Gossel Takes Big Country Battle!
by Paul Bredenberg

Qualifying results: 17, 55, 45, 09, 87, 34, 33, 80, 41
Trophy Dash results: 34, 45, 09, 87
Slow Heat results: 34, 87, 33, 41, 80
Fast Heat results: 09, 45, 55, 17
Main Event results: 34, 17, 55, 87, 45, 09, 33, 80, 41

The CARC made the trek up north to Cheyenne's Big Country Speedway on July 31 for what promised to be an exciting night of racing on the 1/5 mile oval. Nine cars made an appearance. I personally deeply enjoy the races at BCS, since it's a sister track to our old, beloved Lakeside. The cars look great out there, traffic is a challenge, and getting the setup right is really difficult. At Lakeside, if your car was set up for the North Turn (#'s 3 and 4), it wasn't for the South Turn, and vice-versa. BCS is similar in that the north end banking (also turns 3 & 4) is steeper than the south end. Most teams on Saturday were struggling with handling problems. Whoever got it right for the Main would be the winner.

Qualifying is done during hot laps at BCS, using the track's transponder system. Having the car work well and have a clear track are the keys for a good time. Scott Rhoades (#17) got it right and qualified fastest at a 12.580, closely followed by Gary Land's (#55) 12.634. The other best times were: Carl Vair (#45) at 12.645, Frank Denning III (#09) with a 12.721, Joe St. Peter (#87) coming in with a 12.905, Bryan Gossel's (#34) 12.937, Chet Graham (#33) at 13.321, Matt Devich (#80) with a 13.800, and the returning Bill Kolb (#41) finalizing the qualifying with a 14.152. It was really good to see Bill back with the CARC in my old ex-#7 coupe, now painted white and running Bill's familiar #41. Theron Bredeson owns the car. I knew Bill wouldn't hurt the car, as he's always been very careful, and if the steering doesn't fail, Bill will bring the car home in one piece. Matt Devich came down from the Fairplay area again. He explained to me that he's actually from the little burg of Hartsel, and his race car will be the lead "float" in the town's parade in August. To honor his hometown, Matt had an airbrushed swimsuit beauty (Old Groucho Marx line: Do you like bathing beauties? I dunno; I've never bathed one!) added to the sides of the wing, with "Hartsel Hussie" lettering. Nice addition! Made the car go faster, too! Rhoades was very fast again, but concerned since his steering shaft broke two fuel pumps during hot laps! I think the decision has been made to go to an electric fuel pump next week. Apparently the softer springing created not enough clearance between the two parts.

It was determined by CARC officials that the middle four cars would make up the Trophy Dash. That meant that Bryan Gossel would start on the pole flanked by Joe St. Peter and followed by 3D and Vair. They would run six laps for the hardware. At the drop of the green, JSP found his car trying to impale itself on the front stretch wall, and wisely chose to drop to the back and limp through the six laps. It caught him, and the two behind him, by surprise! Gossel jumped into the lead closely followed by Frankie. On lap two, Frankie got a great run on Gossel coming out of turn two and was looking to get inside of the #34 Vicky entering turn three. Pucker moment for both me and 3D as Frank saw Bryan turning in on him. Frank jumped onto the binders HARD and the back end started to come around. Going sideways and pulling the car onto the apron, Frank avoided contact but lost a lot of ground. He dirt-tracked it through the turn 4 infield and pulled her straight, heading back onto the asphalt. GREAT bit of driving, I'd say! Frankie decided that he'd just finish the race after that. Vair, in the meantime, took up the charge after Gossel, but Bryan had him covered and ran off the last few laps to claim the trophy. In the pits afterwards, JSP was already making wholesale changes to the car; he wasn't in the ball park for the TD. He told me that they had dropped the right rear spring, and when he hit the gas, the car turned right. It was obvious to JSP and his crew that the car had bottomed out on acceleration! They were re-springing it for the heat. Vair thought he should have won, but just couldn't force his way past the 34. Bryan was happy with the car and they intended to make a few changes. There were a couple of times where he had to dirt-track the car to keep it on the track.

The slow heat was up next with Graham on the pole, followed by Gossel, JSP, Devich and Kolb. Once again, Gossel led into the first lead. He's really hard to beat when he starts on the front row! We noticed right away that whatever JSP had done to the blue coupe worked! He was really fast and looked good. On lap two of the 10-lap heat, he was outside of Graham and going out after Gossel. He was catching the white car quickly and started looking for a way around. Kolb was playing in his new ride carefully and just enjoying the seat time. It's been over a year since he took his car home on the trailer with a busted front end. Graham, at this point, was having a lonely race in third place, ahead of Devich and Kolb, who were having a little skirmish over fourth place, which Kolb eventually claimed. JSP had pulled up alongside of Gossel, but couldn't make the pass stick on the outside lane. There was another moment or two where Bryan had to crank her sideways to make it work, but pulled out his second win of the evening. Finishing order was Gossel, JSP, Graham, Kolb and Devich.

Next up was the fast heat with Denning on the pole with Vair outside, followed by Land and Rhoades. The next ten laps would be theirs. I could see immediately that Land's car wasn't working as well as he had hoped. Rhoades found that getting the power down coming out of the turns was something that the car didn't want to do very well. He had plenty of OOOMPH by the end of the straights, but to my eye, he was losing time on the exits. He fell behind Land but was quickly looking for the way past. By this time (about lap 3), 3D was off and running away from Vair and the others. It looked like easy pickin's for Frankie, and at the checkers, he was a good eight car lengths to the good. Vair, Land, and Rhoades had spent a little time leaning on each other and a little nerfing and bumping was going on. Good omen for the Main Event! Final finishing order was: Denning, Vair, Land, and Rhoades. The final three were, to a man, frustrated with the finish. And Frankie won on a track that he doesn't particularly like.

During the intermission (I chose not to watch some guy blow himself up in the infield), I chatted with 2005 CARC Champion Wayne Swanson. Wayne hasn't driven since then, but is looking at getting himself another Mod Coupe to run with us only at Cheyenne (he lives fairly close to BCS). I'm hoping that happens; Wayne is a good driver, a nice guy, and a humble Champion with the Club. It was also good to see former VP and co-2004 Champion Bill Willingham in the pits. A true gentleman and a good, clean racer. Tony Umberger showed pictures of the loss of his fingertip. . . I'll never look at a hamburger the same way again. . . ugh. I had't heard about his run-in with a storage pod. At least he was taking it philosophically. I told him he'd never play the piano again. Not that he ever did. . . . It's also amazing to see Jerry, the pit manager, since there's only about 1/3 of him to see these days. He looks great since the weight came off. Hardly seems like the same man. Then Chet Graham and I traded stories about his Uncle Jack, and found out that Chet went to High School at Jefferson with my wife.

By the time the cars rolled out for the Main Event, it was dark and cool, with a fairly stiff breeze out of the southeast. The race was scheduled for 25 laps and Graham would start on the pole inside of Gossel. The rest of the field filled out with JSP and 3D in the second row, Vair and Land in the third, Rhoades and Devich, with Kolb picking his own lane in the last row. This looked to be a good race as the field was tightly bunched and it was really anybody's race. At the drop of the green, Chet Graham led off. It was great to see Chet lead a Main! It was short-lived, of course, as Chet seems to need just a little more motor than he has. Gossel pulled up and into the lead by lap 2. St. Peter charged into second and wanted a piece of Gossel. It looked like Kolb and Devich were going to have a 25-lap battle for the last running spot. On lap three in turn three, Carl Vair turned sideways and from the stands, it looked like Chet Graham T-boned him. I found out later that there was no contact. Carl told me he had been hit from behind. No foul; no damage. Meanwhile, I noted that Gossel was looking better and more stable than at any other time in the evening. That would not be good news to the others. And, once again, Bryan had started from the front row! On the restart, Land was moving up quickly and looking for passing room. The field was looking really fast!

On lap eight, Kolb brought the white coupe into the pits. It turned out that the valve train was making some clattering noise that Bill caught and didn't like. Sounds like it just needs a valve adjustment. Rhoades was fast but not able to make any time in traffic. I guess that was the same for JSP, Vair, Denning, and Land, too. They were all bunched up and trying to muscle their way past each other. It was fun to watch from the stands but must have been incredibly frustrating from inside the cockpit. A little bumping was going on with no damage to anybody. BCS makes for a crowded track and the ability to pass on the outside is a premium there. As the leaders were looking to overlap Devich at about lap 14, I thought maybe he'd make a good "pick" for somebody, but there were no takers on that one. They all strode past Matt one at a time on the outside. Now, Gossel was stretching out a BIG lead, and by lap 16 had almost 1/4 lap on the others. The single-file battle for second was great to watch, but I was wondering when SOMEBODY would get tired of trying to get the inside of the guy in front and pass around. Rhoades was the one. He finally drew outside of Land on lap 20 and got by quickly. Next up, he tore past JSP into second and headed out after Gossel. I could see he would need a yellow flag to catch the 34 car, however. Land followed Rhoades past JSP, who looked to be fading a little bit. The final few laps ran out with Bryan Gossel claiming his second win of the season. Looks like he will probably be the CARC Rookie of the Year, and deservedly so. He also became tied with Frankie Denning for the Sammy Gallo Trophy, to be awarded to the winner of the most Main Event wins for the season. Frankie dearly wants another Gallo trophy for the mantlepiece. Final finishing order was Gossel, Rhoades, Land, St. Peter, Vair, Denning, Graham, Devich and Kolb. Matt Devich won 44th Auto Service's "Lucky Dog" award.

Gossel had told me before the Main that they had basically reverted to the setup they started the day with, but a J-bar adjustment made the difference. In Victory Circle, he thanked his crew and sponsors, and car owner Russ Cummings. Bryan said that, "Sometimes you gotta go slow to go fast", and it was "FUN"! Frankie didn't have much to offer in the way of a post-race interview, other than to agree with my assessment that it must have been a frustrating evening for him. Chet Graham was pleased to have led a lap. Devich is just happy to be racing, and Kolb said it was great to have a race car under his butt again.

In closing, let me just say again that I find the CARC as a good bunch of guys who love to race. Despite whatever bickering or disagreements there might have been, we pretty much all get along. That plays an important part of why I'm a loyal member of the Club. The guys are all willing to help each other and the camaraderie makes the race evening a joy to be a part of. Jim Bredeson won the track's "50/50" giveaway (but didn't offer to buy my soda) and was happy about that. It will help pay for his new motor. And let me embarrass Theron and Glenda Bredeson, too. I preferred my old car as #7, but they bought a race car they didn't need to help out a guy who was trying to keep his house, which I did because of that. The people that make up the CARC are a different breed, and once "outsiders" get inside, they find that out, as well. Bryan Gossel went on about how much he's enjoyed racing with us, and Cris Muhler has said the same thing. So we will be back at BCS on August 14 for another lesson on nose-to-tail racing! Be there or be square!