Tuesdays with TMAC – Good Weekend for Vortex!
(Bill W) September 22, 2009 – Terry McCarl’s weekend was highlighted with a top five run at the Clay County Fair Speedway with the World of Outlaws in Spencer, Iowa. Two uncharacteristic flips in other events marked the first time the Big Game Treestands #24 had destroyed a Vortex top wing all year. The team is watching some iffy weather for this weekend, but preliminary plans have them heading for Jacksonville, Illinois (Shaheen Race) and Terre Haute, Indiana (All Stars).
TMAC registered the fourth quick time of the night on Wednesday, and ran third in his heat. “You get into no-man’s land being fourth quick,” he says. “You’ve got to finish in the top two to make the dash. I knew my only chance was to get a good start on the top and that’s what we did. The bottom was really good, but we couldn’t run down there. (Jason) Sides is really good down there, and he got us for the spot. That knocked us out of the redraw, and that was huge.”
The Altoona, Iowa driver instead was to start eleventh. “I felt like we could move up,” says TMAC. “We made some wholesale changes to the car with some bar combinations. I was really hesitant to do that, with Tod and the great sponsors we had there. John Black from Rossie Feed and Grain Company was there with us, as well as Kevin DeBerg from DeBerg Concrete.”
The changes proved to be the correct recipe for a fifth place finish. “The crew agreed with the changes, and it felt really good,” says TMAC. “Chris Dunkin did a great job with the track and it was awesome. We were able to move up through there, and there weren’t many yellows. We were able to get by Donny Schatz when he got off the track, and we had a good battle to hold him off. It was a solid run, and our team was happy with the changes we made.”
On Saturday, the WoO headed to a new venue for virtually all of the drivers, Deer Creek Speedway near Spring Valley, Minnesota. TMAC adapted quickly. “I was comfortable on the track right away,” he says. “We were driving above the cushion hot lapping and in qualifying. We were able to set quick time under the track record in the spot we came out, but Sides and Sam Hafertepe Jr. were able to get under it.”
Third quick put him outside of row two in his heat, where he would run second. “The first start was the best,” he says. “We got into the lead, but (Chad) Kemenah had some problems. I have to give credit to Don Ott on our motors. They just take off, and it did on the second start as well. It looks like we’re jumping; they are so good at the starts. We were able to get in the top two, and that actually allowed Jason Meyers to get into the dash. I’ll be looking for a t-shirt from him when we get to Williams Grove in a couple of weeks.”
Things started well in the dash, but disaster struck under red flag conditions. “The car was great, and we were all over Kraig Kinser (lap one),” says TMAC. “I went down the back straight and heard there was a red. We slowed in turn four, and Steve (Kinser) must not have heard, and he ran right over us. It flattened our tire, and we were done. You can’t change tires for the dash.”
The bad luck would see him post outside of row four for the 35-lap main event. Again, disaster would strike as a result of someone’s misfortune in turn two. “It was a really fun track to drive,” he says. “We got up to sixth. We were a little tight at the beginning like usual. Ten laps into it, everyone was starting to come back to me. They were getting looser and we were getting better. We were able to drive by (Danny) Lasoski. We slid by in one and two, and Mark (Dobmeier) got into the fence in front of us. I had to make a decision, and I didn’t want to hit him in the cockpit. I slammed the brakes and backed it into the wall, and ended up landing on top of him.”
The team worked to get the car ready for Sunday night’s Cheater’s Day race at the Huset’s Speedway near Brandon, South Dakota. If TMAC could win, he would garner $10,000. “We were good in qualifying (quick time) and the heat (third),” he says. “We drew the worst pill (10) we could, but that wasn’t a big deal for a 30-lap feature.”
A flat tire halfway through the feature would send him to the back, and TMAC ended up on his head for the second night in a row. “It was a heavy track as Huset’s has been most of the year,” he says. “I’d rather see that than rubber. We were up to fifth with about seventeen to go, and we were feeling good. That’s when we suffered a flat tire. We went to the back, and got going through there. We came out of turn four, and Brian Brown and Robby Wolfgang got together. Robby was flipping in front of me and there was nowhere to go. We ended up taking another ride.”
The irony of getting upside down two nights in a row is not lost on TMAC. “We haven’t been upside down all year,” he says. “We had the deal with Kinser at Haubstadt (May), but that was barely a tip-over. I didn’t want to say anything, because I’m a bit superstitious, but twice in one week is tough. The mathematics catches up with you sometimes. It was a rough week equipment-wise, and hopefully that’s it. We’ll be ready again this week.”
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!
In"Terry"gation
Sherrie Hollister asks: How would you rank the top five drivers of all-time at Knoxville?
TMAC Answers: I don’t like the question. I don’t think you can make a ranking like that. Danny Lasoski is the all-time feature winner and has four Nationals titles, but what if Doug Wolfgang had run just as many races? How many would he have now? It’s amazing how many wins Steve Kinser and Sammy Swindell have there for just running on occasion. People forget how good people like Jerry Blundy, Roger Rager, Kenny Weld and Earl Wagner were too.
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 Week in TMAC History!
On this week one year ago, TMAC led every lap to take the World of Outlaws feature event at the Orange County Fair Speedway in Middletown, New York. The win came ahead of Jason Meyers, Lucas Wolfe, Steve Kinser and Donny Schatz.
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