whistlin six
04-20-2010, 11:34 AM
If any of you watched the race on Sunday, you saw we had to shut down Bodes car on the starting line. That was one of the biggest dissapointments I've ever experienced. We had a good race car this weekend and qualified in the top half of the field. Everything was going our way until Sunday.
After rolling back from the burnout, I saw our crew chief pointing at the oil pressure guage. When I looked and saw 5 lbs of pressure my heart about stopped beating. I do bottom end and short blocks so any problem related to oiling is my deal.
I felt like throwing up while towing the car back to the pits, going over my routine over and over again trying to figure out what happened. Did I put oil in it? Did I leave something loose? All eyes are on me at this point.
Well it had oil (phew) and the bottom end was all normal (phew). So I took the oil pump apart and there she was, a fukn .50 cent roll pin that holds the pump rotor to the shaft had sheared off, ending our day and the possibility of going rounds on race day. Even though it wasn't my fault I still feel sick about it. Wilkerson smoked the tires in the other lane adding icing to the cake of dissapointment.
In hindsight I'm glad it failed before we sent the car, no doubt it would have come back a pile of rubble. Funny how the littlest thing like a roll pin can shut down a quarter million dollar race car.
After rolling back from the burnout, I saw our crew chief pointing at the oil pressure guage. When I looked and saw 5 lbs of pressure my heart about stopped beating. I do bottom end and short blocks so any problem related to oiling is my deal.
I felt like throwing up while towing the car back to the pits, going over my routine over and over again trying to figure out what happened. Did I put oil in it? Did I leave something loose? All eyes are on me at this point.
Well it had oil (phew) and the bottom end was all normal (phew). So I took the oil pump apart and there she was, a fukn .50 cent roll pin that holds the pump rotor to the shaft had sheared off, ending our day and the possibility of going rounds on race day. Even though it wasn't my fault I still feel sick about it. Wilkerson smoked the tires in the other lane adding icing to the cake of dissapointment.
In hindsight I'm glad it failed before we sent the car, no doubt it would have come back a pile of rubble. Funny how the littlest thing like a roll pin can shut down a quarter million dollar race car.