Turning Wrenches in Atlanta By-Rob Faiella Welcome to InsideThePitBox.com!! Check out ALL our sections and features here!! There is plenty to keep you busy on our main page! Wow, what a weekend. We saw some great racing in Atlanta and the sun was shining and I GOT TO TURN SOME WRENCHES ON A RACE CAR AT ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY!!!! Ok, maybe it isn't that big of a deal, but it was to me. Once again the guys at Montgomery Motorsports let me tag along for their ARCA event. For this, I am grateful. Not only do these guys build great racing machines, they are a lot of fun to be around. I left my home in Tampa Florida around Midnight on Thursday/Friday. 7 and a half hours later, I was at the track. I picked up my credentials at the ARCA trailer and headed for the garage. The guys were hard at work making changes and trying to ready the car for the morning practice. They had been fighting a tight condition all thru testing and Thursday's practice and were trying to loosen the car up. Since there wasn't too much for me to do there, I headed over towards the Cup garage and took a bunch of pictures of the cars. I met up with Mike Calinoff, Matt Kenseth's Spotter, and Publisher of many websites (most of which are on our main page). We talked racing a bit and Mike told me that if I wanted to get on a crew, I needed to get my butt to Charlotte. I told him that I would be moving there by June of this year and said he would try to help me get something going. Thanks Mike!! If anyone can help me, he is the guy. I can't wait to move up there. Anyhow, the ARCA team I was hanging out with is the #27 driven by Chase Montgomery. Chase was the pole sitter for Daytona this year and sat on the outside pole at Atlanta last fall. This kid is quick. When he struggled in practice the team knew something was wrong. Qualifying came and Chase found himself 25th after being as high as 9th in one of the practice sessions. The crew went hard to work and found that the rear-end housing was bent. The guys jumped under the car and went to work changing the entire housing and I did what I do best, and tried to stay out of the way. I wandered over to the Cup area gain and then out to pit road. I watched the Cup guys practice and got pictures of all the cars from 4-5 feet away. I swear I will post them soon. There are 322 of them. I ran into Mike Helton and gave him an Inside The Pit Box.com business card, he signed it and handed it back. I wonder how much that is worth? Are there a lot of Helton autographed items for sale on E-bay? Anyhow, back to the garage and by the time the rear housing was changed as well as many other changes to free the car up, Happy Hour for the ARCA guys was over. The team worked on the car until about the time the garage was closed and then went back to the hotel for a good rest. Saturday came and the crew got to the garage at sun-up and started going over the race day checklists. Keith, the crew chief, called me over and said, "Take a look at the checklists and if there is anything you feel comfortable with, go ahead and do it and sign it off." What? "Are you serious?", I said. Keith assured me that he had confidence in me and I was on my way. I did some MAJOR things to that race car. I snugged up the hinges on the Hood and Trunk. I checked all the windows for cracks and that they were secure. I verified the integrity of the Hood and Trunk pins, and I checked and Ty-wired various nuts and bolts under the car. The biggest nut under the car was me, as I was giddy like a schoolgirl. You have no idea how much I love this stuff and I cherished every moment of it. We pushed the car thru inspection (The Room of Doom) and after a few tweaks, we were approved and allowed to push the car to the starting grid. I volunteered again to pull the War Wagon out to our pit stall and the walk was just as bad as Daytona. After getting the cart out there, we set up the camera over the pit stall to film the pit stops and arranged the various items in the stall. The National Anthem and Invocation came up and the crew invited me to join them lining up on Pit Road as this took place. What a feeling. I get goosebumps just thinking about it. The engines were fired and the cars filed down to Turn 1. I took a stand on top of one of the crates of pit gear and got ready for the race. The Green Flag dropped and Chase wasted no time charging towards the front. By Lap 3 he had gained 9 or 10 positions and he was so fast, that as he went to pass the 59 car in Turn 1, The 59 didn't realize how much of a run he had and either slight contact or just removal of the air from the 59's spoiler got the 59 loose and sent him hard into the Turn 2 wall. Chase felt pretty bad about that and talked with the driver after the race and I think there were no hard feelings. That was a classy move in my opinion for Chase to seek him out and apologize. Chase also apologized on TV when he was being interviewed. Nice job!! Anyhow, Chase's fast car would once again be plagued with bad luck and the rear-end gear blew and sent him to the garage 20 laps or so into the race. I grabbed the War Wagon and ran all the way back down pit road with the crew and into the farthest garage stall from where we were. Some of the guys had pushed Chase's car back there at about the same time I showed up with the cart. The crew went feverishly to work and once again changed the rear-end gear and had Chase back out before halfway. Now that he was back in the race, I once again had to run with the cart back to pit road. I am still sore. Chase basically dropped to the back and just rode around collecting laps. His car was just as fast as the leaders but their was no way he was going to make up 60 laps so he decided it was best to stay out of the way. Another classy move!! So, that was 2 races this season. I was at both and both times they had terrible luck rob them of a potential shot at the win. I won't be at their next race in Nashville and the team and I have already decided that if they win without me, I will never be invited back again. These guys are a strong team with great cars and a very talented driver. I would love to see them a secure a big sponsor and take the team to the next level. Any company even remotely thinking about sponsoring a team needs to talk to these guys. It would be money well spent. They will be the next big thing in ARCA very soon. I just hope they let me come around. I'm not a jinx, really. It was all coincidental, I swear!!!! Thanks Keith, Scott and especially Ray for another great weekend and I wish you guys the best of luck and let me know if there is ever anything I can do. You guys always make me feel welcome and I am proud to say that I know you guys and that you let me work on your car! Thanks! Thanks and keep reading! Rob RobFaiella@insidethepitbox.com Thanks for visiting InsideThePitBox.com!! Check out ALL our sections and features here!! There is plenty to keep you busy on our main page! (Editors Note:The views and opinions of our writers are just that, theirs. If you have comments, write to them. We take no responsibility for their articles... Do you blame us?) Article archives Return to the Main Page