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Bout with the Boot... | More >> | 2004 Recap Archive | 2003 Race Archive

Start - 10th | Competitors - 23| High - 5th | Low - 16th | Finish - 8th | analyzer report not avail.

The hallowed grounds of Indianapolis pull at your senses. The history rings true in every inch of pavement as the sound of stockcars build upon a new tradition that is NASSCAR. Fierce competition and the drive to win permeate the thoughts of the drivers as they dream of victory and stare in awe of the spectacle that is Indy. The long frontstretch narrows down to a tunnel as you shoot through the first turn into the short chute. Navigate the chute and then angle off into turn two for the journey down the famed backstretch. Turn three beckons and it's off into four and down the canyon of heroes to the yard of bricks.

Limited practice and a switched out steering wheel challenged the team this week as the TSW wheel that is the staple driving implement for the AMSOIL team suffered a setback when one of the wires that controls the gas and brake ceased to operate. The backup Thrustmaster wheel was pressed into duty and although there's no comparison in driving feel, the driver didn't care as long as there were four wheels on the car.

Real life boy scouts kept the AMSOIL mount out of happy hour and after turning three laps of practice Kevin did a yeomans job of qualifying by pulling down the 10th slot on the grid by way of the first lap run. Knowing he put up a decent number on the first lap he tried to get a bit more out of it on the second go around but the car washed up and the effort was for naught.

Running hard in the beginning to stay with the lead draft, Kevin surged to fifth place but soon tire wear took it's toll when he slid the tires one time and flat spotted the right front Goodyear Eagle. From there it was a slow slide until mid way when green flag pitstops were the order of the day. Falling off the lead lap, Kevin hung tough, while working a strategy to get to the finish by conserving fuel should the run go green the rest of the way. The ECI Express would have been able to make it the rest of the way without having to stop for fuel and the fuel conservation helped to conserve the tires. It was all for naught however as the yellow waived late in the race and everyone ducked in for tires. At the time Kevin was the last car on the lead lap.

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Bout with the Boot... | << back | 2004 Race Archive | 2003 Race Archive

"With twenty to go there were a handful of quick cautions, the last coming with only twelve to go. Kevin was in eighth at the time and ducked in and changed two tires for track position and was game to charge the final ten laps to the finish. Fate would stop the action however as the entire field suffered an Internet disconnect while coming down to the green with ten to go. It appears the NASSCAR officials were able to assemble the running order at the time of disconnect and were going to render a decision as to whether the race would be considered official.

Kevin Inglin, the pilot of the AMSOIL Chevy had this to say after the run:

"I'll be happy if they call it a race and we move on to Watkins Glen. It was an up and down night for us and we didn't seem to be getting off the turns as well as everyone else. We were killing them into turns one and three but they were pulling a car length or more off two and four which is more important. We'll have to go back and check the tapes to see what we could have done better. Perhaps it was the wheel, but there's no reason to make excuses. We were respectable and after not much practice that's all we can ask for.

The closest cars in the points had some troubles to night At the end of the race, Nick Chayer had dropped off after an incident with Jeff Mahan and Bruce Walsh was one lap down. We'll have to see what NASSCAR rules on this one but it would be safe to say that it's probably going to go into the books as official. It' helped tremendously that we were under caution when the boot happened. Everyone was pretty clear on where they were running. If they can figure out who led laps and who led the most laps then it will probably stand.

We turn right and left next week and some practice for the "Glen" will definitely be in order. Hopefully our parts will come in for the wheel and we'll have that issue behind us. Last note is congrats to Dan Bailey. If the results stand, he knocked down a top five and boy did he need that. Should help him tremendously in the points too so let's hope for both of our sakes, they make it official.

Until next week... "