Iowa = Corn

If you're surrounded by corn, you're probably in Iowa. Either that or Darrell Peterson is in the vicinity.

Driving lights have been mounted on the hood, dash lights are supposed to be working (hard to tell in the light of day), the car is about as ready as it will get.

In addition to Darrell, John Hogdal, Tim Winker and Greg Wold, there are a couple more drivers this weekend. Darrell's son, Mitch, who has extensive kart racing experience and a championship or two to back it up, will get some seat time. Also invited to drive is our crew guy, Jesse Lang, who has done a lot of work on the car. That means about four hours driving time per driver; about eight SCCA Regional races apiece!

There were some nasty thunderstorms early this morning, but skies have cleared and temps are moderate. Unfortunately the weather forecasters predict "near record high temperatures" for this afternoon. The Heat Index is supposed to get to 110F. Thunderstorms are expected to return overnight.

It's running and on the trailer!

The engine was finished about 1:00 pm on Thursday. It was loaded into Tim's street Saab and delivered to the race shop just before 5pm.

All team members showed up to help with the installation. There were a few setbacks and corrections to be made, but eventually everything was ready to go. It fired up about 11:30 and the car was in the trailer before Midnight.

Engine update

The damaged engine was delivered to SVS last week, but the last of the parts didn't arrive until Monday afternoon.

Still not certain as to why our engine failed at BIR, but it involved oil starvation. The rod and main bearings are all scored. The #1 rod bearing looks like it spun on the crankshaft, leaving scratches on the journal. Hopefully it is deposits and not scratches so the crank might be salvageable. Pistons in the damaged engine look better than the ones from our donor engine, so Mark will probably use those instead. He said the cylinders on the new block look good and honed out nice and smooth. It all goes back together today (Tuesday). It needs to get to the shop in Maple Grove on Wednesday for evening installation.

It looks like it will be a hot weekend in Iowa, partly cloudy with daytime temps around 90F and overnight only down to 70F. The race course uses a lot of the oval, so wear on the right front tire will be unavoidable.

Another engine

Thanks to Mike Straub at Hanover European Auto Parts, we have another 2.1L short block for the Fart-hinder racecar. It will be delivered on Friday to Mark at SVS, Inc. in Duluth, who has offered to do the rebuilding for us. Thanks for all your help!!!

Update 6/12/10: I stripped the pistons and crank out of the "new" short block just after it was delivered to SVS. Took the crank to Midwest Engine in Duluth for polishing, and had the block washed in a dishwasher type parts washer. Adding a bit of paint to the block today (Saturday), while the other team members are busily removing the engine from the race car at the shop in Maple Grove.

2010 ChumpCar at Brainerd, by Tim Winker

A few of my photos from the race have been posted on Snapfish.
Click here to view photos

Team Cougar Bait update

After the engine failure in their 1994 Saab 900 V6 put them out of the race, Team Cougar Bait built a race car in the paddock in about 14 hours. The donor car was a 1999 Saab 9-3 4-cylinder. Though the car body was basically the same, they even used the doors from the 900 on the 9-3, the engine systems were not at all compatible.

The crew transferred the safety gear from their racer, welded the cage in during a late night thunderstorm, and made it to the start for Sunday's 7-hour enduro. Due to the accident there was some chassis straightening required, but the new car, dubbed CB3, seemed to handle quite well, with fast laps competitive with some of the front runners.

Best of all, they took the checkered flag, finishing in 9th place after a late race pit stop for gas. They also received the award for "Off the Charts Mechanical Excellence".

A few roses amongst the stinkweed.

Even though our race weekend was over way too early, it was not a total loss. Darrell invited the mayor of Brainerd, James Wallin, to join us at the track, and he gave a quick welcome during the driver's meeting and was given the privilege of waving the green flag.

John Hogdahl did get a chance to drive the new road course at Brainerd. He was invited to be the Pace Car driver on Saturday. The pace car was pretty much a basic rental Ford Fusion, but John gave it a workout.