Hello Everyone,
Blogs are beginning to get a little spaced out these days, but I always follow up with one that covers all of the lost ground. This time it’ll be Springfield, Madison, and DuQuoin. All of these races were a blast and unfortunately most of them didn’t go as planned starting with Springfield.
Springfield I was looking forward to because my crew chief Kevin Reed had run so strong at the dirt races last year. At Springfield I talked with a few drivers on what to do and what to expect being that I had never been on dirt before, and an ARCA car on dirt was something totally different. I was told to try and keep the car as under control as possible and not to run it sideways like you see the normal dirt cars run.
Practice went fairly decent and we were all pretty satisfied so far. We qualified eleventh which was alright, but we were hoping for a top ten qualifying run. In the race we just wanted to get a solid finish with a clean race car to take to DuQuoin. The race was crazy; I have never been in a race where I cannot see the car in front of me until that weekend. Going down the back stretch the dust cloud was so bad, that I was two car lengths behind someone and I could not see them in front of me. This made it difficult to hit your marks going into turn three, but everyone made it work. Wound up scraping a top ten finish out of the day with a fairly clean race car to take to DuQuoin.
From Springfield, we went straight up to Madison, Wisconsin. We decided to not go back to North Carolina and just head straight to the next race. Also, because we had an appearance for our partner, Hampton Farms. The Wednesday after Springfield, we showed up to a Copps Supermarket with the hauler and unloaded the car in front of the store. I was there handing out samples of the SmokeHouse flavor peanuts, and signing autographs with the car on display. We hung out and did a lot of nothing until Thursday when we unloaded at the track in preparation for Friday morning. Friday morning rolled around and we showed up to the track, ready for tech and practice to begin. I looked at the track on Friday and realized it was going to be a tough little bull ring.
The corners were extremely tight and the track was hardly wide enough for us to be side by side. Practice began and we made minor adjustments, finishing out the practice sixth overall. Going into qualifying I had hopes and expectations of qualifying in the top-five without a doubt, unfortunately we slipped back a few positions to a ninth starting position. I was at least happy that I qualified on the inside row because of how tight this race track was. After the autograph session on the track, we began the race under the lights. I personally really like the night racing for some reason. During the race I held my own on track and saved my brakes for the end of the race, knowing that the track was hard on brakes. Unfortunately, on a restart I got spun going into turn one, and then hit in the right front by a lap car. We came down pit road to fix the damage and went one lap down during the process. I went back out on track in the lucky dog position, and ran away from the leader until the motor blew eight laps later. We think that when I spun in turn one, that I spun the motor over backwards, causing it to blow up later. Another night that didn’t go our way, but we kept our heads up going into DuQuoin.
The next week in DuQuoin, I had expectations of the track being like Springfield. However, when practiced started and I was four seconds off the pace driving the track like Springfield, I realized there must be something different. I was able to get out behind the 41 (Ty Dillon) during one run and realized he was driving it like a dirt car and slinging it sideways through the corner. So, next time out I tried it and picked up two seconds. Going into qualifying I wasn’t sure what to expect except to go out and throw down my best lap. Turns out, it was our best qualifying effort of the season and we would start Monday’s race in the fourth position. Going into the race, I honestly didn’t think any of us had anything for the 41 car.
However, when me and the 39 (Kelly Kovski) were able to keep up with him I second guessed myself. We got a caution not too long into the race and I restarted third, knowing that I was a top-three car at the time. On the restart, I jumped to the outside and passed both the 39 and 41 by the time we got into turn one.
I then kept the lead and tried to drive away. When we got to lap traffic, the 41 passed me, and then I passed him back. The 39 started to get in the mix and we were all just swapping the lead back and forth having a blast. After we pitted, I couldn’t make up any time in traffic and slowly started to slip away. Then with three laps to go, I spun off of turn four and side slapped the outside wall, never losing a position. This set us up for a green white checkered finish. At this point, we had a tire rub and I was just trying to hold my position in the top-10, unfortunately I got shuffled back into finishing 14th. It was a day of ups and downs but overall fairly good.
Onto Salem Speedway next and I am very excited for the race on Saturday night. We were running third in the spring race until a transmission took us out of the race just past halfway. Having past success at Salem, I’m really looking forward to going back. There’s also still a slight chance I could get the Bill France Four Crown, but it’s not a very big shot, however I’m still excited about it and aiming to take it away.
So, that’s catching you all up on what’s happened with me within the past couple of races. I just wanted to remind everyone that our contest on Race Talk Radio continues every Tuesday night where the Thunder Crew will ask a question pertaining to myself or our race team. The show starts at 8:00 p.m.
The first person who correctly answers receives one of our “What’s A Hacken-bracht” tee-shirts plus some of our very own Tastee Apples. The contest lasts until mid-October, so please tune in and win!
Until next time,
– Chad Hackenbracht
