The stage is set the cars are loading in, drivers are nervous. First pair out was Kat and myself. We fire the cars up. When I spun mine over I heard something strange, but all gauges looked good, I got the thumbs up so we started the first show. Kat did amazing. I knew her heart was beating so fast, but she hung right there with me. Fire show, burner pops. Now it is time to get down the track. Both cars stage, Kat's car starts to slide through the beams. We see this and both of us light the burners. I make a nice pass for the Miller Welding Jet Dragster and when I get out of the car to look for Kat, she is not there. I get on the radio and I heard "Kat has scrubbed the wall" My heart sunk!! First thoughts were for Kat and her safety, but Chris quickly assured me she was fine. Then unfortunately, the show must go on with Dawn and Marisha in the water box, the next pair was set to go down the track.
You would think that this is where our bad luck would end right?? WRONG!! Dawn's car had an electrical short and shut off after the burner pops. With only Marisha and I making it down the track what else could go wrong.....this is where it gets good. Upon returning to the pits, and during the inspection of of my engine, we found out that my engine had been "FODed"!! What you may ask is FOD? Foreign Object Debris, in other words, NOT GOOD!!! I thought what the heck just happened? From hero to zero so quick. But in true Larsen Motorsports fashion, we did not look at the problems, we look at the solutions. First a team went to look at Dawn's car to determine what was the cause. It took less than 2 minutes to address the issue and fix it. Next on to my car, engine - needs to come out and new one put in. No problem, we brought a spare. We would be unable to make the second pass of the night, but we would get it back together for Saturday's race. Lastly, Kat's car. We found that the damage was minimal, but we would not be able to completely fix it for Saturday's race. Time to roll our sleeves up and get to work. Friday's second pass went well and then the work started, pulling my engine and getting the new one ready to roll. We worked until 5 a.m. Mountain time which was 8 a.m. for us. Went back to the hotel to shower sleep for an hour and get back to the track to keep up the fight. At 2:00 p.m. we rolled the car out to test fire. With fingers crossed we spun her over....waited ....waited....and she purred to life!!!! First pass out I laid down a 5.79 at 276 mph!!!
Dawn Perdue took home the win in Jet Dragster that weekend, but let me tell you, the entire team was the winner. One of my favorite movies is Rocky. A quote from the movie " It ain't about how hard you hit, it's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward, how much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done!!"
Our team took a hit, but we didn't even stumble!! We kept moving forward to the next race, San Antonio, TX. There in Texas, Larsen's shined. Did we make mistakes, sure! Was everything perfect...NOPE, but guess what.....WE ARE BACK!!!! Our next race is in Bradenton, FL Kat's home town and one of my home tracks. It is sure to be an epic race that you will not want to miss. If you haven't ordered your First Edition Blaze comic go to AdventuresofBlaze.com today. See us at the races!!!
luv ya,
e
