When it Raines, it Pours.  Misfortune Once Again Bites Bayer Team in New Hampshire

LOUDON, NH (May 11^th, 2002) As the Busch Series headed to the New Hampshire International Speedway for the Busch 200, Tony Raines was looking to turn the tides on a season that has seemed to test the will and determination of the Indiana native.  This past weekend, Raines would hope to use a mix of driving talent and a little superstition to create some magic at the "Magic Mile".  A new paint scheme, a couple horseshoes and a monkey would be used in an effort to bring some luck to a team that has been snakebite with misfortune over the past few races.

The new paint scheme featured the blue and white colors of Bayer's newest product for women, Bayer Women's Aspirin plus Calcium.  The scheme was selected for the New Hampshire event in an effort to increase product awareness during the special Mother's Day weekend event. The No.33 car also carried an in-car camera that was used to promote the brand while giving the fans at home an inside view of the race from inside the car.

On Friday morning, the Bayer Women's Chevrolet was unloaded to make its initial qualifying practice runs on the 1.058-mile oval.  "Tight, tight, tight," commented Raines to crew chief Michael Kadlecik concerning the cars handling characteristics during the first few practice runs.  Raines and the team would work to neutralize the cars handling problems by making wholesale adjustments to the cars chassis and shock set-up prior to qualifying.  In qualifying, Raines' two-lap effort would place him 27^th in the field after a record lap of 30.487 seconds at a speed of 124.932 mph.  "Loose and slick," said Raines when asked about his qualifying lap.  "We were tight off in practice, so they (the team) freed it up a bunch for qualifying. With the hard tires, slick track and cool weather, I guess I wasn't as good as the car was, I got really loose." 

However, the team's "happy hour" session would bring a feeling of excitement as the team hit on the right race trim setup during the hour long practice.  "The car was pretty good in happy hour," commented Raines about the No. 33 Bayer Women's Chevrolet.  "We worked on it real hard and it seemed to drive pretty well.  We will have to cross our fingers and see.  We are going to have to start in the back because of our qualifying, but if we have some good stops and good luck we can maybe come out of here with a top-five finish. I am excited about it."

For the race, the team hoped to assist a good performing race car with a little superstitious luck.  The team placed two horseshoes, one on the dash and the other under the hood, and even tied a stuffed monkey to their pit box in an effort to keep it off of Raines' back over the course of the race.  At the showing of the green flag to start the 200-lap event, Raines began to work traffic as he looked grab valuable track position during the early part of the race.  By lap 50, Raines was running in 15^th while running lap times equivalent to those cars running in the top-five.  Raines' used the cars good corner handling to get up under cars and complete the pass coming off the corner.  Passing at NHIS is a difficult task in itself, yet Raines was slowly working his way to head of the field with just over a quarter of the race complete.  However, lap 60 would bring some unsettling news via team radio.  "I have a bad vibration coming from the right rear," radioed Raines to his crew.  "It feels as if the wheel is coming off."  Crew chief Michael Kadlecik quickly responded, "If the vibration gets any worse, bring it in.  Everybody be ready."  Just a few laps later, Raines could handle the vibration no longer as he entered pit road to correct the problem.  After a 16.63 second stop for four tires and fuel, Raines re-entered the race running in 23^rd and two laps down.  Just eight laps after pitting, Raines' much needed caution would be shown to the field when driver Greg Biffle suffered a blown motor.

The removed tire told only part of the story.  The team examined the wheel to find that the stud holes had been distorted and concluded that it was simply a bad wheel that was causing the vibration Raines was experiencing inside the race car.

After restarting at the tail end of the lap down cars, Raines stood his best chance of getting his lap back as he fought to stay ahead of the leaders and hope for a timely caution.  Over the next 25 laps, Raines and his Bayer Women's Chevrolet would battle the lead cars in an effort to gain back his laps.  However, Raines' misfortune would continue to get worse as the vibration from earlier in the day once again showed up on lap 125.  "I think the right rear is working its way loose again" radioed Raines.  "I am going to have to come in".  The crew changed only right side tires in an attempt to avoid loosing two more laps.  Once again, this time just six laps after pitting, the caution flag that was eluding Raines flew for the third time on lap 132.  Raines was now being shown in the 25^th position. 

Under the caution, the team brought Raines back into the pits to change left side tires and try to understand what was causing the wheel to vibrate.  With more time to examine the problem, it was discovered that the stud threads on the wheel hub had been worn away from the first vibrating wheel and was subsequently causing the other right rear wheels to vibrate.  The original wheel was found to have an egg shaped center instead of the usual round, circular center.  To correct the problem, the Bayer Consumer Care team added a quarter inch spacer to the axel to allow the wheel to grab to the threads.  This type of adjustment cost the team two more laps.  Raines headed back to the track in 25^th position and four laps down. 

The remaining laps would find Raines trapped in heavy traffic as he fought to regain his lost laps.  Raines would end the day five laps down and in 24^th place.  "I don't know what we are going do," said Raines following the race.  "We have got to find something to change our luck around.  We seem to be doomed.  The car was decent, we were just bit with bad luck again.  The vibration had been bad for about 25 laps.  I was hoping for a caution, but we can't seem to get that kind of break either.  We came in and put a tire on, but by the time we had got back out, the original problem had created another problem.  Sometimes I think we are running the "Torture Tour of 2002" with all this bad luck we are having."

Bayer Consumer Care crew chief Michael Kadlecik had these comments about the race.  "A bad wheel, the center section, which is usually round and guides the wheel on, was egg shaped.  We lost two laps putting fresh tires on, but the threads were still damaged.  That tire didn't get tight either, so we had to come in and fix the problem and the damage.  It is something that I have never seen in eight years of doing this.  I feel we have better cars than we had last year.  I look forward to every race and Nazareth is no different."

With that finish, Raines moves to 20^th in the Busch Series point standings with 1050 points to his credit. 

The next Busch event is this coming Saturday at Nazareth Speedway in Pennsylvania.  The No.33 car will be carrying the Bayer Consumer Care brand of Aleve for this event.  At this race in 2001, Raines captured his first career Bud Pole Award and will look to do much of the same for this year's event.