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Tuesdays with TMAC – Volusia Velocity!
(Bill W) February 12, 2008 – Terry McCarl has plenty of momentum heading into the 2008 World of Outlaws season after emerging from some strong runs in the first three nights of WoO action at Volusia Speedway in Florida. Two top five feature finishes have him solidly in the top five in points as the touring series heads to Pike County Speedway near Magnolia, Mississippi this Saturday night. First, the Big Game Treestands #24 team will battle in open competition tonight at East Bay Raceway Park near Tampa.
TMAC used three nights of All Stars action (Tuesday-Thursday) at Volusia to test some things. Though only making the feature one night against the star studded field, the testing culminated in some momentum going into the WoO shows (Friday-Sunday). TMAC passed 17 cars in the C and B mains. "You want to test on those nights, but you want to do well too," he says. "When you don't do well, you think, 'Why did we do that?' We wanted to test some different motor combinations, and try some different things with the motors. We didn't go there to get beat by any means, but we wanted to try some things out."
Things started well enough in the WoO opener on Friday when TMAC turned the 12th quickest time of the night in a field of 46. Unfortunately, a late pass in the heat by Donny Schatz relegated him to third, negating a shot at the dash. The Altoona, Iowa driver would bounce back in a big way in the A main. "It was great to come from way back (15th) to third," he says. "We really had a great car." He slowly worked his way forward to the top five, and a lap sixteen restart gave him the chance he needed to drive by Joey Saldana and Chad Layton into the show position.
Saturday's program did no go so smoothly. Motor problems were imminent. After registering the 24th quick time of the night, and failing to gain the final transfer to the feature through his heat, the crew changed the motor and TMAC lined up sixth in the B main. The next motor would not run either, and a sixth place finish in the B would force the use of his first provisional A main start. "(Fellow Iowa Native) Rager Phillips drove by us like we were standing still," he says. "I was flat-footing it, and it had nothing."
Starting in row thirteen for the main event, he was able to maneuver forward nine spots for a 16th place finish. "You hate to use a provisional this early in the season, but with the competition as stout as it was, there were a lot of people in that boat," says TMAC. "This is one of the toughest events of the year, to be honest. You've got all the PA and All Star guys there as well as a bunch from around the country. If you are off a tenth of a second, that could be 10 or 20 spots."
TMAC bounced back in a big way on Sunday, posting the seventh quick time of the night and winning his heat race with passes of Chad Layton and Danny Lasoski. "We went back to our "Old Faithful" engine. That's the one we ran at the Nationals last year. It's fresh from Don Ott, and I knew right away in hot laps that it was really running strong. A good motor always makes the car work a lot better. We were kind of in no-man's land in 7th quick. If you don't make the top two in the heat race, you could be starting back in 17th somewhere, so it was good to get the win there."
The heat win put him in the dash, where he started third. "The first start of the dash was better than the second. We started third with Craig (Dollansky) on the pole. We got a great jump by Danny (Lasoski), but they called it back when someone jumped in the back. That changed things the second time, and Danny didn't give me a second chance there."
A fourth place finish lined him outside row two for the finale. Once underway the battle was on between TMAC, Craig Dollansky and Lasoski. "On the long runs, we were running really well," says TMAC. "The tires seemed to want to seal under the caution. As the race went on awhile, I rolled up on the back of Craig (second) a couple times. When the yellows came out, it would take me four or five laps to get going strong again. Craig was moving around the track to try to find something to get by Danny (leader). That kind of gave me an opportunity…I'm sure he wasn't real worried about me. Without the cautions, I think we had a really good shot at second."
A late caution saw Jason Sides get by on a restart and relegate TMAC to a strong fourth place finish. "We felt good all night long," he says. "The team is starting to gel, and we feel really good about it right now. We've already had some diversity and dug deep and gotten through it. I'm pretty pumped about that. We rolled out of some really tough competition and are fifth in the points, so you can't complain too much about that."
Tonight TMAC will run at East Bay Raceway Park in open 410 competition. "We're mainly running there for our area sponsors Burnett Rock and Landscaping and Morgan Strawberry Farms. We can only run the second night there (tonight) because of the WoO 48 hour rule. We like East Bay. Hopefully, they can get the schedule figured out a little better for us next year there."
Saturday night will find the Big Game Treestands #24 traveling with the WoO to Pike County Speedway, where he finished seventh a year ago and registered the second quick time of the night. "We usually go pretty well at Pike," says McCarl. "I've always run fairly well there. It's a fun little slick track, and it should hold some great racing for the fans. I'm sure we'll see plenty of camouflage up there, and that's great for Big Game Treestands!"
2008 FRC/UC Tickets!
Advanced ticket holders to the Front Row Challenge and/or Ultimate Challenge can order their tickets beginning February 19. All other seats become available April 1. Call McTwo Promotions Tuesday-Thursday beginning from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 515 957-0020 to renew your seats!
Infield Party Passes for the August 4 and 5 events will be $20 in advance or $25 the day of the race!
For more information on the Challenges or on TMAC Motorsports, visit www.TerryMcCarl.com.
In"Terry"gation
Steve Stark from Indianola, IA asks: Do you keep photos of all the cars you've driven over the years, and do you have a room to keep them as well as trophies?
TMAC Answers: I think I have pictures of about every car I've driven. It's one of those things that you don't think about until you look back on it later. My wife doesn't let me keep a whole lot of trophies in the house. Most are in the race shop. It's kind of fun looking back on them. The only ones we have in the house right now are the 3rd place trophy from the Nationals last year and the one from the Outlaw win (Knoxville).
Got a question for TMAC? Send it to us at [email protected], and we may answer it in this section! Put "? for TMAC" in your subject line.
Today in TMAC History!
TMAC has registered two career wins on Abraham Lincoln's Birthday (February 12). Two years ago he won a chilly All Star Circuit of Champions finale at Volusia. The $10,000 win came ahead of Joey Saldana, Danny Lasoski, Craig Dollansky and Daryn Pittman. In 2004, at East Bay Raceway Park, driving his candy apple red #24 in open 410 competition, he drove to victory over Shane Stewart, Dollansky, Jim Nier and Greg Hodnett. It was a tough break for Nier, who had led the distance and believed he had seen the checkered flag a lap early. Nier currently owns/promotes the K-C Raceway near Chillicothe, Ohio. TMAC was victorious at K-C last season during ESPN2's "Summer of Money".
Website Updates
Pictures from Florida are in the "Terry McCarl" and "At the Races" galleries.
Keep up to date with McCarl Motorsports at www.TerryMcCarl.com. We keep it fresh for TMAC fans!
"Tuesdays with TMAC"!
"Tuesdays with TMAC" is an up close and personal look at colorful sprint car veteran Terry McCarl. To receive "Tuesdays with TMAC", send an e-mail to [email protected] with "TMAC" in the subject line.
TMAC Motorsports would like to thank sponsors Big Game Treestands, Bosma Poultry, Inc., AmeriCashAdvance.com and Remington Treestands.
The Victory Podium for the WoO Opener TMAC (3rd), Craig Dollansky (1st), Donny Schatz (2nd) (Allan Holland)
Bill Wright
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