TEAM WP FINISHES 4TH in the SILVER STATE 300!

Drivers: Rob Seubert & Tom Richardson

Words by Rob Seubert

We finally felt we had a nice competitive run at it, like we know we are capable of. We finished 2nd in the Vegas to Reno race last year, but everyone else just had more issues than us in that race. So even though we finished 4th this time, it felt better than that 2nd.

I started off and was sweating bullets with car 1710 starting behind me…. I think that’s why Tom elected to have me start and him finish !

With the 1717 in front of me, I figured I had serious work to catch them…but I did. They moved over nicely after a gentle nudge. We were on them for a long ways in the dust before the wind got just right and I could close the gap to see past the dust and get on their bumper….same issue everyone else had catching & passing.

Car 1718 was just in front of 1717 and we were on them quickly after passing 1717 – but same thing happened as we followed them for a long time in their dust. We got a bit of luck when they got stalled behind a trophy light that broke and blocked the course. They were pushing them off the course when we came around the corner. They got them out of the way and the cat and mouse race was on !! I was glued to their bumper and gave them a couple of taps. But they were making a run for it. I’m sure their logic was that they got caught due to having to push the truck out of the way…but we were only 100 yards behind them for miles, just out of the dust.

They blew a left hand corner wide and I tried to get them on the inside…in that pine forest type area – very, very narrow. I took a big tree limb out with the driver pillar and my passenger mirror swiped off on their rear quarter…had to back off. But still on their bumper.

Then they blew a right hand corner, dipped the left wheels in the ditch and launched out of the ditch pretty violently landing on the right side and nearly rolled it. I could have counted the pan bolts on that transmission. I got a really good look at the bottom of that car. Tom and I couldn’t believe it came back down on all four wheels. Not sure if they hurt something in that episode, or just scared the hell out of them, but they pulled over and let us by.

Now I was leading the pack !! That was awesome. We got passed in the pits by several guys while fueling and air filter changing. Tom and I swapped seats and he drove it to the finish cleanly. We rolled across the line physically in 3rd, but 1708 got us on time (unofficially). Tom & I drove it so hard that we completely wore out a set of front tires ! Very fun to be in the hunt that close.

Thanks to Warrior Products and Seubert Machine for supporting car 1724!

TEAM WP RACING – THE MINT 400

Words by Tom Richardson

The Mint 400 was a little bazaar this year starting on the first lap. The tie-down (3 inch ratchet style tie-down) for the spare tire on the back of the car came up missing and wasn’t noticed until after the car left the starting line. We’re not sure when someone needed it worse than us but we’re thinking it could’ve happened while we were all attending the driver’s meeting.

This caused the spare tire to move around a lot as we began racing. Before we even arrived at the first pit stop, the tire ended up next to the driver. At the first pit we secured the tire but some damage was done while the loose tire was bouncing around in the back that wasn’t noticed until the second lap. The main cable from the alternator to the batteries, which are behind the seats in the drivers compartment, started smoking so Randy and I stopped.

Our first thought was the cable had come loose and had rubbed the insulation off the wire and was grounding out on the floor boards. After wrapping it in roll bar padding at the first stop, leather tool pouch at the second stop, and leather wrapping and more roll bar padding at the third stop, we determined that the wire was not shorting out but was over heating and melting anything that was close.

A little investigation and we found the culprit, the tire hit a battery cable which came loose but looked to be tight. After we secured all the cables, the main wire stopped overheating and the plastic tray from the tool box kept the bare wire from shorting out. Finally, we were off and ready to finish the race.

After four stops and about an hour of down time, we were left in the back of the pack and only able to finish ninth.

Our reward: we finished the race!

Next up…the Silver State 300 in May!

TEAM WP RACING – THE PARKER 425

Words by Tom Richardson

PRE-RACE

On the day before the race, everything was running smoothly. We made it through registration without a hitch and cruised through technical inspection and contingency with no major problems as the car was well prepared. Going to the drivers meeting finished the day for us and now we were prepared to start the race in the early morning, never realizing that tomorrow would be a long day but a short race.

RACE DAY

We awoke bright and early on Saturday as Randy Peterson (co-driver) and I left our hotel in Lake Havasu City to meet up with the car at the staging area next to the Bluewater Casino in Parker, AZ. The car was running well and was well prepared for the beginning of the 2013 season. Our entire team was more than ready. We were staged in the 9th spot out of 22 cars in our class and 206th off the line. After a couple of hours wait we were set to go. Lining up on the main street of Parker, we left the starting line and drove about a quarter of a mile on the pavement before we made a hard left into the desert. With fans of the Parker 425 race standing on both sides of the street cheering us on, we began our adventure!

The car was running well and handling extremely smooth as we caught up to a few cars in our class. We worked our way around them with little trouble and felt good about our start. Entering pit one , we found no problems and continued on. Congestion was heavy as we approached mile post 41 with five cars all lined up in a high speed part of the track. The trophy trucks were coming hard from our rear, with their speeds over 100 mph and we were doing over 70 mph. Heavy dust blocked visibility as we passed cars and others passed us. As a trophy truck passed me, the track looked to be going to the left around a big tree which was the only thing visible. I aimed for the left side of the tree accelerating to 80 mph. All of a sudden my navigator Randy is yelling through the head set that the track goes to the right of the tree! Now I’m caught in a bind. If I turn hard to the right at this speed, the car goes into a drift and into the tree, or maybe just missing the tree. A quick decision on my part to go off the track and around the tree to the left worked as we waited for traffic to clear then got back onto the track to try and catch back up. Lots of racing left to go this day… no need to press.

The car slid nicely to the left of the tree slowing to about 10 mph and upon seeing a small wash, I started to drive towards it as the entry point back to the race track and with Randy yelling “We missed the bush!” when WHAM!! A car that was behind us hit us at probably 60 mph just behind the passenger door low on the floor board seam. Our car lifted up, traveling about 25 feet in the air, slammed onto its side and onto the other side of the wash up against a short bank which probably kept the car from rolling over a few times. The car that hit us flew over us, landing upside down, to the right side of our car and facing back at us.

We got the car shut down, battery off, and started un-hooking the seat belts and looking for an exit. My side was down in the dirt so no way out there. The passenger-door was crushed shut too so out the window we went. Thanks to the Best in the Desert’s stringent safety rules, all of us were out walking and mostly in one piece. Our racing day appeared to be done, with a broken rear leaf spring, shock, and a blown front tire. The other car wasn’t going anywhere and would need a flat-bed to haul it out after the race. Our car, once put back on its tires, could probably limp back to a nearby pit. Interesting development occurred right then. The car that hit us was in the same class and had the same kind of car. The car’s driver and navigator out of Washington State, #1718, were great to work with and after some discussion, they agreed to loan us their rear leaf. During our work, we discussed what happen just before the crash. Number 1718 had lost its GPS and didn’t know which direction the track went. They were driving blind. Because there was virtually no visibility, they decided to follow our lights through the dust but had no clue we were leaving the track. Not good for either of us.

After an hour of work, off we went back into the race. Because the rear shock was destroyed and taken off, the car didn’t handle very well in the bumps, but we were moving again.

The car was checked out at the next pit while Randy and I waited in the car and would continue to complete the first lap then a driver change. After pit four, tragedy struck again. We broke a front tire at the hub and watched the front wheel assembly pass us as we pulled the car off the track. We had a good spare and a good right side hub… over the next few hours we took both sides apart swapped parts and worked to make the car roll. Our work paid off. We were moving again but this time we were headed for the pits as our day had come to an end.

We got the car back to the pit and on to the trailer by dark which Randy and I thought was an acomplisment in and of itself. All in all a very long Saturday to not even finish one lap.

The car will be ready to go by the next race, the Mint 400, at the end of March. Randy ended up with some minor issues for his chiropractor to straighten out. I had some very bad ribs and a few bruises here and there, but all should be fine in a couple of weeks. The Mint is just a few weeks away!