ARCA

Mike Buckley ARCA Kentucky report

Short but sweet this week......I'm tired. Between Salem and Kentucky, we decided that it was best to finish our new car to take to Kentucky. There was a ton of work that needed to be done....and we worked hard. I need to thank everyone who put ...

Published: May 16, 2002, 7:16 PM

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Short but sweet this week......I'm tired.

Between Salem and Kentucky, we decided that it was best to finish our new car to take to Kentucky. There was a ton of work that needed to be done....and we worked hard. I need to thank everyone who put in the many hours during the blur of last week getting the car done. It is not easy with a volunteer crew.....there were some late nights.

The car was not exactly finished when we put it in the trailer Thursday night at 11:00 pm. We had a six hour trip to the track, and it would open at 6:00 am. on Friday. A couple of trips....make that many trips to the BSR truck, and we were thrashing to get the car done for the 11:00 am practice.

Well you know where the story goes from here....besides getting the essentials done, the car needed some work to pass tech. We got on the track at 12:55 and got about 4 laps of practice. Qualifying would be fun.

We completed what we needed to pass tech for qualifying and put the car in the field in the 31st spot. It wasn't fast, and we would have to do some work for the next practice. The next practice was not until 6:45.......time for a nap. We picked up the pace a little bit in the last practice.....but basically, I was trying to figure out the track.

Race day we had plenty of time to do the little things that we could get done the day before. The car was looking great. It is nice piece. Had a nice lunch with Ken Starr from Miracles for Life...a charitable organization that works with networking organ donors with those in need......thanks Ken.

We got going OK in the race. It took me a while to figure out what the car wanted....or what it needed, but it was coming around. We purposely under geared the car for this race to save some wear on our only engine. It definitely need more gear, but the key to this race was staying out of trouble......there was lots of trouble. They should put one of the in car camera setups in our ride...hint, hint.....It seems like I missed about 27 wrecks and had a good view....too good... of them all.

I got a lap down early, but was doing OK, and it looked like we were going to do great. We could not run with the first 4 or 5, but could keep up otherwise and was looking for a good finish. Then I ran over some debris and had a left rear tire start to go down. Since the cautions were coming every few laps....I stayed out. Ran 10 or 12 laps slow thru the corners with the left rear flat and finally got a caution. I lost 1 more lap on the track during that time.....a lot better than pitting under green. Finished up the race in 21st spot and stayed out of trouble, not a mark on the new car.

As I am writing this, we are just about ready to leave for Charlotte. Didn't have much time to work on the car (Monday and Tuesday night), so it is a good thing it is in good shape. Traveling down Wednesday after work for a Thursday AM opening........don't they know we work for a living?

Mike Buckley
Owner/Driver ARCA #28
Arcamike@aol.com
www.goddessfiona.com\buckleyracing

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