April 1 is here. As usual, the first few months of the year have FLOWN by, the days are warmer, drier, and longer, the daffodils have come and gone, and fresh, green leaves are appearing on the trees and shrubs.
One month from today we’ll be back on track. In the paddock laughing and having a good time with buddies. Scratching our heads over some perplexing issue that didn’t exist in April but seemed to jump into the car once it was unloaded in the paddock. And it will be awesome.
If there is a single biggest lesson I’ve learned over four seasons of racing, it’s that however I expect a weekend of racing to go, it won’t be like that. Unpredictable, diverse, surprising, shocking, depressing, exhilarating…who the heck knows?
2025 was a year of binary experiences for me. I was, to my own disbelief, setting personal best lap times, winning or leading races, swapping positions 17 times in an 11 lap race in sublime competition with Stephen…or my engine was self-destructing (twice) or I was on fire (once). There was almost zero middle ground. At one point Rich dubbed me “Mr. Excitement”. For the rest of the season I raced with “Mr. Boring” written on my arm as a reminder.
The biggest thing I learned last year was that there is, at least for me, a significant head game (aka “skull fuck”) involved in being in or near the lead. I made mistake after mistake after mistake: Braking too late, trying to tighten my turn at the apex, attempting to pass too soon, driving to lead instead of driving to win the race. I looped the car once at Spokane, once at Historics, had an epic off at the top of the Corkscrew, looped the car three times (once was due to a mechanical issue) and was late on the brakes once at the chicane in Portland. Though I finished Portland better, I made the three hour drive home doing a reset in my head; an inner evaluation and exploration of what was going on.
At Fall Finale my #1 goal was “no loops, no offs”. I was determined to drive for that and let track position be whatever it was. And in another example of “it won’t be what you expect”, I ran at or near the front of the Sprite-Midget races (we ran split-grid with mid-bore) all weekend, including winning two or three races. Other drivers were faster in some places on the track, but instead of trying to win turn 2, I raced for position at turn 9, where the timing line is. The weekend came to an end with several fabulous battles with Stephen and Evan, where we came back into the paddock nearly leaping out of our cars to celebrate with one another. Stephen and I traded the lead 17 times in 11 laps in one race. I can’t imagine having more fun at the track.
The season closed on that high note and in early October the Fall Car Shuffle happened: The white street Bugeye went on the black trailer, it was shimmied in next to the house, the 12 car went on the red trailer, parked in the driveway, and the Arnold Car went into the garage for, well, everything.
Fast forward past SO MUCH WORK and on March 21 the Arnold car rolled out of the garage, the 12 car rolled off the trailer, there was washing and cleaning and photos, and then the 12 car went into the garage for race prep.
We checked the brakes (replacing a couple things), various nuts and bolts, electrics, cooling, changed the engine and transmission oil, addressed a leak at the trans drain plug, cranked it with no plugs until oil pressure came up, then fired it up. Hooboy, was it nice to hear it running again!
The one minor down side from Fall Finale was that the car developed a moderate oil leak. It was pretty well misted on the rear, and Stephen, who was practically in my tail pipe much of the weekend (when he wasn’t ahead of me), noted the oil mist on the front of his car. Finding and fixing that was critical and also stressing me a bit…without any good idea where it was coming from.
The oil return fitting on the block has been and off/on problem, so I removed it. The cardboard gasket I made was dry, so that wasn’t it. The oil temp sensor is in that fitting, but it was okay. That left the oil return line. I removed it and made a new one, routed differently to put less strain on the fitting. Unfortunately, that routing interfered with the bonnet closing (it’s a TIGHT fit near the fender bumpers), so it had to get adjusted again. Then I fired up the car and watched like a hawk for leaks. Everything I fiddled with was DRY. Yay. Until I rolled the car off the lift and saw the 14″ diameter puddle of fresh, clean oil under it. D’oh!
I hadn’t seen anything leaking from the top side, so I started it and got it warm, then raised the lift so I could watch from underneath (truly, I don’t know how people past their 20s maintain a race car without a lift). It didn’t take long before a rivulet of oil appeared down the side of the pan, under the vent fitting. Even after tightening the fittings (an AN8 to AN10 adapter, and then the AN10 on the vent line) the leak persists, unabated. I climb the ladder, shut the car off, then open the fittings. A milky white emulsion dribbles out. Shit. I panic a bit, and send photos to a couple wiser buddies. After some back and forth, I crack open the drain plug and feel a great deal of relief when clean oil comes out (instead of water). The emulsified oil was just from a bit of over-winter condensation in the vent line.
The leak, I soon discover, is due to the AN8 to AN10 fitting bottoming out against the weld on the pan before it sealed. I take it off and cut a bit off the end of it (I would NOT do this on an pressurized line), reinstall, hook up the vent line, and fire up the car. NO LEAK. Yay!
After a bit of cockpit cleanup (oil and dirt intrusion from the collection of unused holes in the floor), the car is track-ready. One more wash and an over-due coat of wax, and it’ll be spic and span for Spring Sprints.
Now back to the Arnold car…and on to Spring Sprints, May 1-3!