My Second Race EVER in Vintage NASCAR Monte Carlo! (Comeback After Major Crash)

He knows in there. >> I had a choice to make. Am I going to sit down or am I going to finish the pass? Am I going to stay under there? Am I going to work my best to stay under there? >> Careful. Careful. Careful. Well, I have a problem. L is driving to practice at Carowway, which is an hour away. I'm about halfway there. had to get off the highway because there was a road closure going up and down these hills and stuff, you know, stuff that might make the truck warm, but nothing that bad. And I'm sitting there at the red light and just steam all up out of the hood. I'm like, "Oh, wow. I've never seen this before. What happened?" The heater core line busted off the return line. You can see it's fogging up the camera. That's right over there. And I saw this Dollar General roll and pulled in here. It was about 253. So, it's hot, but it's not killing it yet. And uh shut it off. Got some water. Apparently, there's an O'Reilly's down the street that way. So, when you see somebody running down the street for no reason, they might have a good reason like I do right now. >> Thank you. >> Got myself got the tool to get it off. Hose clamps. Everything should be good. As long as that's cooled off enough for me to not burn my hands, we'll be good. It's not going to be pretty, but it will work. I thought maybe I had found a better way to route it that is less pinchy on the lines, but I did not. It's going to have a little kink to it. I wouldn't run it like this forever, but it will work for now. All right, let's fire it up and see if it works. Update. It works. And it set me back exactly 1 hour. I think practice is until 5:00. I should still be able to run. Oh boy. Sorry about your parking lot. Dollar General. He came in for me. Clutch. At least I bought something. Just made my first practice run here at Carowway. And I got to tell you, I discovered something big. At Lonesome Pine, my carburetor was being stupid. The thing would shut off when I'd go to pull in the pits. It didn't want to start when it was hot. I knew something was up with it, but I didn't know what it was and didn't really have time to look into it. Turns out my float screws had backed out and they were too full. It was spilling out of the vent. And uh Jeremy helped me fix that. I went out there. It feels like I just got 45 more horsepower back. No, you did not miss a video since we fixed the car, but I did run a race before this one. It was just so boring that neither one of us thought it was worth making a full video about because the entire race, both races, the whole thing looked like this. Um, some of the off track interactions and stuff were fun and entertaining. So, I'll make a video that's kind of like the behind the scenes thing and post it on the Stapleton 42 channel. I thought it was me just getting used to the thing cuz the first couple times I drove it, the thing was a rocket. And then after that, I'm kind of like, this thing's kind of a turd. It's just like all the time. Not anymore. It's fast again. And that is why Saturday race day carowway cuz I was just heaving around tires all over the place getting our new tires mounted up at their machines they got in the infield over there. I really don't like doing that. So, I put that on my list of things I want to have is my own tire machine. I don't have to do all this as soon as it gets to track. Always makes me nervous like, oh, the machine's going to break. Someone's not going to be there. I'm not going to have enough time. I don't like waiting till the last minute for things. And I will consider it a success for myself. If I can race one of the good cars and finish ahead of one of the good cars, like the five guys who have the good cars here that always run well and about the same finishing order. If I could crack into that, um, I feel like I'm executing above and beyond what I should be doing here given my experience level with this stuff. I had no idea that first video would do as well as it did. I didn't think that many people cared to see what I was doing or what it meant to people. Most people who aspire to drive one of these cars, never ever get the chance to do it. And I in a lot of ways represent the hopes and dreams of all of those people, maybe you if that's you, to show you what's possible if you just take a random guy and say, "Here, you know, go do this. Go do it the way it used to be done." And that's exactly what we're doing. Doing it the way it used to be done. And I'm getting to learn about it from those guys. Jerry Mayfield's pitted right next to me. If I got a question, I go ask him. If you're one of those people who always wanted to do it, never got to do it for whatever reason, whatever life circumstance you had, just know that I in in here I represent you. And uh I don't take that lightly. It is a ton of work, but when it's fun, it's fun. When it's not fun, it's not fun. The last few months have been pretty freaking hectic. like the most hectic I think I've ever personally experienced. And we're not even through it yet. We're trying to squeeze all this in and make it work. I am tired all the time. I'm not getting to sleep as much as I should. It's just uh but you dig in, you find a new level, and you get through it. That's what the winner's doing. That's what we're doing. So, the cool part about these races, if you come here, you get to meet us. And that's what he did. So, what what did you just tell me that we wanted to say again? This blue looks better in person than it does on camera. It's more of a turquoise and I love it. >> That's great. Absolutely. Here I am doing the process that you have to do before you drive one of these things at all, which is heat up the oil in the dry sump oil tank and then take the oil pump belt off, spin the engine over with an electric drill or some type of apparatus to pump oil, warm oil through the engine to prime it and get some heat in there. That's what I'm doing right now. I've got my M18 angle drill in there and I do it until I feel the line get warm. Then I know that the warmness is in there starting to expand up all the tight tolerances and all that. It just makes me feel better whenever I can sort of preheat the block a little bit too. And then I get the belt sort of put on there, get one tooth caught on it, and then I have to bar the motor over manually to get the rest of it on there. After all, this is the Penso car. And you might be wondering, do I actually run Penso in this car? Well, I do. It is ultra platinum 0W40. Same stuff you can get on the shelf at your local part store. I got a 55gallon drum of it. And uh the oil tank itself holds about 5 gallons. Sounds different. What? >> It sounds different. >> Yeah. >> You talking to Jeremy? >> Yeah. I was told to get on station two for his radio for uh coffee. >> Okay. Oh, yeah. I don't have radio in the car yet. >> You want it? Yeah. So, we didn't have a spotter today, so we found PJ here, who's a pro. He's going to help me out. What do you do? >> I do vinyl at Legacy Motor Club fulltime, and then I I spot on the weekends. I'm somewhere every single weekend. Uh, I do all of John Hunter Neimichek's road course stuff. Um, spotting is what I've always wanted to do, what I love to do. So, hope I keep the car clean and and uh bring home a good finish. It's really good looking car, so we got to keep it clean. Should I show your business card? Yeah, perfect. >> You need a spotter. You call PJ right here. I can't testify to the quality of his work yet cuz I just met him 5 minutes ago, but I'll let you know after the first I know. I know you you'll do good. >> This is Mitchell Stapleton. He is from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and he has a great YouTube channel. >> That was my best qualifying yet. Um I wound up fifth and I outqualified um a few cars that I normally do not. I've never been >> Normally. It's your third race. >> Yeah, this is my third race. This is my third qualifying ever my life. Yeah, I'm I'm pretty happy with this. I think this is going to be some fun racing. >> Feel pretty good. >> Yeah, feels good. I think I could have done better. Like if there was a third lap, I think I would have done better cuz they were still they weren't like in yet when I got out there. They were still they weren't warm. >> Yeah, >> maybe I could have done a better job of heating them up. >> I That's what I messed up on. I didn't I didn't heat them up quite enough. I don't think I've ever qualified or ran any lap time under any circumstance ever that was that close to yours. >> Yeah, >> you're usually like a half second or more faster than me. >> You're within 3/10, I think. >> Yeah. >> Right on. >> This will be fun. I have qualified Mosley. I've never done that before. >> Yeah, that's awesome. >> And Bob. >> Yeah, that's a comfort thing. Before you know it, you'll be like, "Holy fast." >> Do you think the track's going to tighten up more? >> Yeah. When people say, "Oh, they get tighter at night." Automatically, you would think, "Well, that's weird because why are why would the front end not work at night?" It's actually the front end's working better than day, but the rear is working even that much better where it's just you have better drive to where now you're going to slide the front end. Basically, you're just you're hooking up the rear more at night than the front. That's usually the case with these kind of cars, especially on bias ply tires. Sometimes that's not so much the case on radials. very track sensitive on radials. It >> seems like everywhere we go with these tires on bias pies, it it usually tightens up at night. >> Almost always. >> Do you think I should uh raise the like move the track bar a little bit or leave it the way it is? >> We're going to raise ours like just a couple of rounds. >> How much does one round change your feel? >> Not a whole lot. That's another thing. We're on radials. One round you'll feel cuz the sidewall doesn't move. But because the sidewall moves so much, you you got to move it a good quarter inch to feel it. Two two rounds in my opinion. I can't really feel one round. Like on on radials, you'll feel a half a round >> on these. Two rounds just mainly. And that's all just cuz the tire just it just flexes that much more. So >> I'd be afraid to take it too far and then be loosey goosey in the race. I'd rather be a little tight. >> Yeah. >> Than too loose. >> Yeah. You'll you'll get more comfortable being a tick tight versus loose. Yeah, for sure. And some people just go on their whole careers with a preference. You know, Jeff Gordon liked a little bit snug tight a little bit and Jimmy Johnson liked the loose. Like Jimmy Johnson would drive off to the right rear and Jeff Gordon drove out to the right front and they both would be fast. So there's no wrong way really. It's whatever you're comfortable with really. with the qualifying invert. I would have started on the pole or the outside pole for this race. I can't remember. But that's happened a few times and I always choose to go to the back because I hadn't been around other cars. Didn't want to be up there and get steamrolled [music] by people. Just didn't know. But it seemed like a better idea for me to start in the back in the beginning. And I did that today. I was on the fence about it because my qualifying times were really good relative to what I had been doing. Yellow, yellow, yellow Everything's good. That was a Friday. forward the last time looking like average was mostly 67 and now the leader 18 Chris about 184 183 not too bad yeah I was not even going to the floor yeah good job taking care of it right there I can tell you're a pro I like I appreciate it. Means a lot. Thank you. I'll give you a good review on Yelp after this. Sounds good. Double up the line. Okay. You ready? Green flag. Green flag. 62. [music] >> Something that is now on the forefront of my focus to get better at is the restarts and figuring out which gear I actually need to be in and how I can apply the throttle and my following distance and all that. I'm having a hard time figuring out what gear I need to be in because uh I think my Dodge motor has a lot more low-end torque than most of these other people. So, when I talk to them about what they're doing, their information doesn't really work for me because it just blows the tires off in third. But if I put it in fourth, it's kind of a little doggish and I fall behind anyway. So, I probably need to leave it in third and just be softer on it or be more aggressive um staying tucked into the bumper of the car in front of me in fourth depending on how big the track is and what the pace car speed is. Single Now I'm trying to figure out where my opportunity to [music] pass is going to be because this place was tricky. Uh coming out of [music] two there was a the change in the pavement and that particular spot was [music] extremely slick. It's like you'd hit that and it would just just get real loose, start sliding, break the tires loose, whatever. I had almost no forward drive off of two, which stumped because that seemed to be a similar [music] place that the 11 was struggling in front of me. Sometimes he would hit that and slide up the track and I thought if I could just [music] be close to him and get in there, I could stay under him on the backstretch. [music] But um I'm having a hard time getting the power down to be able to do that. 45 to get 61 out front. Really good job. Really good last year. Way back slow you hold up outside. Also, sort of what he does is if he does drift up the track on exit, he'll pinch off the end to take my spot away. So, I'd have to pinch my line really, really short, which makes it even harder to drive off. I don't know if he was doing that to block or that's just how he was driving the place. I've been [music] told by a lot of people that the 11 car is line can be a little bit unpredictable sometimes [music] and he's had a lot of contact with other cars this season. 62 left 62 on here on the road. [music] >> It's also worth noting that the wide angle lens of this GoPro I have here makes things seem [music] a lot farther away than they are. We're about the closest point you see the back of his car to my windshield. My nose is almost touching his bumper. It's a little bit deceptive. I mean, you can watch him. He's exiting low pretty much everywhere. [music] I'm trying to back up a little bit to increase my entry speed and try to get a run on exit, but [music] he's goes so slow that I still feel like I'm having to slow down way too much in the center. And he chops down on the exit, taking that line away. [music] So, I'm like, well, maybe I'll try the top and see what happens. And then you can hear the marbles get up into the fender. That didn't work at all. Um, so yeah, I I really am not sure what to do here. I'm just sort of hoping that he passes the 75 and maybe I can follow him. Um, I don't really know. >> Back to you. Back up corner entry turn three. Back up three drop a little bit. That's why you're losing a little bit of time. Entry three. Yeah, just like that. Got time off. That's where you want to pass that 11. Really good turn right there for that 90 right there. Perfect line right there. Be careful. 752 70 perfect. Good job. Now the tires are getting hot. Starting to get even more slippery than it was before. The rollers right there. You see them out front check right there. P6 really good. Way to learn. Really good job. Jerry Mayfield won the race. 19. How many times did you count where I could have sent him home and I didn't at least five or six? He owes me. I'll tell him that. Yeah, for we can get around him with the next race. That'd be beneficial. But you definitely got a small top five car. You get around some guys hard cars a lot better than what we got in that race. We just got caught up by those guys. If I'm going to pass him, I want to do it clean cuz then I'll know I learned how to do it clean. I don't want to hit him. I almost did. Not even on purpose. Just got real close. >> Yeah. The one you just checked back to way too far that time into it. >> That's the first time I've ever been out there where I felt like I was I didn't feel like I was the faster car for probably two positions ahead of me. But um I don't have the knowledge yet to set up the timing to get around him cleanly. I felt like I was close and I was starting to learn that rhythm of what I needed to do and where I needed to do it by the end, but I didn't want to hit him. Really didn't want to hit him. That's not what I want to do. I want to I want to race him clean. I want to learn how to pass people clean. If I touch somebody to pass them, it's like doesn't count to me. I need to learn how to drive this car in a cerebral way to do what it needs to do. Good run, man. >> I couldn't see it, but I heard about it. You're doing real good. >> Yeah. Much better than it's been. Is that the highest you finish this year? >> Yeah. First time we've been on the podium. Really? I feel good. Got to make it a little bit better to catch Jeremy. The other car I told you never you got you got to pass up. You got to get up there and stay there and then find find the right spot to get them. You know what I mean? Getting nose all the way up. >> Okay. Don't do that. Better to get them on exit than entering. Right. Well, just out and then you got him. Okay. >> You're not going to just pass in one corner. Feel like we don't have any speed. >> I was trying my best not to get into you. I had to check up a couple times. >> Listen, it's hard when somebody that fast in front of you. So, if I do, I did everything I could to not do that. So, you'll see in this video, it was like my your back bumper must have been like right there one time. Like, oh, I'm going to touch him. I g. And then I'm like, no, I don't want that to happen. Good job. If I if I'm going to pass you, I want to be able to do it right so I can learn how to do it right. We were faster than Bob, but I couldn't get around. Same thing. He was kind of like me. He was just, you know, he's all over the place. It's hard to pass. on the bottom still clear Two lines from here. and 19 way through the field as well. later just took 5.8 in the last race, which is weird cuz I made some adjustments up. Maybe the surface has changed that much cuz it's cold. There we go. Yeah, the dropped quite a bit. I pull my hoodie back out for this race. Must be nice. I definitely try to stay in the bottom if you could. Um, got 23. All right. 19's probably best car in the field. Again, I think he kind of save his stuff that run. Making sure turn it on now. It is slippery and at the bottom next to turn two. It's like I can't even touch the gas till I'm out of there or the car sideways. for well probably recommend taking the top in if experiencing that. If I can keep my outside tires off that pavement down there, it doesn't do that. But I don't know if that's the best fast way to get around it. Maybe it is. If I get better drive off just off the two. You think you might be hitting that structure your lane? We are 508 ready all green flag green flag 75 62 left by one 62 now you're clear whatever you need 11 careful careful care you're good you're 11 cars up from you. Just take eyes on you. Be careful. Nothing about 762 11 right there. He's going to get loose. You're good. You're good. You're good. >> Hold up. Let's watch that again. That 11 right there. He's going to get over. You're good. You're good. You're good. >> All right. So, I just watched the 75 take a swing at the 11, and I feel like I'm going to have a front row seat…