Welcome!  If you're new to our diary, please keep checking back.  This is where you'll find our "behind the scenes" story of what really goes on at the race shop and at the track.  Believe it or not...we don't make this stuff up!!!  Our 2002 and 2003, 2004, and 2005  diaries have been moved to new pages. The 2005 diary is below.  You can reach past seasons by clicking on the year above.

Diary written by:  Cindy Howe (unless otherwise specified)
check back often for updates!
Most current entry is at the bottom of the page. 

January 15, 2005
Saturday
We've had some wild storms lately.  First a HUGE snow storm, then a week later a ice storm, and now a week later a flood!  Jay got some good photo's from the snow storm.  I'll upload those soon.  He and I drove around this morning taking pictures of some of the flooded areas.  Amazing!  There are 70 pictures uploaded on the site if you want to check them out.  Click on the thumbnail to enlarge photo. 

Here's the photo's that Jay took of the snow storm in December.  Click on the thumbnails to enlarge photo.

January 23rd, 2005
Sunday (written by Hollywood)

This weekend we got hammered by more snow, plus alot of wind.

This coming week, we will be taking our car over to the Canton Autorama for the show, along with the crew from Beachwood Studios at their booth. We are looking forward to meeting everyone that attends, and to promote our great sponsors. If you are in the area, please don't hesitate to stop by and say hi.

Chris's car is coming along nicely. The motor is in the car now, body is on, a few more pieces need put on the front end, but overall, we are getting close.

The WCS banquet is less than a month away, we hope you bought your tickets.

Chuck Griffith will be leaving WCS to announce at Mansfield Speedway. He is one of the best in the business. Good luck Chuck.

January 26, 2005
Wednesday

We put together a "Racers Web Design Package" and a "Race Track Web Design Package" today.  If you're interested in having something designed for your track or team, check out the pricing structure.

February 8, 2005
Tuesday

Jay and I are in the Carolina's on vacation.  We visited Parris Island, where they train the best of the best...US Marines!  We also visited the Marine Corps Air Station and several nearby attractions.  We couldn't take any photo's at the Air Station, but seeing those F-18's and other planes was awesome! 

We uploaded the Parris Island photo's and some other photo's from today.  There's quite a few, but check them out. 

February 22, 2005
Tuesday

We had our banquet this past Saturday at the Ashland University Convocation Center. Let me say this, the food was very good, the facility is very nice, and the trophies were unique, but awesome. Over 330 people attended this  years festivities.

We are looking forward to a great year in racing. Some off season negotiations were taking place for me to run one of our local race tracks, but we could not agree on an item or two.

We continue to look for a few more associate sponsors for both our cars. If you are reading this and would be interested in having us send you a proposal, please feel free to contact us at extreme@howeextreme.com .

March 19, 2005
Saturday

Sorry for the lack of recent updates in the diary.  We've had quite a few curveballs thrown our way over the past few weeks.  Here's the latest and greatest:

We've downsized and are going back to a one-car race team with Jay as our driver for 2005.  Although we had a great 2004 season with Chris finishing 4th in Wayne County point standings and Jay finishing 2nd in WCS standings we've had to cut back.  Why?  I've had a career change and am no longer working for Bullet Motorsports or Mansfield Motorsports Speedway.  That's not necessarily a bad thing, but we've made the decision to only campaign one car.

What's happening with Chris?  Chris has purchased a Cruiser for 2005.  He'll be racing at Lakeville in the Cruisers division. 

Items for sale:
We've got quite a few extra parts for sale if anybody is still thrashing as you gear up for the 2005 race season.  The Huff Modified that Chris raced in 2004 is for sale.  It's rolling...less engine, tranny, driveshaft, gear, fire bottle, and transponder.  The engine that came out of that car was freshened over the winter.  It has zero laps since freshened.  Awesome engine.  It was $15,000 new, had roughly 15 races on it before being freshened.  It originally had steel heads on it, but we put new Dart Pro One aluminum heads on it when it was freshened.  Email us if you're looking for anything.  extreme@howeextreme.com

April 2, 2005
Saturday

Well, we had a few nice days this past week....for Ohio, that is.  However, today is Saturday and it's snowing.  It started off as sleet and ice, but then just got nastier as the day went on.  We're suppose to have our first practice at Wayne County Speedway in two weeks...if the weather cooperates. 

I did look at the weather in Wilmington, NC this morning....upper 60s - mid 70's all week.  That's more like it!  Maybe we should relocate!

April 16, 2005
Saturday

Wayne County Speedway opened up the 2005 season with a practice session.  The weather was beautiful.  Speedway owner Ernie Coffman only expected half-a-dozen cars to attend.  He was amazed when the cars continued rolling in until the pits were nearly at full capacity.  It usually takes a track staff a few nights to get back into the routine and get things running smoothly.  So, there were minor delays and issues, but overall things went really well.  The track dried out quickly, but was smooth. They watered several times.

We offered our friend Griff Allen, ESPN / ESPN2 commentator, an opportunity to test drive our Modified.  He was happy to accept our offer and met us at the track.  Griff has done some road racing, motorcycle racing, tested Formula cars, and other types of cars, but never a dirt modified.  Griff took a lot of interest in the car and asked quite a few questions trying to get an understanding of the world of dirt Modified racing. 

Jay took the car out for the first session of practice laps.  It was the first time we had the car out since making the setup changes.  Jay wanted to make sure the setup wasn't out-to-lunch before putting Griff out there.   Jay's group went out shortly after the track was watered.  The car hooked up and Jay was pleased.  He turned some good laps.  He tried a few different lines and entry/exit points and decided he liked the new setup.  He and Larry Kugel made a minor jack bolt adjustment and prepared to send Griff out for the next session.

There was quite a delay before the next session, but Griff was ready.  He was excited, but nervous.  Wayne County officials sent Griff out with a couple of the rookie and younger drivers.  It had gotten dark and the track turned the lights on when Griff headed out.  I thought that was pretty cool, because he was really getting the full effect for conditions, just lacking a full field of cars.  The light went green and he was off.  It didn't take long for him to figure out turns one and two.  I was surprised that he kept a quick pace being the first time in the car.  Griff struggled on three and four for the first few laps, but found a comfortable line before the end of the session.  That's the first time I'd seen a rookie driver, first time in a dirt car, do that well their first time out.  He had some great laps and nice speed.  He was still pretty excited when he crawled out of the car.  He said "Now I Understand!" 

We sent Griff out for a second set of practice laps shortly after the first set.  Griff did great this time too, but tried pushing a little harder this round to see what it was capable of.  He got it sideways in turns 3 and 4 and stalled in the middle of the turn.  He got to see first hand how it felt to have a driver side door exposed and another car coming right for you.  Luckily for all of us, the other driver was Dave Liles and he had good breaks and a quick reaction to avoid the collision.  Griff fired it back up and brought it back to the pit after the session ended.

It was nearing 10pm and we figured practice was going to be finished, but we got a thumbs up for one more session.  Most cars had packed up and were headed for home.  Jay, Rocky Kugel, and their friend Ted were the only 3 to take the track in the Modified division.  Jay and Rocky had a great race of their own going.  Jay looked smooth and seemed to be turning some good laps.  Rocky had been flying all night long so it was fun to watch the two of them running tight.  Rocky hit a hole in turn 1 and turned it around to see Jay coming at him.  Jay jumped out of the way and avoided any contact.  A couple laps later, Rocky got into turn 3 and 4 too hot and looped it.  They restarted the session, but Jay, Rocky, and Ted were too close together and couldn't really get much testing accomplished.  Jay recorded some nice times, but we've decided to "un-do" the jack bolt change that we'd made earlier in the day.

Click here for photo's of our practice session.

April 17, 2005
Sunday

Howe Extreme Racing would like to formally welcome back several of our sponsors.  Please support those businesses that support our terrific sport.  Performance Race Fuels, Fryman's Services, Jan's Auto Repair, Allstar Designs, Autumn Computer Systems, Ace Engineering, Hawk Performance, Pepsi-Cola of Mansfield, and Xtreme Web Solutions. 

Also, we'd like to congratulate asphalt Modified driver, Roger Miller.  Roger finished second in a field of 25 Modifieds at Mansfield Motorsports Speedway last night.  Roger led 16 laps, but was passed by eventual winner, Ron McBride.  Congratulations Roger!  Go get 'em next week!

Wayne County will kick off their season this coming Saturday.  We should have a strong group of Modifieds at Wayne County this season.  If you want to see some great side-by-side racing, then we'll see you at Wayne County Speedway!!!

April 23, 2005
Saturday

After a couple weeks of good weather, we thought we had a good chance of getting our season kicked off on-time, but Ohio weather strikes again.  It's been raining for the past 2 or 3 days.  That's not the worst part though.  The forecast is calling for "significant snowfall" today and tomorrow.  Needless to say, racing has been cancelled. 

In other racing news...we're putting together the seasonal souvenir program for Wayne County Speedway.  We still have ad space available.  If you'd like to place an ad or want to get your sponsors addition exposure, this would be a terrific opportunity.  Drop me an email for pricing and information.  This is an independent project with the support and cooperation of Wayne County Speedway.

Also, drivers/teams or even businesses.  If you're interested in having your own website for your team, organization, or business drop us an email.  We offer affordable custom web design and hosting packages.  Even if you already have a website, drop us an email because you're probably paying too much for hosting services.  Quotes are free...what do you have to lose? 

April 30, 2005
Saturday

Ohio weather washes out another week of racing at Wayne County Speedway.  It's been raining off and on all week and continued last night and early this morning.  Unfortunately, it was more than WCS could handle.  They posted the cancellation early this morning.

We do have good news though.  Our friend Roger Miller was fortunate enough to get his night of racing completed at our local asphalt track.  Roger qualified 8th in a field of 16 Modifieds.  He found himself on the pole after the inversion.  The race went one of those rare - green to checkers - with Roger coming out on top.  Congratulations on your first win of the season Roger!  Hope it's one of many more to come!

Hopefully the weather will take a turn for the better and we'll be able to get our first week of racing in this coming Saturday.  Hope to see you all there!

May 13, 2005
Friday

Well, we raced last weekend....sort of.  I haven't updated the diary from the events because I'm still trying to process them.  It started off to be a beautiful day, then we got to the track.  Gates had just opened, but the line was all the way out to and onto the road.  We pulled into the drive and waited with our friends, the Kugel's.  We waited in line for about half an hour before getting signed in and our pit passes.  We finally got in and parked with the Kugel's in our usual area of the pit. 

Larry Kugel was racing with our spare engine that had zero laps and was freshened from the engine shop.  Jay only had one race on his and the two both sounded great when they fired them up to warm up the cars.  We were all keyed up and ready to rock.  I wandered up to the pit shack to pull our pill for qualifying order.  Cars and rigs were still lined up outside the gate waiting to get in.  In the end we had 114 cars divided between 4 classes.  Twenty-five of them were Modifieds. 

I got to the pit shack and the kid said "we're having computer and printer issues, we're not ready".  So, I headed back to the pit.  The kid chased after me and asked if I would send Jay down to help them out.  Jay was happy to give it a shot, but had no luck.  Jay wasn't familiar with the transponder software and setup, so he was kinda guessing at what was going on.  An hour and a half later...the track got things up and running.  It happens.  But, the bad news is Wayne County has a curfew and the delay and 114 cars was not going to be a good combination.

Wayne County is trying out a new qualifying policy this season.  They're releasing 4 cars on the track for their hot laps and giving them 5 laps to run.  You're qualifying times are recorded during those 5 laps.  I think it'll make things run a lot faster, once they get all the bug worked out.  Some of the transponders are still on backorder so not all the cars are ready for this setup. 

Jay drew his pill and ended up in the 6th session of hot laps.  Our friend Larry was in the third and his son Rocky was in the 4th session.  Larry looked pretty good out there, but after two laps a caution came out for a spun car and Larry ended up along the guardrail between turns 1 & 2.  He was stopped on the track and the push truck pushed him into the pit.  I headed up with Larry's crew to see what happened.  Larry said the engine cutout and he couldn't get it to fire again.  Jay went out for his session while Larry headed back to the pit to drain the oil and pull the valve covers. 

Jay seemed to turn some nice times.  I headed back to the pit to check on Larry.  He said the valve cover wasn't seated very well and he thought some of the oil splashed back onto the coil and shorted out the electrical system.  He drained the oil and it came out pretty clean.  They put new oil in and fired the car back up.  They shut it down right away because they heard a ticking noise from the back of the engine.  One of Larry's crew dumped the oil filter into a paper towel and found metal flakes.  Not good.  Looked like a spun bearing...on just two laps.  TOTALLY, not good.

Jay and I expect to miss a few races this year, so it was a no-brainer for us to offer Jay's car to Larry.  Larry finished first in the WCS points in 2004 and he's hoping to defend his title for 2005.  Larry would've started on the pole of the second heat if the engine wouldn't have been hurt.  Jay would've started pole of heat 3 if he would've run.  Since we had a driver/car change, Larry had to start the tail of Jay's assigned heat...right next to his son, Rocky.

Larry went out for his heat and went from 9th to 2nd in half a lap.  Unfortunately, the yellow came out and there was a complete restart.   The green fell again, and once again, Larry moved into second and once again, the yellow came out.  One more restart.  Larry loved that he could put the car on the bottom and cruise.  The other Mod's couldn't stay low like Jay's car.  In fact, Rocky was running a line as low as he thought you could go...until Larry passed him...on the inside!  Larry moved into first place and was pulling away.  As laps went on, Larry was either slowing down, or the other cars figured out the track and were catching up.  Took Wiles passed Larry and Rocky was running a close race with him as well.  The heat ended with Took in first, Larry in second and Rocky in third. 

Larry pulled into our pit and told Jay, that the oil pressure light came on and he slowed up to save the engine.  Rocky pulled in and told us that his car was covered with oil that blew back from our car.  We got the lights out and started looking.  There was freakin' oil EVERYWHERE.  It was splashed all the way back through the chassis.  Another driver walked over and crawled under the car.  He said "pack it up, it's blown".  He said the oil pan was cracked and a rod had tried to come out.  Unbelievable!  Two engines!

We drained the oil.  Water and oil mixed.  Radiator was empty.  And it was all in the block.  Not good.  That means the block is probably toast too.  Larry felt bad, but he didn't do anything wrong.  You can bet I was on the phone trying to reach the engine builder before we even loaded the car. 

Things get worse...
We think we get tow money even though we haven't started the feature.  Wrong answer.  We're told we have to start the A-main or B-main to get paid.  That blows.  The only good thing is that the evenings delays, the high car count, and an extremely long Late Model race put the track at a curfew situation.  Late Models were the only Feature that would get their race in.  At least we have a shot at getting a car ready for the double features next time out. 

May 14, 2005
Saturday

Engine updates:  Larry pulled the engine he was running in his car Sunday.  He said it appeared there was a clearance issue.  Larry brought the engine up to Ashland Tuesday and met with Jay.  Jay took it up to the engine builder Tuesday after work.   They're pretty confident it was clearanced properly, but are unsure of why it tightened up and failed. 

We took our car to Roger's Monday night.  We pulled our engine up there.  After getting it onto the engine stand and flipping it over, we removed the oil pan.  We found that one of the rods failed.  It doesn't appear that the engine builder was at any fault on that one, just a part failure.  Jay took that engine up to the engine shop Wednesday after work.

Spoke to the engine builder today.  They're hoping to get one of the engines ready and back to us for next weekend.  Wayne County rained out today, so we didn't miss anything there.  Other good news, Larry got his engine back from his engine builder and dropped it into his car.  So, Larry won't miss anything. 

May 20, 2005
Saturday

Early this week, our engine builder told us they were going to try to get us one engine for the weekend.  As the week went on, they went through a few delays and weren't sure if we'd be ready or not.  We made tentative plans to pick up the engine  on Thursday night and drop it in over at our friend Roger Miller's.  That looked like a solid plan until they needed to tear it back down to do some more block work. 

We pretty much knew on Wednesday that Thursday was out of the question.  The AMRA Road Warrior race was scheduled for Attica Raceway Park on Friday.  That was one of our goals of the season.  Jay had always wanted to race there.  He had tried to get shows booked there in the past.  He didn't care if it was AMRA or UMP, he just wanted to race there once.  Now, it wasn't looking like that was going to happen. 

Thursday rolled around and the guy we mainly consult with at the engine shop left for Columbus, Ohio.  The NHRA event is in town this weekend and Mark has a Super Comp dragster that he races.  The owner of the engine shop called and said it'd probably be Friday night and we could pick it up and race Saturday.  Only catch was we wouldn't be able to dyno that engine like we had hoped.  Another catch....Friday night would be too late for the race at Attica.  Jay tells the engine shop that the race is Friday.  He tells us, "let us see what we can do." 

Thursday afternoon, 5:30pm, Jay calls the engine shop.  They tell him, "call me in the morning".  Jay had already planned on taking Friday off, but we still didn't know if we were going racing or not. 

Friday morning, 9am, Engine shop tells Jay to bring the car up at 2pm.  They're going to open up a bay and we'll drop the engine into the car right there. 

Jay and I leave Ashland at 12:30pm and arrive a little after 1pm.  We got the car unloaded and rolled it into the parking lot.  The guys were finishing up another vehicle.  We started preparing the engine (attached the flexplate, coupler, etc.)  The guys at the shop pulled the van out of the occupied bay and pushed us in.  A couple of the guys helped us get the rest of the engine ready and dropped it all in.  We made a couple minor chassis adjustments, bled the clutch, and fired the engine up.  We had a few minor problems, starter wanted to stick (had to shim it a couple times), and a few other issues.  But it fired up and warmed up.  We still weren't sure if we were going to make the race.

Sometime between 4:30pm and 5pm, we rolled the car out of the bay and loaded it back up.  We were 40 miles from the Speedway.  Hotlaps started at 7pm, looks like we were going to make it. 

We got stopped by two trains (on the same set of tracks) on the way there, but made it.  The pit was packed.  They had 29 Modifieds and 3 divisions of Sprints (305's, 360's, and 410's).  I think there were around 110-120 Sprints.  We unloaded, signed in, teched, and headed out for hotlaps. 

(Rest of story written by Jay Howe...I'll fill in my version later...if they vary...)

A little bit of info about Attica. Attica is a small track, contrary to their advertised track size, although banked nicely. Gear wise we were using the same as we use at WCS. When we got there, of course cutting it close, there was very little room to park. Looking at the track, it was a sloppy mess, but they were working on it.

Hot laps were uneventful, as were the time trials. When we pulled the engine (blown), Roger capped the fuel line so as to not loose any fuel. Well, between that time and the time we arrived at Attica, 20+ gallons of fuel was missing from the fuel cell. So when I exited the track after time trials, and came up on the scales, the scale keeper looked at me, looked at the readout, looked again, paused for what seemed like eternity, then said go ahead. I thought to myself when leaving, hmm, playing games with me since I am no longer a member? Nah, I hope not. So I drive back to the pits, get out, I tell Roger and Cindy leave the car alone, except add fuel. Cindy is going for the fuel, I stick my hand down in the tank to gauge how much we had, and low and behold, my hand went almost to the bottom of the fuel cell before reaching the fuel.....Yikes, now I know why the scale keeper was looking at me strangely; cause I need 5 gallons of fuel in the cell to just make weight. So obviously, I was borderline under. Whewwwww.

Now the heat race, start 6th, got up to 4th, then got together with Took Wiles (same guy multiple times from last year I got together with). Took had a bad setup, and when he pushed up, I ducked under, he corrected, came down, and rubbed sheet metal, and he peeled my rim. Luckily, the tire still held air, but now the front end didn't seem right. Finished the race in 5th, transferred to the "A". The front toe was way out of whack, so we corrected it, and prepared for the feature.

In the heat race, there was moisture on the bottom. The sprints were all running up top, and so it appeared as though there would be moisture down below. We had a medium tire compound on, and as we would shortly find out, mistake. Started the "A" main with a near miss of guess who? Took Wiles. He had started 2 rows in front of me, and in the first turn, he had issues, and got into someone, and they punted him into the Ute tire as I was on the bottom and trying to not get tangled up in his mess. Just cleared him.....Whew! Took ended up being towed off the track. Restart, car feels great, but after the 3rd lap or so after moving up to 10th, the tires started going away, and so I started falling back to a point that I was no longer competitive, and so I pulled off the track after 20laps of the 30 lap feature. I didn't get torn up, had a great time at Attica, and achieved one of our goals. 

May 22, 2005
Sunday

The weather was beautiful and we were ready to go racing at Wayne County Speedway.  We left a little early for the track because we had to drop off our extra Hoosier tires, refill our fuel jugs and top off the fuel cell.  The Kugel's were already at the track when we arrived.  They had saved us a parking space, so we pulled in and unloaded. 

The order of events for the night was:
1) Qualifying hot lap sessions
2) Make-up features for Modifieds, Pure Stocks, and Mini Stocks
3) Heat Races
4) B-Mains (Late Models, Modifieds, Pure Stocks)
5) A-Mains (Late Models, Modifieds, Pure Stocks, Mini Stocks)

The make-up features were from 2 weeks ago.  Larry Kugel had been racing in our car that night, so Larry was back in there for this one.  Larry was on the pole for the event.

Qualifying hot lap session:  Jay went out in the 4th group of cars.  There were 5 cars in each session.  Jay went out to close to the car in front of him (in my opinion).  His first lap was pretty much worthless.  He had a slower car in front of him and took time getting around.  The second lap, he got around and built up some speed, but I didn't hear his time.  He took a mid-high line on the third lap and turned a time around 21.8.  He took a low line on the last lap and turned a much better time, over a second faster than the third lap.  The time would put him 5th in the 1st heat of Modifieds.  Larry Kugel would start pole of the same heat.

Make up Feature:  Larry started pole and stayed out in front for better than 3/4 of the laps.  He was looking great, but the car wasn't holding the bottom line like it usually does.  We still hadn't been able to scale it since dropping in the new engine and making a chassis adjustment.  So, we were still "guessing".  Took Wiles had a nice run.  He was able to keep his car low and came up through and got around Larry.  Rob Stambaugh got around towards the end as well, and Larry held on for third.  After crossing the scales, Larry flew into our pit and yelled for Jay and Ziggy to throw water on the radiator.  The temperature had shot up to about 250! 

Larry climbed out after the engine cooled down.  Then he noticed Jay had cardboard in front of the radiator to build up some heat in the engine.  I told Larry that the cardboard wasn't the problem.  Every year Jay gets this horrible idea to put a thermostat in the engine.  Every year it causes a problem and every year we have the same fight.  Guess what???  He did it again!  They removed the cardboard, but Jay's still being stubborn at this point. 

Larry suggested a bar adjustment to tighten up the car.  So, we made that change before going out for the heat to see what it would do.  

Jay goes out for his heat race.  They're taking 5 from each heat.  There's 28 Modifieds total.  Jay jumped into 4th and the car was looking really good.  Looked like Larry made the right call!  Larry started on pole and looked as if he wasn't going to give it up!  A caution came out and after a couple yellow laps, Jay came off the track.  Why?  Tires looked inflated.  He wasn't in the caution.  So, what's going on?  Oh yea....the thermostat...temperature was back up to 245.  Jay pulls into the pit and admits defeat on the thermostat. 

We pulled the hood off and let the engine cool off.  The thermostat wasn't opening up and letting the water circulate.  So, when things cooled off we pulled it.  Added a reducer, and put it back together.  Larry hung on to win our heat race.

Jay starts 7th in a field of 13 for the B-Main.  They're taking 5 to the Feature.  Jay's car is hooked up and the temperature is back to normal.  Jay moves into third on lap 1, when a caution comes out.  They go green again and Jay moves past 2 more to take the lead.  The B-main is plagued with cautions, but Jay's looking great.  He makes us all nervous because he keeps drifting up out of turn 2 and drops the right side tires off the edge of the track down the backstretch.  A puff of dust would pop up and then he'd straighten back up and shoot into turn three.  Even though there were tons of cautions, Jay pulled away from the pack each time they went green.  A review of his lap times showed that he was over half a second faster than the rest of the pack.  He held on to win the B-Main. A side note, he was in the vicinity of the starting pole on the restarts (LOL).

A-Main:  Temperature was good for the B-Main and the oil pressure was decent.  Setup was very nice, but could be just a tick tighter.  We put the battery charger on and checked tire pressure before having to line back up for the Feature.  There was a lot of racing to get in that night, so things were moving rather quickly.  We threw another 5 gallons of fuel in and sent Jay out for the Feature.

Starting 16th, he worked on getting through traffic. The track rough, and slow, as was the passing. He managed a 9th place finish. Considering the struggles throughout the night, all in all, we were pleased. Another side note, considering the track condition, to have just one caution, was a blessing for all the racers.

May 22, 2005
Sunday -- part 2

Just got back from the car wash.  Found a few issues.  The transmission was trying to make an exit (found a couple loose bolts).  Jay put them back in though (and lost a bottle of lock-tite down the drain at the car wash.)  At least it wasn't the bolts!

As I was putting the rear tires back on, I noticed the right rear just was going on right.  It seemed to be crooked.  I pulled the wheel off and checked for burrs or warps.  Nada.  I put it back on and it still looked messed up.  Pulled it off again and went around to the back of the car.  Looked things over from that view and called Jay back to look.  It was definitely cocked outward. 

Jay looked at the left rear to compare and saw that we had twisted a bracket on the rear end, which closed the distance between a bolt in that bracket and the left rear bar.  The two must have come together on the rough track and the heim on our trailing arm took a hit and bent.

We've made an appointment to take the car up to Roger's later this week.  We were going to change the oil while we working on things, but since this issue came up, we decided to wait and until we get to Roger's.

The weather is suppose to be wet and cool this week, but if Wayne County races on Saturday, we should be ready to go...we'll keep you posted.

May 30, 2005
Monday

It's been a crazy week.  At the beginning of last week, news and rumors broke out that Bullet Motorsports and Mansfield Motorsports Speedway were shutting down.  (That's where I used to work) That's been the hot topic of discussion in the local papers and racing websites.  The part about Bullet Motorsports, true.  The team, as Bullet Motorsports, has been disbanded.  Pro Stock driver, Dave Connolly, was able to land a ride for the Topeka race this past weekend with Carrier Boyz Racing from Tennessee.  Dave's an awesome driver and has a great team behind him.  they'll be a success no matter where they go.  Hopefully the team will be able to stay together and continue on in the Pro Stock ranks of NHRA. Dave qualified 2nd this past weekend in Topeka and posted a runner-up finish overall.  Congratulations Dave and best of luck with your new venture. 

As for rumor number two of Mansfield Motorsports Speedway.  Last I heard, the track is still hoping to stay open, but it is for sale and they've drastically reduced their full-time staff. 

Now, on to Howe Extreme Racing news....
We were watching the weather forecasts all week.  I'm not really sure why we do that because it changes every day, sometimes every minute, and the predictions for current day haven't even been accurate.  The "plan" was to head down to Jackson County Speedway in Ohio for Friday night racing.  Wayne County Speedway for Saturday.  And "if" South Buxton in Canada rained out Saturday, we'd head there for the Sunday makeup race.  "If" South Buxton didn't race Sunday, maybe Portsmouth or Brush Creek for Sunday.

Friday...beautiful all day, but the radar shows storm cells popping up throughout Ohio.  We decide not to risk the drive for a rainout and made plans with Roger and Sharon Miller.  We caught the new Adam Sandler and Chris Rock movie The Longest Yard.  Awesome flick.  If you haven't seen it, definitely check it out.  It's pretty hilarious.  By the way...Jackson got the show in...figures.

Saturday...A shower blew through during the night and another storm cell is building as it moves across Ohio.  We hooked the truck up to the trailer and sat our parking lot for half an hour while it poured down rain.  We're about 30 miles West of the track and they hadn't gotten the rain yet.  We figured they'd rain out, but pulled out and started for the track anyway.  We pulled off at Roger Miller's house, which is half way between Ashland and Wooster.  The track was getting rain now.  We had been in contact with fellow Modified drivers and told them to pull off the road and wait for us to call back because the track was going to make a decision within 10 minutes.  We got the official call that the races were cancelled for the night.  Called all our friends back and headed for home. 

Sunday....South Buxton did not get their show in Saturday night, but for whatever reason, they decided not to race on Sunday, despite their ads. Roger and Sharon decided they want to go with us...wherever that may be.  The Kugels throw us a new curve.  They're headed to Tri-City Raceway in Pennsylvania and want us to go too.  I vote against Brush Creek because I don't want to change gears AND I think we have a good short-track setup, but not so sure about a big-track setup.  Jay agrees.  After half a dozen phone calls and decision making, we opt for Pennsylvania with the Kugel's. 

Roger volunteered to tow the trailer with his truck instead of the Tahoe.  Good thing, it would've been a rough way to go in the Tahoe.  It took about 3 hours maybe a little more to get over to the track.  It was the first time we'd ever been there.  As we came into the track, we noticed a really nice grassy area for camping.  I saw several tents setup and a trailer or two that were out there camping.  Very cool. The facility beautiful and it's set in a neat little town surrounded by hills and the Alleghany River.  The pit area was large and could comfortably accommodate a strong car count spread out between 6 racing divisions. 

A lot of tracks in Ohio run Late Models and Modifieds as their two big divisions.  I was surprised that Tri-City didn't race Late Models, but they did run Big-Block Modifieds on a regular basis.  They also run a Sprint division and the E-Mod's on a weekly basis.  I love watching the Big Block Mod's, so was looking forward to a good night of racing. 

The track personnel were all really nice.  I had a rule question before we made our decision.  I called the track and the girl didn't know the answer, but took my name and number.  About 15 minutes later a track rep called my cell and was happy to answer our questions.  Good customer service...good start in our book.  When we arrived and got our pit setup, 4 or 5 different track reps visited our trailer.  They all thanked us for coming, asked us questions to get to know more about our team, and looked over our car to make sure everything was legal and good to go.  Going the extra mile to visit us and thank us for coming was a very nice and very appreciated move.  Ziggy Kugel told us that our WCS gear would be just fine.......but we would soon find out otherwise.

A race track is a business.  In order for a business to be successful, you have to take care of those that take care of you.  Seeing this track take care of the drivers and fans was terrific.  Another cool thing that I saw on the way into the track was that they take care of their sponsors.  They had a whole row of parking spots in a prime VIP location.  Every spot had a pole with a small sign attached.  The sign had the name of a business, which was a sponsor of the track, and "reserved". Another nice move, in my opinion. 

There were 26 Emods, 40 some Big Blocks, and quite a few in the other classes as well.  So, the track must take care of the other drivers too....not just the new people.  What about the fans?  The stands were packed.  And they were very nice stands themselves and were in good condition...no wood breaking apart or lopsided and splintering.  I heard the track giving away several different items throughout the night.  They also had a kids program where kids' names were drawn for pace car rides, waving the green flag, and waving the checkered flag.  After feature wins, they had an autograph alley where fans could meet the driver and get an autograph.  Nice.  Overall, a very nice and professionally run facility. 

The track itself... 4/10's mile dirt.  Incredibly wide corners and pretty wide straights.  I say incredibly wide because I watched 4 wide in the corners multiple times throughout the night and they were all clean with room between the cars. 

Now...for our night of racing....
We kept our Wayne County gear in.  We had to drop the spoiler.  We had a shorter track setup.  And we were required to run a hard compound right rear American Racer tire. The gear....wrong.  We probably needed a 5:29 or 5:00 for that track.  The spoiler...we didn't have a choice, but I'm sure it hurt us.  The setup, WAY off.  We adjusted after hotlaps and adjusted again after heats.  Bad news.  The hard tire....maybe with a different gear and a better setup, we could've gotten the tire to work for us, but didn't happen this time....but again...we didn't have a choice.

Hotlaps - Jay mainly was trying to get a feel for the track and the setup we had. They had a lot of cars on the track, so it was hard to open up and get a good feel.  It was over in a few laps and we couldn't get too much information other than we needed to tighten up the car and we were spinning the tires.

Heat race - Jay starts pole of the third heat.  They run the same transponders as Wayne County, but they don't qualify the cars at Tri-City.  There were 8 cars in Jay's heat.  He did a lot of spinning the tires out there and just couldn't come off the corner smooth.  Still needed to tighten the car up.  I think the spoiler would've helped coming off the corner, but the setup was still off.  We had made an adjustment before going out to the Heat race, so we had no idea where we were as far as setup percentages and weights.  Jay fell back as the heat went on and ended up 6th. 

Rocky Kugel seemed to have a good setup on his car.  He won his heat and looked strong.  Larry finished 5th in his heat (Rocky' heat) and changed his gear and a major setup change  before the feature. 

Feature time....(described by Jay)...will the night ever end?....no matter how I feathered the throttle, or drove into the corners trying to be smooth, I just could not keep it on the bottom. I tried different lines, low, medium, high, it was not good. I even tried just driving in slowly and as soon as I started back on the throttle, the rear wanted to break loose. I hate turning our engines too high, and tonight was wayyyyyyyyyy to high, 8000rpm....and going no where quick. I hit a few people with my front bumper, and got hit in the rear a few times. We made it out of the feature without alot of damage, other than the usual sheet metal damage, and a bend in a support tube. 
A huge learning experience though.

I enjoyed the scenery along the way to the track, and the people there treated us well. Will we ever go back there? Financially it is not worth the trip due to low purse payout, but I think we need to redeem ourselves next time.  

June 2, 2005
Thursday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAY!

June 5, 2005
Sunday

Another weekend of "if we didn't have bad luck...we'd have no luck at all". 

A beautiful day for racing and the pits and grandstands are packed.  We didn't take time to put the spoiler back on from Pennsylvania racing last weekend, so I took on that project after we got unloaded.  Larry Kugel and their friend Ted helped.  Jay bled the brakes because they were a little too soft for his taste.

I drew a bad number, which put Jay in the 5th hot lap/qualifying session.  There were 25 Mods signed in. Jay headed out for his session.  Took off and as he entered turn 3 the car in front of him was on fire!  Jay coasted past him and out of turn 4 as the yellow came out.  He gave it some gas down the front stretch.  He was by himself and I could hear the engine had a terrible miss.  Jay's engine shut down as he rolled to a stop in turn 2.  Great.  The track went red while they dealt with the fire in turn 3, while the push truck brought Jay back to the pit. 

The push truck dumped Jay off in our pit and we started looking things over.  I was happy to see that there wasn't any oil or visible cracks anywhere.  Jay tried cranking the engine over again, but nothing.  Larry Kugel came over and tested the wires to see if we were getting any spark.  We weren't.  So, he figured it was the coil or the MSD box.  Rocky had an extra coil.  We hooked it up and tested again.  Nada.  We had an extra MSD box, but we were getting short on time and the box is tough to get in and out. Our temporary solution was to drop in our spare distributor, which is setup to bypass the MSD box.  We hooked it up, reconnected the plug wires, and fired the engine up.  We were all happy to hear it start right up.  Larry set the timing and we were all set to start the tail of the 3rd Heat.

Larry and Rocky Kugel, Took Wiles, and Barry Jacobs were all in our heat.  The Light went green and Jay seemed to be hooked up well.  Jay moved into 5th, fairly quickly.  They were taking five to the Feature, so as long as he could hold that position or better it, we'd advance.  With about 2 laps to go a caution came out for debris.  The carburetor stud came out of Took Wiles new carb, and he lost the stud and air cleaner.  Someone hit it, amazingly not Jay.  The filter and plates went flying in 3 different directions.  Took came off the track and Jay held on for a 4th place finish. 

Although Jay looked good out there and the car seemed to handle well, he wanted to make a change.  I walked up to our car to find Heather Mullinex holding the jack under the rear end of the car.  Before I say a word she says "He said this was authorized".  Lol.

Well, Jay wanted to move the bar up a hole.  In theory this should've been a piece of cake, 5 minute project.  Well, 45 minutes later we slid the driveshaft back into the transmission, re-mount the shocks, and get the bolt back in the hole!  We put the tires back on, fuel added, and ready to go...we hope. 

Jay starts 12th in a field of 20.  Twice this week Jay has told people that he's proud because he's run the same front bumper for 2 years!  Well, he can't say that anymore!  When will he learn not to say things like that?!?  Lap #1, Someone starts to spin in front of Mitchell Lamb.  Mitchell starts to spin to avoid the guy and Jay tries to get stopped, but slams into Mitchell.  Mitchell continues to spin around Jay.  Luckily, Jay caught him on the corner and was able to continue through safely. 

Jay is involved in several more fender benders and bumps, but it's just a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  He was fortunate enough to be able to be on the outskirts of the accidents and just grazed the others and continued through.  Jay moved up through the pack and found himself in 8th.  The car handled really well everywhere on the track.  The change seemed to be helping.  Jay went high into turn 1 & 2 for an outside pass and got up into some mud.  Shortly afterwards he felt a bad vibration. 

Once again, Jay came off the track early and headed for the pit.  I found about 3 pounds of mud caked into the inside of the left rear tire.  We're "hoping" that was the cause of the vibration.  It wouldn't be the first time it's happened.  I think something is bent on the right front as well.  The upper control arm is WAY too close to the shock, which indicates maybe a bent ball joint or maybe a bent spindle.

So, we ended up 18th, but we did find that the car was hooked up and running smooth both high and low on the track.  We do have a little work to do, but not too bad (as far as we know).

We'll be taking a short vacation next weekend to the Florida Keys.  So, unfortunately, we'll miss the Lakeville Modified event on Friday and Saturday night racing at Wayne County Speedway....unless it rains.   

June 5, 2005
Sunday

Also....we'd like to congratulate Tom and Kim Ogle on the birth of their baby daughter.  Tom is the tech inspector at Wayne County Speedway.  Even though his daughter was born Saturday morning, he didn't even miss Saturday night of racing at WCS! What a guy.

June 17th, 2005
Friday
-written by Jay Howe-

We returned to our home in Ohio after a shortened vacation to the Florida Keys. My oldest son graduated from high school, and he choose to go to the keys for his graduation present.

We had a great time, including another exciting adventure during the first Tropical Storm of the year. Lots of rain, rough seas on Friday. Saturday was a totally different day when we woke up, party cloudy, but no rain. Seas were somewhat still pretty rough, as the charter fishing boats did not go out that morning. Late in the day, we found a Jet Ski tour to ride the waves on. I have to say, we had a blast, and those jet ski's definitely, were abused, not by us, but by the waves out on the ocean. We were jumping 5ft waves, and of course, one time we rolled it over (checking for sea grass in the propulsion unit). Sunday we boarded our charted fishing yacht (LOL). We all took Dramamine, except for my oldest son. 4 others tried to convince him that he needed to take it, but he said he didn't need it. So, he ended up feeding the fish within 2 hours of leaving the mainland, then fell asleep in the cabin. Caught some nice yellow tuna, along with grouper, a snapper, and a few other odd ball fish...LOL.

While we were gone, Charlie Duncan drove our modified at WCS. Charlie qualified 10th, won his heat race, and finished 2nd in the "A" main. Congrats Charlie, as it was your first time in a mod (been racing late models for over 10yrs now).

We are looking forward to racing tomorrow night at WCS. It has been a long two weeks, we can't wait to race, and see our friends again. We missed them.

June 19th, 2005
Sunday

After an absolute horrific week, Saturday rolled around and it was time to go racing.  Maybe we could have a relaxing, enjoyable night.  We had to swing through Lakeville, Ohio first to pick up the Tahoe, trailer, and race car from Charlie Duncan's shop.  We were delayed a Charlie's shop due to changing out our MSD box, changing distributors, setting timing, and chasing a water leak.  We arrived at WCS around 4pm, which is about an hour later than usual. 

We made a few minor adjustments to the car, signed in, and drew a pill. Wayne County used to have a running order of Late Models, then Modifieds, then Pure Stocks, then Mini-Stocks. However, they've changed how they've prepped the track and with that, changed the running order.  For the past few weeks the Pure Stocks have kicked off the evening's events.  The Pure Stock drivers were upset that they were basically being "used" to run in the track after it had been watered and getting stuck with bad racing conditions.  In a last minute change, the officials called for Modifieds to kick off the night.

Hot laps:  We were all setup for a dry slick type track and found ourselves in the middle of a track that had just been watered.  Figures.  Jay had some nice laps though.  Out of 28 Modifieds, he qualified 14th.  With all things considered, he still turned a decent qualifying time of 20.428.

Our friend Ziggy Kugel was set to take some laps in the #9 of Ted Beaver's car.  Zigmeister was in the first session of laps though and got himself into some trouble when he went high and got into the sludge.  The slush carried him into the turn 1 & 2 guardrail and he was done.  The wrecker brought Ziggy back to the pit where we found the right side upper A-Arm was bent, ball joints (upper and lower) were bent, broken shock, bent lower control arm, flat tire, destroyed rim, and another bent rod that connects the tie rod to the spindle.  We rushed to get everything in a condition so they could at least get to start the B-Main and get tow-money.  Between us, the Kugels, and several other Modified drivers, we were able to replace everything except the lower control arm and lower ball joint.  At least he'd be able to start his heat and the consi race.

Heat races:  They watered the track again.  What a muddy freakin' mess.  The Modifies were lined up for their heats, but the track officials called all 28 to the track to run it in.  Now, we understand why the Pure Stocks were complaining...not to mention $2.00+ a gallon in fuel.  After a dozen or so laps, the officials pulled the cars off and brought the first heat out.  Jay was set to start 5th in the second heat.  Larry Kugel was starting outside pole of our heat. Bootie Petsko and Barry Jacobs were also in our heat.  Jay moved up to 4th, but seemed to struggle in turns 3 & 4.  Once again, our car likes a dry slick track and we were in rough and wet conditions.  Jay hung in there though and held on to 4th.

Rocky Kugel and Dave Liles were in Heat #3.  If you think that extra laps running a track in doesn't effect your race car, you should consult with these two.  Dave didn't allow for those extra laps when fueling.  On the final lap, Dave exited turn 4 and the car died on the front stretch.  Rocky was right behind him trying to figure out why Dave was stopping in the straightaway!  Rocky slammed on the brakes and maneuvered into the wall avoiding Dave.  Dave's fuel must have sloshed back over to the pickup in his fuel cell because he was able to get it back into power to cross the finish line and transfer.  Rocky was able to cross with a 4th place finish.

A-Main (written by Jay Howe):

All I have to say is, the track was junk. The only good thing that could be said about it was, it did go slick. First, I love a dry slick track. We don't have the engine that a lot of our competitors have, thus leveling the field some; case in point, Barry Jacobs and I racing lap after lap in the heat, I would exit the corner first, and half way down the straightaway, he would blow by me. Track was tacky then.

Now for the feature. I lined up next to Matt Shroyer (great guy). We started the race, and the first red flag flew coming down for the first lap. 3 cars got together on the back stretch. Everyone was ok, except Mike Lonas got the short end of the stick with his car. Complete Restart. On the restart, Matt and I are racing down the front stretch, and he comes up into my lane, and I get into his rear quarter panel, and he gets squirrelly, but I also lifted to give him a lane. We got into turn one, and I knew on entry, we had a top five car. Why? Because of the spots we picked up right away. We went from 10th, to 5th, in 3 laps. Matt Shroyer and the Ron Miller were behind me now. I was exiting turn 2 and another red flag came out. Ron from what I heard, got into the rear of Matt, and pushed him into the wall head on, which he bounced off of, and back into the front stretch. Of course half the field was behind him, and at least 3 other cars were involved. Everyone was ok. Matt's car will need a new front clip though. Now it is where my brain takes over, and mistakes happen. I was racing Jess Hartman and pushed myself too hard, and I spun the car on lap 12 or so. Jess finished 3rd by the way. Having caused the caution, I was put to the tail of the pack, and had to make my way back up to the front. We finished 8th, but was .016 seconds from 7th. It was a photo finish.

Not alot to do on the car this week, other than wash it, and replace the right rear quarter panel that someone destroyed before the start of the feature on the back stretch.

This coming week is the Kids Extravaganza at WCS, and also 2 complete modified shows, one Saturday, one Sunday. I am looking forward to racing two nights this week.

June 27th, 2005
Monday

What a hot weekend we had. Temps in the mid 90's, humid. We arrived at the track early saturday to meet our friends from Canada, the Coulters. We arrived at 1:30pm, thinking we would be the first ones there. We wanted to help out with the kids night also. Within an hour, the rains came. It rained lightly for approx. 45min., then quit. Ground soon dried out, and the cars continued to roll in. 29 mods in all.

The track was absolutely drenched, from the watering, and the rain. Well, the mods were up first tonight, so the track had us run the track in. What a mess. We entered the track to qualify with lightening to our west. We qualified 4th. Knew the car was good, and elected to not change anything for the heat race, knowing the rains were also coming.

Dark to our west (rain), we went out for our heat race. WCS inverts the top 4 in the heat race, so I started next to the fast qualifier, 2nd row.  2nd Lap we took the lead, and crossed the line with the heat win.

The thunderstorms for whatever reason, hung over Ashland County, just west of Wooster, and the rains never came.

For the feature, our friend Roger Miller (asphalt mods) was in the pits helping us out, along with the Kugel clan. I told Roger I think we needed to tighten the car up for the feature, and he agreed. So we changed tires, stagger, etc.....and went out for the feature. Now, for those of you who know our setups, we always prep our car to be the fastest from the half way point till the end of the race. Sometime during the middle of the race on a restart, I hit a car in the turn and turned him. Not on purpose, just a mistake. Spun him, and with WCS rules, he went to the tail. Mike Lonas is a very good driver, and I felt bad about hitting him, I have always tried to race clean, and he raced me clean, until my mistake. Well, after that, I ended up hitting the wall, riding up it (getting good at that), loosing 3rd place to Ron Miller. Held on for a 4th place finish, although we had a top 3 car....Ugghhh.

Our friends the Coulters, never came down from Canada. They must have seen the forecast, and decided to stay home. Don't blame them though.

Sunday, another race was planned at WCS. Larry Kugel broke a camshaft in the feature saturday night, so the plan was to allow him to drive our car, to keep up his points. We arrived at the track early to get the car ready. Upon further inspection, we noticed that the rotors were worn out, brake pads worn out, etc....to work we went. From the time we arrived, till the call for time trials, we thrashed on the car.

Larry went out for time trials, and qualified 5th fastest. He started the heat race and finished 3rd. Rocky won their heat race. I am sure dad was proud.

For the feature, Larry had to start 12th. What a disaster the feature was. Caution after caution. One caution the track officials made for no reason.....Larry almost was in a few wrecks, had alot of sheet metal damage to both sides of the car, but overall, not bad. Rocky Kugel started on the poll, and held off Took Wiles to lead every lap. Larry was sure pumped up when he crossed. Must have been a great feeling to see his son in front of him, win his first feature. Congrats Rocky, you ran a smooth race.

Just got back from the car wash tonight. Removed the right side sheet metal to pound it out, and check for damage. Nothing major to report, just did some of the maintence also. Didn't get everything done, but we can finish up at the track the small stuff. I do enjoy the time I get to spend with my wife, and son when we wash the car, and work on it; our special bonding time.

We are still looking for a shop to work out of, so if anyone has a space, or knows of someplace locally....or in Coastal North or South Carolina :-) please let us know. You can only do so much working out of your trailer...

July 3nd, 2005
Sunday

Last night at WCS, the modifieds were the last ones to race. Every couple weeks, the track has been switching divisions to let each division have their features first in all fairness. Last night, it was a good thing for the mods to go last.

Larry Kugel was once again in our car for the night. His engine builder still had not ordered his camshaft that he broke the week before. Larry qualified 5th fastest, putting him on the pole (outside) for the heat race. Larry finished exactly where we wanted him to finish, 2nd. Now I know you are thinking, why 2nd? Because the heats don't pay to win, no points either, and with the inversion in the feature, it is better to finish 2nd, or 3rd in your heat. So, after the roll of the dice, this placed Larry on the outside pole of the "A" main. Potentially he could have started 4 rows back instead of on the pole. All part of the game.

Now, while preparing the setup for the feature, Larry noticed that one of your brackets was bent (holds the coil over eliminator and spring). Instead of cutting the piece, Larry decides to put 2 bolts on the bracket, and weld them in place, thus strengthening the piece. Thank goodness the track has a welder that they allow people to borrow. So, it was a good thing that the mods ran last, giving us time to fix it.

The feature starts with Rob Stambaugh leading the pack, with Larry close on his tail. Within 2 laps, Rob and Larry had broken away from the pack, and were 20 plus car lengths ahead of 3rd place, then the caution comes out. Took Wiles is now in 3rd. Restart, then another, and Took gets by Larry for 2nd, and Larry finishes in 3rd. Only a few cautions, and the race is over in 15min. Overall, Larry was happy with the car, and thought that if we had put new tires on for the feature, we may have had a better shot at winning.

July 10th, 2005
Sunday
-written by Jay Howe-

We finally heard from our friend Larry Kugel, who said that he got his cam in and would be ready come race time. He was rushing to get things done to get to the track. It's been a few weeks since I was at the wheel, and I was not really prepared mentally, thinking that Larry would be in our car once again. Last minute scrambling, but nothing unusual for us....LOL

Last night was a beautiful night for racing. We arrived at the track at our usual time, and found the track to be in a less than desirable racing shape. And it would not get any better as the night went along.

This week the track tried something new with the time trials. The top 6 in time trials, run their own dash for starting positions in the feature. Everyone else runs their own heat races, for position in the feature. I am in favor of this race format. Unfortunately, I qualified 10th.

I started inside 2nd row, 1st heat. We started the race, and after a restart, on the second lap, I was in the lead, but I went into turn 1 a little too hard, and looped it. Yep, all by myself. So, back to the rear of the pack (9th), and had to race my way back up. While battling for 3rd, Ron Miller was on my outside, and hooked the backstretch ridge, which put him into me on the right rear quarter. Had to settle the car down, and finished 4th. Track had holes in it by this time that would almost swallow a car.

I started 16 in the feature, which I knew would be a long one. The late models went out before us, and they were out there for a long time (one red flag 6 car pileup on the front stretch). I told my son to tell the guys behind us, to take it easy, I am not going to push it till things settle down. Cars were bouncing all over the place, including ours. A few small wrecks, a good clean race with Mike Lonas (7 laps side by side), and we finished 4th. A total of 53 laps we ran for a 20lap race. Sad. It was not because of bad driving either. Track would swallow your car at this point. I never hit anyone, and yet, we have to replace the whole right side of our car's body, because the track ruts tore the body into shreds.

Looking forward to racing at Lakeville this coming Friday night. If you can be there, please stop down and say hello. We always like meeting people.
 

July 17th, 2005
Sunday
-written by Jay Howe-

What can we say, but rain. It has rained from Wednesday night, every night, bringing lots of needed rain. No racing this weekend. Track would have been horrible.

Wednesday we are planning on racing at Portsmouth Raceway Park, in Portsmouth, Ohio. They are having a special race during the week, where NASCAR stars Kenny Wallace will be racing his modified with us. Ken Schrader will be racing his late model also that night. Looking forward to it.

July 21st, 2005
Thursday
-written by Jay Howe-

We took off early yesterday, to travel 3.5hrs to Portsmouth. Weather report looked good, 0 percent chance of rain. No problems right? Wrong.

We ran into rain showers just north of the track. We called our friend Rick Walker, and asked him if it was raining. He said nope, sun shinning. Ok.

We arrive at the track, and sure enough, no rain yet. We pull in right behind Mike Lonas (another WCS mod racer). We check in, draw a pill (#26, a good omen I think to myself). I am walking back to the trailer, and I feel raindrops. I look off to the west, it is grey, but not black. I thought, just a passing shower. It proceeds to drizzle for awhile, then lightning starts to appear. 0 percent chance of rain, yeah right. It goes from drizzle, light showers, to down pours. It down pours for almost 25min. We think the rain is done, but oh no, it starts again, and guess what? It is now raining from the direction the storm has moved to.....It was raining basically backwards on us......for another 20 min.....Pits are absolutely soaked. We are drenched. Mud on our shoes 3inches thick. We helped Mike Lonas get his car loaded, then waited for everyone else to leave before loading ours. We walked over to Kenny Wallace's trailer, said hello to him. Super nice guy. It was cool to walk up to him, no line, just to talk. He took a few minutes just to jabber jaw with us, and we really appreciated it. My son Jon was going to give him a hard time, but Kenny turned the tables and gave Jon a hard time. LOL.....

400 mile road trip, but on the bright side, we got to spend time with our friends the Walkers. Always nice to see them.

July 23rd, 2005
Sunday
-written by Jay Howe-

Got to the track late last night. Did not make it in time to time trial. Was put on the back of heat #2. Was not sure what the car was going to do, since Roger and I changed the left rear setup (swing arm).  The track was dusty, dusty, dusty. I laid back for a lap or two, got a feel for the car and how it was reacting with the change. I ended up changing lines to get around traffic. Finished 2nd.

Start 10th in the "A". Made a front spring change to try and tighten the car up on entry of the turn. In the heat, it felt good, although there was a little moisture in the track still. First 4 laps we were very fast, but then the car started going away, spun once, almost taking out the camera man, and finished 11th. Wish the car would have stayed like it was in the beginning of the race. On lap 4 we had passed the guy who would end up winning the race....ughh!

August 1st, 2005
Sunday

Happy anniversary Larry and Cheryl Kugel.

Last night at WCS, the track conditions were absolutely horrible....Reminded me of Cannonball Speedway on a good night. Last we heard when leaving the track, Charlie Duncan driving his late model, hooked a rut, and broke his hand. That might give you an idea of how bad the track was, when you read this story.

Larry Kugel was piloting our machine last night. Larry the week before, broke another camshaft. That's two in a row for him.

We put a heavier spring in the left rear for time trials this week. Larry timed in 6th fastest, which put him on the pole for the fastest 6 qualifier dash. We decided to go down in spring rates on the left rear some from our time trial run. Larry takes the lead going into turn one, and it was over. He won the dash, which put him on the pole for the feature.

Larry was watching the pure stock race prior to the "A" main. With approx. 2 laps to go in that race, he jumped in the car. As he was putting his seat belt on, he could not get the belts to latch. He was getting frustrated with it, which compounded when the cars started rolling out onto the track. Track officials told him he had one more courtesy lap to get it. They watched as he got it, put on his helmet, steering wheel, etc., then proceeded to put him on the tail for causing the delay in the racing program. Now, when I get mad, I drive sometimes without much abandon, as Larry did. He was mad, he should have started pole, but the cards were dealt differently. Larry has always told us on a rough track, the 3links (our car is a 3link) are easy to drive compared to the 4 bar cars. After watching the feature, I would agree totally. He mowed through the field rapidly, once just avoiding a 3 car cluster. Lap 12 he was in 5th, lap 15 he was 3rd, and lap 18, passed Mike Lonas for 2nd. Mike has a 4bar car, he hit one of the bad craters, throwing his car out of whack, which allowed Larry to pass him. Larry finished 2nd, maybe if we had another restart, or a few more laps, Larry could have passed Took Wiles for the win, but we will never know. WCS started 22 cars in the feature.

To the car wash we go. Wonder how many brackets, ball joints, body panels we will have to replace this week......

August 6th, 2005
Saturday

Nice day for racing. Not alot to report, other than we won our heat race, starting on the outside pole. Kept waiting on the pole sitter to start the race, but sometimes you just have to go. And, that's what we did.

Since we were in the second heat, and won it, the best we could start the feature in was 8th. Race started, and restarted just once. After 10 laps, we were in 6th, but not really advancing anymore at this point. On the restart, we were involved in a 10 car pileup. The 4th place car went into the corner too hard, hitting the 3rd place car in the drivers door. The 3rd place car checked up, and was pushed up into the 5th place car. The 5th place car then jumped his wheel, causing the 3rd place car to come back down the track into us. Now cars are everywhere, spinning, hitting each other. What a mess. Luckily, we made it out of there with only minor damage compared to some. Whewwwww! Bad thing with WCS is, if you stop on the track, you go to the tail. So, Took Wiles and myself (Took was the 5th place car involved) raced and worked our way back up into the top 10. Took was racing the high side, myself the low side. With 2 laps to go, he got around the 6th place car on the high side, and I was boxed out of the low side. The last lap, turn 3, we went into the corner deeper than the 6th place car, but pushed up the track. I honestly thought I would see him below me driving away, but I did not see him until we were racing down the front stretch for the checkered flag. We beat him by 1/2 car length. Was a good race. Overall, we were lucky.

August 13th, 2005
Saturday

We knew if we did not go to the track, it would not rain, and they would get the show in.....We went, and it rained just after time trials. We timed in 7th fastest. Less then .1 seconds between the 3rd place time trialer, and us. That's close.

We will not be at WCS this weekend. We have a prior commitment with our friends in North Carolina. Our friends, the Long's of Fayetteville NC, kids are having their birthday parties this weekend, and we promised Jim and Melissa we would be there. Plus, we are delivering Jim one of our spare motors. He will be campaigning in 2006 with his modified in North Carolina.

Will keep you up to date with our trip, and the results as we go along. Check this on Sunday for our results.

August 18, 2005
Thursday
Tonight is the big make-up race at Portsmouth Raceway Park.  NASCAR driver Kenny Wallace is slated to race a Modified while Ken Schrader is competing in a Late Model.  We departed for Portsmouth Raceway Park shortly after lunch on Thursday.  Our friend Roger Miller let us borrow his open trailer for our road trip.  The bad thing is that we’d be “traveling light” as far as racing tools, air, generator, and other items.  The good thing is that our Tahoe would be able to make the trip to Portsmouth, then North Carolina, and back to Ohio.   

We were probably halfway in to our trip to Portsmouth before we hit rain.  A little concerned, Jay made a call to our friend Rick Walker who lives two miles from the speedway.  He assured us there was no rain in sight, but continued to tell us that rain was in the forecast.  We continued on down toward the track…in the rain.  About 30 minutes out Ricky called back to say it was raining at his house, but not at the track.   

We arrive at the track.  It’s raining.  As we sign in I ask the lady if they’ll refund in the event of a rainout.  She said the track owner told them they’ll run no matter what.  We enter the pits and sit in the truck while it rains.  They’re suppose to start hotlaps at 6:30, but it’s still raining at 6:30.  At least it wasn’t a downpour rain like the last time we were there. It clears up around 6:45 and they get to work on the track.  There’s 92 cars in the pits and 56 of them are Modifieds.   

Portsmouth Raceway Park is a beautiful facility.  The pit area is quite large allowing each competitor a decent amount of personal space instead of being crammed into spots.  The track itself is very wide, but it’s too early to tell how many racing grooves will be there at race time.  The turns have some decent banking and so do the straights.  There are also several sets of grandstands in the pit area and you get a great view of the entire track from the stands.   

Jay draws a high number, which I’m kinda happy to see because it’s only for qualifying order and by the time he goes out the track should be worked in.  Hot laps were pretty uneventful.  Everything seems to be fine, but the track is tackier than we’re used to.  Roger Miller and Jay make a panhard bar adjustment. 

Jay goes out for his qualifying lap.  Modifieds are supposed to get one lap (or so we thought).  Jay makes his lap and the car is missing like crazy.  He comes back to the pit and a golf cart rolls up to the car and tells Jay he was supposed to take 2-laps and to go get back in line for his second.  Roger and I follow the car up to the line and check plug wires to make sure they’re all on tight.  Jay goes out.  Engine is still missing.  Therefore, he doesn’t qualify very well.   

Off to work we go.  We pull the spark plugs.  Roger says it’s running WAY too rich.  We decide to make a carb jet change.  Of course, our box of jets is in Ashland, Ohio in our enclosed trailer.  Rick Walker lets us borrow some.  Roger wants to drop 4 points. He pulls the front jets out and hands them to me.  They say “84” but I compare them to the “83’s” that Rick just gave me.  HUGE problem.  The carb builder drilled out the hole.  We have no idea what size these are, but probably around 108’s.  The largest Rick has is 95’s, so we drop those in and leave the rear jets alone.   

We watch Kenny Wallace’s car come off the track on the wrecker.  Apparently he and another Mod got together in the dash.  Kenny bent an axle and was done for the night.  He headed to the tower and announced the rest of the night.  It sucked that he wouldn’t be racing, but cool that he did the announcing. 

Jay heads out for his heat race.  I think he started 6^th in his heat.  A caution comes out and they have a restart.  Cars are scattering in different directions as Jay comes out of turn two.  From the stands it looked like he was going to make it through until one comes down the track and clips the right side of the car.  The entire right side door panel is smashed in and raised up so that you can’t even see out the right side of the car.  Part of the panels that come down from the roof to the door are now up above the roof.  The track official stops Jay and they pull off the nerf bar and send him on his way.  I’m surprised they didn’t pull him off the track completely.  He finishes the heat, but doesn’t transfer.   

Back to the pit.  Good news, the engine seems to be running well now.  Which is great, because we don’t have time to mess with it.  We go to work with the drill immediately.  Off comes the right side door panel, roof support piece, the remote battery posts, and one of the outside decking pieces.  Rick Walker wheels his welder down to us and Roger Miller goes to work welding the deck support piece back on while the panels get pounded out and we add 5 gallons of fuel.  Once Roger completes the welding project we go to work quickly riveting panels back into place.  We complete the repairs and get Jay off for the second of three B-Main races.  

Jay’s suppose to start 4^th, but the guy that starts outside pole doesn’t show, giving Jay the position.  That’s good news because they’re pulling 2 cars from each consi for the Feature and every extra spot helps!  Green flag flies and Jay’s running well, but falls back to third.  He and another car have a great battle for third and fourth.  The two went back and forth edging each other out every few feet.  In the end, Jay loses the battle to the line and claims fourth.   

Overall, we’re very pleased with the end result.  We went through a lot to get as far as we did.  Plus, we’ve always wanted to race at Portsmouth Raceway Park, so we were glad to have that opportunity as well.  Thanks Roger Miller and Rick Walker and Rick’s family for all their help. 

Instead of watching the Late Model and Modified Features we opt to fuel up and put the spoiler back on getting ready for racing in the Carolina’s.  We survived the night and should be ready to rock at Fayetteville Speedway Saturday evening. 

August 21, 2005
Saturday

Our friends Jim & Melissa Long in Fayetteville were kind enough to put us up (or put up with us) for a couple nights.  We’d like to start off by thanking them for all their wonderful Southern hospitality.  You guys are the best! 

We had a busy day ahead of us.  Not only were we racing at Fayetteville Speedway in the evening, but we were also heading to a nearby lake with the Long’s for a birthday bash for two of their kids (and Melissa).  It was a beautiful hot Carolina day.  And, when I say hot, I do mean HOT.  It was 100 degrees in the shade at one point.   

We had a nice time meeting and visiting with Jim & Melissa’s friends and family.  One of Jim’s friends is a Sprint driver, but used to run Modifieds.  We talked to him (Bruce Cline) quite awhile.  Before we knew it, it was time to head out and take off for the track.  Bruce decided he would come over and help too.  

We arrive at the track around 5:30pm.  Fayetteville parks competitors in the infield, so we drove around looking for an open spot.  We found one off of turn 2 and setup camp.  Since we were “traveling light” without our enclosed trailer, Jim was nice enough to run around to his friend’s trailers getting misc tools or parts that we needed to borrow.  We had to mount a new tire and do a 4-tire change from Hoosiers to American Racers first.  After we had that all figured out, Jay decided he wanted to make another tire change.  So, we rotated two tires and looked over the track.   

Fayetteville Speedway is a 4/10 mile track.  It’s fairly high banked on the turns and there’s banking on the straights too.  The stands sit pretty high up on a hillside and give the attendees a good view of the track.  Fayetteville does 4 things that we find unique.  Three of the things we like, the third we don’t like. 

The things we like?
The track owner has 15 to 17 4-cylinder to 8-cylinder cars that he owns.  He rents them out for $150/night.  I think that’s pretty cool.  Think about it, you could get your buddies together and show up at the track for a fun night of racing.  You don’t have to work on the car, you don’t have to haul it, you just show-up and have fun.  And….you get to keep your winnings!  It’s sounds like a pretty cool deal for someone that wants to try it out before getting into it or “always wanted to try it”.  Fayetteville is a military town too, so it’d be something cool for some of the military people to try on a night off.  Apparently, we’re not the only one’s that think it’s cool because Jim says he sells them out about every week.   

Another thing we like...at least I did.  Scaling.  Typically, a track will have a regular set of 4 scales and the readout box that someone leans over and checks.  A lot of times they have to rock cars around or take time and adjust scale lengths for different wheelbases.  Not Fayetteville.  They have a large plate that the cars roll up onto and have a digital readout mounted on the side of the scale house.  I liked it because it's not a "secret" of what the car weighs.  The driver can see it, the crew can see it, the officials see it, and any fellow competitors or teams can see it.  I've seen controversial races where someone had seen the weight of the winning car and it didn't make weight but officials let it go.  With that particular event, the officials refused to re-weigh the car for everyone to see that it had made weight.  With this setup, there are no "favorites", no "deceit", no doubt.  Good idea!

The other thing we like? 
As you’ve read in our previous diary entries, our friend Roger Miller races an asphalt Modified.  In their races, they use their qualifying times to setup the Feature.  They still run heat races, but heats don’t mean anything.  So you could get tore up in a heat race and be done for the night for nothing!  I don’t get it, never have.  Now…here’s what Fayetteville does…and I think it’s an awesome idea.  This weekend there were 4 divisions and an Enduro race.  This week Pure Stocks and Modifieds drew pills and ran heat races based on their pill draw for Feature line up.  The other two divisions were Super Street Stocks and Late Models.  Those two divisions qualified for Feature line-ups and didn’t run any Heat races.  What happens next week?  Modifieds and Pure Stocks will qualify and the other two run heats.  What a concept.  I like it.  I do like how our home track Wayne County Speedway is doing “group qualifying” in hotlaps with transponders.  But I also like this idea.   

What we don’t like?
Entry fees!  Ugg.  Every single division has an entry fee.  It was $25 for a Modified.  Plus you still have your pit pass to pay.  It’s a normal race, but they still have entry fees.  It’s not just Fayetteville, Jim says all of the tracks in the Carolina’s are like that.  I guess nobody complains because all the tracks do it and it’s an acceptable practice.  Man, I can’t imagine the headaches an Ohio track owner would catch if they implemented a nightly entry fee.   

Okay, now for the evening’s events. For two days Jay has been arguing with Jim about running a hard compound tire on the right rear, but Jim promised us the track would keep moisture and we’d want the medium compound.  Jim won that one.  (Jay’s still not convinced).   

Fayetteville runs a nice event.  They keep things moving.  It’s not a “hurry up and wait” or an hour intermission.  AND they have the track totally prepped and ready for racing before they open the gates.  Watering between races?  Nope.  Keep the show rolling.   

Anyway…we’re the second division up.  Jay’s lined up second for hotlaps.  The Modifieds roll onto the track and start rolling down the backstretch.  Jim and I are in turns 1 & 2 and can see pretty much everything but turn 3.  The Modifieds roll out of turn 4 and Jim looks at me.  Where’s Jay???  I say, “well, he probably let them go by so he could get some laps from the tail and not be in anybody’s way.”  We keep looking down the front stretch.  Here come the pack again…still no Jay.  Then Jim points and I see that Jay has come down the access road inside the pit.  Great.  My first reaction is to look at the tires as he drives towards us.  They aren’t flat.  He’s under his own power, so it’s not a blown engine.  Everything looks level, so it doesn’t look like anything “collapsed”.  As he drives by, I look for the “idiot lights”.  No warning lights.  Okay, I give.  We reach the car and he says he couldn’t shift.  The bracket that holds the shifter levers in place in the cockpit broke loose and wouldn’t allow the levers to shift into high gear.   

We fix the shifter lever relatively quickly and prepare for heat races.  Man, we really could’ve used some hot laps.  A new track is tough enough, but having zero information going into a heat race is very tough.  Luckily, Jim is very familiar with the track and was able to advise Jay.  Unfortunately, Jay doesn’t always listen to advice and other times the car won’t cooperate to follow the advice we’d been given.   

What happens this time?  Jay heads out for the heat.  He’s starting in the back of the pack, which in this case, is good.  We don’t know the track and don’t know what the setup will be like.  So, it’s better to stay out of the way then to get run over or drive over your head and tear up your stuff.  The heat race was fairly uneventful.  Jay got around one car early and stayed tight with another one.  He tested a couple lines and got a few good laps.  When he returned to the pit he said the car was too loose and it got a little warm (water temperature).  We had debated on changing our carb jets back to the larger “modified” sized jets, but hadn’t done anything with them yet. 

Jay and Jim had a long debate on tire pressure vs tire stagger.  Then, we moved our tire positions back to our original placement, charged the battery, and fueled, but decided not to make any changes on jets.   

Jay started 13^th in a field of fourteen.  Jim had told Jay multiple times to stay out of the mud on the bottom.  Well…Jay was determined to prove the bottom would come along.  In the end, do you think he listened?  Well…let’s just say the car is FULL of mud.   

The Feature was a cautionfest.  I was surprised that only 14 cars could bring out so many cautions, but they did.  Amazingly, Jay was able to avoid every one of them.  Jay went from the back of the pack to 4^th and then back to 7^th when it was all said and done.   

Overall, we had a terrific time.  We love trying new tracks and although it won’t be this season, you can bet you’ll probably see us racing at Fayetteville Speedway again.  We’d like to thank Larry (track owner), Bruce Cline, the Thompson Modified & Pure Stock team, Dave Hart, the other Pure Stock team we parked beside, any of the other teams that lent us tools, and most of all Jim Long Jr. and his family.  We appreciate everything you all did for us and look forward to our return trip!

August 28, 2005
Sunday

Wayne County Speedway, Sharon Speedway, and other nearby tracks washed out Saturday.  Luckily, WCS called the races early in the morning.  That makes it nice because it saves a lot of time and guessing "do we go, do we wait, do we stay home???"  Our theory is usually "If we go, it'll rainout.  If we stay home, they'll race." 

It was probably a good thing that WCS didn't race because we had to do a little maintenance on the car.  We were going to do it at the track, but decided to unload the car and take care of it today.  Since we didn't have our usual Sunday ritual of washing the car and doing maintenance, it all worked out. 

Jay changed the oil, checked all the nuts and bolts, greased the car, and checked the valves.  My project of the morning was "roof patching".  The roof really took a beating on our trip to NC last weekend.  We had duck taped sections to the roll cage during the trip to help keep it from bouncing and help keep it down when the wind tried to rip it off going down the highway.  It was ripping apart in 7 sections.  Several sections were fairly major.  In fact, we debated whether to patch or just replace.  I patched 3 of the 4 bolt mount areas, one section about 7" long on the right rear section of the roof and then the HUGE tear in the very front center that tore clear back to the middle of one of the numbers...about 15" long.  Jay finished up his projects, so we decided I could patch the 4th bolt mount and the small tear on the left rear section at the track this week.  Those won't take long.  Besides, those two aren't nearly as bad as the others were.  I'm still going to make one more reinforcement piece for the front center of the roof too.  Hopefully that'll take care of it all! 

So, I guess we're all set and waiting to see if we'll get racing in this week, or if it'll be another wash

September 4, 2005
Sunday

Weather wise, it was a beautiful night for the season conclusion at Wayne County Speedway.  When we arrived at the track I finished patching the roof and helped Jay replace some decking pieces that he had made over the course of the week.  I drew a high number, but wasn't concerned because it was only for qualifying.

Hot laps/Qualifying session. The track is dry slick already.  In fact, we're only the third division on the track and it's blacking down on the straights and the corners.  Jay isn't happy with his laps and says we need to tighten the car up.  There are 25 Modifieds and Jay qualifies 19th. We haven't qualified that low all season.  But once you look at the times, you notice that the time difference between #1 and #15 is only an 8th of a second.  So, that's some pretty tight times.  Two cars even turned in identical times.  The rest of the pack wasn't that much farther off in times either.

Heat Races:  Wayne Maffett, Jr. got loose off of turn 4 and went low into the infield heading for the guardrail and tires, but got it back on the track before hitting anything....well that is if you don't count Jay's front bumper.  Jay saw what was happening and hit brakes trying to give Wayne room to get back on the track.  In the process his front bumper tore the crap out of Wayne's rear bumper.  Ironically, there isn't a dent on ours.  Have you ever heard the theory "for every action there's an equal and opposite reaction"  or something to that effect?  Well, while Wayne and Jay were "acting" Bruce Jennings and the cars behind Jay were also "reacting" to what was ahead of them.  Bruce tried to check up, but got into the rear quarter panel of Jay.  Bruce's car was somewhat out of control after his defensive efforts to miss Jay and Wayne.  Bruce was weaving down the front stretch trying to regain a straight line.  He got it under control by the flagstand.  The guys all made it through without bringing out the caution, which I thought was pretty good heads-up racing.  Jay was up to 4th, but struggled in turns 1 & 2 and lost a position before it was over.  He finished 5th, which was good enough to transfer him to the A-Main. 

Feature:  I think we start 17th or cl