July 31 – I’ll try to be succinct, but it was a wild, wild weekend!  We started the weekend off winning both the heat race and feature at Dodge City.  Both races were exciting.  In the heat, Matthew was in 3rd with two laps to go when he made an awesome move coming out of turn 4 going between the top two cars and taking the lead.  In the feature, he was battling solid with another car through the race and changed his line a couple of times doing exactly what he needed to do to retain the lead.  Both of these veteran drivers came over, shook Matthew’s hand and told him it was great racing with him.  It was a perfect evening.

I also have to give the track credit as there was a rain delay and then they came back and gave the drivers a great track to race on.  It was impressive how quickly they prepped it.  His fan club included the Gambles and I think most of us thought it would get cancelled.  But, everyone waited it out and by race time, the stands were full.

They held the interviews and trophy presentations until after the races due to the weather.  Katelynn asked who the girl was and I explained it was the trophy girl and that Rylee really doesn’t like the trophy girls.  LOL.  When Matthew was thanking Randy and Brian, there were a lot of cheers from the crowd which was pretty cool to hear.  I wish the rest of the weekend could have just continued this way, but the wild west took over.

Sunday night we drove on to Norton which is a half mile track.  This would be Matthew’s fourth race on a half mile this year and coming in to the night, he hadn’t found a setup yet that worked.  But, by the feature, he had definitely found it and he was flying.  He took the lead in turns 1 and 2 when the 21c car took him out.  I could see the back of the 21c turn up and then he came down straight into Matthew lifting his back end up off the ground higher than we go up with a jack.  I wish the drama had ended there.

The flagman scored the wreck against Matthew!  Enough people that have watched tons of races who I totally respect have told me we got screwed, so I know I am not wrong in saying, we got screwed.  The flagman insured his home town boy got their positions back and put Matthew at the back IMHO (in my humble opinion).  Steve and I were so mad.  In the end, it wouldn’t have mattered because the right rear axle was broke from the hit.  Matthew drove up to 3rd or 4th – I can’t remember before he had to pull off.  He was so happy because he had found the setup!  Steve and I were fuming about the bad call.  Then, more drama.

The 21c came over after the race.  He couldn’t just say he was sorry and leave it at that.  No, (note-following said with pure sarcasm) he had to explain to Matthew why it was Matthew’s fault!  Well, I yelled at the guy and got ‘the look’ from Steve, so I went in the trailer.  Steve and Matthew talked to the guy a long time as he started saying ridiculous things from previous races.  At that point, all I could think was you can’t reason with crazy and us Crowells should know that!  I actually am laughing now because he said Matthew was too aggressive!  That is a first.  Matthew goes out of his way to not hit anyone and it costs him positions.  The guy was mad because he knew Matthew was going to beat him IMHO.  We’ll never know if the hit was intentional or not, but I know it sure screwed up a lot of things on the car.

Repairs started early Monday morning and it felt worse than last weekend!  The boys like to never get the axle out of the car.  Thankfully, Grandpa Brandt came up with an idea and found some tool that it sounds like he has used one time.  Sorry, I don’t remember what it was called, but they got the axle out eventually and it looked like spaghetti on the end.  The right side of the car was crushed in and lots of things bent including another rim.  In over 100 degree temperatures, the boys worked so hard to get it back together and I never heard one complaint from Matthew.

I posted a few pics of the repairs and couldn’t just post the bad, so I added the last two feature wins as well!  http://crowellracing.com/photos/2010_Season/repairs/

Monday night was the fair race at WaKeeney.  Matthew ran 2nd in heat but came off with fuel pressure problems.  They changed the fuel pump.  It was another redraw, and yes, Matthew didn’t draw well.  We decided he should never, ever gamble.  He had to start 4th row.  During the race, he dropped a cylinder so I guess we should feel good to get 6th.  But, Matthew was fuming now.  He hadn’t got the setup right, he had all the mechanical problems, and the goal was to end up in tech but nothing would go right.  Glad we are not all mad at the same time!  LOL.  As for me, I just felt the gushing of money these last few weeks paired with the frustration of wanting to helping your son, but not being able to fix anything!  Without the disappointment, the good races wouldn’t be so sweet!  Also, I think it is hard to run in the top five without any help from a sponsor but we’ll continue forward doing our best.  We’ll get her fixed again this week and see you in Hays Friday and back to Dodge City on Saturday. 

~CBR Mom