Team Crown

Husets 6-8

What a fun track to race on tonight!  It was about as racey as it's been all year, and I was happy to be a part of that one!  We won the first heat from the outside pole (again....I know we've been REALLY lucky drawing so far).  The invert saw us starting inside 4th row for the feature.  I knew this one wasn't going to be easy by any means.  We had a few decent, and a pretty darn good car starting in front of us.  On the initial start we were in a little bit of trouble with the car in front of us not going as well as he probably should have.  Coming off of turn 2 we were in 10th place after losing some spots.  By the first caution on lap 3 though we'd moved back up to 7th.  Another caution right away saw us still in 7th with 14 laps to go.  Over the next 4 or 5 laps we moved into 3rd and catching the leaders before they got to lapped traffic.  Once they got into lapped cars we were able to really reel them in, and might have had a shot at them had no other cautions come out, but then with 4 laps to go the leader got upside down in turns 1 and 2, which put us 2nd behind Jesse Drost.  We made a few adjustments on the red and were able to pass him on the restart for the win.  Now with that said, Jesse did a phenomenal job tonight.  He's been snake-bitten at Husets a little, so for him to run strong was good to see.  Remember me saying last week that Casey Abbas was going to win soon?  Well he probably would have beaten us if that race would have been 1 or 2 laps longer.  He was strong tonight, and put on an excellent performance.  I was glad to be a part of that race no matter where we'd have finished in those 3 spots.  It was an excellent race and I'm sure the fans got their money's worth tonight!  Not sure what's going on this weekend yet....I'll be in Chicago on vacation so if Joe wants to bring the car over for Jody to drive, that's what will happen.  Otherwise Jody will run our number to keep the points going, and we'll be back the following week.  I sure wish Bern would have been there!!!  He would have liked this one!

6-1 Husets Results

A wet track and hot weather greeted us for the races, which saw a rough track for the 360 cars all night.  I'd almost rather race on a rubber down track than on something that is as rough as the tracks have been in the area lately.  Once again we started on the front row of both the heat and the feature.....while I'm not complaining at all, it would be more fun to see if we can pass up through the field too.  Last night was one of those nights when you want to start up front though due to the roughness and how heavy the track was for our class.  We won our heat, and were supposed to start in the second row outside position, but the guy starting in front of us went MIA and we got moved up.  Randy Droescher got a good jump on the start and led the first lap or two, but after a red we made a minor change and the car rolled the corner a little better I thought and we ran to the lead pretty quickly and held off the challenges of Brent Vonk on a few restarts.  All in all I thought it was a pretty boring race for everyone....not much passing and not alot of fun when it's like that.

A few thoughts though before I go.  I know this is our website, and it may seem strange, but I'm going to hype a few others now.  I thought Cody Hansen last night looked pretty darn good.  They've got good stuff, and once they hit their stride this year they'll be battling for wins regularly.  Casey Abbas is another that certainly hasn't seen the results they're capable of either.  He's shown he can run up front, and really could have beaten us last Sunday night, but I think it would have taken a move that would have put his car and others in jeopardy so I commend him for showing maturity.  I've been impressed with Brock Dump, Kevin Flowers, and Eric McGillavary as well.  Each of them has shown steady improvement in the last few years and while 2 of the 3 have won a feature this year, I'm sure they'll all be right there in the future.  Chad Meyer has looked pretty darn good this year I think in the 410 class.  It's nice to see him getting back to the form he was in prior to the last year he drove the 1w.  Justin Henderson has shown that being on the road with the World of Outlaws has made him better all around.  He's been fast this year and looks really good.  Some of the guys with the worst luck.....Mark Dobmeier and Johnn Cressman!  Geez, it seems like both of them battle something each week.  When it rains, it pours as they say, and hopefully they'll get the monkey of their backs soon because they both could win races at that place.

That's about it for now, but we'll be in Worthington this Friday and Husets once again for Sunday's show (big thanks to Bernie!).  See everyone at the races!

Schedule, Thoughts, and Answers

Our plans as of now are to be at Husets again this weekend.  We will be racing in Worthington next Friday, and on to Husets once again on Sunday.

Randy asks, "Do you have any plans to race Jackson?".  The only answer I can give at this time is we will be there in time, but when I can't really say.  I'll be sure to post when we decide we'll be there on a Saturday a few days ahead of time atleast.

I appreciate the feedback from Randy....it's great to be able to answer questions that people have.  Randy, to you I say this....please come and introduce yourself to us....I've got a present for you.

Here's where the thoughts portion of this comes in.  There are a few reasons we haven't made Jackson a regular track for us.  Number one is the configuration of the track is pretty hard on engines.  We want to go into the part of the year when the races are paying good money and the Nationals come around with our best stuff ready to compete with the big names and cars.  I just think the engine wouldn't be where it needed to be if we raced there alot.  Now if we had a third engine that would probably change my thoughts on that situation, but that's just not the case at this time.  Another reason is it's hard on tires and cars as well.  You have atleast $400 in tires every night to run up front there, and there are alot of rocks and debris in the track which has eaten up a few wings and radiators on our car just in the few times we've been there in the last 3 years.  I've spent $800 on parts (not including tires) for my car racing there in one night without even hitting anything!  Yet another reason is we just don't have a sponsor tie to that area that brings us that way for their marketing purposes.  I would love it if we could find sponsorship east of here to make a good marketing campaign for both of us in Jackson.  I just don't have any idea where to start in that area, nor do I have any ties there to get started.

Husets at this time presents a few good things for us.  We do have a few sponsors who are there weekly, or are in the area.  We've done well there so far, and that helps curb some of the cost of tires which actually hasn't been too bad there yet.  We've gotten so much positive feedback from fans after the races there it's just been a joy!  We look up in the stands and see 2500 potential fans and sponsors as opposed to the 800 that Jackson has.  I know with the way the economy and fuel prices have been it's tough for anyone to part with extra money they have....as it is with us!!

Hopefully we'll keep going the way we have been so far, and keep having fun!  We LOVE to have people come out of the stands and tell us they like what we've been doing.  Without the fans, nothing is possible in this sport.  You folks are the ones that pay to come and see us, which allows the track to pay us for what we love to do!  There's nothing I'd rather be doing on a weekend than competing and getting to see all the people after the races!  Hope to see everyone at the races this weekend!

Weekend Results

We had the kind of weekend you wish for going into a 2 day show.  Good (lucky) draws put us on the front row of both heats we raced, and we managed to win both of them.  Although Monday's heat was a little interesting.  We broke two jacobs ladder straps (the jacobs ladder is what hold the rear end in the car side to side), and got into the wall pretty hard, but were able to keep going and managed to hang on.  Sunday night we started outside the front row, and completely missed the setup.  We're extremely fortunate that Jody was able to drive well enough to hang on and win that race.  Casey Abbas ran us hard the entire time, and ran a heck of a race.  It was nice to see him battling us hard, and I'm sure in the near future he'll be standing in victory lane once again.  Monday's feature is more of what I imagined we should have been able to do the first night.  The track was pretty rough, and really tricky to maneuver with it being so slick up to the cushion.  I was pleased that we were able to run to the front after starting 8th, and felt a little redemption after Sunday's race.  Scary crash of the night was Cody Hansen in the feature getting turned into by a lapped car.  Not a good thing, and the car was pretty messed up.  Luckily he looked fine in the pits after the race though, and I'm sure they'll be back in full force next Sunday.

You know, when it's going good in this deal, it goes good.  When it goes bad, it can go really bad.  We're just lucky to be going pretty good right now.  That being said, once again we're hearing the cheating rumors, and it's all over the message boards I see again, which is fine.  I'll stand by my statement last year....if anyone wants to put up the $500 protest fee that ASCS has, they can check it out all they want.  I can save everyone the trouble and the money though, because we're 100% legal.  'Nuff said I think.  Hope to see everyone at the races again!

One more note for the schedule

We have been asked if we'll be racing in Worthington on June 6th, and the answer is yes, we will be there.  We're actually looking forward to racing in our hometown.  It'll be nice to race, and just run down the street to be home already!

Racing This Weekend

We'll be racing at Husets again this weekend on Sunday night, and I'm sure a return on Monday night is imminent.  At the moment we don't have plans to race at Jackson in the next few weeks, but that could change as we go along.

5-18 Husets

It was a pretty good night for us at Husets.  We had the car pretty good all night, and had the fastest car once again, but as they say, "The fastest car doesn't always win".  The track actually started to take rubber close to the cushion, and we could only manage a second place finish after starting 11th.  We're pretty happy with the way it turned out.  The car is in one piece and we didn't have any problems.  We're supposed to have our other engine back this week, and we'll probably run it to make sure everything is alright with it, and then we'll see what happens from then on.  Hope to see everyone at the races!

Husets Results

It was a decent night overall with a heat win and second place run in the feature.  We had our car pretty tight, so we couldn't roll the track like we really wanted or needed to.  Jody did a good job with what he had to work with, and we actually took the lead.  Our lead gave way though when Jody was coming through 3 and 4 and Brock Dump came under us.  Jody could have tried to run around him, but thought better and brought the car home.  It was a great race with Cody Hansen right in tow as well.  You win some of those races and you lose some of those races, and it was our turn to lose one.  We'll see if we can't get him a better car next time, and things could turn out better.  Everyone have a great week!

Sometimes it just isn't your night

I was pretty nervous about racing going into last night after all the engine woes we'd had at the end of last year, and wondering if we'd found them.  I'm confident we're back in the game though now!  All in all we're pretty happy with our performance last night.  Gremlins forced us to a bad finish with one of the best cars on the racetrack.  We drew well, so we were able to start on the pole of the heat which we won, and we started 3rd in the dash after the redraw.  That's when things took the turn.  We blew a line for our wing slider right away and lost power steering, so Travis pulled in not wanting to wreck anything.  That saw us starting 10th behind a very good field of cars.  Right away we were pretty tight and ran alright, but weren't lightning fast.  The red came out for a violent crash (Mike Sitzmann and I hear he's alright, but sore), and we made a few adjustments and that's when the car came alive.  Moving into 4th on lap 14, the mag cap caused the engine to just die and unfortunately for Chuck Swenson it was right in front of him.  I feel bad anytime we get involved in something and we're kind of the cause of it.  He had nowhere to go, and ended up flipping.  The car wouldn't refire so we knew we had a problem.  It's pretty heartbreaking knowing your lap times (people in the stand taking lap times gave us this information, so I can't be sure....but I'll take their word for it) are the best on the track only to have something like that happen.  Apparently in the heat we were a second faster than anyone else that hit the track in the heats, and in the feature we were a tenth faster than anyone else, so we know we're going good right now.  It's on to Huset's tomorrow night, and we'll see if we can pull another win out.  See everyone at the races!

Finally some racing in the area

It's about time the weather straightened out enough for us to get some racing in the area.  We were pretty good at Husets last night, and pretty lucky as well.  Starting outside the first row of the heat race, we managed to get a decent start and win decisively which gave us the 3rd row inside starting position for the feature.  That's where it gets interesting.  The first lap, the car starting in front of us (which we dove under going into the first turn) spun causing a big pile up in turn 1 and 2.  The restart saw us starting outside second row, and inside of 2 laps Jody was able to make his way to the lead.  While passing a few lapped cars, one of them spun and almost collected us.  It was a nice piece of driving on Jody's part and he kept from getting the car tore up.  It looked as if we were going to have some pretty stiff competition as Cody Hansen and Casey Abbas were coming strong mid race.  Following a few cautions, we stayed out in front for our first win of the season (hopefully not the last).  It's always nice when you can get that first win under your belt early in the year to start everything off on a good note.  Nice runs by the two mentioned above, and they're going to be ones to look out for as the year progresses.

Next up:  Jackson this Friday with Travis Whitney driving, and most likely Husets again with Jody.  See everyone at the races!