With one of the wettest Bike Weeks in recent memory now history, Chris Carr decided to make a little history himself, winning his third career Daytona Short Track and putting engine-builders VOR into the record books as the first Italian manufacturer to win an AMA Grand National.
The team traveled to Oglethorpe Speedway near Savannah, GA to get a little testing in on February 27, but heavy rains, a sign of things to come, washed that out. On the following night, Chris won the 505 Expert event on the VOR, but struggled to sixth in the 750 Expert main with a rear tire that wouldn't hook up.
The Wednesday night AMA Hot Shoe at Volusia County Speedway washed out as well, as did the Friday night event at Municipal Stadium, but the Ford QCCPOV team had watched the forecast and migrated to drier weather for some testing in South Carolina.
It paid off handsomely, with what appeared to be an easy win on a tough and loose Daytona Short Track on Saturday night. Carr joins Terry Poovey and the late Will Davis as the only three-time winners of the Daytona event.
Next, it's back to Tunica, MS and an even oval than little Daytona. Carr has the momentum for another short track victory and looks to start a streak in 2003.
"It was nice to kind of get out there and wring it's neck for a longer period of time. It was up to the task and we were fortunate enough to be able to come from a second row start in the main event, pick guys off, and run to the front and get a win under our belt in the 505 class.
"We had put a Maxxis tire on that bike right before the main event, just figuring, 'Oh what the hell. Let's see what it does.' It seemed to work pretty good. So we put that same tire on the 750 for that main event, and boy, did it work terrible! It just didn't react to that 750 horsepower like it did on the 505. We got a good start, but we faded. I pretty much couldn't get out of my own way.
"If we'd have been on a different tire, maybe we would have been a little more competitive. All the guys running up front ran real good and deserved the positions they got, we just made a mistake and went backwards. One of those things you learn from, and move on."
You didn't ride at Volusia on Wednesday, then the Friday night Hot Shoe was rained out, you moved on to the Saturday Grand National.
"Well, first of all, I want to say we had been watching the weather all week and it wasn't looking very good at all. Instead of just sitting around and watching the weather, we chose to drive up to South Carolina and get a couple of days worth of testing in at a little track called Neeses - Mid Carolina Speedway in Neeses, South Carolina. We spent Monday afternoon and most of Tuesday there testing our VOR some more and trying to find something that worked. We sure are glad we did, because we felt like when we got to the stadium Friday night that we were ready.
"It certainly proved to be the case throughout Saturday night at the National. We won our scratch heat, were the first heat to run, so we were fortunate that we were in the very first heat race of the night on a freshly groomed track. We were able to go out there and set our own pace, got good starts all night long and put ourselves in position with a front row start and the first pick for the main event.
"We got a good start and Murphree got by me in turns one and two. I was just pretty much running around, trying to keep pace with him, and I was getting to the point where I was gaining on him there about two-thirds of way through the race. I was able to put a little pressure on him, and he made the one bobble. I was able to get by and go from there. It worked out real good for us. To get a win - the first victory for an Italian motorcycle - Italian-built brand , anyhow. I know the old Harley guys are going to say the Aermacchis won, but they did say 'Harley' on the tank. This sucker said VOR on the tank. It was nice to get win for them. We're looking forward to a few more this year as well."
You've developed a chassis for the VOR as well, correct?
"I wouldn't say we developed the chassis. The motorcycle that we started with was a 450 VOR that they had been taking around to trade shows, and it was in a C&J frame. We tried a couple of different setups with that thing, with some different design ideas and they just didn't seem to work as well as the original. So, we're pretty much running the same thing as they built for a trade show two years ago. That particular chassis works the best."
Had you run the motocross frame as well?
"We're playing with the motocross chassis a little bit, in case we decide to do any F- USA stuff, and we're probably going to run a production chassis at the Springfield TT. We've been playing with it, but it's still got a little work to do."