HICKORY, NC :: It’s been a while since I’ve had a chance to write and wanted to update where our team is. The last few weeks have been rather interesting as I have been juggling traveling for work, Ministry opportunities, and of course racing at Hickory Speedway. As the regular season wound down for the year it gave us opportunities to run some bigger races. We ran the Fall Classic race and the Fall Brawl. The fall Classic would turn out to be a challenge and we really wasn’t sure if we would attempt the “Brawl Race” or not.

Leading up to that race, however we had an opportunity to minister to a family that was going through a hard time. I met Timothy “The Tinman” through Facebook. I began talking with his mom and we saw a chance to give them a stress free night at the races. That was all the inspiration our team needed to prepare for the Fall Brawl.

We worked hard that week, changing setups, working through problems and getting the car ready. We would have many obstacles as we tried to get the car ready. It all started as I went to square the rear end up and pulled the hub off to have rear end grease pour out. That led to the rear end having to be pulled and taken to Buzze Racing to get fixed. I got it back and began working on things again; we worked for 3 days straight to get the car ready and even fought some minor motor issues.

Finally, we were loaded and headed to the track. We worked throughout the day to make the car better and competitive. Through several changes throughout the day we finally started hitting on something. During qualifying we would face another challenge. The Right front caliper locked during our lap and the car would end up facing backwards down the backstretch. This relegated us to a last place starting position as well as me running through pits trying to find a new caliper. I would find one and our team worked hard to get it reassembled.

Timmy and his family arrived and we had a blast showing them around pits and welcoming them to a firsthand view of NASCAR. We would start the race in 18th and work our way through the wrecks and field to climb to 8th. I felt as if we had some more in the car and tried to push for 6thwith two laps to go when I overdrove the lap and lost some ground. So for this night, 8th would be our home. With the season we have had I was pleased. We fought some hard cars and our team never gave up.

So now we prepare to head to Myrtle Beach Speedway for week 1 of the Myrtle Beach 400. We are excited about this race and feel confident we can run well down there. With that being said its time to head to the shop to get some work done. Have a great day and see you at the beach! Thanks to our great sponsors, families, and fans for their continued support of our race team! A special thanks to Williams Ebeling Enterprises, WrenchRags, Race22.com, Vintage City Church, ARbodies, and NCN Ministries for helping to get us back to the track each and every week.