8/14/2014
Joshua Hodges
Knoxville Recap and USAC Freedom Tour Preview
Our trip to Knoxville, Iowa wrapped up last Saturday night with the Knoxville Nationals. It all started July 4th weekend at Dodge City Raceway Park with the World of Outlaws. Those two nights were the first on this new Maxim chassis. I wasn't able to transfer out of the heats and I had to run the Last Chance Showdown both nights, which I won to transfer into the A features. The first night I was able to move forward to finish 16th while I pulled in the second night with a violent shake.
We continued on up to Knoxville the weekend following only to get rained out on July 12th. The following weekend we got to run our first laps at Knoxville in the year. As was to be expected, we struggled the first night with finding the right balance on the car and with me getting comfortable. We ended up in the B main which we weren't able to transfer out of. Although we got the car better, it was the same result the next week with all the big names rolling in to test and tune for the nationals.
There was then only one night left before our Wednesday prelim night, the Capitani Classic. There was a tough 71 car field on hand running on a single night. The whole time we were out there, I struggled to qualify well and that put me deep in the heat race which I couldn't transfer out of. Starting 22nd in the B feature, we tried a few things on setup and it seemed to work. I wasted a good three a four laps at the beginning but after that I passed 6-8 cars on the cushion to run 14th in the B. that wasn't enough to transfer, but I felt like we hit on something that night.
We then prepared ourselves for the Wednesday prelim night of the Knoxville Nationals, which was ultimately rained out and moved to Friday. On Friday, I had my first good qualifying lap going before I bottomed out the LF shock which tossed my car to the cushion, scrubbing speed. At the end of time trials, we still captured the last invert spot and that put us on the pole of the heat race. I wasn't able to get the jump on the start but I rose in second and distanced myself from third for most if the race. However, there was a late caution and I slipped to third when I bottomed out the LF again. Still, the third place finish was good enough to put me into the A Feature. This was the highlight of our trip, considering the stout field of cars that were there. Starting from 20th, I was able to work myself forward to about 15th or 16th on restarts but as went on, the car kept getting tighter and tighter. With about 3 laps left I felt the motor shake and it blew up going into turn one, giving me a 22nd place DNF.
We didn't make the top 50 in points so we then had to race Saturday morning. It was a quick turnaround, having to change motors and wash the car. In the heat I started second and finished second to slot me tenth in the nonqualifier A feature. With this motor, we were down about 75 horsepower and a considerable amount of torque; it showed up as we fell to a 15th place finish.
That put me starting 5th in the D Feature which did not go as well as we hoped. I slipped to 6th in the stared and was tagged from behind, nearly turning me into the front stretch inside guardrail. Luckily enough, I was able to save it and at that point I was just happy we could roll the car into the trailer.
I can't thank the Landis family enough for letting me stay with them once again. Thanks to Mark Rosborough and Beth Steenhoek as well for there efforts on the car. And as always, I have thank my family for there hard work, dedication, and sacrifice to enable me to race.
I'm really looking forward to this next weekend as we're going nonwing again. We'll be racing the last two nights of the USAC Southwest Freedom Tour on Friday night at 81 Speedway and Saturday night at Dodge City Raceway Park. In our 11 wingless races this year, I have finished in the top ten in all 11 with 7 top 5s, 5 podiums, and 1 win. Our new package has been working well this season and I'm hoping to keep it going.
Like us on Facebook (Josh Hodges Racing) and Follow us on Twitter (@JoshHodgesRacin) to keep up with our results this weekend!
Submitted By: Jack Hodges
