Originally posted by JDEllis:
Were you the black car that did a snap spin in T2 late in Sat's race? I heard the tires protesting greatly, looked over from our paddock spot, and saw the spins. Was it mechanical?
Yup, that was me. That happened two laps after the impact incident that turned my quarterpanel into a windsock. The spin was caused when my line to the oil pressure gauge sheared off (see thread in Tech section) dumping oil underneath the tires. Its a real interesting feeling when you're heading into "turn" 2 at M-O with the right foot still on the floor and suddenly without warning the back end snaps around on you. I managed to not stall the engine and actually ended up pointing the right direction. But then I saw the oil gauge at 0# and my new warning light illuminated so I shut the engine down after I rejoined the pavement on the backstretch. In hindsight, I saved the whole race group a huge mess at the keyhole...I couldn't see behind me toward turn one to tell whether it was really safe to reenter the track before the keyhole (much to the chagrin of the corner workers who were waving me to get back on the track) So I circled the keyhole corner station staying on the grass which kept a couple of quarts of oil off of the keyhole!!!
When I got coasted to the end of the back straight (engine off at this point) with the intent of pulling off the track and behind the wall at the next corner station, the rear end snapped around again....while the engine was shut off!

Fortunately the oil must have protected my brand new set of Hoosiers, as they had only a minor flat spot. Plugged the oil line block and raced the next day!

Car is at MAACO as of yesterday. Where the real damage takes place to my wallet!