The Frontstretch: David Starr Driver Diary: Heading to Kansas by David Starr -- Thursday April 26, 2007

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David Starr Driver Diary: Heading to Kansas

David Starr · Thursday April 26, 2007

 

A lot has happened since my last diary at the beginning of the year. First, my girlfriend Kim and I have announced our engagement. We'll be getting married in the off-season so she's been really busy working on everything. She runs stuff by me, but since she's having so much fun doing it, and I'm so busy with everything else, I'm letting her run with it.

I'm also very excited about being a part of Circle Bar Racing this year. Tom Mitchell and his daughter Lisa Karnes are just wonderful people and they have been a part of the Craftsman Truck Series almost from the beginning, so I'm just honored to be a part of their organization. Then, to have a teammate like Rick Crawford is just incredible. I've never had a teammate before, and to have one of his caliber is going to be extremely beneficial to our team.

One of the best things this season has been being able to represent a company like International. To be associated with a company like this, who have been involved with the series since the start, is very exciting. They've kept me busy, but it's been an honor.

Have we lived up to our expectations so far this season? Not even close! I think our team was put together so late into the off-season, right before Daytona testing, that it’s made things difficult. We didn't have time to build our own trucks, so we had to buy ppc Racing's trucks and equipment, which is different than what Rick runs. We've been running Ford chassis with the notes and everything that the ppc Racing team had last year, while Rick and his team have been running Ronnie Hopkins' chassis. And unfortunately, with the weather we've had during some of these race weekends - like California and Atlanta - we haven't had as much practice time as we've needed. That means we've had to use notes from last year, which has caused its own issues since the trucks are different this year, with a new front end from the windshield down and a splitter. It's kind of put our backs against the wall.

But with the month off since Martinsville, we've been able to build three new trucks using the Ronnie Hopkins' chassis. We were able to test our new trucks at Pocono, when we were invited by Toyota to test with some of their teams, and we had really good results. The first day we were the quickest, then on day two we worked with our second truck and ran really well. I feel like with the new equipment and trucks, and by running the same chassis as our teammate, it's really going to turn our season around. We've gotten off to a slow start, but it does not mean we've lost our shot at this championship. I think this weekend at Kansas is a critical point in our season, to get our season turned around.

This year they've moved the Kansas race from July and the heat of the summer to April, where the temperatures are more mild. We are professional athletes and we train for racing in the heat, but it can really be tough on everyone - the competitors, the equipment, and especially the fans. I think the cooler weather is going to be good for everybody.

I told my guys that we needed realistic goals - to start running in the Top 10. Once we do that, then we raise the bar and shoot for Top 5's. I really think we can run the in Top 5 every week, and if we do, then we always have a shot at winning. Right now, the main goal is to get things turned around and moving in the right direction, but if we are running in the Top 5, we are going to do anything we can to win.

While we aren't where we want to be in the point standings, we aren't defeated. To be a championship caliber team, you have to be good every race. I knew we'd have our growing pains by starting so late in the season, but you never want to give up. Even though we've had two really bad races, we can still redeem our season, but it's critical that we don't have any more bad races. The series is so competitive, when you have two really bad races it's hard to catch up on the points that were lost. I'm definitely concerned about it, but right now, all we want to do is continue to turn our team around and start finishing in the top five. My teammate has, so it's definitely possible for us.

If you run strong, the wins will come, and that's what we're working on - getting our team consistent and running up front. Right now the season is too young to worry too much, because we can win races this year and we can get into the championship chase.

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