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Richmond Raceway NEMST - 3/30/19

To Da Front

To Da Front with Mitch - 5/23/19

     It's a new year and while we've had some uncertainty with our beloved Speedbowl, (with the help of others) we haven't stopped chasing races.

 

     Over the winter, we were offered a ride in an ice racer.  So on a cold morning in February, we set out for a pond in New Hampshire to take on a new challenge.  It was different, but a very fun experience.  The heat race went pretty well,  (I can't remember exactly at this point but) we finished around 4th.  The feature however didn't go so well.  While we started last and took it easy into turn 1, the visibility was so bad from all the snow spray, and that's where everything went wrong.  After reviewing our footage, we had 1.5 seconds to react from seeing the car that spun in the corner, to the point of impact hitting him head on.  That's where we decided to retire from ice racing.  However a month later, the car was repaired for another driver, and we were allowed to take it out in the mechanics race.  We fared much better, with much less snow spray, to finish 2nd on the tail of a "Street Stock" with our little Nissan Sentra.  Big thanks to the Cavallaro family for this opportunity to try something new.

     After that, up next was another potential once in a lifetime experience.  A trip to Virginia to compete with the Mini Stocks at Richmond Raceway.  What was the first of a few races in the #54 Clavette owned Integra,  proved to be a good learning experience.  Unable to make the trip, the crew had to learn almost everything about the car on the fly.  Most of the scheduled practice day was spent chasing oil leaks, and chasing an "overheating" problem that was never actually a problem (just a faulty gauge).  There was some issues with the tune that was in the car too, which we didn't get a chance to modify until race day.  We made a change from heat to feature to try and clear up the fuel delivery issue, but we overshot it.  Under the first caution, the crew learned how to tune it, live!  We tried to split the difference but were still off on our guess.  So the whole race we were never really under full throttle. After going a lap down and with a transmission that was leaking all over the right side tires, we ended up 19th in a field of nearly 40.

 

     With the Speedbowl plans still not clear, and with the drive to compete, Mitch and Tim paired up again to take on the Oxford opener on 4/28, then again this past weekend.  The first race the car was out to lunch the whole day.  We got slower with every adjustment made as the day went on.  Thanks to attrition, we ended up hanging on to a 12th place finish.  This past weekend however, we were on to something.  We changed a bunch of stuff in the shop to try and improve this next outing.  Starting the day almost where we left off in lap times.  But the car felt much better.  After the last round, and before the heat race, Tim changed a couple more things on the car and it made a world of difference.  Thanks to Pops drawing nearly last place for lineups again, we picked up about .6/.7 of a second in the heat race.  The car was able to keep up, and even be faster than those in front of us, but was still a little on the loose end so we couldn't make any moves.  Come the feature, after another change, we simply missed the mark on it making it so loose it was nearly undriveable.  We went a first lap, but on the first caution we came in to change it back to where we were in the heat.  Well, the race went back green almost immediately giving us no time to even jack the car up and we went down a few more laps during that.  Re entering the track, we were fast again, and keeping up with the competitors, once again faster than some.  But at that point it was all about staying out of trouble and just finishing the race.  We finished 13th, but now have something to work with for next time.

     Up next, we get to take out the #54 Integra again to White Mountain Motorsports Park in NH.  This checks another track off our list to cover all of New England.  This leaves just Spud Speedway on our list to complete this, if anyone has any leads to be able to compete there in anything it would be appreciated. 

**Andover Used Auto Parts, Biggins’ Auto Repair, So Sorry, Lucky Strike Lanes, Thirty Marketing. **

Mitch Bombard, driver of the #10CT Super X, X Car, and Enduro, or #54 Mini Stock,  is the writer of the weekly recaps, and expresses the views of his own from his viewpoint behind the wheel, and after watching video (if available).

To Da Front with Mitch - 5/9/18

     Welcome fans to a brand new season of posts, written by yours truly.  This year we have moved up to the Super X Car division at the Waterford Speedbowl, a brave new adventure for us.  We opened up our season this past Saturday at the Blast Off with a 12th place finish.  We forgot to create a write up in the off-season to recap our Thompson season, but long story short, the World Series presented itself with a bunch of problems, in the end, we met our 2017 goal and finished 9th in points with the Mini Stocks.

  Not much exciting really happened as far as racing goes, but behind the scenes there was plenty of activity.  We wanted to use this as a shake down before the Wednesday season starts on May 16th, so there was plenty to fix on the car both at the track, and during the off week in the shop.  We had oil leaks, transmission leaks, exhaust leaks, thankfully no gas leaks however.  As an issue popped up we took care of it, little by little.  First round of practice was just a simple shake down, during group qualifying we pushed it a little harder, just enough to get used to it.  Come feature time we tried to give it all we could, but another 2 issues arose.

    Starting last in the field, we were only after some valuable seat time.  Out the gate the car wasn't sounding too healthy.  Come to find out 2 of our spark plug wires fell off at some point, not really sure as to when exactly.  Nonetheless it was still a good experience as the sensation is nothing like the Saturn was.  About 10 laps in, the car started to overheat so we pulled it off the track to cool down.  In an effort for more seat time, we went back to complete the race running 17 laps total, of the 25 scheduled.  

     The car is already in the shop and work has begun to alleviate these issues, and come the Wednesday opener, we hope to have something a little faster.  As we go into 2018, and figure out these new things, our main goal is to keep learning, and keep improving.  We're thankful to have the right people in place to make this a successful year by our standards, and hopefully we can get back To Da Front!

On Board Video 5/5/18 - Click Here

**Andover Used Auto Parts, Biggins’ Auto Repair, So Sorry, Lucky Strike Lanes, Thirty Marketing. **

Mitch Bombard, driver of the #10CT Super X, X Car, and Enduro,  is the writer of the weekly recaps, and expresses the views of his own from his viewpoint behind the wheel, and after watching video (if available).

To Da Front with Mitch - 8/28/17

     Once again we've been slacking on the updates, it's been a crazy 2nd half of the season and unfortunately we have minimal good news to report.  Since our last update, we ran 2 events at Waterford as a Mini Stock, one with the 4cyl Enduro, a tour race in Massachusetts, an 8cyl Enduro at Riverhead, and finally a Thompson Mini Stock race.

     Our 2 events at Waterford were solely done out of boredom and curiosity.  We had the reliable but slow single cam motor in the car, and decided to run for fun.  Support our home track, get a little excitement, put on a bit of a show, even a little experimentation with the Saturn single cam motor.  The fastest we could get both times out was 18.2 second laps.  For those keeping score at home, that might get us a win as an X-Car.  Unfortunately it'll be pretty hard to go faster than that, seeing as we had the pedal to the floor all around the 3/8ths mile oval (maybe just a touch of brakes on entry but didn't lift).  We finished 15th and 11th each time out in July.

Passing Bird Photography

     In between those 2 events, we blew off some steam in the 4cyl Enduro as a part of their Wild 'n Wacky Wednesday program.  No we weren't frustrated, we literally blew off some steam.  With the help of Andover Auto Parts getting us what we needed to put the PT Cruiser back together, we made it nearly the entire 50 laps.  With a front row starting spot, and shifting issues from the Unity Raceway event in March rearing its ugly head again, we were off to a bad start and was immediately punted into the turn 2 wall.  But it's not all bad news!  It was a pretty impressive save and the shifting issue seemed to have disappeared after that mishap.  We went on to avoid all the carnage, with only one stoppage for safety purposes, to cross the line 5th.  We only made it 49 laps as the eventual winner lapped us in the closing stages.  Around halfway we noticed it getting a little hot inside the car.  Keeping an eye on the temperature gauge, it was pegged with the lights shining bright.  Then suddenly it wasn't so hot in there, as the sweat was building on the driver.  Well come to find out our new radiator held up to the demands of racing, however the 100+ thousand mile hose from the radiator to the block did not.  After the checkered we parked the car next to the trailer to steam pouring out of the hole in the hood.  After then it would not start.  Pooduro-IV, and whatever is left of its muddy coating from February, is now a member of the junkyard in the sky. RIP.

     We were pretty excited to be able to race semi-local under the jurisdiction of someone who respects his drivers.  Little did we know, we would be a fierce contender during a tour event.  The North East Mini Stock Tour invaded Massachusetts for a 50 lap event,  and we were equipped with a questionable Twin Cam motor (for good reason).  We picked up a motor that had various visible issues, and without investing too much money we addressed them.  These included a front crank seal, thermostat, water pump, oil pan, tensioner, it goes on.  After the track refused to mount our new tire, and some creativity with tire placement, we were at a very respectable position on the speed charts in practice.  But the car was overheating.  Bad head gasket ended up being the case.  We ran the race hoodless and it seemed to keep the temps down,  in the heat we were fairly dicey with our competitors for once and it really got us excited for the feature.  That picture up there? That's battling for position and not getting freight trained.  Come the feature, we were running about 6th at halfway, when all of a sudden the car was slowing down and we were losing track position heavily.  The yellow flew for someone in Turn 1, our our motor grenaded on the back straight.  Eventually the fire crew drove down the hill to tend to the fire, luckily it was only a small lingering one.  So again, we blew up in a Tour race with Thompson a few days away.  We officially finished 16th.

   Back to Thompson with the Single Cam again, and we got creamed.  Fairly embarassing showing.  We avoided trouble on the track and finished 10th however.  But before those last 2 events we drove down to Long Island, bought what will now be Pooduro-V, and raced it that same evening.  We competed at Riverhead Raceway for their Gut&Go 8 Cylinder Enduro and crossed the line after 40 laps in 11th.  Unofficially, in our humble opinion, and by looking at lap times, we were the first TRUE Gut&Go car, as the top 11 seemed to be what we at home call Super X's.  Or old school Grand Enduro cars.  Regardless, it was alot of fun, and all we need to do now is change the water pump and she'll be ready for more action.

Up Next: Another busy span of events.  We hope to do the NEMST event at Waterford 9/2.  Sunday at Noon there will be a meet and greet at the Woodstock Fair.  After that we will try to make it to Waterford for the Enduros.  Then on 9/9 we will attempt the Enduros at Riverhead, and the next day on the 10th is Thompson's for the fans event.

 

Waterford 7/15 Video: Click Here

Waterford 7/22 Video: Click Here

Riverhead 7/29 Video: Click Here

NEMST 8/5 Video: Click Here

**Andover Used Auto Parts, Biggins’ Auto Repair, So Sorry, Lucky Strike Lanes, Thirty Marketing. **

Mitch Bombard, driver of the #10CT Enduro, NEMST Car, Mini Stock,  is the writer of the weekly recaps, and expresses the views of his own from his viewpoint behind the wheel, and after watching video (if available).

To Da Front with Mitch - 7/8/17

It has been a crazy few weeks at headquarters with everything from the car to the trailer needing service, as well as some personal items.  We ran the New England Short Track Showdown at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and the Busch North Throwback event at Thompson since our last release.

We ended up missing first round of practice at the one mile oval, and this proved to be a little painful as we needed to test out our mechanical setup we brought to the event. (Right: Tachneedle Photo).  After a few laps in round 2 we knew we needed to perform a transmission swap in order to get a more appropriate gear ratio.  Big thanks to our pit neighbor Jeremy Carter for all his help during the process.

With pops up in the tower spotting, Christine really stepped up to the plate with helping setup the car and doing other odds and ends. Starting pole in the heat race with the new transmission we really had no idea what to expect, and it showed as we tanked to the rear fairly quickly, partly due to not having enough track time. But it proved to be a good photo-op (hot rod magazine photo).

We started deep in the field for the feature event, and was running a very fun and decent race somewhere in the 20-30th place range fighting hard for positions, when 12 laps in the car backfired coming out of turn 2.  Slowing to a stop on pit road looking for the crew, one or two stalls away from the pit box, a fire blasted out the front and back of the motor ending our day, and luckily ruined nothing else major and everyone involved was safe.  We ended up officially scored 33rd.

So now here we were a week out from Thompson's K&N event, with our built race motor blown to bits.  Granted some of it appears to be salvageable, a week was not enough time to assess the damage and rely on a quick rebuild.  We immediately went to the shop and worked hard all week to take a spare motor out of our parts car and put it in the racer.  This motor had 246k miles on it, and pretty much half the power of our race 

motor.  We were literally bringing a knife to a gunfight with the sole purpose to take the green flag at Thompson for our point run this season.  Whatever it takes.

Turns out, we did much better than expectations.  Yes the car was very slow in comparison, yes we didn't stand a chance out there.  But attrition worked out in our favor as the competition basically dropped out.  We lost a full second plus some on our lap times compared to the old motor, and it showed on the long run that put us so far behind.  A green white checkered gave us renewed hope for a better finish bunching us up once again, but the tired motor couldn't pull off any miracles and we crossed the line 10th.

We will be doing something different for our next trip to Thompson, as the Single Cam engine was only to get by for this one event.  However we are debating taking it to Waterford this week solely out of curiosity on what it will do at a track that doesn't require as much motor as it does handling.  Our plan for the rest of the season is to finish the Thompson schedule, and make whatever decisions based outside of that.

We also ran the Waterford opener prior to NHMS, where we experienced electrical issues submitting us to an 11th place finish.

The Saturn operation is now available for $2000 turn key, and that's with every part we have in the shop.

Link to RaceDayCT.com Article for NHMS

Link to On Board at NHMS 7/1/17

Link to YankeeRacer's Video @ 8:10 mark

Link to On Board at Thompson 7/8/17

Link to On Board at Waterford 6/24/17

**Andover Used Auto Parts, Biggins’ Auto Repair, So Sorry, Lucky Strike Lanes, Thirty Marketing. **

Mitch Bombard, driver of the #10CT Enduro, NEMST Car, Mini Stock,  is the writer of the weekly recaps, and expresses the views of his own from his viewpoint behind the wheel, and after watching video (if available).

To Da Front with Mitch - 6/29/17

This edition comes a little late as we've been busy with preparations and other events on our schedule.  Since the Waterford results from June 24th are still being prepared to be posted, we will address that event in our next release.  Also, this Saturday July 1st we'll be at New Hampshire Motor Speedway with the NEMST.  Admission is only $20 and you get 4 big feature races on New Englands NASCAR track.

We started the feature on the outside pole, our best starting spot in our short career up there.  With a little help going into turn 1, and again going into turn 3,  we were able to take the lead and lead our first career lap as a NASCAR Mini Stock at the Big T.  After that we were quickly overtaken by the 87 car, and he checked out.  Meanwhile we were running a solid 3rd for much of the race in a clean and exciting side by side battle with Doug Curry.  The car started to drift off in the closing laps and the 2 car was pulling away from us in 4th. That's when the 16 and 21 cars ended up overtaking us also in a tight battle at the line where we walked away 6th.  This was an exciting day for us and it was good to see our hard work pay off.  We hope to carry this momentum in the next Thompson race on July 8th.

We started the feature on the outside pole, our best starting spot in our short career up there.  With a little help going into turn 1, and again going into turn 3,  we were able to take the lead and lead our first career lap as a NASCAR Mini Stock at the Big T.  After that we were quickly overtaken by the 87 car, and he checked out.  Meanwhile we were running a solid 3rd for much of the race in a clean and exciting side by side battle with Doug Curry.  The car started to drift off in the closing laps and the 2 car was pulling away from us in 4th. That's when the 16 and 21 cars ended up overtaking us also in a tight battle at the line where we walked away 6th.  This was an exciting day for us and it was good to see our hard work pay off.  We hope to carry this momentum in the next Thompson race on July 8th.

Click here for on board video.

Click here to watch the race via fanschoice

**Andover Used Auto Parts, Biggins’ Auto Repair, So Sorry, Lucky Strike Lanes, Thirty Marketing. **

Mitch Bombard, driver of the #10CT Enduro, NEMST Car, Mini Stock,  is the writer of the weekly recaps, and expresses the views of his own from his viewpoint behind the wheel, and after watching video (if available).

To Da Front with Mitch - 5/22/17

Another good run for the team at Thompson for Military Appreciation day, as we survived an eventful race and wound up crossing the line 12th.
 

Debuting (the start of) some new colors, the #10CT Saturn rolled off the trailer to many comments on appearance.  Bare without stickers, and freshly painted black the new look is off to a good start.  But as we all know, the paint job don't make the car fast.  We showed up to a beautiful day at the speedway, ready for 15 laps of Mini Stock action.  We made very minimal changes throughout the day from practice to the feature, a first for us.  We were running about 11th fastest of 22 entrants all afternoon.

We were slated to start 3rd in the heat race, but we're still trying to take it easy at the Big T seeing as our entry point is different compared to the other competitors due to us having to shift gears every lap, thus deciding to start in the rear.  Fortunate for us the front row was involved in a lap 1 incident that may have not worked out in our favor.  We finished the heat 7th.

The feature was very eventful and unfortunately we didn't have our camera mounted this time.  We started 13th and got up to as far as 9th.  We struggled on restarts and there appeared to be no shortage of them in this race. Once up to speed however we were moving along pretty respectably.  With about 7 to go there was an accident in the middle of turns 3 and 4 that we got collected in.  Unsure which way to avoid the accident, the brakes were applied in full force and fortunately we drove off (after getting unstuck with the 97ct).  Luckily the tire didn't go down because they didn't give us much time to pit.  Luckily the guys were quick on the ball and ripped off the front bumper cover that was rubbing our right front tire and we just barely made it to the tail of the field for the restart.  The alignment was definitely off too from some minor damage to that area, but nothing to end the race over.

Restarting from the rear now, we had to work quickly to get back to where we once were, and the competitors made it tough to accomplish with some fun tight quarters racing.  We managed to get up to 11th, but coming to take the white flag out of turn 4, the 87 drifted up into our left rear while attempting to pass and kicked us sideways in the high groove up near the wall.  We made an impressive save and were able to keep going forward, thanks goes out to those drivers around us that gave me enough room to avoid more carnage.  We ended up pushing the 87 across the line unable to make a bid for the spot back on the last lap.

Some work is needed to get back on track, our next event being at Thompson on 6/14.  We hope to have it fully lettered at that time too.  Work will also progress on our new adventure in this time.  Thanks to our sponsors for being so understanding that we couldn't have them on in time: Andover Used Auto Parts, Biggins’ Auto Repair, So Sorry, Lucky Strike Lanes, Thirty Marketing.

Mitch Bombard, driver of the #10CT Enduro, NEMST Car, Mini Stock,  is the writer of the weekly recaps, and expresses the views of his own from his viewpoint behind the wheel, and after watching video (if available).

 

To Da Front with Mitch - 4/17/17

We made our return to the Mini Stock season at Thompson Speedway's annual Icebreaker.  We literally took the car out of the backyard since it didn't sell, changed the oil, a few other odds and ends, and shipped it out on the track.  

With fresh tires all around and a winter of uncertainty underneath it (lets not forget how it wouldn't start at the World Series), we took first practice very carefully.  We turned very slow times, but that wasn't all that was up our sleeves.  Also affecting round 1, there was a slight vibration caused by a bad motor mount.  Come round 2 we picked up a bunch more time, nearly a second, with room for improvement as well.  Like we've come to learn and accept with this new car, there's no good gear ratios for our engine/tranny combination that work almost anywhere.  We had to shift gears every lap, every corner, all the time.  Good thing it's only 15 laps!  Doing so made our corner entry unsteady, but our drive out VERY powerful.  

As we were getting more acclimated to the car and what it wanted on the long blistering cold Saturday, we had renewed excitement for the little Saturn.  However, after starting nearly last in the heat, and having a decent run for a couple laps, tragedy struck as we lost our right rear wheel hub (pictured).  This is a failure common to Saturns and Cavaliers, and cannot be prevented and caught beforehand.  The car slid out of turn 4 with no control over the brakes (as the brake drum was bouncing down the track attached to my tire) to a stop just at the grass line on the front straight.

The car was then hooked into the pits, and repairs were immediately underway.  Mitch worked at removing the broken parts, while Terry handled the cosmetics, until Interim Crew Chief Christine got done ordering a new replacement part on the spot, and also began work on the cosmetics.  By the time we left Saturday, the car was on all fours, race ready.


Before

 

After

Sunday was the day, and after running around all morning trying to resolve bent wheel issues from the incident (shoutout to Christine also for taking the car out to the fan appreciation party then subsequently driving it back into the pits afterwards), and then installing the new part, we were ready to race.

The car went really well for our expectations, we had a decent run, had to check up a few times.  Pitted once for a little bit of overheating (just to remove tape), and worked our way to a solid run getting more comfortable each lap.  We had some good side by side racing with the 31 and the 97CT, and was knocking on the door of the 19 to the finish.  We hope to keep this momentum up as our plan is to run a full Thompson Season in 2017, but as we've learned with this car, anything is possible.

Reminder that she's still for sale, the whole operation, car, parts, and all, go with it.

Until May 21st, stay safe my friends.

On Board at Thompson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zZdurryU2I

**Andover Used Auto Parts, Biggins’ Auto Repair, So Sorry, Lucky Strike Lanes, Thirty Marketing**

Mitch Bombard, driver of the #10CT Enduro, NEMST Car, Mini Stock,  is the writer of the weekly recaps, and expresses the views of his own from his viewpoint behind the wheel, and after watching video (if available).

To Da Front with Mitch - 3/7/17

     With the new year comes the return of To Da Front.  Granted we hope this year won't be a busy one, we will still keep up with our involvement and social interactions.  At this point in 2017, we have two starts on the books.  Both with our PT Cruiser Enduro.  

     On February 4th, we returned to Ransomville Speedway for their annual Hangover 150.  Last time we visited this facility it was blistering cold and we were racing in a snow storm.  This years edition we saw a mild swing in weather, and the snow turned to mud.  We made it most of the way and was running in the top half of the field when the car started to overheat and the windshield washer reservoir ran out of fluid.

     In order to check another track off our list, on March 6th we took a trip to Unity Raceway in Maine to compete in their anything goes enduro.  The intent was to run this race in the snow and that was somewhat the case.  For the most part, all but turns 3 and 4 were clean of snow.  Prior to leaving on the 4.5 hour journey, we caught and repaired a broken radiator, and the new radiator had also gone to the graveyard after this race.  43 cars started the race and we rolled out scratch, only to be lapped before lap 1 was even complete.  We had an intermittent problem with the car too as it would not get up to speed every lap and sort of fall on its face, until it kicked back to life and we were able to drive the thing.  The snow in the corner was about half a foot deep and the ruts took a toll on the field as there were maybe 8-10 cars still running by halfway.  We believe barreling through the ruts are what caused the new radiator to break as it was pouring coolant out from the bottom of the car.  Once the temperature was redlined, we pulled off figuring to save it for another day.

 

On Board at Ransomville: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hliMQA2rc0

On Board at Unity:  https://youtu.be/z4GBDqaxifw

**Andover Used Auto Parts, Biggins’ Auto Repair, So Sorry, Lucky Strike Lanes, Thirty Marketing**

Mitch Bombard, driver of the #10CT Enduro, NEMST Car, Mini Stock,  is the writer of the weekly recaps, and expresses the views of his own from his viewpoint behind the wheel, and after watching video (if available).

To Da Front with Mitch - 9/25/14

Description:  It's been awhile, but we've been busy.

 

Transcript: CLICK HERE

To Da Front with Mitch - 6/26/14

Description: We got dirty this week, both on clay, and with Hot Dogs.  Curious yet??

 

Transcript: CLICK HERE

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