Kmart 400 Live Report by Ron Connelly

The day started out as usual for me on a race day, get up at 4am and take off for the track. I live 100 miles from the track and every year it gets tougher and tougher to get into the track. But we finally arrived around 9:45 am and then it was time to sit around and wait.

This year they had a nice air show with a stunt plane doing all kinds of crazy things. It was something different and I think most of the fans enjoyed it. Well since I was unable to find any DC souvenirs it was time to go inside.

The Jimmy Dean Pontiac looked real cool on pit road before the race. When the drivers were introduced the biggest cheer was for Bill Elliott as usual. And since Harry Melling was from Jackson which is only ten miles away it was a real neat deal to see the #94 car qualify and run so well. I think I lost my voice when they introduced DC but I sure got some strange comments like, "He hasn't had a top ten in years". But a true race fan must put up with all the good and the bad.

Well the race was about to get started and I was setting up the scanner for DC's frequency when I heard them talking to Kenny Schrader. I thought I had the wrong frequency but then Dan gets on the radio and tells DC to have a good and safe race. All race long I got both cars on the same channel?

Once they were on the parade lap they asked DC for water and oil temps. DC said everything was OK. Then they told him 4200 rpm's pit road speed and the green next time by. I was still excited. Once the green flag waved it went downhill from there. DC was just not quick. On lap 42 they told Derrike the leader was about to catch him and lap him. He replied, "I am doing the best that I can."

They told him they were pitting soon and they would adjust the track bar and try to free up the car. They lost a lot of time in the pits, about a 1/2 lap. DC was now 1 and 1/2 laps down. DC said the car was still too tight and they told him to ride it out until the next stop. At the next stop the front tire changer had troubles and they lost more time. From that point on the team just hung in to finish the race.

A boring race to witness as the #88 car stunk the place up. The moral of my story is that the car was just too slow. And the pit stops were TERRIBLE!!! The Jimmy Dean car looks great, maybe next time. Oh yes, on the way out I noticed a huge billboard "STATE FAIR Corn Dogs the official corn dog of NASCAR."