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Tuesdays with TMAC – Back on Track!
(Bill W) May 29, 2007 – Rough would not describe Terry McCarl's East Coast tour prior to entering The Dirt Track at Lowe's Motor Speedway last Friday night. Bad finishes, no finishes, mechanical problems and bad luck were all on hand before the Altoona, Iowa driver entered Charlotte.
Perhaps a tough "cowboy up" kind of track was what the doctor ordered to get things back in order, and that's exactly what happened at the 4/10-mile oval. Turning the sixth quick time of the night was a good start, and an eighth place dash finish put TMAC outside row four for the feature event.
"It was rough," says TMAC. "They tried packing it in with the big trucks, but it was rough. On the start, I went from 8th to 4th by the back straightaway, but that was called back for the (Jason) Meyers crash. That put us up to sixth for the next start, and the car was really fast. I got up to fourth and worked by Joey (Saldana) and then we got into lapped traffic. I went above the cushion and tried to come back down over it. I tried to go between a couple of guys, and I pitched sideways and came off the ground about four feet. I should have wrecked, and unfortunately, Joey was behind us and that got him into the fence."
The veteran was surprised to see exactly how tall the cushion had grown. "We pushed back off, and I couldn't believe it. I knew it was a little rough, but after they pushed me back off, the cushion looked three feet high. We had a great car; I could drive above or below the curb. The crew did a great job. I spent most of my time with all four wheels above the rough stuff trying to pass guys. We ended up coming from the back to get ninth, and we were all over the eighth place car."
The strong finish was impressive, especially considering the circumstances, but TMAC had mixed feelings. "I probably should have crashed pretty hard, so we shouldn't feel too bad. On the other hand, I think we had the car to win it. We had some tough races going into that, so it was good to finally get another top ten, and get back on track!"
Rolling On and Heading West!
TMAC finished 13th at Rolling Wheels Raceway Park near Elbridge, New York, on Monday night. After dominating his heat race, he also finished seventh in the dash.
The TMAC Motorsports team will head back west to the home state of Crew Chief, Brian Kemenah, after their long east coast swing. Friday, Terry will return to the scene of the accident that caused his broken leg a year ago, the Sharon Speedway. "When I think of Sharon, I think of the fact I can't play racquetball right now," he laughs.
On Saturday, the WoO tackle the high banks of Eldora Speedway. The track should look more like the track that the drivers saw in 2006, than the track they saw earlier this season. Terry is planning on improving on the 20th place finish he had last April.
A-MAC Gets His First!
It was Austin McCarl's turn last Friday night, as he quieted his brother Carson for at least a week. Austin won the Micro-Sprint feature, stopping his brother's two-race winning streak at English Creek Speedway south of Knoxville. The win was Austin's first in a Micro. Carson finished seventh after spinning out of third late in the feature. Carson won his heat and registered quick time on night, while Austin won the trophy dash.
In"Terry"gation
Jason in Burlington, IA asks: When you are struggling with the WoO, what is the key to getting things turned around when there are so many heavy hitters?
TMAC answers: When you have a bad night, whether you're a driver, crew member, sponsor, owner or even a wife, nothing makes you feel better except racing again. That's one good thing about the WoO. When you have a bad night, or a few, like we had, you're usually racing the next night or a couple nights later. At a weekly track like Knoxville, you have to wait a whole week before you can race again.
It is brutal out here. I'm not one to make excuses, but if you get just a little bit off, you're in trouble. It does get to be a vicious cycle. If you do bad, then you're going to feel bad. If you feel bad, you're going to do bad, so you have to be really optimistic. My crew guys are really good at it (being optimistic), and I'm not so bad at it either, I guess because I've been around for awhile.
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.
Did you know?
Terry McCarl has one career win at Sharon Speedway. Driving the Holbrook #8h, he bested Ed Lynch Jr., Mike Lutz, Scott Jones and Jarod Larson on April 20, 1997.
Website
Keep up to date with McCarl Motorsports at www.TerryMcCarl.com. We keep it fresh for TMAC fans!
Front Row/Ultimate Challenge Update
Order your tickets for the Musco Lighting Front Row Challenge and Searsboro Telephone Ultimate Challenge today! Call McTwo Promotions Tuesday-Thursday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 515 957-0020 to order!
Infield Party Passes are $20 in advance or $25 the day of the race!
For more information on the Challenges or on TMAC Motorsports, visit www.TerryMcCarl.com.
"Tuesdays with TMAC"
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., AmeriCash Advance, and Ground Max Hunting Blinds.
Terry at work (Skinner Photos)
Bill Wright
Bill W Media
Monroe, IA USA
[email protected]
If this post isn't results, stories or something c
constructive, it isn't me!
@BillWMedia
www.OpenWheel101.com
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This message was edited on
May 30, 2007 at
12:04:04 AM by mbmotorspt
For starters, just to make things clear, the races that Carson and Austin won at English Creek were non restricted races, and they are racing against some drivers who are over twice their ages.
I went to the fiasco in Fairbury, and if you want some comical reading material check out the message board that "Greg Moore" pulled his quote from and here is the link http://microoutlaws.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=5670. From drunken officials, to line up problems, to profanity and basically total confusion and not finishing the Saturday night show until 4am you can take all of this for what it is worth.
We arrived Sunday at around 5:30pm just in time for the heat races and 6 hours later they were still running B features. There were huge delays while passing points were figured.....apparently this is was a first for the scorers. We could only stand so much and decided to cut our losses after three $25 pit passes.
I really don't care for the bitterness and jealousy involved in sending any KID home and I don't care who is father is. Yes it is unfortunate that they did not have the appropriate restrictor plates....but to not even let them correct the problem and race and start at the back? Give me a break. What about the poor young boy who had his airbox ruined when they teched his engine? He had to sit out the remaining part of the show because it was not repairable.
One thing that the YMCA teaches, should you choose to get involved with such a wonderful organizaition, is that KIDS just want to have fun.....and that the Parents are the ones generally create most of the problems.
I would bet that Morgan Moore could probably care less who went home or why they were gone, but probably just wanted to race and have a good time like the rest of the kids.......you know.....or at least until you started spouting off about how great it is to see people not allowed to race. Are you teaching your child prejudice at such an early age????
My soon to be six year old son has been going to races his entire life and everytime we encounter people like you our desire to continue to support this sport seems to just dwindle away more and more.
Mark Burch
Lincoln NE
Rome wasn't built in a day......but they sure didn't
waste any time burning it down!
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Reply to:
Posted By: mbmotorspt on May 30 2007 at 12:00:18 AM
For starters, just to make things clear, the races that Carson and Austin won at English Creek were non restricted races, and they are racing against some drivers who are over twice their ages.
I went to the fiasco in Fairbury, and if you want some comical reading material check out the message board that "Greg Moore" pulled his quote from and here is the link http://microoutlaws.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=5670. From drunken officials, to line up problems, to profanity and basically total confusion and not finishing the Saturday night show until 4am you can take all of this for what it is worth.
We arrived Sunday at around 5:30pm just in time for the heat races and 6 hours later they were still running B features. There were huge delays while passing points were figured.....apparently this is was a first for the scorers. We could only stand so much and decided to cut our losses after three $25 pit passes.
I really don't care for the bitterness and jealousy involved in sending any KID home and I don't care who is father is. Yes it is unfortunate that they did not have the appropriate restrictor plates....but to not even let them correct the problem and race and start at the back? Give me a break. What about the poor young boy who had his airbox ruined when they teched his engine? He had to sit out the remaining part of the show because it was not repairable.
One thing that the YMCA teaches, should you choose to get involved with such a wonderful organizaition, is that KIDS just want to have fun.....and that the Parents are the ones generally create most of the problems.
I would bet that Morgan Moore could probably care less who went home or why they were gone, but probably just wanted to race and have a good time like the rest of the kids.......you know.....or at least until you started spouting off about how great it is to see people not allowed to race. Are you teaching your child prejudice at such an early age????
My soon to be six year old son has been going to races his entire life and everytime we encounter people like you our desire to continue to support this sport seems to just dwindle away more and more.
Mark Burch
Lincoln NE
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Sounds like a fiasco at the track Mark.
I can tell you that the McCarl boys did not go there intending on bending the rules. They are brand new to this sport, and could have entered the open class with what they brought. They wanted to enter the restrictor class (that paid much less) for a reason, from what I was told.
Mark, from what little I know about Micros, don't many tracks that run restrictor races provide the plates?
Greg Moore is now on my "ignore" list...
If this post isn't results, stories or something c
constructive, it isn't me!
@BillWMedia
www.OpenWheel101.com
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