[Task Force]

MIKE WALLACE RACING READY FOR GATOR DIRT NATIONALS
By Zach Tasker

Joliet, Illinois based D2 midget powerhouse team Mike Wallace Racing is all prepared for this weekend’s inaugural Gator Dirt Nationals at the North Florida Speedway in Lake City, Florida. This event is shaping up to be the premier D2 midget event in the country drawing drivers and teams from across the United States. Team owner Mike Wallace is looking forward to another opportunity to bring home a big trophy. “Southern States Midget Series president Wayne Davis has done a substantial job, a very good job of promoting us. He has been out everywhere, giving away tickets several times. He is excited to have us down there, so yeah he has done a great job of making this something that we are all very proud to attend.”

The team will have their two full-time drivers in action. Defending and three-time Illini Racing Series champion Patrick Bruns will be piloting the #10b Darcy GMC/Mobil 1/Triple T Car Wash & Lube/MWR Lightning/Ecotec and “wild thing” Jimmy Clark Jr will be in the #10c MWR Lightning/Ecotec. Clark is coming off his rookie of the year campaign in the Illini Racing Series. "We are coming off of our Tulsa run, (a top ten for both cars in the feature) I am very happy with how we did and I think we can definitely carry the momentum into Florida. We were going to go to DuQuoin last weekend but with the passing of our friend Patrick Wilda, we were just really preoccupied with that than actually being able to make it down there and that obviously took precedence so we will take the momentum from Tulsa to Florida and see what we can do. “

Wallace is referencing the passing of driver Patrick Wilda Jr. in a construction accident last week, an incident that has given the entire MWR team heavy hearts. “Patrick was a part of this team when it got off the ground. He was the driver of our first chassis to roll off the table, and it's really been one of those things that has hit me hard. We do a lot of reflecting and a lot looking back and trying to make sense of things and really with all the soul-searching that I have done, you never know when your number is going to be pulled. The only sense that I can make of it, is that I was put in Patrick’s life to be able to give him the best that I could in the short time that he had left and basically he went out as a winner. He was always contending for the win, he was in one of our cars and I guess that means more to me that anything. It's just the friendship that we had and the fact that I was able to contribute to him going out a winner.” Both MWR cars will feature a decal on the car as a tribute to Wilda this weekend.

The Gator Dirt Nationals will feature three complete days of midget racing featuring practice, heat races, b mains, dashes, and features. Friday will also feature a special invitation only Race of Champions that Patrick Bruns is entered in. Follow MWR Technology/Lightning Chassis on Facebook for updates throughout the weekend.