Waynesfield Weekend Wrap-up 8/6

This past weekend the American Mini Sprints Association (A.M.S.A.) was off and the Midwest Mini Sprint Association (M.M.S.A.) was running at Paragon Speedway.  Since Paragon is a pretty good trek for us, we opted for the shorter trip to Waynesfield Motorsports Park.  While I would really like to try running at Paragon, I'll have to admit that I really enjoy running at Waynesfield.  We ran nearly an entire season at Waynesfield a few seasons ago when they were running upright 600cc mini sprints.  The 1/3 mile oval is both fast and racey, with a surface that has been pretty smooth almost every time I have been there.  Finally although not large, the facility is nicely equipped and turned out.  To the best of my knowledge it is one of the few facilities that runs a semi-weekly show for upright mini sprints.  It appears that the formula is working as there weekly shows are picking up new drivers along the way.  During our visit on Saturday evening visit there were a total of 23 cars in attendance--only four cars were what I would consider A.M.S.A. regulars.  A special thanks goes out to Dean Miracle and crew for helping our sport grow.

Since we're not very good at taking pictures, I like it when I run close to T.J. Heil. His mom is great with both the still camera and the video camera.

http://www.speedpartz.com/

I was actually probably as ready to race as I have been all year.  My dad was making a trip to Pennsylvania to pick up wings on Saturday morning (we now have a good inventory of top and front wings back in stock) and wouldn't be getting back until time to leave for Waynesfield.  This meant that I needed to have everything ready to go when he returned.  It was nice to spend a little more time than usual getting the car ready--it seems to help me get my head in the game a little better.  Not too many big changes to make just the usual clean-up, re-blocking the car and changing sprockets.

http://www.minisprintbook.com/

We got on the road a little after three o'clock.  On the way up we passed another Cincinnatian making his way towards Waynesfield, first year driver Adam Jackman.  We rolled into the track a few minutes before 5:00 p.m. and found our way to a parking spot next to our friends the Heils.  Hiking up to sign in I ran into a few friends that I used to race with before their move to full-size sprints- Lewie Christian, Kirk and Dennis Jeffries.  It was great to see them and catch up a little bit.

http://www.adrenalinets.com/

There are several really nicely turned out mini sprints at Waynesfield, but I was partial to one of the cars that was making its first outing this year, the FOZ of Becca Stiefl.  My dad told me that he has been working with the Stiefl's for several weeks as they have been putting their car together.  I've included a picture of Becca and her new car below.  They have really put together a pretty professional operation complete with matching shirts.  Becca's dad Steve reported that after her first night of practice she felt very comfortable in the car and was able to manage a 8th place finish the first night out.  Nice job.

Becca Stiefl in her new number 328 FOZ Race Car

I still have a phobia of drawing my own pill, or tab in the case of Waynesfield.  Phil Heil was in line behind me so I made him pull the tab for me, he drew a 41.  The 41 placed me outside the second row right next to Phil's son T.J.  Newcomer Trey Gustin was starting on the pole in my heat in his 600cc upright mini sprint.  Trey has made a few starts with the 1000cc cars.  So far I've been pretty impressed with him both on track and off track.  He appears to have a pretty good head on his shoulders.  If the name sounds familiar it's because his dad Spud ran mini sprints before moving up to full-size sprints.  I got a pretty good start and came out of the second corner in second position behind Nick Daughtery where I would run until the finish.  The car was good, but would have been much better if I had listened to my dad's advice to raise the car a round.

Trey Guston in his number 80 mini sprint

http://www.viperpipes.com/

Sometimes there is a certain amount of luck involved in racing and on this night it was falling my way as the invert placed me outside the front row for the feature.  Garry Loney was on the pole for the feature.  Loney has been fast everytime I have run with him and I definately was hoping I could outrace him to the first corner.  I stayed high through turns 1 and 2 and ended up in the lead going down the backstretch.  This time I decided to listen to my dad and make his suggested changes.  The car was really good.  Its kind of spooky running out front because you don't know who or how close anyone is running to you.  There was a red flag and a couple of yellow flags which were definate causes for concern.  I knew that there were some motors and drivers that had the potential of driving around us on the start.  My fears came true on the last restart as Beau Stewart pulled around me on the topside.  I was able to hold on to cross the line in second place.  Disappointing when I had hopes of a victory, but a good run all in all.

It was great to see the grandstands full for the evenings racing.  The big draw was the second annual Jack Hewitt Classic.  Although there were not all the big names there that we have grown used to seeing at Lawrenceburg, the racing was tremendous just the same.  Matt Westfall put on a charge from the middle of the pack to finish in second place.  Matt is always fun to watch and appears to have it pretty well dialed in at Waynesfield were he has already captured four features this season.  Another noteworthy performance in the sprints was Todd Keen.  Todd was in contention throughout the feature and did a very nice job of working the bottom of the track.  Todd is only a year removed from the mini sprints.  Congratulation to Todd on a fantastic job done and for proving the value of the mini sprints as a training ground for drivers looking to make the move to sprints and beyond.

http://www.shoxskinz.com/

Congratulations also go out to Lynn Ambrose on capturing two victories in one night at Paragon Speedway.  The M.M.S.A. ran the feature scheduled for the night, but also made up a feature from a few weeks ago that was previously scheduled during USAC Sprint Week.  I was also pleased to hear that Allen Rupenthal made it out to the track.  Our thoughts and prayers remain with Allen as he continues to recuperate.

http://www.minisprintbook.com/

It's been a great couple of weekends for the FOZ Race Cars overall.  Beau Stewart's win at Lawrenceburg Speedway the weekend before was followed up with his win at Waynesfield Motorsports Park.  T.J. Heil at a strong run at Lawrenceburg to finish fourth.  I finished fifth at Lawrenceburg followed to the line by another FOZ of Nick Roberts.  I was able to hold on for a second place finish at Lawrenceburg while T.J. Heil and Becca Steifl finished seventh and eigth respectively.  Last weekend Brett Burrows showed that the cars work well with the wing off to as he beat a strong field of 21 cars in Peoria, Illinois with the Illinois Outlaw Lightning Sprints.  Congratulations to all of our FOZ Race Cars customers.

Brett Burrows and his number 51 FOZ mini sprint.

The American Mini Sprints Association is back in action Friday and Saturday of next weekend.  Friday evening the group rolls back into Moler Raceway Park while they make their second appearance of the year at Waynesfield Motorsports Park on Saturday evening.  If you scroll down you'll see more pictures that I took with my phone and the track.  I am hoping to do short posts to the blog on race nights in the future.

This week's Adrenaline Outfitter's Shirt:

Visit http://www.adrenalinets.com/ to order your shirt.

Pits

Pits

Pits

Track

Pit shot

Shot from waynesfield pits

We are at Waynesfield for the jack hewitt classic. There are 22 mini
sprints in attendance.

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Mini Sprint Racing in the Tulsa Expo Center

Although I normally start my blogs off with a report of the last week's racing activity, this week I wanted to start with ‘THE BIG NEWS’. It was announced during Saturday evening’s A.M.S.A. drivers meeting that upright mini sprints will be included in this year’s Tulsa Shoot-Out. If you’re not familiar with this event, it is the event run several days before the infamous Chili Bowl at the Tulsa Exposition Center. The event will be run on the same track as the Chili Bowl. The dates of the event are Thursday December 29th through Saturday January 1st.  The mini sprints will shed their wings for the race.  This event has the potential to be one of the biggest events in the country for mini sprints.  It was indicated at the drivers meeting that this will be a multi-year deal.  It holds the potential to draw competitors from points across the country. It also provides anyone with dreams of competing in the Chili Bowl a cost effective alternative.  Calls are already coming in for car rentals and some are even considering purchasing cars just for the event. I am planning on doing a more comprehensive story on the event in the coming weeks—so stay tuned.  Here a few pictures of the track that I took when I was at the Chili Bowl a few years ago.

Here is a link to a video that I found on http://www.maximumdirt.com/ that shows more of the track | Click Here |

Here is some in-car camera footage that is pretty good also | Click Here |

This past weekend we ran with the American Mini Sprint Association at Lawrenceburg Speedway. I am not sure why, but car count was down with only 23 mini sprints in the pits. I am guessing that it might have been because of summer vacations, etc. Despite the smaller turnout, racing action was still intense with plenty of good drivers and equipment in attendance.

My night of racing got off to a great start with a visit by Don and Adam Waters of AFCO Racing Shocks to our shop. They set me up with two of their brand new double adjustable gas shocks to try for the weekend. The father and son team came in and set to work outfitting our right and left rear corners of the cars with the shocks. The whole installation of both shocks and remote adjustment controls took less than one hour.

My first session on the new shocks was hot laps. Although we only got five or so laps, I could instantly tell a difference. True to Don’s words, the car felt much more stable or settled. I was pretty amazed with how well it transitioned from straight-away to corner back on to straight-away. Although tempted to start adjusting on the shocks for the heat race Don and Adam said that the car looked really good and that the shock indicators were dead on—so just leave it alone.

A quick storm passed through prior to our heat race, causing more question regarding our setup. I started my heat in fourth place and quickly moved into third on the first lap. The remainder of the race I chased Rod Henning and T.J. Heil. I was very happy with the way the car handled during the entire heat race. While we were able to reel Heil in a little, I was never close enough to try passing him.

For the feature we raised our car up and put a few extra turns in a couple corners. I started the race outside the third row. For the first few laps of the race the car was on the tight side and I slid back a few spots. On the yellow I started cranking on the cockpit adjusters and was able to get the car to a point where it was very comfortable for me. Through a few passes and some attrition, I made it up to fourth place, however my last pass happened just prior to a caution so I was placed back in fifth place where I finished the race.

After the race Don asked me to fill out a research and development form for him. This made me take more time to stop and think about what the car was doing than normally. I was really impressed with the more stable feel of the gas shocks. After hot laps and the heat race I would have told you I would have liked them even if they weren’t adjustable. However, after missing the setup by a bit in the feature, but having the opportunity to compensate on-track with the cockpit adjusters—I liked the shocks even more.  We have put together a short product video for Speed Partz TV.  Just click the play button below to watch the video (right pointing arrow)  We hope you enjoy it.  |CLICK HERE| for purchase information.

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Adrenaline Addiction Outfitters Logo T-Shirt - Just $15.00 |Click to Order|

Time to get ready to go racing - Friday @ Noon

It's time to get the car ready to go race at Lawrenceburg Speedway this weekend.

7/26/10

Although ti’s been over a week since I last raced, its been a busy one and I haven’t had a chance to blog. My intentions were to make my first visit to Brownstown Speedway with the M.M.S.A. during Sprint Week, my plans changed as I was leaving for the race. As I was backing out of the garage I ran over the family cat. Although it looks like she is going to be okay, a trip to the veterinarian placed us far enough behind schedule that we had to cancel. The story of running over the cat produced some great stories about how others similar experience.  It sounds as if I missed a great race. Congratulations go out to Seth Motsinger on his win.


Since we missed Brownstown, the decision was made to stay close to home on Friday and attend the A.M.S.A. race at Moler Raceway Park. I’ve got a real mental block when it comes to Moler. We haven’t had the best luck there. It all started a few years ago when I lost a chain and destroyed a motor. Our next trip was on a night when they had exceptionally bad track conditions leading to the eventual cancellation of the race. We got to spend a little time with Kevin and Kim Moler last year when we rented the track so that my daughter, wife and A.M.S.A. rookie Brandon Longworth could get some track time. Former street stock driver Kim Moler and her daughter also took a few laps in our mini sprint. Kevin told me that he would not bring the mini sprints in until mid season this year to make sure he could deliver a smoothing racing surface. He was right as the track was in very nice shape.

My mental block came through in my heat race performance as I was excessively cautious, finishing in fifth position—one spot ahead of where I started. David Applegate deserves mention for his strong performance in the heat race. I think this was the youngsters first heat race win in 1000cc competition after spending his rookie season racing a 600cc upright at 35 Raceway. The win earned Applegate the pole for the feature. I started the feature inside the fifth row. I was happy with my start in the feature, unfortunately it was called off due to a spin. I wasn’t quite as successful on the restart, however started picking up positions a few laps in. The car was very good for the feature. There was a little bit of moisture left at the bottom of the track. If I could get the car down in it, it would leap off the corner. Unfortunately, I’m seldom consistent enough in my lines to hit such a small band on the track each time. When the checkered flag fell I was in fourth position. Given my history at Moler I was very happy with my finish and am looking forward to going back. Kudos go out to Ryan Broughton on his win at Moler. As I mentioned earlier the track was a bit of a challenge to get a hold of—and Ryan did a very nice job of pedaling the car around the track.

The M.M.S.A. was also in action Friday evening at Bloomington Speedway as part of Indiana Sprint Week. Mike Kiser’s trip from New York was paid off as he claimed the $1,000 prize. It wasn’t without a little work though, Garry Loney led fifteen laps of the race. Loney is in his first year in a 1000cc mini sprint after running a 600cc upright last season at Waynesfield. I’ve had the chance to run with Garry a few times now and have been impressed each time.

On Sunday I started a whirlwind tour of France to visit one of our customers at work. It was a lot of traveling in a short period of time, but this time I made it out of Paris and got to see some of the country side and the beaches. The customer visit was pretty cool as I got an up close look at one of the manufacturing facilities that builds aircraft engine for General Electric. It’s pretty amazing how large the components on those engines are. My train ride out to the coast also took me through Le Mans. If I would have had more time, I would have loved to make a trip out to the famous road course. After a long flight home, I am happy to be back on U.S. soil.

I continue to work on new product ideas for the shop and have a few new ones to report this go around. There are a couple of items that are specific to our new race car that have drawn comments over the past several weeks.

Wing wraps – On my past two racing cars I have employed wing wraps instead of traditional paint and vinyl. There are several benefits to wing wraps. They appear to be much more cost effective than traditional paint and vinyl. They provide greater flexibility in the quality and quantity of graphics that it allows you to place on the car. Finally as long as you use the right materials they are durable and fairly easy to apply. I recently have entered into a joint partnership with a leading provider of wraps that will allow us to provide wraps of all kinds, including a special deal on 16 square foot wings. For a limited time we will be able to offer the printing of wraps for both sides of the wing for $169.00. Unless significant design is required, there will not be a design charge. We can also apply the wing wraps to your wing for an additional charge.  For more information give us a call at the shop 513.874.2034.

Dashboard decals – I designed and printed switch decals for the cowl of my new mini sprint. It’s kind of a small thing, but they have received much more attention than I would have ever expected. The one comment I got was that they really finish the car off and make it look professional. Not wanting to miss out on an opportunity, I’ve had them professionally printed and packaged for sale. We now offer a set of switch decals that can easily be applied over standard toggle and push button switches. The set sells for $12.95 and includes decals for; Power, Fuel Pump, Starter Button, Fan and Wing. I also have the capability of designing specialized decals upon request.  These dashboard labels can be ordered through Speed Partz at http://www.speedpartz.com/panelpak.htm.

Tachometer – If you’ve read past blogs you probably remember me writing about the full featured $139.00 tachometer that I found. Unfortunately the original distributor that I was working with went bankrupt. After a little bit of detective work I have been able to reconnect with the tachometer. The tachometer provides a 20,000 RPM readout with recall of high RPM for the session. It also has a programmable shift light and water temperature read out. It is also backlit for easy viewing at night. The tachometer can be easily programmed for many different engine configurations. The first shipment of 10 units is due in sometime in the next two weeks. I probably won’t add them to our website until we get a larger shipment in. If you are interested in one of them just give my dad a call and get on our list. You can call him at the shop at 513.874.2034.

Adrenaline Outfitters – Since I’ve been in college one of my ambitions has been to design and market my own line of t-shirts. My idea was to develop a line that is aimed at the true racer. Not something that you could purchase at a retail store, but instead something that would have a bit of a cult following. While I had them up and going pretty well a few years ago, I got frustrated with the task of managing inventory. It seemed like whatever sizes I had on the shelf—it was not the size the customer was requesting. Recently I have entered into an agreement with a third party company that takes care of printing and fulfillment. So far the arrangement has been working very well, allowing me to concentrate on the design and marketing of the shirts, while greatly improving delivery and customer service. I hope to start featuring one design each blog. This week I am featuring one I call Loose Nut. It is one of my initial designs and has been a popular one.  These shirts can be ordered online at http://www.adrenalinets.com/.

The good Lord willing, hope to be back out at Lawrenceburg Speedway next Saturday evening. That’s all for now. Thanks for reading.

A Full Week of Motorsports Stuff

This week has allowed me to enjoy motorsport from all sides.  I started the week off on Monday with a trip to Big Rock ATV Park in Maysville, Kentucky to ride dirt bikes with my daughter and a few friends.  A very hot day, but enjoyable riding.  Friday night was my first outing in the new mini sprint at Lawrenceburg Speedway as part of Indiana Speedweek and finally a trip to Mid-Ohio on Saturday to visit Vintage Motorcycle Days. 

Friday night at Lawrenceburg Speedway the A.M.S.A. joined USAC for the opening round of Indiana Sprint Week.  A total of 35 cars pulled into the pits including five cars from New York.  My good luck at the pill draw hit the rocks with a number 32 coming out of the bag.  I started outside the third row in the fourth heat.  In typical fashion I spent too much time getting to business and ended the race in fifth place, one spot out of a qualifying position.  I really hate going through the B-Main, but guess I should look forward to every chance to get myself accustomed to the new car.

In the B-Main we started in fourth position.  A total of 19 cars started the B-Main with several strong runners included in the mix, making it feel a little more like an A-Main.  Within a few laps we had managed to move our way into second position behind Ryan Braughton.  Although I felt like we were starting to pick up on Ryan, the car popped out of gear in between turns one and two.  I wasn't sure what happened at first believeing that I had lost a chain.  Thankfully another car spun on the same lap and I was able to regain my second place position on the restart.  The car was handling great and although I felt like I had a chance of running down Ryan, I just ran out of time.


Be sure to visit CMI Racing Vids.  Colin was recently at Twin Cities Raceway Park to tape the MMSA action.  It was a great evening of racing.  Be sure to pop over to his site to order your copy.

http://www.cmiracingvids.com/

My second place finish in the B-Main at least earned me a spot for the feature; although deep in the field.  The few tweeks my dad made to the car delivered a car that was well suited to the racing surface by the time the feature rolled around.  Although we got decent starts and started to gain positions, we were once again plagued with the mysterious problem of the car jumping out of gear.  Almost every other lap the car would jump into neutral as we passed through turns one and two.  Each time was a set back to our progress, leaving us to an eventual 11th place finish.  Although I was dissappointed in my finish, I am very excited about how the car was performing.  I think we've determined the fix for our gear problem.

Looking forward to getting back out on the track Thursday evening as the MMSA visits Brownstown Speedway.

I recently received this photo from J&T Photos who take all the shots at Waynesfield.  We are lucky to have great photographers covering several of our tracks.  I wanted to give J&T a special shot out since they helped me with this photo for an article an industry publication is doing.  Visit http://www.jandtphotos.com/. 

This is a first in mini sprint racing in the midwest and hopefully a good sign for its future.  During USAC's Indiana Sprint Week, mini sprint drivers have been treated to the opportunity to run no less than five times in eight nights between the A.M.S.A. and the M.M.S.A  The week kicked off with the AMSA with the USAC sprints at Lawrenceburg.  The AMSA then moved on its own to KC Raceway.  There was also racing action on the same evening at Chillicothe.  On Thursday evening the MMSA opens with the USAC Sprints at Brownsburg and follows up on Friday evening at Bloomington.  On Friday evening the AMSA is also at Moler Raceway Park.  The MMSA then finishes things off at Paragon Speedway.  Sounds like about as much fun as a mini sprint racer could have in a single week.

http://www.viperpipes.com/

There is always a lot of fun scenery when a big race roles into Lawrenceburg.  Friday night was no exception.  One of my favorite attractions was Josh Shaw and his nastolgic sprinter that were pitted next to us.  Josh is building replicas of sprints long ago and pulls them in on a flat bed trailer attached to an old pickup.  I have posted some photos of Josh's set-up.  If you'll look closely you'll notice that the car is the Ellison Special.  The famous sprinter depicted in Dave Argabright's series that ran over a several month period in Sprint Car and Midget Magazine.

My daughter Sami and I made the trip on Saturday morning up to Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for the Vintage Motorcycle Days.  Before switching to dirt we spent a lot of time at Mid-Ohio racing Formula Fords and Formula 2000s.  If you have never been to Mid-Ohio, it definately deserves a visit.  It is a beautiful setting for a racing facility.  Its also worth checking out Vintage Motorcycle Days if you've never been.  They have a swap meet that has to cover several acres.  You can find just about any type of bike or part you are looking for at the meet.  The event includes road racing, motorcross, trials and flat track.  Here are a few pictures from our trip.

One of the things that I have enjoyed doing early in this summer is spending some time with my family dirt biking.  I finally have everyone on a bike including my two daughters and wife.  We've made a handful of outings so far this year and I've been very proud of just how well they are all coming along as riders.  Here are a few pictures from last weeks outing.

http://www.shoxskinz.com/

I recentlly began work on yet another new product.  As I mentioned earlier, my family and I have been doing some dirt bike riding lately.  Many of the dirt bike riders make use of the Camel Bak.  A system that allows them to carry water or fluid along for the ride and actually take a drink without stopping.  I recently purchased one of these handy little rider accessories and wouldn't be without it.  It got me to thinking about a way to use it on my racing car.  Although one might question why it would be needed during such a short race, you would be shocked at how much fluid you can really loose in such a short period of time.  The only problem is that there really is no good way to attach it to the car.  I started prototyping a pouch that would easily and securely fasten to the car and have been trying it out the last few races.  I have gotten quickly attached to it.  The new design attaches to the rear uprights of the car and has a special tube and bite valve that just dangles down in the cockpit where it can be easily reached when your ready for a drink.  I use it sometime sitting on the grid, during cautions and red flags.  I now have it ready to go to market under our Shox Skinz brand name.  It will be called a Hydra-Pak and is currently available for $49.95.  Although we haven't put it on the website yet, if your interested you can call us at 513.874.2034 and request the Shox Skinz Hydra-Pak.

The Hydra-Pak is designed to easily attach to the rear upright on a mini sprint, midget, TQ midget or sprint car.  It is secure and can be easily removed whenever you would like. 

The blue tube with a special bite valve dangles down in the cockpit and can be easily reached for a quick drink on the grid, under caution or a red flag.

That's all for now.  I hope to be back next week with another blog.  I have a few additional products that I am working on and hope to have a race report from Brownstown Speedway.