Race Results
Brenda Grubbs Motorsports left Magnolia, Texas to head to the Denver National event on Tuesday, July 17. After Denver, plans were to hit the Topeka Double Header Divisional race on the way home. The grass was mowed, mail held, and the motorhome was packed with enough clothes and food for two weeks. An extra suitcase was packed for Brenda as she had a business trip to Costa Rica scheduled the day after Topeka.
With everything packed, the only thing missing was the Stocker. After yet another failed dyno attempted, it was decided new pistons were in order. With this new discovery, the motor was not available for the Denver or Topeka events.
Thankfully, even though outside temperatures across Texas, Oklahoma, and Colorado reached in excess of 106 degrees, the trip to Denver was uneventful. After a quick night’s rest in a Denver truck stop, the rig headed to stacking at 2 am to ensure a good pit spot. The lack of sleep was worth it, as the pit spot had an incredible view of the mountain on one side and overlooked the track on the other side.
Unlike last year, qualifying proved to be a bit challenging for the Super Stocker as it took a few runs to be able to run under the index. Bill made numerous changes to the setup of the car. These seemed to help, and Brenda made it through enough rounds to race on Sunday. Unfortunately, during the semi-final run, the wind picked up and the car slowed down from the predicted ET. Even with Brenda’s reaction time advantage, it wasn’t enough to overcome the wind. Postrace analysis has indicated a new gear ratio in either the transmission, rear end or both will be needed prior to another trip to Denver with the Super Stocker.
The Topeka Double Header Divisional resulted in another semi-final finish for the first race. The race was a tremendous success for Division 5 with over 800 cars in attendance. With the large car count and rain, the semi-finals were run around 11 pm. A long day after starting with Super Stock qualifying at 7:45 am. Brenda was driving well, however the car spun during the semi-finals. Even with Brenda’s great .003 light, she was unable to pull off the win.
The spin was perplexing as the car had performed flawlessly all day in track temps exceeding 145 degrees. During postrace data analysis, Bill decided a small chassis tweak was in order whenever the track temp was below 100 degrees. Sure enough the next day Bill had an opportunity to try the new setup in conditions nearly identical to the previous night’s spin. This time however, the results were spectacular, and the car once again performed flawlessly.
The second divisional race resulted in a second-round loss. All in all, the trip was a success with two semi-final finishes in three races and learning more about what the Super Stocker likes. After Topeka, Brenda is currently #5 in Super Stock National points.
Schedule Update
Bill is switching from the 717 to the new Airbus A220-100 airplane and will be based in NYC. Training starts September 10th and runs for 30 days. While he is excited about the new opportunity, a wrench has been thrown into the racing schedule. The planned Great Bend Divisional and the St. Louis National events will be dropped and replaced with other races. At this point, it’s looking like the Grubbs’ may be heading to Las Vegas for the National and Divisional events.
Upcoming Races
Nobel, Ok
Divisional Event 12-14
Oct