07/19/2008
Tonight we went to Eldon the bad weather had cleared the area and racing resumed at Eldon. We finished 3rd in the heat race putting us in the redraw for the feature. With luck finally coming our way we drew the Pole for the feature. The car was running well and we were able to lead every lap of the feature and came up with the WIN!!!! This was the first time Todd has won at Eldon. We must have run second 100 times be was never able to get a win. The car handled well and all the other drivers did a great job of respectful, heads up driving. The SportMod/B-Mod class looks to be the most competitive class with all 10 cars with ½ lap of each other. We think this will be a great class in the coming years. With the continued bickering about the type of A-Mod rules that will be run in Southeast Iowa and Northern Missouri we are now equiped to run both IMCA SportMod and USRA B-Mod rules. We plan on running Bloomfield and Eldon next week hope to see you there.
07/18/2008
Heavy rain Thursday night and sprinkles all day Friday canceled the races at Bloomfield again.
07/17/2008
We went to the Harris Clash; there was a huge field of cars. There were 12 A-Mod heats and 6 SportMod heats. We started the heat race on the third row inside and before completing the first lap we were involved in a crash in turns 3 and 4. Ruining the front left wheel and tire moving us directly to one of the three B features. The heat races were such that no repairs were allowed. We were scheduled to start in the 2nd of three B Features but rain canceled the races before we could take the track.
07/13/2008
Sold the Skyrocket and several related parts. Still have the 355 IMCA engine a few other items.
07/11/2008
Tonight was the first night out with the new car. We discovered steering problems in hot laps. Turned out that the steering quickener (1.5:1) was not what Todd was used to driving. A quick trip to Art’s Racemart trailer solved the issues. We started the feature from the tail and looked strong for two laps. After completing two laps the engine began losing power. Upon further inspection the stock heads had a broken rocker arm stud. We will get this fixed and plan on attending the Harris Clash on Thursday.
07/07/2008
Todd spent the holiday weekend in Branson with the family. Brad went to Missouri Saturday and picked up the new SportMod. The Skyrocket is for sale and before even getting the new car home there were calls about selling or trading it.
07/05/2008
We have decided to switch to the SportMod/B-Mod Class with a different chassis. This should allow us to provide our sponsors with a higher profile and put some fun back in racing. No matter who or what is promoted this year or next we will be in a position to run competitively and represent our sponsors. The Skyrocket and A-Mod parts are for sale.
06/28/2008
Eldon was canceled again because of rain and flooding. Went to 34 Raceway in Burlington. They had a huge field of cars and even had to run a B-Main for the modifieds. We qualified for the feature by running 5th in our heat race. The track was rough and heavy in the feature and we worked our way up to 7th from our starting position of 14th. With a record number of cautions the race turned in to a rolling demolition derby. The usual suspect ran into the rear of the car for several laps and a few new demo drivers banged into the door panels. With 4 laps remaining Todd pulled off allowing the fiasco to continue without us. This left us with a 15th place finish with only sheet metal damage to car. The good new is the passenger side door is still pretty straight. The later races were reigned back in by the flagman with the use of the Black Flag and sending several drivers to the rear.
06/27/2008
Rained out again
06/21/2008
With Eldon off for the Fair we headed to 34 Raceway. There was a great field of cars despite road closures due to flooding along the Mississippi River. Car count was down for the Modifieds only 22 cars but that was still impressive compared to other tracks in the area. We started the Heat race 6th and were passing the leader for the win when the leader almost lost it. We backed out realizing that heat races do not pay and finished second by less than a car length. We had not done our home work and reviewed the rules for 2008 and were disqualified in the heat race for not running muffler. We hated this but you have to respect a track that has rules and then follows them to the letter. Installed the mufflers and started the Feature from the rear of the field. We were able to race our way back to 10th. The car handled well and we feel good about the run. It is a lot of fun when everyone in the field is racing for position and you are not just riding around.
06/20/2008
It was a nice night for racing. Totally missed the setup for the feature and was able to hang on for a respectable 4th.
06/14/2008
Rain and the treat of flooding canceled the races at Eldon. With the overwhelming need to race we headed to 34 Raceway in Burlington. With a great car count and hug fan turnout it was a beautiful night for racing. We totally missed the setup in the heat race and were just able to hang on. The feature is a better story, while the setup was not great we were able to come from 20th to 10th.
06/13/2008
Rain and the treat of flooding has canceled the races again.
06/07/2008
Cloudy conditions and the treat of rain did not stop the races at Eldon. With a few scattered shower in the Ottumwa area we thought that Mother Nature would strike another blow to racing. We pulled in after a couple of laps in the heat race because we were unable to get the new engine to produce the RPM's needed to be competitive. Between the heat race and the feature we replaced the distributor, as it seemed to be the cause of our continued troubles. We started the feature at the tail and were working up nicely. With just a few laps in we checked up to avoid hitting a slower car and the 94 had no where to go and hit us hard in the left rear. After the wreckers separated our cars we were able to rejoin the field again at the tail. We finished with a respectable 2nd place finish passing two cars on the final lap. It was a great race and gave our sponsors their moneys worth tonight. The announcer did a great job throughout the race mentioning primary sponsors names and announced all our sponsors at the end.
The Wapello County Fair announced that this years Fair Race will be running "Open A-Modifieds". We are saddened to hear that they have chosen to open the field and give an unfair advantage to those cars that are not supporting the track on a weekly basis. Needless to say we will NOT be attending this years UN-FAIR race for the first time since we began racing. From the discussions in the pits we do not expect any of the IMCA type A-Modifieds you have been watch the past weeks to be there either. The other classes are still unclear if they will be running Outlaw/Open type hobby stocks and B-Mods.
06/06/2008
Our engine builder delivered and installed the new/fixed engine that we had started the year with. Hopefully our engine program is back on track and those troubles are behind us. Bloomfield has cancel because of the large amount of rain they received on Friday morning. We had hoped that sunshine and heavy winds would have dried it enough to go racing but mother nature has not been kind to us or the farmers this year.
05/31/2008
Another nice evening for racing. The heat race was not a strong finish, we simple over drove the corner and dropped to 5th. The feature started out OK. Our old backup engine (stock rods and crank) had seen its better days. We pushed the engine one lap to many and on the final lap it let go dropping us to a 6th place finish. The new engine should be back for next weekend's races. Hope to see you there.
05/30/2008
Heavy rain again this week in Southern Iowa has canceled the races at the Bloomfield Speedway. This afternoon and Saturday look promising for racing Saturdays scheduled race at Eldon. Hopefully good drying conditions and hard work will allow Eldon to run. We will hope that June offers better conditions than May for racing and farming.
05/24/2008
Rain has again canceled racing for this weekend.
05/23/2008
Again the rain in Southeast Iowa has canceled the races at Bloomfield. Everything is ready to go, we will hope that Eldon has had enough time to dry out for Saturday night's races.
05/17/2008
Again the weather was great for racing. Friday nights efforts to get the engine replaced paided off. We were able to finish 3rd in the feature at Eldon. The track was in great shape and even with an engine that was down on power we were competative. Missed the setup just a little but we were able to learn a great deal from the race. Hope to see you all next week end at Bloomfield and Eldon. Bloomfield will have the 305 Sprints in addition to the regular classes.
05/16/2008
The weather offered a great evening for racing but engine failure in hot laps rained on our evening. We headed home early to get s jump on the repairs needed to race Saturday night at Eldon.
05/11/2008
Our belief Friday night was correct the cam shaft had a lobe come off and another one starting. While uncommon cam shaft failure occurs from time to time. We contacted our engine builder Saturday morning and he dropped what he was doing and came to the shop to resolve the issue. We were able to get a new cam shaft installed and everything reassembled by Saturday afternoon. We loaded the car and headed to Eldon for the season opener. The weather failed to work with us on Saturday evening we drove in sprinkes most of the way and the races were canceled shortly after we arrived. The long range forecast looks promising for next weekend with only a slight chance for rain for Friday and Saturday.
05/10/2008
The 2008 racing season is finally underway. It was a beautiful Friday evening for racing. We started the evening with some engine trouble. During hot laps the engine had a rocker arm nut come loose. We spent most of the evening getting this fixed and were able to start the feature. About 6 laps in the feature engine again lost power. We were still able to finish the feature with a respectable 5th place finish. Inspecting the engine at the track we believed that the cam shaft had a failure.
05/09/2008 1:38pm
Looks like we are going racing finally. The message on the track phone says we are good to go for the Bloomfield season opener. Hope to see you there.
05/08/2008
Friday night looks promising. There is only a slight chance of rain Friday. Saturday is still too hard to tell the chance for rain in the afternoon is 40%. Everything is ready to go racing so we will wait and see if the weather will work with us this week.
05/02/2008
For the third week rain has canceled racing for this weekend at Bloomfield and Eldon.
04/27/2008
Rain again has kept the car in the garage. The forecast is not looking good for this weekend but you all know how good the long-range forecasts are. We will pray for good weather and hopefully see you at the track this weekend.
04/25/2008
Thanks for checking out the first addition of the 2008 blog.
Our plan was to have racing news for you but for the second week rain in Southeast Iowa has postponed racing at Bloomfield Speedway. We are thankful that it is not snowing but are very disappointed that we have not been able to go racing. Scotland County Speedway in Memphis Missouri has a practice session scheduled for Saturday and we plan to attend if rain does not interfere.
If the rain holds off we will be racing next weekend Friday at Bloomfield and Saturday at Eldon.
Check back for results and pictures hopefully they will be about racing and not the weather.