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| Results from Thunderhill Raceway May 30, 2009 Qualifying 1ST. LAP ..... 13.973 2ND LAP ..... 14.474 He made the feature race and started 16th. He finished in 9th place. |
| Hot lapping |
| Qualifying |
| Mark before race |
| Sleepy going over the game plan with Mark |
| Mark working on car before race |
| 1st time back in a car since accident |
| UPDATE: July 3, 2009 |
| Hi folks...it's been awhile since our last update, but we are making steps to have updates posted on a weekly basis. The Dowdy Racing Team is off and running. We started our season on May 30, 2009 at ThunderHill Raceway in Summertown, TN. .We went to the track thinking this would be a nice little show for Mark to get used to his equipment. After getting into the gate and setting up the pit. We then we learned that this was a special show for LMS division. We had to qualify for the show and it was a 30 lap race!!!! So Sleepy & Mark then went to set up the car for what they thought would work on this track. It worked because Mark went out & qualified 16th. Not too bad for Mark not being this race car. Not too bad at all & Mark made the comment that "the car was much faster than the is driver." He ran the entire feature and posted a 9th place finish. Let me tell ya....it wiped him out. He was exhausted after the race and sore til Tuesday of that following week. |
| North Alabama Speedway: June 5, 2009 |
| We were at North Alabama Speedway on June 5th. NAS is a much flatter and tighter track than Thunderhill is. After a dismall start Mark started 7th, finished 10th (lap down). Mark & Sleepy went to work on the steering and break controls to get them more dialed in. |
| View from our pit...NAS is surrounded by mountails |
| Mark looking over the car clipboard |
| Mark hot lapping |
| Thunderhill June 6, 2009 |
| We followed NAS up with a run at Thunderhill. This time it was a ruglar show and Mark ran a beautiful heat race. He started 4th in the heat race and then was in a 3 way battle to lead the race. In fact, during one lap, all 3 of them actually took a turn into the lead. Mark ran a very tight, high side and finished 3rd in a VERY close 3-wide finish. The feature found Mark starting 6th. Again he jumped to the outside and quickly found himself passing for the 4th position. David Young 27 car, did not realize that Mark was out there. They went into turn 1 and Mark ran out of race track. He disapeared over the banking! In just a few seconds after the yellow flew, he was able to re-fire and came roaring back out on the track. Only to find that the fuel cell had been punctured during the tussle. So the team loaded up and headed home. Howeve we were all very upbeat. Because the car is fast and Mark is gaining his edge back fast.
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| Mark & David Young |
| Mark & Dena |
| Hot lapping |
| Damage after Mark's ride over the bank |
| During a week off we had an annonymous donor purchase our new fuel cell. It was a very nice surprise. Actually Mark and I are very surprised at all the positive reaction we are getting every time we race. Mark has met several race fans that are in his situation. As well as race fans that just wanna say "We think yer doing great". It really pumps us up when we get down some. |
| North Alabama Speedway June 19, 2009 |
| We went to NAS again and the changes Mark and Sleepy made to the steering and brakes were very noticable. The 88D car was in the hunt!! Mark finished 4th in his heat. However he was in contention for an honest 2nd place. However a last lap tangle gave us what we got. Mark was very excited to start the feature. He felt we have a car that can race up front. The feature started and the field charged into turn 1. #56 Perry Butler got turned sideways and all we seen was a cloud of dirt and crunched metal. When the dust settled, there set the #88D car, with busted steering and nose piece. As well as a smashed in rear bumper. Mark was just the meat in a bad sandwich... |
| Now, here it is, July the 2nd and Sleepy has got the body looking good again. Mark and I put the new rack pieces in as well as a new RF suspension. Yes folks thats right. Mark has taught me what Upper control arms are. Ball Joints, Rack & Pinion, Lower control arms and I even change the gears and mount tires!! HA! Im gettin pretty good at this stuff. I will let ya'll know how we do this weekend. We are only running Friday night (July 3rd). On Saturday Mark is taking Darci and I to McFarland park on the river . We are going to watch em shoot the fireworks off the barg in the river. I have heard about this from alot of people. Cant wait to see it. There is a cayon wall down the river. It should sound AWSOME! Shelly out!!!!! |
| Sleepy trying to catch fuel from the fuel cell rupture |
| Mark & Darci working on the car before the race |
| Mark getting ready to hot lap |
| Out on the track |
| Damage from the tangle up |
| Thunder Hill May 30, 2009 |
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