Calhan- Bummer

We never made it out on to the track in Calhan.

So bummed because many sponsors, friends and family were coming out to see us. When Justin’s dad pushed him to do a practice start back in the pits, the car locked up and spun in a 360. He almost slammed into other cars but managed to hold it together. They found out something was wrong with the power steering so Justin and I raced back to the shop in town to pick up the backup car’s part. But when we got back, they decided that the parts didn’t match.

By this time, J’s dad also found a high pressure power steering line connection that was stripped and very unsafe so they decided it wasn’t worth the risk. We’ve seen people get burned if linkage is not tight. Huge let down but we'll make it up this weekend in WY.

Montana Race Weekend

This was a really long weekend for us traveling 1700 miles round trip to race on some new tracks. The first night we were in Belgrade, Montana at Gallatin Speedway. It is a tight 3/8th mile, medium banked track. We started 2nd outside row with 7 guys in our heat race. It was tough because the setting sun was right in the eyes of the drivers coming out of turn 2 through the straight-away. It was like driving down the highway with your eyes closed. We still managed to place 5th in the heat as the locals knew the track better than us outsiders.

We started the Main event 2nd to last row. The car really handled well on the bottom side of the track. There was only one wreck during the event so Justin got to run 21 straight laps. He learned a lot about running the low line and finished 13th.

We left the track at midnight and drove 2 hours to a race friend’s house and stayed on his property with other team rigs. Very late night! The next day the yard looked like a sprint car heaven with teams cleaning and working on their cars for the next race there in Billings. It was great to hang out, bbq and get to know some of the teams outside of the tracks. We all caravanned to BMP Speedway in Bozemen, MT and pit together for the next race that night.

This was our second flat track and it was super dry slick conditions. Justin pulled inside front row and led half the heat race but the car got really loose and lost traction. He felt like he was driving on ice! So he started 9th row in 18th position of his main event and half way through the race his car got hooked up and he started passing people and looked awesome out there! He ended up taking 14th and would have gained more if he had just a few more laps. Justin says this is the most fun he has even had in the car. He flat footed the track and the handling was so smooth. This race was such a confidence booster and will blaze a trail for the rest of the season. We can almost taste our first win!

Special thanks to all of the teams who helped us this weekend. Your knowledge and friendship means more than you know.