8/21/2018
Terry McCarl
Tuesdays with TMAC – Reflecting on Nationals from a Beach
Des Moines, IA (August 21, 2018) – Terry McCarl currently has quite the view sitting on a beach in Florida, so it seemed like the perfect time to look back at the 10 days of Nationals, as well as two races in the Dakotas last weekend. The last couple of weeks included: winning the 360 Nationals, a top ten at the Cappy, promoting two nights of racing at the Osky Challenges, a top five on his Nationals prelim, qualifying for the Nationals finale, a strong run with the Outlaws, and running 2nd to his son at Park Jefferson. Suffice it to say that TMAC has earned a vacation, but will be back on the track this Saturday night to wrap up the Knoxville Raceway season!
The Knoxville Nationals kicked off for the TMAC Motorsports team on the Thursday night prelim, with Terry rolling out 35th in the qualifying order. “We drew a pretty late spot for qualifying, but were able to clock a time that wasn’t too bad,” said Terry. “Then, in our heat, we had a great race with Parker Price-Miller, who’s a great kid and I was able to hold on for the transfer, which set us up pretty well for the A.”
After winning the 360 Nationals in “FrankenART,” TMAC had a new car ready to go for the week of Nationals, though he was unable to get as comfortable in it as he would have liked. “Steve Fitzpatrick, Doug Rankin, and Bryan Foster did a great job of getting our new car ready for Nationals week,” said Terry. “We were able to run top ten at the Cappy, but I couldn’t get comfortable in the car, and we had to deal with that on Thursday.”
Though the car was failing to cooperate, McCarl was able to rebound from an early race setback to lock himself into the Saturday night A-main. “I started 4th, but lost some positions early,” said TMAC. “After some searching, I was able to find a line that felt good and made it back to fifth, which was enough to put it in the show on Saturday.”
Still struggling with the car during Friday night’s World Challenge, TMAC and the team made the call to resurrect “FrankenART” once again. “We used the World Challenge as a test for Saturday and still couldn’t get the car where we wanted it,” said McCarl. “After the race, I spoke with Bryan, Steve, and Doug, and we made the decision to bring back ‘FrankenART’ for the A-main on Saturday.”
A rough start to Saturday night’s 50-lap finale ended up leaving McCarl in a hole that was too deep to dig himself out of after starting 16th. “I got over the cushion at the start and came close to getting upside down,” said TMAC. “We lost about five spots and with [Brad] Sweet being as fast as he was, he lapped us just a couple laps before the fuel stop.”
Being stuck a lap down, TMAC made the decision to end his night a bit early, as to not play a negative role in the race for the lead. “We were kind of screwed once we were a lap down,” said Terry. “I didn’t want to get in the leaders’ way or cause a caution, so we pulled in early.”
While the A-main didn’t go as planned on Saturday, the 10 days of Nationals ended up pretty good for McCarl: both as a driver, and as a promoter. “It was a very good week,” said McCarl. “We ended up 3rd in the Jesse Hockett ‘Mr. Sprint Car’ standings, won our fifth 360 Nationals, made the A-main at Nationals, and had two great events at Osky with the Front Row & Ultimate Challenges.”
“As a promoter, I always hope we don’t have any red flags or drivers getting hurt; Monday & Tuesday at Oskaloosa came pretty close to that. Very few wrecks, the drivers were safe, and the fans were happy, which is exactly how we want it. I’m looking forward to doing it again next year, but even bigger and better!”
Before TMAC and wife Lori could jet off to their post-Nationals Florida vacation, he still had two nights of racing left on the schedule. Friday night saw TMAC flying the Simplot Grower Solutions name on the top wing at River Cities Speedway with the World of Outlaws. Before he hit the track however, TMAC and his son Austin made their way to Simplot for a company cookout.
“Austin and I had a great time at Simplot on Friday,” said TMAC. “They’ve been supporting me for about five years and Austin for even longer, so being able to visit with the employees and have a cookout was great before a busy night of racing.”
Taking the track against the Outlaws on Friday, McCarl experienced plenty of ups and downs throughout the night, before ending with a 14th-place finish and another scar added to “FrankenART”. “We qualified okay and I was able to move from third to 2nd in the heat to lock into the dash,” said Terry. “The feature went pretty well early on, as I was running the bottom, but then it started going away some and I got sideways in front of Ian [Madsen], which was my fault, and it ended up bending the roll cage.”
“We still had a top ten run going, but I had to go off the top of the track to avoid some spinning cars later in the race and it’s steep enough that I ended up stalling the motor trying to get back on the racing surface, which sent us to the back. We ended up getting back to 14th, but now I have to take ‘FrankenART’ back to Scott Bonar at Midland Performance for even more work: it’s going to end up with more scars than me!”
Saturday night saw all three of the McCarl boys in action at Park Jefferson Speedway, running the first ever Nationals Hangover event. “I love going to Park Jefferson; it’s a fun track and I’ve won a few times there with the first one coming in my dad’s #7x,” said TMAC. “After bending the cage on Friday, I ended up running Austin’s car on Saturday, which is a challenge in itself with how that thing is built for Austin to fit in there!”
Rens Trucking was the nightly sponsor for TMAC at Park Jefferson and he was able to end the night with a runner-up finish, watching his son Austin pick up the $5k victory. “The goal for me is always to have Austin and Carson finish top two and for me to run 3rd behind them,” said Terry. “That’s about how our heat worked out, but at the start of the A-main, Austin and I made some contact and that stacked up the field a bit with Carson and [Matt] Juhl getting caught up in it. I hope they put on that show again next year: it was a great purse and a great track, so hopefully we’ll be back there next year after Nationals.”
TMAC is currently enjoying his ocean views from a Florida beach, but he will have the SnowPlow Snow Pushers #24 back in action this Saturday for Season Championship night at the Knoxville Raceway. Larry’s Window Service out of Des Moines will be on the top wing when Terry tries to close out his Knoxville season strong; hopefully with a McCarl 1-2 in the point standings!
Sponsorship Opportunity
Though the Knoxville Raceway season ends this Saturday night, the TMAC Motorsports team is far from finished with their year and there are still sponsorship opportunities available; secure your spot on the top wing for a night or for the remainder of the season!
McCarl Family Websites!
Driverwebsites.com develops the websites for the McCarl boys. Check out www.TerryMcCarl.com, as well as www.AustinMcCarl.com and www.CarsonMcCarl.com!
"Tuesdays with TMAC"!
"Tuesdays with TMAC" is an up close and personal look at colorful sprint car veteran Terry McCarl. To receive "Tuesdays with TMAC", send an e-mail to broegracewriting@gmail.com with "TMAC" in the subject line.
TMAC Motorsports would like to thank their great list of partners for the 2018 season: SnowPlow Snow Pushers – www.TheSnowPlow.com, KC Breweries, Bosma Poultry, Justice Brothers/Gillund Enterprises, TW Vance Trucking, Terra Realty, Chris Spaulding – Attorney at Law, Simplot Grower Solutions, Rens Trucking, Hoosier Tire, Don Long’s Searsboro Telephone, Octane Ink, Destiny Motorsports, Country Builders Construction, 212 The Boiling Point, DeBerg Concrete, AL Drive Line, All Pro Cylinder Heads, All Star Performance, A.R.T. Speed Equipment, Aurora Rod Ends, Bell Helmets, Berryhill Racing, Bob and Beulah Elder, Brown & Miller Racing Solutions, Burnett's Rock and Landscaping, Butlerbuilt, CM Rock, Crow Safety, DriverWebsites.com, Dynasty Stucco, Engler Injection, HRP, JLT Ent., Kilani Fender, Inc., KSE Steering, Mote Fasteners, NutriShop – Maple Grove, MN, Phil and Vivian, Pro Shocks, Saldana Racing Products, Schoenfeld Headers, Scribner Plastics, Silva Chassis, Snap On Tools, Snyder Lawn & Landscaping, Sposato Paint, Strange Performance, and Winters.
Morgan Broeg
West Des Moines, IA USA
broegracewriting@gmail.com
Twitter: @BroegW
