Fraserville, ON – For the second consecutive race, carbon monoxide poisoning inside the cockpit of the No.54 Stemac/Millenium Crane Cadillac of Mike Beyore shortened his race at Kawartha Speedway on Sunday night.
Beyore suffered the same problem on July 27 at Sunset Speedway, but the problem was especially frustrating for the Whitby, Ont. driver as he ran just outside the top-five when he stopped in turn two with nine laps complete to draw a caution.
“It kind of pissed me off, we had a pretty good car,” said Beyore. “I figure we had a top-five car.”
Beyore said he felt fine in the car during the opening laps, but cautions on lap four and lap six allowed fumes to build up in the cockpit. When the race restarted with six laps complete, Beyore knew something wasn’t right once again.
“I could feel it coming on and I had to pull off. I was getting sick already,” said Beyore.
Once Beyore had the car pulled in to the infield, he was able to unbuckle and laid on the infield grass as he was attended to by paramedics with oxygen. Beyore said it took longer for the symptoms to subside on Sunday then it did in the previous race at Sunset.
“I’m going to see the doctor on Thursday. From what they see, they aren’t sure, but they think I have a liver problem,” explained Beyore. “It can’t absorb the fumes fast enough and then it can’t handle it. We’re going to see what we can do to fix it. I’m going to have to see what happens and then go test and see if I can handle it.”
Since the race on Sunday, the biggest side effect have been headaches of different severity for the veteran driver.
“The headaches is the biggest thing. You get them for a couple of days,” said Beyore. “We have to figure out something, something’s wrong. I’m going to have to take a race off and get this under control. Sunday, I was just about to pass out in the car. I don’t want to hurt somebody or hurt myself.”
Beyore started the 50-lap Midas of Orangeville feature in fifth, and was shuffled back to sixth in the opening laps. However, it was evident Beyore would be a contender on the night before the medical problems befell him.
The veteran driver had a strong performance in the heats as well with a pair of second-place finishes.
“We saw what we had in the heats, and we ran the first heat without any brakes,” said Beyore. I broke the front rotor in the first couple of laps.”
The stock car track at Kawartha had not been competed on since September 2012 prior to Sunday, which left a very clean race track. Once the track gained rubber, two lines of racing developed, but Beyore explained the bottom groove was still the fast way around.
“If you had a car to run on the bottom you were good,” he said. “I went down there a couple times before the caution and got by a couple of guys in one and two. I felt good about the car.”
Beyore is unsure when he will be able to return to the OSCAAR Super Late Model tour, however the series is next in action on Saturday, August 24 at Peterborough Speedway, and Saturday, September 7 at Flamboro Speedway. For a full schedule of events, stay tuned to www.oscaar.ca.
Follow Mike Beyore’s OSCAAR Super Late Model campaign online all season long on Twitter via @54buck and at www.beyoreracing.ca.
Mike Beyore’s 2013 OSCAAR tour is supported by Stemac, Millenium Crane, CNC Custom Machining, Praxair, MGS Performance, Don’s Auto Shop, Crossby Dewar, Mayhew Graphics and Metals Plus.
By Clayton Johns (@cjohnsmedia)
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