Well, I tried to ignore this, but it keeps rolling on. So here’s what happened from our side.

As far as not making the race if the 4, 9, 27, and 35 don’t have motor problems. Yes, if all four of these make the race, it would have been much more difficult for me to have put it in the show. We had a new car and were struggling to get it up to speed. But that doesn’t mean we wouldn’t have made it. We were practicing Friday on used tires and running at our qualifying time. We might have just jammed it in. I’ve done it before.

I consider all four of these guys my friends. And if I had an extra motor, I would have loaned it to any of the four. The 9 car (Fuller’s) actually helped me a lot the week before the race. And Jordon Fuller was on my pit crew.

As far as the push trucks, since I was driving, I didn’t see any problems. But I can say on both of our pit stops, as soon as we were finished, there was a truck there.

As far as saying Rick Dawson and Anderson Speedway doesn’t care, well, they have treated me with respect and dignity every time I’ve been there, whether it was the Little 500 or a winged race. I can’t imagine the work that goes into that race every year. I know the last thing they want is for a driver to get hurt.

I laughed out loud when Chris called Jeff Bloom a squirrel. Jeff is a Hall of Fame driver that still gets around pretty darn good. Chris, all I can say is that I’d like to be there if you had the balls the tell Jeff that to his face. I don’t know who would hurt you more, Jeff or Linda. Jeff finished 11th in this year’s Little 500. You don’t do that by being a squirrel.

Now on to the big issue. Yes, our car was smoking out the right header. And as of right now, I don’t exactly know what was wrong, but it ran on all eight cylinders all night. We were black flagged by the track sometime after lap 300. I brought the car into our pit and kept it running while track officials looked it over. We were putting no oil on the ground. We pushed it back to uncover our pit where the car was sitting and there was not one drop of oil in the pit. We were allowed to continue. Yes, we were smoking. No, we were not putting any oil on the track. We finally dropped out with a spun power steering pump shaft. The black stuff on the side of the car was mostly tire rubber mixed with a little oil. If you ran your hand across it, it came off like chalk. Ossuks, I don’t always agree with what you post, but you had me laughing at your tongue in cheek comment about my oil tank. No it’s not 60 gallon. It’s just a normal tank. We run 10 quarts.

After I got home, slept and unloaded the car, I was checking the comments on this message board. So I decided to see how much oil we used. I went to Lowe’s and got three one gallon buckets that are designed for someone to mix paint in. They are marked in ounces so you can accurately mix paint. You see, Friday afternoon, I decided to change the oil in the car before the race. After draining the tank and the pan, I put 9 quarts in the tank and one in the filter (10 quarts total). At home, I drained the tank and the pan. I got approximately 8-3/4 quarts out of those. Add a quart for the filter and we have 9-3/4 quarts. So yes, I guess I’m guilty of oiling the track. After 367 laps, we lost approximately 1 cup of oil.

So I apologize to all of my competitors. Apparently I caused all the crashes by losing that massive amount of oil. Next time I see any of you, I will personally buy you a hot dog. (It’s all I can afford)

On a different, but yet same note. We all want this sport to not only survive, but prosper. We talk consistently about getting new people to the races, not just the Little 500. Spreading all this hate and venom on a public forum doesn’t help this sport. Racing and especially sprint cars have been thrust in front of the general public over the last year more than probably any previous year. Let’s all think before we post. What are we trying to achieve?

Tom Paterson
Sprint Car #11
Started 33rd and finished 16th in the 2015 Little 500 and damn proud of it!