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Need More?
Hemby Bridge, NC – On Friday morning, the two car team of McLain Motorsports hit the road for Needmore Speedway in Southern Georgia. The J Team of Jake and Jimmy left around 6AM for some reason. I guess they wanted to get there on time and maybe have a snack and shower at the hotel before unloading. The primary team of Brandon and Douglas, stumbled out of bed around 9AM begging Pete of the USCS to hold his drivers meeting around 9PM Friday night. He said no, so we added some NOS to the F350 and hauled butt eight hours south of Charlotte praying cops would take the day off.
With no clear cut way to the track, it was tens of thousands of miles through small town USA stop signs on black tops only to find us on a four mile red dirt road toward a sign that said “Fast and Dirty This Way.” We hoped for the best, expecting the worst, only to find one of the cleanest and most up-to-date facilities we’ve ever raced at in the South.
It was a weekend full of gorgeous weather and clueless fans. I don’t mean that in a bad way. Track officials, local competitors, and everyone else in between wanted to know more about these winged machines as trailer doors hit the ground.
The events couldn’t have started off in better fashion. Heat One of the first night saw an islander from South Florida destroy the track record in amazing fashion with the track announcer literally begging the kid to run for President it was so amazing. Unfortunately, he’s underage…
Feature time came and went, and later we found ourselves at a Waffle House chugging chocolate milk and chowing on Allstars. This was the perfect time to cruise the social media landscape to see how good of a show we put on. Thinking the obvious late model country bias, Facebook, Twitter, and BeepBeep were blowing up begging friends and family within the globe to come Saturday night because it was “so badass.”
Waking up late Saturday morning, cause that’s what we do, we found a three bay car wash and proceeded to clean everything. With father and son looking at each other after the cleansing thinking, “car ran great last night, let’s just leave it alone,” we headed back to the hotel for a nap and Jacuzzi time.
A text from Pete saying the drivers meeting would be an hour earlier tonight saw a 34 year old and a 59 year old slipping and sliding toward the hotel elevator in search of the mandatory black clothing required of guys who get easily dirty at race tracks.
Deciding to park near a light post tends to be our favorite spot. We get to dictate how close our neighbors are. Well… this particular light post had a loud ass speaker attached to it. Rolling out the extremely famous 21B Allen Tate sprinter, we had planned on mounting a decent right rear, adding some tear offs and fuel and go from there.
The car wasn’t even half way out the trailer, and this loud ass speaker playing country music started screaming an advertisement declaring the greatest event ever was happening at Needmore tonight with “Winged Warriors” and “140 MPH Daredevils.” The hairs on my chest stood up.
Seconds later, the car was on stands, angle finders were placed, and measuring tapes were snapping. Not to mention brake cleaner, WD-40, dry-graphic, and torque wrenches were everywhere. Amazing what a fifteen second advertisement can do to not only fans, but competitors and future competitors.
Saturday night’s show produced a dryer track with more exciting and dangerous racing. The speeds weren’t going to be there in front of a sold out crowd, but the excitement would eventually lead the fans to asking me for autographs at the Waffle House afterwards. I literally felt like Kid Rock at a Waffle House after one of his concerts, and I should know. I’ve hung out with Kid Rock at a Waffle House after one of his concerts.
Danny Martin Junior would win both nights. Danny Martin Junior would again make us wish we could somehow figure out how to get DMJ, Derek Hagar, and Trey Starks to show up at the same USCS race. There might be a chance I just park my car in the infield after the Four-Abreast just to watch that showdown.
Needmore Speedway is a long ways away and there is no easy way to get there and the track itself is a bitch…
Can’t wait to go back!
Brandon McLain
United Sprint Car Series Driver
2014 Season
National Rookie of the Year!
National Points - 8th
Southern Points - 3rd
Asphalt Points - 3rd
18 Races, 3 Top 5's, 14 Top 10's
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