Car 54 Where Are You?
9/24/09 the last race of the season Things did not end with a great finish but with a positive outlook for next season. The car was not great in practice or the heat race. The power still is not where it needs and it felt as though we were standing still as everyone passed by on the straight-aways. We started in 23^rd out of 26 cars and started moving forward from the start. There were a few crashes which we were able to avoid and make some passes on the restarts again. The car was hooking up low on the track and I was able to keep the RPM’s up to make up for the low power. Then there was a car that lost a wheel and pack had to slow up and swerve to miss the wreckage. I unfortunately did not see it coming and rear ended the car in front of me. This pushed the radiator back about 4 inched and shorted out the fan. Then the car began to overheat and we had to pull off the track. We finished 23^rd. Although not a good night, we stayed in 16^th in points to close out the season. With everyone’s help this year we met all our goals and we look forward to improving again in the 2010 season.
9/17/09 Things went well this week although not quite as good as last week. The car was still handling well from last week but just did not have the power. We finished 6^th in the heat and started on the pole for the feature. The car could not keep up with the others on the start and I dropped back quickly. We finished 14^th out of 25 cars. We dropped to 16^th in the points. We think we have the power issue figured out for this Thursday which is the final race of the season.
9/10/09 We finally got our first top 10 finish! In practice the car seemed to be handling better than usual after some small adjustments and the car had a little more power than last week. In the heat race we started on the pole but dropped back after the first lap. Going into turn 1 we were in the middle of a 3 wide situation, we came together with the 55 car that crashed along with the 64 car. We kept going but the track thought it was our fault so they sent us to the back. We ended up finishing 8^th in the heat which had us start 16^th in the feature. At the start of the feature there was a big wreck in the first turn causing many cars to get damage. We were able to avoid the wreckage and move up a few spots. We stayed clean throughout the race including avoiding a few more wrecks. We were also getting the most consistent fast times we have ever gotten. The car was still lacking the power we needed but it was handling well enough to make up the time. We finished 8^th in the feature which moves up to 15^th in the points. It is a close battle with only 2 more races to go.
9/3/09 This week went much better than the past couple. In practice we worked to get the car handling better. This week we did not have a heat race so we went right into the feature. We started 11^th and barely made it through some wrecks. I had a couple bad restarts which made us fall back. We finished 12^th but unfortunately we dropped back to 17^th in the points. This week pointed us in the right direction for the last 3 races of the season. Click Here for an in-car view of the race. Sorry the camera was pointed too low.
8/27/09 This week did not go so well for 54 cars. In practice the car did not to seem to have the power it should but otherwise seemed OK. In the heat race all the other cars flew by us even with the pedal to the floor. After the heat we found there was a problem with the valve train. We rushed back home and picked up our back up car and made it back to the track just in time to make the race. Since we had a bad heat race we started in the back of the pack. Going into turn 1, I tried to make a pass on the inside but when I stepped on the gas coming out of turn 2 I got loose and the 9 car helped me spin all the way around. We did not get a caution so the next couple laps were catch up laps. We were gaining on the pack until the car started smoking and we were black flagged. The transmission turned out to be the culprit. We have both cars ready for tomorrow’s race and are hoping for better luck this week. We only have 4 races left and need to make up some ground we lost in the points, we fell back to 16^th. The exciting Whelen Modifieds will be there next week so we are excited
8/20/09 Another race was rained out last week. It has been rescheduled to 9/3, so come see the Whelen Modified tour then. We were struggling with a loose car but got it better for the heat and feature but it was not quite good enough. We finished the heat race without any incidents but did not get a great finish. We started 14^th in the feature but dropped back to 18^th quickly but then started gaining ground. We were struggling to get by the #1 car but then as I was on his bumper, smoke poured out of his car and oil sprayed all over our car. The 1 car hit the wall and we were sliding right behind him. Luckily the car gripped the pavement and it turned before hitting the wall. The 51 car who was behind me was not so lucky. On the restart, our car was not so good but after a few laps it came in but was difficult to see coming out of turn 4 with oil on the windshield and the glaring lights. It was hard to see where the wall was so I kept cutting the turn too sharp, loosing momentum. We finished 16^th out of 21 and are still in 14^th for the points. You can check out a short video, shot from inside our car, by clicking here.
8/6/09 Although this was a trying week we got an OK finish. In the first practice things seemed to go well. When we went out on the track for the second practice things changed, the right front ball joint broke causing many other suspension and steering components to need to be replaced. We were able to get the car back together just before the heat race. We started on the outside of the front row and were able to stay in second for a few laps until the car died coming out of turn 2. After much more work on the car we had it ready for the feature. We started in the back of the pack and had trouble getting by one car. By the time we got by, the rest of the pack pulled away. We were hoping for a caution but the race went from green to checker. A 15^th place finish out of 20 was not too bad for the amount of bad luck we had throughout the day. We have now moved up to 14^th in the points.
7/30/09 Last week the True Value Modified race was canceled due to rain once again. They will be racing with us on 8/27. This week started out good for us in the heat race. The car just did not have the power we need but it was handling well. We started on the outside of the front row and ran in second for a little bit before falling back to fourth. Then the 2^nd and 3^rd place cars took each other out putting us in second once again on a restart. We were unable to hold second and fell back to fourth once again. We battled with the Number 5 car to finish in 4^th. The feature did not turn out as well. Again we started in 2^nd but fell back quickly. By half way we fell back to 16^th where we battled with the number 5 car again for the position. We were faster though the turns but he had the power down the straightaway. We ended up finishing ahead of the 5 car for 16^th. We are now 16^th in the points.
7/16/09 Unfortunately things did not go as well as planned this week. The transmission broke in the feature causing a loss of all gears after 8 laps. We were not able to finish the race. We now have dropped to 16^th in the points. Luckily this happened when we have a full week to get our other car ready to go. We have not run the other car yet and may need to work out some bugs. We will also be putting in a different transmission in the car we have been running temporarily in case there are too many issues with the other car but the gear ratio is not where it should be.
7/11/09 After making many adjustments in practice we got the car ready for the feature. We would like to thank the 9 team from the Thompson Modifieds for helping us and giving us pointers all day long and congratulations to them in their first victory! We started mid pack in a field of 21 cars. There were a few big wrecks that we were able to avoid and finished the race in 13^th without any damage. This moves us up to 14^th in the points.
7/9/09 After another rain out last week, Thompson added a race today. Finally we were able to race! The day started out ok. The changes we continue to make have been improving the feel of the car, but unfortunately it is not showing in the lap times. In the heat race we dropped back from the pole pretty quickly and finished near the back of the pack only to find out a tire was going down and by the time the car was in the pit, it was nearly deflated. The feature started out a little better but ended for us on lap 9 where again we got a flat tire. We now have dropped to 15^th in the points but we are still determined to get the top 10 finish soon.
6/25/09 The changes we made over the two weeks seemed to make the car better. The practices went well and the heart race went uneventful but a bad finish started us near the back for the feature. The feature started out pretty well but a few accidents caused us to go 4 wheeling a couple times. 2 twice I had to drive into the grass to avoid wrecks and lucky made it through with very little damage. During the last caution I found out that the clutch was jammed, I could not push the pedal in. Under the caution I had to shift into neutral to slow down and then jam it back into gear at the restart. The last 5 laps or so the car picked up a vibration causing some concern and I felt the need to slow down. We still finished the race in 17th. We were able to stay in 13^th for the points.
6/18/09 We made some drastic changes to the car to try to get us closer to the front but the race was rained out. We will give it a try next week.
6/11/09 We had a great feeling going into the race but we were just not able to the car as good as it could be. Overall the race day was uneventful but could only pull off a 16^th place finish. This dropped us down to 13^th in the points.
6/4/09 We made it through the practices and heat race with out any major issues but the handling of the car just was not up to par. We made some adjustments after the heat hoping to fix the issues. The car started out a little better in the feature but got better and better as the green flag laps continued. Then a car a little ways ahead of us blew his motor going into turn one dumping oil on the track and causing a caution. The crew cleaned up the track the best they could but it was still a little slick. This compounded our handling issue but was still able to pick up one more position on the restart and hold off the # 5 car until the checkered. We finished 12^th again out of 24 which now puts us in a 3 way tie for 12^th in the points. We plan to make some changes to hopefully get the car in the top 10 next week.
5/28/09 Rained out- 50 Lap feature to be rescheduled in August
5/21/09 Overall it wasn’t a bad start to the season. We had some troubles with the way the car was running in practice and the heat but luckily the 43 team was willing to help us out. They helped us figure out why the car was low on power and got it running strong for the feature. It was a great start to the feature but after a few laps we were bumped while making a pass in turn 3, both cars started to spin and slide sideways but we were both able to keep our cars going straight. Unfortunately that was the end of our powerful motor for the night. It turns out that one of the spark plug wires got moved in the jolt and it got burnt by the exhaust. We finished 12^th out of 23 and that puts us in 13^th for the points. We have some damage to repair for next week but it looks promising for the 50 lap feature.
5/19/09 This Thursday the 21^st is the start of the weekly Thursday Night Thunder at Thompson Speedway. Palin Auto Racing is ready to put the pedal to the metal. Just a reminder of some important dates this season. We hope to see you there! 5/28- 50 lap Limited Sportsman Race 6/18- True Value Modifieds will be at Thompson along with the 6 usual divisions of TNT 6/25- ARTS Trucks will be racing with all TNT divisions 7/2- NEMA Midgets will be in town along with a 50 lap Sunoco Modified race SATURDAY 7/11- Full Fender Frenzy, All full bodied cars including the Camping World East and PASS Super Late Models 8/6- 100 lap Sunoco Modified race 8/13- Whelen Modifieds are in town with the usual TNT
Ice Breaker 4/4/09-4/5/09 Some additional bad breaks plagued car 54 this weekend. We worked hard the week leading up to the race to get it all ready and looking good. We had a couple of good practices on Saturday and the car seemed to be running well. In the heat race, we started on the outside of the front row. We got passed by a few cars in the first couple laps then were running on the outside of the 73 car. He drove the car deep into turn 1 and slid up the track into us and sandwiched us against the wall. The car seemed to be OK and it drove off the wall only to have the throttle stick but I was able to shut the car down before hitting anything else. We had a lot of work to do the get the car ready for Sunday’s feature but my father, Jenn and I worked on it all night and got it fixed. Because we did not finish the heat race we started last. When we started running hot laps it was obvious we did not fix all the issues from Saturday, the car did not want to turn. We stuck it out and ended up finishing 18^th out of 23 cars. Although we did not finish in the position we would have liked, we are happy we made it on the track and didn’t have any additional issues in the feature.
Saturday Morning
Saturday after the heat
Saturday night making the repairs
Sunday before the feature
4/1/09 We have practiced the past two weekends at the speedway. The first practice was a tough one but we worked some major bugs out of the car. Unfortunately the rear axel snapped causing the car to spin and hit the wall. Thanks to a lot of help from the 43 team we were able to get the car together enough to get the car on the trailer and get it home. The 36 and 7 teams let us borrow parts, which is greatly appreciated. After a long week of repairs, we were able to get the car on the track this past Saturday to find some minor issues that need to be fixed before this coming weekend for the Ice Breaker. We look forward to a long weekend of racing. Saturday we have a few practices and a heat race and on Sunday is our first feature of the season.
We have been working hard getting our cars ready for the start of the season. The Ice Breaker (April 4-5) is coming quick and we cannot wait to get back to the door to door action. We have fixed up our cars for the new season. Here are some pics of the work so far. The motor will be in this weekend and the body on next week.
Before and After