Karma's A Wonderful Thing.....
Last weekend at the Fontana D7 points race I had some good luck two times over at the race. Out of 68 cars I qualified 67th with a 15.815 on my 15.60 DF/S index. My first round opponent should've beaten me, because I was only able to improve to a 15.680. However, I helped my cause by having an .048 to .060rt advantage over him. However, he crossed the finish line .0754 ahead of me, which gave him some slowdown room. Fortunately for me he slowed down .007 too late allowing me to advance past 1st round. However, the true Karma race was in rnd 2!
Since there was already a tailwind that aided me in rnd 1, I was watching the flags and noticing that as we were getting ready to run rnd 2, that it increased about 4-6mph. I go to the water box, because my new to me tires needed a burnout to heat them up. I do my burnout, and go up to the line to stage, however my opponent hadn't even started his burnout yet. I went to the sat there on the line not sure what was going on but I figured, I'm good I made it past rnd 1, so whatever happens was going to happen. I was prepared to turn off my engine, but something told me not to, so I just let my car idle while I waited to see if my opponent would show up. Apparently the starter must've gestured to him that he better get it going and get up to the line, or he was going to send me on a broke bye single. Was the guy trying to burndown my car? Perhaps, but this is where it got interesting....although he got an .021 to .098rt advantage over me, the same God that we pray to for ill or fallen loved ones, was watching and seemingly didn't like what my opponent was doing, so that tailwind pushed my car to a 15.635 (which was not only my quickest run of the event, but only .035sec. from my index. This must have forced him to get on his breaks too late, because although he crossed the finish line .1207 ahead of me, he also crossed it .008 too soon, which made my win light come on, and sent him and his car to the trailer!
Thanks to that snafu, I was able to earn 50pts., and make a vault in the D7 points standings to date from 47th to 17th (in a tie with several others for 16th), in the Stock Eliminator standings! As for him, well to pour salt on his (beating his-self wound), he inherited my now former position in the standings! I guess Karma can and does bite people who may have intentions like that in their mindset.
Morale of the Story....There's more eyes on us than we think, so if you want to play games with other racers like that, then be prepared for the possible consequences of your actions....
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Gary Hampton
'86 Z24,173 V6
CF/S #5824 (#78 in 2021)
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