Team Crown

Weekend Happenings

It turned out to be a pretty fair weekend for us overall.  In Huron on Saturday night, we started outside 2nd row for the heat race (which the outside really wasn't the place you wanted to be starting all night), and managed to run 4th with some pretty stiff cars after a bad start.  That gave us an inside 7th row starting spot for the feature.  We ran pretty well, and looked fast all night, but the engine starting to blubber as Jody was getting back to the gas so we couldn't advance any further than 8th.  I believe had the engine responded as it should we were probably a top 5 car with the ASCS National guys so we're pretty pleased with the whole night in general.

Husets gave us familiar ground once again, and we were able the make the most of it.  Starting 3rd in the heat we passed for the lead and ran off in the heat race.  The draw gave us an inside 3rd row starting position, and we made our way to the lead at about lap 9, and stayed out front the remainder of the race to claim our 7th win of the year there.

On a side note, Cody Hansen and Ryan Bickett looked pretty good tonight.  Cody lead the whole race until we were able to get by him, and Ryan ran right with us from about lap 11 to the finish.  We know we've got to keep on top of our game, or we're going to be running behind these guys in the weeks to come.  We really want to thank all the fans for the support.  The cheers after a win, and all the fine people coming down to see us after the races are over is awesome!  We hope everyone enjoys this as much as we do!

Next up:  Spencer on Friday the 4th, and Husets again on Sunday!  Hope to see everyone at the races!

The next few weeks will be slightly busier

We'll be able to get a few extra races in the next 2 weekends.  This Saturday night we'll be in Huron, SD for the ASCS National show, now with Jody driving.  Travis Whitney had some unexpected business pop up, so he's unable to race this one for us as we'd planned.  The following night we'll be back at Husets for weekly action.  Then on the 4th of July we'll be racing with the JSTS in Spencer, IA, followed by another weekly show at Husets.

I've been asked why we didn't go to Hartford for their ASCS show this Tuesday, and the answer is simple yet slightly complicated.  First of all, I hadn't really planned on going due to the fact that I have a few issues with how things have been handled at a few of Lyle's shows in the past.  I haven't race a weekly show there in roughly 5 years and I really don't plan on it anytime soon.  Secondly, we just haven't had any luck there it seems.  Third, Jody had a sponsorship commitment to running his own car there so I was out of a driver.  Now, being out of a driver is and isn't correct.  I'm probably could have found someone to drive, but it's not as easy as just throwing someone in the car.  I have to be comfortable with who it would be first of all, and I obviously would want that person to be capable of winning as well.   I just never really even looked for anyone due to the first 2 reasons.  So, while it may not be the answer people are looking for, those are the reasons why we didn't go.  I guess I haven't thought about it yet, but I can't honestly say we'll be at any of the others Hartford has coming up, but you never know!

Everyone have a great weekend, and we'll hope to see you at the races!

Answers for the comments below

I'll take them in order...so here goes.

To James:  Like I said on the message board yesterday....Jody hasn't been a dirty driver.  If he had been, I'd have said something to him.  Total damage to my car this year at Husets Speedway:  2 right side nerf bars, a cracked right side header, 2 bent right rear wheels, 1 slightly dinged front bumper, and a bent rear bumper.  Now, here's where all of that damage occurred:  1 right side nerf bar and the cracked header:  This Sunday when Cody got out of shape in the heat race and ran into the side of our car....nobody can deny that is what happened and you can bet if we were at fault Cody would have been down to say something...so you'd be hard pressed to try and say it was Jody's fault....just as when Bickett turned down into us in the feature.  Bickett came and apologized, so who would you say was at fault there....Jody?  I think not.  1 bent wheel this Sunday when Jody hit the wall after getting spun to the infield....and getting out of control right away hitting the wall right away out of turn 4.  1 bent wheel a few weeks ago when he hit the wall leading the heat race after the jacobs ladder broke on the first lap causing that to happen, so he went to the bottom and kept the car from getting really tight on the cushion.  Slightly dinged front bumper, he tapped Jesse Drost on the restart the night we passed him for the win.  1 right side nerf, 1st week when Jordan Martens began to spin on the start of the feature....looked to me like he started it on his own.  Watch the video and Jody was underneath Jordan going into the corner, and Jordan tried to get to the bottom....also the VERY SAME spot on the race track that Terry McCarl spun out by himself at the start of the 410 race, so I'd say it was pretty slick right there, but if you want to pin ANY wreck this year on us, you may have a case there, but not a super strong one.  Bent rear bumper from 9k after passing him about 4 weeks ago going into turn 1.  Otherwise not one other nick on my car.  No other nicks on the tires or wheels......so tell me who he's "hitting", when he's "hit" them, and I may tend to agree with you.  As far as being clear of someone, we've got a brake pedal and we use it when someone cuts us off....it's part of short track racing.  It's happened to us plenty of times this year, and will continue.  The only reason anyone is saying he's dirty is because we've had good luck and good fortune so far this year, and we've managed to win some races.  It comes with the territory.  So again, I ask you who he's "hitting"??  You make it sound as if he's running into people every time he's on the race track.  We're not there to make circles like some cars do, we're there to go to the front....and it hasn't been at any cost either.  If you'll notice the last few weeks, we've lost spots on the feature starts due to waiting for something to open up.  If you'll also notice we've slowed behind lapped cars because a few of them have been all over the place and we haven't forced our way through.  You're certainly entitled to your opinion, but please base the "hitting" and dirty driving on facts....not the fact that we're not cheating and we've been lucky enough to win a few so far.

To Amber:  Who would be "my other driver".....I guess I'm not sure what you mean by that?  Who lets us win???  Doesn't everyone go to the track with the intent to "win"?

Let me make this much clear atleast.  I have no problems with anyone in the pits.  I try to get along with everyone.  Sure I talk to others more than some, but that's everyone.  I try to show everyone respect, and as was the case this last week when we got bounced around a few times, not myself nor one other person in our pit area was headed to someone else's car to confront them for anything.  Hopefully if the people we race against see that we carry ourselves respectfully (which I pride myself on), they will do the same with us.  If you say that Jody's attitude is poor, you don't know him.  You've not taken ANY time at all to talk to him, and are probably a good friend to a racer that we race against.....no names, but I have an idea.  If you were ever to come and talk to him in the pits, you won't find anyone nicer, nor more willing to take the time to talk with people.  I've been lucky in the past with all of the people who have driven for me in that they have all been very friendly and outgoing people.  I will stand by that statement until the day I die.

Husets 6-22

Sometimes you're the ping-pong, and sometimes you're the paddle I guess.  Tonight seemed to be our night to be the ball, and so were alot of other people!  It was one of the strangest nights I've been around in a long time.  It seemed like everyone was driving a little over their head in some moments.  We started the heat race in 4th spot, and managed to win the heat after a caution.  The draw was a good one for us, and we started second row outside in the feature.  We were held up to a point behind the car that started in front of us, but started to make our way to the lead pretty quickly.  We dove under the leader on about lap 4, but he had other ideas and came down spinning us to the infield.  Jody did a good job of keeping the car going, got on the push off lane in 3 & 4, came back onto the track and smacked the wall with the right rear in a bit of frustration I think.  We had a red 4 laps later and found the wheel was bent pretty badly, and had a hole in the wheel itself letting air blow out of the tire at a small but steady rate of speed.  We decided rather than give up our position and changing the tire to try and slow the leak down more (which worked slightly for a little while), and give it a go.  Jody did a fine job after that and passed the leader a few laps later and going on for the win.

I'm proud of all our guys and team for the hard work and level heads last night.  We could have easily been torn up pretty badly last night on two occasions.  Not once did anyone feel the need to say anything to anyone, or go complaining to someone about what happened.  I wish people would take notice of those things sometimes, along with the performance on the track.  Racing is racing, and things will happen on the track.  We need to race each other all year, so why not try to get along?  See ya at the races!

6-15 Husets Happenings

Well, I can't say first hand what all happened, but I was on the phone several times throughout the night with the guys and I have a pretty good idea.  I know we started 5th in our heat and got into a little trouble early on, but Jody managed to recover and make his way to 4th and a spot in the invert.  From what everyone told me the track was amazingly heavy that night, so there was almost no way to pass up through the field if we didn't get a decent starting spot.  Then the draw came and our luck just wasn't with us, as we started as deep in the field as possible in 12th.  Jody raced his way up to 6th by half way, and we were knocking on the door the rest of the way but couldn't get by those guys.  Luck struck us when the 2-4 place cars all ended up crashing on the last lap giving us a second place finish.  All in all it wasn't all that bad a night, but I sure wish the track would have been wider and slower so we could have had the chance to give them a run for our 5th win in a row.  Justin Jacobsma ended up winning and it's nice to see a guy like that win.  Good for him, and we'll be back again this week looking to rebound from a second back into the winners circle.  See everyone at the races!

Husets 6-8

What a fun track to race on tonight!  It was about as racey as it's been all year, and I was happy to be a part of that one!  We won the first heat from the outside pole (again....I know we've been REALLY lucky drawing so far).  The invert saw us starting inside 4th row for the feature.  I knew this one wasn't going to be easy by any means.  We had a few decent, and a pretty darn good car starting in front of us.  On the initial start we were in a little bit of trouble with the car in front of us not going as well as he probably should have.  Coming off of turn 2 we were in 10th place after losing some spots.  By the first caution on lap 3 though we'd moved back up to 7th.  Another caution right away saw us still in 7th with 14 laps to go.  Over the next 4 or 5 laps we moved into 3rd and catching the leaders before they got to lapped traffic.  Once they got into lapped cars we were able to really reel them in, and might have had a shot at them had no other cautions come out, but then with 4 laps to go the leader got upside down in turns 1 and 2, which put us 2nd behind Jesse Drost.  We made a few adjustments on the red and were able to pass him on the restart for the win.  Now with that said, Jesse did a phenomenal job tonight.  He's been snake-bitten at Husets a little, so for him to run strong was good to see.  Remember me saying last week that Casey Abbas was going to win soon?  Well he probably would have beaten us if that race would have been 1 or 2 laps longer.  He was strong tonight, and put on an excellent performance.  I was glad to be a part of that race no matter where we'd have finished in those 3 spots.  It was an excellent race and I'm sure the fans got their money's worth tonight!  Not sure what's going on this weekend yet....I'll be in Chicago on vacation so if Joe wants to bring the car over for Jody to drive, that's what will happen.  Otherwise Jody will run our number to keep the points going, and we'll be back the following week.  I sure wish Bern would have been there!!!  He would have liked this one!

6-1 Husets Results

A wet track and hot weather greeted us for the races, which saw a rough track for the 360 cars all night.  I'd almost rather race on a rubber down track than on something that is as rough as the tracks have been in the area lately.  Once again we started on the front row of both the heat and the feature.....while I'm not complaining at all, it would be more fun to see if we can pass up through the field too.  Last night was one of those nights when you want to start up front though due to the roughness and how heavy the track was for our class.  We won our heat, and were supposed to start in the second row outside position, but the guy starting in front of us went MIA and we got moved up.  Randy Droescher got a good jump on the start and led the first lap or two, but after a red we made a minor change and the car rolled the corner a little better I thought and we ran to the lead pretty quickly and held off the challenges of Brent Vonk on a few restarts.  All in all I thought it was a pretty boring race for everyone....not much passing and not alot of fun when it's like that.

A few thoughts though before I go.  I know this is our website, and it may seem strange, but I'm going to hype a few others now.  I thought Cody Hansen last night looked pretty darn good.  They've got good stuff, and once they hit their stride this year they'll be battling for wins regularly.  Casey Abbas is another that certainly hasn't seen the results they're capable of either.  He's shown he can run up front, and really could have beaten us last Sunday night, but I think it would have taken a move that would have put his car and others in jeopardy so I commend him for showing maturity.  I've been impressed with Brock Dump, Kevin Flowers, and Eric McGillavary as well.  Each of them has shown steady improvement in the last few years and while 2 of the 3 have won a feature this year, I'm sure they'll all be right there in the future.  Chad Meyer has looked pretty darn good this year I think in the 410 class.  It's nice to see him getting back to the form he was in prior to the last year he drove the 1w.  Justin Henderson has shown that being on the road with the World of Outlaws has made him better all around.  He's been fast this year and looks really good.  Some of the guys with the worst luck.....Mark Dobmeier and Johnn Cressman!  Geez, it seems like both of them battle something each week.  When it rains, it pours as they say, and hopefully they'll get the monkey of their backs soon because they both could win races at that place.

That's about it for now, but we'll be in Worthington this Friday and Husets once again for Sunday's show (big thanks to Bernie!).  See everyone at the races!