The Dirt Track at Charlotte
Niggling issues continue for Pierce at Charlotte
By Kyle McFadden
DirtonDirt staff reporter
The Bobby Pierce entry at Charlotte. (joshjamesartwork.com)
CONCORD, N.C. (Nov. 4) — World of Outlaws Late Model Series points leader Bobby Pierce carried the spark plug around The Dirt Track at Charlotte pits Wednesday, searching for someone who had seen anything like it.
He visited neighboring teams, including Mark Richards at Rocket Chassis, and showed them the missing metal cap that he believed had left his engine without a solid connection during 19th annual Dave Smith Motors World Finals qualifying. When others stopped to ask what happened, Pierce held onto the plug and explained it again, his expression suggesting disbelief and frustration.
On seven of his last 14 race nights, something on Pierce’s car had gone awry or he’d gotten into a wreck. Now he was holding what he believed was the latest culprit.
“I’ve had a lot of things happen in my racing career, little stupid things,” Pierce said, prefacing a conversation he had with Richards. “And I was like, ‘Have you ever seen this?’ And he said no. And I was like, ‘Damn it,’ because I wanted to find someone that this has happened to, because I wanted to ask them, ‘What did it do to your motor?’ Because I want to make sure that this is the reason I felt that. By what I’m hearing, it probably is.”
The timing only compounds Pierce’s frustration and his urgency to turn things around amid one freak deal after another. With three races at Charlotte remaining in the World of Outlaws championship chase, he holds a 76-point lead over Nick Hoffman. But Wednesday’s qualifying left the title contenders with considerably different paths the rest of the week.
Pierce timed 15th and 18th in duel time trials, giving him a fifth-place starting spot in Thursday’s third heat race and sixth in Friday’s sixth heat. Friday’s heat lineup is a particularly stiffer one with Kale Green, Trey Mills, Ricky Thornton Jr., Dale McDowell and Ben Watkins ahead, considering three transfer outright to the A-main.
Hoffman, meanwhile, went fastest in the first session and third in the second, earning heat-race pole positions both nights. It was nearly the best-case scenario for Hoffman’s last-ditch attempt to grab his first WoO title and uncomfortably close to the worst for Pierce, who is trying to grab his third title in four seasons.
“He’s got a good car, and he’s really good here,” Pierce said of Hoffman. “And so I knew he was gonna be good, and I was just hoping to be right there. But now this kind of puts us behind.”
Pierce felt the engine falling short throughout Wednesday’s sessions. His team changed carburetors and adjusted the car before finding the missing cap afterward. By the second session, he felt the handling was there. The power wasn’t.
“The car felt really good the second session. It’s just I needed more speed, and the motor was laying down midcorner,” Pierce said. “And we believe this is why, because the spark plug wasn’t getting a solid connection.”
By his estimation, he was running on “seven cylinders, seven-and-a-half cylinders.”
Engine builder Vic Hill spent a good chunk of Wednesday evening after qualifying alongside Pierce’s team, helping diagnose the power loss and prepare for Thursday’s racing.
For Pierce, the frustration was how one setback seemed to lead to another. An oil-belt failure at Modoc that resulted in an 18th-place finish had already required bearing work before the engine returned to service. Now, he believed a missing spark plug cap had compromised his qualifying efforts.
“It’s just one thing after another,” Pierce said.
The troublesome stretch dates to Sept. 12’s World 100 at Eldora Speedway, when an engine went up in smoke during his heat. He recovered from a B-main appearance to finish second Sept. 25 at I-55 Raceway, then rallied from a midrace wreck to place fifth the following night.
October offered fewer escapes. Pierce lost a lap early in the Pittsburgher on the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series and retired on lap 38 of 70 while running 19th. Mechanical trouble kept him out of Oct. 10’s Lucas Oil feature at Eldora and Oct. 17’s Dirt Track World Championship at West Virginia Motor Speedway, where his bid ended in a B-main.
Then, back on the WoO circuit, came the Modoc oil-belt failure and an 18th-place finish that allowed Hoffman to trim his deficit by 26 points — roughly the nightly gain he needs over the final three races to overtake Pierce.
Wednesday added another obstacle, though Pierce believed his car’s handling gave him something to work with once the power issue was resolved.
“I think everyone did a good job there,” Pierce said. “Just needed some more power, and all eight cylinders aren’t working. I guess you’re gonna be off a little bit.”
Pierce expects to swap engines before Thursday’s program, replacing his 440-cubic-inch engine with a larger 480-cubic-inch powerplant. Even if he cannot race his way into the features, he’s guaranteed feature starting spots via provisionals.
Pierce still controls his championship fate with the points lead he built heading to Charlotte. Even if Hoffman wins all three features and both Thursday’s and Friday’s heats, three finishes of 12th or better would secure Pierce the title. Against three 12th-place finishes, Hoffman would gain 24 points per feature plus two heat-win bonus points — 74 points total, leaving Pierce two ahead.
When it comes down to it, Pierce knows Charlotte can wreck Hoffman’s plans just as quickly as his own.
“I just can’t see Nick winning every night. To sweep the weekend, it’s damn near impossible,” Pierce said. “There’s six heat races. That means six in the redraw. Even if you win your heats, it’s just — a lot.
“Like, I was fast here two years ago, and I think I started sixth that night and still won. But I was fast two years ago and won one night, got like ninth another night and f------ had a flat tire another night. So s--- happens.”
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