THE 2008
GOVERNOR’S CUP 200 – From A Dad’s Perspective.
The best descriptive word I have for the 43rd running of the Governor’s Cup is ‘preparation’. Our #92 team came prepared. You quickly realize that you are in good graces when you unload a very fast car and park it after 5 laps. Then you watch competitor after competitor run 50 to 100+ laps, still struggling. You know your game is at the top when you load two passenger cars with the crew and go directly to Dick’s favorite seafood joint, right during the middle of open practice. Then, just for fun you put the car back on the track towards the end of the evening just to see if the earlier session was a fluke. In 3 laps, Matt Bowers ran a time I have never seen at New Smyrna Speedway!
Now it’s time to load up the crew and go get us a good cold beer! Tomorrow is the big day.
We met our pit crew team from Charlotte at the hotel - Matt Loshbough, Jori Hielbrun, and Brandon Harder. Neat guys that truly looked the part, walked the walk and talked the talk of a profession team. Last year, as a spectator, I noted that only a couple of teams showed an honest effort in what I deemed was a win/lose part of the race – the pit stop. Even more concerning at a time when sponsorship is so important, was that only one or two teams displayed sponsor banners at their pits. As a sponsor and a spectator, I saw this as a major opportunity for any competitor looking for sponsors. We promised ourselves that if we came back to a major event like this, the fans and sponsors alike would know we were there! For the record….Our pit did end up in a picture in a local newspaper, voted as “The Classiest Pit” on pit road and included video screens playing “Days of Thunder”, just to be sure everyone was in the mood, as if they weren’t. OK, back to the race. The Matt Bowers/Dick Anderson Team came here to win a big race and I made sure we looked good win/lose/or draw!
Matt has had a few gremlins chasing him around New Smyrna since last year. Looking back, one of the best driving skills he adopted from ¼ Midgets and Bandoleros (momentum cars) is an extremely smooth driving style. Mix this up with Legend Cars (beat and bang from the Shootout days), it becomes obvious, New Smyrna just seems to be the wrong track for his style of racing. Orlando SpeedWorld on the other hand is Matt’s track to dominate. All of this may sound like an excuse, and it is. What we are trying to find is that line between smooth and aggressive and exactly when to use either. For instance, Matt just could not seem to figure out qualifying when it counted until the strangest of circumstances occurred in a practice the week prior. The brake reservoir cap came off and leaked brake fluid into the driver’s box right onto the brake pedal. Going into Turn #3, Matt’s foot slipped off the brake finding him well into the turn with no portion of the entry under normal braking. In other words, he found himself in the turn at darned near full clip. Well, the #92 car stuck! Matt found out that although the tires may not last very long driving hard like this, he laid down one incredible lap time!
Qualifying for the 43rd running of the Governor’s Cup placed Matt 3rd fastest time, right behind Wayne Anderson and Tim Russell, each within .003 of a second. OK, Dad is feeling pretty good with two more objectives left in this event. Actually three.
One of the great benefits of working with Dick Anderson is his close association with the Villages Racing Fan Club. The Villages community is a standout for the entire United States. The VRFC is over 225 members strong and the vast majority had arrived in busses to see their new young driver perform. Just a little pressure?
Driver introductions were made and Matt received the ovation that dreams are made of. OK, we’re in the #92 car, the defending champion car, under the direction of Dick Anderson. We got the qualifying time that reflects preparation and the driver. We prepared the pit and had a professional pit crew flown in for 15 seconds of fame, and our team was cheered like no other teams combined. Now we have two more challenges to pull off for this race: Getting through the start and being there at the end to place car and driver in position for a possible huge finish.
But before I conclude “Dad’s Version”, let me voice my strong objection to the inconsistency of the rule makers at FASCAR. The rule says that if a car qualifies with tape or any obstruction over induction vents to the radiator and brakes, that car must “start” the race in that configuration. Well, Jeff Choquette, during qualifying (I made that up, it was actually during practice), slammed (hit, pulverized, smashed) and flattened a black cat right across his snout driving through turn #2. It only seemed fair that Jeff should have been required to start the race with the obstruction adhered to the car. You had to have been there folks. (I would have loaded up right then…no the cat did not have credentials nor an arm band).
Speaking of a jinx, and to fast forward, was anyone in our fan section eating boiled peanuts?
Excuse me for being long winded here, because, the actual race portion of this “Version” was way too short, so I have to unwind while I can.
The #92 car did have a minor item following us since the previous week when the transmission linkage bracket broke. Despite all efforts to replace the linkage, we could not get it adjusted properly or the transmission itself was the culprit as it continued to pop out of gear. The #5 Colangelo crew jumped to our rescue with a spare transmission so our crew quickly replaced the component and I rebuilt the housing in the driver’s box. Then, we broke another linkage…replaced it from yet another spare transmission. Ever seen Dick Anderson nervous? But the real whammy came when the #92 Car was being backed out of the pit stall for driver’s introductions only to be crashed into by a weary golf cart bringing out the fender tape. Ever seen Dick Anderson really nervous?
OK. We get the big introduction crown and it’s off to the races. But forget that. Yes, we got through the start just fine. The real action was watching Dick Anderson, so focused. He began working on tires and never saw the green flag. He did see Matt make a driver’s error on a yellow and promptly jumped his case on the #92 radio. Hey, this is coaching at its finest. Just like a Bear Bryant or a Vince Lombardi. Dick Anderson is their equal in the business of short track racing. Dick wanted more feedback from Matt on car handling because, with every word, Dick was working on 4 tires getting ready for the pit stop. No matter how fast we were going to come in, we were going out a ton faster.
Back to the boiled peanuts, because we just have to blame something. On lap 36, one of the sounds you do not want to hear is from spotter Leroy Porter, “ You hang on to that car son!” then just as I saw (taking a quick eye off of Dick’s passion for those tires) Matt kiss the wall at the exit off turn 4…right where the wall has a slight curve-in. The tap was just enough to break a panhard mount and effectively end our chances for fame and glory on this night. This was a sad night in Mudville as the mighty Casey struck out with Matt’s only words, “Guys, I’m sorry”. We did not get to see our 15 second pit stop and Dick’s tires get to lap the field in the famed #92 car. As I always say, “this is not the business for the meek”. It is painful.
Looking back at our year of Super Late Model Racing, 2008 was definitely not painful. This is Matt’s rookie year and he finished 3rd in overall points in a field of veterans, some having raced for over 25 years. Many well funded teams rounded out the field, ours being probably one of the least funded. Our year began with Wayne Anderson building us two terrific race cars. We were fortunate to have a legend like Dave Pletcher as Crew Chief. It took Dave working with Matt just two Sunbelt starts to claim a hard fought victory! Then, Dave and Matt backed up that win at Lakeland, having never been to the track, with an almost second win. The 2nd place finish at Lakeland will go down as one of the best races ever for Matt Bowers. Our season continued with some ups and downs, but mostly ups until we lost an engine at Lake City, another track we had never raced, but we had fielded one of the fastest entries. Our team takes tremendous pride in the fact that throughout our season, until the last two races and aside from Dave Pletcher, Wayne and Dick Anderson that Matt and I made up our shop crew in its entirety. Matt did a major part of the maintenance and repairs as I traveled to my ‘day job’ (Delta Airlines) and have limited time to work on the cars when I am home. We were very lucky this entire season aside from the engine failure at Lake City we changed two right spindles, one upper A-arm, a fender, and one snout. The rest was preventive maintenance and Matt did a bunch of preventive maintenance including new valve springs just before the same engine failed on us. Notably, in 12 years of racing (other than one of my most/least admirable screw ups to a Bandolero engine), this was the first engine failure we ever had.
As we end this year of racing and prepare for 2009, it is a tremendous honor and privilege to work with Dick and Mary Anderson. We have a treasured growing friendship and relationship with the great people at The Villages. Yes, it would be great to see Matt in an ARCA ride or another big venue, but all things considered, Matt has found a great mentor, coach, and true friends who will take him to a higher level and refine his skills to become a great racecar driver. As we see it, Matt couldn’t ask for a better place to be and to hang his helmet in 2009 then right where he is.
We want to add personal thanks to our Governor’s Cup Super Crew & Sponsors
Dick
Anderson, Car Owner & Crew Chief
Mary
Anderson
Bob
(Boston) Dupras
Ken
Kuhn
David
Nielson
Leroy
Porter, Spotter
Pit
Crew from Charlotte - Matt Loshbough, Jori Hielbrun, and Brandon Harder
Christy
Messina
Roland
Harrell, World Champion Team Chef Extraordinaire
The
Villages Motor Racing Club, BDH, CTech, Skybolt, Premier Equipment & MAZAK
Machine Tools
Linda
Marsh & Family for their very generous sponsorship and the foodies &
drinks provided
…and
our thanks to the many other helping hands for their generosity and support.