James Bivins Factory Stock Driver Page

April 11, 2010: Getting the car on the track for practice was apparently not meant to be this year, the planned April 3rd date was pushed to the 10th, then to the 11th - now Mother Nature says there will be no practice at all at Lake-in-the-Lakeside Speedway. Unless you want to call the first Hot Laps of the year "Practice.

April 16th: The 2010 season is off and running again! Dodging rain showers seems to be the hardest thing for the 3 Sisters Dodge Demon so far this year. After a long snowy winter, and being able to spend 2 months in the shop due to my layoff, I have the demon looking really good. Changed so many things that I have wanted to do since we bought the car. It is very driver friendly now, very comfortable to drive - the chassis changes have helped a lot.
Opening night at Lakeside was very intense for me, wasn't sure how the car would do and how good my welds might hold together. I drew the pole for the first heat race of the night, and was so happy to qualify the car into the A feature. First feature for the Demon! We got off to a great start until the motor laid down; push rod through a rocker arm - bummer... But didn't get a scratch on the car!

April 30th: Got the problem fixed but had to wait two weeks because of rain. Almost didn't make it to Lakeside - the truck we borrow to haul the Demon up and died, on I-70, smack dab in the middle of rush hour. My boss Scott Crystal is the best, he came to our rescue. Brother Scott picked up the girls, and Boss Scott and I left #13 sitting along the road and actually made it to the track in good time.
The track surface was a sponge - apparently the asphalt under the dirt was not doing anybody any favors... Everybody and their brothers were packing the track - what a mess! The show went on, and so did a lot of race cars (to the pits, that is, with blown motors and torn-up bodies). I qualified again for the A feature and told myself before I went out "Let's just run the full 15 laps and finish..." So that's what I did - laid back and watched half the field of cars crash out in front of me, gaining spots after every yellow flag. We came around and got 9th place without a scratch on the car - just over 100 pounds of mud stuck to it. My wife Nascarla and I were very happy to get the great finish and bring the car home in one piece... It's ready to go again next Friday night, can't wait! GO FAST TURN LEFT.

May 28th: Memorial Day Kick-off - friends and family have all headed off to their respective lakes... so did we - Lakeside, that is! NASCarla here, I'm writing this on Saturday night, James and his brother Scott are in Topeka pitting for their Dad, Terry Bivins, he's racing a B-Mod out there. It might have been a good weekend to sit this Friday night race out, we got smashed... Car was handling great and running strong in the hot laps, under control, James says it felt so good! Lakeside had spent the past 4 weeks redoing the track, taking out the layer of asphalt that had been holding rain and creating huge ruts - the surface was smooth and fast! Too smooth for the 41 car - he slid wide, came down nose first, hard into the right rear quarter panel of the Demon - just a foot short of the safe side (for us). I always video James and the Demon whenever they're on the track, but I'm sorry to say I failed as a camera girl this time - I jerked the camera high as they slammed into the wall, missing the moment of impact (also had to edit the image of the sky, due to censurable comments I made...).
It took several agonizing minutes to know that James was ok, at least physically. My hands were shaking so bad that I had to squeeze my eyes shut to regroup - and at least managed to film the Demon and Jamed leaving the track on the hook. Tow truck had to load the car on the trailer, broken ball joint. As a race fan, I never really thought about the aftermath of a wreck, how much power it takes to fold up sheet metal like an accordian; to break an inch thick rod of steel in half like it was a chop stick; to shatter 6 months of blood, sweat and tears in a moment... The emotional cost has to be taken into account - these dirt track drivers have put everything they've got into a Friday or Saturday night way of life, you have to give them room for anger, shock and despair. So when James called me from the pits and declared "The car's junk!" I had to try to let it go, and continue to watch the race. When he made his way back to the stands, I restrained myself from asking a barrage of questions (boy, was that hard!). From what I got out of it, we wouldn't race the Demon again. But I am older and wiser than I was last year after our first major wreck, and James had the car running faster and better than when we first bought it - so I bit my tongue...

The good news is, it's fixable! It's Weds. now, June 2nd, and James has been working nonstop... Saturday we got lots of help from Dean Owens, factory stock driver at Lakeside, thanks Dean. After replacing a broken ball joint, James took the Demon to the frame shop to get straightened. Spent a few days banging sheet metal, then accessing the rest of the damage. Had to buy some tie rod ends, new ball joint and a little can of white paint. Graphics look fair, so we won't worry about them for now.
We might not be able to get back out this coming Friday, only because his job at Scott Crystal's is calling, but the 11th for sure!
June 4th: We skipped this race - too much work to do in too little time - James caught a stomach bug and was under par and over heated, so we sat this weekend out... Car is looking fine again, had lots of worries of whether the Demon would race as good as before.

June 11th: Well, the car is back as close as I can get it, after being introduced to the turn two wall last race. We're going out again to give 'er another try. The air temperature was stifling, and I knew the track would go dry slick before too long. The car set-up was still good, I felt confident going into the heat until my window net came down in turn one (crew chief error). No problem - we'll run the B and race our way into the A. Tech told the five B cars that we just had to complete four laps and we would be locked into the A. After the race I learned that the announcer had told the crowd that only the top two cars would go into the A, so my wife NASCarla and stepdaughter Shannon thought I was out when I finished the B feature in third place.
Started the A feature dead last, just wanted to finish the race and bring the car home in one piece. I raced my way to a fifteenth place finish - without a scratch on the car and my ego intact. It ended up being a great night at the races! We won $100 plus $15 from C.A.R.B. I'm going to tweak the car a little bit and will see you at Lakeside next Friday. James 3s