Rookie Tests At Daytona...
by Andy Belmont-Staff Writer and ARCA Series Driver
12/24/2003

We have done this a million times, or so it seems. Since 1986, we have made the holiday trek to Daytona for the winter testing. That first year 1986, was in a Pontiac Sunbird that was branded the "Silk Purse".

Silk Purse was a typical deal for pie-eyed youngsters daring to dream of glory on the high banks of Daytona. Little did we know that the way of the world is, is for bigger teams to sell the cars that are of the least value to the smaller teams. We didn't know any different, we were going to Daytona. For a mechanic from Langhorne, PA, it didn't matter how we were doing it.

Driving through the tunnel that first time. What a sight. We have come to Daytona every year since 1964 as a family. Tickets in hand, Daytona jackets with embroidered patches sewn on every open spot to show where all we had been the season before....Rockingham, Darlington, Martinsville, Richmond, all as race fans. But nothing like this. This time, "we are a race team" and "I am a driver", little do you suspect as a star gazed rookie.

Back then, all the cars on the Pontiac Plan tested together. Cup cars, Busch Cars and Dash Cars. Here I am on pit road, with my little primered sunbird, sitting next to the King, a Daytona winner Greg Sacks and a future champion in the Kodiak Pontiac.

That first trip down the back stretch was a blast. The wind was blowing real hard. Trying to drive a twenty six hundred pound car straight down the superstretch at Daytona was like holding onto a racer on a slot car track. It was all over the place! They asked me how it felt and I said awesome. I had no idea what I was doing or getting into. But it is Daytona, say no more.

As rookies in 1987, you aren't supposed to lead laps or run up front with a low dollar race car unless you are a second generation driver. We were instructed to pit every twenty two laps and you will be fine. Thirty three laps in we pitted. Nobody noticed that we shortened our race by one whole pit stop. At the time, the rule book said "an approved eight gallon fuel cell". It said nothing about fuel lines and filters. The Army-Navy surplus had these one quart fuel filters from fighter planes. We had three of those babies hooked together under the dash and two in the trunk. We had about forty feet of one inch line wound around the dash bars, a trick we did at Syracuse back in 1978 on the Moody Mile. It wasn't illegal. There is absolutely nothing in the rule book about how much fuel it should hold........or there wasn't!

So, on lap 66, we are leading, one of only three cars on the lead lap and the only one of the three that doesn't need to pit for fuel. On lap 67, we broke a rocker arm and our day ended. In a month of winter testing and Daytona Speedweeks, we went from being awestruck at being at Daytona, to lap leading and the head of the draft.

The fairy tale ending has to wait for now. The memories will last forever.