Clute gets first feature pole position before heavens opened
May 28th, 2024 - So this past weekend was wild in so many ways. First trip for us to Skyline Speedway with Ohio Thunder IMCA Racesaver Sprint Car Series which is always amusing just getting to a new track... ("Should we turn here? Looks like a pretty tight road... Maybe the next one will be better?"). We knew coming in this track would be pretty different to others we've ran and were hoping that would work in our favor. Went out for qualifying and when came back Alex was a little frustrated, he felt the Wing was in the wrong spot and we missed on the gear so he was pleasantly surprised to not see his name at the bottom of the list. Then he looked again and realized we were 5th quickest, giving us a 3rd place start in the heat, but wait our series likes to shuffle the field to create better racing so all of sudden we are starting outside pole! Go out for the heat race and it starts to sprinkle, take the green and a car gets a little lap 1 aggressive and spins which everybody avoids. As we're getting lined up for the restart, it's starting to rain more and more. We're trying to figure out why the cars aren't coming off, and Alex doesn't even know it's raining until he goes into a corner and starts sliding sideways down the track with the front tires full right they aren't even spinning they're sliding so easily (have I mentioned it's a red clay track?). Luckily he doesn't hit anything and we get off the track back to the pits to wait out the rain. They get the track dried up and we get out for the heat race... Darned if Alex didn't hold his own and finished 3rd. Top 3 from each Heat redraw for feature lineup position (again, trying to create a good show) and the first time Alex gets to go up and draw he pulls pole position... He's quite nervous/excited at this possibility (which if you know Alex you know he doesn't exactly show emotion easily)... But there's a storm coming again. They move our feature to first to try to get it in, we're in grid and let me tell you the heavens opened! Lori and I on the four wheeler got bone soaked just getting back to the pit trying not to run anybody over on the way. I couldn't tell you how much rain ended up falling but we were doors closed in the trailer for 30min of heavy downpour. Then it was time to clean up and get packed (did I mention red clay?). Nearly lost my shoe in the ground multiple times, almost bit it going up and down the ever increasingly mud soaked ramp. Thankfully the four wheeler had no issues pushing the car up into the trailer (that thing has been an incredible workhorse for what we paid) and the ride home was uneventful.
We arrived home Sunday at 930am after a long snooze at a rest stop, so what does Alex do? Runs in to take a quick shower so he can bolt out the door to help score and cheer his friends on in Quarter Midgets at Michigan Motorsports Racing Association
Monday was a day of complete relaxation, except I took a 12hr road trip to Terre Haute to buy race parts, obviously.
Have a great week, this weekend we have our first doubleheader scheduled with Moler Raceway Park Racing on Friday and Atomic Speedway on Saturday, maybe we'll see you out there?