Tuesdays with TMAC – Rainy Weekend!
(Bill W) June 2, 2009 – Frustrations with Mother Nature and track conditions put a damper on last weekend’s racing for the Big Game Treestands #24 team. Rain in Superior, Wisconsin and Brandon, South Dakota washed racing away. Driver Terry McCarl was frustrated with a third place finish at Knoxville when much of the race was run in single-file fashion. This weekend, Knoxville is on the tentative schedule, along with two features at Huset’s Speedway, one being the make-up from last Sunday night.
An empty trip on Friday to Superior with the IRA started the weekend out on a sour note. Saturday at Knoxville, TMAC was quickest in hot laps, but after vowing not to set quick time again this year, registered the 10th quick time of the night. “I said I wasn’t going to be quick time anymore at any of these local shows,” he says. “There was only one number that could go against us for the feature invert and that was the number they drew (6). That will change sooner or later though, and we’ll hit it.”
After winning his heat from third, TMAC discussed the track with midget driver Jerry Coons Jr. Then Travis Rilat confirmed their findings of traces of rubber on the track. The result ended in a single-file feature for the last half of the main event. “What happened with the track was unfortunate first and foremost for the fans,” says TMAC. “That’s the most frustrating part for me. Also, when you feel you have the fastest car on the track, and can’t get to the front because the track takes rubber…that frustrates you too. I know they wanted to slow things down for the Masters and the midgets, which I don’t believe in, because what you get in the end is unfortunate for everyone there. It’s just unbelievably frustrating.”
With the invert of six, TMAC started outside row four for the 20-lap main event. He quickly charged forward. “We were fast in the heat,” he says. “I knew with Johnny (Herrera) starting up front, and Sammy (Swindell) starting up there as well, that it would be tough. (crew member) Gary Isom and I talked about it, and we set it up the way we needed to. Our plan was to get to the front and just block the bottom the rest of the way after rubber set in.”
TMAC was in second by lap four, and set his sights on Herrera. In lapped traffic he attempted to run high through three and four to overtake the leader. Instead, Swindell was able to sneak by, and the three raced nose to tail to the finish. “It (rubber) set in a little earlier than we wanted it to,” says TMAC. “We got to second pretty quickly. It was laying rubber in one and two right away. I believe we were the fastest car out there through the slick. Things change when it lays rubber. I didn’t come there to run second, so I took a shot at Johnny when I thought he was caught in traffic, and that’s when Sammy got by us.”
With rain threatening the Huset’s Speedway near Brandon, South Dakota on Tuesday night, 22 410 sprints competed. TMAC was fourth quick. “I didn’t do a very good job of dogging time trials at Huset’s coming out of there fourth quick, did I?” he muses. “If they paid money up there to do it, I’d go for it.”
Starting fifth in his heat, he picked off cars and was second with three to go. At the end, Marlon Jones had beaten him by a nose. “The heat was really an exciting show for the fans,” says TMAC. “People from outside Sioux Falls wonder who guys like Marlon Jones, Jake Peters and John Lambertz are. They are all tough up there.”
TMAC’s love for Huset’s is evident. He started ninth in the feature and was in the top five, when after six laps, the race was postponed by rain until this weekend. “You have to drive your butt off all the time at Huset’s,” he says. “There’s no time off, and that’s where you really learn to drive. The car was really fast for the feature, and we’re looking forward to finishing that one off.”
New Websites for the McCarl Gang!
Driverwebsites.com has developed websites for the McCarl boys. Check out the new look of www.TerryMcCarl.com, and check out the newly developed www.AustinMcCarl.com and www.CarsonMcCarl.com!
Front Row Challenge/Ultimate Challenge Tickets On Sale!
Order your tickets now for the $10,000 to win Front Row Challenge, and $15,000 to win Ultimate Challenge at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa. Call McTwo Promotions Tuesday-Thursday beginning from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 515 957-0020 to renew your seats!
Infield Party Passes for the August 10 and 11 events will be $25!
For more information on the Challenges or on TMAC Motorsports, visit www.TerryMcCarl.com.
In"Terry"gation
Shaun asks: Is there any chance you might be coming up to Washington to run Dirt Cup this year June 18-20?
TMAC Answers: Funny you ask, I just e-mailed them for a payoff. It is a possibility, and something I’d like to do. I like Skagit, but it is also a LONG ways away. I’m not saying it is a great big chance that we’d go, but it’s on our radar. We talk week to week about where we may race. That’s the beauty of running a schedule like this. We look at the weather and go. I remember running the Dirt Cup in 1990 with Country Builders (#88). (TMAC was sixth in the prelim and ninth in the final)
Got a question for TMAC? Send it to us at sprntcar@iowatelecom.net, and we may answer it in this section! Put "? for TMAC" in your subject line.
This Day in TMAC History!
TMAC won on this day in 2001 at the Knoxville Raceway. The race was held in conjunction with USAC’s Silver Crown Hawkeye 100 won by JJ Yeley. With a draw format, TMAC started eighth in his heat and ran second. Starting seventh in the main event, he passed leader Jaymie Moyle on lap six and took off to the checkers ahead of Randy Anderson, Kerry Madsen, Calvin Landis and Don Droud Jr.
Website Updates
Keep up to date with McCarl Motorsports at www.TerryMcCarl.com. We keep it fresh for TMAC fans!
"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@iowatelecom.net with "TMAC" in the subject line.
TMAC Motorsports would like to thank sponsors Big Game Treestands, AmeriCashAdvance.com, DeBerg Concrete and Remington Treestands.
Bill Wright
Bill W Media
Monroe, IA USA
sprntcar@iowatelecom.net