Tuesdays with TMAC – Fog Horns!
(Bill W) June 16, 2015 – It was a busy weekend with the World of Outlaws for Terry McCarl and the TMAC Motorsports #24 team. The new WoO format giveth and taketh away for the Altoona, Iowa driver. He would finish with a pair of eleventh place finishes on a weekend of tough track conditions, and earn hard-charger honors at Huset’s Speedway near Brandon, South Dakota on Sunday, rolling from 22nd to 11th. It was a weekend that included too much water, not enough, and of course, fog!
TMAC weighed in on the new WoO format that includes two separate flights of time trials if the car count is over 32 cars. “It’s the same for everyone,” he says. “I see it as the best at a place like Attica (Ohio) or Williams Grove (Pennsylvania) when there are over 48 cars. To me, the Outlaw shows I’ve been a part of have been awesome, and pretty fair. Having two B mains is probably the worst part of the new system. That showed at Knoxville, and I think you’ll see that quite a bit if they continue with it. They’ve had some great races, and I didn’t see a need for a change.”
On Friday, the WoO rolled into Crawford County Speedway in Denison, Iowa for the first time. Unfortunately, the track received plenty of rain on Thursday and then again during a rain delay. “More than one of the Outlaws said they can’t wait to go back there when Mother Nature isn’t a factor,” says TMAC. “Those guys are excited to get back there, and I hope they go back.”
TMAC will return to Denison on Friday, July 24 when the NSL visits. He would time in ninth quick in the second flight of qualifying and was one spot out of the Heat invert. “We went out last and the new format kind of bit me,” he says. “The (infield) tires were too far out on the racetrack in the heat. They were trying to keep us out of the grease. Lining up for the heat race, I could see the track wasn’t two cars wide. I kind of got the jump on RJ Johnson and he couldn’t really move up because there was a big ledge. I went over his left front with my right rear. I felt pretty bad about that. I went and talked to them about moving that tire in after the heats. They didn’t, and it really made it tricky for the feature too.”
He would pull in when the feature went green. “I don’t like to use my back as an excuse, but starting back in 18th with the track the way it was…we decided to start and park it,” says TMAC. “Right now we only have one engine. We lived to race another day. Financially and physically, that made sense. Watching the race, it was a great race. It went non-stop, and that was the key. The fans got their money’s worth, and we’re looking forward to getting back there in July.”
The draw was no kinder on Saturday at Knoxville Raceway. “We drew second to last,” says TMAC. “At Knoxville, the split field helped us, because we would have missed the invert otherwise. I beat Shane Stewart by a thousandth of a second. I almost felt bad for him, because he’s fighting for a point title. It put us in the right spot, and we won the heat race going away.”
That put TMAC in the Dash, starting eighth. “Doug (Rankin) and I have been wanting to try some things,” he says. “We tried some things in the Dash, and they didn’t work. When you don’t try, you wonder what if. We had a good start where we almost got up to fifth, but then the car tightened up and we dropped back. It was going to be an excellent racetrack come feature time. Rain came and ruined the whole thing.”
After a three and a half hour rain delay, the B mains got in in record time. Then it was time to push out the A main. That’s when fog decided to join everyone else. “I haven’t seen fog like that since 1980 (Knoxville Nationals on Saturday night) anywhere,” says TMAC. “It sounds kind of dumb, but when we did the four-abreast, I thought these fireworks are big! There’s a lot of smoke. Then I realized it was fog. They had put a chalk line to mark the inside of turn three, and without that, we’d have never seen it. I tried to get by Lynton (Jeffrey) on the outside at the start and lost three spots. That was basically it for us.”
The race was stopped after fifteen laps, and TMAC would checker 11th. “One and two wasn’t bad, but three and four was really foggy,” he says. “When the yellow came out, and everyone was giving thumbs down, I agreed with it. The track guys did a great job getting everything ready to go again, and the fans were great and stuck around. We wanted to put on a good show for them, but at that point it was dangerous.”
With 31 cars in the field Sunday at Huset’s, the regular format was used by the WoO. “I think we drew fourth to last, so it wasn’t the best week for the draw,” says TMAC. “That just killed us. I tried my best to hook the car up. I think we qualified 25th.”
He made the most of things, going from ninth to fifth in the first heat. “We had a good car in the heat race,” says TMAC. “I wasn’t that concerned. We had a good car and I know my way around there. Not everyone knew where to go on the track, so my experience helped there. There was a little bit more moisture in the heat than later, so getting to the top five was big. We didn’t want to burn another tire in the B.”
TMAC would start 22nd in the feature. “I didn’t move up enough (on the track) at the start,” he says. “I was actually a little tight. I was running the middle. I actually lost a spot or two at the beginning. I went back to the bottom and started picking them off one by one. I actually wanted to go with a softer tire (H15), but Doug talked me into going with a harder tire. I’m glad he did. About six or seven laps in, I was really thankful.”
The track laid rubber, but TMAC would make steady progress and climb eleven spots. “We kind of took what they gave us,” he says. “When they made a mistake, we tried to capitalize without pushing the issue into a crash. I think getting up to eleventh made for a great night for where we started. Other than Paul (McMahan) and Daryn (Pittman) who spun, we passed for every one of those spots. It was nice to get the KSE Hard-charger Award. We needed a new steering pump, and I just ordered it today. We appreciate KSE and everything they do.”
Newly Designed Websites!
Driverwebsites.com develops the websites for the McCarl boys. Check out www.TerryMcCarl.com, as well as www.AustinMcCarl.com and www.CarsonMcCarl.com!
This Week in TMAC History!
TMAC has three wins on June 17 in his racing history. In 2007, he raced from the back of the pack to victory in 25 laps at Huset’s Speedway, topping Mark Dobmeier, Wade Nygaard, Gregg Bakker and Gary DeWall. A 1995 win at Knoxville bested Johnny Herrera, Jaymie Moyle, Dennis Moore Jr. and Randy Smith. A 2001 win at Huset’s topped Don Droud Jr., Bakker, DeWall and Skip Jackson.
"Tuesdays with TMAC"!
"Tuesdays with TMAC" is an up close and personal look at colorful sprint car veteran Terry McCarl. To receive "Tuesdays with TMAC", send an e-mail to sprntcar@hotmail.com with "TMAC" in the subject line.
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Photo: TMAC at Denison (Rob Kocak Photo)
Bill Wright
Bill W Media
Monroe, IA USA
sprntcar@hotmail.com
Twitter: @BillWMedia