(Brookfield, Ohio)- G-Force Motorsports of Brookfield, Ohio is please to announce the addition of our newest marketing partner for the 2004 racing season, Lil' Mac's Print Shack of Hubbard, Ohio. Lil' Mac's will be the official T-shirt supplier and the team's graphic designer for the upcoming season. "We are really looking forward to our relationship with Lil' Mac's Print Shack", states G-Force owner and driver Scott Groves. "Tom from Lil' Mac's has worked closely with the team to design the team's first T-shirt which will be available to race fans within a week or two. Tom will also be handling all of our team designs including artwork for next year's car design. This will be Lil' Mac's first foray into the world of auto racing T-shirts and if our shirts are any indication, he will be catching the eye of other teams, drivers, and fans very quickly!"
Lil' Mac's Print Shack is based out of Hubbard, Ohio and specializes in sports and event related T-shirts. Their current customer base is made up of mostly high schools, charitable organizations, and fundraising clubs in Northeastern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania. Lil' Mac's hopes to expand into the world of auto racing T-shirts through its marketing partnership with Scott Groves and the entire G-Force Motorsports team. "Our goal is to help Scott increase sponsor awareness and build a loyal fan base at the tracks in which he competes," says Lil' Mac's owner Tom McCarthy. "We hope to provide the most eye catching, yet affordable racing T-shirts in the industry".
Lil' Mac's is also currently working on a new design for the G-Force Motorsports Maxim chassis sprint car for 2004. "The car is going to look wicked good next year! You can bank on it!" quipped Groves. "Tom has a real feel for the design aspect of things and he is going to take our program to whole new level next season. I can't wait!"
For more information on Lil' Mac's Print Shack or G-Force Motorsports call 330-506-7241 or e-mail sprintfreak1@aol.com. Place your order now for the new "Bad to the Bone" G-Force Motorsports T-shirts available just in time for Christmas. A special introductory price of just $12 per shirt will have you and yours looking your best over the holidays and to start the new 2004-racing season.
Racing season is finally over for 2003 and what a great season it has been. Some of the highlights included 25 feature wins for Greg Hodnett and the Apple Motorsports team and over 20 wins for local star Ed Lynch Jr., including an All-Star win at Mercer near the end of the season. Local hero Dale Blaney won the Hoosier Fall Classic in Indiana for the Andrews Motorsports team as well as the Sharon Nationals and several of All-Star wins. The weather in the Northeast was not quite as bad as it was in the East and most tracks got plenty of shows in during the summer. All in all it was a pretty good year.
The G-Force Motorsports team enjoyed an interesting yet rewarding rookie campaign. The team progressed throughout the season and by the 2/3 point of season we were running our best with several top ten finishes. We also experienced the low points of sprint car racing with a terrible series of flips during the Brad Doty Classic at Attica Raceway Park in July which put the team out of commission for about a week and half. If not for the help of Fritz Andrews (Dale Blaney's car owner) we would have been out much longer. The good thing was other than some bumps and bruises I was not seriously injured in the hard crash.
We ended the season 16th in points at Sharon Speedway and 15th in points at Tri-City Speedway, the highest finishing rookie at both tracks. If not for the flip at Attica and having our motor rebuilt near the end of the season, we would have probably finished near the top ten at both tracks. Overall we were pleased with our team’s progress from the start of the year to the end. Our goals were to get steadily better as the season went along and to break into the top 10 by the end of the season, which we accomplished both.
In my last column I talked about possibly making a switch to late models for the 2004-racing season but I am happy to announce that after careful consideration we have decided to stick with the sprint cars in 2004! I have to thank some of the nation’s best late model drivers for actually talking me into staying with the sprint cars. The differences between the two classes are immense and to start all over would put us back to square one. Also several potential sponsors have approached us about sponsoring the sprint car in 2004 and it seems the best decision, and the decision that was really in my heart all along, is to continue my career with the sprint cars.
Our current 2004 plans call for us to continue running at Sharon Speedway every Saturday night next year with Tri-City Speedway continuing to be our Sunday night home. We may also consider running Attica Raceway Park on Friday nights next season if a few details can be worked out with a potential sponsor. We are planning on traveling a little bit more in 2004 hitting several All-Star shows in the Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Indiana areas on Holiday weekends or weekday shows. We are very excited about next season and should have a major sponsorship announcement within the next month or so.
I am happy to say that all of our current sponsors will be returning in 2004 to support the G-Force Motorsports team. They were all excited with the progress the team made during 2003 and want to help us continue to grow in 2004 and beyond. I have set a tentative goal of running with the All-Stars on a full-time basis in 2005 if the proper sponsorship deals can be reached and if my driving skills continue to develop over the 2004-racing season. I have been contacted by a couple of sponsors who would like to see us run more of a regional schedule in the near future and it has always been a goal of mine to one day race full-time. So we will wait and see what the good Lord has in store for the next couple of years. I would love to race full-time and spread the 'Good News' about Jesus to the racing community, but only time will tell if that is in God's will.
Another issue I raised in my last column was concerning possibly purchasing the old Sportsman's Speedway. Well, unfortunately, terms could not be reached between the current owner and myself. I made two different offers to the current owner and both of them were rejected. My second offer was the maximum I felt I could offer and still be able to fix the facility up and run next season. It is still a goal of mine to one day own my own racetrack, but for now that goal will have to wait.
For now all of our efforts are focused on gaining additional sponsorship for next season and beyond. We are working on some very creative sponsorship packages that will hopefully take us to full-time status in the next 2-3 years. I know that a couple of big name companies are interested in going sprint car racing, so we will continue to work with them on putting together a sponsorship package that fits their advertising and marketing needs as well as a package that will carry our team into the future. If anyone out there is interested in joining our current list of marketing partners, you can contact us by e-mail at sprintfreak1@aol.com or by phone at 330-506-7241 anytime. We would be happy to sit down and discuss a program that would be tailored to your business or service.
Well, that is it for now, I will be writing again in a few weeks to give everybody an update on our sponsorship situation. Hopefully we will have big news to announce! Until next time, Lord willing, I will see you at the races!
It has been a while since my last column but not a whole lot has been going on with the G-Force Motorsports team. We have not competed in several weeks and are probably finished for the remainder of 2003. We looking forward to 2004 but at this point we have not decided what direction we are going in for the 2004 season.
Right now the big decision for the G-Force Motorsports team is whether or not we will return to sprint car racing in 2004 or switch over to late models or possibly try to purchase the old Sportmans Speedway. Lots of decisions!
If we do race, we will more than likely switch to late models as they seem to be the future of dirt track racing. There is more money and better promotion involved with dirt late model racing right now and the growth of the sport over the last 3 to 5 years has been unparalleled. We are currently trying to sell all of our sprint car equipment and if we do we will start buying late model equipment for next season.
Another option I am investigating is going into racetrack ownership and promotion. I am currently researching the possibility of buying the old Sportsmans Speedway. I have always wanted to own a racetrack and if the Lord is willing, maybe it is in my future. If I do buy the racetrack it would probably put my racing on hold until I got the track up and running and even then I would probably only run part-time. If something does not work out with Sportsmans I may look at some other opportunities in other areas, but I would prefer to own a track in the NE Ohio and Western PA area.
I want to take this opportunity to once again thank all my sponsors from the 2003 racing season. Adam-Eve Plumbing & Excavating, Cintas “The Uniform People”, Greenwood Hubbard Chevy-Olds, Cooks Markets, Hovis Tire & Automotive, R&R Signs, and Pennzoil of Western PA. Without these faithful sponsors this season would not have been possible for the G-Force Motorsports team. I owe each and every sponsor a debt of gratitude and I look forward to continuing our relationship in the future.
Well that is all for this week, I will be writing another column before the season is completely over and I will update everyone on my plans concerning next season. Until then, I will see you at the races!
It is good to be back racing again after several weeks off. We finally got our motor rebuilt and back in the car to finish out the season. Last Saturday we ran at Sharon for the “Nationals” and Sunday it was off to Tri-City for the “Oil Region Classic”. Although our weekend was less than stellar, we had a lot of fun and worked out some bugs that should have us running much better this weekend.
On Saturday it was off to Sharon for a scaled back version of the “Nationals”. With about 30 cars on hand it was down from previous years, but there were still several heavy hitters in the pits. Dale Blaney (the winner), Craig Keel, Erin Crocker, Ed Lynch Jr., and Blake Feese were some of the talented drivers in the pits and ready for action. Our night was not what we wanted as we did not make the A-main, but it was a lot of fun just to be there and to finally get the fresh motor out on the track. We had to drive to Central PA on Saturday morning to pick up our motor and by the time we got back, got the motor in the car and timed, loaded up and headed to Sharon, we finally pulled in the track at about 7pm. A long day to say the least! We had no time to work on any kind of a set-up and it really showed at Sharon, but like I said, it was just great to be back out.
Sunday night at Tri-City the pits were jammed with sprints, modifieds, and late models for the first annual “Oil Region Classic”. Our night was a little bit better than the night before, but not much. In our heat race we started on the pole and was running up near the front early, but a late spin sent us to the tail and thus relegated us to a poor starting position in the feature.
At the start of the A-main there was a wild wreck in front of us that we narrowly missed, but on the second restart our luck wasn’t quite as good. As I took the green flag for the restart the car just turned hard left and shot into the infield. We later found out after the feature was over that we had a broken left rear torsion bar. With nothing to support the left side weight of the car I just had to pedal the car around and try to stay out of trouble. I could not give the car more than about half throttle without the car wanting to go left. We nursed it home to a 20th place finish.
Tonight (September 5, 2003) we are heading up to Raceway 7 in Conneaut, Ohio for the Triathlon series sprint race. I am very excited to go to Raceway 7 as that was the first racetrack I ever went to as a little boy. When I was 2 years old my parents, who owned a late model at the time, started taking me to Raceway 7 on Saturday nights. We used to go to Raceway 7 on Saturdays and Expo Speedway on Sundays, but I always considered Raceway 7 my home track. When I got into sprint cars as a teenager, I quit going up to 7 except for the few sprint shows they have had over the years. I did go to a Hav-a-Tampa late model race a couple of years ago, but that is the only time I have been up there in quite some time. I am really hoping for a great run tonight as I have a lot of fond memories about growing up at Raceway 7. I can’t think of anything better than to shoot for a career best finish at the track I spent most of my childhood at.
On Saturday night we will be heading to Mercer Raceway to complete the Triathlon weekend. We have only raced at Mercer once this year (finishing 16th) and I am looking forward getting back there. A couple of my sponsors will probably be in attendance at Mercer so I will be looking for a strong finish there as well.
It sure has been and up and down season this year, but I guess it has been exactly what I expected. We have been fast at times and had our share of rookie problems at other times. Most of the other drivers have been real helpful and supportive. Jarod Larson and Jason Jacoby have helped us out with a lot of advice and help. Ed Lynch Jr. has given us some pointers on our brake system and Jack Sodeman Jr. has helped us out with set-ups. Dale Blaney has helped me when I have been at some of the same All-Star shows and Dale’s car owner Fritz Andrews is the only reason we are still on the track this late in the season. Fritz helped us out big time after our wild crash at Attica in July. That is what racing people are all about for the most part, helpful and supportive. We have had a blast so far this year and we are looking to finish the year off strong!
Well that is it for this week. I hope to see everyone at the races this weekend. Until next time, God bless and we will see you at the races!
I know it has been a while since my last column, but not a whole lot has been going on over the last couple of weeks. Rain and motor problems have kept the G-Force Motorsports team relatively quiet.
Two Saturdays ago at Sharon Speedway it seemed as if things were looking up for our team. We had finally found a set-up that the new car seemed to like and we were excited about a potential up front finish. We transferred through our heat into the A-main inversion and pulled a number 2 pill which would have put us on the outside of the front row for the night’s feature event, however, the rains came and spoiled that.
The next night at Tri-city the motor finally laid down and died. It just kept stumbling and blowing smoke all night long. We were very disappointed, but it is time to get the motor rebuilt, so that is why will be missing from action the next couple of weeks. Our plan is to have the motor back and fresh for the Sharon Nationals and all the special shows we plan on running in September and October.
We are trying to use our time wisely by actively searching for additional sponsors for next season. We are hoping to secure enough sponsorship to travel a little bit more next season. We would like to run about 15- 20 times in Central PA and hit about 25 All-Star and Outlaw shows in Ohio, PA, and Indiana next year along with running semi-regularly in Northeastern Ohio and Western PA.
Speaking of sponsorship, I spoke with Shawn Arndt on the telephone the other day. Shawn is Mark Kinser’s sponsor on the World of Outlaw tour. He owns a company named SABKO out of Pennsylvania. Shawn gave me some insight as to going about finding larger sponsors for the future. He is a very intelligent and passionate young man. He is only 30 years old and already owns two businesses and is a WoO sponsor. I never thought I would meet someone as engulfed with sprint car racing as myself, but Shawn sure is close! He told me that he originally was only going to sponsor Mark for about a dozen races, but just absolutely fell in love with the whole Kinser team and decided to go full bore! That sure is great. This sport needs more sponsors like Shawn.
I got to golf with one of my main sponsors the other day, Bob Herold from Cintas. Bob has been just great to our team. He is both a financial supporter and supplies our team with many great Cintas products like uniforms, hats, apperall, and floor mats. Bob is just a blast to be around and a great sponsor. Cintas also sponsors Kevin Bolland in the modifieds, although that is through a different region (Pittsburgh) and Sharon Speedway. On the corporate level they also sponsor Joe Gibbs Racing in Nascar and many NHRA drag racing teams. I am very proud to be associated with Cintas and they just happen to be my uniform supplier at my place of business, Greenwood Hubbard Chevy-Olds.
Our plans for the next couple of weeks are kind of up in the air. We plan on being back in action for the weekend of the Sharon Nationals if everything goes as planned. We want to run Sharon on Saturday night and either Attica or Tri-City on Sunday night. Then, throughout the month of September we plan on hitting several special shows across Ohio, Indiana, and PA. We are excited to finish the year off strong. Until next time, God bless and we will see you at the races.
Just an update for this week. As most of you know, the G-Force Motorsports team was not in competition this weekend at Sharon or Tri-City. Lack of money,help, and time were the contributing factors for the off weekend. We are still hopeful to have the car ready to go for the Outlaw show Wed. night at Sharon as we have already qualified for the first feature.
It was a really bad week for me personally as my Grandmother, who is in the hospital, had severe complications from her emergency surgery last Saturday. It was really touch and go for a day or two. So needless to say, we didn't get much work done during those two days. Plus with all the rain and humidity, it has made it difficult to paint the new car as humidity is terrible when you are trying to paint anything.
I think once the new car is painted and fully assembled it is going to be really nice, and I hope it is really fast! There are going to be a lot of new parts on this car and we are very excited to get it out on the track and put it to the test.
SPRINTFREAK'S ADVENTURES 7.28.03
As for myself, I cannot wait to get back behind the wheel. It has been almost two weeks and I am about to go nuts. I was really frustrated this weekend as I felt we should have been ready to race, but things out of my control decided that. When we do come back out, I want my team to be at 100% and nothing less! Physically I am 100%, but the car would not have been ready this weekend, so we decided just to wait for the WoO show at Sharon.
Our original plans called for us to run the Jack Hewitt Challenge at Attica on Tuesday night and Sharon on Wed., but we have decided to drop the Attica race and concentrate on Sharon because of already being qualified for the first feature. Once we get back and start running again I really think we are going to run up near the front on a regular basis. Top 5-10 is the only thing acceptable the rest of the racing year. Hopefully, we will not have any more big tumbles either!
I really have to thank one of my sponsors, Cook's Markets in Bristolville & Mecca, Ohio. Bob Linger, the owner, has stepped up and helped us out financially to help us get back on our feet. I have said it before and I will say it again, without the help of my great sponsors, we would not be able to do this! Thanks again Bob! I also want to thank God for helping me to heal so quickly and for watching over my Grandmother in her time of trials.
Well, that is it for now. I hope to see everyone at Sharon on Wed. Until then, we will see you at the races.
Starting over! That is what the G-Force Motorsports team is in the process of doing as I write this column. After a violent crash Wednesday night at Attica during the Brad Doty Classic, we are currently building a new car to finish the season out with, Lord willing. I am also healing from the bumps and bruises of the crash, so the week off is a definite plus as far as my body is concerned.
The bad luck started Wednesday night at Attica. After hot laps we decided to change wings to a new one I had just purchased that night, and during that process we found that the new wing and the old wing had different mounting points. So we thrashed around to make it out for our time trial laps, and although we made it out, the car was too loose, 3 bolts instead of 4 only secured the wing, and the motor was missing just like it did during Ohio Sprint Speedweek. Needless to say, our time was dismal. I felt like just throwing in the towel right there, but that is not my style.
In our heat race we also struggled with the race set-up. The car was loose getting into the corners and tight coming off. Several times the front end wanted to lift off the ground and although that looks cool to people in the stands it usually means the car is too tight and wants to push out towards the wall. We finished last in our heat, which meant we would be starting last in the B-main.
The B-main was all about moving forward as far as I was concerned. My goal was to finish near the top ten in the B-main if I could. With a lot of heavy hitters in the B, I knew I was going to have to get my elbows up and get on the gas. The first lap or so was not all that bad, the car felt good and the motor was running good. I tried to get low underneath a couple of guys, but the pack of cars right in front of me all was running the bottom. After looking at the bottom for the first two laps I made my mind up that I was going to have to move up high to get around anyone. I entered turns one and two up top and got a really good run down the backstretch. I was planning on going up high to the cushion and was going to try to blast around the outside of the 3 cars that were running in front of me. That is when the excitement started!
As I entered turn 3, at full speed, I felt the left rear wheel come off. At this point all I was thinking was that I would have to go back in the pits and get a left rear wheel put back on, but in a matter of about 2 seconds I had a lot more to worry about. The car spun around backwards and sideways and the axle tube dug into the track and sent me into a series of violent flips. The first roll was not too bad as the car just did a quick barrel roll, but the second flip when the car started to go end over end was pretty bad. The very first end over end flip really took a toll on my body. The violence of the first impact was severe and it felt like someone had punched me as hard as they could in the left side of my jaw. After that first impact it was not too awful bad, I was just riding it out and waiting for it to end. All I could see was blue sky, then dirt, blue sky, then dirt, blue sky, etc… You get the picture.
When the car finally came to a stop all I could think about was, my season is over! I am going to crawl out of the car only to find the frame broken and all the bolt on parts destroyed. Much to my surprise, when I crawled out of the car it did not look all that bad. The emergency crew checked me over quickly and I walked back to the pits to survey the damage. At the time, the only things that were hurting me were my left thumb and wrist and the left side of my jaw, but about an hour later almost everything started to hurt.
Once we got back to the pits, Fritz Andrews (Owner of the car driven by Dale Blaney), my crew chief, and myself surveyed the damaged. At the time we did not think that the damage was all that bad, but now that we have got the car back at the shop and tore down, here is a list of what was damaged. The frame was bent in 3 places, both the top wing and the nose wing were destroyed, all the wing mounts and hardware were either bent or broken, both motor plates were bent and broken, the left rear shock was broken, the front bumper was broken, the right rear radius rod was bent, the heim end on the Jacobs ladder was broken, the straps on the Jacobs ladder were bent, the radiator was bent, the front two torsion bars were broken, the king pin in the left front spindle was bent, and the hydraulic wing slider was also bent. A lot more damaged than we initially anticipated. What does it all mean? We are building a new car this week.
We have purchased a 2002 Maxim with only a handful of races on it and basically we are replacing everything mentioned above and then some. We are actually going to have a better car coming out of the crash than what we had before. Now, Lord willing, we can hopefully finish out the season with the new car without anymore nasty tumbles. Financially I could not handle another tumble like that one. We are barely going to be able to build this new car, but we are getting some outside help, which is much appreciated. Racing people are the best and without the help of some key people, we would be sitting out for several weeks instead of just one.
As for me, my body is healing nicely. I was very sore for about 3 days. I had pain in my jaw, both wrists, my left thumb, my shoulders, my back, my kidneys, my knees, my hips, my rib cage, and my sternum. The only thing that never hurt was my neck, and I find that amazing. I thank the good Lord for watching over me and protecting me. Things could have been a lot worse. Also, I thank God for helping me to recover quickly. I was thinking I was going to be sore for about a week, maybe two, but after about 3 days I was feeling better.
The only bad thing about all this is the fact that we missed Sharon on Saturday and that is going to hurt us big time in the points. I was hoping to end the year up near the top 10-12 in points, but now it would take a monumental effort to get up there. I will be running as hard as I can once we get the new car out there. We are also planning on hitting several more All Star shows and bigger events than we had originally planned. We think that they are really helping us get better quicker. Our goal by the end of the year is to start running in or near the top 5 on a consistent basis, and our ultimate goal is to get a win by the end of the season. We realize that these are pretty lofty goals for a rookie, but I am as competitive as anyone you will meet and I feel if you do not push yourself or your team you will never achieve what it is that you are looking to achieve, and for me that is to one day be a professional sprint car driver and do this for a living. Only time will tell.
I have to thank several people for all their help and support over the past week, Fritz Andrews, James Grymberg, Adam Grymberg, and my brother Greg Groves, and my mother and father Marge & Jim Groves. Without the help of these people, we would be sitting on the sidelines for quite a long time. Their help if very much appreciated and I hope I can repay them by running up front the rest of the season. Thank you all.
Well, that is it until next week. Keep our team in your prayers and please say a special prayer for my Grandmother. She is in the hospital in intensive care after having emergency surgery to repair a perforated ulcer in her stomach. She is 83 years old and she is very weak after the surgery. Any prayers for her would be welcomed. Until next week, I’ll see you at the races!
The word of the week Ladies and Gentlemen, is brakes! If you do not have them, you cannot go fast. We found that out at Tri-City Sunday night. After a great run on Saturday night at Sharon, the G-Force Motorsports team struggled at Tri-City fighting brake problems all night long.
The weekend started off great. Saturday at Sharon the car was great the entire night. It always feels nice when you just have to tweak your adjustments throughout the night to keep the car going fast instead of guessing and making major changes trying to keep up. In our heat race we started 10th out of ten cars after I once again drew a stellar pill of 63 (out of 65). I knew I had to get into the top six to make the feature inversion so I got my elbows up and ran the car about as hard as I have all year. Luckily for me, I finished 6th which put me into the A-main inversion.
We were scheduled to start 8th in the A-main but after the initial start one car dropped out and we were moved up to 7th. When the green flag fell I really was not sure where to go on the track. All night long the cushion had been the place to be so I searched around for a few laps, however I noticed that I was going the wrong direction and quickly settled in on the bottom. As it turns out, that was the right choice for me. I had dropped back into the middle of the pack about 12th or so, but once I started concentrating on the bottom of the racetrack I seemed to get faster and starting moving forward.
I had found some moisture coming off turn two and off turn four and if I hit it just right it would shoot me down the front and back stretch with unbelievable speed. All I can tell you is that it felt like I was being shot out of a cannon every time I hit the tacky stuff coming off each corner. As I started going back towards the front I was engaged in a really fierce battle with Roger Campbell, Shawn Minor, and Deanna Barbara. The fun part about it was the fact that we all were running different lines and they all seemed to be working for each one of us. That battle lasted about 5 or 6 laps until I finally got around Campbell and Minor but I never was able to get around Barbara. Lapped traffic kind of helped out with that.
In the end, we finished up 9th for my best career finish to date and my first Sharon Speedway top ten. Overall we were really pleased as a team. The car and the motor ran great and I am starting to push myself to start running with the front-runners so to speak. I really think the key to running better has a lot to do with us running a couple shows with the All Stars the week before. When you run with the better drivers it makes you better. You have to race harder with them and you have to make quick decisions or you will get left behind. My crew chief James told me last week that he thought running with the All Stars was going to make me a better driver, and I guess I would have to say he was right.
Now for the bad part of the weekend, a 15th place finish at Tri-City. We just could not figure out why the brakes keep going away. It actually started with about 7 laps to go at Sharon on Saturday night, but brakes are not quite as important at Sharon as they are at Tri-City. When the track gets slick like it was at Tri-City you need to have brakes to hold your line through the corners. You probably noticed most of the sprinters during the feature with glowing red brake rotors. That is because they are trying to use the brakes as a manual form of traction control. When you enter a turn at over 100mph on a slick racetrack, you need to use the brakes to help keep the car from drifting up the track. When you do not have any brakes you cannot enter the turns as fast and you cannot keep the car in the line you want it as well. Also when you are trying to pass someone, you have to be very careful because if they decide to try and block you, you will run right over top of them with no way of stopping.
I guess we should not be too disappointed, we did not tear anything up and we learned a lot about the frustration of the sport. Sometimes it will just not be your night and you have to learn to deal with it and get on to the next race. As far as this past weekend is concerned, we will just pull from the positive experience we had Sharon and use that as momentum for the coming week.
As for the coming week, we are planning on running the Brad Doty Classic at Attica on Wednesday night, Sharon on Saturday, and Tri-City on Sunday. We are extremely excited about going back to Attica for the Doty. Attica has always been one of my favorite tracks as a fan and now that I got a little taste of it a couple weeks ago during Ohio Sprint Speedweek, I am chomping at the bit to get back there and run better. We finished 13th in the B-main during the Speedweek show out of 48 cars, so our goal this time is to try to make the A-main or at least finish in the top 10 of the B-main. I know the competition will be fierce! All the All Star regulars will be there along with Sammy Swindell, Tim Shaffer, Terry McCarl, and a host of other top-notch runners from all over the country. It is an experience that can only make our team better.
I need to take this opportunity to thank one of my main sponsors. Adam-Eve Plumbing & Excavating from Liberty, Ohio is already my top financial supporter, and recently they have stepped up again and supplied our team use of a 2003, V-8 turbo diesel van to tow our car and trailer to and from the races. It is because of the generosity of people like Adam and Jackie Grymberg that this season has been so enjoyable. I want to thank all my sponsors for their support and contributions to our team, without you we would be sitting in the stands watching instead of on the track and competing. I also want to thank God for all the grace and mercy he shows me on a daily basis. He has blessed me with a beautiful wife, a great job, a nice home, and the ability to drive a sprint car, which has always been my dream. But even if I did not have any of those things, He would still be a great and merciful God whom I am proud to call Father. I never want anyone out there to think that you can do anything without help from above, without a relationship with Jesus Christ we all would be lost. Until next week, I will see you at the races.
What a fun weekend! It is nice to be able to say that finally. After a decent run at Sharon on Saturday night the G-Force Motorsports team headed to Attica to race in our first ever All-Star sanctioned series race. A 14th place finish at Sharon after starting 23rd and a 13th place finish in the B-Main at Attica after starting 19th, not a bad weekend at all.
On Saturday we were not sure we were even going to get to race. We had major steering problems the week before and we still had not figured them out. We went to the track anyway with the hopes of straightening them all out. Thanks to the help of Jarod Larson and Jason Jacoby, we got the steering fixed and were ready to roll.
Our problem was the king pin on the left front. It had a burr on the side of the pin and it was causing the steering to stick, not a good thing when your going over 100 mph! Both Larson and Jacoby took time out to help us get the front spindle apart and get the pin out, sanded down, and re-lubed. Without their help we would have never been able to make it out for our heat. That just goes to show you what types of people racers are. Most guys will go out of their way to help you with anything. Jarod Larson has really been a big help to us this year, he has offered advice and has loaned us necessary parts when we needed them. A very big thanks to Jarod!
Sunday our choices were to run at Tri-City or take a shot at the All-Stars at Attica. We decided we were going to go to Attica and just have some fun. We knew that there would be 45-50 cars because it was the opening night of Ohio All-Star Sprint Speedweek, but we decided if we are going to get where we want to be in this sport, we need to run with the best at least once in a while.
49 sprinters were signed in the pits and we knew it was going to be a long night. We timed 42nd quick out of 49 and actually it was not all that bad considering our motor was missing like crazy. However, when you qualify 42nd quick that means you are going to start at the rear of your heat race and it gives you little to no chance of transferring to the A-Main.
In our heat race we were just a little bit off with the set-up. We were just a little bit loose and I did not choose the right line to run effectively. Not having ever run at Attica before, everything was just a guessing game for us. We just tried some basic stuff to get us in the ballpark and then made adjustments from there.
The C-Main was next. 12 cars were supposed to start but only about 8-9 made the call. After several cautions in the first few laps, the C was checkered as only 5 transfer cars remained. Now it was on to the B-Main.
In the B we were a lot closer on our set-up. We took some stagger out of the car and lowered the air pressures significantly in the rear tires. Having been to Attica many times as a spectator, I knew that when the track slicks off the place to be is right around the bottom. We started 19th in the 22-car B-Main field and did not have much of a chance to transfer, but we did want to go forward. The B was 15 laps and for the first 5 laps or so we were just bidding our time trying to let the harder tire we put on warm up. After about 5 laps we started trying to move forward. Over the last 10 laps of the race we did start picking off a few cars but it was too little, too late as we ended up 13th. I was told that I was high as 11th at one time, but with 3 laps to go I started to run out of fuel and the motor started to choke and sputter. I nursed it around the last couple of laps and held on for a 13th place finish. Not too bad for my first All-Star race.
Our goal as a team and my goal as a driver is to one day in the near future run with the All-Stars full-time. I know from watching other good drivers careers that the sooner you start running with All-Stars or World of Outlaws the quicker your learning curve becomes. You have to run so much harder and you have to be able to adapt to the track conditions so much quicker with these guys, it is not like running your local Saturday night track where you have 2 hours between your heat and the feature. Every thing happens very quickly and you have to learn how the track is changing and make the appropriate changes in a matter of minutes usually. Then when it comes to racing on the track, you have to go hard or go home. You need to find the right line within a lap or two or you are going to finish near the back. Something I noticed with most of the better drivers, they spend about the first two laps of each race searching all over the track for the best line then when they think they have found it they settle in and go! Sometimes the beginning of a heat race or A-Main looks a little ragged and sloppy, but that is because guys are slashing all over the track trying to find the best line as quickly as possible, after that they really start racing.
Of course, to be able to run with the All-Stars full-time you need to have a budget of about $450,000 per year, so that is the first thing I will work on. If you don’t have the proper funding in my opinion, you are just not going to be competitive on a nightly basis. I am a highly competitive person and for me to do something like that I would have to know that I had the equipment and financial backing to be competitive race in and race out, that is the only way I would do it. Hopefully I will get the chance sometime soon!
As for our plans this week, we are planning on running the All-Star show at Fremont Thursday night and then going to Tri-City on Sunday. We have thought about taking a little road trip down to Portsmouth for the Ohio Sprint Speedweek finale on Saturday, but that is a 5-hour haul and we don’t know what will happen on Thursday yet. I guess we will wait and see. If things go extremely well Thursday night, we might go ahead down, if not we will probably just run the Triathlon show at Tri-City on Sunday. Of course, like most things in life, it also depends on money. Anyone out there that has a little bit to spare, just give us a call and we will put it to good use! Until next week, keep us in your prayers and we will see you at the races!
What else could go wrong? That was the question we kept asking ourselves this past weekend. We found a bent jacobs ladder on the rear end, replaced it, and still had rear end problems. We got that situation resolved only to have steering problems in the A-main. Just one thing after another, but that is the life of a sprint car team, be ready for anything.
Saturday afternoon we were very optimistic about our chances for a good run at Sharon. We were coming off our season best 11th place finish the week before and I was really pumped up for the mid-season championship and double points. However, right from the start we had problems. As I went out for hot laps I noticed the car didn’t feel stable, it wanted to rock back and forth. When the green flag came out I took the car hard into turn three and the car felt terrible. It felt like it was going to tip over on the right side, but then as I hit the front stretch it shifted back over on the left side and almost caused me to spin out on the front stretch. I quickly slowed down and got out of the way.
After hot laps we found where a spacer had cracked and separated from the jacobs ladder causing the rear end to be able to shift side to side about a quarter of an inch. Now that might not sound like a lot, but one of the other team’s crewmembers told me I was lucky I did not flip the car. Once we found that problem we got it fixed and headed out for our heat race.
I started sixth in the second heat and looking forward to making the feature inversion like I had done the week before. However, once again as soon as the green flag flew and we barreled down into turn one, the car still wanted to rock back and forth. I tried to run a couple of laps but it was useless. There was still something wrong with the car. After about 3 laps I just pulled into the infield so I would not cause anyone else to wreck.
When the heat was finished we once again tore the rear of the car apart trying to figure out what the problem was. We had help from other crewmembers and we reset the jacobs ladder and the ride height on the rear of the car. Now all we could do was wait for the feature.
At the start of the feature the car did feel better than it did in the heat race, but there was still a problem, this time with the steering and something in the front end. Every time I tried to give the car any gas it would shoot dead right, and as soon as I would get off the gas it would shoot dead left. Plus, each time I entered a corner, the right front of the car wanted to nose over and the car did not seem to want to turn. I decided to just run around the bottom and stay out of the way and get as many points as I could. After I pulled in from the feature we checked some things with the steering and found that the steering gear does not seem to be turning the front wheels like it should. So that is our first order of business this week, to find out what is wrong with the steering gear and to find out if we have a bad shock or torsion bar in the right front of the car.
I sure wish I had something better to talk about this week, but like I said before, so goes the life of a sprint car racer. We hope to have all the problems fixed by this weekend and get back to being competitive. If we get the car straightened out we plan on going to Sharon on Saturday night and then maybe to Attica for the All-Star Sprint Ohio Speedweek opener on Sunday night, or possibly back to Tri-City on Sunday. It all depends on Saturday.
Keep our team in your prayers this week, as we need some help to get everything figured out. We hope to be back to full strength by the weekend and ready for new challenges. Until then, we will see you at the races.
Finally, a nice weekend of weather for racing. Sharon and Tri-City both had very good weather and some great racing. As for the G-Force Motorsports team, well, we struggled a little bit with driver error but for the most part it was a good weekend. An 11th place finish at Sharon and a 12th place finish at Tri-City was the results of the weekends events.
We were very excited to get back to regular racing at Sharon. After a couple of weeks off we couldn’t wait to hit the track. In our heat race we started fourth on the initial start, but after both of the front row starters had problems we were moved up to the outside front row. As the green flag waved we went hard into turn one, and that is when the excitement started. I hit the black slick stuff getting into turn one and almost spun out. The car turned completely sideways and somehow, lucky for me, no one hit me. Four cars shot by me as I regained control of the car and from there I went on to finish 5th in the second heat and made it into my first feature inversion of the season.
When the feature lineup was posted I found out I was starting 6th, my best feature start to date. At the outset of the A-main I tried to stay smooth and get through turn one without any trouble, however, a couple of cars were not so fortunate. Jarod Larson and Leo O’Malley both got turned around and the field was reset for a complete restart. On the restart I settled in around 6th place and was hoping to stay there for the entire 25 laps, but on about lap 3 I also spun out into the infield in turns one and two. I was very upset with myself because I knew we had a good car and probably could have stayed up front.
After going to the tail of the field I knew I had to get up on the wheel and make things happen. After the green flag came back out we started our march up through the field. Within the first couple of laps I had already passed 3 or 4 cars and starting to find a nice line right around the bottom of the track. After several cautions for cars that had spun out we finally ended up finishing 11th, our best finish at Sharon this season. Although we were happy to have run so well from the rear of the field, I was a little disappointed in my early race mistake that probably cost me a 6th to 8th place finish, but that is how racing goes. We were very happy that both the car and motor ran so well and I am sure that we are going to continue to climb forward each week at Sharon.
At Tri-City on Sunday night we also made the inversion for the feature event, except this time the inversion put us on the pole for the A-main, definitely are best ever feature start. This good starting position was also short lived just like at Sharon. Just a couple of laps into the A-main I spun into the infield in turns one and two, but I was able to keep going and didn’t even bring out a caution. This driver blunder however, put me towards the rear of the field and on the slick surface it pretty much guaranteed me a poor finish. To make matters worse, Ed Lynch spun out right in front of me and with no where to go I got turned around and backed into Ed. Luckily for both of us, nothing was damaged on either car and we were both able to restart. The final run down paid us for a 12th place finish, not exactly where we wanted to end up after starting on the pole.
We are getting closer with our set ups at Tri-City, so that is a big plus. So far this season we have been out to lunch at Tri-City, but after this weekend we know we are getting closer. I like Tri-City, but getting a hold of that surface is very tricky!
Last week I did not write a column as I was very busy with work and some other goings on in my life, but we did race at Mercer on Saturday night after Sharon had canceled earlier in the day. We ended up with a 16th place finish out of 25 cars. With that being our first time to race at Mercer we were ok with that finish. The main thing was that we did not tear anything up as that night a bunch of people tore up a ton of equipment, so we felt very fortunate. Mercer is another tricky track to get a good setup for because of the different shaped turns, but it was a lot of fun racing there and we look forward to going back there later in the season.
This coming weekend our plans are to once again race at Sharon Speedway on Saturday night and Tri-City on Sunday. We are getting better and better every week and we just cannot wait until Saturday night gets here. We are so close to getting that first top ten finish at Sharon and I know its just right around the corner. One of my personal goals before the season started was to have a top ten finish at Sharon before the halfway point of the season, and next week is halfway, so I will have my elbows up and run her as hard as I can to get that first top ten!
That is all for this week pray for our team and for all the drivers and team members safety at the track. Until next time, I will see you at the races!
What a Friday night! The World of Outlaw show at Sharon was a great night for the G-Force Motorsports team. We invited Jack Sodeman Jr. to drive our car and he did a fantastic job putting us in the A-main. Although the rain hit 7 laps into the feature we were still very pleased with how the night went.
First off Jack drew a great pill and we were the 5th qualifier out for time trials. That was a very good thing because the track dried out very quickly and having an early qualifying spot was crucial. Our time of 14.370 didn't seem all that great at the time, but it ended up putting us on the front row of the first heat, which was a very good thing.
At the drop of the green Jack took off like a rocket and quickly bolted to a comfortable lead. He found a little bit of moisture on the bottom and really made it work to his advantage. At the halfway point he still held about a 10-car length advantage over Paul McMahan in second place. With three laps to go Joey Saldana got around McMahan for second and started closing in on Jack. On the white flag lap Joey pulled along side the G-Force sprinter and it was a drag race to the finish line with Saldana beating us by nose. Little did we know at the time, the heel block Jack had taped in the car to help him work the accelerator, had come loose and slid underneath the gas pedal. During the last two laps Jack could only get the throttle about half open and that's how Joey caught him and passed him on the last lap, so all things considered, we felt pretty good. We transferred directly into the A-main, which was our goal coming into the night.
As we got ready for the A-main we made some minor adjustments to tighten the car up. Jack Sr. changed a torsion bar, a shock, and we took some stagger out of the car and reduced the air pressure out of the rear tires. We also put a harder right rear tire on the car because the A-main was supposed to be a 30-lap race. We were going to start 20th, but we knew if we made the right changes we could go forward.
When the green flag dropped on the start of the feature Jack had a little problem finding his rhythm. The harder right rear tire was not taking heat as early as he thought it would, so he just tried to settle in on the bottom and let the car come to him. We got passed a couple cars behind us, but we also got under a couple of cars that started in front of us so we were basically running in the same place we started when the rains finally hit. On lap seven the skies opened up and the track became unsafe for racing. We knew if they did not get to the halfway point before the rains started we would be looking at a make-up date, and sure enough about 10 minutes later they announced the race would be made up when the Outlaws come back to town on July 30th.
All in all we had a pretty good night. The car and motor both worked excellent and we found out that our car is good enough to run up front with best of the best in sprint car racing. I have to thank Jack Sodeman Jr. and Sr. for all their help. Jack is really turning into a tremendous driver. If any owner out there is looking for someone who will represent them in a professional manner and put their car up front on a consistent basis, they need to contact Jack and put him in the seat. Just e-mail me and I can put you in contact with him, it would be worth your while.
I am really looking forward to getting back into the seat this coming weekend. Jack Jr. and Sr. showed us a lot about getting the car to handle better and I cannot wait to climb back in and go fast! Our plans this week are to run at Sharon on Saturday and Tri-City on Sunday. Well that's it for now. Keep us in your prayers and we will see you at the races.
Disappointing! That’s all I can say about this past weekend, disappointing. We crashed on Saturday on ran like crap on Sunday and that about says it all. We need to regroup and come back strong at 100 percent. Right now we are trying to decide whether to run this weekend or take the weekend off and come back next weekend at full strength. We will probably make a decision by Thursday.
Saturday night started off fairly well for the G-Force Motorsports team. Although we drew a terrible pill, 64 out of 65, we were pleased with how the car ran in our heat and we were very excited about the feature. We started about 18th or 19th in the A-main but we were sure we were going to go forward. At the drop of the green we went straight to the bottom of the track and found some open areas to pass. We had already passed several cars and seemed like we were headed to a possible top 10 to 12 finish, but that was before the crash. On about lap 5 or 6, two cars spun sideways in turn four, one in the middle of the track and to the high side. As I was already starting to move to the high side of the track I found myself in an unenviable position, with two cars spinning in front of me with nowhere to go. I just tried to split the difference and tried to get in between both of them, but I ran into the rear of the car that had spun out in the middle of turn four. The contact didn’t look all that bad, but the damage was too extensive to continue.
After we got back to the pits and were able to survey the damage and we found that we had a damaged top wing, a bent left front wheel, and a bent drag link (long steering arm), so it was a good thing the officials sent us to the pits because if I would have tried to stay out we would have only caused a wreck ourselves. We were very disappointed with the outcome of the A-main because we had such high hopes of a great finish. The car had felt terrific all night and it was really building my confidence to an all-time high. Each time I go to Sharon I feel more and more comfortable behind the wheel. We know it is only a matter of time before we get our first top ten finish at Sharon.
Sunday night at Tri-City was a different story. We got the car repaired in time to go to Tri-City, but I never felt completely comfortable. Actually, in hot laps the car felt ok, but in the heat race and in the feature the car just felt loose and I in turn had no confidence to push the car or myself. In sprint car racing that means poor finishes for sure.
I really felt bad for my mechanic, James Grymberg. James worked all night Saturday and most of the day Sunday getting the car back in running condition and I just felt like I let him down by not running any better than what we did. I have to give James a lot of credit, he does probably 75 percent of the work on the car and he is really dedicated to making our team successful. You have to have people like James or you would never be able to run every week. There is so much maintenance and little things that have to be done every week, and Lord knows I do not have the time to get it all done myself, so that is what makes a good crew important.
On a good note, those of you who live in the Youngstown/Warren area and receive the Tribune Chronicle might have seen the nice story they did on me. A writer named Tim Cleveland had interviewed me the week before and the paper sent out a photographer to take some pictures on Thursday and they published the article in the Sunday edition of the paper. It was a nice story however they did misspell one of my sponsor’s names, which upset me a little bit. They called Hovis Tire & Automotive of Cortland, Ohio, Hobins Tire & Automotive. I spoke to the reporter on three different occasions and made sure he knew how to spell all of my sponsor’s names, but I guess anyone can make a mistake. It was refreshing to see the story in the Sunday edition of the paper, which of course is the most read edition of the weekly paper. I am hoping the added exposure will help us land some much needed additional sponsorship for next season, because it is never too early to think about next year!
Another exciting thing that is happening in my life is the opportunity to start a youth ministry at Calvary Baptist Church in Hubbard, Ohio. As most people who know me could tell you, the two passions I have in life are my love for the Lord Jesus Christ and my love for sprint car racing! I am excited that the Lord has chosen to expose me to this new avenue of service. Anyone who lives in the Youngstown/Hubbard/Girard area who does not already actively attend a home church is welcomed to attend. Our focus is on young adults ages 16 to 24, but if you were 15 or 25 we would not exclude you by any means. Our church welcomes all cultures, races, and economic backgrounds. It is our hope to promote unity through the coming together of diverse people. We are going to meet on Sunday mornings at 930am in the Calvary Baptist Church parking lot at 128 Church Street, Hubbard, Ohio and from there we will be going to Harding Park in Hubbard for our group discussions. We have chosen a non-traditional meeting place because we want all young adults to feel welcome and not intimidated by the church setting. We will be discussing current events and how they relate to the Bible and what the Bible says about them. If you so choose, you can then come back to the church with us for Sunday service with Pastor David Garlich from 1100am to 1200pm. This is an exciting time in my life and I hope our youth ministry grows by leaps and bounds, but we will leave that up to the Lord. It is my express desire that several young adult race fans would be interested in joining us, as it is my goal to one day have a racing ministry, but my main focus right now is to help grow Calvary Baptist’s youth ministry, as that is our new home church.
Our racing plans for this coming weekend are up in the air right now. We were planning on attending the World of Outlaw race at Sharon on Friday, the York Triathlon race at Latrobe on Saturday, and Tri-City on Sunday, but after this past weekend, we may re-evaluate those plans. We may skip the Outlaw race Friday night as it is not a points race for Sharon and we do not feel like we are ready to compete against the best of the best just yet, and we might not make the long tow to Latrobe Saturday as well, but nothing is set in stone yet. We will just have to wait and see what the week holds in store and go from there.
I am very glad to hear that Jack Sodeman Jr. is ok. He took a very violent crash Saturday night at Sharon. Apparently something in the steering broke as he was about halfway through turns one and two and the car just veered almost head on into the turn two guardrail. The car then proceeded to flip over and land upside down. It was a scary crash, but like I said all reports are that he is just sore with no serious injuries. He is such a nice guy and he is really turning into a great racer, I sure hope this does not set him back a whole lot in his development this season. Jack has always been very helpful to us this year whenever we have asked him for anything and I wish him all the best! Hopefully he will be back out soon!
That is it for this week; we will see you at the races!
This past weekend saw the G-Force Motorsports team in action at both Sharon Speedway and Tri-City Speedway on Saturday and Sunday. The results were not what the team wanted, but improvement was made at both tracks. We are continuing to get faster and smoother with each race and hopefully the results will start reflecting that soon.
Starting with Sharon on Saturday night. Our heat race was a tale of two halves as the first 4 to 5 laps of the race I ran the car up top in the high groove and it seemed to be pretty good and I was holding my own. Then there was a caution flag and on the restart I decided to move down low and gave up a couple of positions and was obviously not as fast. After the heat was over my father, who with my mother was watching me race for the first time, told me that I was much better on the high side than on the bottom and that I should have stayed there. I agreed with him as I was just searching for what felt best.
As the feature event rolled around we decided to try some different things to get a grip on the slippery track surface. We tried to lower the rear end a little bit to get the rear of the car to squat more. This was advice from one of the other driver’s father. We also did the normal routine of spacing the right rear tire in and moving the wing angle up to catch more air. We also went fairly low with our rear tire pressures trying anything we could to get the car to hook up on the slick surface.
At the start of the A-main we had a good first couple of laps. We passed several cars from our 21st starting position and I felt like we had things well in hand for a good run. That was before spinning out coming out of turn four just two or three laps into the feature. The car was just real loose coming out of four. I was trying to duck underneath a couple of guys and when I hit the gas in the middle of turn four the car just came around on me and sent me spinning into the infield. The car never completely stalled but for some reason it loaded up with fuel real bad and started coughing and choking and I could not get it to come out of gear. I know from the stands it probably looked like I just wanted the yellow flag to come out, but in reality the car just didn’t want to go. I finally got it to come out of gear and got a push to restart at the rear of the field.
Under caution I moved the wing back to get a little more down force to try to tighten the car up a little bit more. When the green flag came back out the car felt much better, but by now the field was strung out and passing was difficult on the slick track. I just tried to run the car into the corners as hard as I could and not get up into the slick stuff. I tried to go to the middle on a couple of occasions, but there was nothing there to get a hold of and the tires would just spin. Then came a scary moment. As I was entering turn one I saw two cars start to slide sideways. I immediately started up the track as it looked like they would spin low. However, just as I was almost to the spinning cars, one of the cars right in front of me plowed into the spinning cars and flipped over right in my path. I made a last ditch effort to get between the flipping car and the turn one guardrail, and thanks be to God, I made it through unscathed.
After the red flag I was again just basically stuck to the bottom and tried to ride out the rest of the A-main. Things were going pretty good until lap 24 when once again I lost bite coming off of turn four and started to spin out again, only this time I just stayed on the gas and shot through the infield and back across the start finish line for an 18th place finish. We were a little disappointed because we know that we were faster than 18th, but in the long run we will take it as a positive knowing we advanced our position and did not tear anything up.
Sunday night at Tri-City was an ok night. There were only 16 cars in the pits and we were hoping for a good top ten finish, but it was not to be on this night. In our heat race we started on the outside of the first row. At the drop of the green we raced into the first corner and the car pushed up the track a little bit, and that was all she wrote as the entire heat race field raced by on the low side. We kept up with several of the cars but were disappointed with our 8th place finish.
As the A-main rolled around, we did everything we could think of to tighten the car up. The track was extremely slick and starting to get very rough through the turns. We made the right adjustments as the car felt very good during the feature event except for the fact that I do not think we had enough gear in the car, but that is an adjustment we can make next time.
We ended up finishing 13th, once again a little disappointing, but nevertheless the car felt good and by the end of the feature we were keeping up with the leaders who had lapped us before the caution came out with 6 laps to go. The track was very tricky and you had to hit your marks getting into the turns, if you were too high you were going to spin your tires, if you were too low you were going to be right in the middle of the rough stuff. You kind of had to enter in the middle of the turn and then turn down and come off the corner low, that’s where the bite was.
Although we did not have the results we were looking for this weekend, we still had a lot of fun and we know we are getting better with each passing race. As I get more aggressive and we continue to get the car dialed in, I look for our results to improve dramatically.
I would like to highlight one of our main sponsors for the 2003-racing season, Adam-Eve Plumbing & Excavating. Adam-Eve is located in Liberty, Ohio and specializes in commercial and residential plumbing, excavating, and industrial cleaning. Adam and Jackie Grymberg are the owners and two of the nicest people you will ever meet. I have a fondness for both of them as Adam-Eve was the first sponsor to sign on with our team and they really have stood behind us and supported us. As a car owner and driver you always remember those who helped you realize your dreams, and for G-Force Motorsports that was Adam-Eve Plumbing. If you are a business or residential customer in the northeast Ohio or Western Pennsylvania area, give them a call for all you plumbing, excavating, and industrial cleaning needs at 330-759-7037. Tell them that G-Force Motorsports referred you to them. We all know that race fans are loyal to the companies that support the sport they love, please show it by supporting all of our sponsors.
Our team plans for next weekend are calling for us to again be at Sharon Speedway on Saturday night and Tri-City Speedway on Sunday night. If the Lord blesses us with good weather it should be a great Memorial Day weekend, and I for one am really looking forward to it. Until next week, we will see you at the race
This past weekend produced up and down results for the G-Force Motorsports team. Lernerville Speedway Friday night was a real downer, as we failed to make the show, however Saturday night at Sharon Speedway was a real positive when we finished 15th after starting 22nd. All in all the weekend was another good one as we got a lot more laps under our belt and once again kept the car in one piece.
Let’s start with Friday night at Lernerville. The entire night was a real rush job as we were late getting there and then proceeded to have handling problems all night long. The only reason we even went to Lernerville this past weekend was because of how bad the weather was looking for the rest of the weekend and we wanted to make sure we got some laps in somewhere. The problem with Friday night racing for us is the fact that everyone associated with the G-Force Motorsports team works until at least five on Fridays, which in turn makes it very difficult to get to the track on time.
We arrived at Lernerville at the same time they were pushing the sprint cars up for hot laps and it looked like we were going to miss our one chance to see what the track was like, but in true Lernerville fashion we were told to take our time and unload and when all the hot lap sessions were finished they would give us a few laps to shake down our car. That gesture was very appreciated by our team and it shows that Lernerville really does care about its racers. I went out and took about three laps but the car felt terrible. The front end seemed like it wanted to dance around and wiggle way too much for me to be comfortable. So after hot laps we made some adjustments and got ready for our heat.
During the heat race the front end felt more stable, but the car still wasn’t handling like I felt it should. Every time I went into turn 3 the car just wanted to push up the track. This made it very difficult to have any confidence in the car. When you don’t feel comfortable you sure can’t push the car very hard and that was evident Friday night. When I came in after my heat race we tried a couple more things to loosen the car up on corner entry and waited for the B-main.
In the B-main we started 8th in the 12-car field and they were taking 7 to the A-main. When the green flag dropped I tried to push the car a little harder than I did in the heat race, but as soon as I entered turn 3 there was the familiar push again, this time worse than in the heat race. I just couldn’t get the car to turn in turn 3. I really was disappointed in our showing at Lernerville, but being our first time at the track and not really knowing what set-up to run, we just did the best we could and went home to get ready for Saturday.
One thing about Lernerville compared to Sharon is the dirt. The red clay at Lernerville really sticks the car to the track and it makes it harder to loosen the car up. At Sharon they have brown clay, which is grittier in texture and does not tend to stay packed as well and it is much easier to break the car loose in the turns. Also, the red clay at Lernerville is very easy on the tires, almost no wear whatsoever. The dirt at Sharon is much more abrasive and tends to wear the tires out quicker. Oh yeah, the texture of the red clay at Lernerville is somewhat like play-doh, gummy and sticky.
Saturday night at Sharon was a much better night for us. Even though the heat race results didn’t show it (we finished last in our heat), the A-main made us extremely happy. In our heat race the car felt very, very good but I had what I like to refer to as the sissy factor. I just didn’t gas the car the way I should have and the results showed. However, I was very pleased with the way the car felt and to the changes we made all night long.
Come feature time we were faced with a 22nd starting position out of the 23-car field, but I was pumped anyway. I told myself before I even went out for the feature, “You are going to go to the top early and pass people!” I felt ashamed of the way I ran in the heat race and I really wanted to redeem myself in the A-main. At the drop of the green I just put the pedal to the floor and headed to the topside of the track for the first couple of laps, and as luck would have it, I did pass 3 or 4 cars. After about the third lap I noticed that the groove I was running in was not the best for our set-up. The wheels were starting to spin right in the middle of the turns, so I moved down a little bit and started running a little different groove. I started to settle in and just tried to be as smooth as possible. I noticed that our car was working best if I entered the turns in the middle groove and then turned down off the bottom coming off each turn. The track was awesome for the feature, smooth and fast! As the A-main wound down I was starting to spin a little bit right in the middle of the turns again, so on the last restart with 3 laps to go, I moved the wing back a couple of inches and it made a big difference in how the car stuck in the turns, it was very comfortable to drive.
One thing that was not good however, was the fact that we lost the right front torsion arm with about two laps to go. Now sometimes that can get ugly in a hurry, as in a big flip, but because the track was so smooth the only time I noticed anything was wrong was when I had to back off the gas. When I would get off the gas the steering wheel would shake something fierce, but if I was on the gas I couldn’t feel any difference. So I just rode drove the last couple laps as hard as I could, because it actually made the car feel better the harder I drove. I also have to thank the track crew for retrieving and returning the torsion arm to me.
We were very satisfied with our run at Sharon. We started 22nd and finished 15th, a good run and we passed some cars in the process. A lot of guys have told me the key to getting good in a sprint car is just getting up the nerve to pass people. The advice I have been given is this, when you catch someone in front of you, don’t waste any time, just pass him. The longer it takes you to learn how to pass, the longer your learning curve will be. So in that regard I am very pleased with how the evening went. The car felt great all night, we advanced our position, and we brought the car home in one piece (well almost one piece). I can’t wait for next weekend to get here, I feel like we are really making improvement each week and my next short-term goal is to be running in the top ten at Sharon in the next 3 to 4 weeks. Remember, its one step at a time.
Our plans for next weekend call for us to run Sharon Saturday night and Tri-City on Sunday night. We are thinking about taking a trip to Attica Raceway Park in the near future but haven’t decided on a certain date yet. I am really looking forward to getting out to Attica, it has always been one of my favorite tracks and I can’t wait to actually race there. If we lived closer I would run there every Friday night, but from my shop in Brookfield it takes almost 2 hours and 20 minutes to get there.
Finally, I don’t usually talk about results by I thought I would throw a few in anyway. Friday at Lernerville it was Ed Lynch Jr. dominating the 20-lap feature. Ed was never seriously challenged on his way to another L-ville victory. Saturday night it was Jack Sodeman Jr. in a crowd-pleasing victory at Sharon. I said it back at the beginning of the year; I really think this is going to be Jack’s break out year. He has been smooth and fast all year long. Also Saturday night Lee Jacobs (Kenny’s son) picked up his first career victory at Fremont. He is going to be a tough cookie in a year or two. Look for him to be out on the All-Star tour soon, he is that good! Sunday night at Tri-City it was Rod George. Not much of a surprise there, Rod pretty much has Tri-City’s number. Even if he doesn’t win, he always seems to be in the top 2 or 3. Terry McCarl and Dean Jacobs took wins with the All-Stars and Danny Lasoski picked up another A-main with the World of Outlaws at Terre Haute.
Lord willing the weather will be good for next weekend and everybody will get their shows in. As I said before, we will be at Sharon and Tri-City this coming weekend. If you’re in the pits at either track don’t be shy, come on over and say hello. I always enjoy meeting new racetrack friends. Until next week, see you at the races!
Finally, a good weekend for the G-Force Motorsports team. A 14th place finish at Sharon on Saturday and a 10th place finish at Tri-City on Sunday. Not too bad, but the thing I am most pleased with was the fact that we didn't have any mechanical problems either night. Things went smoothly and I got a chance to get a lot of seat time over the weekend by finishing both A-mains.
First we will start with Sharon Speedway. Saturday went pretty much like we had hoped. Early in the morning on Saturday I was at my dad's shop in Cortland, Ohio getting our four-wheeler ready for the weekend. In the afternoon it was back to my shop in Brookfield to prepare the car for Saturday night's competition. Some of the routine maintenance we do includes, cleaning the fuel injectors, changing the oil and filter, lubing all the radius rod ends, cleaning the air filters, checking all the fluids, tightening all the bolts on the car, etc. It takes about 2-3 hours to do it all, but it is necessary and definitely worth taking care of.
At about 4:15pm we headed to the track, which is only about 5 miles from our shop in Brookfield. We arrived, unloaded and set the car up for the night's activities. We started scratch on the field in the first sprint heat and ended up finishing 7th out of 10 cars. The car actually felt as good as it ever has in my limited experience. The motor ran strong and the chassis really seemed to be working.
In the night's sprint car A-main we started 13th. Our goal coming into this weekend was to finish every lap of the feature event and hopefully get a top 15 finish. Well I am happy to say that we accomplished both on Saturday night by finishing all 25 laps of the feature and coming home a respectable 14th. The car felt really good towards the end of the A-main, however, it was a little tight at the beginning. The track was smooth, but was pretty slick coming off the corners. I just tried to get smoother and faster with each lap and tried to stay out of trouble the best I could. Several people told me after the feature that they could see a visible difference in how hard I was driving the car compared to the first two weeks. That made me feel good in the fact that we are accomplishing our goals of getting better each week and keeping the car in one piece.
After Saturday night's success, we decided it was time to try Tri-City out. We were a little late getting there because of some wiring problems with our tow vehicle, but we made it just in time to go out for hot laps. The track was really greasy and hot laps were basically a waste of time because you couldn't even gas the car or you would just spin. I drew a good number and started 3rd in the first sprint heat, but with little experience on the big half mile I ended up finishing 5th.
The hard thing about getting used to Tri-City is not the speed, but the shape of the track (its egg shaped), and the fact that the turns aren't banked the same (turn 3 is much flatter than the rest of the turns. The main problem I had all night was getting into turn 3. The car just seemed to want to push up the track like it was too tight, but in the sharper turns 1 and 2, the car turned fine. I think it was just the fact that the banking in turn 3 is more flat and that makes the car tighter getting in.
In the A-main we started 10th and actually I was a little disappointed to finish 10th. I just really never felt comfortable out there. It is hard to really push a car that doesn't feel right, so I just tried to do the best I could and keep it on all four wheels. The turns were extremely rough and choppy, which tires you arms out in a hurry and shakes the living daylights out of the car. On the final turn of the last lap I experienced another first in my racing career, my first spin out! There was a huge rut right in the middle of turn four and all night long I missed it either by going above it or below it, but on that last lap I drove it in a little harder and slide right into it and it immediately broke the tires loose and we spun around. Luckily nobody tagged us while we were sitting still and we didn't do any damage to the car, so all in all we had an ok evening.
One thing I really liked about Tri-City was the fact that they don't mess around and we were on our way home by 8:45pm, that is what racers love, get to race and go home early! I also appreciated the fact that one of the Tri-City promoters came down to greet me and chat for a while. Its little things like that, that makes a racer feel welcomed.
I have to thank Jarod Larson for giving some advice on stagger and gear ratios for the night. The fact that I had never raced at Tri-City before kind of put us at a disadvantage set-up wise, but Jarod was kind enough to point us in the right direction. Also, I would like to say thanks to Jack Sodeman Jr. for giving us some set-up advice Saturday night at Sharon. Just a couple of little changes made all the difference in the car feeling really nice Saturday night.
I am so thankful that we had a good weekend with no problems and got to run a lot of laps. That's the only way you can improve in this sport, with plenty of seat time. That's the only way you can get a feel for what the car and the track are doing and how they change during the night. We are getting better and better with each time out and we are getting closer on our set-ups. My goal in the short term is to run in the top 10-15 each time out until we really start getting dialed in. I think that will be a realistic short-term goal and one that gives us something to shoot for week in and week out.
I also want to make mention of a new friend I met during the weekend. His name is Gary and he sells the fuel at Sharon Speedway and also does the prayer for the drivers and officials each week. It is always nice to run into another believer in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ at the racetrack. Gary and I had a nice little talk and I think he is very grounded person and I'll look forward to talking to him more during the season. I thank God that he has watched over us and kept us safe so far this year and I hope by His grace and mercy he chooses to keep us safe all year long.
Until next week, we'll see you at the races!
A good week, gone bad! We really thought our luck had turned the corner this week. After spending most of the week making sure the motor was running right and getting through most of the night Saturday night without any problems, we had rear end problems during the feature. Just our luck!
After suffering through fuel problems all of last week we received some good advice from Ed Mihalcak and seemed to have the motor under control. Our problem with the motor turned out to be too much alcohol getting into the fuel. Ed told us to adjust the butterflies on the fuel injection and go to a slightly smaller fuel pill, and that seems to have cured that problem.
Saturday was routine for the most part. Saturday morning and afternoon was spent doing some regular maintenance on the car and motor before leaving for the track. We arrived at the track at 4:10pm and promptly got signed in and into the pits. After unloading the car we put a little bit different set-up on the car for this week. The track looked like it was going to dry out slick off and that is exactly what happened.
Hot laps and our heat race went off without any problems to speak of. In my heat race, the second heat, I was up against the stoutest heat of the night with no slower cars to really race with. I really started off tentative, but as the laps clicked off I started to feel more comfortable in the car. I was told by several on lookers that last two laps of the heat I really started to pick up the pace. The car felt good, which was the most important thing to me.
Then came the A-main. I was of course starting scratch on the field and my main goal was just to stay out of trouble and get some laps in. I was really hoping to finish the feature and wasn't too worried as to what position I was going to finish in. The early part of the A-main went pretty smooth. I stayed out of trouble and was getting a little faster with each lap. Then came the red flag for a car that had flipped in turn four. As I approached the accident scene and noticed there was nowhere to sneak by I tried to take the car out of gear, but it wouldn't come out. I was almost up to the accident scene and the car still wouldn't come out of gear, so finally I just hit the kill switch. Under the red flag the car still wouldn't come out of gear so that the push truck could push me around to the work area. After about 5 minutes of trying with the help of track personnel, we finally decided it was time to call for a wrecker and tow it back into the pits. A sad way to end what was going to be a decent run for a rookie. We still ended up 21st in the final run down, but I think we could have finished at least three or four spots higher if we could have finished the feature.
This week our goal during the week will be to find out why the car will not come out of gear. I am confident that in a day or two we will have it figured out and be ready to go for next Saturday.
Next weekend we will again try to race at Sharon Speedway on Saturday and Tri-City on Sunday, Lord willing. Right now the most important thing for my development as a driver is laps and seat time, they are both invaluable. We just want to get faster and faster each time out. We are taking it slow because we want to make sure we learn as much as we can and we do not want to tear anything up during the learning process. So far we haven't torn anything up, but we have had some mechanical problems that have set us back a little bit.
I just want to again thank my sponsors who have supported me and put me out on the track, without them I would still be sitting on the sidelines. I want to say a special hello to Adam and Jackie Grymberg, who were in the stands Saturday night catching their first ever sprint car race. Adam is the owner of one of my main sponsors, Adam-Eve Plumbing & Excavating, and he has been instrumental in helping us get started this year. His son, James, is one of my crewmembers and also works for me at Greenwood's Hubbard Chevy-Olds as a service technician. Also a big thanks goes out to those who have pitched in with advice and help on the car, it is really appreciated. Ed Mihalcak has been great to work with. His business, Mihalcak Motorsports, is where you can find all your hose and fitting needs racecar wise, and his advice on our motor problems has been very helpful. Ed is a true racing person and understands what it is like for a guy like me just starting out in this sprint car business.
I sure hope next week goes smoothly and we get a chance to race both Saturday and Sunday nights. I am confident that things can only get better as we progress. I am a very religious person and believe me, I have been praying very hard lately! But not matter what happens, I know that the Lord Jesus Christ loves me and that is my main goal in racing, to let others know that He loves them to!
If anyone is interested in becoming a sponsor (we need all the help we can get) or would like any information on the team, just e-mail us at sprintfreak1@aol.com Until next week, I'll see you at the races!
It was a long, hard week for the G-Force Motorsports team, but that is what every week is like for a sprint car team. After working all week getting the car ready to go for Saturday night at Sharon Speedway, we had nothing but problems all night long. We finished a disappointing 23rd in the A-main, but the experience we gained throughout the night will only help our learning curve during the season.
Saturday afternoon was a real scramble to get the car ready for Saturday night. We were just finishing up the fuel lines and throttle linkage about the time we needed to head to the track. Upon arriving at the track we found a line about a half-mile long waiting to get into the pits. It took almost one hour to finally get into the pits, hopefully they will speed things up next week. Once we finally got in and found a place to park that’s when the real trouble began. First off, the motor would not fire, but with some advice from Jack Sodeman Sr., we got the fuel flowing properly and got the motor fired. However, after we got the motor fired up, we found that we had a couple of cylinders not firing properly. After diagnosing the problem as human error, we made the necessary adjustments, but we had already missed our heat, which was suppose to be heat number two. We asked a pit official to tail the end of the third heat, but were informed that we could only tail the end of the A-main.
At this point we went back to work on the car with the help of former driver Jamie McKinney. Jamie helped us go over the car to make sure everything was in order; he was definitely a big help. Once more we tried to fire the motor to make sure it was running properly, only to find one cylinder still cold. We asked a couple of people what they thought and were told the motor was probably just loading up with fuel and once it was on the track and I had a chance to clean it out a little bit every thing would be fine. So we put on a basic setup and waited for the A-main to start.
As we pushed off for the A-main I noticed that the motor really fired off for the first time all night, which was a pleasant surprise. After several pace laps getting lined up for the feature the motor seemed to be running better than it had all night. At the start of the A-main we just tried to keep it on the bottom and stay out of trouble, remember these were my first laps under race conditions all night. Everything seemed to be fine on the initial start, but wait; there was the caution flag. Someone had wrecked in turn four. During the caution I noticed that my brakes were gone! That’s a big problem when you are in a sprint car. So, I rolled around under caution trying to determine what I should do. Should I stay out and just pedal it around the bottom or should I pull in and get out of the way? I was going to stay out at least for a few more laps until I noticed my water temperature gauge was not reading any temperature. Not knowing if there was a problem or not, I decided that the combination of the temperature gauge not working and the brakes were enough for me to pull into the infield and not cause any unnecessary damage to the car.
With this being our first night out of the season, I felt I made the right choice in pulling off during the A-main. We were behind the eight ball all night and there was no reason to risk any undue damage to our car or put anyone else at risk because I didn’t have any brakes. All in all, it was a tough night, but you can only learn through experience and we got plenty of experience Saturday night. We will work out the bugs and be ready to go again this coming Saturday. Really, I am just looking forward to getting some laps under my belt and getting comfortable in the car, so hopefully this weekend I will get that much needed seat time.
I have to thank all the people who helped us out Saturday night, without their advice and actual work on the car we would have not made it out on the track at all. Jack Sodeman Sr. & Jr., Jamie McKinney, Bill Bailey, Dave Braun, and my crew. All these people combined to get the car running and at least out on the track for a few laps. And by the way, congrats to Jack Sodeman Jr. on his third place finish in the A-main. I think he is really going to have a break out year this year. I see many top fives and at least two or three wins for the number 23jr team this year.
Next week our schedule is calling for us to run at Sharon Speedway on Saturday night and if all goes well we will travel to Tri-City Speedway for their opener on Sunday night. I am really looking forward to getting some laps in and steadily improving from week to week. I am confident that by the end of the year we will be running up near the front, but it starts with baby steps. Week after week, gaining experience and improving each time out is what it will take to get better throughout the season. With God’s grace and mercy behind us, I know that all things are possible.
I hope that everyone had a great Easter weekend and I hope that everyone realizes the eternal hope that Easter truly represents for all who believe in Jesus. It is a special time of year and I wish everyone the best! See you next week.
It has been a couple of years since I last wrote a column of any type but I am back to chronicle the adventures of an up and coming sprint car rookie, namely myself. My name is Scott Groves and I will be driving the black #54 G-Force Motorsports sprint car at local tracks in both Ohio and Western Pennsylvania during the 2003 season. I will try to give sprint car fans an “insider’s look” into the world of sprint car racing. Our home track during the 2003-racing season will be The New Sharon Speedway in Hartford, Ohio every Saturday night. We are excited to get our season under way this coming Saturday April 19th.
This past weekend was a busy one for the G-Force Motorsports team. Just to let you know that sprint car racing isn’t all fun and games I will give you an inside look into our weekend. Thursday night I worked on the car in our shop until 11:30pm, this after working at my day job where I am the service manager at Greenwood’s Hubbard Chevy-Olds in Hubbard, Ohio until 5pm. Friday night after working at Greenwood’s until 5:00pm, one of my crewmembers and I worked on the car until 2:00am. I finally got in bed around 2:30am on Friday night only to get up at 6:45am on Saturday morning to get ready to travel to Central Pennsylvania to pick up our motor. We got on the road at around 8:30am heading to New Oxford, Pennsylvania; we arrived at around 2:00pm in the afternoon. We then proceeded to put the motor in the sprint car and tried to tie up some loose ends in order to try to run at Lincoln Speedway that night. At approximately 4:45pm we lost hope in running at Lincoln. There were just too many adjustments that still needed to be made and not enough time to do them right. So at 5:00pm we headed to Lincoln Speedway with the car in tow, but only to watch the action and not be a part of it. At Lincoln we watched as one of the “little guys”, Kevin Drury won his first ever 410-sprint car feature, a victory that was popular with the large crowd that was on hand. At 10:10pm we set out for home (Brookfield, Ohio), on very little sleep and a little depressed that we were not able to run Lincoln. After stopping twice for short “road naps”, we arrived home at 9:00 am on Sunday morning, totally exhausted from the last three days, and here is the kicker, we never turned a lap anywhere!
This should give you an idea of what teams go through week in and week out just to be able to compete. You have to absolutely love sprint car racing to do this to yourself, and we do! Countless hours of work and travel, with little or no sleep, is it worth it? You bet it is! Sprint car racing is the best sport in the whole world as far as I am concerned. You just have to be committed to whatever it takes to be able to run these things.
I will try to let sprint car fans see what really goes on both on and off the track this year. The struggles, the setbacks, and hopefully the fruits of hard labor, steady improvement throughout the season will be our team goal. I will also try to let the fans in on the technical side of the sport as much as possible, because I know as a fan that always interested me. When we are at the track, feel free to come up and say hi, I will always be willing to talk to any fan that has a question or just wants to know why we are doing something. I am excited about getting started and I am looking forward to meeting many new people this year.
Now, I have to spend some time giving credit to my sponsors for 2003. A very special thanks goes out to Adam Grymberg of Adam-Eve Plumbing & Excavating because he was the first sponsor to sign on with G-Force Motorsports and really has helped us to get up on our feet so to speak. Bob Herold from Cintas “The Uniform People” is another person who has stepped up and supported our team from day one. Cintas provided the nice apperall you will see us wearing at the track along with some much needed financial support. Randy Kimble, general manager at Greenwood’s Hubbard Chevy-Olds, who also happens to be my boss, has been very supportive of our team this year and is behind us 100%, he says just remember him when we hit the big time! Paul Hovis, owner of Hovis Tire & Automotive, is one of our recent additions to our sponsorship support team. Paul is providing our team with Hoosier tires this season and that is a huge help in the world of sprint car racing as most of you would already know. Bob Linger, owner of Cook’s Markets in Bristolville and Mecca, has joined our team as a financial backer and is also a very good friend of mine. Bob and I coach basketball together at Bristol High School, but that is a story for another day. Our final two sponsors, R&R Signs from Youngstown, Ohio and Pennzoil of Western Pennsylvania, are both providing much needed products to the team in the form of vinyl lettering and racing oil. G-Force Motorsports is proud to represent each of these sponsors during the 2003 racing season and I will talk more in depth about each one of them as the season progresses. We are also still in talks with several other potential sponsors and may have another announcement sometime soon concerning the addition of several more new sponsors. If anyone out there is interested in becoming a sponsor of G-Force Motorsports, please e-mail the team at sprintfreak1@aol.com for more information.
Here is a little information on the G-Force Motorsports team. We will be using a Maxim chassis with a Wesmar/Garrett racing engine. Our team will utilize Hoosier tires during the 2003-racing season. The team consists of James Grymberg, Dick Thayer, Jim Groves, and Greg Groves as our crewmembers and myself as owner and driver. My wife and mom will be in charge of team support (you know, making sure us guys are properly fed and don’t forget anything). All of these people are instrumental in our success as a “team”, and I want to make sure that everyone out there realizes that sprint car racing is a team sport. Without the help of every one of these individuals, there would be no G-Force Motorsports. I hope they all realize how much I appreciate them.
Well, that is all for this week. I look forward to seeing everyone out at Sharon Speedway this coming Saturday night. I sure hope the weather cooperates. Anyway, I will be praying for good weather and good racing and I hope that God chooses to bless next week’s activities and the whole racing season for the G-Force Motorsports team. See you Saturday!
