Dan Pardus-Daytona Diary Day 3

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DAN'S DAYTONA DIARY
Saturday, February 10, 2001

Dan, we have finished practice, ARCA happy hour and have begun to set the car up for tomorrow's Discount Auto Parts 200. Can you fill us in on today's activities.

Well, we did not have much Happy Hour. We had thirteen minutes this
morning. Because of the fog, this morning's practice was delayed and
shortened. ARCA decided to break us up into two groups, even and odd qualifiers. It gave us a better opportunity to draft in small groups. We worked on our drafting. In drafting, you lose cowl pressure, and the engine does not pull. It loses a little bit of horsepower and it just kind of stays put. So if you see a car get off to a car length in front of him, he may have lost horsepower and the car just will not go. We changed the left front shock to pull the car down a little. We put a cowl insert in the front to help turn the air a little better. We only had thirteen minutes to do it. We only made about five laps, came in, put an insert in and went back out for one lap. The caution came out and Happy Hour was over.

We are pretty happy with the car. We are going to go with it. We are
starting thirteen and I think we are going to be good on that inside row.

Gary: Is there any extra prep done for the race?

Some of the final race prep includes putting vent windows in the car and getting more air flow to me. We blow one vent hose on the ignitions to keep the ignitions cool in the car. We blow some air on the driver's seat, keep the perspiration down and the driver from possibly falling asleep.

We put a new windshield on the car because from the last three or four days they become pitted. On the new windshield, we put on "tear off's." It is a thin plastic film that costs about $100. It helps because the oil and film built up during the race is removed by just tearing away the film during a pit stop. After about thirty or forty laps, tearing away the film is like putting in a new windshield.

Tomorrow morning, the crew will be doing their final nuts and bolts check, check all the hoses, change the oil, change all the filters. They will check all the safety aspects of the car.

Gary: Does it concern you about inexperienced drivers in the race.

No. Not really. I think we will have a good race. I think at the start of
the race you will see about ten cars break away from the rest of the field. I think there will be another group of ten, and then a third and fourth group of cars. Hopefully, I will be in the first group and stay there.

Gary: Will there be any pit stops scheduled for this race.

Yes, we there will have to be one for gas and hopefully on a caution lap. We will take on four tires, gas and go. We have a full Winston Cup crew, Stacey Compton's from Melling Racing to handle our pit stops. An early or late caution could force us to make two pit stops. Then it will get interesting.

If I stay cool, think straight, hopefully I will be around to take the
checkered flag. It is exciting and I want to thank my sponsors, and all
those that have been here to help and I hope I have a good finish for
everybody.

Day One
Day Two
Day Three
Day Four
Day Five

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