ANTIOCH, CA -- The saying goes something like "Every cloud has a silver lining." Well Chris and the #51 Team encountered a very dark cloud at the Featherlite Southwest Tour Irwindale 100 at Irwindale Speedway Saturday night. But before the night was through that silver lining made its appearance and turned a disappointing start to the day into an exhilarating evening.

Chris was full of excitement and anticipation as he and the team checked into the Irwindale Speedway Saturday morning to make his attempt to qualify for his second Southwest Tour Race. This was the inaugural Southwest Tour race at the new 1/2 mile Irwindale Speedway which is an awesome facility. The first of 2 one hour practice sessions opened at 1:00 but with delays in registering, getting settled in the pits, unloading the car and clearing tech, it was nearly 1:45 before Chris entered the track for practice. Chris looked to be able to hold his line around the track and each lap appeared to be a little faster. After about 8 laps and a scary wiggle in the back end in which Chris was able to keep the car under control, the dreaded "Something Broke" was heard over the radio. Chris pulled into the pits and the crew started their evaluation of the car. The drive axle had broken. At first this was thought to be something that could be easily fixed. The schedule had the second practice session starting at 2:30 which only gave the guys about 30 minutes to fix the problem. Normally that should have been enough time. Today it wouldn't be.

The drive axle was jammed and try as hard as they could it would take nearly an hour to get it removed. To further complicate matters there was the necessity for replacement which neither we nor anyone else seemed to have. After much hunting, we were able to secure the parts from two other teams on the tour only to be faced with the issue of having 1 hour before qualifying to make the needed repairs and to run a qualifying attempt without any practice time on this very fast track.

Chris and the crew struggled with the decision but finally came to the conclusion that it would not be safe to send him out to attempt to qualify in a car that had no practice laps and with a blind set up. The risk to the driver was too great. This was only the second race in a partial season with no points on the line. This was not a popular decision but the only logical one. There would be another day and time for Chris to make his mark on this track.

With a tremendous amount of disappointment, the transponder was pulled off of the car and Chris turned it into the officials. There would be no qualifying attempt or race tonight.

There was about 30 minutes before qualifying and ample time to clean up and get the car loaded onto the trailer. We would watch qualifying from the pit stands. 36 cars had registered, however, only 33 would actually make a qualifying attempt. Bryan Germone had fast time with a record time of 17.363 (103.669 mph). The times were very close with the difference from Germone's fast time to the slowest qualifier at 18.440 was only 1.077. It took a time in the 17-second range to make the Main Event.

Well the dark cloud had already surfaced, however, that silver lining was about to make itself known. The #4 car of Dennis Dyer had completed his first qualifying lap with a time of 17.585 which would be good enough for 11th, however, coming off of Turn 4 on his second lap, he lost control of the car and into the front stretch wall it went. Fortunately for Dennis, he was not hurt; however, the front clip of the car was destroyed.

Entering the race, Dennis was tied with Doug McCoun for 4th place in the Southwest Tour points race. Missing this race would be a tremendous blow to his championship hopes. Well, Dennis had a car without a front end. Chris had a car with a damaged rear end. The teams starting talking about the possibility of Dennis running Chris' car as a backup so he could still make the race and protect his point position.

Now Chris has been in this position before. Last year while running for points in San Jose, the motor blew on his car and he was trying to find someone willing to let him run their car...no luck. Knowing how it felt to be in this position, Chris gave the go ahead for Dennis to run the car.

Now here's where a part of that silver lining came out. While both teams worked on the car to get it fixed, it was discovered that the damage on Chris' car was not limited to just the broken drive axle but the rear end itself. Even if the drive axle had been replaced there would have been more problems and possibly a car and driver in the wall. The crews feverishly worked against the clock, removing the rear end from the #4 car and installing it into the #51 car, along with other set up changes. With the cars being called to staging the teams barely made it BUT they made it and Dennis was able to get onto the track in time for driver introductions.

Since this was a back up car, Dennis would have to relinquish his position based on time and start at the back of the field. Remember that Dennis had never driven a lap in this car until now. We were all betting that with his 10+ years of experience in the Southwest Tour, he would be able to handle any car.

It was an awesome race slowed only 3 times by caution flags. 21 cars would finish on the lead lap. Dennis did a tremendous job starting in 30th and posting an 18th place finish. He finished 2 positions behind Doug McCoun with whom he had been tied for 4th place at the start of the race. While the #98 of Greg Pursley won the race from the pole, Keith Spangler's #37 was coming on strong, having worked his way up from 25th to challenge Pursley at the end. At the checker flag, from our vantage point in Turns 1 & 2, we couldn't tell who won. It was that close. Pursley got the win, followed by Spangler, Kurt Busch, Damon Lusk and Matt Crafton rounding out the top 5. Dennis' impressive ride in the #51 car helped to keep him in the points race. It also gave Chris and the team an opportunity to see how the car could run. And boy, did it ever.

A heart-breaking afternoon became a win-win evening for the drivers and teams of the #4 and #51 car. With Chris unable to make a qualifying attempt and no opportunity to race and Dennis having a damaged car and desperately needing to start the race, the two of them pulled their resources. In the end, Dennis is still right there in the chase for the championship and Chris gained more knowledge and confidence in a car that he has not had much time racing. After all, 1999 is the year of getting out the wrinkles, learning, and getting ready for next year.

Source: RacingWest
Posted: 5/18/99