Wow! A 70 lap race and $500 to the winner. Would this be a cool career race #3, or a scary Saturday night for this rookie?

Colby's dropped my car off in the afternoon, and I drove it into the pits. Already several mini-stocks were there. I figured what was there would be about it. But they kept showing up! Many of them I did not recognize, and I figured they were from the Sunday series. But many turned out to be from other tracks.

All alone, I patiently waited for my first practice session. Here we go... let's get the car warmed up and shake off some of these nerves. Up onto the track I go. Hmmm, there sure are a lot of cars out here. Being accustomed to 6-10 cars in a normal Friday night practice, I was later shocked to hear there were about 24 of us in that first practice!

After what seemed like 100 yellow flag laps, the crew repairing the lights finally left the track. Now we could get some hot laps in. GREEN FLAG!

I don't remember how many laps of practice I managed to complete. The next thing I remember was being surrounded by the pack going into turn one. Cars in front of me, cars beside me, and [BANG!] cars behind me. I had slowed going into turn one, forcing the car behind me to check up. The impact sent me through the dirt, but I steered straight through and back on track at the backstretch. The car behind me then got hit from behind, and those two spun into the infield.

Many things went through my mind. I hoped everyone was okay. I hoped their cars were okay. I felt bad for causing them to wreck. I was embarassed that I caused lost practice time for all. I later apologized to the two guys I wrecked; they and their cars were okay.

Despite my getting through the wreck safely, it turned out I lost my brakes as a result and had to pit. I made it to the pit without any more incidents!

Apparently, the stock brake lines in the rear were close to each other and also pretty well rotted out. The impact caused the lines to chafe, which caused a hole in one (hence, a major leak.) I traced the line back to the brake distribution manifold, and plugged that port (thanks to Action Performance Racing parts for their gracious help!) When Chip arrived, we bled the brakes. The quick fix had worked!

I went to the drivers meeting, which was useless as I could not hear a word they said (too many dubs talking instead of listening.) I did find out each car needed someone to count laps for them. I had nobody, and lucked out when they later said you didn't need anyone.

I ran in the third heat of the four needed due to such a high car count. I didn't finish high enough to be in the feature, but a strange twist of fate occurred. A car from my heat was disqualified, which meant I would be in the feature. Even more ironic is the DQ'd car was the one I caused to wreck in the practice! (Sorry again!)

I really was having second thoughts about running. The field would be 43 cars strong, sort of like a NEXTEL Cup race. Yikes! Chip convinced me to give it a try anyway.

For the most part the race went smoothly. I did have one scary event happen not too far ahead of me. Alton Sinclair, a Wiscasset regular, got sent head-on into the backstretch wall. I had never seen anything that bad on the road, let alone on the track in only my third race. Al turned out to be okay (thank God) and he even raced the next day in his backup car. Way to go Alton!

At lap 35, all cars were to take a mandatory pit stop. The field was frozen, and we went single file to the infield pit road. Some teams chose to have a crew member there to top off the fuel, the only allowed pit activity. I chose not to, as I had topped off before the race. After the restart, I did have to pit during a caution to have my radiator fan turned on (I couldn't reach the switch when I was belted in.)

With heavy fog rolling in, it was getting difficult to see. I remember being on the front stretch and not being able to see the back stretch! The race was abbreviated to 50 laps, and I made it to the end alive! I don't know my official finishing position, but it was not in the top 20 and I was not on the lead lap. Oh well.

Despite the apprehension I had going in, I am now glad that I ran this event. It gave me some experience on driving in a big field, as well as learning how I'd feel in a long duration race. Thanks as always to Chip, Jason H., Michael, and Colby's.

Following is the race synopsis as quoted from the 2003 Wiscasset Raceway web site:

Fifty two Mini Stocks attempted to qualify for the forty three starting positions in the co-main event. The combination of thick fog and the biggest field of the season made for an entertaining race that saw ten cautions slow the action. It turned out to be a tough night for the leaders including the eventual winner. Weekly racing series point leader Alton Sinclair made his Super Slam debut and looked strong from the pole position, surviving the first five restarts and leading the first 28 laps. Sinclair's luck would run out on the next lap as he would tangle with Mark Childs in turn four bringing out the 6th caution of the race. Things would turn even worse for Sinclair a lap later on a lap 30 restart. Starting back in the pack, Sinclair got turned sideways coming down the back stretch, sending him head on into the back stretch wall, ending his night.

Things didn't turn out much better for the race's next leader Adam Polviner. He would lead the next seven laps until he would loose control and hit the tires on the front stretch wall, rolling him over on the roof. Next up for the lead was Brian Beaulieu. He looked pretty well in charge with the laps winding down until John Hinkley went spinning out of turn four. With the lead pack bearing down out of turn four, Hinkley was unable to get moving, bringing out the caution. As the cars scramble to get around the helpless car of Hinkley, Beaulieu would run into the back of his car, potentially taking him out of contention. Since the caution was already out when Beaulieu hit Hinkley, Beaulieu was able to hold his lead position for the final four laps. Despite a badly dented front end, Beaulieu would survive the final laps to take the win.