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A broken radius rod at Western Speedway on June 25 gouged the rear axle of the #55 Sprint car. The axle needed to be replaced before the next race, which didn't leave much time to get the order in and have the axle on the car by Friday. It was an intense effort on Jeff's part to make sure the axle arrived at it's destination on time and that it was indeed the correct part. The team picked up the new axle on the way to the Interior Thursday morning (July 1). Thursday evening in Summerland was spent replacing the rear axle, with Jeff, Cam McLean, Jeff's dad Bobby Bird, and Jeff's brother/crew member Jeremy Bird working on the car for 4 hours. Joanne and Cam's wife Bev visited with Joanne's grandmother while the "boys" were getting greasy.
Many of the neighbourhood residents on Julia Street strolled by to check out the commotion, as the Sprint car was dismantled and parts were strewn everywhere. Some neighbours even sat down on the road and watched the repair work take place. This car draws a crowd no matter where it is!
Friday July 2 - On the road again and up the highway a few hours to Vernon... the Sun Valley track was superb. The pit area was fully paved, had a nice pit area concession building with clean bright bathrooms, and new grandstands made for a seating capacity of 7000 race fans.
Jeff's mom Susan Bird and her friend Jeremy Pike also travelled to Vernon from Vancouver to help out in the pits and enjoy the races. The weather was hot and muggy, but a short rain shower with a beautiful double rainbow interrupted the event momentarily, giving everyone a chance to cool off. After tow trucks, push trucks, an ambulance, and several stock cars dried the track, the event was back in action. Brother Jer and dad Bobby wait for Jeff's push-off 3 practise sessions and several adjustments later, #55 was acting up and not handling as well as expected. The front left tire was coming way up off the track, but Jeff still qualified a very respectable 5th place out of 16 Sprint cars with a time of 16.07 seconds, beating the existing track record of 16.53 seconds! Crew member and fellow competitor Cam McLean in his #26 car qualified in 6th place, also beating the record. A new track record for Sun Valley was set that night by car #19, at 15.60 seconds.
As the sun went down and the track's bright lights lit up the night, the "iceman" started the Fast Heat on the outside second row and quickly moved into 2nd place. The #55 car was pushing through the corners for most of the 10-lap race, and ended up finishing in 3rd. Main Event: This was a 35-lap event, with 3 yellow flags - a spin-out with #94 & #91, where Jeff restarted in the 4th row; the power steering pump went on car #27, and then with yellow flag number three Jeff was up to 6th place. Despite the engine fuel mixture being too lean (blue flames were coming from the exhaust when Jeff let off the throttle), and too much "bite" in the rear tires (bringing the front left off the ground), the iceman held onto his #6th place position for the checkered flag, but quickly pulled off the track with an overheating engine. Cam finished just ahead, in the #5 spot. Saturday July 3 - The Thunder Mountain track at Williams Lake was smaller than Vernon, and not as modern. The pit area was gravel & dirt, with outhouse bathrooms and an old bus set up as a concession booth. Jeff went out for a few practise laps and the car felt great, so he opted to stay off the track until the races started and not risk changing the set up of the car. The most action on the track for the afternoon was the #94 car getting run over by the push truck! Jeff ended up lending a helping hand to the #94 crew for a few hours to get their car repaired. Unfortunately, the weather was not willing to cooperate and the race was cancelled and rescheduled for Sunday morning.
Many drivers and teams had been expecting to go home Saturday night and had not made hotel reservations in Williams Lake. With the race being held the same weekend as the Williams Lake Stampede, available rooms in this small town were hard to come by! The #55 and #26 teams were prepared, though, and had Bobby Bird's motorhome to bunk in - a cozy night for the 6 of them. Sunday July 4 - Practise started bright and early at 8 am on this gorgeous sunny morning, and many crew members who had camped out at the track overnight wandered around the pit area in their PJ's, slurping back coffee. Williams Lake pit area In qualifying, #55 was the first car out, and Jeff found the track to be very dusty, making traction difficult. His qualifying time of 14.02 seconds put him in the B Trophy Dash on the outside first row, and he quickly pulled ahead of the pack despite a gurgling engine. Jeff won the Trophy Dash, but knew he needed to make some quick changes to the car to run in the Heat Race. The team added some fuel and richened up the fuel mixture to the engine, but it sounded worse for the next race. In the 2nd Heat the "iceman" started inside the first row, and hung onto the lead until the last lap, where he was passed by the #33 car.
In a scramble to fix the problem, Jeff, Bob, and Jeremy pulled the engine cover off and started working on the motor. With only a small window of time before the main event, they worked fast to diagnose the problem. The track was so dusty that particles were clogging the injector nozzels, so these were quickly cleaned out; meanwhile Cam changed a right rear tire on his #26 car and Joanne adjusted tire air pressures on both cars. The #55 and #26 Sprint cars were ready just in time to push off for the Main Event. However, things went from bad to worse and the #55 car had blue smoke and chunks of rubber letting go from both rear tires as the race progressed. With 2 yellow flags (one for Cam hitting the wall and spinning into the infield), by lap 31 of 35 the "iceman" pulled off the track with both brand new rear tires ($600) melted down to the cords! Despite his front stretch wall-encounter, Cam was able to finish the race (a relief after overheating the engine in several previous races), although his right rear tire was also worn through to the cords. All in all, Jeff, Cam, and their families enjoyed a beautiful weekend and exciting racing in the BC Interior. The "iceman" finished 7th overall in the Off-Island Tour, putting him in 8th place for the Wilroc Championship point standings.
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Vernon
track 
Here
comes the rain!
The track at Williams Lake
