Date: 05-15-04
Track: Grundy
Division: UMARA Midget
Car: Challenger/Fontona
I ran our car in hopes of contending for the 2004 UMARA Rookie of the Year award. Started 16th and finished 11th, the best ever for me there. But, a valve seat disenegrated in cylinder #1 and ruined the piston as well.
Date: 05-29-04
Track: Rockford
Division: Hornet
Car: 1983 Nissan Datsun
I raced from around 22nd to about 10th in the Hornet feature. I missed the heat race because of commitment to work, UPS, but moved up through the feature field. The race was shortened from 13 laps to about 6 due to time constraints, too.
Date: 06-12-04
Track: Rockford
Division: Hornet
Car: 1983 Nissan Datsun
I competed in the Hornet feature tonight at Rockford. It was the last feature before the World's Famous Trailer race. I had to start about 30th-missed the preliminary qualifying event, because of work-but passed a lot of cars. There was a mid race caution and I had a decent restart. A few guys wrecked, but it was one of the cleanest Hornet races that I have been involved with. I was knocking on the door of a solid top 10 with just a few laps to go. The last lap was very intense. I missed a wreck going into one and then coming out of turn four, another guy and I made contact. I ended up spinning out as I neared the start finish line. I quickly shoved the car into reverse and crossed the line backwards.
Date: 06-20-04
Track: Sun Praire
Division: BADGER Midget
Car: Challenger/Fontona
Qualifying: 16.9 and 16.6
Heat: Started last, tried to stay on lead lap. Rex Norris in th 63 car spun mid race. Kept me on the lead lap. I let him go in front of me, figured if he spun he wasn’t handling that well, but I knew he’d try to pass me. Pretty sure I did get lapped, remeber Scott Hatton going by...
B-main: Started in the rear again. Let things get settled up a little bit early on. An early race caution bunched up the field and I counted only 7 cars in front of me. (Top seven make the feature) I passed Lance Altman shortly after the restart and figured I’d be in the show. Then Randy Koch came to a stop and the caution was back out. Lance got back by and I wasn’t sure if Randy pushed back off. I quickly found out as he got by. I had almost settled for 8th, which would have been the first alternate, but his ill-running car didn’t move to far forward. I made a last lap charge and Randy used his experience and tried to crowd me. I had to control the throttle on the dry track, but made it between him and the wall for the transfer spot. Kevin Olson won.
A-main: Started last. Passed Bob Schreffler about 4 laps into the event. The caution came out after that though because Rick Labrosse spun. I let him by and Schreffler got his spot back. I ended up finishing the race but got lapped twice. Davey Ray won. Doty was second. Hatton third. Gough 8th.
I accomplished a lot of the goals I had set for the year in my 2004 debut at the track. We qualified well within the 16 second range, a 16.6. I stayed on the lead lap in the B-main and actually transferred into the feature. Veteran and many time champ Randy Koch used up as much of the track as he could and attempted to hold off my challenge in his struggling car as the battle went down to the line. I ended up getting the spot by inches as his car suffered ignition troubles. (He got it fixed and made it in as an alternate though) Starting the feature was also a major goal I had set and then I was able to go onto to finish the event. Intentions are to switch the set-up over to pavement for Saturday at Grundy and then back to the dirt for Sunday at Sun Prairie-Remember fireworks follow the races this week.
Date: 06-23-04
Track: Rockford
Division: Hornet
Car: 1983 Nissan Datsun
HEAT: Started towards the front, moved up like usual but got into an earth tire, like usual, going through the cicane. Pretty pathetic run.
FEATURE: The bad heat run did set me up for a good starting spot in the feature, about 5th place. Moved up again right away. Ran second for the first half of the race until a junkyard wheel I had just recently purchased seperated from the tire.
Although not with the succesful results like a Tony Stewart or Aaron Fike, I have attempted to race more laps in the last 8 days than I have in the last 8 weather seasons. Last Sunday I finished the 15 lap B-main in the transfer spot and made the 25 lap BADGER feature (My first) at the dirt track in Sun Prairie, Wisc. Wednesday, before breaking the bead seal on my right rear tire, I was running second in the stock four cylinder Hornet feature at Rockford Speedway. Saturday night I drove to about a 12th place finish in the caution free 25 lap UMARA midget contest on the pavement at the Grundy County Fairgrounds in Morris, IL. Today, Sunday the 27th, I hope to continue this pursuit back on the dirt at Sun Prairie. (There will be a fireworks show following the races) By the way, I also managed to squeeze in about 40 hours of work this week too!
Date: 06-26-04
Track: Grundy
Division: UMARA Midget
Car: Challenger/Fontona
FEATURE: Finished 12th. Feeling like it is a lot of work to run towards the back. Bought new tires to use next time.
Date: 07-17-04
Track: Grundy
Division: UMARA Midget
Car: Challenger/Fontona
HEAT: We had added water and failed to tighten the cap that dad had loosened. It popped off early on and I was black flagged.
FEATURE: Got lapped twice before lap 50. I think I might have stayed on lead lap if not the extra distance. A caution had come out early. One time when the leaeders lapped me, Gough and Thompson sandwiced me in 1-2. Gough was on the outside and went on to take the lead. The water temp was over 230, so I pulled off.
Date: 07-18-04
Track: Sun Praire
Division: BADGER Midget
Car: Challenger/Fontona
Qualifying: 16.9
Heat: Track was real rough mid to top. Couldn’t get around Eddie Sauer.
B-main: Did finish in front of Eddie and behind
Date: 07-25-04
Track: Sun Praire
Division: BADGER Midget
Car: Challenger/Fontona
Qualifying: 16.383 and 16.4+
Heat: No “slow” heat. Did start in the back alongside Eddie Sauer again though. Got by him right away, unlike last week, and was actaully surprised at how close one of the FATRO cars and other “good” cars were early on in the race. Tried hard to hold the throttle down into the turns. Had to be the fastest I’ve taken a race car into the corners. Ended up ahead of Eddie and on the lead lap. Brad Kuhn won over AJ Fike, Randy Koch and Adam Clarke.
B-main: Once again was able to get ahead of Eddie and again hung close to the other cars. Couldn’t believe I was within cjust a few car lengths of the “ggod” cars of Aaron Fiscus (although struggling in a back-up), , the FATRO cars, Alex Coonan, Pat Jones, etc. Ended up getting involved with a feirce battle with Bob Schreffler. I sure thought many a time that we were gonna touch. For the most part he was on the top and I was on the bottom. It seemded like if I carried the car into the corner as hard as I wanted it would actually drift up, so I ended up being conservative so as not to make contact. He spun out mid-race. Rick Labrosse didn’t get going well on the restart and I touched him and Eddie bumped me. Eddie’s car slowed and the race was restarted. Pretty much the same thing, although this time I got around Labrosse, but he passed me back. I ended up ahead of both Schreffler and Eddie.
Date: 08-01-04
Track: Sun Praire
Division: BADGER Midget
Car: Challenger/Fontona
Qualifying: 15.6’s. Eddie drew the second spot for me-Kevin Doty drew #1 and got the Free Pit Pass. (My dad’s previous best in the car was 15.9.)
Heat: My time actually was too good for the slow heat and I was in one of the “fast” heats with Jeff Flesher, Mike Hess, Harley Slotton, Critter Malone, Pat Jones, . Contemplated starting where I supposed to, outside front row. It wasn’t until I thought about how much different the track was going to be after the sprint cars had run their heats, that I decided to start in the back. I went into the first corner and tried to drive like I had been trying to drive and the car got real sideways on the dry slick track. I reacted quickly enough to avoid spinning but struggled with thoughts of how to drive the different track. I thought that it wasn’t the best situation for driving in as hard as I wanted so I tried to to be smoother and less on the gas. I never could catch Slotton but Hess and Jones didn’t start, so I got 6th.
B-main: Unfortunalty because I choose to start in the back of the heat, I also had to start in the rear of the B-main as well. (Actually Aaron Fiscus didn’t qualify, so I started in front of him) I tried to get off to a good start on the high side, and stayed ahead of Eddie and this new guy that bought Lance Altman’s car. I then started to battle with John Lajune. He seemed to be using a lot of the track and about this time our car started to not run very well. I also got into and over the rough cushion coming out of four and had to be careful not to hit the wall. About this time I ended up on the bottom of the track and we were passed by Fiscus. I tried to follow him on the bottom, but the motor was missing and I wasn’t driving it the best it could. The caution came out mid-race and helped me stay on the lead lap. I didn’t get as good a restart as I wanted, actually I was hoping to try to get a run on Lajune, and never got by John. I ended up 12th and we found out the mag cap had come loose. (I had checked about every bolt on the car, but these are wire locked in, so I didn’t check them)
Date: 08-08-04
Track: Sun Praire
Division: BADGER Midget
Car: Challenger/Fontona
I wasn’t to unhappy with my qualifying effort, a 16.028 (want to be in the 15’s though). I started the heat in the fourth position (Due to the rule requiring rookies to start in the back, this was only about the second time I EVER have started any type of open wheel race that far up the line-up. Actually, the way it has worked out, most of my stock car starts have been in the back as well!) I wanted to stay up front so I went into one pretty hard. The track was a lot narrower than it was the week before, when the sprint cars were there and I ended up getting over the “cushion” and into the “marbles”. I picked up a lot of dirt and stuffed the airbox full of mud during my escapade. I had also lost a lot of postitions and was attempting to pick up a few spots in the remaining laps. I had gotten by Eddie Sauer and was trying to find a way around Bob Schreffler when BG Wood, who I trail in the Rookie of the Year points, spun out in front of us. I avoided but under caution I relized that due to the lack of air the car was overheating and I pulled off.
In the B-main I again got to start a few spots up from the back and again behind Schreffler, who was battling hard with Bryan Terry and John Jones (I believe.) Terry was on the bottom and I was hoping to follow him through, but the caution came out and I again noticed that the water temp was pegged. I pulled off AGAIN, and we figured that when cleaning out the mud from the heat, a hose was damaged and leaked water out.
Intend to have fixed and back on track at Grundy on Saturday.
Date: 08-11-04
Track: Rockford
Division: Hornet
Car: 1983 Nissan Datsun
I started 12th in my 20 car HORNET heat race but fell short of a top 5 and finished 6th. In the feature I started towards the back and slowed when the red came out for a flipped car, was passed under the red, and remained placed there by the scoring officials. I figured this might happen, and actually didn’t slow as much as I should have myself but still lost a lot of spots. I failed to make up very many spots.
Date: 08-14-04
Track: Grundy
Division: UMARA Midget
Car: Challenger/Fontona
Our frustrating season, one that I have struggled to balance the budget but replace the parts that need to be maintenanced and deal with other problems brought on by errors, continued Saturday night at Grundy. In hot laps the water pump quit pumping and started leaking. I walked the pits and found one after asking almost every other team. The #99 crew of Bobby Guess had brought two cars, one for the national division and another for what is called the sportsman division (older cars with restricted motors). Unfortunaltly for them the sportsman car had disinigrated and they offered to let us use their pump. (Their engine was a very early older design of ours) We got everything back together in time for the feature but missed qualifying and the heat. The car had felt pretty good and I thought we were closer than ever in hot laps and it seemed to be the case in the early feature laps as well. Only a couple laps in though, Guess had a hard wreck in turns 1-2. This time his car flipped and disinigrated against the safety catch fence! He was ok but now had a junk engine in one car and a wrecked racecar! After the restart we ran a couple of more laps until a car running a couple spots in front of me spun in 3-4. I went around on the high side but got in the "marbles". The car started to slide and I imagine I slammed on the brakes and turned the wheel, etc. Shortly afterwards, while still under caution, I noticed the brakes were gone and pulled off. Come to find out the mount that holds the rear brake rotor onto the axle broke. Have to find one so I can race at Sun Prairie Sunday night.
Date: 08-15-04
Track: Sun Praire
Division: BADGER Midget
Car: Challenger/Fontona
I struggled a little early in the night. I tried to run both hot laps but due to different situations, including the 40 car flipping in the first one, I only got about 2 good laps in either one. I had made a mistake in switching over from pavement to dirt and had the wrong offset wheel on the right front, which I tried to space out but the car just didn’t seem right. I started fourth in the heat again but it took a couple laps for the tires to heat up and for me to find a groove to run. I got a rythm going but had fallen to 5th. I tried to pass John Lagune for 4th but fell short. In the B started in front of a couple cars and ended up running behind Pat Jones, who I did out qualify, and Kurt Mayhew who where racing for the transfer spot to the A. Once again I was unable to make the pass and struggled on the dry, narrow track that had the before mentioned high rough cushion coming out of four. (I watched most of the leaders hit the thing in the feature too and mess up their runs.) I tried to run up top the first half, but figured I was taking a hell of a risk up there and moved to the bottom trying to get some moisture down there. Realistically every car in front of me is newer and maybe better than ours, but I still think if we are right and I figure out how to pass and which groove to run, we can run up front in races like these.I failed to mention some of the other interesting, but troubling, incidents from last weeks hot lap session at Sun Prairie. Besides the early flip of the 40 car in the first session that caused a red flag, I was behind the very ill handling car of second year driver Harley Slotten, who decided to bring the car in. I saw that he was slowing but Bob Screffler wanted to pass me. We actually made contact in turn two before he got by only to have “the door” shut by the slowing Slotten. Those two may have touched and at one point Screffler was completly sideways in front of me! I think we touched again before everything sorted out. In the second session, my troubles continued when I was blasted with clay from the fresh track and ran out of tear offs. I couldn’t see anything and couldn’t wipe off the mud! Billy Wood and I touched in turn 3. I decided to go high and slow. The caution came out and the run was aborted. We hope for a better experience this weekend at Farley, IA on Saturday and then at the Cornfest at Sun Prairie on Sunday.
Date: 08-21-04
Track: Farley Speedway
Division: BADGER Midget
Car: Challenger/Fontona
Heat: Started 4th, out of 6. Fell to the back and ran behind Harley Slotten. Simiar to earlier race at Sun Prairie a couple of weeks ago. Ended up flat footing, or real close to it. The car seemed to bog down a little when it slid up coming out of the corners.
Feature: Let Scott Hatton, who busted an oil line in his heat, by on the parade lap. (He went on to pass everyone for the win) Went into turn 1 on the first lap and couln’t see anything, because of the dust. It was worse than any Hornet race-or it just seemed worse because it was in an open wheel car and not the fendered Hornet. On the next corner Adam Clarke flipped and a restart was required. John Lajune got pretty sideways in front of me and I got out of shape and lost power. I sat in the middle of 3 and four and new that the leaders were coming and the yellow had yet to come out. Crossed my arms in front of me and hoped for the best. Yellow finally came out. Continued to try to run the bottom. Got blocked behind the slowing Chad Deselle. At one point had a nice battle with Bryan Terry and used the moisture in turns 1-2 to get by. Mid-race Rick Forbes, Randy Koch, and Boyd Calvert tangled. Schreffler spun out right in front of me and I missed the wreck. Thought about letting Koch and Calvert by, but didn’t want to loose my spots to Schreffler and Terry. Calvert was out anyway and Koch got by. Schreffler and Terry did, when I got stuck behind the slowing Brad Kuhn, but the yellow came out and I believe I got my spot back. Never could get by Buddy Luebke or Kurt Mayhew. Every lap the car slid out in 3 and 4 and I couldn’t find a line to avoid. I ran about 11th, which beats our best ever BADGER feature finish which was recorded with Kevin Olson (13th) behind the wheel at Hales Corners a couple of years ago. Kevin might have done even better on the dry slick track, his specialty.
Date: 08-22-04
Track: Sun Prairie
Division: BADGER Midget
Car: Challenger/Fontona
...I struggled again in qualifying (16.155 and 16.150) and lined up third in the slow heat. (Not sure why, the internet says that one of the guys in front of me, Bob Schreffler, qualified faster than me, and that the guy on the outside, Lance Altman had qualified slower. I assume I should have been between those two?) Schreffler ran the bottom and Altman was up top and I never found a way by. It seemed like I might have been close on the outside down the backstrech-but never could get around Altman and ended up running third. I was dissapointed because I thought that was a race I could have won (We all no thatour car is not going to compete for a feature victory but I still think I can get into victory lane through one of these heats). I was unable to put the race behind me due to the fact that the car started running poorly early in the B-main and I pulled off. I found out that the mag cap went bad (our second of the year-I have a brand new one to put on, but was waited for scome new wireds to install at the same time). We also determined that our poor engine continues to get worse and it looks as though we will have to replace it at season end, if it make it that far!
Date: 08-30-04
Track: Sun Prairie
Division: BADGER Midget
Car: Challenger/Fontona
I wasn't unhappy with my qualifying effort this week. It still wasn't back in the 15's but the track was challenging, and I went out towards the end of the line. I outqualified 8 other guys so I missed the "slow" heat-actually a C-main. Started on the outside pole of the first heat. Remember listing for Rick Labrosse, on the pole, to hear when he got on the throttle. Hung with him a little bit going into one and remember coming out of two and thinking it was neat to not really have anyone in front of me. Labrosse pulled away down the backstrech and I think it was in turn 3 & 4 when the 1990 champ, Dean Erfurth got by. I kept getting over the cushion but might have made it a full lap before the 99 car, Alex Coonan, and Rob Keelan got by. Keelen eventually stuttered in turn 2 and I cautiously dove underneath. He regained speed and made a late race charge, but I held on for fifth. I really do not think that I could have gotten too much closer to flat footing it in this race. Not sure if this means I am getting a little better, the engine is slowing (as it should with 30% leak-down), or our gear was wrong tonight-maybe all three.
In the B-main I started about 15th. I continued to fight my "cushion" problem and got passed by a couple of cars, including Bob Schreffler. He ended up making contact, or tried real hard to avoid, with Kurt Mayhew. Before it was over Labrosse, and Buddy Luebke were involved. Luebke flipped and Schreffler was sitting sideways on the bottom of the track. I was running there and slid into him-kinda hard. I then sat there waiting before Pat Jones slid into me-real hard. His throttle stuck and he drove over us and hit Labrosse. My car ended up partially on top of Schrefler. I banged my knee and bent some of the rear suspension parts-but it could have been worse. Will be ready for Sunday.
Date: 09-05-04
Track: Sun Prairie
Division: BADGER Midget
Car: Challenger/Fontona
Midget: Although most of the people who support me will say that I did a good job, I found Sunday’s BADGER race at Sun Prairie mostly frustrating. I didn’t think that it would be a very big deal to repair the car after last week’s wreck but, it did in fact turn into a last minute rush job, due to the fact that I didn’t get some of the parts I needed until late Friday night, that I worked on Saturday, and just general lack of past positive experiences. After some very last minute at the track adjustments-something I hate to have to do-we felt as though we had the car close to how it should be. In hot laps the car felt, looked, and seemed pretty good. Once again I was very close to “Flat-footing” it around the track-which was in about perfect shape. The session made all of the work worth it, at least to me anyway. I tried to duplicate the run in qualifying, but I went out very late in the order and the track had changed a little. The thing I finally noticed was that the cushion was a lot lower after the single car qualifying then it was in the multi car hot lap session. Unfortunately I noticed it too late and jumped over again, I really have a problem with this, on one lap and on another lap I went in as hard as could but cut the wheel to the left way too much. The car got about as far sideways as it could without spinning-something I have not done all year. My best time was a 16.1. Without the qualifying troubles I should have been in the mid 15’s and had a good starting spot in the C feature. The goal was to finish in the top 4 to transfer to the B. I started ahead of and stayed ahead of two other cars but ran behind John Lajune and JD Nash the rest of the race. Lajune passed Nash mid-race but I never got a good feel or a rhythm going that gave me the confidence to make the pass. Late in the race Nash jumped the cushion going into one, but I also struggled going into the turn and missed my opportunity to get by. I ended up eighth and finished for the night and year-at least at Sun Prairie. (I intend to run the UMARA season finale at Grundy Sept 18th but need some help -$$$, another car, etc- to be able to compete in any of the other area races) After the event I recalled that when we changed a shock on the right rear I failed to inform one of my crew guys how to properly reset the coil spring, which caused the corner to sit lower and respond softer than it should. I figure that situation did not help the run at all.
Date: 09-06-04
Track: Rockford
Division: Hornet
Car: 1983 Nissan Datsun
I started ninth or tenth in the first Hornet heat Monday at Rockfrod Speedway. I had a good start and moved up through the pack. Ran fourth for a couple of laps. The car in front of me got out of shape coming out of the chicane in turn three and I slipped underneath. I then passed a number 14 car late in the race but got a little out of shape myself through the chicane-not sure, but I may have had assistance with this-and he closed back up. He stole the spot with a late race, bonzai, full-contact pass-one that actually flattened his tire-and I ended up third.
Date: 09-18-04
Track: Grundy
Division: UMARA Midget
Car: Challenger/Fontona
I was able to compete in the heat race at Grundy Saturday night. I had to started in the back and worked at passing Steve Thinness, normally a very fast car, and Roger Bettenhausen, yes he is of some relation to the famous racing family. Thiness got around Bettenhausen mid-race but I was not in a position to follow him by. He had originally tired the bottom, but went up top, and then back down again. I was hoping to sneak in behind as Roger's car seemed to push up into the high groove every lap. After Thiness cleared, I continued to work on Bettehausen. It was fun to actually be able to be close enough to try to pass and had to stay focused and react quickly a couple times as he struggled with his car. I believe I was faster and the car felt about the best it has down there, but I could never get a good enough run off of the corners to get all the way underneath him down the straights.
The night was frustrating because, although I understand that when you race on a budget, you can expect problems, it is very upsetting when parts that have been recently maintained and replaced fail. The evening started with the ear piece for the radio that I had purchased this summer failing. Then, in hot laps I had an issue with the brand new gauges I had recently installed from Automer. After the heat we noticed that the water pump that I had sent down to be rebuilt last month had failed. Before the feature we found another pump to put on, put I believe when the other failed it filled the crankcase with water, and the car was smoking out of the exhaust real bad. (This problem may also be because the cylinder head also leaks into the cylinder though) Anyway we were unable to start the 14 car feature.
Date: 10-24-04
Track: Rockford
Division: Hornet
Car: 1983 Nissan Datsun
Although not unexpected, my 2004 Enduro experience was less than successful. I started in the top ten, among 133 cars. The front runners quickly got into traffic though and accidents began to happen all over the track at the drop of the green. I got down to the bottom of the track as quickly as possible and tried to avoid the incidents. My car definitely was not the fastest but I figured if I could stay out of the accidents I may be able to finish in the top 10, and like every driver thinks-maybe win! Lots of slower cars were running the bottom too so I had to deviate from my plan multiple times to get by. Eventually I ended up with a flat right front tire, and knowing that the half-way point-and planned "pit-stop" was long away, pulled in for a change. Because of my lack of available wheels, which are hard to find and then expensive for that particular car, the pit stop was a lengthy one. I got back on the track and tried to regain some lost time but only a short time latter, I heard the right rear rubber start to flap off. (You can imagine how much debris is left on the track when 133 cars are running around) It was all I could to hang on and try to make it to the pit stop. I found that by running the high line I could at least stay in control of the car, but after a few more laps I heard the tire pop. I pulled in again and got fresh rubber. After that pit stop I went back out and wanted to prove that I could drive, and passed lots of cars and sliced and diced through traffic. After the pit stop the track was changed from the oval to the "chicane" coarse. We had to duck down part of the figure 8 track and avoid the backstretch. My car didn't like to stick to the low groove going into or coming out of the chicane, so I ran the high line. It was only a few laps into the run that I hit and did a half spin in the chicane. I got back going again and was aggressively running the high groove. Before to long, two cars spun in front and I was collected. I sat, facing traffic, unable to get my car to move, in the middle of turns one and two. Finally a "jam truck" pushed me out of the way and I was able to find out that the rusty body had let go of the left side rear end mount and caused the driveshaft to pull out of the transmission. Unable to repair my day was done after only 97, of the planed 250 laps. I placed 52nd.