Tough road to the Nationals

Things seemed to be falling in place a couple of weeks ago for Colfax racer Robert Bell. And then the bottom dropped out. The bottom of the engine, that is. A regular at Knoxville Raceway since 1992, Bell was looking forward to the 47th annual SuperClean Knoxville Nationals. Qualifying nights are scheduled for tonight and Thursday — weather permitting — with main events on Saturday. NASCAR star Kasey Kahne was added to the field Tuesday. Bell was looking to debut a new 410 Sprint car July 28 at Knoxville, and was set to pick up a new trailer to haul his car in. Plans started to change for Bell July 21, when motor issues during the B-main slowed him. Bell fixed his motor, only to have additional problems under the hood July 28. “On the white flag lap in the B-main, I felt a vibration,” Bell said last Thursday while at the Newton shop of fellow racer Bob Weuve. “I shut it down immediately. It’d been running the best it ever had.” A friend did machine work for the engine heads after the July 21 problems. Another friend bought Bell a crankshaft to replace the one that broke July 28. Weuve extended an offer to work on the engine, so Bell gladly brought the broken engine to Weuve’s shop last Thursday. “Here’s Bob, here’s the crankshaft, and here we are,” Bell said as he and Weuve tore down the powerplant. “We’ll see what Bob can get done.” Weuve freshened his motor for last weekend’s race at Knoxville, but put that project on hold until after looking at Bell’s motor. “Just seeing Bob working on this thrills the heck out of me,” Bell said. “His motor is still sitting at home and look, here he is tearing my engine down.” While things were looking up, Weuve discovered there was more internal damage than initially thought, and thus Bell showed up at Knoxville last Saturday without his car. “It’s my first time here in 10 years that I’m not driving,” Bell said Saturday while pacing the infield. “I would feel more comfortable walking around here in my driver’s suit.” Bell had hoped a shop in Des Moines would be able to have his engine block repaired Monday, but the damage slowed the progress. “They’re going to try to have it done (Wednesday) night,” Bell said Tuesday evening. Bell was supposed to run Wednesday’s qualifying night program at Knoxville, but Weuve offered to swap nights. Bell got approval from Ralph Capitani, the director of racing at Knoxville, to change nights. “That gives us 24 more hours,” Bell said. “Man, 24 hours is a long time right now, it really is.” Bell is blown away by how much others have been willing to help him out. “This is pretty trick how everyone has come together,” said the driver with a tight budget. “They all bent over backwards for me. I appreciate that 100 percent. In times like this you discover how good your friends are, absolutely. For me things are pretty tough. This year things have been trying me a lot.” The last few nights, Bell has been working on his new car from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. by himself. Tuesday alone, Bell estimated he would spend 20 hours working on his car, even as a storm snapped two trees in his yard. As if the new car and engine woes aren’t enough on his plate, Bell’s mom is suffering from cancer. “It’s pretty gosh darn tough,” Bell said. “I can’t say this is the toughest year I’ve had, but this has been the most trying year for me.”