Day 6 was a race day in Kearney, Nebraska, and it was the hottest day of the entire trip. I think the high temperature was 106°. We got to the pits pretty early so we could get setup and then sit around in the shade until it was time to run. While unloading the car, I noticed a CV boot sitting on the ground right in front of the car. Seeing it reminded me that we had noticed a small tear in one of the boots on the passenger side rear axle that was going to need some attention. As it turned out, the boot laying on the ground was the boot from the car. With the inner CV joint completely exposed and flinging grease everywhere, we had no choice but to fix it. We borrowed the Mini Cooper from Matt & June and ran into town to get a field-repair kit. On the way back we picked up a fellow Raceweeker who had put his car in the ditch just a mile from the track when all 5 of his wheel studs sheared off. We ran him back to the store in the Mini so he could get some replacement studs, then we dropped him at his car and went back to fix the CV boot.
With the boot replaced, I lay down and took a nap in the shade while Robert hung out with other racers and watched the racing. When the sun started going down we decided to make the short trip to the local gas station to top off with some fresh E85 in order to raise the ethanol percentage of the tank before making our passes. We made it to the station just fine, but wouldn’t you know, halfway back to the track the fuel pump gave out again. This time it was dead-dead, as in hotwiring it directly to the battery did not make it run. And we were stranded with NO tools on the side of the road. Luckily, a fellow Raceweeker stopped by on her way to the parts store and gave Robert a ride back to the track, where he picked up some tools, one of the other fuel pumps, and borrowed the Mini again to come rescue me from the side of the road. We slapped in one of the pumps that kinda worked and made it back to the track in time to make a pass.
During the first pass, the car leaned out and died going down the track and I ended up with a 13-second timeslip. The problem turned out to be a pinched fuel feed line, which had kinked and collapsed from so many pump changes. I ran over to the Motion Raceworks support trailer and bought some fittings and a new piece of -10 hose and had it replaced in about 15 minutes, with just 2 minutes to spare before they closed the staging lanes. The car spun off the line during the pass, so I shut it down and coasted to a 16 second timeslip. This meant we had to turn in the 13-second slip, which busted our chance at a 10-second average for the week.
