02 July 2017 Bremerton, WA – Overcoming adversity. When machines break down in the factory where one line depends on another to function troubleshooting becomes the action. In the older days it was kind of easy, did the belt come off? Did it become unplugged? Is something jamming it? All easy to look for and fix if that was the issue.
Now days with computers and electrical parts are combined the task is not as easy. Multi-meters, and computer error codes are what you are looking at to find the source of what has stopped everything from working. In what amounts to better than a half a mile of wires and sensors finding the issue can be a daunting task.
Saturday was that day for Bremerton Raceway and their staff. Error codes on the computer system helps narrow it down but with so many things connected to each other, is it this one or that one? In what amounted to better than an eight-hour search and find and re-place the timing system is back running.
Now what was to be a “race” day has turned into a test and tune operation to run the system making sure everything worked properly. That now out of the way part two of overcoming adversity day.
Saturday and Sunday are “two” separate races, with the exception of the super comp and super street racers, they have one each day. The “heads” got together and moved the Sunday event to a new date and moved all Saturday to Sunday. This move created a “first” for the SC and SST racers as it is now a “double header”.
Two complete races in one day. For the “two” winners, that’s right I did say two they may want to have them all this way.
In Super Comp class Emmett McKillop grabbed both trophies in his ’14 M&M dragster. In the Super Street class Todd Sims powered his red ’66 Nova to the top putting a trophy in each hand.
Now to what was the “event” of the weekend. What started as “The John Kilroy Footbrake Race” now slated as the “Northwest Independence Shootout” brought 119 racers from near and far to get a pile of “cash”, and a “hand-made” trophy at the end of racing. The keyword here is “footbrake”. No Trans brake, nothing but your foot on the brakes.
Put on by the Sears Family Racing with help from many more this race has grown huge. Four thousand to the winner, two thousand to the runner-up, not a bad payday for nine rounds of racing. The total payout money nearly touched “ten thousand” dollars.
When money is involved the racers will come to try and put it in their pockets. I have to say watching a car that normally runs off a trans-brake switch to his foot instead of his finger really shows what “footbrake” racing is all about. Rett Berteilotti in his “first” attempt at this style of racing became a new passion in his own words “this is fun”. It was so much fun to him that “he” claimed the “runner-up” cash and trophy and stated, “I’ll be back next year” for more of this “fun” racing.
To the big winner we go and is not a newcomer to putting the cash in his pocket. Pulling this off in 2015 Dustin Ward did it again. His hard launching “hemi” yanking the front tires off the track just keeps on going this time after having to “buy” back into the race after beating all the other buybacks. The big fella knows his race car like a “glove” and the red Dart fits him like one. Thinking this may be a fluke winning two out of the past three, think again. Dustin has put the car in many a “winners circle” around the Northwest.
In the “Shootout” classes Mark Cavar driving the dragster for the first time this season got the win in the electronics 1/8th mile racing. The motorcycle shootout Jim Were and his ’12 Kawasaki made it to the winner’s circle. For the Jr’s in a combined class race Cooper Chun from Vancouver, Wa. Running out of the Jr. Lightning class claimed the trophy. Congrats to all the winners and hope to see you at next years race.
