Thomas Grady’s Busy Race and Fan Filled Weekend
July was a busy but rewarding month for Thomas Grady of team Over The Top Motorsports as we traveled from one race to another. Here’s an account of our racing adventures:
Thursday, July 21, we loaded up the trailer with spare parts, extra fuel and a fully prepped car. We made the short three hour drive to Attica IN, home of the Badlands Off-Road Park and the TREC race series. We did a pre-run of the race course at 9 p.m. to test the lights for night racing.
Friday, July 22 the crew was up at 7 a.m. so Thomas could pre-run the race course for a few hours. The pit crew prepped and checked the race car, and then it was time to load up the tents, tables and promo items and head to downtown Attica for the big Ultimate Motorsports Championship, (UMC) celebration. Thomas was interviewed for the UMC movie and the Lafayette, IN newspaper. Thomas also met the Hooters girls and two of the local law enforcement officers after he explained that “my dad drives the car on the street and I drive the car on the race track.”
On Saturday, July 23 the morning was spent watching the WEROCK event. It was a very hot day so the team just hung out at the pits and relaxed after lunch, while some of the team checked the car with pre-race inspections.
7:30 p.m. was the start time. Thomas was in fifth place at the first corner but moved ahead to second at the first check point. The dust was unbelievable, with the hood of the car not even visible at times, let alone the race course. Passing the slower cars and those in other classes proved to be quite a challenge for Thomas, but he handled it very well. Racing in the dust at night, with some of the course in the woods tested man and machine. Thomas placed second quite a few laps in front of the rest of the A class cars. With the solid second place finish at the UMC, Thomas is in second place for the series championship.
After the race was over Thomas gave a few rides in the race car to some young fans. They had smiles a mile wide when they got back!
Then, when we got back to the hauler to relax and have some dinner, the generator broke a belt. Oh well, that’s racing. We all got some sleep, with the windows open, no air conditioning!
July 24, we loaded up, and headed south to the next race at the Saline County Fair race in Harrisburg IL. About one hour in to a four hour drive we find an auto parts store and Thomas changed the generator belt while I changed the oil in the race car.
July 25 we did some prep to the car and checked everything, and adjusted the shocks for short coarse dirt track racing. After the first heat race we discovered that the motor had a very bad misfire/over fuel problem. With only 10 minutes between races there is not a lot we can do, so we checked the obvious items and talked with the pit guys by phone. Even with a weak motor, Thomas was able to race fast enough to make it into the main race with the second fastest heat race times.
During the main race the car was way down on power and Thomas was still able to finish in second place!
July 26 we headed home for the six hour drive and stopped at the local dyno shop to have them look at the car. After scanning the computer for the motor they discovered that the mass air flow sensor is not working.
The next morning Thomas and I changed the plugs and wires, and purchased a new mass air flow sensor, and an engine computer scanning tool that will allow us to check the motor before and after every race right at the track.
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Category: Race Recap
