Labor Day Laps
by Paul Bredenberg

On Labor Day weekend, fifteen CARC Mod Coupes arrived at Colorado National Speedway to start the stretch run of the season's championships. The day was partly cloudy and hot, with a warm and wonderful night on the way. Rich Bubak, on hand with Jim Thorne's #20 Vicky, arrived with a newly-installed engine and looking forward to a night with new speed. However, a bad development occurred as the intake manifold cracked as they tried to repair a coolant leak at the temperature gauge sending unit mounting post. So Rich was out before the race evening began. Down to 14 cars, but still enough to run heat races under CNS rules. "David Allen" was listed as taking over the #41 for Bill Kolb, and most of the CNS regulars were in attendance, including Joe James, Jr. (#54) and Cris Muhler (#95). Jim Bredeson has reappeared with a former drag-race Ford 302 under the hood. The engine was in Jim's garage and after four years of sitting, Jim decided it would power the car for the balance of the season until a new Bill Johnson engine can be put together for next year. Jim's had a lot of bad luck with motors this season and is looking forward to having a professionally-built one to depend on.
Pre-race interviews showed a lot of optimism abounding in the pits. Gary Land said his #55 was the best it's been at CNS all season. Joe St. Peter (#87) said his was a little tight but ok - he was more concerned about the driver having a screw loose! Cris Muhler was pleased with the car and never sounds over confident; he's just having fun with it. Ominously for the rest of the competition, Frank Denning III (#09) also said his car was the best it's ever been. Carl Vair (#45) was concerned for his clutch, which was starting to show signs of slippage. Tom Alder's beautiful black #1 was also on hand, and looks like it'll be really fast when he gets used to the car, and any "teething problems" are corrected.
The first heat rolled out of the pits about 5:10pm with Jamie Bubak (#12) on the pole and Chad Guilford's #24 next to her followed by Vair, James, Matt Burton (#36) and Allen (#41). At the flag, it was obvious that Jaime had a problem. She dropped smartly down the field, with Guilford tearing into the early lead. His car was on a rail and really fast. JJJ and Burton were having a great side-by-side battle for third until lap four, when Matt's car bobbled coming out of turn two. He had to back off and correct the errant machine and James claimed the position. Once lap five came along, the field was pretty well stretched out, except for Vair pulling close to Guilford's back bumper. He tried and tried to get inside the black #24 but fell just short at the checkered flag. After 10 hard fought laps, Chad claimed the victory by a small margin over Vair, James, Burton, Bubak, Allen, and Bredeson.
In the pits afterward, Jaime Bubak claimed that the car lost power and showed the same symptoms of the ignition malady that had infected the car at the beginning of the season. Her dad, Rich, found this spring that changing the spark plugs would cure that. He was busy doing so. Vair was happy with the car, except for concerns about the clutch. He told me he'd just run the main for as long as he could and hope for the best. Matt Devich (#80) was again happy to just be there, and I shared a bottle of water in his pits for awhile, meeting his son, Matty, and grandson, Matthew. Looks like a good family name, huh?
The second heat looked on paper to be a good one. Most of the faster cars would be in the field, and I was anxious to see if Gary Land could finally get some good luck for a change. He would start on the pole with Adler alongside, followed by Chet Graham (#33), St. Peter, Devich, Denning, and Muhler. At the drop of the green flag, Land found himself with a big lead. He got the jump on the field (legally) and tore into a lead of several car lengths. The field jostled around behind him, looking to break free from the crowd. Frank Denning tried to move to the third outside entering turn one, and as the field came into turn two, 3D found that there was no room at the inn, and had to back off to keep her off the wall. He lost quite a bit of ground in doing so. Meanwhile, on lap two, Muhler broke free and headed out after Land. Despite Gary's big lead, Muhler can really put on the speed on an open track. He caught Gary towards the end of lap three. The two cars then began to put on quite a racing exhibition. Muhler edged ahead and cleared Gary by the end of lap five. Adler and Graham were embroiled in a good battle for fourth, since 3D had finally gotten through the traffic and was looking to dig into the lead Muhler and Land had opened up. Adler finally pulled ahead around lap eight. Muhler finished with a huge lead over Land, about 12 car lengths, or so. Land claimed second ahead of 3D, Adler, Graham, JSP and Devich. Once past Land, Muhler made it look easy and Gary thought his car would be okay for the Main Event. Denning was content, although not happy, with his third place. He just really got bottled up at the start and never really recovered in time. A yellow would have made the difference, but this time there wasn't one forthcoming.
In speaking with the drivers during intermission, I found Matt Burton happy with the car and said it "much better" than last time out. He and grandfather Richard are making great strides in massaging the handling. Graham was looking for better handling as well, as he says the car kind of walks up the track in the turns. They were making changes in the hopes of better things for the 25-lap Main. Waiting for the cars to appear for the Main, I noticed that while it was just around 7:30pm, the sun was setting and the race would be finished under the lights. Our summer of 2010 is definitely winding down. There were streaks of beautiful pink clouds above the horizon, setting the night sky with a pastel setting of blue and pink. Gorgeous night; no jacket required! A little breezy from time to time, but just a perfect night for racing. Not that there is a bad night for racing. . . .
The field was set like this: 24-95-45-55-54-09-36-1-12-33-41-87-71-80. Guilford jumped into the early lead and led lap one. The black and yellow car was on a rail and Chad felt confident. Denning got inside of Land for 3rd on lap three. Muhler had fallen back but came under Chad to take the lead on lap 4. 3D then made the same move inside of Guilford into second. I could tell right away that Graham hadn't cured the handling problem. The car was "squirrelly" through the turns. Chet was manhandling it the best he could. Tom Adler pulled to the far outside down the back straight on lap eight and pulled it into the pits. Meanwhile, Muhler was pulling out a HUGE lead, which looked unassailable. Looking through the field, Bubak's car was running better, JSP was out of sync, Devich and Bredeson were glued together and having fun, and Land was just off the pace enough to see that tonight was not going to be his night, either. I noticed sparks from under the 95 car and hoped that those were just caused by those pesky dips in turns two and three. I hated to see him lose his lead due to a mechanical failure. Denning was visibly catching Muhler, but looking at the tower, I could see that there were only six laps left, and Frankie would need a yellow to make up that distance. Just as I wrote that note to myself, I looked up and saw the yellow light on, and Guilford's black coupe into the turn two wall after a very hard impact. What a pity! He was driving an inspired race in third. I was enjoying watching Chad drive so aggressively. Graham's #33 was parked at a 90 degree angle to the track down low in turn two, and Guilford was furious as he climbed out of his wrecked machine, which was spewing steam from the broken radiator. I didn't see the incident, and in the pits afterward I heard conflicting reports from various drivers, but the end result is that Chad found his evening finished on the back of the tow truck. This would be the event that would make it a five-lap shoot-out. I figured Muhler would pick the outside lane to make 3D pass him on the inside. I know that Frank much prefers the outside. But I figured wrong. Muhler picked the inside lane, giving Frank the outside. This will be interesting!
At the green flag, Frank edged into the lead, but Cris wasn't eager to give it up easily. The two of them pulled away from Land and the rest. The 95 and the 09 put on quite a show, and it was apparent to me that Frank was going to take it, but it wouldn't be easy. Frank finally had to hurl the purple coupe alongside deep into the turns to get the advantage, which he did, and held the lead to the end, with Muhler having to give way and finish second ahead of Land, JJJ, Bubak, Vair (whose clutch lasted the distance), Burton, St. Peter, Graham, Allen, Bredeson, and Devich, with Guilford and Adler credited with the final two spots.
Bredeson and Devich were like kids with new Christmas toys after their spirited battle for last running position. They were side-by-side several times and stayed close the entire race. JSP told me that he had a new stowaway aboard for the Main: a bad vibration from the right rear. After doing some axle repairs last week, something must not be just right. He said it was like those movies where they film an earthquake sequence and shake the camera - during most of the race he couldn't really see very well. Oh, this only happened on the turns. It was fine on the straights! Too bad you spend most of your lap at CNS in the turns. . . . Adler said that it felt like the right rear tire on the #1 car went flat, only it didn't. Something felt wrong, so he parked it. Guilford was still pretty well fuming in the pits, and on seeing the right front wheel stuffed into the firewall and the right header tearing a six-inch hole in the side body panel, I can understand. The car is hurt pretty badly. Jaime was happy that the car came right, and that the spark plugs did the trick. She finished fifth! Vair was also pleased that the clutch finished the race, and replacing it will be his Labor Day chore.
So we'll head to Pueblo for the next race on Saturday, September 11th. I suspect that Guilford won't be repaired in time. It should also be noted that Frankie Denning III has become more of a complete driver in the past few years. In speaking with Adam Waltmeyer, he told me that Frank was learning and is teachable. When they ask him to try something new, he will do it. He races with more patience and handles the inside lane better. This has gone a long way towards him putting the season together as he has. Adam is also hoping that things will hold together so that his wife, Renee will win a championship as a car owner. They lead both the CARC points and the CNS Mod Coupe points as the season comes to a close. But it's close, and Gary Land only needs to out-do the purple car for the last two nights to come from behind and take the CARC championship from 3D. It can happen, if Gary can beg, borrow, or steal some luck in these last events. Frankie is not quite as much at home at I-25 Speedway as he is at CNS. Point battles down the field are close and intense, as well. Keep an eye on your favorite driver, and come on down to Pueblo next week, where the action is fast and in very close quarters!