Race Program Development - 5 Steps To Success In '08

You might have to make a call this year where you say, "We just don't have the time to be able to get the car where we need it to be." By foregoing a race in that circumstance, you will be able to get the car prepared for the following week, and you will have everything dead-on for the next race. You want to unload the car at the track with the best opportunity to not only make the race but also have a great chance at winning.

If, however, you can see the end in sight and can make it to the race with all of your work finished on the car and not lose a ton of sleep, then I suggest doing all you can to finish the car. But ultimately a decision has to be made whether or not you are going to try to make the race, and whether it's safe to do so. But not having the car adequately prepared is asking for trouble, and choosing to miss a race is tons better than arriving at a track without the maintenance work finished on your car and then having a vibration or failure that causes you to crash.

One of the most dangerous things that can happen to your race team is to win the opening week of the year. Once you win, you feel like you have found the hidden setup at that track. When the setup works in cold weather and for the first few weeks of the year you feel like Superman, but once the summer months hit, you are more than likely in for a wild ride.

This is especially true if you run at your local short track on a consistent basis. If you keep bringing the same setup from week to week, eventually you will notice that you are not running up front as much. You must be able to adapt and change the setup throughout the year. You also need to talk to people at the track and find out what type of setup combinations they are trying. Anything you can learn and test for yourself could step up your race team's consistency.

The biggest thing to remember is to keep a notebook throughout the year and constantly write down everything you try and everything you hear about other people trying. This also goes back to testing. When you have the opportunity, go testing and change as many things as you can and see how the changes affect your car. This is how you become more consistent every time you unload your car at the track.

Just remember that everything has to be there for you to run up front every night. Anyone can run at the front once and then head back to their normal 12-17th-place finish. But it takes a great team to travel from track to track and consistently run in the Top 3.

These, of course, are five steps that can be proved simply by applying them. Ultimately, it does take a little luck to have success in racing. Anyone who says otherwise hasn't been in racing very long. Any avid race fan can remember how many Daytona 500s Dale Earnhardt should have won. If it weren't for a blown tire, a flip down the backstretch, and being in the wrong place at the wrong time numerous times, he more than likely would have won on more than one occasion.

This year, apply these five steps and with or without a little luck you can still expect to have your progam step up to the next level in ways you never imagined.