Tuesday Morning Practice Notes
• Both Dallenbach brothers had problems in their Open Wheel cars this morning. Paul’s transmission only gave him second and third gears for two of the runs he made in the upper portion of the course. He said it was a linkage problem and he does not expect it to be a continuing concern.
Paul’s older brother Wally Jr. lost an engine during the first run of practice. His team will sit out tomorrow’s practice while a new powerplant arrives from the engine builder in Greeley. “They were going to try to get it down tonight, but we decided to take more time to do it right,” Paul said. He expects Wally will be ready to go for qualifying.
• Perennial Hill Climb favorite Clint Vahsholtz also lost a motor in his Super Stock Car during practice at the lower portion of the course. “We lost a rod bolt in the motor,” Vahsholtz said. “It’s kind of a freak deal.”
Vahsholtz returned with the car to his home in Woodland Park to put in a new engine. He said his team put that engine in the dynamometer, which measured seven more horsepower than the one that failed. He will return to the mountain tomorrow for practice with the new engine.
“We’ll take a run or two tomorrow to shake things down,” Vahsholtz said. “Then I’ll try to get a good qualifying run in.”
• Unlimited driver Koichi Horiuchi spun near the Ski Area during the second run of practice. His right front tire went off the road, which did some damage to that part of the car. He had to be towed down because his car lost power after the spin and he could not restart it.
• Two Big Rig drivers had problems during their practice runs. Mike Ryan had electrical problems and Darren Berdahl had transmission problems.
END TUESDAY NOTES
