A lackluster night
Donny and the LMI crew were hoping to gain ground on Thursday night in the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing at New Smyrna Speedway. They were in contention for the Series championship and a strong performance was needed. But it was not to be.
Donny was third fastest in qualifying with a lap of 17.644 seconds behind Eric Beer’s fast time of 17.448 seconds. He drew the seventh starting position in the 25-lap feature.
Newcomer Justin Gaydosh was on the pole but it was Ted Christopher from the outside that took the lead. On lap three Gaydosh banged wheels with George Kent and triggered a wild fracas in turn one. Both Gaydosh and Charlie Pasteryak were done for the night while Kent, Eddie Flemke and Chuck Hossfeld were on pit road. Donny did a masterful job steering through the carnage and found himself in fourth as the race resumed.
The car was not handling up to expectations and he quickly lost a spot to J.R. Bertuccio. On lap 11 Flemke hit the turn one wall and ended his night. Over the final half of the race Donny was battling to hold onto fifth under heavy pressure from Mike Fitch. Coming off turn four to take the checkered flag he finally lost that battle and settled for sixth. The finish was Christopher, Buck Catalano, point leader Eric Beers, Bertuccio and Fitch. Carl Erickson won the night’s SK Bonus with his 16th place finish.
“The car just wasn’t as good as it needed to be tonight,” noted Donny. “We were just riding around trying to stay in the top five. Fitch got by me on the last lap and you hate to lose a position that way but I was doing all I could. We need to be fast in tomorrow night’s 100-lapper if we’re going to have any chance for the championship. The guys have been working hard and they’ll figure out what went wrong tonight.”
Bottoming out
The slide continued on Friday night for Donny and the LMI crew. Several changes were made to the car but the end result was another disappointing finish in the Richie Evans Memorial 100. Fortunately it proved to be the final event in the 2004 World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing at New Smyrna Speedway.
In qualifying Donny was 4th fastest at 17.659 seconds behind Eric Beers with the quickest lap of 17.500 seconds. Donny then drew the pole for the main event.
At the drop of the green flag Donny grabbed the lead with Beers nipping at his heels. The first portion of the race was rough and marked by several cautions and a red flag. Donny remained out front until a stretch of green flag racing began. On lap 22 he lost the lead to Beers and slowly began to slide back in the field. It was obvious the car was not handling at all and Donny was struggling. The team hoped for a caution to make some changes but none was forthcoming. Finally on lap 62 leader Beers lapped him. Five circuits later the caution was out and the crew was able to make some changes.
They ended up pitting twice in the remaining laps but to no avail. Nothing seemed to improve the handling and Donny could do nothing more than hang on and ride it out to the finish. John Blewett drove the Brady Bunch #00 in Victory Lane, leading George Kent, Beers, J.R. Bertuccio and Chuck Hossfeld. Donny was credited with 11th. Carl Erickson again won the SK Bonus with a 12th place finish.
“We haven’t had the car right the last three night,” noted Donny. “We’ve made a ton of changes but nothing seems to help. The way the car is now I can’t drive it. I’m just out there riding around. The guys have tried a lot of things but it seems to be something more serious than we can fix here at the track. There’s no point in continuing like this. We need to go back home and take the car completely apart to find out what’s wrong. We’ll be headed home in the morning.”
The point became moot when the final night of racing in the Series was cancelled by rain. Donny was credited with third in the final point standings.
Looking back, looking ahead
For the Donny and the LMI crew, the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing at New Smyrna Speedway is behind them and the NASCAR Featherlite Modified Series looms ahead. The season begins in just four weeks and the team plans to be ready and get out of the starting blocks quickly. They hope to follow the same path Todd Szegedy and his team traveled in 2003 – follow up on Rookie of the Year honors with the Series championship. It is a tall order but one they feel is within reach.
“We had a pretty good run in Florida,” notes Donny. “I am satisfied with our overall performance. Our goal was to go there and try some different things on the racecar. During the season up north you really don’t have much time to try anything new. We learned a lot and brought the car home in one piece. At times we struggled more than we would have liked but that can happen when you are trying different ideas. Not all of them are going to work. But we also won a race and finished third in points. I think that, all in all, it was a big boost for the season ahead.
“We feel we can compete for the championship. Having said that, we know it’s important to get off to a fast start. We are looking forward to Thompson because we feel we have a good setup there. We nearly won the Thompson 300 last fall. After that we go to Stafford and I feel we are very competitive there. Then it’s on to Waterford where we finished third in the last race there. With our experience from last year as well as what we learned in Florida, we think we can be a factor in the early races. I can’t wait to get started!” Donny will be appearing at Racearama in West Springfield, Massachusetts this weekend in the NASCAR booth. Be sure to stop by and say hello.
