The Battle of Bristol

Mixed Results for Andrew and the ASR Team

When Andrew Smith and the Andrew Smith Racing team left the shop in Pooler, Georgia for the trip to the Bristol Motor Speedway for the inaugural running of the Battle of Bristol on March 28-30, they didn't really know what to expect. When they left for the trip home, there was still much speculation going on.

In the words of car owner Edwin Smith, "It was like we have been to three different tracks at the same race."

As the team entered the speedway for practice on Friday, the phrase "Good Lord!" seemed to be on the lips of the entire team as they witnessed the awesome sight of the 36-degree banking for the first time. A steady drizzle would force the teams to wait for the track to dry some before practice could begin. Once the cars took the track, Andrew - running under the Clay Hair Motorsports banner - was consistently among the fastest and had his car working well around the bottom in the turns. Things were looking good.

When the team returned to the track for Saturday's events, the weather didn't look very promising. The skies cooperated, however, and the cars took to the track the first of two heat races. Andrew started sixth in the first heat. It quickly became apparent that something had changed from Friday's practice. Not in the car, but in the line the competitors were running in the corners. No longer were they running around the bottom as they had previously, but some had started to drift up the banking onto the 36-degree concrete and were making quick laps doing so. In order to try and keep up, Andrew followed the others up the banking. The drastic transition from the flat asphalt onto the banked concrete unexpectedly upset the car and Andrew spun in turn one and was tagged by another car.

"It felt like the steering just locked in my hands and I couldn't turn the car at all," Andrew stated when he returned to the pits for repairs on the car.

After getting the car squared away, Andrew would start the next heat race from the fifth spot. Once again, the cars would head up the track onto the concrete. Andrew worked the corners carefully and finally figured out the transition. This was not a good thing for the competition. One by one, Andrew picked off the cars ahead of him and drove to victory in the second heat. The times Andrew ran in this heat were some two seconds faster than what had been run on the bottom of the track. Andrew reported that he was actually told to slow down over the race-control communications. He didn't.

Andrew said, "All you could see was concrete – everywhere," when driving off into the corners. He also said that he wasn't sure that it was "fun", but the big smile on his face said otherwise.

Out of concern for the driver's safety, INEX decided to stop the drivers from going up onto the "white" part of the concrete and would only allow the cars onto the less drastically banked black-painted portion of the track for the feature races. The lineup for the feature was determined by the average finish in the heat races. As a result, Andrew would start in the ninth spot. He patiently worked his way through traffic and was up to the fourth spot when trouble came. With three laps to go, Andrew and the 2nd and 3rd place cars were in a tight battle for position. At the end of the front stretch, the two cars ahead of Andrew got together and sent Andrew hard into the outside wall and the up the banking in turn one where he came to rest facing the cars barreling into turn one. The racing this night was over for Andrew and the car was towed back to the pits with major damage to the rear of the car.

While the racing may have been over for the night, the work was just beginning. Andrew and the crew had to replace the rear-end housing, both rear shocks, the panhard bar, the driveshaft, a sheared controlling arm bolt and a heim joint on a controlling arm. Andrew showed that his skill in working on his car is just as good as his skill in driving it because in just over two hours, they were done and were able to roll the car into the hauler for the night. A tiring and disappointing night was finally over.

The team arrived back at the track at 7:30 am on Sunday morning to try and get the car setup following all the repairs. Armed with a tape measure, Andrew got the car back into running shape and went back out for practice. The practice times were consistent with those on Saturday, so the team was confident in the repairs they had done. During the second round of practice, the car erupted in smoke halfway down the front stretch. Andrew made it back to the pits with the car smoking and covered in oil - the result of a broken oil cooler. More repairs had to be made. The team quickly replaced the cooler and cleaned up the car in time for qualifying.

The format was different on Sunday and the divisions would run "European" style qualifying to determine the starting grid for the feature. Andrew would start a disappointing and unexpected tenth. He remained focused, however, and worked his way up through the traffic to the fifth spot and was battling hard for fourth when the race was called due to the twenty minute time limit. Had the race ran the entire 40-laps, Andrew would have more than likely been able to move up a couple of more spots. But, that too will have to remain part of the speculation about this weekend.

So, when all was said and done, even though the weekend didn't produce the results that were expected, the strength and "never quit" attitude of the Andrew Smith Racing team was evident.

Stay tuned to www.andrewsmithracing.com for all the excitement of the 2008 season.