8/11/2013
Joshua Hodges
HMS Update - Knoxville Nationals
Sprint car racing’s biggest event came to a close last night at the famed Knoxville Raceway as Donny Shatz captured yet another Knoxville Nationals victory. Our week and a half of 8 races in 9 days did not go quite as well as we would have liked and we had plenty of struggles but we learned from them all and rolled the car into the trailer every night which was good. We also showed signs of our growth and some good speed which is encouraging. During the 360 Nationals we worked to get the car handling better every night and in the end we got pretty good, transferring out of the D and passing 8 cars in the C main before running out of laps last Saturday. On Sunday we raced the Capitani classic which boasted an 81 car field of the world’s best sprint car drivers and is arguably the toughest single day 410 event of the year. We did not qualify very well and struggled in the C but transferred into the B main and we then took some big swings as far as setup goes which ultimately did not work. We then turned around the next day and raced the Front Row Challenge in Oskaloosa, IA with the ASCS National Tour where we found a problem in the rear end that we chased all night. We could not make it out of the B main on Monday but we fixed our problems and raced the next day non wing in the Ultimate Challenge back in Oskaloosa where we got the best run of our whole trip, an 11th place finish with the USAC National sprint cars. We had Wednesday off and then qualified the 410 for the Knoxville Nationals on Thursday. We had problems with the injectors and after qualifying we had to change motors which set us back. We weren’t able to make the A Feature but we had a direction to go with the car and Rick Ferkel made great changes to the car for the next day. Lee Nelson also worked into the night and the morning to get our other motor problems solved and we raced that motor on Friday. We had what we thought was a pretty decent qualifying lap that didn’t time well and then had to start in the back of the heat. I passed a few cars and the car felt pretty good but that put us in a lower main. We started the C from the pole and had a terrific start before a red flag. During the stoppage we were told that the lineup was incorrect and we were to tag the back of the B main. Rick tweaked the car a little more and in the B the car came alive but with an unusually lengthy race we ran out of fuel like about half of the field and didn’t finish. We then came back yesterday for the D main and we were decent but could not transfer to move on.
There were so many people that were a tremendous help and they are the reason we could do all of this. First of all, I have to thank Calvin, Emily, Cally, and Bella Landis along with Beth Stenhoek for their hospitality and support at the track and away. It really meant a lot. I also have to thank Mark Rosborough and John Stroud for their effort and support, helping us get the car together every day. Thanks to Rick Ferkel as well for coming out for the 410 Nationals, getting us back on track and sharing his wealth of knowledge along with George for his help during the day. I can’t thank Lee Nelson, Diane, and everybody at Ostrich Racing Engines enough for their work to get out motors done and running hard, even after the few issues we had. Thanks to Brad Benic for his track support and hard work. Thank you to Larry Weeks as well for letting us use his truck to travel to and from the track. Also, thank you to all of our sponsors: Napa Auto Parts, Mesilla Valley Transportation, Momentum Racing Suspensions, Hinchman Racewear, ButlerBuilt, FK Rod Ends, Wilwood, Keizer Wheels, Art’s Radiators, Smiley’s Racing Products, Jackson Compaction, Ortega’s Appliance, Conroy Pneu Control, and Impact.
I start college next week so our schedule is unknown for the rest of the year and it all just depends on what that schedule allows me to do!
Submitted By: Jack Hodges