Koger Race Report

The Nationals at Charlotte

by Trish Koger

"Some things were just not meant to be..." Rick Koger was quoted as saying after the conclusion of the October 16-19th AC Delco 1997 Legends Cars National Championships at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Before I explain, I want to let everyone know that competing at this year's National Championships was an experience that Rick and I will never forget, and that's for many reasons, both good and bad.

We were very privileged to be racing against some of the best Legends Cars racing teams in the world (37 states and 3 countries were represented.) And, in my book, that makes them some of the best racers, period! The TK Racing team has definitely come a long way in just a year's time.

In 1996, Rick and I attended the Nationals as spectators (and as fill-in crew members when needed). I remember watching the racing in utter amazement, wondering if I would ever be able to get up the nerve to jump into that kind of bullring mayhem. This year, I jumped without a moment's hesitation.

But, as I sometimes do, I'm already getting ahead of myself... let's start from the beginning:
THURSDAY -- Trip to Charlotte / Technical Inspection
Our excursion to Charlotte Motor Speedway started VERY early on Thursday. We got up at 2:00 am and were headed north on I-95 about an hour later. The trip that usually takes between 7-8 hours in the car took an exhausting 10 hours with the TK Racing trailer in tow. When we finally hit town, we picked up our pit passes from the offices of 600 Racing (the Legends Cars manufacturer) and then headed straight to the track.

The mandatory technical inspection was scheduled to last from 10:00 am - 4:00 pm. We pushed the #90 Florida Online car up to the tech line at about 2:00 pm... that is, we pushed it in line behind about 100 other cars waiting in 90-degree heat! It suddenly looked like it was going to be a very long day.

We made the best of it, though. Ten other Florida drivers had also made the journey north: Pros - Ed Brown #2, Robert Ham #8, Andy Logan #10, and Paul Schrien #74f; Semi-Pros - David Tart #3, Mike Ward #5, David Logan #06, and Tim Williamson #6; Masters - Dennis Ward #25 and Jack Galbreith #101. The mandatory wait gave us time to relax, chat, and reminisce. After all, being from Florida, we had all been trained at the "wait-in-line" capital of the universe: Disney World.

While in line, we also got a chance to get caught up with Jimmy Foster, a former Florida Legends driver who has hit the big time. Originally from Ormond Beach, Jimmy advanced into the NASCAR Goody's Dash Series in 1996.

After winning the Rookie-of-the-Year honors, he moved up into a limited NASCAR Busch Grand National ride for the 1997 season. Jimmy, now a North Carolina resident, has just recently signed on to drive for the new Julius Irving (Dr. J) and Joe Washington (former NFL player) 1998 Busch team, sponsored by Dr. Pepper. We wish him all the best!

The tech line did finally end, and the #90 rolled out of inspection at about 5:30. We loaded everything back on the trailer, and headed to the hotel. We were in desperate need of sleep. Friday, we would have our first chance to hit the track.

FRIDAY – Practice
The garage area opened at 7:00 am. Remember that 90-degree heat? Well, that vanished overnight. With the wind chill in the low 40's, we rolled out the #90 Florida Online car to prepare for practice -- in fact, it was a whole day dedicated to practice. We would need every minute of it because one condition we had never encountered with our car before was extreme cold. Usually, in Florida, it was the direct opposite. (This was one time when I was more than happy to climb into my nomex, full-body, and WARM driving suit!)

I fired up the engine at about 8:30 am and then headed towards to the staging area. Arrows directed each of the divisions to file into their respective -- you guessed it -- lines. With 215 cars on hand, half of them registered as Semi-Pros, and only 20 cars allowed on the track at a time, we were all given the opportunity for LOTS of chit-chat.

When my turn finally came, I was simply thrilled to roll out for the first practice session. The quarter-mile track is situated around the grassy area that lies between the speedway's dog-legged frontstretch and the middle of pit road. In other words, our straightaways shared the same racing surfaces as the "big dogs." Pit road, which served as our backstretch, had even been modified to accommodate the recent inaugural appearance of Indycars at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

The Indy Racing League required installation of concrete pit stalls. The track's usual tenants, stock cars, use a manually-pumped jack to raise one side of the car at a time for tire changes. Indycars, on the other hand, have small, built-in, pneumatic jacks that extend down from the car's belly after a crewman connects a compressed air line. The entire car elevates, allowing the crew to change all four tires at once. The small jacks, however, tend to sink into the typical pit road asphalt. Concrete, therefore, is required.

On the Legends course, you would hit the concrete just as you straightened the wheel coming out of turn two. You went back to asphalt as you began your turn into three. That first day of practice, I didn't notice too much of a difference. But, although I didn't know it at the time, the concrete would play a significant role as the weekend progressed.

I took it easy in the first practice session, just getting used to the nuances of the new track. It was flat with long corners like Hialeah, but it had long straightaways and some "reverse-banking" between turns one and two. Reverse-banking? In other words, if you got too high going into one, the track was actually graded lower towards the outside of the track back into the grass. And you definitely didn't want to get caught out there -- because you'd either wind up spinning out in the grass or your car would develop a terrible push coming out of turn two, shoving you towards the thick pit wall.

After the end of the five minutes of practice, and a quick stop back at the trailer to confer with my crew chief, I headed back to the staging area -- and the ever-growing line. The track would be open until 5:00 pm, and I wanted to take full advantage of the practice time.

Eventually, I pulled out for my second practice. Now that I had a handle of the track's feel, I planned to use this session to gain straightaway speed. The pack of 20 cars had been whizzing around for about five laps when, coming out of turn two, a car right in front of me overcorrected his car, sending it sideways towards the inside of the backstretch.

Well, he didn't brake, or even let off the gas. Instead, he tried to overcome the laws of physics with his gas pedal and wound up snapping the car around and slamming into pit wall. In the meantime, I had let up to try to avoid a pile-up. Another car had pulled to my inside and assessed that HE could proceed clear of the stopped car -- but that left no maneuvering room for me. I had no choice but to hit the brakes and turn left as much as possible without taking out the inside car. My momentum, unfortunately, was too great and I got collected in the right front. (So much for gaining straightaway speed!)

I left my second practice session swinging on the end of the tow truck hook. I was so frustrated that I figured it would be best just to stay inside the car for the trip back to the garage area. It gave me a chance to cool off -- Rick and I would now have our hands full to get prepared for qualifying on Saturday.

Upper and lower ball joints, 12-inch tie rod, two heims, right-front spindle... the parts list grew. I ran to the parts trailer as Rick (with help from "vacationing from racing" David and Linda Chambers) tore down the right-front suspension. It had actually been quite a while since I had last wrecked. In fact, as I was getting the parts, I couldn't even remember exactly when it had been. But, that didn't make it any easier... we needed to get the car back together and get back on the track!

Rick did a fantastic job, and I drove the car back around to the sea of Legends Cars waiting to get back on the track. Time was ticking away... and we needed to get in some good laps to prepare for Saturday's qualifying.

We succeeded in getting some fairly good laps when I finally hit the track; however, the times were not quite what we had been running early in the second practice. We had put a bar of lead in the left-rear of the car following the first practice to try to get more "bite" off the turns. After running through several different set-up scenarios; however, we decided that the lead would have to go... it was nearing the end of practice, so that was probably going to be our last chance at honing our speed.

Much to my delight, our decision was correct. The fourth and final practice of the day was, by far, my fastest. (Not coming back on the tow truck hook helps, too!) My best time wound up within 0.3 seconds of David Logan's top speed (Note: David is Florida's Semi-Pro leader who, later in the weekend, went on to win overwhelmingly in a "champs" race for all the regional division champions). We rolled the #90 car back onto the trailer with a sense of satisfaction. Bring on qualifying!

SATURDAY -- Qualifying / Heat Races
First heat, then cold, and now rain. Yes, you heard me, rain. It literally rained all night long in Charlotte, North Carolina, the night before Nationals qualifying. It pained me so much to hear the rain continuously hitting the hotel window that I had to put earplugs in to go back to sleep! After all our hard work all year long, the thought of THIS event getting rained out was too terrible to fathom. Well, don't completely despair. This isn't the end of the race report -- not by a long shot! The program said, "Unless it's a downpour, we RACE!" And did we.

You remember how I mentioned that the one condition that Rick and I had not yet experienced with the Legends Car was extreme cold? Well, that was apparently not the only adverse condition that we had not experienced. We were about to try racing (and qualifying) in the rain! Believe me, the notion of a wet (and cold) track played havoc with my nerves. That was primarily because I was going to have to go do it -- without a SINGLE practice lap. Oh boy.

The Pro Division drivers were the most unfortunate. They had to start first. At 8:00 am that morning, the rain was STILL coming down. Next, the Masters Division, went through their agonizing runs. And, finally, the Semi-Pro Division was on deck. The qualifying order was based on your car number; therefore, I was one of the last 30 cars to qualify for the day. It was a very long, cold, wait... but, as they say, "good things come to those who wait."

With about 15 cars in front of me, the rain stopped. Rick dropped the air pressures slightly in the tires, in an attempt to gain a larger contact patch with the cold, wet track. The tires were not going to grip as well, so you had to make up for it in any way possible. I sat in the car, scrunched down just to shield myself from the chilly wind. It felt sort of like sitting in a dentist's car, with the air-conditioner on full-blast -- wishing you weren't there, ready to get it over with, dreading the worst, but hoping for the best.

As the fifth car in front of me tore out to begin his qualifying attempt, I started up the car to let the engine warm up. The track, by this time, was actually showing some gray patches where it had started to dry. I kept running my two laps through my head. Like a runner, I would just take what had been a 50-yard dash, and tone it down into a 100-yard jog.

The track official waved me on to start my qualifying. I hit the gas and took off down the backstretch. I immediately headed for the high side of the track... to the concrete. This was where the concrete came into play. It was the only portion of the track where drivers were able to attain solid traction to pick up speed. The object was to stay on it as long as possible to pick up time that you would lose in the slick corners. Using the concrete, I certainly did pick up that speed... unfortunately, when I came to the first corner (turn three), I suddenly realized that my runner's analogy wasn't going to hack it. As it turns out... jogging wasn't the answer. What I really needed to do was get down on my hands and knees and CRAWL!

The car plowed into the corner like a school bus on ice. The wheel in front of me had absolutely no influence with the wheels on the track -- and I simply did not turn. I was stunned. When I finally got the car slowed down enough to turn towards the green flag, my instincts overcame my common sense, and all I could think about was making up for the time lost. So, I wound up basically repeating my mistake in turn one. It was like a bad dream!

I regained my senses enough to improve my time in the second lap... but after the checkered flag, I drove off the track towards the tech garage completely deflated. I felt like a second grader who practically memorized the entire dictionary, to only lose the National Spelling Bee because of an "i" before "e," except after "c" mistake. If only I had one more chance to spell the word...

Some of the best Semi-Pro practice times from Friday had been between 15.8 seconds to 16-flat. I had run consistent 16.30s. However, you could throw all those times out when it came to Saturday. My qualifying time of 24.3 was 64th fastest in the Semi-Pro division (second fastest of all the Florida Semi-Pro drivers - David Logan, again, had the best speed). In each of the three divisions, the top 50 advanced to the main heats, and the remainder ran in consolation heat races. Each driver received a certain amount of points for qualifying and additional points for the results of their heat race. A driver's total points determined which feature race they would run on Sunday.

David Tart, Tim Williamson, and I were all in the same heat race. Based on my qualifying speed, I would start in the inside of the second row. By the time our race started, the rain clouds had creeped in again. As we rolled out for the start, they did what rain clouds do -- rained. Now THIS was going to make things interesting! If nothing else, at least I had been able to run my two practice laps -- otherwise known as qualifying! But, I had definitely learned my lesson, and I knew what my plan of attack would be.

Charlotte is the only track that I have ever competed on where we run in third gear. (The explanation of why is probably better left for another report -- if I try to explain the logic behind racing gears, I'll never get THIS one completed!) Well, anyway, during the start of a race you normally run in one or two gears lower to get a jump. Then you run up through your gears to the "racing" gear. In this case, most people were starting in second gear to start through turn four, and then shifting into third near the flag stand. With the wet track, however, the greater torque in second gear opened up a greater chance of spinning the tires. So I began and stayed in third for a smooth, even start. I felt the racing would really start when we came to turn one.

We got the green flag, and my approach worked. I kept up with the front row without losing traction and then chased them into the first turn. I tried my best to "get down on my hands and knees and crawl" through the corner, and noticed the leaders pushing up through the turn. But, before we completed turn two the caution lights came on for a spinning car behind us. We had not completed the first lap, so they stacked us double-wide again for a complete restart. Deja vu.

I mirrored my first start and was right on the back bumper of the pole sitter going into turn one. This time I crawled and HUGGED the inside of the corner. The leaders, again, were side-by-side and began pushing up when I saw my chance to PASS FOR THE LEAD! As I started to accelerate out of the corner, the pole sitter must have noticed my advance and FREAKED! It's the only explanation I can come up with because he hit the gas, lost control of the car, swerved in front of me, and literally punted me into the infield grass. (If you happened to catch the IRL's Las Vegas race on TV and saw the barrel-roll destruction of the Pennzoil entry, you will understand why I held my breath in that split second that it took for the nose of my car to point to the sky.)

Luckily, I landed on all fours and then, just as quickly, I hit the accelerator to get back into the action. The front end didn't feel quite right, but I figured that if I just kept rolling, I'd be able to gain some valuable points. No chance. In my second lap around, the flag man unveiled the dreaded black flag for me. My day was over.

I pulled the car back to the other side of the pit wall, climbed out, and discovered that the recently replaced upper ball joint was in need of replacement, again. The entire front right wheel was cocked in at a 45-degree angle, and wasn't rolling at all -- just dragging. So, I spent the rest of the race as an observer. To my delight, however, Tim Williamson (who's in the close Florida points battle with me) wound up taking the checkered flag. He ran a very smart (and corner crawling) race to win -- and I congratulate him for bringing home some "hardware!"

SUNDAY -- Feature Races
There were five Semi-Pro feature races on Sunday to determine the ACDelco Legends Cars National Champion. They were called the E-Main, D-Main, etc., through the final A-main race. The top four finishers in the E-Main advanced to the back of the D-Main, and so on. David Logan qualified for the B-Main, and all four of the other Florida Semi-Pro drivers were competing in the D-Main. I was starting 8th in the D-Main and had a very good chance to advance into the C-Main... especially since it had FINALLY stopped raining!

To be honest, my Nationals feature race is, still, almost a complete blur to me. Rick had to help with this account of what happened: I started on the outside of row four... and starting on the outside at Charlotte is tough. You want to do everything you can to get to the inside quick. Green flag, and we were RACING! I made my move to the inside and advanced to fourth position by the second lap of the race. If I could just at least hold my position, I'd make it to the C-Main.

The pack came roaring down the backstretch on the third lap, barreling into the third turn. Without warning, the two cars battling for second place in front of me slapped into each other, spun, and stopped facing each other -- completing blocking the track in turn four. In what felt like slow motion to me, I hit the brakes and swerved towards the infield. The risk of taking a wild ride through the grass was my only option. But, as Rick would later say, "Some things are just not meant to be...," and my right front (of all places) again got collected into the right rear of the inside car. I never made it into the infield.

My trip to Nationals ended on the end of the tow truck hook. If nothing else, the weekend was a true lesson in perseverance. Like I said before, Rick and I have memories, both good and bad, that we'll never forget. So, not to end on a bad one, I wanted to share three of the good:

First, TK Racing would like to thank a friend of ours currently working as a NASCAR intern at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Janette Everette. As a surprise, Janette submitted a newspaper article about the team for inclusion in the speedway's official press release for the event. Our section made the cut and it was a very wonderful and flattering surprise. Thanks, Janette!

Second, I had the opportunity to compete against two other woman drivers while at Nationals (something I haven't experienced yet in Legends Cars). Of the two, I got a chance to speak with Michelle Decker and her parents the most... and I certainly consider them part of my "racing family" now. I would like to congratulate Michelle on a spectacular qualifying run, and for surviving the crash-infested Semi-Pro A-Main. She captured 14th in the nation -- way to go, Michelle!

Finally, I was delighted at the number of drivers, team members, and spectators that stopped to talk to Rick and me about Florida Online or the TK Racing website. Many of them had already visited the site and wanted to let us know that they really appreciated the information -- and thoroughly enjoyed the format! One driver even told me about his favorite race report! I hope both he (and you) have survived this one!

After the 500+ mile trip home on Monday, and then chiseling down the pile of laundry that we brought home with us, Rick and I took a few days to recover. At last, I hope you have enjoyed the report -- and feel, at least in part, that you too have experienced the 1997 Legends Cars National Championships.

Thanks for all your support!

--Trish Koger #90

To send a letter to Trish, email to koger@thunval.com

Check out the Distant Thunder archives for other articles by women drivers.