On to Las Vegas - Duel in the Desert

 So we left Crandall TX Sunday morning following Wade in the Toter.  It was around 80 degrees and clear so a good drive, with a mostly tailwind much of the way through west Texas.

Spent the night in the parking lot of the Gallup Walmart.  Different weather.

Snow from there to Flagstaff, then clearing and OK the rest of the way on Monday.

Now at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where we shuffled the cars around, getting out the IMCA setup, with a new look.

 Wade and I spent Tuesday getting tires ready for the race, and going over various things on the car, although Wade had it pretty much race-ready in the trailer.

  Most of you know that this track is a few miles off the end of the Nellis Air Force Base runway, where there is lots of flying activity which helps keep us entertained while we do our thing.

Lots of low-flying loud and fast air traffic, which Lorna and I thoroughly enjoy.

Many teams already at the track when we arrived Monday, so our "unreserved" spot is a fair distance from the track.  Will help us work off a few of those unwanted pounds.

There are plenty of cars here to make a show.  260 A-modifieds.

And another 140 or so Northern Sport Modifieds.  And after a 10 year absence, the return of Stock cars with a field of roughly 120.

There was a practice session Tuesday night - Casey went out and looked really good in the newly revised car.  The track timing showed that, of the 163 cars in our division that participated in the practice, Casey had the second fastest lap, with the only faster car being Ricky Thornton, Jr.   That's a good start!!

Last night (Wednesday) was our first night of racing.  Things started out at three in the afternoon with opening ceremonies (for the benefit primarily of the television audience, as this is a NO SPECTATOR event), which consisted of presenting all cars on the track.  

This took a while, with over 500 cars, but was well organized a created an impressive sight for viewers.  

Then on to racing, which started around 5:00.  Heat races alone took hours to complete, as there were about a dozen Heats in the Stock group,  maybe 16 Heat races in the Sport Mods,  then our 26 Heat races.  

We were posted in the 2nd Heat, starting third row outside.  Only two drivers would transfer directly to the A-Main, the rest either work their way up thru the multiple B-Mains, or just (in many cases) flat not make the show for that night.

Casey was GREAT, moved better than any other car, finishing second which put us in the show.  Very good job, and a great pressure reliever!

A little more relaxed atmosphere in our pit at this point.  Yay!

We started 16th in the first of the two A-Main Modified races, and finished in roughly the same spot, with a field of 24 cars.  Overall a good night, as only 48 cars even made it to the Mains, while over 200 sat in the pits waiting for another day.

That would be today, I guess, when we will do it all over again.

Loving every minute of it.  And there are lots of minutes when racing ends after 1:00 a.m.!

Will fill you in later.

D & L