Rock Harris - Racing Toward A Title

The complexion of racing at Friendship Motor Speedway shifted during midseason. While Rock Harris dominated the first half of the season, things changed and other drivers began taking the checkered flag.

The difference was a couple of midseason changes to the rules, particularly one that allowed built motors a larger carburetor and about 40 more horsepower, and another that penalized the winner of the race by making him start farther back in the field in the race subsequent to a victory.

The changes haven't been kind to Harris. In the first race under the new rules, he not only failed to win pole position, but he also lost the track record to Scott Rigney, who then drove past Harris on the 10th lap of a 100-lapper and eased away for his second feature of the season.

The die had been cast, and Harris started replacing his crate motor with a built one the next morning.

"Sure, I ran second tonight," Harris said. "But I could tell I was getting beat badly by the other motor, and 40 horsepower is a lot to overcome. I had already all but decided to go ahead and change motors, but tonight's race sealed it."

Besides the normal time-consuming operation of changing the motor, there were other changes to be made to the No. 59 Monte Carlo. The crate motor weighed 55 pounds more than the built motor, so that weight had to be redistributed, and that meant a lot of time on the scales and a change of shocks. For Harris, placing the weight wasn't such a big problem.

"I've been around for a long time and have a previous history with changing weight in a car," Harris said. "The main thing for me was getting the nose weight right. That's why I put the weight where I did and why I changed the front shocks. And, no, I'm not going to tell you exactly where I put it. I'm not giving away all of my secrets."

Harris returned to Friendship Motor Speedway with a vengeance for the next race. As practice started, you could tell he was getting comfortable with the new motor. After getting his tires matched and balanced to his liking, Harris went out and set fast time for the evening, then drew the No. 3 pill for the start. When the green flag flew, Harris didn't waste time heading to the front. He took the lead on the second lap and stretched his advantage to a full straightaway by the time the checkered flag flew for the first 35-lap race.

Harris had to start farther back in the second 35-lap feature as he drew the No. 4 pill to make his job a bit harder. Again, though, Harris swept into the lead on the second lap and never looked back until a late caution brought the field back to his bumper. Rigney, the prior week's winner, gave Harris a shot in the rear and tried to sneak under him on the restart, but to no avail. Harris swept the weekend. Afterward, Harris talked about the performance of the new engine.

"The motor performed pretty well," he said. "I was surprised at how much more speed you can carry through the corners with it. We're going to have to watch our tire wear for a couple of weeks. I think that the higher cornering speeds might well affect the tire wear in the longer races. So we'll keep an eye on it and work a little more on the balance of the car."

During the week, Harris works as a shop foreman for the Haas Racing Busch Series team based in Statesville, North Carolina, specializing in the interior of the car and wiring and dash components. Working in a top-level NASCAR shop has its benefits, and Harris towed his Monte Carlo to the shop to put it on the chassis dynamometer. A representative from his engine builder, Heintz Brothers, came along to help with the test.

"We weren't really having any real problems with the motor," Harris said. "But we needed to know where we were so we would know what we actually had to work with. We ended up seeing a couple of things that we might try out and see how they work out for us, but there wasn't anything major to worry about."

Back at the racetrack on Friday night, things started off well. Again Harris set fast time, but because of the new rule putting the previous week's winner back in the field, he was relegated to the sixth starting position for the 75-lap feature. It took Harris a bit longer to get to the front this time, however, as he needed all of 10 laps, followed by Rigney. Harris built a nice lead on Rigney until the caution light came on for a spin on the 43rd lap. He roared off on the restart, but slid up just a little in the first turn. That was all that Rigney needed, as he moved past Harris in the fourth turn.

After the pass, Harris didn't appear to have anything for Rigney and settled for second. Harris, nonetheless, was philosophical about the night's loss.

"It's OK," he said. "Sure, we didn't win, but we did finish second and we led a bunch of the laps out there. It was my fault. I got up off the bottom a little bit and that was all that Scott needed to get up under me. It's going to take a few weeks to get all of the bugs worked out. What we need to do now is to get the long runs right. We are right there on the short runs and a little off on the long runs, but I'm pretty sure I can work it out."

The next morning, while going through the car during his normal post-race inspection, Harris discovered that he had a broken ring gear, which might have been the cause of his second-place finish the night before.

"It could have been worse," Harris said. "It could have gone completely away during the race. The only bad thing is, it means that we have to go over to Taylorsville on Sunday to drop it off, and that takes away from some of my family time."

As these words were written, there were four races to go in the Friendship Motor Speedway season, and Harris appeared to be on his way to the championship, with a lead of nearly 300 points. But this is auto racing and anything can happen. Harris has already overcome a couple of midyear rules changes that seem to be aimed specifically at him in a move to end his dominant year.

So far, he has been able to overcome all of the unexpected obstacles that have been thrown into his path, but that doesn't mean that it is all over.

We'll let you know how it all turns out.