Freedom Car Speedweek turns into Speed Days
On Thursday, February 5, 2009, practice for the American Legion / David Law Firm #76 Freedom Car went very well. The #76 car started kind of slow, but the crew made the right changes to the car, and was pleased with the speeds by the end of the day.
Friday, February 6, 2009, was more of the same. An early practice session, and a few more adjustments to the car, and everyone was confident that the #76 Freedom Car was definitely going to be a contender, in the biggest car count (38) class of Speedweek.
In the Speedweek program for qualifying, everyone qualifies and then a drawing determines the actual starting order of the race. However, in order to gain a front starting position, you must qualify in the top 10. As expected by the race team, the #76 Freedom Car easily qualified in the top 10, and when the draw was made, the #76 car was given the pole (first) starting position. This was obviously a great start of Speedweek for the American Legion/David Law firm race team.
Friday evening, the green flag flew to start the race with the #76 car driver Jerick Johnson and 2007 Nationwide Series Rookie of the Year driver Landon Cassill, leading the field of 38 cars to the starting line. Early in the race, Jerick fell into the second position behind Landon. When that happened, the race was on. There were many cautions with everyone in the back of the field fighting for position. Jerick welcomed the cautions, because each gave him another opportunity to attempt to duck inside of Landon on the restarts, and regain the lead. Jerick however was never quite able to complete the pass.
With 8 laps left in the race, driver Jerick Johnson suddenly came on the radio and said, “Something didn’t feel right.” The next few laps, the #76 car, the car that once looked like it could win the race ... started to show that it was having problems, and dropped from 2nd to 6th position. With only 2 laps left to go in the race, Jerick gingerly drove down into turn three and the right front ball joint assembly failed. This caused the #76 Freedom Car to slam in the outside wall. Driver Jerick Johnson walked away from the incident OK, but the Freedom Car which had had such a great and promising start, was through, with an 18th place finished in the 38 car field. Normally, a top 20 finish would be exciting, but not this time. The American Legion / David Law Firm “Freedom Car” could have definitely won this race. At the very least, it could have finished in the top 5, which would have been OUTSTANDING! Yes, racing is racing, but this finish was tough to take.
After the race, in the garage area, it was confirmed that the right front ball joint had broken. This allowed the right front wheel to buckle under the chassis, which resulted in the quick and complete destruction of the right side of the #76 race car body, even before Jerick hit the wall. The incident unfortunately ended the Speedweek participation for the American Legion/David Law Firm sponsored team.
