Dion Brothers Race Team experience
long, tough night at All-Star Speedway
Photos

07/07/07:  

Now that a few days have past since our disappointing night at All-Star Speedway, I guess I should try to describe what happen.  It seemed like from the beginning it was going to be a struggle for the team to have the night we had hoped for.  Just as we fired up the engine for the first practice session we noticed a leak in our new (well,new by Dion Bros. standards) power steering pump.  The guys changed the pump real quick with very little time lost and I headed out for practice.  As I left the pits it looked like there was a leak under the car which turned out to be a radiator hose that I forgot to check.  Tightening the hose was no problem but trying to cool the engine down enough so that they could re-fill the radiator was.  Eventually I did get back on the track for the first practice without any other problems.  It seemed as though we were getting beat on the straight aways much worse than in the turns but I thought a 200-lap race would balance that out.  I had decided to try a different engine for this race but in hindsight it was a mistake.

After three practice sessions we felt the car would be competitive over the 200-lap distance with the set-up we had in the car but would be nothing special early in the feature.  We got a bad draw for the qualifying heat but finished 5th after an early spin and didn't have to run the consi.  I never did get to work with the team before the feature as there was a book signing session and autograph session on the track that took most of my time.  By the time I got back to the pits the crew had the car lined up and ready to roll out for the feature.  The best part of the night was seeing and visiting with so many friends that have been part of our lives and carreer.  I am so fortunate to have such a great team that prepares a competitive car for me race after race with very little help from me at the track.

I was really looking forward to the 200-lap race and felt our set-up would come on strong the second half of the race and be in contention for the win.  It's always bad when you wreck but not knowing whether we had a car capable of winning makes it twice as bad.  A smarter driver would have parked the car after the first wreck instead of causing more damage but we never gave up hope of a good finish.  We got a number of "lucky dogs" and made up laps but managed to find ways to lose them again with more spins and crashes.  In the end we ended up 17th, three laps down with a heavily damaged race car.

The team is currently looking over the "Pass" engine options and trying to come up with a better package for the future that will compete at a higher level.  Once we decide what combination we will be running I will let everyone know on this site.

It wasn't a good night at All-Star Speedway for our team but it was a great race and a large crowd showed their support for the event.  Thank you to all the fans that made this event successful and did your part to keep short track racing healthy in N.E.  As soon as we decide on where and when we will be racing next I will put it on our web site to let everyone know.  Thank you again for checking out our web site.

Yours truly,
Dave Dion