarity. After California the team realized that while all the parts were there for a great race team, the team simply had not had enough time together to become a team. Taking advantage of the 2 weeks off after California, Starr and crew chief Dennis Connor assembled the team for a series of test designed to enhance the communication level between driver-crew chief, driver-team and crew-chief team. With a fast multiple groove track next on the schedule, the team needed a special track to help them prepare for Atlanta Motor Speedway, what better place than North Carolina Speedway, more affectionately known as the Rock. While the Rock held it’s last NASCAR race in 2004 it has been far from idle. Driving schools are frequent users of the famed 1 mile oval but with the recent ban on testing at any NASCAR track by NASCR teams the Rock has become a favorite test track for teams looking to simulate the speed and handling characteristics of tracks like Atlanta.

 

For Connor and Starr speed was not as important as what they could learn working together with different setups and scenarios. With each turn around the Rock the team learned more about their trucks and each other. The team worked on each type of setup package, shocks, springs, aero, if it could be changed on a Ford F-150 the team changed it. As each change was made the driver, crew chief and team learned not only what it would do to their Circle Bar machine but also what words and phrases each team member used to describe the change. At the end of the test sessions the MaxxForce team loaded their Ford F-150 back into the hauler having learned more about each other and their trucks in one week than they had in their first month.

 

David Starr on their test: “I was really bummed out after California. I know we have a good team and good equipment but we were just missing something. After testing at the Rock, I realized that something was communication. Working together during our test sessions we learned more than we could have in 6 races. The truck we are taking to Atlanta finished 2nd there last year and with what we’ve learned about each other I’m ready to mash the gas.”

 

Picture is of David Starr and Crew chief Dennis Connor. Courtesy of Circle Bar PR.

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