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January
1st, 2010
TLM
GETS CLOSE TO CRACKING THE TOP 35 IN DAYTONA
TESTING
 After
a 2 year absence at the World’s Center of Speed,
the LaCross Motorsports crew pulled into the high
banks of Daytona last weekend with high
expectations. With a new engine and complete new
front end suspension, the goals were to find the
speed to get into a top 35 qualifying position.
Billy Gerhart said “if you can run a 51.00
second lap in testing, then some new tires, thin
oils and a few other tricks should result in a
50.50 second time trial in February”.
Friday
was a complete washout with rain preventing all
but about 25 teams from getting on the track. This
gave Chuck Miller, crew chief, some extra time to
fine tune our set-up and tie up loose ends before
pushing the car to its limits.
Saturday
was a much better day so we headed to the staging
lane with the sun shining on us. Bob Cincotta,
acting spotter, radioed down to me in the car
wanted to know if there was anywhere else I would
rather be. With an intentional pause, I replied
“Hell No!”. About that time, ARCA sent us on
the track for our first session of the test. After
about 4 laps, we brought the car in for a thorough
inspection. New crew member Chris Meddaugh
informed the crew that ARCA timing/scoring had us
at about a 52.00 second lap. That wasn’t what we
were looking for, but over a second faster than
the last time we were on the track in 2008. Aaron
Cross went under the car and made some adjustments
to the truck arm position and we tried again.
Although the time was not significantly better, we
kept adjusting and improving all day long. By the
end of the day we were down to 51.38 seconds.
Billy
Gerhart stopped by and gave us some pointers and
we were excited that we still had more in the car
to find. Scott Ritter was keeping an eye on the
engine, and everyone was ready for Sunday’s
final practice.
On
Sunday morning, we went thru the tech station and
found a couple of more places to make
improvements. We got the car in the staging line
and waited for our turn to go out (right behind
Danica Patrick). Once given the signal by ARCA, I
fired the engine and headed out for what we hoped
would be our magic 51.00 second lap. Bob coached
me on the radio to get it up next to the wall on
the warm-up lap. Everything felt really good
coming to the start/finish line when I noticed
there was a vibration, so I shut the engine down
and coasted back to the pits. Scott’s advice was
to load it up and take it home to diagnose the
problem. I will post a report when we get more
information.
The
team is extremely proud of our effort and received
a compliment from 5 time Daytona winning crew
chief Bill Gerhart, who said “for a bunch of
guys who don’t do this full-time, you are doing
pretty good. That engine is surprisingly strong.”
How cool is that?
I
would like to thank the following for their
support at the track:
Chuck
Miller, Crew Chief
Aaron
Cross, Car Chief
Bob
Cincotta, Acting Spotter
John
Cross, Crew
Chris
Meddaugh, Technical Support
Matt
Sheerin, Crew
Paul
Stevens, Crew
Jeremy
Eckroth, Crew
Darlene
Cross and Clara Ortalano, Crew Support
Bill
Gerhart, Mentor
Scott
Ritter, Engine |
