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      There was so much to cover about the Icebreaker that I never got to talk about my favorite subject: me! Huh? I could almost swear I just heard the sound of everyone simultaneously "clicking" the "X" in the upper left hand corner of this page. But nah, that can't be true, you're still here right? Hmmmn, where to begin? O.K. everybody knows I've been trying to find a ride for the 08 season. And because I was willing to bring some funds to the deal I was offered a variety of opportunities. None of them were really a good fit for me though, so I figured I'd spend the Icebreaker weekend helping the #15 in the pits and catch the race from the stands. Then I got an e-mail from Don Simon.
     Don's the owner/driver of the #7 Mini and a long time crew member on Mike Anzalone's high powered #17 Mini Stock. Together with Mark their chassis guru they've found plenty of speed on the high banks of Thompson Speedway. So it should come as no surprise that the trio would combine their efforts and try to work the same magic on Don's car. Mike, who has moved up to the ARTS series, planned to split his time between a partial season in his Arts truck and Don's Mini in an effort to help bring Don's car up to speed. But as fate would have it Waterford's practice session was in conflict with the Icebreaker, so they found themselves in need of a driver. The way they tell it, Don and Mark both came up with the idea of putting me in the car at the same time.
     I got in the car for the last pre season practice session, but due to a radiator failure, sharing the car with Mike, and the ambulance leaving the track, I only got out on the track once. Anyway, both Mike and I agreed the car was tight in the center.
     Saturday Icebreaker weekend I got more seat time but we couldn't take the push out of the chassis. The fact that we couldn't adjust it out of the car said to me that there was something "fundamentally wrong" with the set up. And that's the term I used when giving Don feedback. We talked about some swaybar and steering stuff he needed to change, but I knew that wouldn't fix what was slowing us down today. The problem was I didn't know what would. I can give good feedback but I'm no chassis expert. About this time Lloyd who was pitted next to us took me aside and pointed something out that was visibly wrong with the chassis. It was one of those "forest for the trees" things that we didn't see because we were looking too close. A little later Rick Blanchard came by and asked how we were doing. We told him and he took a look at our numbers and gave us some advice on how to get the car closer. Which was great but the problem was we had run out of time. It was Saturday night and the next time we fired up it was gonna be for the Icebreaker! It was a long day and it was time to call it a night, so Don and I agreed to meet back at the track at 10 AM to make the changes Blanchard had suggested. We figured two hours would be plenty time to get it done and I was also lobbying the car owner for a jet change for the feature.
     As it was we barely had time for the chassis work to get done because Thompson decided to start pushing the Minis out right after the mandatory drivers meeting instead of noon. That left Don about 40 minutes to make adjustments on three corners of the car, put the wheels back on, torque the lug nuts, reset the swaybar, and check the toe etc. It was chaos, but some how he got it all done in time (and none of the wheels fell off in the race either!) In the race it felt like the changes were for the better and I was having a lot fun racing against my old car and Mike G. I wanted to beat those two guys as much as they wanted to beat me, but we suffered a flameout early in the race when the module popped. Oh well.
     I'd like to take a moment thank Don for trusting me enough to let me play with his hot rod. It's a real good car it's just gonna take some time to get it all sorted out. Anybody who's ever done this knows it's a process. Scott Michalski's a good example, he drove his all new car and finished 11th. Not a bad finish but this guy won the last two races of 07 in a fully sorted car, see the difference? In one weekend Don and I found half a dozen areas that needed improvement, given time there's no question that the #7 will be a front running car. And when it is I'd like to think I was at least a small help in getting them there. Either way it sure was fun being the hired gun for the weekend!
     If I can manage my time right, I should have one more update before the May 8th open practice, so stay tuned!