You should only be concerned about what 1st pays! You go to win right?

We went up for our first pavement race at their last show. Nice facilities and welcoming crew. I highly doubt anyone can "Cherry Pick" at this track, a tough local bunch on a very tricky track. . . reminded me of Mt. Lawn.

On said topic, how much would it take to convert over/change over a winged pavement sprinter, like an AVSS car, to a non-winged pavement sprinter? Pretty easy?

Are the Hoosier tires the same between Spartan Sprints and AVSS? I know the Must See guys run the American Racers, so that would be $$$ spent right there for one of those teams.

There will be some AVSS guys there this Friday. Other than the RR, the tires are the same. Take the wings off, shock and spring changes, buy a 55 RR and they're ready....

Congrats to Steve Irwin in taking honors last night. A nice night of racing with the exception of Tom Paterson going down in hot laps. Something I never saw before - the push truck somehow jumped his RR and the LF of the push truck landed on the right side nerf bar. The truck was then high sided by Tom's RR and had to be lifted off. Apparently the damage was too much to press on for Tom (broken shock mount we heard). Is that about it, Tom?

Met up with a long time friend, team3521, too. The last ARCA Midget Rookie of the Year. Man... remember THOSE days? And NAMARS, too?

Mike,

Yes, Friday night was an exercise in frustration.

First let me say that I like running Spartan Speedway. I especially like their tire rule as the Hoosier 55 right rear that you must run there can legitimately be run two nights and still be competitive. Add this to a very slick track and it’s a real challenge to get around there.

I would run there more, but it’s difficult for me to get up there on a Friday night. It’s about 3-1/2 hours one way for me. Friday, I left work early and still got there just in time to miss hot laps. They do group qualifying, so that’s like an extra hot lap session, so I wasn’t too worried.

As I was being pushed off for qualifying, there was a lot of noise and then I saw the left front tire of the push truck sitting about even with my shoulder. After I got out, I noticed that the right rear shock mount was tore off the car and the right rear shock was destroyed. It also destroyed most of the body work on the right side. I was told the bumper had broken on the push truck.

Two things instantly went through my mind. The first was, “well, that was the shortest night of racing ever!.” And the second, being a budget racer, “I wonder if I will get tow money?”

Luckily, the track had an arc welder and we got the shock mount welded back on. In fact, one of the track officials that I believe was the flagman actually did the welding. With a bit of help from Doug Stepke and Dietsch, we got it repaired in time for the feature.

Unfortunately, the lack of hot laps didn’t help and I struggled in the feature. I managed to finish 10th, but I wasn’t real competitive.

Our next pavement race is with the USCS at Atlanta motor Speedway on August 29th. Because of my point standing with them, I’m locked into the feature, but I’ve got a lot of work to do before then.

Tom Paterson

"Like" PDP Racing on Facebook

Thanks for the straight scoop, Tom. It was a bummer to see that happen to you, or for that matter, anyone else.

Good luck in Atlanta. We've been down there quite a few times visiting one of the kids over the past few years. I recommend any Mellow Mushroom pizzeria.

Keep her on all four wheels and bring you and everyone else back safe.