July 7, 2010…Maryland International Raceway, Budds Creek Md.
Last Updated (Tuesday, 30 November 1999 00:00) Written by Derrick Townes Thursday, 15 July 2010 19:21
It was an extremely hot and sweltering day as Derrick Townes Motorsports pulled into the track for the War on Wheels II. As we were preparing the car for the race we all had a feeling of high expectations for the best of results. Chris seemed to have a handle on a good baseline tune-up and the car seemed to be working well. After setting up we proceeded to make a shakedown run with Derrick clicking it off somewhere around half track. The car was towed back and the crew worked at cooling the car because the first round of qualifying was coming up fast. Derrick’s first attempt at qualifying yielded a 9 second pass on a hot and greasy track. With the information acquired on that run Chris would have to make a few adjustments on the tune-up. Just past 8 o’clock the team pulled to the line for the second round of qualifying. With the air and track temperature cooling down and the team’s assessment of our car versus the rest of the competition we were confidently hopeful of Derrick’s first ever No. 1 qualifying position. With the burnout complete and the car staged Derrick blasted down the track to a 6.477 @223.21 to secure his FIRST POLE POSITION!! Needless to say Derrick and the team were happy but we weren’t quite satisfied. We knew there was still a race to win. By virtue of our #1 qualifier status we had our choice of when to race and lane choice. We would be the last pair out. As we towed the car to the staging lanes for first round it became evident that our opponent wasn’t going to be able to answer the call thereby awarding us a first round bye. However we knew that we had to make a full pull so that we could maintain lane choice. And that is exactly what Derrick did as he ran down the ¼ mile at 6.417 @223.80. Good enough for lane choice in the second round and definitely a move in the right direction. As the car was towed to the trailer J.J. noted with much concern that we had a bad fluid leak on the car. It turned out to be oil. Thankfully it wasn’t due to any type of engine or parts failure but we knew we were going to have to scramble to get the car ready for the second round because the clock was ticking toward MIR’s curfew and they would be pushing to beat it. Luckily for us we had extra help in the pits in the form of crew chief Chris’s brother, Dwayne. The extra hands proved to be extremely helpful because we were also utilizing a new cooling technique on our transmission that was occupying a lot of Brian’s time. The next round came and we were able to make it up in time. Derrick and the team decided to keep running the right lane. The car was staged, the pass was made with Derrick Townes taking the win! The car ran well… This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Again, definitely moving in the right direction. To our surprise, though, it wasn’t good enough to get us lane choice in the final round. We knew we would have to step it up. After preparing the car for the finals we towed to the staging lanes just after 11:00 p.m. Our competitor chose the right lane so we would be running the left lane for only the second time that day. The cars were started and Derrick pulled through the burnout box. Just as he went to do his burnout the car stalled. The team scrambled to re-fire the car. The car was started and we were told to do a short burnout. Just as before the car stalled before the burnout. By that time it was too late to make the run as the other car was staged and sent down the track, handing them the win. Our guys figured out what was wrong right there on the starting line and fixed it. We asked if we could make the pass anyway and were told we could. Burnout, pre-stage, stage…GREEN! Derrick drove the car to the day’s best time for the whole track… This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ! Included in that run were great incremental numbers…1.01 60’… This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it at the 1/8th. Good enough for the win since our opponent didn’t even make it down the track. A disappointing loss but the team came away with much to feel good about. Derrick’s first no.1, low e.t., top speed, good calls by the crew chief Chris, great work by Brian, Bryon, Dwayne and J.J. Plus we made a few new friends. We’re looking forward to the Northeast Outlaw Pro Mod race at Maple Grove in Reading Pa. We hope to see everybody out there!