We got our first heat win !!!!!!!!! Saturday, September 22 at Brownstown Speedway we qualified 14th which lined us up on the pole of the 3rd heat race for the Topless Super Stock Nationals. We pulled out into the lead at the drop of the green and led all 10 laps despite hard charges from Jason Hehman on the outside. We started 3rd in the feature, but unfortunately fell back to an 11th place finish, which was worse that we had hoped for, but it was still a good night overall.
I started inside of the 3rd row of the 3rd heat with a pretty good field of cars. I ended up running 4th, which would put us in the feature, but unfortunately a questionable call was made by the officials saying that I had jumped a start and docking me 2 positions to 6th place. I started 3rd in the 2nd consi, took the lead quickly and held on to win it. After starting 18th in the feature I got into a wreck in turn 2 very early in the race which resulted in a flat RF tire and ended our night.
I drew a typical bad number...79. I started outside of the 4th row in the first heat race and ended up finishing 3rd in it, which got us an inside 4th row starting spot for the feature. The car was working really well around the bottom and I was trying to get under the 3rd place car at one point, but I think I overheated the RF tire in the process as it just kept getting tighter and tighter. Brad Cummings passed me on the outside with about 7 to go, then there was a caution with 3 to go. After the restart the car just wouldn't turn for anything and I finally lost it coming out of 4 on the last lap, staring a career best 5th place finish in the eye.
We are done for the year. I'm going to scale out the car, then strip it down. I'm not going to make any big changes over the winter , just a new body and try to get some spare parts rounded up. I am somewhat satisfied with my rookie season, but I feel that I could have done better. I will do better next year.
11-3-07
Angie and I flew down to Florida Thurs. night for Eric's wedding. We stayed down there all weekend and flew back Tues. morning. The wedding was beautiful, everyone was nice and we had a wonderful time. Eric and Jackie were wonderful hosts , we really appreciated everything and wish them the best.
The Brownstown Speedway awards banquet was Saturday night. Angie and I attended and had a good time. There was plenty of good food,music,singing and dancing , and of course bench racing. We are starting to get parts collected and ordered to get ready for next year. Stay tuned for progress.
The body is mostly back on , most of the parts are here , waiting on the engine to get done.
1-07-08
The car is stripped and the engine is at Kern's. Working on getting some spare parts put together. Fresh body and decking will be coming soon.
The car is pretty much ready to go...it's all done but finishing. I got it back from Celery last Monday and also got the engine back the same night. Most of the other stuff is done. We are happy to welcome Bryan Bowman Chrysler Dodge Jeep as our newest sponsor and happy to have Bundy Bros. Feed Mill , Mad Dog Motorsports and TP Construction continuing their support for another year. I also have another deal in the works which I hope to be able to announce later this week.
Church was called off today due to the inclimate weather , so we made a last minute
decision to slap the engine in it and go to the Brownstown Speedway car show at TJ's. We ended up getting 3rd place...crazy judges. LOL
4-5-08
Our first race for the year was at Brownstown. We missed hot laps due to the starter gear falling off, but got a new starter put on before the heat. Was running 2nd in the heat when I spun into 1. On the restart I spun again into 1 and pulled off. We found that the RR tire only had 9lbs in it. Spun again in the consi...the tire was going down again. I came back up from the tail and held on for 4th to transfer into the feature. We put an old tire on for the feature and lined up 19th on the grid. I was able to be patient and work my way up through the field to a 5th place finish.
4-11-08
Opening night at Bloomington. The car was plenty loose in hot laps , so we made an adjustment before lining up for the 2nd heat. We were supposed to line up inside the 2nd row , but the polesitter scratched , so I was able to pace the race. I was able to hold off a hard charge from Troy Clark and hold on for the win. I redrew for the 4th starting spot in the feature , but hit debris and busted the radiator early in the race. We were officially scored for 17th place.
4-18-08
We headed to Bloomington Speedway despite rain in the area. We got lucky as soon as we got there by drawing a #2. That would line us up outside of the front row of the first heat. When the green flag dropped on the heat race I was immediately engaged in a heated battle with veteran Tom Ault in the 1a FlyByU. Tom worked the inside as I worked the outside and I had a slight advantage on him before hitting a rut in turn 1 and pushing up the track , that little bobble allowed Tom to get away from me and also last week's feature winner , Chris Hillman to get by me on the inside. I was able to battle back around Ault for 2nd and closed right up behind Hillman as the checkers flew. The top 2 finishers from each heat race "re-draw" at Bloomington for their starting position in the feature. Our luck took a bit of a turn for the worse as I drew a 6 , but it wouldn't matter in the end , because mother nature would be the eventual winner as the rain let loose during the 2nd sprint consi.
4-19-08
We were ready to head to Lincoln Park Speedway in Putnamville , IN for the first BOSS series race , but it was cancelled due to rain , so we headed East down Highway 50 to Vernon , IN and the Twin Cities Raceway Park. We again had early luck drawing a #4 , which would end up as the 2nd overall pick , lining us up on the pole of the 2nd heat. Troy Clark passed me high in the 13c , so I moved up behind him , then Chris Hillman passed me on the bottom. I searched the lines some and stayed with them , finishing 3rd. Rolling off from 8th spot in the feature the car felt pretty good and was moving forward , but the driver would go brain dead with 2 laps to go and spin in turn 2 , turning a solid 7th place finish into 12th.
4-25-08
The "Spring Clash" at Bloomington Speedway. Our luck drawing good numbers ran out as we pulled a 74. That would line us up inside of the 4th row of the 3rd heat race. We were able to work up into a 4th place finish against a good field of cars , so I was pretty pleased with that. We started the feature from the 12th spot , but I made a mistake as I tried to go outside into turn 1 as the green flag dropped. I got a little too high and dropped the RR off of the bank and spun , so now I would be starting from the tail. There was a caution with 2 laps to go and a questionable scoring method put me back into the 16th place and started myself and 2 other cars behind the leader instead of at the back of the line. I was able to pass one of them on the last lap for a disappointing 15th place finish.
4-26-08
The Mayhem Motorsports team rolled into Brownstown Speedway and the bad luck continued with the draw , 62 tonight would put us outside of the 3rd row in the 1st heat. I was able to pass one car on the high side and hold on to 5th spot to transfer into the feature. Congratulations to Jason Hehman on the heat win. I started 13th in the feature and was running about the same when I was hit from behind and got spun out in turn 2. Unfortunately the officials missed it and I was forced to restart from the tail and ended up with another disappointing 15th place run.
5-3-08
We headed to Twin Cities Raceway Park in Vernon , IN for some racing action. The normal pit crew was "scootin around" , so my wonderful wife Angie would pick up the slack and pit the car for me. We continued the bad luck with the draw with a 61. We were lined up outside of the 4th row of the 2nd heat where we were able to run 3rd. We lined up outside of the 4th row in the feature as well and the car felt really good at the start , then only a lap and a half in to the race we got caught up in a big pile up in turn 3 , when the dust settled there were about 8 cars sitting in turns 3 and 4. We lost several spots due to the wreck , but worse than that the right rear wheel got packed about 1/2 full of mud , which made the whole car vibrate so badly that I literally couldn't see by the end of the straights , not to mention the havoc it was playing on traction with the right rear tire bouncing off of the ground !!! We ended up running 12th for the night.
5-10-08
Angie and I went to Brownstown Speedway for the Hoosier Dirt Classic. The normal pit crew was still MIA , so Angie did the pit duties once again. The draw was a little better with a 47 , that would put us inside of the 3rd row of the 2nd heat and we would end up finishing 5th to transfer into the feature. The car was not very good in the heat , so we spent most of the time between the heat and the feature working on it before lining up 14th on the grid for the 20 lap feature. The car was quite a bit better in the feature , but still not as good as I would like for it to be. I was up to 9th at one point , but after some contact I was passed and put back to 10th , which is where I finished.
5-17-08
The Mayhem Motorsports crew loaded up and headed out to Brownstown Speedway for a night of racing action. The draw was a little better yet as I pulled a 25 from the card , that would line us up inside of the 2nd row of the 3rd heat. The car was working much , much better and I was running 3rd and closing hard on the leaders. On the last lap I made a "Hero or Zero" move taking the car hard into turn 3 inside of the 2nd place car. Unfortunately it would turn out to be a "Zero" move this time as the rear end got out from under me and I had to shoot through the infield to avoid hitting the uke tire. Three cars slipped by during this "manuever" and left me with a 6th place finish , not good enough to make the feature. We started inside of the 2nd row of the consi with the top 5 transferring to the feature. I got off to a slow start in the consi and found myself out of the transfer spot with laps winding down , but stuck it on the top side to pass for 5th and then dove back down to the bottom for the 4th spot. We would line up 19th in the feature. The car was working a lot better than it has for some time now and we were able to move up to an 11th place finish.
This weekend we will be going on "The Tour de Racing" as my Mom called it. We plan to hit Bloomington Friday night , Putnamville Saturday , Danville , IL Sunday and if we have any equipment/resources/luck/energy/desire left , then we'll head to Twin Cities on Monday. Wish us luck !!!
5-23-08
Rain threatened all day , but Bloomington said they were racing , so off we went. It was nice on the way over , but would start raining shortly after we got in the gate. They tried to keep on top of the track , but lost it and called the races off.
5-24-08
It was the first trip to Lincoln Park Speedway for any of us, one of the very few tracks in Indiana that dad never raced on. We drew a 43 and lined up 6th in the 1st heat. A sloppy track would limit passing and I would end up 4th in the heat , good enough for a 10th starting spot in the feature. The car was working really well around the bottom , but we just didn't have the right gear for the heavy track and 7th was all we could muster. It was the first night of racing for the newly formed BOSS series and not a bad run overall , I think we'll be good up there the next time.
5-25-08
Happy Birthday to my Mother in Law , Linda.
After the races Saturday night we drove up to Danville, IL and got a hotel room. After breakfast we went into town and found a car wash , washed the car and then went to the track early. At the track Angie and I finished up the car ; washed the radiator, changed air filter, charged battery , etc. We drew an 18 which lined us up 4th in the 3rd heat. I worked the high side into the lead after a few laps , but went into 3 a little too hard and spun in front of the field. After watching a tape of it I am truly amazed that Jeremy Hines missed me , what a piece of driving on his part. I was able to finish 4th in the heat and line up 12th for the feature. The car was working pretty well around the bottom and I was 7th when a late caution came out. I hit a rut and pushed going into turn 1 on the restart and 3 cars passed me. I picked 2 of them back off and one of them got spun in front of me and I found myself back in 7th and pushing for 6th. I went inside for 6th going into 3 and came under the white flag just off the LR of the 6th place car. I shot into turn 1 wheel to wheel with him , but unfortunately he must not have known I was there and dove to the bottom just like I wasn't there. My front bumper got lodged between his bumper and LF wheel and we slid up the track stuck together and stopped on the top of turn 2. I put the car in reverse and got free from him , but when I came around the checkers were flying, they ended up scoring me for 11th spot.
5-26-08
We drove all the way back home Sunday night into Monday morning , getting back home just before 5 am. I went to bed and got back up at 11:00 to get ready for racing Monday night at Twin Cities. I watched the weather and called the track and everything was a go , so I headed that way. I got within about 10 miles of the track when I got a call saying that the races were cancelled , but it hadn't rained , so ??????
We had a good weekend overall , and a lot of fun. I thank my family for their support and giving up their holiday weekend to go racing with me.
6-21-08
Uncle Tom's birthday and usually the longest day of the year (the summer solstice) , but not this year , because this year was a leap year which made the lonest day 1 day earlier on the 20th this year.
We loaded up and made the long , hard 5 mile drive all the way out to the Brownstown Speedway. I don't remember the draw , I think it was decent. I finished 8th in the heat race after cutting down a LR tire. We changed the tire and went out later to win the Consi for the 2nd week in a row. I hate it when I end up in the Consi , but I guess if i'm going to be in there I might as well win it. I started 16th in the feature and finished 15th.
6-28-08
My darling wife Angie's birthday. We again loaded up and pointed the truck towards Brownstown. I don't remember the draw on this one either , but I think it was pretty decent too. I ran 4th in the 2nd heat , hanging on with a broken LF tie rod end for the last 2 laps. I started 11th in the feature and ended up 12th.
7-19-08
I regrouped on the setup this week. I'm sick of running mid-pack , so I did some changing. We changed all 4 springs, 3 shocks, front and rear ride heights and re-scaled.
We headed over to the Twin Cities Raceway Park to try our luck on the high banks. I drew bad , a 63 ... go figure. I started on the tail of the 2nd heat , but was able to work my way up to 4th. I think with another lap it would have been 3rd , I had my nose up to the door of the 3rd place car as we took the checkers. The car felt a lot better and seemed to be going pretty good , I think the changes we made helped her out. Our 4th
place finish in the 2nd heat would line us up 11th on the grid for the feature. The car was working good again and I had passed a few cars , but another car kept hitting me in the LR for a couple of laps until he finally cut the LR tire down on about the 4th or 5th lap. I really think we would have finished 5th or 6th , but that's just how it goes sometimes !!!
7-24-08
Brownstown Speedway hosted "Thursday Night Thunder" during the Jackson County fair. Brendan had a baseball game at Scottsburg at 6:15 and the races started at 7:00 , so obviously this was a bit of a scheduling conflict. The baseball game went well , we were able to get them down and end the game in the 5th inning on a 15 run rule. Angie and I jumped in the car and beat feet back to Brownstown while Kenny and Linda stayed with Brendan for the coaches talk and so-forth , then brought him to the track. We were supposed to be in the 1st heat , but missed it. The 3rd SS heat was on the track when we got there. Uncle Tom had taken the car to the track and had it unloaded and ready to go when I got there. There were 2 crate late model heats , then our consi,
which I would start on the tail of. I lined up all the way at the back , scoping out who was in front of me and how I was going to get around them all as we rolled around on caution. We were shown 1 to go and the yellow light was out as we went down the backstretch. I watched the polesitter intently so that I could fire just as soon as he did. He fire coming off of 4 and I put the loud pedal to the floor and flicked the steering wheel to the left to drive up under the cars in front of me off of the corner. I got a really good bite and a good run down the frontstretch , passing several cars before getting to turn 1. I set the car into the turn and just as I was about to pick the throttle back up tragedy struck. I saw a car coming at me out of the corner of my eye. He had spun above me and came straight down the track and into the right rear of my car. The hit turned me sideways and pointed me up the track. I looked out the right door just in time to see another car heading right at my door. He hit me in the front of the right rear wheel and the door just in front of it. The hit was hard enough that it caused the car to roll up onto it's top , so there I was , hanging upside down. One of the first thoughts through my mind was that Brendan was probably FREAKING OUT , so as quickly as I could I stuck my hand out the window with a thumbs up , but then realized that up was down and down was up and after some confusion got it pointed the right way. Tony Nunn was there almost as soon as I stopped it seemed like and Tim Keithley wasn't far behind. I told them that I was fine , but there was fuel running down the deck next to me. The track crew and several fine folks that had ran around the end of the pit wall rolled the car back over by hand and let me down as easily as they could. I jerked the steering wheel off , undid the belts and climbed out as quickly as I could. Brad Cummings was there talking to me and told me to get over away from the car. I took off my helmet and walked over around the car and wrecker where I could see Angie in the stands and waved at her , but I didn't see Brendan up there with her. I found out later that they had just walked in as I was sitting there upside down , so he didn't actually see it happen , that was good. Big thanks to the track crew and all of the guys that ran over from the pits to help and also to Jeremy , Joe and Rick Hines and their crew for helping us get it back in the trailer. The rollover was really easy and in and of itself didn't really tear much up on the car , but the hit in the side that caused it to roll was pretty destructive. The frame is bent a little and all 4 of the control arm mounts are bent or broken , but it held up very well and kept me safe thanks to Butch Ruddick and Jason Hehman. Hehman unloaded it and started stripping it for me Friday. It is definitely fixable , but it's going to take a lot of work. I am hoping to be able to race at Brownstown this week. It's just really going to depend on how smooth everything goes back together.