Team Crown

A few more thank you's

It's so hard to remember everything and everyone all the time when you're trying to thank the people who have helped you throughout the year......and I know there will be more I've forgotten after I write this one too!

I want to thank the Whitneys......Walt, Chris, and Travis all for the help not only this year, but the things they've taught me over the years when I was pretty green yet.  Without the knowledge they've passed on to me, we certainly wouldn't be anywhere near where we're at today.  They are all first class, and will forever be good friends!

I want to thank Jeff Johnson and Kenny Netsch for helping a few times throughout the season at Jackson.  It's so great to see Jeff back at the track, and Kenny is by far one of the smartest people in the pit area when he makes his way down there.

A few others we need to thank are 212 the boiling point for help and a ton of fun this season!  Mark and Katie are a few of the nicest people you'll ever run across....they love racing, and have the best place in Brandon in my opinion....if you get the chance....make sure you stop by 212 the Boiling Point and look them up!  You won't be disappointed!

I want to thank Kendall and Pat from Applied Software for putting up some bonus money on us this year.  They were very nice to talk to, and we hope to see them again in the future!

I hope I've covered the people I need to....but rest assured, if I've forgotten someone, I'll remember soon enough.....without all the people like these, this isn't possible!  Thank you everyone!

That time of year again

I really wish we could race a few more months this year!  It's been such a good year, and so much fun that I hate to see it end!

As with every other year, there are people we need to thank.  Joe Vosburgh for being the one true constant over the last several years.  He's been with me from almost the beginning of owning this team, and I hope he never leaves.  He's learned so much over the years, and when we work together we're a machine.....we know what each other is doing, and we don't need to check what is getting done, because we know it's done the correct way.  Dalton (my son) has come on with us much more this year, and he's learned quite a bit this year.  I suddenly looked at him a few weeks ago, and noticed he's just digging right in and going to work.  Joel Vis (Trolly), and TJ Geerdes have been a big help in everything...and they know their stuff.  They both know their stuff all around, and are a huge help when we're racing!  Zach Geerdes has helped us along a few times this year as well....and I can't thank him enough for the help when we really needed it.  Reed Fricke helped us down in Knoxville again this year, and it was great to have him around at that time.....he's always been the most thorough person I know around one of these things, and I wish there were many more like him!  Jake Leighty as always has been a big help to us around the shop and a few times at the races.  I was happy to be able to repay him with running one of our cars the last night of the year and to see him have fun with a good run.

I certainly can't thank Jody enough for doing such an outstanding job of driving all year long.  He's come quite a long way over the last few years when he's driving, that it's unbelievable!  He's not only gotten so much faster....he's become a driver that doesn't wreck very much stuff at all, and that makes life so much easier on a racing team.  We can focus on getting faster that way, instead of focusing on just getting a car to the track every time we want to race!  His winning percentage in our car is something I'm proud of.....and we hope to build on that in the future.  I've gotta thank Travis Whitney for the good runs he's put together for us this year....even though we didn't have much luck for him, he ran pretty well considering.  We also must thank Don Droud, JR. for a good weekend at Knoxville and alot of fun....I look forward to racing with Don again next year at the same event (I believe we'll probably run two cars).

We must thank our families for allowing us the time to work on these things all summer, and the rest of the year.  They give up alot for us to be able to do what we do, and even though they don't think we understand.....we do!  Our friends who are not racing, or race fans give up the time we could spend and see them as well.  They're true friends who will pick right back up with us tomorrow when we are done for the year, and have fun with us all winter long!

All the sponsors who make all this possible.  I can't say enough about them.  They give up some hard earned money for us to be able to live our dream!  We've had some that have been with us since the beginning, and we had a little extra help along the way this year.  We certainly hope to build upon what we have, and hope to find more in the near future.

Last, but certainly not least.....we have to thank our fans!  We look forward to seeing you every week.  It's one of the things we get the most out of when we're able to race.  It makes it so much fun for us when we see everyone after the races.  I get a thrill when I go to a track and see our t shirts in the stands.  It's such a good feeling to all of us!  We do our best to make time for everyone, and sometimes there's quite a bit going on, and we don't all get a chance to talk....but we appreciate every one of you!

It was a fantastic season, and we plan to build on it for the future.  A few of the plans we have for next year, is for Jody to be the driver once again.  We will have a new look on the car, and also a few new t shirts.  I'm already excited for next April to come!

I'll update some when news happens.

Jackson Speedway 10-4

Well, the end of the season has fallen upon us....and that kinda sucks!

Last night, we ran a second car with Jake Leighty as the driver.....he's helped us out quite a bit over the last few years, and I wanted to give him a chance to race one last time this year.  He was more than happy to race our second car and I think he had alot of fun doing it too!  Jake had a great draw for the heat race and started from the pole.  He took off from the field and ran well winning the heat race handily.  He was slotted to start 3rd in the feature (which wasn't the place you wanted to start...on the inside row that is), and was running 4th for a few laps and made his way into 3rd where he ran most of the race.  One slight bobble and he was passed sending him back to 4th.  He was running pretty solidly and went to go under a lapped car, and wouldn't you know it.....the car turned right into him on the front stretch and broke the car beyond repair to get back out to finish.  All in all he looked really good, and did a great job!

Jody on the other hand, had a terrible draw (we've been stuck in that rut at Jackson for some time now with Jody), and he had to start 7th in the heat race.  A one lane track, and the bad starting spot gave him a 6th place finish in the heat, and he had to start 16th in the A.  We decided we were going to try some different things in setting up the car for the feature, and boy did we find something that worked well for us!  After about 3 laps of letting things sort out, Jody went to work passing from 15th up to 6th place, and really reeling in everyone in front of him.  That's when the luck went south.  The top wing just completely broke apart in the center foil, and collapsed down on top of the car.  Jody tried to race it that way for 2 laps, but as the caution flew he decided it wasn't a smart move and pulled in with 2 laps to go.

Really the bad luck for both cars wasn't at all anyone's doing, it's just those things that happen in racing.  It was a fun night for all of us, and we're really looking forward to next season!  I'll update more on the happenings soon. 

Just a little stat review

I was taking a look at our season to this point, and with only 1 race left as it stands now (you never know if there will be more or not), I took a look at our finishes for the year.  Here's how it shakes down.....

Total Races:  36

Wins:  11

Top 5's:  24

Top 10's:  28

Other:  7  This includes 13th in qualifying night at the 360 Nat's, 10 in the B at 360 Nat's, a couple of B feature runs after having problems early where we didn't transfer....we had a few bad nights for sure!

DNF's:  1  Pretty impressive to only have 1 race where we didn't finish, and that was due to a mag cap rattling loose and the engine not firing.

All in all I'll call our year a success no matter what happens the last race of the year!  I'll talk more in the coming days of who we want to thank, and all the great experiences we had this year!

Park Jefferson

Well, I can't really comment much on the night due to the fact that I was stuck in the hospital from Friday afternoon until Saturday afternoon.  However, I can give some results.  We started the heat in the 6th place and ran up to 2nd with a pretty good car.  We began the feature in the 2nd row starting on the inside.  It sounded like Jody and Scott Winters were running a ways out front and lapped traffic kinda got the best of both of them allowing Bakker and Dover to get by both of them.  We ended the night in 4th place which is disappointing for us given our starting position.

I can't thank Jody and Joe enough for the hard work they put in getting the car to the track and racing by themselves.  Jody keeps telling me Joe worked his tail off, which is no surprise....he's always done that for us.  It's guys like them that make our team look good whe we go to the racetrack!

Next up is Jackson on Oct. 4th.  We're hoping to end on a high note....so we'll see what we can get done!

Update

Just a little schedule update.....we are going to be in Park Jefferson this Friday with Jody driving.  We will be at the Oct. 4th Jackson race, but won't be at the Sept. 27 race.  Outside of that, I believe that's all we have left for racing this year.....kinda sad!

Husets season championship night

Well the final night at Husets was a good one for us, but it had it's moments!  We had a bad draw, and had to start 6th in the heat, which we managed to finish 5th I believe on a really heavy rough track.  The redraw went to point average once again, so we knew we'd be starting 12th.

We talked about what we would do for the feature, and we basically decided we'd put alot of gear into the car because we knew we'd have to drag race people down the straightaways to pass them with the way the track was.  I figured we'd be lucky to crack the top 10 as heavy as it was, but Jody put on a pretty good show and almost took the lead with 3 to go and then the caution came out.  We were put back to 3rd, and on the restart the person in 2nd had his engine die and Jody ran into the back of him breaking the nose wing.  We were certainly fast enough to win, but with the nose wing broken the car was way too tight to be able to pull off the pass.  We settled for 2nd and took home the championship in good fashion.

Congrats to Trisha Underburg on her first career win!

We're not sure if we'll be racing down at Park Jefferson this Friday or not, we'll have to see.  Otherwise next up for certain is Jackson on Oct. 4th for us.  I'll post more in a few days....I'm just going to let the dust settle for now, and I have many thank you's to attend to!

9-7 Results

We were looking forward to moving on from last weekends events, and have a good two day showing over this weekend, but mother nature thought different on Saturday night, and we were rained out just before hot laps were supposed to start.

We were really excited to race on Sunday in front of our home town!  We drew poorly and had to start at the back of the heat, and we managed to run 3rd which gave us an inside 3rd row starting spot for the A feature.  The whole night we were wondering if they were going to grade the track or not, and they ended up not doing it which was a mistake by all counts I've heard.  The track was really slick on the bottom, and the cushion was really heavy and rough.  It's pretty hard to get your car set up for something like that, and we certainly didn't do very well in that department!  We were passed by a few cars and we passed a few cars to run 5th on this night.  All in all, it wasn't bad....and like I said a few times last night....we didn't spin out, and we didn't tip over, so it's really about all anyone could ask for that race track!  Congrats to Gregg Bakker on a last second pass to win, and to Jake Peters for an amazing run from 17th to 3rd!

Next on the books is Saturday at Husets for Championship night.  Hope to see everyone at the races!

Thank You

I just want to take the time to thank everyone for the positive comments we've received.  Our friends and fans are simply the best!  While it doesn't change what happened Monday night, it does make us feel better though.

I was able to talk to Loren Barstad again yesterday, and we're pretty square with him.  I still feel the worst for him, because he's in the same position I'm in....we pay the bills.  He is what makes racing fun....he's the most kind and gentle person you'll ever meet, and I respect him more every day that I know him.  I would loan him the shirt off my back, and I know he'd still do the same for me today.  That's what matters to me the most in this whole deal, is the fact that the two teams involved in this unfortunate situation that we caused are still friends.

Again, thank you to everyone for the continued support!

Labor Day Weekend

We decided on Saturday afternoon to go and race in Jackson, and we're fairly pleased with the way things turned out.  We started the heat in the 3rd row, and ran 4th....so we made the invert, which gave us an outside front row starting spot.  We ended up with the lead after about a lap, and were running ok, but Wade Nygaard blew by us, and he set sail for the win.  We held on for 2nd....and although we had nothing for Wade, we ran decent we feel.

Sunday night at Husets we won the heat, and started 12th in the feature.  We had a good car, and reeled in the leaders, but couldn't find any way around them the last few laps and settled for 3rd.

Monday at Husets was a disaster.  We ended up crashing Robbie Wolfgang on the last lap, and won the race as a result.  Now we're taking the blame....full responsibility.  It's unfortunate that things happen like this, but everyone will end up in something along the course of a year.  We felt pretty good about not getting into, nor causing wrecks over there this year, and this one really felt bad.  We've apologized to the people who deserve it, and we'll leave it at that.

I'll leave comments up for now....but if it gets like I think it will, they'll be down.

A few things that I need to add....in the confusion I forgot to say last night.  We want to thank the fine folks at 212 the Boiling Point for helping us with a room for the night after Sunday's races.  They're first class in every way when it comes to the racers!  We managed to make our way in there on Monday afternoon for lunch as well, and the food is excellent as was the service both Sunday night and Monday afternoon!  I would HIGHLY recommend paying a visit there if you've not yet been!