Jerry and Lindsey Helm hang out with the family’s ace mechanic, Kasen, who just celebrated his second birthday.
They’re finding their groove.
Central Whidbey Island Fire and Rescue Chief Jerry Helm and his crew continue to surge to the front of the pack in the world of auto racing.
Helm’s first-hand report from the track:
Race #4 update…
Following the previous race, the race team went to work on the #27 car.
The goal, find some speed and shave seconds.
After some engine maintenance by Michael Matros, and suspension and tire adjustments by Phillip Brotemarkle and Shawn Calkins, the #27 car showed up ready to run.
Practice session went well as we worked to fine tune braking and alignment settings.
In the heat race, the car felt great. Setting a team best lap time of 18.39 seconds.
We qualified and started 9th for the 15-car main event.
After a long and extended race, riddled with wrecks and yellow cautions, we had worked our way up to 5th place with four laps to go.
On the last lap, we drove the car in deep and passed two cars on the inside of turn 1. This made for three car wide racing going into turn 2.
The adjustments the team made to the car really showed in this moment.
The look of speed.
The car hooked up, got traction, and shot out of turn 2 in sole position of third place with half a lap remaining to the checked flag.
Holding off the cars behind for the final two turns, we crossed the line in third place. Although, that’s not quite where the drama ended.
NASCAR track officials announced that the car behind us (that we had passed during the race after all the caution restarts, and again on the final lap) was awarded third place.
After a discussion with the NASCAR track officials, they agreed with us, and officially scored us correctly in third place.
Because of the time it took to figure this out, we missed our chance to stand on the podium for the television cameras, get our trophy, and thank our friends, families, and sponsors.
However, we are very thankful that the NASCAR track officials made the right call in the end.
While we wait until the next race to get our trophy, we want to thank everyone for the kind words of encouragement and support through an emotional roller coaster of post-race events.
Thank you to Tiger Construction, The Muse Whiskey and Coffee, Fisherman Jacks, and North 48 Real Estate for keeping us on track.
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