Starting Out The Year # 2

I hope the winter has been good to everyone, but I sure am glad it's spring. I know all you guys are ready to race. We finally did get to race last weekend. With Rockingham getting postponed due to rain and then the Farmington race getting pushed back a week, it seemed as though we would never get to race. Let's back up a couple of weeks.

In the last blog the car had just been painted at Chuck Chapman's place. Following that, Sandy assembled the car and I met him at Mooresville Dragway to test. Sandy has an eighth mile set up where he runs only on motor (no nitrous). While most cars just turn off the nitrous and race, Sandy changes the rear end gear, converter and other settings on the car to maximize performance and minimize problems. The testing went well. Sandy made three runs of 4.98, and back to back 4.97's. We loaded up with the outlook good and we were ready for Farmington.

The Farmington weekend started off with sunny skies and a little wind. It was about ten degrees cooler than when we tested in Mooresville, but hey, no rain in the forecast. Sandy made his two qualifying runs Saturday, which was a 4.88 and a 4.90. We thought about running the combo race but the temperature was falling fast. The track gets real tight when it gets cold and bracket racing a 4.80 door car in forty degree weather can get a little crazy. So we hung out with our friends at the Jay Zimmerman camp before calling it a night.

Sunday was sunshine and no wind. Temperature in the upper fifty's. First round we ran Mike White in his 63 Corvette. Second round was the Allen Racing Engines Monte Carlo. Third round was Tim West from Asheville, NC. He was going for the jugular. He was -.001 & dead on with a 1. That was about to be ugly. In the semi's we got around Mark Payne in his new Cavalier. Sandy had been in the zone all day with the car running the number. In the finals, we were matched up against Jeff Rudisill who was making his Top Sportsman return after a four year absence. Sandy and Jeff both missed the tree and both cars were one number over. But unfortunately for the Sandflea, the win light was in the other lane. Congratulations to Jeff Rudisill, but losing sucks. It was a hard pill to swallow after having such an awesome day.

After a person gets over the what ifs and emotional roller coaster of the day, you have to look at the big picture. 1. This was the first race of the year and we made it to the finals. 2. It was back to back finals after ending 2008 with a win at the Rockingham National. 3. We are second in divisional points. A top three finish in the division gets you in the shootout for the championship at the end of year. 4. The car performed flawless over the course of the weekend and 5. Sandy made his first driver error in ten rounds of competition. Going back to the fall Rockingham win to end 2008 and this race to start 2009, that is one mistake per ten runs. I will take that ratio every time.

As the title states, Sandy started out the year number 2. He has #2 on the window from last year and in our first race we ended up # 2. Now if we can only finish the year #1. Honestly, Wilkins Motorsports has been truly blessed this past year (other than the crash). But even in the crash we were blessed. Winning rounds is fun and winning races is great. It is why we race. We love the people, the competition and Sandy loves the challenge of taking a 432 cubic inch small block and making it run wicked fast. See you in Mooresville.

Don

What Have We Missed?

How have things been? The last blog was about the awards banquet in Ohio and when we left it was snowing. As I write this, their is snow left on the ground from the snow storm we got yesterday. Very nice but I am ready for Spring.

Since last December my family and I had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. Sandy also got everything he asked for. He is especially fond of the 60 lb. bag of twenty dollar bills. But seriously, Sandy has been busy building engines and trying to get his car looking normal. Thanks to Chuck Chapman, that has been accomplished. More on that later. On the engine building side, I know he has built engines for Brian Williams, Josh Miller's cars, the champ Steve Corker and many more. While he has been staying busy, one always can stand a little more business.


The most exiting thing that has happened this winter is the birth of Lowman Elizabeth Wilson. This is Sandy's new little niece. She was born on December 9th, 2008 @ 12:39 am and weighed 7 lb 7 oz and was 20.5 inches long. In this photo she is two months old and is being held by her big brother, the King, Mr. Banks. Freda and Lucien are overwhelmed and very proud as well as mom Elise and dad Joel.

If you remember, Sandy's car did not win best appearing at the Rockingham fall race. That was when his car was given the nickname "Wilkemon." You know, it had the John Montecalvo front end on it. It was an ugly winner's circle pic, but it was a winner. Some people told Sandy he was crazy for painting a car that had just won a race. "You don't want to change your luck" they said. Well, I believe it was a winner when it looked good, so I will go with the fresh paint. It has a few tweaks to the paint scheme and I think it looks cleaner, shinier and meaner. It's just plain Hot!!!! Chuck Chapman does an awesome job.

As you know the Rockingham race was rained out this past weekend. Sandy was going to test on Friday for the first time this year and then go racing. Now this gives him another week on the car and I believe testing we be this Saturday at Mooresville Dragway. From there he will head to Farmington for the next divisional race on March 13-15. Hopefully it will be sunny and mildly warm for March. At least we will have the extra hour of day light from the time change.

Sandy has added a few things to the car that will make the 2009 even stronger. You can ask Sandy about that. Like most racers Sandy is trying to keep enough cash flow going so he can race all year. With the economy down, racing closer to home makes common $ents. Hopefully, Sandy can continue the momentum from last year and get one of the spots for the championship shootout at the final race of the year in Rockingham. All you have to do is Win! Sounds easy, right?

Don