BARKSHIRE - GOALS MET AT INFINEON

The last article ended with a prediction that Jeff Barkshire's next race, to be his first attempt at a road course was "bound to be exciting." It was right!

Their first new challenge was adapting a car designed to turn only left for the road course track of Infineon Raceway, which has even more right turns than left. It remained a hurdle they didn't quite clear. By qualifying, they still didn't have enough right side weight to handle the course well, resulting in a starting position of 26 out of 41. Adding to the frustration of an already ill handling car were inadequate rear brakes. Jeff explained, "It was a money saving decision to gamble that our existing rear brakes would be sufficient for the job. They weren't. We saved some money but paid for it on the track."

The next new challenge was "driving" the twisting 1.99 mile road track with only about one hour of practice. Jeff was advised by a number of veterans that the goal for a first run at Infineon should be to take it easy and just "Stay on the Track." Well, with little experience but lots of adrenalin, Jeff found out the hard way that "slower can sometimes be faster," as he overdrove turn 10 and sailed off the track into the tire wall on only the second lap of the race! Fortunately, though the car was damaged on three corners, it was to Jeff's surprise that, "the car felt no different." His was only the first drama of the race, which went on to contain twelve cautions and two red flags, all due to wrecks that Jeff was able to get by with only minor additional damage. "Thanks to my crew, our two damage control pit stops were effective and allowed me to remain on the track."

Though from lap two on, Jeff's 46 Centennial Battery Dodge looked more like a demolition derby car, he drove it on to a 10th place finish. "I surprised even myself with how my handling of the track improved over the course of the race. The Infineon race was a lot of work and we had to deal with probably more adversity than we expected. But in the end, we accomplished our goal of finishing in the top 10, and we learned a lot about both car and driver that we'll be able to use next time."

Jeff now holds 5th place in the Camping World Series West points' race, and he retains his lead in the challenge for this year's Sunoco Rookie of the Year Award.

It's now back to Auburn, Washington where he'll be building a new body for the 46 car, and preparing for the next race, back to the familiarity of an oval track, at Irwindale Speedway in California on the 4th of July.

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