Alta 8-20-2008 6th Win of the Season
After getting 2nd last week to Luke Wanninger, the national IMCA SportMod
points leader, we were excited to get back up to Alta and see if we could
gain those final few car lengths on him.
All year we've been struggling with a car that just doesn't seem to keep
the momentum up through the corners. We've tried a lot of stuff and over
the past few weeks we've tried some drastic changes. Thankfully, they all
have worked to some degree or another.
After winning the heat race by about a 1/2 of a straight-away, we still
knew we needed to make a few changes to be able to compete with Wanninger.
We started the feature 2nd row outside and coming out of turn two we were
able to take the lead. While Wanninger was passing for 2nd place we were
able to build that lead by quite a few car lenths. With nine laps to go,
Wanninger got around the 2nd place car and put his sights on us. When the
checkers finally flew, we were able to win by just under a 1/2 a straight-away
lead with Wanninger shrinking that distance slightly on each lap.
That is our 2nd win in Alta this year and our 6th over all. Next up is
Onawa Friday night and Boone Saturday night. Hopefully we can make it two
in a row. Hope to see you there!
Boone 8-16-2008
Since SuperNationals is only days away, we thought we better get back to
Boone to see where we stand. We haven't been to Boone since May 26th where
we got a 6th place finish. We also won there in our first race of the season.
We started the heat race last and by the end of the race got up to 4th
place. Fortunately we made the A main but would be starting 7th row outside.
At the drop of the green we were all reminded why we love racing at Boone.
There are a ton of cars and many of them are good. We were making some
ground up until a car spun out in front of us cutting our left rear tire.
After getting the tire changed we restarted in 22nd.
We were able to make it up to 15th even though our left rear trailing arm
was messed up by the wreck.
It was a fun night but we weren't really able to see how good or bad we
were. We might have to go back down next week.
Next up though is Alta. We've been running better there but Luke is still
the man to beat. Hopefully this week we can do just that. Hope to see you
there!
Onawa 8-15-2008
We loaded up and headed over to Onawa for another chance to win the $300
first place pay. Onawa has the best pay around and we like to reward them
for that.
Anyway, we started the heat race 4th row inside and after a few laps found
ourselves in 4th place. That is where we stayed. The track was really greasy
and Onawa doesn't have much room to pass. We decided to not change a thing
for the feature.
We started the feature 4th row outside and in the first few laps hit some
grease and ran into the side of Lacey Tuttle. In doing so, we cut our right
rear tire and after getting it changed by the best pit crew man ever, we
restarted in 15th.
We had a fast car but ran out of time to get to the front. We had to settle
for a 4th place finish.
We'll have to get the $300 next week.
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Alta 8-13-2008
After making some more changes and getting the car fixed up from a wreck in Onawa, we headed back up to Alta where we've raced 10 times, finished 7 times, and won once.
After racing hard against the 1m of Brett Meyer in the heat race and slightly
edging him out for the win, we knew we needed to make a few changes to
help retain our momentum better through the corners.
We started the feature 3rd row outside and after the first lap and a caution
we found ourselves in 1st with Luke Wanninger behind us. The first lap
into the restart Wanninger was able to take us on the inside and slowly
build a lead. We just couldn't roll through the corners as well as he could
and had to settle with a 2nd place finish.
Next up is Onawa on Friday night. Last week we were running hard and looking
for the win when we got collected into a wreck that ended our night. Hopefully
we will have a little better luck this time.
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Onawa 8-8-2008
We headed up to Onawa to race with our good friend Jim Lampe. Jim has won
the last four races there and we wanted to put a stop to that!
After winning the heat by a good stretch we were excited to race the feature.
Going into turn two on the second lap, the 77 car spun out to our outside
and apparently the flag man thought we caused it. Oh well that stuff happens
(although that is our 1st black flag for "rough driving" of 10
years of racing)
So after restarting in last place and passing eight cars we found ourselves
right behind Lampe. Unfortunately for both of us the 3rd place car spun
out and collected us into a pretty nasty crash. We had to pull it in and
ended up not finishing the race.
We had a really fast car and wanted that win badly. We'll get them next
Friday though.
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Alta 8-6-2008
We raced in Alta tonight and were happy with the results of our changes. We decided to make some drastic changes on the scales and we think it worked. We still have some fine tuning to do but we are confident we are heading in the right direction.Harlan 8-2-08 Won King of the Hill!
Saturday night we headed down to Harlan again for our weekly racin fix
plus the SportMod King of the Hill. We tried a bit of a different set up
again to try to make the 4K faster. We have been running well but
we need to be a little faster to keep the dirt in Luke Wanniger’s eyes.
Luke has won the last 2 features in Harlan and is on a roll.
For the heat race we started 2nd row insided and quickly got up front.
We ended up winning that and the car was pretty good. We decided
to only make a shock change for the feature.
We started the feature 5th row inside and after a few laps we found ourselves
in 2nd place with Luke in the lead. We had a couple cautions and
never could get close enough to him. With 2 to go we knew we had
to get a good run around 3-4 and ran it in and jumped the cushion.
Perhaps trying a little too hard. With that mistake we ended up 4th.
We ended the night with the SportMod King of the Hill. On the final round it came down to us and Chad Dills. Dills had the lead on the 1st lap going into turn 4, where we passed him on the outside. We ended up winning the King of the Hill.
All in all it was a good night of racing. Luke Wanniger is fast.
He has won the last 3 features and he is definatley making us work to be
better.
Next up is Alta Wednesday and probably Onawa on
Friday. Hope to see ya there!
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Alta 7-30-08
We loaded up the old 4k Chevrolet for Alta tonight. We hadn’t raced in Alta since we won on the 18th of June. So we were pretty anxious to get back to BVR.
Since we had a power steering pump go out while we were loading the car, we didn’t make hotlaps. We ended up putting an old one on that we knew wasn’t very good but would get us by.
After getting 4th in the heat race we started the feature 5th row inside right behind Brett Meyer in the 1m Harris car. At the beginning of the race we were still getting a little used to the track and also finding the right line. After the first caution for a spin out in turn 4, we found ourselves in 9th place with 9 laps to go. This is where we really started to get faster.
We were able to pick off a few more guys until the next caution came out putting us in 5th with 3 laps to go. We were able to secure the 3rd place spot coming out of turn 2 on the last lap. We had a great time and never can complain about a top four finish.
Next up is Harlan Saturday. Hopefully the weather stays on our side and we can get a good show in. Hope to see you all there!
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Harlan 7-26-2008 - Double Features
Since we got rained out on the 19th after we ran our heat races, they had
double features tonight in all classes except the Sport Compacts. We knew
it would be a long night of racing but a great night. We love double features.
We started the first feature 5th row inside and after a couple laps we
got up to 2nd place behind Luke Wanninger. We weren't quite fast enough
to pass Luke so we had to settle for a 2nd place finish and hope for the
best in the next feature.
We started the next feature 6th row inside after winning our heat race.
While making our way through the traffic we got crunched by the 7th place
car. It ended up not cutting a tire but definately introduced some poor
handling. We were still able to pull off a 3rd place finish. We were dissapointed
in not getting our 6th win of the year but we can't complain about getting
a 2nd and 3rd.
Our next race will be in Alta Wednesday night where we haven't raced since
we won. Hopefully we will have just as good of luck. Hope to see you there.
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Harlan 7-12-2008 - 3rd Feature Win in Harlan
We made our way back to Shelby County Speedway in Harlan Saturday night. We've ran well there every night barring any problems. We did blow a motor there early in the year which virtually took us out of the points battle but other than that we've had a fast car.
We started the heat race 4th row and got the 5th place spot early in the race. We just kind of hung out there since the top five make the invert for the feature.
We started the feature 4th row inside and coming out of turn two we were side by side with Luke Wanninger, the current points leader in Harlan and Alta. He's also 2nd in IMCA National Points. We were able to hug the bottom to make the first few passes. After a couple of laps we were in 2nd place and tracking down the leader. We ended up taking him on the high side through turns three and four with a great pass coming out of turn four. From there on we held onto the lead and won over Wanninger by about 10 car lengths.
For the year in Harlan we have 3 wins, 2 second place finishes, one blown motor, one ruined transmission, and numerous tires and wheels wrecked. With only nine races there this year, we've won a third of them. We were also leading when our motor blew and our tire got cut. Next week in Harlan we have the SportMod King of the Hill. That should be a blast and with any luck, we have a good shot at winning it.
Our next race is in Knoxville for the Harris Clash. It's a haul there but
it is probably the 2nd biggest race of the year. The rest of the weekend
we will race Denison Friday night and Harlan Saturday night. Hope to see
you there!
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Harlan 6-21-2008 - 2nd Feature Win in Harlan
After breaking our 3rd transmission Friday night in Denison, Jeff Segebart
bailed us out by getting our spare fixed Saturday in record timing. We
slapped it in and headed down to Harlan. We have been running really well
down there lately and know we have a car that should win.
We started the heat race 2nd row outside and got to the lead quickly. We ended up winning the heat race.
For the feature we started 4th row outside. The track was smooth and really fast. The 4K was bumping the chip consistently and hard! We were passing high and low and loving every minute of it. We took the checkers, followed by Luke Wanniger, Buddy Ray Jones, and Jason Fusselman. It was a fun night of racing and we didn't break a transmission! We would like to thank Shawn and Missy Flynn for the pit crew help. It was a lot of fun to have them along. Also thanks to Ziggy for use of his trailer. That trophy made it 2 wins in 1 week. So it was a great week for us. Hopefully we can keep it up.
We plan on taking a few nights off this week and get the 4K looking a little better. All of the racing the last few weeks has left her scarred. We will see ya all next Saturday night in Harlan.
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Finally!!! Alta 6-18-2008 - 1st Featue Win in Alta
We left the 4k on the trailer after racing in Ft. Dodge Tuesday night so we could head up to Alta Wednesday for the double features. We've had a pretty good string of finishes the last few races with a 5th, 2nd, 2nd, and 5th. Both of the 5th place finishes were results of starting way in the back of the feature and just running out of time to get all the way to the front.
We've known for a while that when the tracks start to dry out, we were going to be fast. We've always been good on a dry track, it just took a long time this year for spring to leave and summer to come in.
Anyway, we started the first feature 2nd row inside and got spun coming out of turn two causing us to restart the race dead last. We quickly made up ground but then got involved in a near night ending wreck going into turn four. We bent or broke our driveshaft, panhard bar mount, trailing arm mount, rub bar, shock, and wheel. We also cut a tire. We didn't know if we would be able to make the next heat race, but we were determined to try. After all of us working our tails off, including Cody Wright, (thanks Cody!) we just barely made it out for our heat race.
We started the heat race 2nd row outside and coming out of turn two found ourselves right behind Meyer in the #1m. We gave him some heat for the rest of the race but weren't quite able to make the pass. We settled for a 2nd place finish in the heat and some confidence that the car will hold together for the feature.
We started the feature 2nd row outside and got the lead right away. We started making some room behind us until the caution came out. We then had the 1m of Brett Meyer on our tail and nearly lost the lead going into turn one due to a bad restart. From then on out though, it was smooth sailing to the checkered flag. We really needed that win after tearing up so much stuff in the first feature. That is our first win in Alta and it couldn't have come at a better time.
Our next race is in Denison Friday night. We haven't raced there for years and are looking forward to getting back there. With any luck, we won't ruin any parts and have a good shot at two in a row. Hope to see you there!
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Harlan 5-17-2008 - First Feature Win in Harlan
After barely excaping disaster at Alta on Wednesday night in an incident while taking the green flag to start the race, we decided to head to Harlan. Last week in Harlan we blew a motor, broke a tranny, and broke a shock – so we really had nowhere to go but up.
We started the heat race 1st row outside and quickly got the lead. We managed to build that lead over the next six laps and win by a good margin. You may watch the video by clicking here.
We decided not to change a thing for the feature since the car felt great. We started the feature 1st row outside as well and got the lead coming out of turn two only to have the caution be flown. We then restarted the race and once again got the lead coming out of two. We built a few carlenghts on the second place guy until another caution with nine laps to go. This would get quite familiar with a total of 5 cautions in 12 laps. The last caution flew with five laps to go. We started the race again and by the time the checkers flew we were in the lead by about six car lengths over the 2nd place driver of Robert Tipperty in the #121 car. You may watch the video by clicking here.
We really needed the win. Since our second night of racing this year we have had pretty bad luck. Hopefully this is a sign of good things to come. Our next race is Alta this Wednesday if weather permits. If not, we may try Black Bird Bend in Onawa Friday night.
Hope to see you all there.
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April 5th - Boone Frostbuster - First Race, First Win
Please check out a video of the race by clicking on the "Featured Video" icon in the upper right hand corner. It is also on our "Videos" page.
After a really long winter of twiddling our thumbs and working on our new SportMod, we were all really excited about our first race of the 2008 season in Boone, IA. Of course even though we had all winter to get the new car ready we still had some final adjustments to make before we could leave the race shop. Once we did though we were all really pumped about our first race with the new car.
We got down there just in time to pit by Brett Meyer and Austin Lucas. They both raced the night before and were working some of the first race of the year bugs out. Aunt Rita and Uncle Jon showed up in time for the heat race – it is always great to have them there. They have always loved fast cars and horsepower.
We started the heat race 2nd row inside and quickly took the lead coming out of turn two. We held the lead until the first caution which came out after we got out of turn four. When the green flag dropped again, we had Sather on our tail pretty good for the first few laps. After we got some laps under us we started to make a little distance between us and Sather. We ended up taking the checkers by about 2 car lengths.
With the car handling good and running even better we decided to not change a thing for the feature. We started the feature 2nd row outside right behind the #9 car of Craig Elliot. We took the high line through turns one and two on the first lap and came out in 2nd place behind Elliot. It took us a couple laps but we were able to pass Elliot using the lowest line we could. After a few laps we were out front by a couple car lengths and increasing our lead with every lap.
With 3 laps to go we were passing a lap car and hit our left front tire hard on his right front tire. We all thought that was the end of it but managed to hold on and win the race by about a straight-away.
We all wanted to thank everybody that helped and also our sponsors. Without all of you we wouldn't be on the track. Our next race is this Saturday in Boone. Hope to see you all there!