Welcome back once again to the beautiful curves of Charlotte! After the All-Star race last weekend, the FURCAR drivers are eager to try their paw at racing, but this time in an effort to keep Belic Bear away from yet another season and grand championship!

Qualifying got underway on Thursday with Belic taking the pole early in the session. Lap after lap, the other FURCAR drivers tried to beat his time. Jackie Rae missed her try by two-thousandths of a second, much to everyone’s dismay. Then Dart Wuffy took to the track with a growl of his engine to match the one coming over his radio as he sped through the turns, gripping his steering wheel tight to hold his Wolf’s Den Racing car to the line he wanted. Cheers erupted throughout the pit area as his time flashed up on the board. A tenth faster than the grizzly! However, the very next driver on the track was K’gra Leopard, putting her Tofurkey Toyota through its paces. Dart’s grip on the pole position was brief as she swept over the finish line six-thousandths ahead of his blistering time. However, Dart was first of the drivers to her car to give a high-five to his front-row partner.

However, this weekend also involved the running of one of the greatest races in all of history, the Indy 500! Raz Yoshi—who actually won the pole at Indy this weekend!—Jackie Rae, Shockey Rai, Dart Wuffy, and Zeke Bawlbowolf all were doing double-duty, jet-hopping between the tracks with IndyFur Series regular, Taylor French, who was also running at Charlotte with the FURCAR regulars.

After watching the exciting finish of the Indy 500 shown up on the big screens at Charlotte, the fans then turned their attention to the FURCAR race, the inaugural race of Season Two! The FURCAR drivers—some still revved up from their run at Indy and their subsequent race from the local airport to the Charlotte track to get back in time—took to the track. Taylor French was given a warm welcome by the crowd as both an open-wheel driver and as the sole rookie who qualified for this race! The fans went wild though for their favorite veterans as the cars circled the track to show off their bright paint schemes. Then the fans were on their feet for the much anticipated green flag!

K’gra Leopard and Dart Wuffy led the field over the starting line, and the racing was on! Knowing it was going to be a long race with the track transitioning from the afternoon sun to the cooler temperatures of evening, the drivers stayed smooth as they entered Turn 1, keeping their lines until they got around to the backstretch. Then it was on! Belic and Jackie Rae put the pressure on K’gra and Dart, letting them know their time at the front of the field would be short. Jackie Rae got a nose under Dart, forcing him up and out of the groove, dropping him back a few spots as Moon Mochi tucked tight to Jackie Rae’s back bumper and wouldn’t let him in.

And so it continued, with the drivers from the back weaving their way through towards the front, or at least making valiant efforts to improve their positions. However, everyone kept their nose clean with so many laps yet to complete in the race.

The first round of green flag stops occurred without incident with all teams opting for four-tire stops with full fuel due to the overcast skies during all their practices, so different from today’s sunshine and warmth. Their crew chiefs and technicians needed to know how much tire wear their setup was causing as well as what their fuel mileage was looking like.

Eighteen laps later, the unexpected happened. The cables holding up a Furry Racing Network camera over the front stretch snapped, allowing the long cords to trail across the front stretch just as the field was passing underneath. Unfortunately for the drivers, the cables became wrapped in the axles of a few cars, severing brake lines, as well as the ends whipping out to damage the body panels of several adjacent cars. FURCAR immediately called a red flag and allowed all cars to come into the pits to repair any damage caused by the cables. A couple teams not affected by the cables asked to make other repairs but were denied this by the FURCAR pit officials. Only tires and fuel for them! FRN tech crews scrambled out into the infield to make repairs to the cable system, cutting the remaining lines which were dangling down and could potentially create problems. FRN officials then made their rounds through the pits to apologize individually to the teams for creating trouble.

Once all repairs were finished, the track returned to yellow and the drivers were released from the pits in the order they were in just prior to this on-track incident. And again the green flag sent them on their way and the racing resumed.

The laps continued to count down as the race passed the halfway point. Then things started getting dicey as the sun set lower in the sky and the cars started to wear down after the long day. Dart Wuffy blew a motor, sending oil onto the track, which resulted in Ice road lion and Zeke Bawlbowolf taking each other out as they spun on the suddenly slick racing surface. All three cars went behind the walls to be put away in their haulers.

The beating and banging continued with the rest of the drivers, though in a more controlled manner. However, that didn’t stop several cars from having to head to the pits to repair body panels which were causing tire rub. And finally a few drivers got together hard enough to cause a caution on the track. Belic Bear circled around the track, headed to the pits to get a flat tire replaced.

The last laps of the race were, as usual, the most exciting as the FURCAR drivers let loose for good, knowing their time was running out to make their bid for the win! Pole sitter K’gra Leopard dragged her little brother behind her as they drove their way forward behind Duroc Hog. Rookie and Indycar driver Taylor French was just ahead of them as the last laps counted down. But the group couldn’t catch Tigris, Shockey Rai, and Wildfox. That trio was holding their own mini-race as they swapped the lead back and forth. However, on the last lap, Wildfox managed to get his nose under Tigris coming out of Turn 4 and held her and Shockey Rai back until he had swept under the checkered flag. Tigris edged out Shockey Rai, and they were followed by Oren Hart and Taylor French to round out the top-5. Duroc, K’gra, Slidewolf, Duzzy Valo, and Moon Mochi completed the top-10 finishers.

Quite obviously, Wildfox has the season points lead, with 3-time season champion and 2-time Grand Champion Belic Bear a distant seventeenth. However, didn’t we just see this same scenario at the beginning of last season? Don’t count that bruin out! Though he has a lot of good drivers to pass before he can think of taking back over the season points! Season Two is the longest stretch of the year so the other FURCAR drivers will have to work hard to keep a good grizzly down!

Next week the FURCAR drivers and fans will gather once more at Dover! See you there!

Perfect possible driver combination: 247 points – Harvick, Kahne, Kurt Busch, Newman or Logano, Hamlin, Ambrose

Week 1 Standings – Charlotte 5/26/13

WEEK

1) (9) Wildfox (Wildfox Motorsports #34) – 194

2) (8) Tigris (HyperLynx Racing #84) – 192

3) (22) Shockey Rai (Carolina Speed Racing #86) – 188

4) (14) Oren Hart (Sunshine Racing AMX #77) – 185

5) (12) Taylor French (Zeke Bawlbowolf Racing #30) – 184 (ROOKIE)

6) (17) Duroc (Hog Juice Racing #50) – 183 (tie broken by more top-5 finishers)

7) (1) K’gra (Ragdoll Physics Racing #21) – 183

8) (20) Slidewolf (Team Vault-Tec #9) – 182

9) (13) Duzzy Valo (G-Shep Racing #09) – 180

10) (6) Moon Mochi (Monster Blue Eyez Nation #42) – 178

11) (4) Jackie Rae Caldoon (Tanuki Trax #02) – 177

12) (18) Chris Furris (K9 Racing North America #85) – 176

13) (19) Cheesebeagle (RaceToTheCheese Racing #300) – 174

14) (16) Croco Chilton (Crocosaur Racing #15) – 173 (tie broken by more top-5 finishers)

15) (5) Raz Yoshi (Yoshi Motorsports #30) – 173

16) (7) Furry Mike (WWE-Furs Racing #21) – 168

17) (3) Belic (Kodiak Racing #76) – 164

18) (11) Mark (Howling Wolves Racing #64) – 163

19) (10) Zero (Alcoholocaust Motorsports #00) – 160

20) (21) Eric AKA Phantom (Phantom Impulse Racing #41) – 152

21) (23) Zeke Bawlbowolf (Zeke Bawlbowolf Racing #29) – 125 (tie broken by top-5 finisher)

22) (15) Ice road lion (Jetpack Racing #40) – 125

23) (2) Dart Wuffy (Wolf’s Den Racing #88) – 124

SEASON (points behind next driver, positions moved this week)

1) Wildfox (Wildfox Motorsports #34) – 194 (n/a, +0)

2) Tigris (HyperLynx Racing #84) – 192 (-2, +0)

3) Shockey Rai (Carolina Speed Racing #86) – 188 (-4, +0)

4) Oren Hart (Sunshine Racing AMX #77) – 185 (-3, +0)

5) Taylor French (Zeke Bawlbowolf Racing #30) – 184 (ROOKIE) (-1, +0)

6) Duroc (Hog Juice Racing #50) – 183 (-1, +0)

7) K’gra (Ragdoll Physics Racing #21) – 183 (-0, +0)

8) Slidewolf (Team Vault-Tec #9) – 182 (-1, +0)

9) Duzzy Valo (G-Shep Racing #09) – 180 (-2, +0)

10) Moon Mochi (Monster Blue Eyez Nation #42) – 178 (-2, +0)

11) Jackie Rae Caldoon (Tanuki Trax #02) – 177 (-1, +0)

12) Chris Furris (K9 Racing North America #85) – 176 (-1, +0)

13) Cheesebeagle (RaceToTheCheese Racing #300) –174 (-2, +0)

14) Croco Chilton (Crocosaur Racing #15) – 173 (-1, +0)

15) Raz Yoshi (Yoshi Motorsports #30) –173 (-0, +0)

16) Furry Mike (WWE-Furs Racing #21) – 168 (-5, +0)

17) Belic (Kodiak Racing #76) – 164 (-4, +0)

18) Mark (Howling Wolves Racing #64) – 163 (-1, +0)

19) Zero (Alcoholocaust Motorsports #00) – 160 (-3, +0)

20) Eric AKA Phantom (Phantom Impulse Racing #41) – 152 (-8, +0)

21) Zeke Bawlbowolf (Zeke Bawlbowolf Racing #29) – 125 (-27, +0)

22) Ice road lion (Jetpack Racing #40) – 125 (-0, +0)

23) Dart Wuffy (Wolf’s Den Racing #88) – 124 (-1, +0)

ROOKIES (points behind next driver)

1) Taylor French (Zeke Bawlbowolf Racing #30) – 10 points (n/a)

SEASON STATS:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1puSi7iCherQmpBOGdRR3JlR3c/edit?usp=sharing&pli=1

CAREER STATS:

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B1puSi7iChereEZ6TEFnLVFTSGFXY2JjNndkeXFxQQ