New Smyrna Speedway: Hooker Brothers Racing - Post Race Update #3 from Florida

(February 7, 2010 Report) The last Canadian heading to Florida must have left the door open as cool temperatures were blowing in from the north as Hooker Brothers Racing headed to New Smyrna Speedway on Super Bowl Sunday. Racing was scheduled to start at 4:00pm to allow teams time to watch the football game later in the day. The Hooker crew removed the tires to check the brakes and immediately found the problem that caused the loose condition going into the corner during the previous night of racing. Due to narrowing up the track width, the right rear tire had made contact with the spring pocket and the rubbing was putting drag on the rear, causing the 'loose in' condition.

The crew repaired the problem, adjusted the brakes and went out for practice to confirm that they had in fact fixed the handling problem. Driver Kirk Hooker was happy with the car despite not being able to turn it as well as he wanted to in the centre of the corner. A stiffer right rear spring was put in the car and the gears were changed to lower the RPMs. The motor was singing a little high as the car was getting through the corners better than in the past, bringing the speed up down the straightaway.

With the inversion from the previous night's race, the #38 Delaware Speedway Chevy lined up on the outside pole for the 25 lap feature. At the drop of the green flag, Kirk soon found himself as the meat in the sandwich as he was three wide down the backstretch. By the halfway mark, Hooker was battling for fifth.  pulled ahead of the #47 and the #38 who were in a battle for 4th. The #47 broke going into turn four just as Kirk was running hard on his tail and the two made contact due to the sudden change of speed by the #47.

The caution came out and the track sent Hooker to the back for spinning the #47. But some quick talking by Randy Hooker with track officials and the spotter for the #47 car changed their minds and Kirk was given his position back. Kirk raced hard over the final laps to come home fifth. He later reported that he lost oil pressure as the race was winding down so the crew went to work checking the oil filter for debris. With the filter looking fine, the crew put on a new Wix filter and refilled the engine with Lucas oil. The oil pressure returned and after fixing minor damage from getting into the #47, the crew watched the final two races and then headed back to the condo to enjoy the Super Bowl.

From Ken Spira