Valentine Speedway 1st 360 Race - Loving the Underdog

We headed to Glenrock Wyoming for our first 360 race of the year. It was great to meet up with many of our 360 friends that we hadn't seen since last summer, including Jeremy McCune, who puts on a fun show and always makes sure the fans get to see a good race. There were also some 305 Colorado guys there so we would have a fun weekend.

We really enjoy racing at Valentine Speedway because the owners really know how to take care of a dirt track and put a lot of time and effort into making the track the best it can be.

The first night had 23 cars, which was a lot for this small track. All of the cars side by side, they filled the entire front stretch. Justin had his work cut out for him, pulling the last row of the first qualifying heat. He was happy to be back in the 360 and quickly adapted to the power but we missed the set up, so the car was too loose and he took a 5th place finish in his heat.

 

We were then pulled for the dash for cash but once on the track the car made a horrible screaming noise so Justin pulled off and we soon discovered that the gear set was bad. We missed the dash but still got to run the main event.

This made passing extremely difficult as many of the cars at the back were tough to navigate around. Justin aggressively drove from 23rd place to 10th when disaster struck. A driver who Justin passed clean, decided to plow through him in the straightaway which caused Justin to flip and land upside down. It was incredibly scary for everyone, including Justin who was hanging upside down until the safety crew was able to pull him out. April tried to run out onto the track to see if her husband was ok, but was held back and had to wait (for what felt like an eternity) to know if he was ok. It was obvious that he was ok when the crowd roared their happiness to see him emerge and walk across the track, back to the pits.

 

This was an incredibly frustrating end to the night, not only for the high expense of broken parts but also the lack of judgment by the driver who hit Justin which cost us a good finish. Justin was/is still in a lot of pain but he was very thankful for his safety equipment which did it's job. It also required a super late night and early morning of assessing the damage, figuring parts loss and replacement and then putting everything back together again.

Thankfully we were able to rebuild the car in the hotel parking lot with help from fellow drivers/teams. Special thanks to the Valentine track gypsy, JJ who helped dissemble the wreckage and after we fed him, he disappeared.

Saturday, we got the track late and scrambled to make sure that the engine was still alive, which thankfully roared to life...first start. Justin pulled another bad position as last row of 3rd heat. He used his heat race mostly to make sure that the car was ok after the wreck. He felt good about the car but continued to use the cash dash to shake down the car. We ended up flying an old wing which has the old race colors so the car looked pretty retro.

For the main feature we decided to tighten the heck out of the car due to the dry slick track and knowing that we were starting at the back of the pack. Good decision as Justin began to pick off cars one by one. He avoided two major wrecks including a guy that tried to slide job Justin but missed and ended up in the catch fence.

He claimed 8th place from the very back and had a blast doing it! Justin as also awarded hard luck award and received a new front axle which replaced the one destroyed the night before.

All in all, an expensive weekend but much knowledge was gained along with new fans and friends in the pits. People always love the underdog!

Awesome 305 Race Community

This 305 race season has been great so far. There has been a lot of learning since we have discovered there is a major difference from 360 to 305 in setup along with how the tracks are prepped. Justin has had to learn how to drive with less horsepower along with dealing with tracks that are super dry. Justin has had consistent finishes and is improving every race.

We have had a great time building relationship with this community and it reminds us of our early 360 days where people still laughed together. We were even racing with some of these people back then and they are happy to see us back at it after our accident. People are shocked that we have not given up and they are very supportive of our return.

It has also been wonderful to race in Colorado! The shorter drives are so nice but it's even better that we have the opportunity to build a local fan base and have the support of local sponsors.

Special thanks to our new sponsors, Made in the Shade Blinds!

Also to Scott with The Huger Group Real Estate.

Both are local to Colorado Springs and offer wonderful business to Colorado so please support them and check them out! And as always, a shout out to continuous sponsors including IronWolf Designs, Dale's Paint and JBlanco.

The travel has been nice with only one upset while driving through Denver. Thanks to a motorcycle driver waving us down, we found out that we had blown the middle tire of the trailer so we had to pull over to change that. And then just miles from home there was an explosion that sounded like a bomb went off which turned out to be a semi tire blowing. Wow, that was loud! Thankfully there are 7 other tires to compensate so we could get home.


Racing is always an adventure and this family loves every minute of it! We've also have a new pit crew member, Hailee (April’s niece), who is now a huge racing fan. She never misses a race and is a great help on the crew and has also learned to drive the atv.

We will be racing in Calhan County Fair on July 25th and we also plan to have a 360 weekend in Wyoming at the end of the month so keep an eye out for us.

2015 - Back In The Saddle Again!

It's been awhile since we've updated this blog because 2014 was a bust since we blew an engine the first race of the season. So we  spent the rest of 2014 rebuilding and planning 2015. But we have good news and would like you to meet the new addition to the race car family...

2015

One of the biggest changes for this year was to invest in a 305 Sprint Car! A new division opened up in Colorado which was exciting for us with the opportunity for local sponsors and nearby tracks. We had some learning to do and found a great engine builder right here in the Springs...McCabe Motorsports. They built an awesome engine for us and we created a new car.

We've only completed a few races this year due to all of the rain. There is a new learning curve with these cars. Even  though they are basically the same frame, wings, etc...the engine is smaller and handles differently. "Not as much horsepower to pull'ya outta the corners!" says Justin. They also overheat easy, which caught us off guard in Holyoak, CO when Justin was gaining on lead cars and was hooked up. His car overheated and he had to pull off the track. Huge bummer!

The 305 events don't have push cars like the 360 events do, so the crews have to use their ATV's to fire off the cars. So April quickly learned how to push Justin out onto the track...which is always an adventure. Like the time when the track guys over-watered the staging area and April (plus her niece who was riding along) got spattered in mud! Dirt Girlz Rule!!

We are also excited to be hanging with friends who we raced with back before the accident. These people are super fun to hang out and race with so we are thrilled to be back in their community.

We still plan to run some 360 events and may work them into a 305 weekend. We look forward to seeing what God does this year and are just happy to be out there again after so much time of rebuilding and healing. Make sure you check out our 305 schedule and come cheer us on at a local track!!

2013 Race Season Review

Favorite Highlights from 2013

* Favorite race event

Valentine Speedway, Glenrock, WY- 1^st Heat Race win in a 360 sprint event!

Heading into Glenrock Justin had high hopes for this short track being that it fits his driving style and equipment capabilities. He drew the inside pole position for his heat race and at the drop of the green flag Justin left everyone in the dust.

* Favorite race weekend

Justin making his first Lucas oil National tour “A” feature

Justin got out for hot laps and was happy with the car except the engine wasn’t running quite right. We got the issue figured out and prepared for the heat race. The pill draw placed Justin in the first heat, second row, inside. In his zeal to be back on the track, he spun his tires on the start but was able to still finish sixth which put him at the back of the A feature.
The main event started well but by lap two, another slid into the 05, pushing the car against the wall, bending the top wing severely to the left. This made the car extremely difficult to drive but he was able to hold string and bring home a 9^th place finish. Justin’s words on handling the tweaked wing…”with the top wing bent, I had to man-handle the car to keep it off the wall while maintaining speed and position. It was an incredible workout and I felt like I went 100 laps!” The great night amped us up for the next race in Jetmore.

Justin had his sights set on qualifying for the A feature with the National Tour. We had a slight mishap in our hot lap session. As he was coming out of turn 4, the top wing posts snapped and the wing fell forward and completely blocked his vision. We quickly fixed the wing and he headed out for his heat race for 2^nd row inside gaining the position needed for the transfer spot to the A main. 

  The main event started out with a bang when green flag was dropped, the cars roared into turn 1 and the middle of the pack turned into a 7 car pileup.  The 05 crew had a perfect view of Justin’s miraculous save. April says, “I was holding my breath, just praying that I’d see that bright green wing top when all of the sudden, we see the 05 do a Dukes of Hazard of the track edge, into the grass, drifting and gunning it around the side of the track to pop back up and gain several positions. It was heart racing and exciting to see him handle the car the professionally!”
Justin restarted in the 12^th position and several laps later the track started to go dry-slick. With a combination of high winds and bad track conditions, I decided to pull off half way through to save our equipment. This turned out to be a great decision because there were many other red flags that could have collected the 05.

*Race Shop progress

Our new race shop has been finished and will make us more efficient in the seasons to come.

 *Race Rig Upgrade

We decided to upgrade from our previous rig as it was not working out as planned. We needed something stronger, more dependable and with more room. We are thrilled with our more efficient set up and have enjoyed a few race trips already. It can carry 3 cars, has a work area, living quarters and the semi can handle the load.

The rig has been christened with the name Redemption.

*Thank you to our sponsors

To God Be The Glory, IronWolf Designs, Dales Paint and Supply, Spotlight Website Design, AMP graphics

Special Thanks to our families and friends. We couldn't do this without you guys.

Patty (mom) & Hank Crew Chief Medlock

The Holder Family

Ruth and Alyn Wolf

Nick Medlock

...and a shout out to our anonymous sponsors!

Kansas- Blown Engine Update

It’s been an incredibly busy off season here at the Shadow Racing Team Shop. We managed to get 8 races completed in 2012 and have high hopes with the potential sponsors we are seeking that 2013 will be our strongest season yet. Please keep our efforts in prayer as we are seeking many large corporate companies and we want to be a leading candidate in the efforts to better their brands and services throughout the United States. 

We just realized that we never blogged about our Kansas weekend at the end of August. Thankfully we had a great group of people helping us that weekend including Gary who flew in from Canada and also a fellow racer… Steve Lacy.

It was an incredibly hot weekend but we were excited and had high hopes after all the planning and preparation for this 3-day show. We pulled into Hays, KS, set up shop and were ready to contend with the Lucus Oil Tour. The car felt great in hot laps and we only made a few changes to set up for the heat race. I pulled first heat…third row…outside and the engine sounded good. The car was hooked up but three laps in to a 8 lap heat race…the engine couldn't hang...boom! We were done for the night!

Check out the explosion….

The next day we found a secluded lot and decided to pull the spare engine out of the backup car…bad idea! It took all day which caused us to miss the Park City race. But we learned a lot about what not to do when changing out an engine. 

After finally getting the car to run again with the engine, we decided to head to Dodge City the next day to race with the big dogs. It was an incredible opportunity to gain wisdom from the pro teams and run with them on the track. We also go to meet and pit next to Emmett Hahn, the creator of the ASCS Tour and share our story with him.

I was super impressed with the new USA Performance engine and enjoyed the power and fast throttle response. We finished 13 out of 17.

When we finally were able to tear down the engine and get a good look at what happened that night. It appears that cylinder number one over heated which caused stress on the piston hardware. The end result was one bolt breaking and then flying about in the engine. It did a lot less damage than we expected but we now have an expensive coffee table.

Here is the bolt that broke on the bottom of the piston rod; this little bolt did a lot of damage. Hopefully our luck with engines will be much better in 2013.

Montana Race Weekend Update

Wow, where in the heck did September go!

It was an absolute honor to be racing with familiar faces and meeting new people in the great state of Montana. Back at the beginning of September, I received a call from a fellow sprint car driver Jeremy McCune to come and race in Billings, Montana. The first thing that popped into my mind was getting to race at a track I had been on back in 2009 that I really enjoyed. The decision was made and we began to prepare for the weekend of September 21st and 22nd.
We hit the road late that Thursday afternoon and drove until about 1:00am. When we started seeing deer after deer…lining the highway staring at us, we decided to pull over to stop in Buffalo, Wyoming. Thank goodness for deer whistles! Whew!

Friday morning we arrived in Billings and I was so relaxed and excited for the race weekend. The plan for the shop set up was to keep it as simple as possible and that is exactly what we did. Friday’s heat race I finished 6th so I started at the back of the “A” main and finished a very strong 16th. The car felt really strong and this was the first time I raced on a rubber down surface which was a learning experience to say the least. That night ended at 2:00am and we headed back to Jeremy’s place to get some much needed rest as Saturday morning was already here!

We enjoyed the inviting home and yard that Jeremy provided for us! The next day I gave the car a bath and started making a few changes for the Saturday evening race. Jeremy gave me a few pointers about the set up for the evening and we made the needed adjustments. The race track was calling my name and I was so ready to take it on! I pulled the number 5 pill which would start me next to Jeremy McCune on the pole position. I flat out killed the entire field on the start and lead the infamous OJ for 3 laps but he passed me on a corner. I brought home my first 2nd place finish in a heat race. That is the best finish I have had in my sprint car career!

Hannah helping Daddy get ready for a race...

This would start me in the 8th position for the “A” main event. The car was awesome and I finished in the 11th position, a much needed confidence booster for our team and race fans. It was great having people come up to me at the end of the evening for autographs, t-shirts, and to race talk. One guy came up to me and said…. Son, what got in your fire suit…you sucked last night and kicked butt tonight….. My response.. “We got ‘er done!”

This was the most fun weekend of racing I’ve had in a long time. A special thanks for all the support from my “Denver sponsors”, AMP graphics, USA Performance Engines, Nick M, To God be the Glory, Spotlight Web Design, Dales Paint, Bell Racing, and IronWolf Designs.

A special thanks to my parents who always are willing to travel so far, to my wife and best friend April for depositing into my racing dream and always encouraging me to press in and pray hard, and to Jeremy McCune for the racing wisdom and for never giving up on me!

Not A Hobby! Getting the Car Scaled Out

So it looks like we are going to Kansas after all!! First night we’ll be in Hays, Kansas at RPMSpeedway. It’s going to be a great time with Sprint Car Mania including the 360 & 305 Sprints and even the School Bus races! The next night we’ll be in Park City, KS at 81Speedway. Hope you guys can come out and see us!

The gruesome-twosome working on the car. We’ve enjoyed having Gary (our Canadian friend) with us for the last few weeks. It’s been super beneficial to our team gaining his knowledge from his years around sprint car racing.  We look forward to having him in the pit crew this weekend too!

 The car lift came in handy while getting the car scaled out this time. 

 I had to be inside so they could get the true weight.

The new race shop is coming along. One day we’ll get the insulation and drywall all up. One board at a time while balancing racing, a business and marriage!

Be sure and follow our facebookpage for the weekend race updates!