Cedar Lake Indoor Nationals aka "Sasquatch Indoor Nationals presented by Jack Link's Beef Jerky"
New Richmond, Wis., March 8-9, 2013 - It was 20 degree weather, wind blowing hard, ice and snow everywhere. This Texas girl was not ready for a Wisconsin blizzard. (Don't think my Texas teammate Payton Pierce was either.) But let’s go back to the beginning.
I was so excited to get back I the seat of the McCreery #57K
midget. We were just coming off a win I
the micro so I knew we were on the right track!
Richard Pierce finally came over to pick me up to leave, not going to
lie I hated having to go without my Dad, but I had to! So we were off, headed
North into unknown territory. Not
knowing what to expect I packed about 5 jackets. Once we got to Kansas for our first stop I
realized I should’ve brought a heavier coat!
With 4 foot of snow surrounding us we finally made it to the
track. The butterflies started to
overcome my body. It was only practice
day but I was in a new car and just wanted to run good. It came time to get my suit on and hop in the
car. I got all buckled up and was
excited to see what this car could do!
They pushed me off, car fired and sounded great. Green flag!
Green flag! I step on the gas.
The first turn went great, get in to the straight away and the car falls on its
face, lap after lap.
I pull into the pits and tell the guys what’s going on. They start running around changing batteries,
wires checking injection and the whole nine yards. Tokay with all that being
checked and good, it should run now, right? Well I get buckled in again, motor
fired of perfectly. I get on the gas then boom….the motor falls on its face
again. When I get back to the pits the
crew is dumbfounded – what could it be?!
To sum up the first day; it was full of motor problems.
We showed up for day number two, hopeful for a better
day. I went out for hot laps, the
problem still not fixed. The crew
changed some more things thinking for sure that it’s fixed now! But in the heat race it only got worse. I knew if we could get it fixed that the car
would be great. After a asking a bunch
of people and ripping our out hair, we found the problem. It was the fuel system. Unfortunately I had to go out for the “B”
Main. Not knowing how the car would be
at full power we still went out with high hopes. Right at the green I knew the problem was
fixed, but my comfort and driving style for the car was not 100%. So we ended up not making the show. Everyone kept saying keep my head up, but if
they were in my shoes they’d have been down too.
Finally the last day
arrived. I went in with a new found
confidence since the car was running great!
But of course I get stuck in the most stacked heat race with all the big
boys…..It was time to get up on the wheel.
As the four-wheeler pushed me around the track, I was trying to plan out
my start. I lined up behind Tracy Hines. We had a great start. The car felt awesome
out of turn 2, but as I try to make a pass I get slammed in the side, making me
pull a huge wheel stand and a car gets by me.
I pull in line on a one lane track, lap after lap I get more and angrier
with the guy that hit me. Everyone in
the pits knows we would have been in a good spot if he wouldn’t have done
that…..but that’s racing. Now we are
stuck in the “B” Main again. I tell
myself, “I am going to make the “A” Main.
I am going to make the “A” Main.”….
I get a great start, driving hard and fast. I found myself stuck behind someone who races
midgets every weekend who is very good!
(This was only my 3rd time in a midget!!) We battle for a few
laps; I knew it was time to make a move.
As I was trying to make a pass, I hear ….”YELLOW YELLOW”…..
And I’m like NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
Such bad timing. With only a
couple of laps to go I missed the “A” Main by ONE SPOT….
With all the downs of this
weekend, I still wasn’t too sad because I knew I got valuable seat time and I
got better as a driver.