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Indiana Sprintweek Recap and NMMRA this Weekend

After a two week hiatus we are on the road again, this time heading south to El Paso, TX for the first of two nights of racing with NMMRA. The second of those two will be at Southern New Mexico Speedway in Las Cruces, NM on Saturday night. It has been awhile since the last time I raced the 360 back in May at these very two tracks. We didn't have the weekend we wanted to but we have some good notes from last time and I'm hoping that racing back in Indiana has made me a sharper driver. I'll try to keep both Facebook and Twitter updated so stay tuned in to those outlets for information each night.

Our last week in Indiana was Indiana Sprintweek and it was one with some ups and downs but overall I was pleased with our showing and look forward to hopefully doing it again sometime! To recap, our first night was at Gas City I-69 Speedway and I didn't get things started off so well, cartwheeling in qualifying and missing the heat race invert. We weren't terrible I the heat but the track was pretty narrow and rough leading to little passing. That put us in the B where a car spun in front of us and ended our night early.

From there we went on to Kokomo Speedway where I left a bit on the table in qualifying but still made the invert and started in the 2nd row of the heat. A car scratched so I moved to the front row and fell into 2nd on the start, which is where I finished the heat. That put us starting somewhere around 15th in the A Feature (depending on B transfers) however it got rained out for the remainder of the night and rescheduled in late August.

That Sunday we then went down to Lawrenceburg Speedway, our first time there. I was able to qualify 12th after going out late and that put us starting 4th in the heat. I got out of shape the first corner and wasn't able to make the ground back up so we had to run the B but I transferred out of that and ended up starting 10th in the A Feature. The first few laps I had a few corners where I got by a few cars but then others where I lost that ground. Unfortunately about 10 laps in I felt the motor go down a cylinder and start tearing itself up so I pulled off. It ended up being a broken valve that got into the piston and that ended our night.

With the hard work of everyone involved including Foxco Racing Engines, we got another motor ready to race for Wednesday at Terre Haute. The track slicked off early in hot laps and we didn't get nearly aggressive enough tightening up which resulted in an awful qualifying time. That put us behind all night and I missed the transfer by one in the heat and two in the B after starting in the last two rows of each of them. The car was fast once we got the right setup under it but it was too late when you're racing 40 other USAC drivers.

We gathered ourselves together and went to Lincoln Park Speedway the day after and timed in about 14th quick. That put me in the second row of the heat to start and I got to the lead early. Near the end of the heat I hit a wet spot and pushed, surrendering the lead to Bacon and I finished 2nd in the heat. We then started 14th in the A feature and probably made the wrong changes to tighten up. I could make up ground in some places but lose it in others and really didn't go anywhere, resulting in a 14th place finish.

We then headed south to Bloomington Speedway where I struggled a few weeks before. With a new package under it we were able to time in 9th quick, only receiving our first qualifying lap (the transponder didn't catch the 2nd lap which was quicker for every other driver). That was disappointing and were too tight in the heat so we had to run the B. I diced anywhere from 2nd to 6th and ended up running 4th to transfer to start 9th in the A however it started raining during the B and really came down after, canceling the rest of the night.

Our last stop was Saturday at Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt, IN. We were not good in hot laps but knew what we needed to do and qualified 2nd, just 0.008 seconds off quick time. That put us starting 6th in the heat and the car was really good again; I was able to get to 3rd by the end and was making ground on the leaders. That put us in the top 6 invert so we stated 5th in the A Feature and right off the bat I knew I was too free to make up a lot of time. I got the shocks opened up as much as I could to tighten up and we were pretty decent but I could only manage to run in the 5th spot for most of the A before falling to 6th when Ballou got by me at the end. While I wanted a shot at the win I was ecstatic that we could have a complete, quality run to end our stay in Indiana.

I have to thank all my sponsors, fans, and supporters for their loyalty and help to make this happen. A special thanks goes out to Chuck Jackson with Jackson Compaction for his help and also to Jon Stanbrough for making this all a reality. Thanks as well to Jake Argo, David Landis, Brad Alexander, John Stroud, Mark Rosborough, and Joe Whisler along with my family for their help at the racetrack. Like I said before, I hope to do it again someday but for now I'm ready to get back in the saddle here around home and improver our 360 program for November!

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