By Scott Collins, John Salemi Racing
LAKEVILLE, CT - For the second straight race weekend, John Salemi was forced to take the green after having a limited number of practice laps due to problems with the car. The driver of the #63 Pontiac started the Burnham Hydronics 150 presented by Mohegan Sun from the 20th position, without really knowing what to expect from his grand prix. Once again, Salemi was able to make the best of his situation and bring the car home in 12th position. It was the first visit to a road course for John in a stock car and was another strong run for the team. Salemi currently sits 13th in a very tight points battle, as the series heads to the season finale next weekend.
Friday’s practice sessions did not go as planned for the #63 team, much like last weekend at Dover. The plan was for John to make as many laps as possible and learn the track. Without being able to test earlier in the week, the practice sessions were the first laps Salemi had made on a road course in a stock car. “Coming from 12 years of motorcycle and shifter kart racing, I have plenty of road course experience,” John said. “However, these heavy stock cars are a whole different style of road racing, so it’s going to take some time for me to get comfortable with it.” Unfortunately, mechanical issues plagued the team all day long on Friday, and John was very limited in the number of laps he was able to make at speed.
In the first practice session, the transmission kept locking itself in 4th gear. Most of the first and second sessions were lost, as the team had to fix that problem multiple times. “ We finally got the linkage fixed at the end of the second session and just wanted to run some laps in the third session,” John recalls. Once that problem was solved, John was ready to go out for the third and final session when ignition problems hit the Nashua, NH driver. “We tried to go out for the last session and the motor had no spark.” The team was able to fix the ignition problems, but most of the practice time was lost for the day. John was forced to qualify for Saturday’s race with little practice time, similar to last week at Dover. “Friday was probably the most frustrating day all season long,” John recalls.
Salemi’s plan for the race was to stay out of trouble and be there at the finish, when it counts. This strategy has paid off for Salemi all season and Lime Rock was no different. “Midway through the first lap, cars were driving in the grass and taking a lot of early chances. I knew at that point that the key to this race was going to be survival,” John said. Salemi ran the first half of the race incident-free and let the field sort itself out. Taking on fuel at lap 25, John and the crew began to plan out their race strategy to get to the finish at lap 82. “The car was a little loose in the first half of the race, but I was able to keep it on the track and out of trouble.” Under a yellow at the midpoint of the event, Salemi again brought the car to pit road. The crew gave John a full tank of fuel, new left side tires and also pulled a spring rubber out of the left rear to tighten him up. “Overall, the changes that we made helped out a lot. The car handled much better after we stopped.”
John was able to make a stronger run in the final stages of the race with the fresh tires and a better handling car. Salemi raced his way into the 12th position and was able to avoid a couple of close calls by driving in the grass in turn one. At the end of the day, it was another hard fought finish for John. “These last couple of weeks, the deck seems to have been stacked against the entire team. We just make the best out of what we have and make sure that we are there at the finish. Our hard work is paying off and we are becoming a strong race team. We have all gained a lot of experience this season and it is showing with our strong finishes. We’ll go back to Thompson next week and wrap up the season with another strong run.”
The 2005 NASCAR Busch North season concludes next weekend at the Thompson Speedway with the New England Dodge Dealers Twin 100’s. The green flag will wave at 8pm for the Busch North Series. Sponsorships are available with John Salemi. For more info please visit the team website at http://www.johnsalemiracing.com or email marketing@johnsalemiracing.com
