The Race

[ChuckLicata]

Boy, I know the Austin area (and maybe SA, too?) got chilly weather and some SLEET (did everyone make it home okay?)...But it was definitely chilly down here on Friday, too! After sunny skies and 85-degree weather on Thursday, it got overcast and cool on Friday (high temp was 54 on Friday)...So, you knew it was going to be a "Chilly Bowl" for the truck race on Friday night..And what a GREAT IROC race to lead into the truck race! Here we go...

 

DAVID STARR...We were sitting in the lower level, Turn 4 side, for the race, but we were high enough to see the whole track...right in front of us before the race on pit road was David's truck...We cheered loud when David was introduced and then was transported down the front straight (the loudest cheers, by the way, were for Tina Gordon, must be that lingerie sponsor she has!)...We all CRINGED when David couldn't get his truck started! We couldnt' believe our eyes--but remember, he had ignition box problems early in the week..although afterwards, crew chief David McCarty told me he thinks the engine got flooded by accident....He finally got it started, and the race didn't go 2 laps before Joe Aramendia's truck was smoking, brought out a yellow..turns out Joe's oil line got loose....Then came the accident (Steve Park was involved, there's going to be a trend here) when David suffered damage to the front of the truck on the front straight...he got into the pits, over the scanner we heard he had A LOT of damage to the front including a hole in the bumper...we thought, "Well, this is Daytona, David's luck isn't good here!"...fortunately, throughout the race, David kept getting better, his crew worked VERY hard to fix the problems, David pitted whenever he could...and low and behold, when the BIG WRECK came, David survived! His spotter said, "Go low..go high..go low..they're all over the place!" In fact, in the wreck in turn 4, Aramendia's truck was sitting (turned around) right in front of us nose-to-nose with the 08 truck (David's drafting partner), and we could only think the worst..however, as we watched, David emerged from the smoke going slow, and weaved his way in and around the trucks--he made it!! All of a sudden, David's sitting in 10th place! At the last yellow, there was David sitting in 5th position for the re-start! McCarty told him, "Okay, David, we've talked about this many, many times...You just need to run with the front-runners..stay with them...dont' do anything stupid...don't try anything until there's 3 laps to go if we hang with these guys (front-runners)"...However, that's where it ended...All the contending drivers knew David's was a damaged truck, so on the re-start David wasn't going to have any help..David was losing about 2 positions per lap before he got in front of the #93 truck and stayed there til the checkered.....Still, 12th place isn't bad when you consider what happened...then, in the pits, we got an up-close and personal look at the damage....folks, there was so much tape there, it was amazing David could stay on the lead lap! There was grill damage, the entire front nose and bumpers were torn up--the #75 will have an entire new front when they race again! David was proud of his team's efforts, he was tired (for sure), but he stayed in his pits for a couple hours and greeted all of his fans...overall, considering what happend this week before qualifying, then in the first part of the race, it was a great team effort (and driver's effort) to come home with a finish of 12th..David's scheduled to be on LIVE for the first segment of Sunday's show, we'll get more thoughts from him then...

[D_Starr_Lori]

I dont know about Austin, But Tyler is covered up with probably 4 inches of Snow!

 

Thanks for the report Chuck, What a race, huh? I almost had a heart attack when the truck wasnt starting--not to mention the heart attack during that wreck! And then to see David get up to 5th?? David was SO Awesome! I am SO proud of him!!