Gettin' my motor runnin'

A while back, I read in one of Mike Weber’s racing stories that the good folks at River City Speedway were looking for people to come out and “pack the track” for their Saturday-night races.
I didn’t know what that meant at the time, but I thought I’d ask. One phone call later, I was all set to get behind the wheel of a racecar.
While some scheduling conflicts prevented me from racing until this past Saturday, those same conflicts allowed the excitement and anticipation to build.
Oh, and a little fear festered as well. That whole idea of driving someone else’s car as fast as I can around a clay track with concrete walls was just a little unsettling. Just a touch.
But Mike Harrison, whose car I was driving, did not seem to share that fear.
“I’ve got total confidence in you,” he told me. (At least someone did.)
Mike and his wife, Jenelle, have raced at River City for quite a while, so they know how to move their cars around the track.
In fact, Mike’s 16.313-second qualifying time in his 1978 Chevy Malibu was the fastest of the day in the Street Stock division. So I knew going into my qualifying laps that I had one of the faster cars out there. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves just a bit, so let’s back up to before I first climbed into the driver’s seat.
Before I strapped in, I learned my first lesson: you need long pants and long sleeves at the racetrack. I was wearing shorts and a T-shirt, but Mike had an extra racing suit he let me borrow.
When I climbed through the window of the white and green No. 15 Malibu, I found myself in a car with just one seat, a roll cage and a couple of pedals. Then Mike handed me the steering wheel.
Unfortunately for me, there were no flight attendants to show me how to strap into my seat belt, and the ultra-safe five-point harness was pretty tricky. I had to connect straps coming over the top from both shoulders with a strap coming up between my legs and to two others hugging my waist from both sides. Not exactly how I buckle up in my Buick.
Sooner or later, I got the harness latched and tightened, then put on my helmet. Then it was time to fire up the engine.
Talk about sensory underload. I couldn’t turn my head very much to either side and the Malibu’s 350 cubic inch engine roared in my ears.
Mike directed me on how to back out of the spot without hitting anyone. Then it was up to me to get to the track so I could “pack it down.” This is basically just driving around at a decent speed, packing the clay into the ground so it’s not too loose when the cars go out to qualify.
This gave me a chance to get a feel for the car before what would be my main event for the day: time trials.
Quite a few cars were scheduled to qualify before me, so I used the last few minutes to pick Jenelle’s brain about driving on the quarter-mile clay oval.
How do I take the corners? How do I stay out of the wall? Do I brake or just let off the gas?
“It’s just like playing in the snow – you’ll slide through the corner and adjust to it. Don’t hit the brakes,” Jenelle told me.
Finally, I was sitting in line to get up to the track to qualify. My heart thought I’d drank four cups of coffee that day, but in reality, I’d had none.
I was the last qualifier to get timed in the street stock division. Basically, I’d drive four laps ... one partial warm-up lap, two timed and one cool-down.
I gunned it down the straightaway on the warm-up lap to see what I was working with. I felt comfortable driving straight, but my next challenge was coming up fast. Really fast.
I thought to myself, “OK, Jenelle said to slow down going in and accelerate about the halfway point. But didn’t Mike say something about powersliding through the turn?”
I went in slow, cautious not to ruin the car. Coming out of the turn I felt fine, so I gassed it again crossing the starting line to begin my first officially timed lap.
I came out of the turns pretty good, hit the straightaway fine, and did OK on turns three and four as well.
My first lap came in at 17.779 seconds, good for last place. The next-slowest lap was a 17.15; the fastest was 14.861.
My second lap was a little more dicey. I handled the first turn OK, but I lost control for a brief moment coming out of the second corner. My tail end started to spin out, then I overcorrected and started heading straight toward the wall. Keeping the day’s lone goal in mind – staying out of the wall – I lifted my foot off the accelerator, straightened out and got going down the straightaway.
This was not going to be a record-setting lap.
I clocked in with a 19.027 for the second lap, a good second-and-a-half slower than my already last-place finish.
Still, considering my prior racing experience was limited to a couple of runs on go-karts at Malibu Grand Prix in Beaverton, I wasn’t too upset with my performance.
And I was extremely pleased with the Harrisons’ generosity and willingness to let me drive their car and hang out with them in the pit area for an afternoon.
Mike said they’re always looking to bring people out to pack the track. Check out www.rivercityspeedway.net to learn more.