Badassmav, I was the primary "crew chief" for Cafro. At our pit at rm 210 we knew where Burnett was and gave the info, our car was already developing a fuel delivery problem(that at rm 700 finally timed out our race). From 200 on the car would only run 60 mph or less. I had time splits on everyone that was important in the championship aspect because once the issues began we went into survival mode. We broke an upper control arm at 333 and it took us 5 hrs to get the arm to the car and going again! We pitted again at 415 and505 before they headed to mikes... when I caught up with them again 618 the car would only go 35. Tried to solve fuel problems there to no avail..obviously by that time we were racing the clock! Tried to nurse it around to borrego which ended up being a 4 hour loop... with a crew going on 40 hrs no sleep and without another fuel pump to try we finally called it.. and to pour salt in the wound Marc drove by us right then looking like he might make it to the end! So to your point of keeping Cafro informed... believe me that was our main objective, unfortunately for us it wasn't in the cards this race.
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I was impressed watching you and Marc on the tracker early on (a device better referred to as, "The
Slacker"!). You started in front of him, then he passed you early on at which time I expected to see him start putting distance between the top 2 points contenders. Until he broke down around RM 80 or so, you were never more than a visible dust cloud from each other. Once passing Marc, it was game on for you guys as your pace quickened, and the tracker had you keeping pace with the lead 2 cars. But if one believes the tracker, everyone was dicing back and forth the entire race, which I'm sure wasn't the case.
If they could just make the tracker refresh simultaneously for all teams in a given class, then the info would be much more usable. Perhaps the alternating refreshing cycles the "Slacker" uses is by design, as it is not in place as a tool for competitive purposes, but possibly as a tool for reference to the promoter for logistics and reconnaissance purposes.
At any rate, i was judging my emotions and opinions purely on what the tracker was providing, and never intended to pass judgement on your crewing decisions. I appreciate it that your post was not an aggressive attack on that assumption. Honestly, I was pulling for you guys, because I know enough about all of the hard work and sacrifice that goes into a first class championship. The Murrays position never crossed my mind until you guys quit running. I think we can all agree that if any team was to benefit from you two dropping out of the championship race, that the Murrays were most deserving of it.
Ironically, and possibly consequently, you mentioned the heartbreak of watching Marc pass by as your car sat dormant course-side somewhere around Borrego, and you had no way to respond. At the time he passed your broken dreams, he was on pace to finish the race before the cutoff time. Then, a hardware failure (I was told) sidelined him, and by the time his crew could reach him and make repairs, too much time had lapsed to realistically finish for the championship win. Being the competitor that NEVER quits, Marc pressed on, only to finish a couple of hours over the allotted time. It was the second consecutive race that a roll took Marc out of competing for a class Championship, as his roll over in the Last BITD event eliminated him from most any chance of winning the points in that series' last event coming up when 'Pops' Simms did well driving for Branden (no disrespect Branden, but I don't know your fathers name).
On a side note, regarding your fuel delivery issues and 35 MPH top speed:
We had the exact same issues in our 2nd year racing the Maverick. It happened as we were headed to the starting line at SCORE's Imperial Valley event. The car idled, revved, and accelerated normally until it hit 35 MPH, where it just stopped progressing, and ran as though a governor was set at 35 MPH. After exhausting all probable causes, The Murrays rushed over to help with their laptop and tapped into the 'BUDS' system. This was after they were nearly strapped into their machine to head for the start, only 5 minutes before starting time. Dudes are the best. Couldn't solve, or even locate the problem, so I sent Marc off, closely timing a 35 MPH race that lie ahead to be sure we could at least get finishing points. Found out later, it was simply the number one spark plug wire, on the car for its 3rd race, and visibly in new condition. Not disconnected, but somehow lost continuity between the ends. It was the only thing we
didn't check, as the car did not appear to be "missing", or accelerating roughly. Perhaps this experience may give you some insight to your expected fuel delivery issues. You'd surely kick yourselves in the ass if a plug wire was your problem! Awesome effort guys, race on!