Paul Spegal’s report continued…
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Thursday.

As a side note, this morning I was driving down to Daytona at 5:30 a.m. I
was running between 85 and 90 mph and noticed a tractor trailer bearing down
on me flashing his lights to get me to move out of the way. This started
when the truck was about a tenth of a mile behind me. The truck blows by me
doing at least 100 mph. It was Derrick Copes hauler. Just as he goes by he
goes into a turn in the road and cuts the turn a little too much in the
inside and runs the rig off on the shoulder. He jerks the rig back on the
road and had the trailer bouncing from one side to the other. I was not all
too sure he was going to be able to get the rig back under control. He did
manage to and he then dropped his speed down to 85 mph for the remainder of
the trip into Daytona. I wonder if Derrick was driving the rig himself.

Anyway, back to Ned and the days events.

We started the day off right. A couple NASCAR officials came by and looked
at the tail of the car. They told us the lower trunk deck was too close to
the edge of the bumper and would have to be raised above the frame rails.
This was bad enough but on Tuesday, when we went through the tech line, one
of the regular Dash officials told Ned he could trim up the bumper several
inches. Ned asked if the underside clearance would be within specs and the
official, several times, said that it was legal. Well today we were informed
that was not the case. We had to rip all of the sheetmetal out of the bottom
of the truck and raise it above the frame. Since we had two practices to get
ready for qualifying this afternoon Ned decided we would concentrate on
qualifying and deal with the sheetmetal changes during the break between the
last practice and qualifying.

Robbie and Ned used both practices to test various setups. We started out
fairly well with times in the upper 56 second range and later had times as
bad as the mid 58 second range. When we ended the last practice we were not
at our best. We were running a 57 second lap. We were sure that time would
get us into the show but most likely in the lower half. So Robbie did his
usual last minute, put all the notes together and change everything move.
After all you go through to find out what works and what doesn’t, it make
those who only participate a bit nervous to go into qualifying on an untried
combination. But Robbie has done this before and has come out on top for
taking the chance. So once again we are sitting on the line, waiting to
qualify, with a setup that has not a single lap. Well, once again, it paid
off. Ned to the new Cougar around Daytona in 56.4 seconds for his first lap
and 56.34 for his second. Good enough to put him in the seventh starting
position.

As soon as we got back to the Dash compound, the inspectors flagged Ned into
position for being checked. True to their word they had us pull the shocks
and springs and ran them through the dyno. Another inspector used a gadget
that looked like a sniffer to check if there was any air being sucked into
the manifold or carburetor other then through the throat. Also, a sample of
the fuel was taken. They also inspected the transmission and had us break
down the carburetor. When all the testing was done, it was official, Ned
will start in the inside of row four on Saturday. Yes!!!!

Ned and Robbie got together and decided we have gambled enough for one week
and the car will not be altered any more. We are going to have a light day
tomorrow. The timing and rocker gaps will be checked the oil changed and a
couple other minor adjustments. Ned will take a couple of practice laps and
the car sit until time to race on Saturday.