STUDS Racing, Inc. Update

Things are going swell during my league races -- especially during the Noctural Adrenaline Cup Series, now that my handle "MobilOneDodge12" has now moved into 4th place in the points. It's just plain lucky really, since some of the Series regulars haven't made all of the races.

After 10 Noctural Adrenaline Cup Series races, I've only managed to secure 3 Top-5 finishes. I'm still looking for my first win!

The picture at left is the #66 Sony Vaio/Best Buy Dodge Charger taking laps, or testing, at Dover International Speedway. It's a tricky 1-mile concrete oval. This is the first time that I've actually run laps at this track since I've gotten NASCAR Racing 2003, and since it's already not one of my favorite tracks from the previous EA Sports NASCAR games, I knew I had my work cut out for me.

Dover is steeply banked in the corners, and even the straightaways are banked. It's really easy to get "loose," or over-steer the car coming off Turns 2 and 4, so I have to be really easy with the throttle. There's just a few races left in this Series, and I'm almost glad, because with my new found experience in this league, I think I have something offer to the veterans for the next season.


Last week, the Nocturnal Adrenaline Series ran through Talladega. As you see on the picture at right, all was not well. I again decided not to qualify (take the provisional) and started in the back. Usually at super-speedways, things can get bunched up in a hurry, so starting in the back is the wisest of moves.

Unfortunately for me, this incident occurred on Lap 2 of a 66-lap event. Myself and the #001 car were riding the back of the pack, going down the long straightaway, then all of a sudden smoke erupted in Turn 3. Cars were spinning up the track -- reactions were critical. The #001 next to me decided to brake and I decided to pull the ol' Cole Trickle move from "Days of Thunder." I was determined to go straight through the smoke screen and come out on the other side peachy-clean. During this whole thought process, I'm thinking that based on past wrecks at tracks like Talladega or Daytona, the cars would eventually slide to the bottom of the track. Instead, cars on the bottom got caught up in the wreck and would immediately would shoot straight up to the wall.

For about a split second, I thought I had seen an opening, but I got hit ... I smashed into the #35 square on the nose, crumpling my hood. I barrel-rolled down the track once, coming to rest on all four wheels. I did manage to make it back to the start-finish line for the caution flag, but my engine was shot. I only ran about a couple of green flag laps after that, but my engine was so far gone -- I was running about 30 mph slower than the rest of the field.

In the other series, the Midnight Thunder Truck Series, the #4 Dodge Ram did not quite make the field due to other committments last Friday night. I was a little disappointed, because it was the first race of Season II. Now, I'm just hoping that I can keep my number (since some other guy was whining about that I had taken it), but it was all settled and all-good during the "acquaintence race" at a fictional track called Blue Ridge Speedway (which is basically Michigan).

Now, I'll be one race behind. There will be a lot of catching up to do, especially with a now-crowded field. Over 30 racers competed during the first race at Daytona. I guess I'll just have to stick with my strategy of starting near the back and letting things happen in front of me!