Driver of the #09 Legends Car
You
could tell the racing season was coming to an end. The leaves are changing
color, the days are getting shorter and I had to put on more sweat shirts
and jackets just to keep my teeth from chattering. Our day Saturday
started at 2:30 in the morning. We had to drive out to New Market,
Virginia to jump in to a 90 foot tall Hot Air Balloon for an early morning
flight above the Shenandoah Valley. After a great balloon ride from
SmileMakers and Dr. Robert Detrich we had a nice country breakfast and
headed off to Shenandoah Speedway.
The last race we were in at ODS we had a problem with the motor popping which cost us the win so during the week I tore the carbs apart and check a few other items that I thought would cause our miss. Once we got on the track for practice I was hoping the miss would be gone, But it wasn't. After the first practice I changed the pick up, the carbs, the plugs, coils and the wires. We were only getting two practice sessions and no heat races so I had to change everything I could think of. Nick started 4th for the and forced his way into the lead by lap 4. Once in the lead he was able to pull out about 9 or 10 car lengths over the second place car. It's a good thing he did because on lap three the motor started missing again. Nick said the car was just flying through the corners and even though it was missing really bad by the end of the race he was able to hold off a last lap challenge going into turn three and pull him to the finish line for the win. That's the way to end the season. To have Julia there to see that win was even better.
Check on picture to enlarge
Sunday was the last race this year at Old Dominion. We wanted to close out the year with a win to cap off what has been somewhat of a return to our old form. We struggled alot the first half of the year but have come back strong since we found our problem with the chassis. The day started great, we ran good in practice then qualified on the outside pole. Right from the drop of the green flag we jumped out front and took the lead going into turn one. Then we stayed out front for 10 or 12 laps. We felt pretty sure we could stay there until the motor started popping. First it did it a couple of times each lap then it got to the point you couldn't even count how many times it did it. Each pop we got slower and slower until we ended up 5th. What should have been a great final race of the year ended up a disappointment. That the way it seems to always happen at ODS.
Labor Day weekend was the perfect time for a road trip. We loaded up the rig and head out for what we thought would be a one day trip to Lake Erie Speedway but turned into a 3 race in 3 state at 3 tracks weekend. Friday started at Lake Erie Speedway, which is by far the best race facility I have ever seen. This track is better then most Nextel tracks I have been to. Even though it turned out to be a really long night, it wasn't too bad. Nick lead the first 5 laps at a track he had never been to before, but unfortunately the car fell off pretty back. We couldn't get any bite coming out of the corners once the tires warmed up and it was all Nick could do to hang on to it. As bad as it was he still finished 10th.
While there we hooked up with Mike Bryant, Jason Miller and Ryan Ellis. We all decided to head off to Midvale in Ohio the next day. Midvale was the complete opposite of Lake Erie, it was a small older track with only one racing grove. The way the locals ran the track was really strange and lead to a little bumping in the corners. Sorry to the 38 car for the trouble in the corners. After another top 10 finish we were off to Pittsburg to sleep before the trip home to Potomac Speedway.
On Sunday we hit Potomac Speedway to finish off the weekend. It was raining for a while in the afternoon which lead to a really mudding dirt track. During the heat races you couldn't even think about passing any one, you just tried to not spin out. So everyone basically started where they lined up. Thank God the track got much better for the race. When they dropped the green flag things looked real good Nick made it from 12th to 4th in about 5 laps. It sure looked like Nick might get another win on dirt. Unfortunately the upper ball joint on the left front broke and pushed Nick up to the wall. When he hit the mud that was still up at the wall the right front dug in and rolled the car twice landing on the drivers side. Thank God Nick was OK and the car actually didn't take too much damage. Needless to say it was not the way we wanted to end our road trip. But if you are going to roll a race car that's the way to do it.
After only two other dirt track races Nick pulls off his first win. Even though Nick finished 4th in his first dirt track race at Potomac Speedway he said he hated running on dirt. On his second try at Potomac he showed why he didn't like it when he hit Rick Bowman in the heat race braking his spindle, leaving him with a ninth place finish.
We were told by everyone that Eastside Speedway was the place to go. The track was much smoother and the pit area was even nicer. When we got there we found they were right. You actually park under trees in the grass which made for a much cooler pit area. Then we hit the track for some hot laps. Nick seemed to take right to the track. As he seemed to be one of the fastest car in that practice. After pulling pills to see where you line up Nick found he was on the poll. Now since we hadn't done much to this point in the season a couple of guys figured Nick wouldn't stay up front for long. Sorry about their luck. At the drop of the green flag Rick Bowman pulled out first but Nick quickly drag raced him to turn one and got there first. From that point Nick started to pull the field. At one point he had about a four car lead but Rick battled back to make it one hick of a race. On about lap 19 Rick drove under Nick in turn 3 to take the lead but Nick got a great run out of 4 to take the lead right back. Rick was probably surprised that Nick could put up such a good fight. On the last lap Rick made a great charge to pull inside of Nick out of 2 and they raced door to door down the back stretch. Even through 3 and 4 they were side by side. Coming out of 4 Nick held Rick down just a little where Rick spun and Nick went on to take the checkered flag for the first time this season. I don't know what everyone else thought but it was a great win for us.
As you have probably noticed there hasn't been much updating of the web page. There is a good reason for this, 1. I'm lazy 2. there hasn't been much good news to tell you about. Well I can finally give you some good news. Lately we have been struggling with getting the car to run consistently. We would get the car fast just to turn around and lay down on the qualifying lap. So we bit the bullet and took the car to Roger Austin to just look it over and tell us if we were missing something. Turns out he found a couple of little things which ended up helping a lot.
So at the track practice went well. The car felt very stable and was pretty fast. When Nick went out to qualify I was worried the car would lay down again but to my surprise he turn a good lap, which put him 4th on the starting grid. That beats our best starting spot this year by about 12 spots. During the race Nick work his way up to 2nd but was only able to hold on to it for about 4 or 5 laps when the car started to get really loose. Nick did one whale of a job hanging on to the car to finish 6th. As bad loose as he was we were real happy to come away with a 6th place finish. Now we know where we are at with the car and I think we can keep the car running up front as long as we don't start messing ourselves up again with too many changes.
Well true to form we had nothing but problems before the first race at ODS. In the first practice we found that the repairs we made to "Rachel's " motor didn't give us the results we were looking for. Even though we got rid of the popping she would just run out of power coming out of the corners. So without enough time to figure it out we decided to switch to "Jennifer". She had the power but we struggled to get her to turn. We tried everything with no results. We ended up qualifying 18th, that's pretty bad. So after the driver and crew chief beat each other up, the chief made a decision to go completely in the other direction changing the weight at all four corners. I mean what did we have to lose at this point.
When they dropped the green flag we were waiting for the "Talladega style" wreck up front because of the new comers that were up there. Fortunately everybody drove well enough to keep it together. Nick took advantage of some of the cars bouncing around off of each other to pick up six spots by the time we had our first caution on lap 4. At this point Nick figured out the car was driving pretty well and pulled the belts tight for some hard nose driving. This was probably one of Nick's best jobs at pushing the car to its limit and picked up spot after spot. After taking advantage of one car missing a shift, Nick picked up 3 more spots in one lap. By the time we had another caution for a flip and fire on the back stretch we found ourselves sitting on the front stretch under a red flag in eighth place. At the end Nick and Willie (41 car) had a great back and forth battle with Nick making a nice move on the outside in turn three to beat Willie by about a half a car length to finish 7th. Not a bad finish considering how the whole day had been going. To start 18th and pick up 11 spots with only one car wrecking out in front of him, I'd say that was pretty good.
We took Rachel out to ODS to shake her down and see how the new chassis was going to work out. Things went fairly well. We still had some tweaking to do but we were some what happy for the first run. But as our luck usually has it ,we developed a really bad popping in the engine and have been having a hard time figuring out what the problem is. Then to make matters worse, it looks like we blew a head gasket. Not to worry I'm getting use to this sort of thing and we should have it all fixed in plenty of time. Well I just finished replacing the whole wiring harness, plugs, coils, carbs and pick up so hopefully one of those things will have fixed the popping. If not there are plenty of other parts I can replace until I finally figure it out. Got to go there is a lot more work to do.
Happy Easter everybody
Number 1. I'm sorry I haven't been keeping up with the web site lately. I have been super busy but I will start to add some new items shortly. I have some pictures of the new shop to put up and I still want to try to put up some of the crash footage from the last couple of years.
Number 2. I promise to use the spell checker when I update the web site. If I hear one more comment about my typing I'll just go back to building race cars or something. Give me a break, its hard enough to put together enough coherent thoughts to make a sentence, much less type them on the screen. I will try to do better.
Number 3. We started practice at ODS last week and things are going pretty well. We still have a few bugs to work out but that shouldn't be a problem. We are looking forward to a new season and pray it goes as well as we hope.
At the request of many people, and with a little reservation we have added a way for you to e-mail messages to Nick. The reason I am reluctant to add a message board like this is because, as you all know, things can some times get heated in racing. When racers have the ability to then respond to the past weekends activities the words can sometimes be more inflammatory then the incident that may have happened on the track. I have seen times where racers should have just walked away and let things cool down but then let their words stir up even more anger. So I hope everyone understands this message board is more for the fans and friends then angry drivers that just got their butts kicked in a race (just kidding).
We're Back
Sorry we were gone so long. We had a little trouble with our old web hosting service. Now that the site is back up I'll try to stay a little more up to date with what's going on at Carlson Motorsports.
Craziness at the Final ODS Race
Well going in to the last race at Old Dominion Speedway Nick was tied for third place in points. After its all finished out I think we will end up fourth in the final points. And let me tell you it was a fight to try to hang on to that.
Once again we had troubles right off the bat. In practice we had a problem with the brakes again. That's even after rebuilding the whole front braking system two races ago. Once we got that problem straight Nick qualified 16th out of 30. We just can't seem to qualify well lately. Nick wasn't real worried though because he know that both he and the car come to life when they drop the green flag.
I think we set a new record for Legends at ODS, maybe anywhere for that matter, with not one but three flipped cars in one race. Nick went quickly through six cars in three laps with two of those crashing in right in front of him. Nick did a great job of driving right through the sparks to weave to the high side and miss the first wreck. Then about four or five cars behind him slammed into the wreck to bring out the first of three red flags. In that mess one car drove literally right up on top of another car for our first flip. Just as a note. I haven't said much about some of the other drivers but I believe some of those guys really need to have a yard sale and get out of racing, they just don't have what it takes. That said, Nick is now up to tenth when they restart. At about half way it happened, One car flipped right in front of Nick and Nick hit him while he was still flipping, he just had not where to go but right into him. The hit knocked the other driver back onto his wheels and Nick was still hard in the gas and drove way. We thought ,sweet, he made it through what could have been a disaster. The front bumper was smashed back in the center, the hood was crunched down in the front but it looked like he was OK. Then coming out of turn four the smoke started pouring out from under the hood and the engine caught on fire. Nick made it back around to where the wreck first started where he stopped, jumped out of the car and got the fire put out. Looked like our day was done. But no. When we got the car back off the hook in the pits we noticed that the only thing that broke was the top end oiler fitting. So we quickly took one off the back up car and got it replace. The bad part was is that they were counting caution laps and we went down two laps. We got the car up to the track and after proving to the officials that it wasn't leaking anymore (even though the car was covered on the outside with oil) we got back in the race. It was a good move because two more cars dropped out before the end which I believe aloud us to hold onto fourth place in points.
So that ends what we called a no luck year at ODS. Last year was a bad luck year, this year wasn't bad luck, it wasn't good luck, it was just no luck. Let me tell you I will still take no luck over bad luck any day.
And Nick wanted to say thanks to Margaret for hanging with us on the trailer to watch the rest of the craziness in the other classes.
We haven't decided what other racing we will do this year but we'll let you know as it comes up. Catch ya later.
Sorry for the lack of up-dates
Sorry for the lack of up-dates. Things have been a little crazy around here lately. Between building a new shop, working on Nick's 64 Mustang and hurting my back, I haven't had enough time to sit at the computer. Not to mention the last race at ODS wasn't anything to write about.
Last Saturday at Old Dominion the crew chief just seemed to fall asleep. We got to the track thinking the car was going to be pretty good after rebuilding the brake system, which is what we had trouble with the last race. As it turned out the car was just junk all day. It was pushing like a dump truck and just wasn't responding to the adjustments the way it should have. Then to make matters worse for qualifying I made an adjustment that actually ended up making the car even tighter. That gave us a 14th place starting spot. As you know qualifying is everything in Legends racing.
Thank God the driver kept his head on straight. Nick made a great move in the race to avoid a spin, which not only allowed him to pick up about 4 spots but kept him out of a wreck. When the 9-11 car spun everybody went high to avoid him but Nick just stood on the gas and drove to the bottom, barely missing the 9-11. The two cars just in front of Nick went high and ended up in a pile. If Nick would have followed them he surely would have been in the pile with them. So after all was said and done Nick came out with a 9th place finish. Not at all what we were hoping for but hey the car is in one piece and we only lost 4 points to one guy and picked up points on Rick. Hopefully the crew chief ( me ) will get his head back in the game for the next race.
Just When You Think You Have Things Under Control
Friday night practice at ODS was great. There were only two cars there for open practice, a Grand Stock and us. We had plenty of track time to work on everything we wanted to. By the time we were done we really had the car hooked up nicely. Nick said the car hadn't been this good in a year. He could put the car any where he wanted. So naturally we were looking forward to Saturdays race.
But as things have been going this year, we get to the track Saturday to find a blown head gasket. Not really having enough time to fix that we opted to switch to the back up car. No big deal you might think but remember the back up car hasn't been right since that front clip was replaced. So we thrashed to change everything from one car to the other, gears, shocks, radio, tires. We needed to get everything done in time to make the first practice. Hot, sweaty and dirty we just made it to the grid for the first practice. It's a good thing we did because the car was definitely not getting through the corners at well at all. After a lot of adjustments we got to qualifying and turned a 17.68, not great but at least got us in the top ten.
When the race started Nick was able to move up to 5th in just a few laps but that was about it. He had a 10 car lead on the 6th place car and even after a couple of restarts he was able to hang on to the top 5 but that was about it. When we decided to not run "Rachel" as the primary car it was because she had turned into a 5th place car and unfortunately Saturday she proved it again. Even with the changes that seemed to work so well on "Jennifer" put on to her, she just didn't seem to respond any better. So I think she is going to need a new chassis to make her shine again.
So hopefully we can get that going soon and be ready for the rest of the season to be a little faster.
Things get Hot
I know that sounds like an inflammatory title, considering we are talking racing here, but what I mean is the "Dog Days of Summer" are here. This is when the sweat pours and the tempers some times get a little high. Its also the time that we usually pick things up a notch. We have made a couple of little changes to our set-up and are hoping that we can get the car freed up just a little bit. We did some testing and Nick likes the changes a lot. So now the July 4th break is over, vacations are done, lets get back to racing.
Nice Strong Run
It looked like it was going to be another rain out at Old Dominion this week but the skies parted and we got it in. The weather reports were calling for rain for the next five days straight and we didn't think it would ever happen. When we got into Virginia it was dry and the weather turned out to be real nice.
We had decided after the last ODS race that we were going to switch to the back up car for this race and that turned out to be a great choice. We ran pretty well in practice and qualified 2nd only off by .04 from the pole. At the drop of the green flag Nick held his ground well on the outside when the 3rd place car spun coming out of turn two. On a full restart Nick and the 1st place car pulled away from the rest of the field and Nick was able to stick right on the 1st place car. Even with a couple of restarts the results were the same. Nick was confident he had a shot at the leader until the half way point during a caution Nick noticed alot of oil on the track. After a lengthy delay they restarted the race. At this point the track really cooled down and Nick's car tighten up a little bit too much. He and the 1st place car still pulled away but he just was a little too tight to mount a good run a finished with a strong 2nd. It was nice to have a good strong run for a change.
We Beat the Rain
Things weren't looking to good as we headed off to Richmond on Friday. The first half of the trip was nothing but rain but we were confident the rain would stay north of Richmond. The second half of the trip was looking better, no rain with dry streets. That was until we got about five miles from the track. When we pulled into the track it had just stopped raining. After about a hour of drying things got under way.
In practice the car wasn't too bad but needed some tweeking. Since we were delayed by the rain we had to draw pills for qualifying. As you might expect we drew the last position and started dead last.
Fortunately the car was fast and Nick quickly made his way up to 5th. Just like the last race though he got hung up behind a car that couldn't get around the guy in front of him. Nick worked the guy pretty hard but didn't want to spin him so he settled for 5th. We believe if we could have gotten around the guy we might have been able to reel in the top two. All in all not a bad finish.
More Rain
We seem to be caught in one of those rain schedules where its beautiful all week long then rains every weekend. We have been rained out of three races so far this season and we're only four weeks into it. Well I guess that's just Spring time, we'll get through it.
The only other thing going on is the checking out of Rachel. We still are thinking we might have to replace the chassis to straighten out the bad push we have. We decide on that soon. Until then we're getting some work done on the shop.
First Race at Old Dominion
The first race at Old Dominion Speedway pretty much went as it normally does. For some reason the car really tightened up from the last practice we had there. We loosened and loosened but could never get it perfect. We qualified seventh which isn't great for us but we knew we would get better during the race. This year they didn't invert the field the way they did last year so everyone started where they qualified at. When they dropped the green flag Nick was able to get around a couple of cars with some hard driving. Then he got hung up behind the "00" car who was having trouble getting around the "80" car. Nick waited for too many laps letting the "00" work the "80". After about 18 laps he had to go because the "41" was banging on his back door. Nick started to put some hard pressure on the "00" but couldn't get a clear shot around him. Finally Nick had to go so going into turn one he dove down under him. Nick had his left tires all the way into the dirt under the "00" but they got together which sent the "00" looping. Nick got away clean but as is becoming the norm they sent Nick to the back for what they called rough driving (the track said Nick turned him). As far as I am concerned it was just hard racing. I don't blame Nick or the "00" but I don't think Nick should have gone to the back for it. When you have six cars lined up nose to tail being held up by one car ("80") somebody has to try something or else you just end up following everybody in a line. That's not racing. Anyway we went from the back, about 20th, to 13th in two laps before a last lap crash in turn four ended the race. Nick was right behind it and made a pretty wild trip through the front stretch grass (which was under three inched of water) making a three foot rooster tail of water the whole way down to turn one. Hey not one of our best finishes but not one of our worst either
Rain, Rain, Go Away
You just wouldn't believe the amount of rain we have had around here this week. It has rained everyday. The area that we park the race car trailer is nothing but a swamp now. We can hardly find a spot to turn the trailer around in. Since we didn't really have plans to race anywhere this weekend we haven't done much work on the cars. We are still trying to get something done on the new race shop, but the rain isn't helping much.
Still looking for some new sponsors. If you know anyone who may be interested let us know.
Good Practice
The rain moved off and we had a great day for practice. With the temps in the mid 70's and bright sunshine we took to the track and had some good times. We completely changed our setup from last year and it seems like Nick liked it pretty much. The car was really stable and had plenty of bite. I think we can probably work with this setup and play a little from here.
The funniest part of the whole day was the look on everyone's face when they saw the old man jump into the back up car for a couple of practice sessions. We needed to brake in some new tires so I put on the suit and had a little fun. I gave Nick a little scare when one car spun right in front of me going in to turn one and I missed him by about three inches. I just gave him a taste of what I get every weekend. All in all a good day.
I Don't like this pattern
Well last weeks practice got rained out early so we figured "no big deal we'll get it next week". Here we are next week and guess what, its raining again. This is going to drive me crazy. We have some new things we want to try before the season gets started but it looks like we are going to have to go to plan "B".
We had some great weather this week right up to Friday night. I wake up this morning and bam nothing but rain. I just hope we don't get into one of these patterns where its nice all week long and than rains every weekend. Well one thing is for sure, I'm not the only one crying about it.
Well here it is a new season a time to start fresh and regroup. Hopefully we have shaken off the monkeys from last year and can get down to winning some races. Now that we have two cars we're going to make sure we have each car in perfect shape for each race and do a better job of preparing the cars for every races. No more short cuts. No excuses.
I want to take a minute to thank our sponsors who came back with us this year. Colonial Auction Services has been a tremendous help to us. They have been with us from the start and let me tell you we could never have done what we have without their help, thanks a lot Melvin.
Of course Ameritech Office Systems always plays a huge part in everything we do. Those of you that know the owner there know exactly what he does for day in and day out for Carlson Motorsports.
Just to let anyone know, if you know anyone who may like to help sponsor or advertise with Team 09 let us know. As you are aware it takes a ton of money to keep a race car up front and we are always looking for help. Last season was a good example of how things can turn bad and how much it can cost just to make it back to each race. We are still looking for a main stream retail sponsor that can utilize our team the way it would be most effective. What I mean is a company like Ledo's Pizza, Krispy Kreem Donuts or Utz Potato Chips that could use the power of personal appearances to draw people in off the street to then purchase the sponsors products. I think a lot of companys are missing a great opportunity here by not using the pull Legends Cars have especially with kids. So if anyone out there knows anyone in any size company that they think might benefit from advertising with Team 09 please let us know.
Special thanks.
After the disastrous couple of weeks a bit of light shined on us. As we were in the driveway switching parts from the wrecked "09" to the new "09" a friend from up the street stopped in to say hey. Wayne Duvall of Crownsville Transmissions came by, saw the carnage, and gave us a helping hand in the form of a sponsorship check. It was the only bit of light I saw this weekend. Wayne it was very generous of you and is greatly appreciated. Even though you said you didn't need your name on the car, you can be sure it will be, thanks again.
Give me a Brake !!!
Everyone says things come in three's, well this is four in a row. After spending the last two weeks repairing the damage from the last outing at ODS, we had the car in perfect shape and ready to fly. We got to ODS on Friday to practice and dial the car in for Saturday's race looking for some good results. After making about ten soft laps coming out of turn four Nick got into some oil laid down by the same car that T-boned us the previous race. The car snapped to the right and went hard into the turn four wall head on. First thing is thank God Nick was Ok, the Hutchins Device worked the way it is supposed to, and other then a bad wedgey his head is still on his body. But the same can't be said for the car. It jammed the oil cooler back into the motor punching two holes in the motor casing and broke the front frame back to the shock towers. This is going to be a bad one to fix. I'm hoping we can get away with just putting a front clip on the car and not a whole new frame again.
This brings us to what we did after the wreck. First thing is I need to say I'm sorry for the way I went off on the driver of the 34 car for laying down the oil. I was super ticked off and got a little crazy. Second thanks to Uncle Tony, Gina and Lee for jumping up and helping to get Nick a back up car that we went down to Richmond and picked up late Friday night. Saturday morning we thrashed to change the body on the two cars so that Nick would be driving what looked to be the same car that we had just destroyed the night before. It was pretty funny when we showed up at the track on Saturday. Just about everyone had heard about our crash and when we opened the trailer and pulled out the gold "09" everyone was stunned. They thought we had rebuilt the car over night.
To finally put the icing on the cake, after all the work the last two weeks, and all the travel, money and work to get the car ready for Saturday night, don't you know it started to rain just before the race. After all that work we get rained out. Oh well the car finally came back home in one piece. ha ha ha
This is getting old
Well this makes three DNF's in a row. Not to mention it must have been "09" night in the tower. Nick started 7th after a little slip up in qualifying. When they dropped the green Nick pressed his way up to 5th and when going in to turn one the #2 car drifted up just a little and Nick pulled down under him. But in the middle of one and two the #2 car moved down and Nick couldn't back out fast enough and the two cars got together sending the #2 car spinning. Nick was able to move around him and continue until the track for some reason decided Nick some how used his bumper to spin him and sent him to the back. No big deal the car was flying so Nick and Kyle could easily get back to the front. They both were passing cars like they were standing still. Nick had moved up from 31st to about 18th in just a few lap when a caution came out. On the restart Nick was at full speed when the green came out and passed about six cars on the outside (as you are allowed to do) and was up to about 10th or 11th when another caution came out. Well the track seemed to think Nick jumped the start and put him to the back again. Another restart, another 5 cars passed, another caution, and to the back again for Nick. Three different times they put him to the back. Which he never should have gone the first time. Needless to say he was not real happy about the situation and was determined to get back up front. As he steadily work his way up passing the same cars he had passed twice already, he came up on the #02 car, which was having a hard time getting around another car. When the #02 checked up and started to move up the track Nick dove down to pass him at full speed underneath. Just as he did the #02 car made a hard left, causing Nick to slam into his left rear ripping off our right front wheel. When the two cars finally spotted spinning and you thought the worst was over, the cars that run in the rear of the field slam right into Nick's stopped car. I think some of these "drivers" have to be color blind, or they don't know what yellow means. One car came flying in at just about full speed 7 seconds after the wreck was over and slammed into Nick's right rear. Thank God he hit Nick in the wheel and not the door. Nick was shook up pretty bad and was complaining of some pain in his ribs. After the medics checked him out he was ok and the pain went away quickly. When all was said and done I think six cars were tore up from what should have been only a two car wreck. Another great night at Old Dominion Speedway. wreckway
Good Luck, Bad Luck
Well once again we headed off to run at Southside Speedway on a Friday night. This time we managed to get there and back with out losing a single tire. Even though it took us forever to get there, at least we didn't have to buy any tires. That's where the good luck stopped. In practice the car was pretty bad so I did my usual thing. Everyone was giving me a hard way to go because I was tweaking so much, but when we got to the heat race that car was hooked up pretty well. Nick started 4th and by lap 3 had moved up to 2nd before a caution came out. On the restart when Nick laid that big size 16 shoe down he broke the throttle cable right at the pedal. So to the back we went for the feature. Now the car was working well so when they dropped to green flag Nick started eating up the back runners, moving up to 11th in 4 laps. But then the final shoe dropped when on the restart a couple of cars checked up pretty hard and Nick just caught the edge of a cars rear bumper and ripped off his front bumper. When the caution flew for debris on the track Nick got the old black flag for not having a bumper on the car. Since I usually spot from outside the track at Southside I couldn't help him with a bumper so I told him to stop in the pits where another Legends team was standing to ask if they could help us with a bumper. They couldn't have moved any slower if they tried so a Late Model crewman came over to help. But by the time he got the bumper on they had already restarted the race and we were a lap down. So rather then go back out a risk getting into a wreck for no good reason we just decided to sit it out. We're not really running for points at Southside, so other then being disappointed that we couldn't run to the front, it wasn't any big deal.
Ouch Again
Saturday started out looking pretty good. The first practice we had the car just about perfect. Nick made about 6 laps and brought her in saying the car was awesome. It was another super hot day and we were hoping the track wouldn't change too much for the feature. Nick qualified second with a pretty good lap and we were all happy.
At the start of the race Nick tucked in line in 4th place. The 2nd and 3rd cars were having their own problems, one being too loose and one too tight. Nick sat back and waited to see which one was going to wreck. The bad thing was he waited too long. His waiting aloud two cars to get under him, and when one got loose and pushed up into him he lost another spot. Well now he was finally ready to go after them. He got one spot back on the front stretch and coming out of four he was setting up to go after the next one. Just as he got hard on the gas a car spun up front and Nick climbed right up the back of the 02 car. I'm pretty sure when he came off the back of the car his steering was broken because even though the left front was turned to the left the car went straight in to the wall. One more shot from the 2 car and Nick's right front wheel stuck in the guard rail and Nick slid about 30 feet to another DNF for the season. The worst thing was we knew we had a cat that could have easily won that night. But I guess that is the same old story about racing. We'll get next time.
Strong run at ODS
Our first race on new motor turned out pretty well. It was a blistering hot day at Old Dominion and the lap times showed it. In qualifying we had to go through half the field before anyone broke into the 17's. Nick started 3rd and quickly took over the lead on lap 3. He did a masterful job of holding off the second place Klye Hendershot. I say masterful because the #2 car was definitely the faster car. Nick was able to hold him off for 22 laps with some awesome power from that new motor coming out of turn four. But on lap 22 the 00 car laid down oil all the way around the track. On lap 25 Nick hit a little bit of that oil and pushed up just enough that Kyle ( who drove a whale of a race) was able to stick his nose under Nick. Nick tried his hardest to get the car to bit but couldn't get enough to beat him back to the corner. So Nick ended up 2nd by about a car length. We hated to lose that first spot but we were glad that both Kyle and Nick drove a really clean race and didn't take each other out like we have seen so many other times this season. Great job guys.
I guess it wasn't to be
On Friday we set out to run at Southside Speedway in Richmond. Even though we left five hours before practice was to start that wasn't enough for Northern Virginia traffic. After four hours in traffic we hadn't made it half way. Then just when I was ready to pull out the Smith and Wesson we had a blow out on the trailer. By the time we found anyone who had a replacement it was now 6:30 and to add one more sign it started to rain. So off to Outback we went. I figured with that many signs we better not push it.
Beware: Nick has his learners permit
The race track has been unsafe for three years already, now the roads will be unsafe from the travels of the Big Foot. Nick finally got his learners permit on the "09"th of July. The roads may never be the same. When your out traveling the highways keep a sharp eye out for the one we call Big Foot.
Since he has been driving from the age of eight, I think he will probably do just fine but keep your distance just the same. You never know when he may go off and try to race you into turn two. If you notice any unsafe driving habits please call 1-800-My Bad.
Looking for more power
Even though we have had some pretty good runs lately have noticed we just didn't look like we were getting off the corners the way we used to. After a little checking inside the motor I decided it was time to send our motor to HSR for a freshing up. We had a couple of open weekends coming up so now looked like a good time.
Its probably good that we did get it down to Hank because he seemed to think it was hunting pretty bad. He was sure we were way down on power the way the valves looked. So after a rebuild and a bunch of money we hope to be even faster than we were. Once we brake it in we'll see what it can do. We will have a bunch of races coming up this month so hopefully we be able to win a few.
Ice Skating to the finish at ODS
With all of the drama we have had at Old Dominion this year everyone was hoping for a nice quite race. For most of the race that is exactly what we had. Until the last lap. Nick had been running 5th for most of the race. On the last lap Nick spun going into turn two. I thought it was just him until I saw a couple of other cars behind the trailers with him. It seems the leader had broken his oil cooler and laid down a bunch of oil on the track. The track didn't do a very good job of getting it up before they restarted the race and when they dropped the green flag all the leaders were side ways and drivers in the middle of the pack were in a pile. Luckily Nick got back into 5th and when the leader dropped out that made him 4th. Again after a half effort of cleaning the track they tried to restart the race with about the same results. Nick looped it again in the oil on the front stretch but was able to get back in line again. On the last restart Nick got a great start on the outside and could maybe have past the second place car but had to get on the brakes hard when the second place car came up to the wall. So he ended up 4th which was pretty good for a big guy on ice skates.
Great Run at Southside
Southside ran a double header last night to try and make up for the three rain outs they have had so far this season. We figured it would be a good time to get some time in to straighten out our troubles there. We just have never run well there. This Saturday was different though. We had a really fast car for this race.
The first race we were stuck right on the bumper of the fastest cars that run there. We had a good shot at a win because the top four were slamming each other around so much it was only a matter of time before someone would get out of shape and Nick could make a pass. Other than that you would have to bust the guy in front of you to move him out of the way and thats not how Nick drives. We were looking good in third or fourth until the leader got into the front stretch wall and Nick had to stand on the brakes to avoid nailing him. So we ended up 5th which was fine by us.
In the second race our car got even better. We were nose to tail with the top three but since the top three were so even it was basically follow the leader to the checkers. Considering the way we struggle there we came away looking pretty good.
First Run at Summer Shootout
Tuesday night was our first trip to Lowes Motor Speedway in Charlotte for the Summer Shootout. Considering this track is nothing like any track we have run before being that it is like racing in a parking lot. Its more like video racing when you slam your virtual car into the corners and see who comes out the other side. Never the less we did make the feature and finished 15th or so (not really sure yet). For being the first time there I know we didn't have the set up right yet but I think we can get a lot better next time. We could get into the corners well but had a bad push coming off. And if you can't get off the corners well here your going to have a hard time beating anybody to the next corner.
The worst part of the deal there was the heat. Its nice to be sitting in the infield of Lowes Motor Speedway waiting to race but there the 97 degree heat felt like 150 degree. All in all it was a good time . We met some friendly people and some gentleman racers for the most part. We'll see if we can't do better next time.
Victory at Last
Nick gets his first win at Old Dominion Speedway.
After the wreck we had on our last trip to Old Dominion we had to really bust our tails to get the car back together right. Considering the way we have been running lately I knew we had to make sure every little thing was checked and rechecked if we were going to get back to our old form.
Well after all the late nights we put in, it finally paid off. Nick started on the outside front row. After leading to first lap he was running second to Roger Austin Jr. The two of them were pulling away from the rest of the field until a caution bunched them up again. Somewhere around lap 18 or 20 Brain Curry got around Nick leaving in a solid 3rd place. We would have been perfectly happy to finish there but on the last lap the first and second place cars got together sending the first place car spinning. As we came out of turn four the flagman showed Roger the black flag giving the checkered flag to Nick for his first win.
Nick was so happy to finish second he didn't even realize he had won and drove into the pits. Once I realized what had happened we sent Nick back out to victory lane to receive his winning celebration.
Ed Cove's Recovery
We checked on our buddy Ed last night. He's finally out of bed but still not moving around to well. But he still has his sense of humor, as we had him holding his sore ribs as he laughed at Tony's attempts to pick up a wheel when he watched the video tape of the wreck. Ed always gets a kick out of Tony. Well keep getting better Ed and hopefully we'll see you at the track soon.
Scary Ride at ODS
Well we finally had the bad wreck everyone knew was coming at Old Dominion Speedway last night. The worst part about it was Nick and our good friend Ed Cove were in it. Nick is OK and Ed will be Ok but only after a trip to the hospital to check out his (hopefully only bruised) knee. Once again everybody thought they were going to win the race on the first lap and caused what could have been an even more serious wreck then it was.
On the ever first lap going into turn one everyone was bottled up when the 29 got into the side of the 33 which caused them to spin right in front of Nick. Just as Nick moved up to try to avoid the spinning cars Ed moved up to the outside of Nick and hit our right rear tire which sent him flying up and over Nick's car. As Ed flew over Nick his car rolled like a cork screw coming only about six inches from going over the wall out of the race track. Ed's car finally landed on his wheels (at least what was left of them). He was able to walk from his car to the ambulance but a little later took a ride to the hospital to get check over. Thank God Ed was not hurt any worse than he was. He is a good guy and I feel bad that we had any part of him taking that wild ride.
Ed's car looks like it will be a total loss and Nick's car has some major damage but is fixable. A ride like this one can really scare you and make you think twice about the sport you have chosen to partake in for your weekend fun. But Ed is a real good driver and I hope it doesn't scare him off from coming back to a sport that he loves to do. Hope you feel better quickly.
ODS Changes Date
Last weeks 200 lap Late Model race got rained out at Old Dominion Speedway and now puts a snag in the Legends Car schedule. The May 11 Legends Car race is being moved back to May 18. That's only a problem if you were trying to run for points at Southside Speedway too. Now you have to choose whether to run at ODS or Southside. Its not a huge problem for us but I know a few people who aren't real happy. What are you going to do, its not our playground.
Rained Out in Richmond
The poor guys at Southside Speedway can't get a brake. In the first three races they only managed to get one in. Last week a transformer blew out killing the lights and last night another rain out.
New T-Shirts for 2002
Here is the new T-shirt for 2002.
One
thing we 
noticed
last year was that some people knew the car but not Nick and some people knew
Nick but not the car. So the new design had to do one thing, introduce everyone
to Nick and connect him and the car together. We also caught so much grief last
year because there was nothing on the back of the shirt that we spent a bunch
more money to have a huge "09" and the sponsors put on the back with
Nick's signature. As you can see I think Terry from A.S.A.P screen
printing has done a fabulous job. If you need any creative marketing items
done he's the only guy you need to talk to. Check out out "Meet the
Sponsors" page for a link to their site.
The response has been fantastic. While racing in Florida we met another racer who is in the business of making T-shirts, he said he had never seen such a great design and asked for a shirt to pattern from. The coolest thing is to walk around and see people wearing a picture of your son's face on their shirt.
Welcome to our newest SPONSOR!
Carlson Motorsports is happy to welcome our newest sponsor.
Joseph P. Sweeney Home Improvment, Inc.
Just like Nick, Joe Sweeney Home Improvement is a fast moving and growing company. If you are looking for any type of home improvement from building a new deck, to adding an addition, to fine cabinet work give Joe a call or E-Mail him at joe2do4you@aol.com
Joe Sweeney Home Improvement Inc. is Licensed, Bonded and Insured so you can be sure any work you need done will be done right the first time. Joe treats every one of his customers just like he would his own family.
Thank you Joe. Nick looks forward to a good season with your ongoing support.
Who says we can't paint it ourselves ?
After we wrecked the car at Langley we knew we were going to need a new chassis and since we tore the body up a good bid we decided to get a new lighter body to cut down on the weight a little bit. So of course that meant we needed a new paint job to go with it.
After talking to a number of painters I know I came to one conclusion, I'm too stupid to do it myself. At least that was what all the painters would lead you to believe. But what they didn't know is you don't tell me I can't do something. Every painter I talked to would give me different advice. Everyone was usually the exact opposite of what the last one had told me. From what paint was best and easiest to use to what equipment I had to have to even come close to pulling it off.
So I did what I usually do, I read, I listened, I asked and finally I did. I will admit this was probably the scariest thing I have tried to do but after a few practice jobs I jumped right into it. First I painted all the small items like the front and rear fenders then the hood, trunk lid and the horse collar. They turned out pretty good. They may not win the best paint trophy in the World of Wheels Show but for a race car and my very first attempt they look pretty good. So then we had the two tone paint on the car to do. I am proud to say it is finished with only one little drip which I should be able to sand out without too much trouble. Once the car has a week to cure its off to the sign shop for lettering. We might just be ready for Florida after all.
( Click on picture to enlarge )
She's Almost Back
Sorry for the lack of new news on the web site. We have been spending a lot of time (and money) putting Rachel back together. Once we got into the project we found things that we thought we should go ahead and beef up while we were in the midst of rebuilding.
We now have an all new chassis with a new beefed up rear end and all new linkage. We also decided to replace the whole body with the new lighter fiberglass body. Both of these should help to give us an over all weight reduction. Add that to Nick's success shedding of a few pounds and we should be lean and mean for this coming year.
The next and final step in the come back of Rachel is her beautiful new paint job. This is the scariest part because I am going to try to do this myself for the first time ever. I have done small spot paint jobs but never a full two color job. Hopefully everything will go just fine and she will be as pretty as ever. Well time to get back to sanding see ya soon.
Click on picture to enlarge
Talk about exciting. Imagine you open the newspaper and bam there you are front page above the fold. When Nick did an interview with Craig Anderson of the Capital Newspaper he thought he might get a small mention on page 3 or 4, so you can just imagine his shock when he saw this huge picture staring back at him. I don't know how we're going to get his head back into the car this weekend.
With this season soon coming to an end we quickly find ourselves preparing for next season. One of the big things you must do to prepare is try to line up some sponsorship for the coming season. An article like this can really help to show a potential sponsor that your not just taking their money to have fun but that you are willing to do the work it takes to get noticed for you and your sponsors. Nick tries hard to promote a good image and would love the opportunity to help a sponsor realize the value and the draw that a stock car can bring to their store or product. If anyone is interested in having this up and coming driver promote their product please contact us through the Sponsorship Opportunities link. And again thank you to Craig Anderson of the Capital Newspaper for your help.
Man what a race!! We all most got it. Last night was one of the closest races I have seen all year. You can tell when a driver is hungry for a win and last night Nick was foaming at the mouth to snatch this one. With less then 5 laps to go Nick got under the leader twice but the car just wouldn't bite enough coming out of the corner to be able to slam the door on the "8" car. I have never seen the fans standing and cheering so much for a driver to win like they were for Nick last night. He had them on their feet as he pulled under the leader again on the last lap but came up half a car short at the finish line. Even his fellow competitors and crews in the pits were going nuts pulling for Nick to win this one. If cheers and waving fists in the air could translate to speed Nick would have won by a mile. It hurts to miss the win but it feels great to have that much support from your fans and fellow drivers.
We didn't make the Nationals in Las Vegas but there is a East Coast Nationals race in Langley Virginia next week that we are go to run. We have never raced at that track before so hopefully we the momentum from last night with us and pull off a good run there too. Check the race results page for the complete race results.
Getting Ready For The Big Race
Last night was practice for the big race today. Nick started out struggling to keep the car under him in the turns. Even though Craig spent hours setting the car up to make sure it was perfect, the car just wasn't responding the way we wanted it to. The best times we could get out of it was around 17.5 and .6's, not near enough. Out of the 15 or so cars at the track for practice Friday night I think we probably made more laps than anyone else. This was a good thing because we finally got the car close to where we want it to be. We finally got down into the 17.20's. The car still is just a little bit off but with a couple of hours practice today before the race I hope we can get it even better. Practice is one thing, what happens in the race is another. I guess we will find out tonight what the final deal will be. Wish us well.
Half way through the season we brought out the hero cards. After each race at Old Dominion Speedway the track lets the race fans come down into the pits. Kids and adults alike flock to the Legends Cars to see the drivers and the cars they were cheering for during the race. Nick has a pretty good following and stands for at least an hour after each race signing autographs and passing out hero cards. The cards have been a big hit. Looks like we will need to increase the number of cards for next year. We burnt through 500 cards in a matter of only four races. If it helps promote Nick and the sport of Legends Cars all the better.