7/22/2013
Joshua Hodges
HMS Update - USAC Southwest vs. NMMRA
This weekend didn’t go quite like we wanted it to but nonetheless it ended on a pretty good note. The first night at El Paso Speedway Park with the USAC Southwest and NMMRA sprint cars I started 2nd in the heat and was able to jump out to the lead on the start. There was a small slick groove around the bottom and the rest of the track was heavy and really rough. My car worked good in the slick and I was able to win the heat by a straightaway. That put me in the dash starting 5th and after some track prep to try and get the track smoother it was heavy all over and still rough. I ran 5th in the dash and that’s where I started the A feature. On the start I fell in line 5th and it was pretty much follow the leader. I started getting more aggressive about 5 laps in and at that point I hit a big rut wrong and biked the car and even got airborne for a moment. I was able to keep it from turning over and gather myself but by then I was back to about 10th and something was hurt on the car. I kept racing and I felt faster than the cars in front of me but I couldn’t find an opening to pass. Then with about 17 laps down I hit another rut hard and folded the front end up, sending me dead right into the front stretch fence. My night was over at that point and we had a lot of work to do to get ready for the next night. With the help of my Dad, Mom, brother Jeremy, and Casey McCall we got it all together and moved on to Southern New Mexico Speedway in Las Cruces for the second round. On Saturday I also started 2nd in my heat and I jumped out to the lead into turn 1. I lead the whole heat and won but I had no brakes during the race because the rotor got bent in the wreck from last night. The car also had a shake in it and rather than just change the rotor we thought we’d play it safe and change the whole rear end in case the problem was there. With the help of the whole crew again as well as Derrik Ortega we got it changed in time for the dash where I also started 2nd. I wasn’t able to get the jump this time and fell in line 2nd on a track that was starting to slick up. Trying to make a move for the lead I slipped up and fell back to 3rd and that is where I finished the dash so I started the feature inside row 2. After the B main the track widened to a curb up top and a strip of moisture on the bottom. I got to rolling in 3rd place the first few laps and started running down 2nd when we approached lap traffic after an early red flag. On entry to turn 3 about 10 laps in I hit the cushion harder than previous laps and I got sent of the end of the track. Either when I hit the cushion or when I went off the end the right rear radius rod broke off and after that the car became pretty evil and unpredictable. We think that we left it loose when we changed rear ends and the impact was enough to jar it free and break it. I fell back to about 6th or 7th in the process and fought my way back to 5th with about 5 or so laps to go. There was a caution and I thought that I might be able to make a move forward at that point but I just didn’t have enough of a handle on the car to make and progress so I ended up finishing 5th. It’s probably a good night if you’re settling for a top 5 but I was hoping for a little better this weekend. Now we’ll move on to Knoxville next weekend in preparation for the 360 Nationals!
Submitted By: Jack Hodges