8/16/2017
Sam Hafertepe Jr
Sam Hafertepe Jr. – A Tale of Two Heats at Knoxville!
Sam Hafertepe Jr. – A Tale of Two Heats at Knoxville!
(Bill W) August 16, 2017 – Sam Hafertepe Jr. and the Keith Dobbs #15H team turned in a strong two weeks at the Knoxville Raceway. The Sunnyvale, Texas driver fell one spot short in his heat races in both the 360 and 410 Nationals, and that was a deciding factor in both. He would end up seventh in the 360 Nationals and fifth in the C main, just one spot out of a transfer in the Knoxville Nationals last Saturday night.
In the 360 Nationals, Sam timed in second quick on his qualifying night and started sixth in his heat. “We just didn’t get a good start in the heat and got behind two veteran 410 racers,” he says. “When you do that, those guys aren’t going to mess up. We did get by (Chad) Kemenah there, and we just couldn’t get by (Greg) Hodnett. He was blocking us hard, but understandably so. That’s what gets you in the feature. He went on to win as well”
The fifth-place finish sent him to the B. “We knew we had a good racecar from the beginning of the night,” says Sam. “We were able to take the lead at the end of the B after starting fourth. We started 21st in the A and ended up ninth. We just kind of ran out of laps. We still did get hard-charger.”
The effort was good enough to start 15th in the championship event of the 360 Nationals. “We slowly manipulated our way through the field there,” says Sam. “Eventually, we got up to seventh, and we were passing for sixth at the line. One little heat race really put us out of contention to win the whole deal. I felt that if we started in the top eight on Saturday night, we had the potential of going for the win. Track position is really key at a place like Knoxville.”
For the 410 Nationals, Sam timed in 23rd quick, putting him outside row two of the heat race. He would never get there, and have to start at the tail. “That was all my fault,” he says. “The bridge bolt in the inboard brake caliper never got tightened. Finally, it fell out and so did the rear pads. When we were lining up, I almost ran over the guy in front of me. I pulled out of line and they threw the yellow. We went in and disconnected the inboard brake. We raced with just the left front brake after the officials inspected it.”
Needing a top four finish, he climbed to fifth, narrowly missing a transfer spot. “We kind of tore through there pretty good,” says Sam. “We got all the way up to fifth, and coming for the line, I thought we were going to get there. Wayne (Johnson) had gotten messed up by the guy in front of him. We had been all over Terry (McCarl) the past three or four laps. We needed to get just one guy. Terry ended up getting by Wayne, and I came up a little short.”
That sent Sam to the B main. “We were quick in the B, but didn’t make it out,” he says. “We came back Friday, which is one of the hardest nights there is. We drew well, but I just basically messed up my lap.”
Starting sixth in the heat, with only the top three finishers moving to the feature, Sam came through. “We were able to get by Jac Haudenschild there to make it in the A,” he says. “That really showed the speed we had all week. We started 18th in the feature, and that’s tough. Being back in a lot of traffic, our car just wasn’t any good. I had a bad start too. We ended up pulling off at the end.”
His finish meant he would start eighth in the C main for Saturday’s finale. “We learned a lot over the week,” says Sam. “We changed all four torsion bars for Saturday. We changed a lot of things, and it’s the best I really felt in the car all week. Unfortunately, we ended just one spot out of a transfer to the B.”
Sam looks back at Knoxville, knowing the car had speed. “We’ve been really fast at Knoxville,” he says. “You have to perform every single time out, and we didn’t do that in our heat races. That was our biggest problem. We learned a lot of things that we can use next year.”
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Sam would like to thank Highway 79 Collision Center, the Sparks Family, Kiebler & Sons Lawn and Landscaping, Keizer Aluminum Wheels, Champion Oil, NAPA Auto Parts of Franklin and Sherwin Williams, FK Rod Ends, 21R Youth Racing League, Huggins Cams, CP Carrillo, Callie’s, Vortex Wings, Simpson Racing Products, Kinsler Injection, Barnes Oil Systems, DMI, Fisher Racing Engines, Moose Blocks, J&J Auto Racing, KSE, Smiley’s Racing Products, Hoosier Tire, Brown & Miller Racing Solutions.
Photo: Sam had a strong car during Southern Iowa Sprintweek (DB3 Imaging)
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Monroe, IA USA
