Indoor season upon us

The start of the 2024 Season has finally come! 2023 was a humbling year. We struggled with silly things in the TQ to start the year. We had skips, wrecks, and just no luck to get us success. Then we built a new mod, and had engine issues after engine issues, but closed the year showing a lot of speed. The NEMA we were able to find a little success at Wiscassett Speedway, but it was a learning curve on how to drive with the wing and the increased down force it gives. We were able to finish on the podium in all 3 races with the Pro 4 Mod, and by the end of the year, I was ready to refocus, reset, and get to 2024.

Dad has been working extra hard in the shop. We have a new body, new paint on the chassis, and motors being refreshed as I write this. Hopefully, in the next week or so, the power plant will be going into the car, and we can start to focus on the small details to be ready for when tracks start to open up for practice. After the mod is ready to go, we will be focused on getting the Nema Midget ready as well as getting our second motor for the mod prepared. Last year was a struggle waiting for parts on the motor. Luckily for us, our engine builder Norm from APE, came up big with a borrowed SK motor to keep us turning laps and learning the new car.

For the past three seasons I have had the privilege to open the race season behind the wheel of the 34.5 TQ midget for Nick G. This off-season Nick, Mark, and Timmy made a huge change to the car by moving the fuel cell to a more strategic spot to help the setup. Each year we have been getting closer to the big goal of making the A main. I knew we just needed a little more speed and patience to make the A main! We took off to Allentown, PA for indoor race #1 of the year with high hopes.

The format is always fun during the indoor season, as it is two separate days of racing. Friday we unloaded with a lot of speed. Right out of the box, I could tell a huge difference with the fuel cell moved to the left side. The car was very consistent and had a lot of drive-off. We were solidly in the top 15 all day. We were a little off-in-time trials, but still had an excellent run. Our best run yet for an indoor time trial - P20. This puts us starting P5 in the heat with them taking the top 4 to the A Main. With the speed we showed all day, I knew we could compete, and possibly finally make our first A Main. Unfortunately, all hell broke out at the start of the race. We got bounced around, and on lap 2 the tires got pushed out. I was driving aggressively trying to get around a car, got the tire, and bent a few rods which ended our night. Very frustrating, but part of racing. It was too much damage to repair it for the B Main. It was now on to Saturday. Though indoor racing can be rough, as a racer when you know you have been given a car that can make the A main, and have speed, you get mad if you make mistakes. As it may not have been all my fault for wrecking, I still made mistakes that led to the car being wrecked. My crew worked hard Friday and Saturday to get her fixed. These guys always fight behind me, so Friday weighed even heavier on my shoulders. 

We had decent speed early in practice Saturday, but were just too tight. Mark and I have great communication which helps. We were 20th on the speed charts but knew we could be better. Each run we got more comfortable. We think by the time we got to the group time trails we finally hit on something, but unfortunately got caught behind a slow car and got a decent time, not a great time. We were 24th quick on the charts which put us starting 6th. Since I ran up on the guy so fast and I knew we were faster, I just had to remember we had a better car than 24th and had to take the heat race as it came. 

When you look at the heat race lineup and see 2 of the last 2 winners in it, you have to shut that stuff out and go run it as it comes. People may say you have the hardest heat race or stacked heat race, but we are all racers. We race and it’s what we do. I got a decent start. I got shuffled back to 7th, but the guy who moved me out of the way for 6th spun the next corner which put me right back to 6th. I knew we had a good car, but had to settle in and get laps in. On the restart, we fired off well. We were right there battled. On lap 4 or 5 the leaders got together. We had to restart again and this put us in 4th. Right on the restart I jumped to 3rd. They were taking the 4th. I was able to drive away from 4th and stay in 3rd. This put us into the A Main! This was a feat in itself, and I am so happy we finally put this car into the A Main against some of the best drivers in the nation. 

This put us starting 13th in the A-main. After a lot of thinking, even knowing the track may change, we kept the car the same. We fired off decent. Knowing it was a 40-lap race, which I know is a long race, I settled in and just stayed in line. We were going between 9th and 13th, and staying consistent. Unfortunately, around lap 10 I got indoors - and spun. This put us in the back. We guessed a little wrong on the car and just did not have the noise we needed to pass. We held on the whole 40 laps to stay on the lead lap and finished 18th. We are very happy to make the A main, but always want more. It was a great first A main and we have a lot of notes on track changes to better us next time. I am excited about AC now. To back up this run. 

I have to give a huge thank you to Nick G. for letting me run his car, Mark G for all the changes to the setup all weekend, Timmy for all his hard work in the shop, and at the track. Normally he is my eyes in the sky at the track, but this week he made sure the car stayed together. Also, a huge thank you to David, Brett, and Josh for all the hard work. This A main was for all of us.

Another huge thank you to Mertz Racing, Ashaway Performance Engines, Kluth Racing, and NHOU for all the support. If it was not for our partners we could not have this success. This was truly a fun weekend. We are now on to AC to back up this run and get in both A mains. We are also aggressively putting together the mod schedule. We have a good idea but as always the more support we can get the more races we will run! Good start to 2024! Now to make it continue!