July 2nd & 3rd - Race #10 Budweiser Outlaw Nationals

Friday night July 2nd was night 1, race #10 of the Budweiser Outlaw Nationals at Plaza Park. There were 25 cars signed in for this event. During practice, my motor was loading up and it never really could get up to speed. My crew thought they had it fixed for qualifying. I had a decent pill draw and the track was pretty slick already. The motor still wasn't running right, but I managed to still qualify 11th quick.

I was started 2nd in my heat race. My crew was struggling to get our car to run right. When the green flag flew, I hit the throttle & I knew it was going to be a long 10 laps. I had to baby foot the throttle to get it to clean out and run. I managed to hang on to a 3rd place finish.

I was starting 11th for the main. I knew we were in trouble as we just couldn't get the gremlins out of the carbs. Another competitor & friend, Tristan Guardino, loaned me their backup set. When I left the pad for the track, I knew the car was going to run good. The track had gone really dry slick. There was no grip anywhere, it was a one groove track & I finished 10th place.

Saturday July 3rd was night 2 and 26 cars were signed in. We had given our carbs to our engine builder, Steve Hamblin, Friday night to see if he could find the problem. Steve delivered our carbs back with a thumbs up. A bad throttle position sensor was causing our grief and when I got on the track for practice, I knew they were good to go. The car felt really good and we were back in the game.  I was 7th out for qualifying. The track was already going away. My 1st lap was really good, but I overdrove lap 2. I qualified 8th quick.

I was lined up 3rd in the 1st heat. At the beginning of the race, the leader got a great start and pulled to a 4-5 car lead. I fought hard to get around the 2nd place car but he was running the bottom and I just could not make the top side work. I ended up with a 3rd place finish.

Night 2 added an extra race. A dash for cash with the top 8 qualifiers. The finish of the race also set the lineup of the first 4 rows for the main event. We drew a pill for our starting position. I was starting 7th. My crew advised me to use this race to feel out the track & stay out of trouble. There was little to no grip on the bottom and the top was starting to get a cushion but it was very rough up there. I finished 8th.

My crew tighten up my car & I was ready for the feature. When the green waived and began making my move. Within 2 laps I was in 6th and making a pass for 5th when 2 cars in front of me got into each other. I tried to get under them both but was shoved into the infield. I kept the car under control & came back on the track in 11th place. I drove hard and clean all race long and worked my way back into 8th place at the finish.

I had a great car for the main. Some early bad luck kept me out of the top 5 but it was still a good finish. Plaza Park is going to be dark for the month of July so I am going back to Stockton, CA & race at Delta Speedway July 10th and 17th. I hope everyone had a safe & happy 4th of July.

Dalton Hill #81