What's Your Weirdest Excuse for a Bad Finish?

[cleave]

So, based on a comment made in another thread, I thought this might be fun. We all have dreams of running good-ish, but then something happens that screws up our plans and we're taken out of contention. It's always something. Of course, there's the usual things: driver errors, losing coolant, bad pit stops, thrown bearings, head gaskets, brake issues etc.

But what's the weirdest thing that's happened to you in a race that messed up your grandiose plans?

Ours is probably this Lemons story: After running a full day Saturday and being in the top 5, our drivers had been complaining that the car was acting odd in the rear end, so we took a look at it. And... we had broken our left rear spring. It was in three pieces. Hmmm, that's odd, we thought. The car had some cheap (because, ummm, it broke) lowering springs on it when we bought it and we didn't have any spares.

So we started walking around the pits looking for a set of rear springs. Usually we were met with the response of, "You broke a spring? I've never heard of that before."

Then we found an e30 with a set of stock rear spring we could use. We put them on, stepped back, and the rear end of the car had to be jacked up at least two inches. But no one else had rear springs that fit, so we decided to go with it. We were arguing all night about how the increased rake would affect the handling of the car.

Sunday it turned out that the car handled just fine. It looked funny, but at least we had four springs instead of three. We were running in 2nd/3rd/4th place coming into our last pit stop and driver change. About when we were pitting, the leader pulled off the track with a blown engine.

During the pit stop, we looked under the car... and there was a puddle of oil. The increased rake of the car had altered the weight distribution and geometry enough to lower the front end a bit, and we cracked our oil pan.

We didn't have a spare oil pan, so we JB welded and duct taped it. It worked good enough to let us limp around to finish 12th, 31 laps down.

All because of a broken spring.

Evidence: Normal spring on the right, broken spring in three pieces on the left.

[dogtired]

i nuked a clutch at PBIR. probably due to the seat being about 2 inches too far back for me.

[krek]

We've lost every race for the exact same reason.

We ran out of time to win.

[Guest Todd]

In Portland last spring we thought we had "nut and bolted" all of the car. Well we where wrong. While running second and making up time on the leader, our driver radioed in and said "something broke in the front suspension". He came in and I found that the left front upper control arm had come loose and lost all it's shims. So I tighten it up and said to "hang on to it". Well he went back out and said the car is "undriveable, I almost hit the wall going down the straight". Well as he was coming in they threw a full course yellow, so I said to say out. Maybe he could salvage a top 3. He stayed out and about half way around it went green. We where afraid of crashing the car so he came in. We waited for the final lap and went back out. We finished 5th! Pretty lucky! As he came back in I noticed the right front wheel liked like a circus wheels. We checked it out and found 2 or the 4 bolts came out of the lower control arm. So now the are dubble lock nutted and lock washered.

[JBgotM]

We threw not 1, but 2 pushrods right through the rockers last year at the same race. I had never seen that before. Another pushrod was in the shape of an S.

[cagedruss]

Some how the rod ventilated the block thus not allowing me to finish the race!

Oh better yet, last race at PIR in Oct I went out first on Sunday and the Power Steering pump started to blow oil over the exhaust causing the corner workers to wave the black flag so I came in to the pits. First green lap I must add, crew workers fevorishly to fix the problem to no avail. We thought it was the pan leaking so we made the desicion to park it to save the engine. Bring the car back to the shop for the winter and I pulled the pan to fix and found a bucket load of metal shavings in the bottom of the pan.

FInd out a month later in the autopsy that the little pressed in pin that holds the cam gear to the cam along with the 3 bolts came loose somehow and ground into the timing cover which was steel. That allowed all the steel bits to get picked up by the pump and wipe out the cam, rod, and main bearings. 1 or 2 more laps more would have caused the engine to grenade!

I was lucky but at the time I did not feel that way!

[Superdave]

Not one race but two or three, Our car (S1 Audi) had some minor contact and in the rebuild/try to make it more presentable effort in which we repaired the rear box flairs We ran out of time too redo the block off covers at the front of them, so we left them off thinking that they were only cosmetic. Well after that the car ran hot, just on the edge of overheating. You could run hard for a bit or short shift it and run all day. We thought we looked at everything, including the WP impeller, doubting the temp gauge and the car was cool by the time we got it in the pits. Could not find the problem .

Then at the beginning of the Spokane race (while trying to figure out the overheating problem) the car developed a sudden drastic loss of power. If you were there, you remember us being much slower than normal. Now we thought we hurt the engine due to overheating it (even though we had not boiled coolant out of it). Again we tried everything we could think of. Checked compression, spark advance, fueling, etc. Ended up running it to the end slow.

The overheating problem was as I hinted at, the block off plates were allowing enough air into the rear flairs, which pressurized the trunk enough to block airflow through the radiator. Our radiator is in the trunk and draws air in from the parcel shelf and relies on the low pressure area behind the car to draw it out through the holes where the stock tail lights were.

The loss of power was a "cold air intake" we built out of some well used brake duct. Well this type had an inner liner and that came loose and it sucked itself shut at wide open throttle, but still breathed enough to not be apparent.

[Craig]

About five hours into the 18-hr TWS race last season (i.e. twilight or full dark), one of the other drivers thought he saw smoke behind the car and brought it in. We checked the oil, it was off the dipstick. Brought the car back into the paddock and started looking for where the oil went. There was some oil on the engine that led the mechanically-inclined guys to think that there was an issue with a loose hose (maybe the PCV system, I'm not sure). But after fixing that up, the engine was still leaking. Finally, they decided that the only thing left where it was dripping was the oil filter, so they pulled it off to look at it. There was a 1/2"-long split in the casing, and that was where our oil had been going. It had never occurred to them that we could need a spare filter, so we had to go dig out the one that was pulled off the car when they changed the oil on Friday. The total time lost was 2 hrs, about 1.5 hrs of it fixing the wrong problem.

[Guest posnova]

We owned an ECU cooker instead of a rice cooker for a car.

Apparently, burning *this* trace, pin 36 on our ECU, means that one of the sensors that draws power from the main sensor power bus (pin 16 or 17.. bad memory without lookin' it up) was shorting somewhere. Tested MAF. It's ok. Tested Crank Position Sensor. Ok. Tested Cam Position Sensor. Ok. Tested knock sensor. Ok. TPS, fuel pressure, etc sensors are fed by a different bus, so it isn't those. Discovered short is buried somewhere in the harness itself. Rewired MAF directly to ECU bypassing harness.

Troubleshooting that, at the track.. uh.. no. We didn't discover the *real* reason the car was doing that until after we cooked another ECU in Portland.

Luckily, due to e-bay and craigslist, ECU's are cheaper than tires for our car, so we now own 3 more. The one in the car that's been ok, and 2 tested-working spares .

[kent merkle]

Our excuse...we tried using a 92 K-car.

[ChumpStang]

Our excuse...we tried using a 92 K-car.

:lol: :lol:

[tr6driver]

You would think, given the fact that we race a Triumph, that we'd have all kinds of Lucas "let the smoke out" excuses, but actually, Lacey's electrical system has been fairly reliable. Might have something to do with the reworking of the whole system that a friend did, but I digress.

Our worst finish, and a totalled car, all came as the result of a small spring clip...and some driver error on my part!

Early in the race at Charlotte last year, a small spring clip in the throttle linkage came off after some car to car contact. The driver was able to keep the car running (it dropped to idle), came into the pits and we reinstalled the clip. We also put a tie wrap around the clip to keep it into place. Bad move, as it turned out.

Later on, while I was driving, I punched the throttle HARD coming off the front straight into the infield. What we learned later was that the tie wrap had moved the clip over about 1-2 mm...which caused the throttle linkage, when pushed HARD, to hang up on the choke linkage...at full throttle position.

To make a long story short, I found the infield guard rail unforgiving, as did Lacey.

I learned that I should have reached for the cutoff switch right away.

The team learned they have a ditz for a team manager.

We learned how fast we could construct another TR6.

All for a spring clip coming loose...and the loose nut behind the wheel.

[porkchops22]

There have only been two races we haven't finished. First due to a seized motor and second due to challenging a tire wall at high speed.

Two strange issues during Nelson's last year: We snapped a clutch cable and picked up a nail causing a flat. Other than that just the norm...

[cleave]

We checked it out and found 2 or the 4 bolts came out of the lower control arm.

Wow.

[Craig]

There have only been two races we haven't finished. First due to a seized motor and second due to challenging a tire wall at high speed.

Two strange issues during Nelson's last year: We snapped a clutch cable and picked up a nail causing a flat. Other than that just the norm...

I snapped a clutch cable in my daily driver ca. 20 years ago. I was shifting as I accelerated on a highway on-ramp. Fortunately, a state trooper was along within about five minutes to call in a tow.

[chip]

i nuked a clutch at PBIR. probably due to the seat being about 2 inches too far back for me.

maybe you need some driving shoes from the 70's that have platforms

[krek]

Actually, gas laced ice cubes kept us off the podium in our first full ChumpCar race ever.

In 2010, fresh off the washout at Nashville, EggBoy racing showed up at Iowa Speedway eager to try again. After three (experienced) driver's stints, we were unexpectantly in P1. The first of our flaming noobs took to the track. Within minutes he was feeling ill, radioing in that he felt like he was burping up gasoline. As supportive teammates, we all told him to grow a pair and deal with the smells and sounds of roval racing. A few laps later, he radioed that he was coming in before he yakked in the car.

The next driver (another flaming noob and the author of this story) was completely unprepared. He scrambled to find his Nomex socks, driving shoes, gloves... the car was sitting in the pit and we were losing positions. The next driver screamed out the pits, out on to track and made a hyperactive donkey out of himself, blowing corners, punting cones, generally redefining "red mist" as "red monsoon". He was blackflagged. He sat at the end of pit road. He lost the podium positions that the remainder of the team was unable to reclaim despite their best efforts.

We finished Fourth, which was a great finish for a first race with multiple rookies. But if it wasn't for the bag of ice that got tossed into the bed of the truck with the fueling jugs (one of which was leaking) and then dumped into the big cooler of sports drink and consumed by the rookie driver before his stint... one wonders what could have been.

[ChumpStang]

Actually, gas laced ice cubes kept us off the podium in our first full ChumpCar race ever.

In 2010, fresh off the washout at Nashville, EggBoy racing showed up at Iowa Speedway eager to try again. After three (experienced) driver's stints, we were unexpectantly in P1. The first of our flaming noobs took to the track. Within minutes he was feeling ill, radioing in that he felt like he was burping up gasoline. As supportive teammates, we all told him to grow a pair and deal with the smells and sounds of roval racing. A few laps later, he radioed that he was coming in before he yakked in the car.

The next driver (another flaming noob and the author of this story) was completely unprepared. He scrambled to find his Nomex socks, driving shoes, gloves... the car was sitting in the pit and we were losing positions. The next driver screamed out the pits, out on to track and made a hyperactive donkey out of himself, blowing corners, punting cones, generally redefining "red mist" as "red monsoon". He was blackflagged. He sat at the end of pit road. He lost the podium positions that the remainder of the team was unable to reclaim despite their best efforts.

We finished Fourth, which was a great finish for a first race with multiple rookies. But if it wasn't for the bag of ice that got tossed into the bed of the truck with the fueling jugs (one of which was leaking) and then dumped into the big cooler of sports drink and consumed by the rookie driver before his stint... one wonders what could have been.

THAT is a ChumpCar story.

[Andrew D Johnson]

We lost a race due to a weak transponder. Saturday at Brainerds 7+7 we got called in because of a transponder issue. Someone recommended taking the brake cooler off the right side because it was close to the transponder. On Sunday we were about 1/2 a lap back in second place trying to make up the MOV+1 from Road America with an hour and a half left in the race. I radio the pits and tell them the brake pedal is going down too far and it is making the car difficult to shift. A few turns later the pedal is all the way to the floor. I pulled into the pits with a car that had it's brakes on fire.....we put it on the trailer. The front brake that was without a brake cooler was toast!

[lonestarrpm]

Our drivers suck :-)

A few laps into the second race of the weekend -- we were leading -- because we took the initial green flag first :-)

Preparing to pass lapped traffic -- I down shifted and took the inside line only to have no power on the output

of the corner. Tried all the gears -- RPMS yes -- power to the wheels ... errr no.

Turns out we managed to shatter the clutch hub because none of us newbs could heal toe and we collectively realized

if was faster just to wheel hop into a corner..... gerrrrrrr

Our 125 HP to the wheels (if we were lucky) wasn't going to destroy any clutches -- but engine braking a couple times

a lap sure did :-)

Oh well -- I'm sure we would have kept the lead and been podium that day....

m

[Team Infiniti]

A Sebring podium finish converted to a 6th place because of gear lube selection, turns out Royal Purple gear lube is junk, even a LeMons team (with something german) had a diff issue with the same stuff.

[CutlassRacer]

A Sebring podium finish converted to a 6th place because of gear lube selection, turns out Royal Purple gear lube is junk, even a LeMons team (with something german) had a diff issue with the same stuff.

I think I remember smelling your car that day, lol. We use RedLine in our car, FYI.

We have only run 4 races, but had issues at 2 of them, 3 if you count Sebring. Lemons PBIR we lost a head gasket because we didnt realize that the cheap gasket kit that we used had head gaskets that hung into the bore a little bit. Detonation source anyone?? Sebring we had a problem with the brake pads almost falling out after the little wire spring that holds the pin in that holds the pads in (lol, anybody follow that?) fell off and one pin came far enough out to allow the inside pad to come halfway out, and it also came out far enough to get caught up in the wheel and get all bent up. We looked for a replacement pin in our stash of spares but could not find any so I beat the pin back straight and managed to get it back in the caliper to hold the pads in. We have that problem cured now with some bolts and lock nuts. The odd thing is that we had the same problem with the rear brakes at a practice day and the pad completely fell out. I think it actually fell out while I was moving the car around my shop because it was laying in the lower control arm. At Road Atlanta we had a brake hard line fail under the ABS unit and we went from 4th to 8th. With the amount of time we had left, I think we could have caught the 3rd place car with about 3/4 of a lap left. That is if everything went perfectly, lol.

[Evilwheel]

Throw out bearing smushed to half it's normal size on day 2 at Rockingham 2011. Had to heel toe ( which I wasn't very good at the time doing ) all the last stint. Finally it totally stopped working and was stuck in 4th gear for the last half hour of the race. Lucky we had enough of a lead on 3rd place to hold on to 2nd, although they did make up 3 laps on us and finished roughly 5 seconds behind us. It wasn't fun, the gear box wasn't happy at all. I know this isn't a bad finish, just wanted to share.

[cleave]

I know this isn't a bad finish, just wanted to share.

I'll allow that.

[csadn]

Not ChumpCar, but a shining example of my luck with such things:

Many, many moons ago, I got to take part in a Jim Hall kart-racing school. These were proper racingkarts, not the stuff found at the local funplex. As part of the exercise, I (like everyone else) was kitted out in Nomex, and a helmet. The helmet was the source of the problem: I told anyone and everyone within earshot "The Medium is too loose; I need a Medium-Small". As was par for the course back then, I was thoroughgoingly Ignored, and sent out with the Medium.

First corner, just after leaving the pits, I tap the brakes -- and the helmet promptly pitches forward over my eyes. I end up in the infield, hammering the snot out of the emergency cutoff (having foreseen this, I made sure I could find everything with my eyes closed).

Five minutes later, having reamed out every single person in the pit area -- my parents included -- and equipped with a Medium-Small helmet, I proceeded to whip off some decent laps (having to share karts wasn't helpful either -- one of the guys I was stuck with spun out in the exact same corner four times in a row, flat-spotting the tires and baking the driveline).

So in case some of you wonder about my anal-retentive attention-to-detail....