Jake Wins at Ventura in Moose Racing's 360 Sprint Debut!

Written by Laurie Sertich

Really, you want The Moose Rig at the track at what time? And, the pit gate doesn't open until 12? Really, you are kidding us!! WIth the length of the Moose Rig, and pit space being so limited, it was requested that we arrive about 8 am being the first rig in line ensuring easier access to pit parking. The alarm clock blared at 4:45 and the rig with birthday boy, Jim, Tom & Laurie was on the road
by 6. A traffic free highway let the rig travel up the coast without hassle and arrived at Ventura Speedway in record time of 1 hour, 35 minutes!! WIth hours to wait prior to pit parking Tom was able to catch a few zzzz's and there was also a bit of bench racing with many of other early arrivals.

This night was the debut for the Moose Racing 360 car. Recently, a good friend of TeamMoose purchased a 360 which would enable the team to run more races then just the lkimted schedule of the USAC/CRA 410 series. With the engine addition of the 360, tom pulled out one of the previous chassis, Buckley #1...and deamed it to be the 360 car. As weights, engine power etc varies from the 410 tot he 360, last night was to be a night of learning - no expectations - just get a handle on what the car liked and didn't like.
USAC/West Coast 360's versus the VRA regulars - and the format here is no qualifying. You pull a pill that will basically tell you where what heat race and what position you will start in. From there it's all about passing points. SO, starting 6th in the 1st heat, Jake had the potential of gaining quite a bit of points. Finishing 2nd gave him 113 points!! After 3 Heat races, it was Jake in the Moosemobile that found him high point man of the night!! That's all good and dandy, bu that also means that when the top 6 are inverted for the Main, Jake would start outside row 3, in 6th. With stellar drivers in front of him, and ones that have ouddles of 360 experience, Jake paced himself for the first 1/2 of the 30 lap Main. A yellow flag coming out with 5 laps to go, Jake was running 4th.... and us in the stands could just see his calculating mind going to work -- and it worked out just as he planned. Taking to the high side of the track, Jake was able to make some stellar moves and parked the 92 Moosemoble in Victory Circle!!!!
As the Moose Crew rushed to the track, it was all of 6'1" Jake balancing a top the cage of the Moosemobile in celebration!!!
What an incredible night - JC was there to watch his recently purchased engine perform flawlessly...George- Ram/Bull Racing had made a last minute decision to drive to Ventura from Vegas to be on hand, Phil & Eileen King ( the Moose's biggest fans and sponsor ) probably have no voices left after cheering Jake on and of coarse The Moose Crew : Dave, Jim, Jimmy, & Chris!! Jessica, Jake's girlfriend, Rich & Nicole were also there lending helping hands. Missing in action was Don & Tammy, David and Tom "Gunk" . wish they all could of been there to share in the excitement.
To the companies that support Moose Racing, this should make you all proud: Huntington Beach Glass & Mirror, Ram-Bull Racing, Phi & Eileen King, Circle Track, RC Performance, JC, ARS Shocks, Keizer Wheels, Specialized Powder Coatings, Freeway Auto Supply,Lucas Oil,K & N, Rod End Supply,CRC, Trackside Racing, Saldana Products.
Great photos from Sprint Car Scotty & Chris. More photos and story to follow late Sunday at sprintcars.com!!!

RAM-BULL PRESS RELEASE

*******  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   *********

July 16, 2014

Ram Bull Racing announces  that it has recently increased its Sponsorship support of  USAC CRA sprint car driver Jake Swanson and his Moose 92 Sprint car Team owned by Tom and Laurie Sertich of Hunington Beach, CA. As a result of Jake’s excellent 1^st half of this current CRA season,  highlighted by his 2 fast time qualifying efforts , an average qualifying effort in the top 3 positions over 9 races, plus a “Hard Charger” award, Ram Bull Racing has upped its  financial sponsorship commitment by a substantial percent above the previously promised level!  Also, for the first time in its history,  Ram Bull Racing will be sponsoring a driver, Rowdy McClenon,  in the upcoming Gold Cup World of Outlaw sprint car event at Silver Dollar race track in Chico, Ca.!                                                                                                        Learn more details of Ram Bull Racing, Jake, Rowdy, & the Gold Cup in  “About Ram Bull Racing” section below.

About Ram Bull Racing:

Ram Bull Racing was founded by and is solely owned by Mr. George Blacker, a retired part time racer and  race team owner,  a full time racing enthusiast & fan, and a sponsor of emerging young racers.  George, aged 59,  has raced Go Karts, USAC  Midgets, Sprint cars, and Porsche Carrera 911 Cup cars on some of the most prestigious tracks in America.  As a race team owner and as an individual or corporate sponsor , George has helped finance drivers such as Justin Bell in the Daytona Rolex 24 where Justin , the former speed channel analyst and son of F1 driver Derek Bell, set pole position & overall  fast time for the 2003 Daytona Rolex 24 race in a Z6 sponsored by Extreme Lens- a company in which George was Chief Officer.  George has financed Travis Kvapil and Mike Skinner via the both of them being teammate drivers for George’s co-owned NASCAR Craftsman 2 truck team where his race team won the first race ever for Toyota in a major NASCAR series -the 2004 Michigan 200 Craftsman Truck Race won by Travis Kvapil!  George was a minority owner in that team along with co-owner Larry McReynolds. Larry is famous both as a race analyst for the Fox Network and as Dale Earnhardt’s  and Donny Allison’s Daytona 500 winning crew chief.  George is still very proud that his crew chiefs on that NASCAR team, Rick Ren, Eric Phillips, and Frankie Kerr had or have made their own success both before and after their time with George and Larry- Rick as crew chief for Truck Champion Hornaday, Phillips as Kyle Busch’s current truck crew chief, and Frankie as a top notch World of Outlaws sprint car driver prior to joining George‘s team.  In 2005, Kvapil was recruited by Mr. Don Miller, George’s friend and founder of Penske South, to become a NASCAR Cup level driver for Penske!  George was honored that Don even mentions this fact in his recent retirement life story and book entitled “ It’s Miller’s Time”.  Of Course, Don is credited with discovering emerging drivers Rusty Wallace and Ryan Newman!  Also,  George has supported and sponsored recent NASCAR Camping World and Nationwide  rookie racer Ryan Ellis since Ryan was age 14.  George’s home in Las Vegas metro area was Ryan’s west coast headquarters when Ryan, a Virginia resident, won his west Coast Mazda championship in 2009!  George’s support helped Ryan win ST Rookie of the Year honors in the Grand AM Continental Tire race series in 2011.  Recently, George has turned back to sprint car racing and so Ram Bull racing currently sponsors 2 up and coming sprint car drivers in the state of California.  One is the CRA 2012 Rookie of the year, Jake Swanson of Anaheim , CA, the primary subject of this press release  and the other is Rowdy McClenon of Anderson , CA who drives his own, Ram Bull sponsored , 410 c.i. winged sprint car at Silver Dollar  race track and also drives for Dave Johnson in Dave’s  Ram Bull sponsored #32 Spec Sprint car at various northern California tracks. Rowdy won 2 Spec Sprint track championships under Ram Bull sponsorship in 2013 -1 each at Marysville and Silver Dollar! In this years upcoming Gold Cup World of Outlaw races at Silver Dollar, Rowdy’s 410 sprinter will be the first time that Ram Bull has sponsored a car in a World of Outlaw event!

Why the “RAM BULL” name?

The Ram Bull name was derived by matching my birth year, 1955, with the Asian calendar designation for that year and then also matching my birth month , May, with the Zodiac sign for that month and then combining those two matched results.  1955 is the Asian Calendar year of the sheep/goat, the male of which is a Ram, and the month of May in the Zodiac is  a Taurus - the Bull.  Ergo the name:  Ram-Bull Racing!

Contact:  Mr. George Blacker,  RAM BULL RACING.  Gfbhome@hotmail.com  Media only- no Solicitations.

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The Month of March

Canyon

    The month of March proved to be an exciting one as I was able to race many different cars in many different locations and track surfaces. We kicked off the season in full force in Peoria, Arizona on 2/28 and 3/1 running double duty in both the sprint and midget. The midget was our blue Ram-Bull Racing #5 Swanson/Van Dyne Partnered Spike Chevy. As for the sprint, this was a very exciting weekend for me because it was the first race driving for Tom & Laurie Sertich in the Moose Racing #92 sponsored by Huntington Beach Glass & Mirror and Phil & Eileen King.
    After practice on Thursday in the sprint car, the weather became a big factor in whether we raced the next two days or not. Luckily it held off on Friday for the most part and we were able to get the show in. In the midget I started 4th in the feature and quickly moved into the 2nd spot. While running close behind the leader, RJ Johnson, the RR tire got punctured. Lucky for us a red flag came out as it was going down, so we were able to get it in the pits and changed in time. I restarted at the back and tried the car on the top to see if I could start building the momentum up there. I got into turn 3 hard and bit the cushion. The car went way up on two wheels but luckily I was able to set it back down just before it tagged the fence.
    I had qualified 10th in the sprint car so that was our starting spot for the feature. The track got pretty dried out despite the damp weather. As the race went on, the rubber finally went down across the track and I was able to move forward a couple spots to finish 8th.
Perris Auto Speedway

    The next show for us was March 15th for the Perris Auto Speedway opener back in the #92 Moose mobile. We had lots of friends and family come out to support us at our home track, and even sold some T-shirts. In qualifying I had a bit of an exciting first lap and a solid second lap which was quick enough to put me 5th out of a 31 car field. I started 5th in the heat and climbed a spot to finish in the transfer position (4th). There was a 6 car invert for the feature based on qualifying times which means I would start outside front row. Inside of me, starting on the pole was Ronnie Gardner. He and I led the field around the start of the race. He worked low, and I worked the cushion. I closed in on him and just as I got beside him, he went to the top shelf of 3&4. We made a little contact but nothing too major. I fell back to finish 7th by the end of the 30 laps.
    I think we have extremely good potential to shine over the course of this 2014 season with our equipment and because of the people we have supporting us. We are only two races in and we've got a couple solid top 10's under us. Finishing consistently is the key to progressing and I have no doubts that we will continue to improve in putting the Moosemobile further up in the field.
Madera
    The final show we raced in the month of March was on the pavement in two different midgets. One was an HPD Ignite midget for Alex Frazin. The other was Van Dyne's beautiful #5 Beast Midget. This was my first time back in a full USAC midget in quite awhile. We practiced on Friday but the rain struck again on Saturday causing a delay of the race day until Sunday. We were very fast all day in both cars. I won the heat race in both cars which put me on the front row in both features. In the Frazin #59 with Zac Bozanich on the wrenches, I jumped out into an early lead and won the feature!
    In the midget feature, I started outside front row. I got a good jump on the pole sitter and was leading going into turn one. The pole sitter got into the corner a little hot for the cold tires and got into the side of me. The damage wasn't too major so we were able to restart. The green flew and the top 4 cars were all pretty equal. It was a good battle for over half the race. On a restart, we all took off and drove down into turn one. But the thing about pavement is, brakes are key. If you don't have those you're in some serious trouble. The brake pedal went to the floor. Lucky for me, there was somebody in front of me. I hated to use the poor fellow in front of me like that, but I really didn't want to smash into the wall at full speed. I squared up the bumpers and made contact. The hit sent me spinning downwards and luckily the driver I used as brakes only glanced off the wall. It was an unfortunate end to an otherwise fairly successful weekend.
Thanks...
    I have a lot of people who are helping me by choosing me as their driver and people who are giving me the funding to be able to do what I love. In the sprint car, I'd like to thank Tom and Laurie Sertich for everything they do. Those two have sprint car racing in their blood and love the sport so much. The entire Moose Racing team consists of  hard working individuals and they possess great morale as well; Dave Price, Jim Powers, Jimmy, Don.com, the Cardey family, Gunk and David Cardey for his coaching. Moose Racing's sponsors include; Huntington Beach Glass&Mirror, Circle Track, Phil & Eileen King, Victory Chassis, RC Performance, Ram Bull Racing, Specialized Powder Coating, Saddleback Gun Center, Freeway Auto Body, Lucas Oil, Precise Racing Products, ARS Shocks, and Rod End Supply.
    Another special thank you goes to George Blacker and Ram-Bull Racing. George came out to Canyon and Madera to support us in person as well as making it financially possible for us to go to these midget races. I cannot thank him enough for the support he brings to my programs.
    The Van Dynes gave me an excellent pavement ride last weekend at Madera. I have to thank Tres and Stew for making it possible for us to race with their engine package and partnership. Finally, thanks goes to Alex Frazin. Alex has been a big help in our midget program along with letting me jump in his Ignite Midget from time to time.

The next race is April 12th at Perris Auto Speedway. USAC/CRA 410 sprint cars and the World of Outlaws are in town. We have #92 T-shirts and sweatshirts for sale down at the trailer after the races so be sure to come by and get one. Hope to see you there!

Jake chosen as USAC/CRA Team Moose Racing's new driver for 2014!

Hi all,
    As many of you may have already heard, I've received a great opportunity from Tom and Laurie Sertich; owners of the Moose Racing sprint car USAC/CRA team. I'm very proud to announce I will be the driver their #92 Moosemobile for the 2014 racing season. I'm honored for this opportunity and I cannot thank Tom and Laurie enough for giving me this shot.
    David Cardey drove the #92 machine in 2013 and announced his retirement after the Oval Nationals. David still plans to play a big part in the team by acting as a mentor for me. I'm really looking forward to working with Cardey next season, he is one of the guys in the sprint car world I've looked up to for years. He has the knowledge and experience to help me mature into a more successful and well-respected racer.
    Check out the article National Speed Sport News did for us here: http://www.nationalspeedsportnews.com/indy/indycar-development-series/pri-notes-swanson-lands-usac-cra-ride/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_content=motorsports%2C+racing
    The supporters of Moose Racing include; Huntington Beach Glass and Mirror INC, Circle Track Performance, Victory Race Cars, Phil & Eileen King, Racer's Pub, WhiteNuckl USA, and Keizer Wheels. Advanced Racing Suspensions has also come onboard.
    I'd like to give one more shout out to Larry Henry and Tony Jones. These guys gave me my initial opportunity to climb in a sprint car and gain experience with the #41 car in 2012. I surely am the racer I am today because of these guys.
    Looking forward to an exciting 2014 racing season in the #92 Moosemobile sprinter and the #5 Van Dyne/Swanson midget!

Stay tuned

Jake

73rd Running of the Turkey Night Grand Prix

    Most folks sit down and have a nice turkey dinner on Thanksgiving. My family and I choose to spend our holiday at Perris Auto Speedway and eat Turkey sandwiches instead. Spending this holiday with my family and friends doing the thing I enjoy most is what I'm thankful for. 

 48 Midgets entered for this prestigious event. This race was particularly special to us because it was the debut of our new Spike we had worked tirelessly on over the past 10 weeks. Thanks to help from Rick Young and George Blacker, we were able to obtain this car and complete the build in time.

    Wednesday night practice went well. We wanted to try a few different chassis tweaks and see how the car would respond being that we haven't worked on this exact type of car before. The car was stable but we lacked speed. A few changes to gear and the chassis got us feeling pretty good by the last session of the night.

    On Thursday, we hoped to qualify into the top 14 which would lock us into the feature. We qualified 24th at a 17.4. This put me in the second qualifier race starting 5th. Finishing in the top 8 out of the two qualifier races transfers you into the feature, the rest go home. We were able to maintain our position and put it in the show without a problem.

    For the 98 lap feature, we packed the fuel cell completely full of fuel and made many changes to the car to prepare for the track changing throughout the long race. I started in the 24th position and felt as though I had a pretty good car over the course of the race. I moved up quickly in the opening laps and continued to march forward as the race wore on. By the closing laps I had broke the top 10 and was having a great race with western drivers Nic Faas and Ronnie Gardner. On lap 98 I crossed the line 7th.

    It was a successful Turkey Night for us and a very successful debut for this new car. I'm extremely thankful to my dad and Tres & Stew Van Dyne for all they have done for me. I'm incredibly blessed to be racing this beautiful new car and looking forward to a promising season in 2014.

    I'd like to give a special thanks to the Bozanich family; Tim, Tracy, Zac, and Tori for coming out to lend a hand on the race car and especially making everybody a fantastic Thanksgiving feast for us. Also a big thanks to Phil Goodwine has been a tremendous help to us all season long primarily as our fuel sponsor, as well as other support. Cheyne Burris (CBI) did much of the carbon fiber work on this car as far as panels go. If you're looking for carbon fiber work done, this is the guy to go to. And also Alex Frazin who has not only let me race is pavement car when I'm free to, but loans us his motorhome for long trips and I am very appreciative of his support. The rest of my sponsors have done so much to help me further my career and help me become more and more successful. Thank you all; Ram-Bull Racing, Lucas Oil, DC Cams, Eibach Springs, K&N Filters, Oakley, Simpson, Swanson Inspections, One Day Signs, and Scott Sheldon for the great photos (www.sprintcarscotty.com).

    Below I have posted the results of the feature:  

      FEATURE: (98 laps) 1. Dave Darland, 2. Brad Sweet, 3. Caleb Armstrong, 4. Zach Daum, 5. Ronnie Gardner, 6. Nic Faas, 7. Jake Swanson, 8. Rico Abreu, 9. Mike Spencer, 10. Tanner Thorson, 11. Tracy Hines, 12. Damion Gardner, 13. Brad Kuhn, 14. Tyler Thomas, 15. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 16. Nick Drake, 17. Danny Stratton, 18. Parker Price-Miller, 19. Dalton Armstrong, 20. Trey Marcham, 21. Christopher Bell, 22. Andrew Felker, 23. Taylor Ferns, 24. Darren Hagen, 25. Shannon McQueen, 26. Cody Swanson, 27. Kevin Swindell, 28. Jac Haudenschild, 29. Chris Windom, 30. Scott Pierovich, 31. Bryan Clauson, 32. Thomas Meseraull, 33. Randi Pankratz.

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. See you all in 2014!

Jake

Oval Nationals 2013 - Western World

 Oval Nationals - Perris Auto Speedway - Oct. 31, Nov. 1&2
    One of the greatest sprint car races of the year took place earlier this month at Perris Auto Speedway in Perris, Calif. The Oval Nationals is the final sprint car race of the year for both the National tour and the western division - USAC/CRA. It kicks off with Wednesday practice. Thursday is the 360 portion of ovals, then Friday and Saturday are two nights for 410 racing.
    The #41 Henry/Jones Special, which is the car I had driven at last years ovals, was sitting at home since our last outing with it hurt the motor at Santa Maria Speedway months ago. The cost of repairing or replacing the motor are too much to swing for any of us without enough sponsorship dollars. My hope was to find a car to jump in for this race but I struck out. I was set to pit for the #91r of Brody Roa for the weekend.
    On Thursday, Brody did a great job keeping his nose clean and finishing 4th from starting deep in the field. We prepped the #91r 410 car for Friday's show. My cousin Cody was also entered to run this weekend teamed up with JSR in the #14J. His teammate JJ Ercse was set to run the teams #14 360 car all weekend. However just after Friday hot laps JJ became very ill. He told John Springstead, the car owner, to grab me and let me take his place for the rest of the night. I was scraping mud off the 91r car when I got the news that I needed to qualify a car in 15 minutes. I had my girlfriend Jess run and grab my gear from the parking lot while I fitted the belts. Jess got stuck outside the track so I threw on Springstead's helmet and suit and headed up for Q.
    I had no idea what this car was like but I had better get it figured out in a couple corners. The bottom was too free so I put it on the fence for the 2 laps. I ran a 17.1 which was good enough for 27th quick out of 53 cars. Before the heat I was able to check out the car and see what I was working with. John and I made our decisions on the adjustments for the heat. I started pole and they transfer only 4 of the 9 who start. Unfortunately though, I got to lead all of 3 corners before I got fed a RR that almost turned the car over. I finished 8th.
    This put me starting 8th in the B, 4 transfer. Cody was starting in the same B a few rows back. The track was very slick and dusty at this point with a big curb at the fence. Cody moved forward over the course of the race and I had a good battle going with Cody Williams and RJ Johnson. Cody had a little contact with the front end that ended his night and after much shuffling around I ended up 8th.
    For Saturday, JJ was still far too sick to race again so I still had a car to drive. I made a few changes to the car and my dad came up with Henry's shocks on from the #41 car so I was able to use our ARS/Bubby Jones shock package. Hot laps went smooth and qualifying went awesome. I ran a 16.9 which put me 16th out of 51 cars. Not bad for a 360 car against the National boys! This put me on pole again for the heat race. This time, only 2 transfer. I passed for the lead on about lap 2 around the top. I got passed a few laps later but was able to regain the lead soon after. I took the white but then the red came out. I had to hang on for one more lap from a bunch of hard charging 410's to put it in the show. Brody restarted behind me and we both held off everybody to put us both in the show. It felt great to not only put a 360 car in the show at Oval Nationals, but to also win a heat race doing it.
    For the feature I lined up 14th out of the 22 cars starting. I was unable to complete the first lap though due to some engine trouble which ended our night. That was disappointing, but we were still all in good spirits from the successes earlier in the night.
    I'm so thankful to JJ Ercse for wanting me to fill his seat for the event and John Springstead for giving the OK, I would have been watching the 2013 Ovals if it wasn't for these guys! Also John Franklin, the rest of the JSR crew, my dad, and Kirk&Cody for everything they did to help make this deal happen. It was an absolute blast!

Western World - Canyon Raceway - Nov 14, 15, 16
    Canyon Raceway is located in Peoria Arizona, literally in the middle of nowhere. It's a tacky and racey little joint that hosted a fantastic weekend of racing. The Western World was a 3 day sprint and midget show which is a National race for the midgets. We were hoping to have our new racecar we had been building with the Van Dyne's to debut for this race. Push rods held us up though and we were forced to put the old F Honda engine in the red 05 car to go race.
    My dad and I knew that we were going to a gun fight with a knife, but we had to make an appearance. I was just hoping the track would go dry enough for us over the course of the weekend.
    All 3 nights stayed very wet for far too long for us. The car was stable and felt great but we struggled the first night. The second night was a little better for us. We had a tough time keeping up until the track began to get pretty dry for the B. I started deep in the field and worked my way up to a transfer. I was running in transfer with a few laps to go when a driver behind me had either the throttle, or the brain get stuck open. I got turned around backwards, but thankfully he still had the throttle open to hit me again. This turned me back around straight so I got on the gas despite the fact that he was stuck on the rear bumper of my car. After we got untangled, both of us were no longer in a transfer spot and that was the end of our night.
    Night 3 went the best for us. Again it was a waiting game for the track to start making dust, but it finally did for the feature and we made it count. I started in the 25th position. Of course starting way back there, there was bound to me carnage. I was involved in one of the first incidents when a car spun in front of me. My right side nerf took the hit and pushed in into the RR tire. We missed the initial start, but thanks to help from the McQueen team we got it pulled from the tire. Luckily we caught another yellow right away and I got back out on the track. I stuck like glue to the low side of the track where there was still some moisture. I raced my way up through 11 cars to finish 14th. Racing through the field like that was a ton of fun and made it all worth it. We earned the hard charger money from the "fans in the stands pool."
    I'd like to thank all of my sponsors for such tremendous support from them all year long; Goodwine Glass, Ram-Bull Racing, Alex Frazin, Lucas Oil, DC Cams, Eibach Springs, K&N Filters, Oakley, Simpson, Swanson Inspections, and One Day Signs. Just one race remains; the 73rd Running of the Turkey Night Grand Prix at Perris Auto
Speedway. I've been looking forward to this race since we ran in last year in the red Honda car. This year I will be in the blue #5 Swanson/Van Dyne owned Spike Chevy. The car had a flawless and comfortable test session a few days ago, I can't wait to roll it out of the trailer on Wednesday. It is a very beautiful racecar, and I have a lot of faith that it will run even better than it looks! See you at Tnight.

Jake

The NorCal tour in September

    Calistoga is always a great race to attend. It's two nights of racing are always full of excitement and action. This year was extra special because the track had a lot of love are care put into it thanks to the Abreu family. The track was slightly reconfigured, fresh dirt, new catch fencing, sound system, and not to mention a big fat purse for both nights. Everything came together to dish out some fantastic racing in both midgets and sprints.
    We started the first night (Aug 31) pretty well. We struggled a bit in qualifying but had a great heat finishing 2nd. I started way back around 18th in the feature, but I had a fast car and quickly broke the top 10. There were some pretty nasty holes out there and it bit a few drivers, myself included. Luckily, I kept it rubber side down unlike many. Unfortunately though I smashed this hole so hard it did some major damage to the car; bent torque tube, ladder, and the car landed so hard that it even bent both front shocks. After that I was unable to march forward, I just held on ending up 7th.
    We went through the car and fixed the ladder for the second night (Sunday 9/1). Unfortunately, we didn't know the shocks were bent and fought a bound up race car the whole night. It was a rough night for us. But we were excited to get the heck out of there and head up the road to Rotary Rex's shop to prep for Chico which was on the following Thursday. It was there that we found our shock problems and were able to fix them properly with the right tooling. Rex and his wife Gale were incredibly good to us. Gale did laundry for us and Rex cooked us up a fantastic steak and sausage dinner as we spent a day getting the car ready.
    At Chico we qualified well (3rd) out of a competitive field of cars. In the feature I started 4th and moved up to P2 behind Ronnie Gardner. It was a solid night for us, but there was one major problem. The head sprung a leak and got the engine a bit warm. We had to run home and prep for Ventura in two days.
    Since our back up engine was currently occupied by the pavement car, our best option was to assemble the red 05 car. We did it in one night thanks to my dad and Tres. My dad was already zombie-like from driving straight through the night to get home and had been up for 36 hours straight when the night was just getting started. Nevertheless, we got it done and made it to beautiful Ventura Raceway.
    Our poor red car had been parked since our win in May and the engine hadn't been run since April. This caused some trouble for us. We couldn't get the little F motor to run clean at all. I was able to get the thing to a 4th place finish, but that was all it had. It was disappointing for sure, but that whole week just proved how dedicated this team really is. Our hard work continued into the next week as Tres and I worked as quick as we could to get the engine out of the pavement car and into the dirt car for the next race which was Ventura again on Sept 14th. We got it done and headed to the track with high hopes of a win.
    The night went smooth early on. We had a good starting spot of 5th in the main with Ronnie just to my outside. I jumped to an early lead with the 68 of RG not far behind. I was down low on the racetrack but it was going away fast. I could see the cushion getting taller and then I could hear Ronnie behind me. I knew the low groove wouldn't make it much longer and I needed to move up even if it ment risking getting passed. If he did get by me, at least it was early enough to make a move back instead of getting smoked around the top late in the race. I moved up to the top shelf, but as soon as I did the engine coughed and sputtered. I shut it off quick and pulled off. Upon later inspection, we determined the engine wasn't a bad failure, but it was definitely going to put us out for awhile until we could buy the necessary parts.
    Unfortunately, because we were in this predicament we were unable to make the next race which was Bakersfield on September 21st. It was not looking good for the next Ventura race either coming up this past weekend on September 28th. However, just two days before the race Cory Kruseman gave me an opportunity to run one of his cars. Cory and I spent all Friday with his crew prepping and setting up both cars. We had lots of fun on Saturday, I got acclimated with the car quick and loved it right off the bat. We were second quick in hot laps and brought home the win in our heat. This put me starting 8th, RG was 6th, Cory was 4th, and Cousin Cody started pole. All of us including David Prickett, Josh Lakatos, and Shannon McQueen had a great race going. It was a race to the front between Ronnie and I. We fought our way up there and slid Cousin Cody for the lead and for 2nd. With just a hand-full of laps remaining I chased Ronnie down with everything it had. I put a wheel on him a couple times on the white put it way up in the fluff trying to make a run at him going into 3 but I couldn't make it stick. We brought it home second in probably one of the most fun races of the season.
    A huge thanks goes out to Cory Kruseman, Hobie and Barry for giving me the opportunity to run the Lucas Oil Krusman car, and also to Tres and Stew Van Dyne for there tireless work giving me a blue #5 to run. I also have to thank George Blacker - Ram-Bull Racing, Lucas Oil, and Phil Goodwine - Goodwine Glass. They are the major supporters of this team and we surely wouldn't be successful without them. A special thank you to Alex Frazin for his support and letting us use his motor-home on a regular basis. Thank you to the rest of our supporters for helping keep us going; DC Racing Cams, HPD, Eibach Springs, Swanson Inspections, K&N Filters, Simpson Race Products, Simpson, Oakley and One Day Signs.
    Stay tuned for the next update, at this point you never know what our next race may be!