Drive Lines and Line Drives...lol

Lauren Besecker · 8/17/12, 10:17 AM

Hey guys, thought I'd share this here...hope some of you get to see the race cars and I hope ALL of you take a peek at YOUR team, Team Indiana/Team Great Lakes in the The Little League World Series on ESPN.

C&A Motorsports To Honor New Castle, Indiana 12u All Stars For Their Little League World Series Bid

C&A Motorsports, based in New Castle, Indiana, received the news last Friday afternoon that their home town team had done the unthinkable; they had captured the Great Lakes Regional Championship and were headed to Williamsport, PA. for The Little League World Series.

"It took a minute to sink in when I got the call. That was BIG. It seemed like the stuff kids just dream of; it didn't seem like this could actually happen to a team from a small town like ours.", said Neil Armstrong, C&A Motorsports co-owner and father of team driver, Caleb Armstrong.

Armstrong, whose son and nephews may have spent their youth competing on race tracks instead of ball diamonds, is no stranger to baseball.

"My brother, Jack, has been a long time Little League umpire, and two of the guys in the race shop have direct ties to New Caste Little League. Our crew chief, Kevin Besecker, has a son who currently plays in the league, and one of our crew guys, Kirby Riggs, has spent some time helping with coaching in New Castle. Plus, his brother, Keith, was on the New Castle team that came so close to The World Series in 2006."

According to Armstrong, conversations in the shop lead to the race team coming up with the idea to show support for the New Castle 12u All Stars/Great Lakes Regional Champions by adding custom lettering to C&A's open wheel race cars scheduled to be raced this weekend.

"We had been talking about all of people and businesses in town who were decorating buildings or sporting mohawks like the ball players have, and we realized we have something extra unique we can use to show our support for these boys. It was a no-brainer to letter up the race cars to honor and celebrate this team."

Sunday night, the C&A Motorsports team will be fielding two cars in the United States Auto Club (USAC) National Midget Race at Angell Park Speedway in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. Drivers Caleb Armstrong and Dalton Armstrong, will race the machines that will feature graphics in support of the New Castle Little League 12u All Stars.

Dalton Armstrong, brother of NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver, Dakoda Armstrong, and pilot of the C&A Motorsports #7A Midget said, "It's pretty cool, when you think about it. Those guys are not just our team from our home town, but since they are The Great Lakes Regional Champions, they are also technically the team representing the state of Wisconsin, where we will be racing on Sunday."

Dalton's cousin, Caleb, driver of the C&A Motorsports #7c Midget, followed up with, "I hope this gets the race fans talking about our home town team, and maybe they'll go and watch those kids play on t.v. in The Little League World Series. They've worked hard and overcome so many things, everyone should be rooting for them. I'm honored to have the team ride on board with me this weekend."

Crew Chief, Kevin Besecker added, "It's fun for us to be able to do this for the boys on that team, and we hope they like it. I know when I was 12 years old, there was nothing cooler than fast cars and baseball...this deal is a perfect combination of both."

In addition to saluting the home town team while racing in Wisconsin this weekend, C&A Motorsports will have a Midget race car featuring the Team Great Lakes tribute graphics on display at the New Castle Little League baseball diamonds on Friday night, starting at 7:30pm. This is in conjunction with the city-wide celebration and big screen viewing of New Castle's opening game in The Little League World Series at 8pm.

Mud Packer · 8/17/12, 11:26 AM

Lauren,

Glad to see you back on the board. It has been a long time. Thanks for sharing the story. Also, good luck to the boys from New Castle.

dirtnonwingfan · 8/17/12, 12:34 PM

I echo Mud Packer. Glad to see you back on here. Best of luck to the teams both on the track and on the diamond.

Bill Gardner · 8/17/12, 1:17 PM

Lauren, there are several Putnam County residents who are following the New Castle team. We know Coach Tim Porter.

http://www.bannergraphic.com/story/1882805.html

I will be watching tonight at 8 pm on ESPN!

Thanks for posting too...

darnall · 8/17/12, 1:53 PM

Great story and great gesture....even though I'm from Missouri I will for sure be pulling for the New Castle Little League as I watch the series on ABC/ESPN... I would much rather watch the little league world series over any major league game because the kids are not only super talented, but they play for the love of the game, and they wear their joys and dissapointments on their sleeve....no major egos to get in the way, nobody worrying about their million dollar performance bonus instead of team results, no steriod controversy, etc etc etc..... other than a few of the international players that look like 18 year olds..haha..

Good luck Team New Castle, and good luck to the Armstrongs this weekend carrying the colors of the New Castle team.

Lauren Besecker · 8/17/12, 4:26 PM

Thanks for treating me like Kotter, but.....I never really left entirely. I just chase more baseball than racing these days and I try very hard to control myself and stay out of your business. LoL

Thought I'd share this Indy Star article about the team. For anyone who cares...this article is the best one written to date in terms of TRULY illustrating this team. Heck, you don't even have to like baseball to see why the New Castle 12u All Star Team is so special...

http://www.indystar.com/article/20120816/SPORTS/208170328?fb_comment_id=fbc_10152028921435611_3459 7770_10152029479015611

Thanks again, all!

Lauren

Kirk Robbins · 8/17/12, 10:30 PM

Picture of the C & A Midget at the Baseball Field in New Castle tonight.

newman1957 · 8/17/12, 11:39 PM

It's been awesome to see all the buzz around east central Indiana with the N.C Team heading to Williamsport. Those boys absolutely deserve to be recognized and appreciated.

Lauren it's been good to see you and all those Besecker boys around the ball parks these past couple of weekends. Nicholas was great to watch.

I have to say though, Rick is as intense when Nick is on the field as he ever was when Kevin was strapped in the car. He is definitely a proud grandpa and that's great to see.

Well, gotta run, it's off to Cameron's football jamboree in the morning then to The Burg!!!!

Lauren Besecker · 8/19/12, 9:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kirk Robbins

Picture of the C & A Midget at the Baseball Field in New Castle tonight.

Thank you for getting this! Caleb and Kev dropped the midget off early so the planners could get things in place...and by the time Kev got back to the diamonds, rude people had decided to ignore parking spaces and had blocked the race car in! So...no one could get any photos during daylight without people's vehicles in the way, and the ones we got at night were less than awesome. Thanks!

The cars the boys are racing tonight have silver/grey lettering in lieu of the green. I'm sure I don't have to explain why. LoL

Thanks again!