Race Chatter with Matt Carter
by Matt Carter -Staff Writer/ARCA Series Driver
04/08/2008

It has been almost two months since I raced at Daytona, and I am ready to get back in that car. For a driver, it’s hard to go race and then wait for two months, so I am definitely looking forward to the next few weeks. Since we’ve been back from Florida, we have been working on five race cars – rebuilding new bodies, suspensions, etc., and the time off has really given us the opportunity to get our cars where we think they need to be.

We recently had some test sessions in Iowa, Kansas, Salem and Rockingham. The cars were really fast and handled good, so that made me and the team really confident about the next four races coming. I know some drivers may use video game simulators to prepare for the races, but that’s just not me. I have a couple of racing games on my computer at home and I haven’t played them in years – to be honest I suck at them, so they have never seemed to be any help on the track.. Besides, I feel pretty confident racing at Salem, since I drove there last year in the Hooters Cup series.

I remember the first time I saw the track, I just thought ‘Wow, this is a really high banked race track that looks to be one hundred years old, in the middle of nowhere, with a huge rut through turns 3 and 4’. Before the race, I walked up to the top of the track with my crew chief Jimmy, and he told me “This is where [three inches from the wall] you have to put your right side tires”. I just said “Well okay, hopefully I won’t hit it too many times”. I drove through huge holes and ruts while running wide open – it was a blast! We set the fastest time in practice my second lap, broke the track record in qualifying and finished second behind one of the most highly respected and greatest short track racers in the country, Gary St. Amant. We had fifteen laps to go and I was second on the restart. Going into turn 1, he squeezed me a bit and out of respect for him I let him go - we ended up 2nd. Had it been anyone else, I would have said ‘See ya later’.

I found out that things on the track at Salem happen really fast, just like at Bristol. If there’s a wreck it usually takes out a lot of cars, so the spotter and driver have to be on their toes constantly - which makes Salem a very physically and mentally demanding track. It’s rough, high banked, and fast. Your head bounces off of the head rest while the G’s are trying to force you out of the seat so you have to hold on to the wheel to keep yourself up. It is extremely important to be on your game every single lap and not overdrive the car – just some insider tips to the track. All in all Salem is a significant track in my career and I am really excited to go racing there next weekend.

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