2003

Date:  05-17-03
Track:  Rockford Speedway
Division:  Hornet

Between working and helping my dad on the midget, I never got my "good" Hornet running again.  One of my neighbors gave me a car that someone else had left in his yard, so I decided to take it out and see if I could get some points to go for the championship.
The car was definitely not fast in the heat and the feature was rained out.  I left it at the track and, because of future conflicts with the midget schedule and my work schedule; it looks as though a Hornet championship run is not possible.

Date: 05-25-03
Track:  Sun Prairie
Division:  BMARA Midget
Car:  1991 Fontana Challenger

On the way to the track my dad asked me if since my Mom and uncle were coming up if I wanted to race (I was in the habit of bringing my suit to the track).  Believe it or not, because of my desire to go for rookie of the year in 2004 and the fact that to be eligible for that, a driver cannot run more than three events the previous year; I did not immediately jump at the chance.  I wanted to make sure that I ran on nights when the car count was right so that I could be "guaranteed" to be able to race twice, a heat and the B-main (if there is to many cars chances are it would be hard to advance out of the C-main).  So, when I got there and counted cars, I decided to run.

Qualifying:  Going through turns three and four the engine sounded sour and lost power, so as quickly as I could put the thoughts together, I shut it off and pulled it out of gear.  I coasted towards the start finish line and we later found out that we had a problem with the oil pump and lost all of the bearings in the engine.  Jerry Lemke, of JAMR engines, and I rebuilt it in less than a week, but my real concern was that that attempt did not count towards making me ineligible for the Rookie award in 2004.  The officials said it wouldn’t.
 
Date: 06-15-03
Track:  Sun Prairie
Division:  BMARA Midget
Car:  1991 Fontana Challenger

It was father’s day and dad decided to let me run this week.

Qualifying:  17.344

Heat:  The car count was low and for some reason they only had a four car heat race.  Usually they would just add us onto the back of the next race.  Of coarse after looking at the lineup I had aspirations of trying to win the heat on the first night I planned on competing the whole night.  We went into the first turn and I quickly noticed how hard eventual winner Pat Jones, the one I figured would be a good pick for the win, was running and I was reminded that my skills were not yet to the level of the other drivers.  It was a short race and I ran pretty hard with veteran Rich Geirtz, who is well in his 50’s.  Ended up in front of Rich and placed third.  

B-main:  Started in the back and ran pretty hard with Geirtz again.  At one point I was certain I felt a bump and thought we touched, but it may have just been the tires digging in.  We ended up getting lapped so I took it easy the rest of the race and finished third.

Date: 06-20-03
Track:  Lake Geneva Raceway
Division:  BICS
Car:  1986 Honda

I finally got my "good" Hornet repaired, after the wreck in 2002’s Police vs. Businessman. Along with the help of my buddy Mike Cassata, we made a solid motor mount to push the engine back into place-it was an extensive process.  I decided to take it to Lake Geneva because the guys up there race real clean and do not wreck like they do at Rockford.  It felt neat towing all the way to Lake Geneva believing that we actually had a chance to win, in recent years I haven’t felt that was much of a chance because of lack of experience in higher levels and car quality.
Because of their lack of wrecks, most cars up there look pretty nice, and when I took my car through tech lots of people looked and wondered what kind of car it "use to be".  It had a few battle scars after winning Rockford’s first Hornet feature in 1999 and then being repaired after many bumps and battles.

Heat:  I quickly found out that although the car felt really good in practice at Rockford the night before, the combination and gear selection did not work well on the bigger 1/3 mile Lake Geneva Raceway.  My dad did say though that some guy thought the worn out looking car was running pretty good and wondered what we paid for it.

Semi-Feature:  Tried running different gear selections, shifting, different racing lines, etc., but could not get into the transfer position.  It was nice to bring the car home in one piece though.

Date: 06-21-03
Track:  Rockford Speedway
Division:  Hornets
Car:  1986 Honda

Feature:  Missed the heat because of UPS work commitments.  Started in back.  Felt like the same old car that could run good at Rockford.  Passed a couple cars at the start.  Couldn’t really see going into the chicane, and when the smoke cleared I noticed an implement tire was in the racing groove.  I didn’t react quickly enough and bounced into it.  The impact was enough to again move the engine and cause the CV drive shaft to come out of place.  I believe the car is just to weak in the front to continue to repair.

Date: 07-04-03
Track:  Grundy County Speedway
Division:  UMARA Midget
Car:  1991 Fontana Challenger

Heat:  I had new tires on and the car felt a lot better than it did the last time I ran there.

Feature:  Ran decent, was trying to pass one car in front of me, but got lapped.  I didn’t want to be in the way of the rest of the field (I have witnessed a lot of wrecks because of slower cars) and pulled off.  I new my dad wanted to race the very next day and decided it wasn’t worth wrecking or breaking the car competing for last place.  Placed 14th.

Date: 07-20-03
Track:  Sun Prairie
Division:  BMARA Midget
Car:  1991 Fontana Challenger

Qualifying:  17.507

Heat:  I couldn’t get the car to start.  I’m not sure what the problem was, I haven’t started a midget that many times (remember it is a process involving a push start by a truck) but it wasn’t completely new to me.

My dad suggested that he take it out for the B-main, since I didn’t run the heat and hopefully this night would also not count towards my "rookie" status for 2004, and try to make the transfer spot into the feature.
He proceeded to pass a few cars but made contact with Pat Jones and took a violent flip in the third turn.

Date: 08-06-03
Track:  Rockford Speedway
Division:  Hornets
Car:  1983 Nissan Datsun

Dave Bhenke gave me this car, it needed some work and he did not feel like running it.

Heat:  Ran decent.  Had a chance at a top three finish but one of my old sponsors, Scott Strahorn, kind of ran me up the track, going through the chicane, and I had to react to avoid an implement tire.  He later apologized, through his brother, Lorron.
The rest of the night was rained out.

Date: 08-16-03
Track:  Grundy County Speedway
Division:  UMARA Midget
Car:  1991 Fontana Challenger

Heat:  Spent time trying to run the correct groove.  Not wanting the car to "push" into the wall like it did the first time I ran this track in 2002.

Feature:  I got a little harassment from some people, (except my car owner and dad-who since it is his car, is really the only one that matters) about not finishing the last feature at Grundy, so I decided to stay out in this one.  Unfortunately because of our lack experience and equipment, I didn’t put a lot of effort into determining how long the race actually was.  As the laps clicked off and I continued to get lapped by the much faster and expensive cars, I battled with the idea of just getting off the track and out of the way.  Since I had not been racing every week and actually had recently developed a neck problem that required me to rest from exercise and receive chiropractic care, I was out of shape and almost falling out of the seat.  I noticed the lapboard went past 25 (a normal amount), and then 30.  At this point I remembered that sometimes 60 lap and 100 lap events are contested at Grundy.  The race finally ended at the 40-lap mark.  I ended up finishing three laps off the pace but got 15th, which coincidentally paid a contingency prize of a full 55gallon drum of fuel.

Date: 08-24-03
Track:  Sun Prairie
Division:  BMARA Midget
Car:  1991 Fontana Challenger

Qualifying:  17.09 (almost in the 16’s)

Heat:  Ran behind Chris Hoegsted and John Lajune most of the race.  Hogsted eventually fell out, but my buddy Eddie Sauer, after leading the first couple laps, fell back and I chased him at the end.

B-main:  Ran closely behind Sauer and Rich Geirtz.  Stuck right on their tail, remember thinking maybe too close.
On the fourth lap heat winner Rick Labrosse, running mid pack, flipped.  The red flag was announced on our radios and the warning light was displayed.  I remember seeing the light come on to my right and seeing an official wave the red to my left, but also knew you are not supposed to jump right on the brakes in a midget, because without a rearview mirror you do not know if a car is right behind you.  Eddie was leading our group and saw the wrecked car first and jumped off the gas.  Geirtz in turn did the same, but I did not react quickly enough and ran over Rich’s wheel and began a number of snappy barrel roll type flips.
I was momentarily unconscious for the first time in my life.  I still do not remember removing my helmet and safety equipment.  Went into the hospital in Madison and got checked out.  My left shoulder was partially separated and I had to use a sling for a couple of weeks and do physical therapy for a couple months.

Date: 10-19--03
Track:  Rockford Speedway
Division:  Hornets
Car:  1983 Nissan Datsun

Had to "start" in the infield of this 250-lap event.  131 cars took the green flag.  The cars with automatic transmissions got to start on the track and the rest of us were "penalized" a lap or two and had to wait to join the race.  I was actually surprised of how clean of an entrance I made into the race and how I made it quite a few laps without getting bumped at all.  With all of the cars on the track there was lots of smoke and dust.  A lot of times the straight-aways were blocked, so I cut through the infield.  A red flag came out early for a flipped vehicle.  After the restart the visibility was even worse, because a station wagon was smoking real bad.  At one point a couple of cars were wrecked on the backstretch and one of the vehicles was facing traffic.  We drove by the wreck lap after lap.  Each time I’m sure the guy was afraid he would get hit.  I pretty much just putted around the bottom, sometimes in the grass, to try to miss the wrecks.  When I got tired of following a slower car I’d cautiously move up and pass, or try to sneak underneath.  After about 50 laps some of the cars were eliminated and shortly before what I thought was to be the scheduled caution for pit stops, I moved up the groove to try to run some racing laps.  The car did not want to turn very well in the corners and I quickly figured out my right front tire was flat.  I went back down on the bottom and drove around until the caution finally came out.
My dad and buddy Joe Lamarko, cut, beat, and banged the fenders away from and changed the tires.  I went back out with intentions of taking it easy at the start, figuring everybody would be aggressive after the break.  Going into the first corner Rick Wishard, the same guy from the Slammer days, went low to avoid a wrecked car.  I assumed he would be fast and a good guy to follow.  I clipped an implement tire on the way through and bent the right front tie rod.  The right front wheel was pointed out and dragging, but for a while the car actually felt pretty good and I tried to run some hard laps.  A car spun in front of me and I tagged him in the left front corner, bending that tie rod.  Both tires were pointed out and scrubbing off the tread.  I pitted under caution but there was not much we could do.  Eventually both tires went flat.  We were short on spares and somebody stole a wheel and tire from us as well.
I rode around until the next pit stop before calling it a day.  I completed 148 laps, the most I ever have, and placed 34th.  Not to bad considering how many that there were.

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