Urs blog: Finnish sauna does my heart good
Tuesday, 06 July 2010
After doing two "Burnout Shows" in Austria and Switzerland to make enough money to go to Finland, we were on our way north with the FIA points lead in hand.
We arrived at the FHRA Nitro Nationals at the Alastaro Circuit with great hopes but quickly found out our chassis had broken apart in the front nose up by the gas tank. So I call Mats Erikson from Sweden and he says, 'No problem, we will fix it.' Soon his son comes over and cuts the chassis apart and starts welding things back together. He put in 12 hours of hard work and finally the car is ready to go. What a great job.
The race starts Friday and when I pull up for the first session I think I must be careful to make sure the front end is perfect. We decide to make a checkout pass of maybe 200 feet or so. But on the start line when I hit the throttle it feels so good so I forgot all about 200 feet and keep going. I look for the 1,000-foot cones but blow right by those and head to the full quarter-mile.
The car runs so straight, so much better than ever before, and we post a 4.20-second run at 463 kmh, which made us the No. 1 qualifier. That first pass ended up being our best of the whole weekend and it eventually earned us the No. 3 spot on the ladder.
The last session Saturday I see Stig Neergaard and Risto Poutiainen pulling out after they both destroyed their cars in a bad top-end crash. I have a lot of respect for these two guys if they can fix their cars over night. They must both have great crews to make that happen.
In the first round of eliminations we run against Anita Mäkele. After we start the engine I was shocked to see one of my ignition magnetos failing. I could see it on the Racepak display, and I knew right away that now we didn't have enough power to beat her. So I try to make a good light on the tree and stage as deep I can to see what may happen. Then suddenly Anita leaves too early and gets the red light.
I was happy because my car was not pulling with only one magneto and we made only a 4.50-second pass. We somehow won the round but lost lane choice for sure.
Timo Lehtimäki was next. He ran a 4.00 in Round 1 and selected the right lane, which was better. The left lane was good until half track and then everyone was up in smoke, including us, and we lost the round.
I'm not sure about the new points but I think we'll fall out of first place so we'll try to get it back July 29-Aug. 1 at the Veidec Festival in Mantorp, Sweden.
This was our second race without a U.S. crew chief and I think Robin has done a better job then all the U.S. crew chiefs we've ever had.
Back in the pits, we prepare the car for the Sweden race and put in the set-up for Mantorp. We finished in the early evening and for the first time we have a moment to sit together with other teams and have a beer.
Several hours later our Finnish neighbor says he has a sauna in his transporter. It's funny, but most of the Finns and Swedes make room for a sauna in their trailers. I went in three times for 10 minutes each and I find out my heart still works good for my age.
On to Sweden!
Urs Erbacher and his great team.
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