April 13, 2009

"For as bad as it was, it really could not have gone any better." A phrase that was uttered by the CG Racing team more than once over the weekend at Cordele, GA where they debuted a brand new Port City Racecar.

The goal heading into the weekend was originally to shake down a brand new car, doing the standard leak checks, checking clearances and making sure no t's were left uncrossed and no i's left un dotted. As the debut weekend grew closer the goal shifted from shaking the car down to racing for a win. After all, we are all racers at heart and when given the tools, I doubt anyone would turn down the opportunity to mix it up and show the world what you have. What those next few days turned into was nothing short of reality TV.

Friday night prior to racing at Watermelon Capital Speedway in Cordele, GA., the CG Racing team was working feverishly to complete work on the racecar after encountering multiple setbacks personal and otherwise throughout the early part of the week. And with half of the crew coming from more than 6 hours away the chances of even loading the car looked grim.

Enter the phrase "youth and enthusiasm."

After hanging the body well after midnight, the car went on the scales at roughly 2am and final setup work was done by 3am and the decals were being applied until the car was loaded into the trailer at 4am.

After roughly one hour of sleep, the CG Racing and Reaid Motorsports teams awoke to a new day and a new race season. After a slight delay which included some of Georgia's finest, the team arrived at the 'Melon with roughly 30 minutes to prepare for first practice. Needless to say the first practice went without the #17 hitting the racetrack as the last few decals were applied and the sleep deprived crew worked to get the car running and through tech.

Practice session 2 however, was hopefully a sign of things to come in 2009. After some slow warm up laps to seat the brakes and check for leaks, Chris started to pick up the pace and get settled into his new ride and after practice session #2 the car was second on the board and the only car on the not on new tires.

After much deliberation, it was decided that using the race as an opportunity to test and tune on the new car was good enough and the cars full blown race debut would have to wait for another time. There were just too many things going against the #17 team, the least of which including no sleep.

Chris did finish out the night, qualifying 11th on old tires and dropping to the back of the field for the start of the race. Upon taking the green flag the new cars first real test session took place. Chris gave the field a straightaway head start and ran the first 12 laps at a comfortable race pace and ultimately set the fast lap of the race before pulling off and calling it a night.

So, 2009 is officially underway here at CG Racing and stay tuned for good things to come. They say that the only way to get your name in the headlines is to win, so look for Chris Gabehart and his brand new CGx racecar in the news in 2009.

-Webmaster

Pictures of the 2009 CGx Racecar:

View Chris' latest blog entry here.

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