TACOMA, WA :: So this past weekend the team and I gathered at the race shop to do our final preparations on the #68 Toyota Camry ahead of the Summer Showdown at Evergreen Speedway. We had all the parts in place; engine sitting on the stand in front of the car, transmission laying on the floor next to that, various other bits laying around the car. What we were really missing was time. Add to that problem the fact that my truck scattered the transfer case all over the highway on my way to the shop that morning and time became a real issue, really fast! So the day started out by rescuing me and towing my truck to the shop.
As for the racecar, we had this huge list of things we needed to do, and it all hinged on getting the drivetrain in the car. But before we could do that, Pops decided to make some changes to the front suspension geometry. While that was going on, the clutch was put on the back of the engine, the throw-out bearing set up and then the transmission bolted to the bell-housing. Once all that was finished we set about putting the engine/transmission in the car. Then comes the other bits, such as driveline, exhaust, radiator, hoses and wiring. Once all that is done we lit it off to make sure it would actually make noise. This loaner engine sounded crisp, so that was reassuring. On to the other stuff!
We knew we had some issues with the rear end possibly being out of square. The front clip on this chassis is not the clip that as on it when we started the build of this car. So the squaring tabs at the rear-end were not located correctly. So after putting the car on the setup blocks, we set about to fix that so we knew that the rear-end as actually, truly, square with the front cross member. This means dropping a plumb-bob from several locations, making lots of marks on the shop floor, measuring, re-measuring, making more marks on the shop floor, measuring some more. You see where this is going. If anyone tells you geometry isn’t useful later in life, they clearly aren’t a racecar driver! Finally, we got the rear-end properly squared, then we put new squaring tabs on the frame in the correct spot. So that should be much easier now.
Once we had all that stuff done we set the car on the scales to do our final setup work. This is always an interesting time for me because it means sitting in the car while the team does all the work. I always feel bad because I’m not actually helping them. But it has to be done that way to be accurate. It involves a lot of repetition. First you have to set the ride heights at all four corners. We have a final ride height we like it to be at for each corner, but you also have to take into account the fact that once you start setting the sway bar it will change the ride heights at the front of the car. So you have to factor that in. Once the ride heights are set, you roll the car on the scales. There’s a specific balance we’re looking for between front/rear, left/right and the “wedge”, which is the amount of weight on the right-front and left-rear compared to the left-front and right-rear. Some call it “diagonal”, some call it “cross”, but the term “wedge” is an old school NASCAR term and that’s the one we still use in our shop. Usually the weights are not how you want them on the first shot. So then you roll the car back off the scales, make a chassis adjustment and roll it back on the scales. Repeat until you’re where you wanna be. And along the way you have to keep rechecking those ride heights so they don’t get away from you. Once you are where you wanna be, you set the sway bar to the proper amount that you want, which is highly debated in our shop. Scaling the car is a long process, and can sometimes literally take hours. This new car has been pretty good to us though and the process has been fairly short and predictable ever since we first set it on the scales at the beginning of the season.
So after starting our day at roughly 9:30am that morning, we finished up close to 8:30pm that evening. A very long day, but it was done. We’re really excited about this race, but I’m equally nervous as can be. This is by far the biggest stage we’ve ever seen in our area, and the highest level of competition I’ve faced. I want to say I’m confident, that I know we’ll do well. But right now our focus is simply on making the show. We’re clearly an underdog team, so making the race at this level of competition will be a major statement for us. As for my truck, it’ll sit for a while. I got other priorities!
Note: “Terrible” Tim McDougald is the driver of the #68 Mo-Dane Trucking / Clevenger Associates / Rev-Equip / Late Model Racer / Ringers Gloves Toyota Camry in the Whelen All-American Late Model series at Evergreen Speedway. When Tim is not driving the car, he helps the 3-car family owned team on the pit crew. Tim also handles the spotter duties for his brother, Tommy Rasmussen’s, #92 Mo-Dane Trucking / RPM Sales & Service / Vital Signs / Mauritsen Enterprises Chevy Impala racing in the Pacific Northwest. Tim is the HayWire Racing team’s web site editor and Media Relations Director handling all team pr, media obligations and sponsor relations. Tim is an avid blogger, active Twitter (@TerribleTim68) and Facebook user and a published author. For more information about the team, visit http://www.haywire-racing.com. For inquiries regarding marketing coaching and sponsor package help, contact Tim through the HayWire Racing website.
