06/02/08

Early Season Recap:

Racing with the True Value Modifieds has been great.  Our finishes haven't been the greatest but there is a scence that the first top 10 is right around the corner.  Thunder Road was an awesome experience and a fun track to race on.  The car really came on at the end of the race.  Waterford was challenging as we missed on setup a bit but we made it to the finish.  Monadnock was a racy little track and I had fun mixing it up with the other rookies.  All in all - we've been having fun this year.

Racing at Thompson brought back memories of last season.  Wrecked out early during the Ice Breaker and dropped a cylinder in the opening Thursday night feature.  Looks like it's time to make our own luck!  We'll be visiting Thompson and Stafford as our schedule permits so keep an eye out and we'll see you at the track.

Next race:  True Value Modifieds at Seekonk on Saturday, June 14th.

03/03/08

SpeedwayExpo '08 - A great weekend as always.  Unfortunately, I was unable to attend on Saturday and missed out on all the great seminars that were scheduled.  Anyone take notes? lol  I did attend on Sunday and had the pleasure of participating in the "Fastest Women in the Northeast" round table discussion.  It was a great experience and there were some really good questions.  The family held back, though my dad was itching to ask what it was like to race against your dad and wreck him?  Well, it stinks.  It means that you have two cars to fix instead of just one.  And it really stinks when it happens in practice the night before 9 consecutive nights of racing.  And yes, that is how we started our 2008 season.

APE Motorsports headed south for the 42nd World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing.  It was a week among friends and we had a great time.  Special thanks to Dave, Don, CJ and the entire Zacharias crew for all their help.  We wouldn't have been able to do it without you.

APE Motorsports SK Modifieds #76 and #96 Racing at New Smyrna Recap:

Thursday, 2/7 - Practice went well until the last round.  I was trying to get out of the way of a tour car in the sk practice and I got too high off of two, got loose and lost the tail of the car.  My left front was torn off as the car turned down.  Imagine my horror when I saw what car had hit me.  Dad.  His right front was all torn off and he had some damage down the right side of the car.  Not exactly how we wanted to start the season.

Friday, 2/8 - The crew worked hard to get both cars back together and we were back in business for night 1 time trials.  Dad qualified 9th with a 18.344 and I had 10th with an 18.488.  We had a long wait due to a crazy late model feature but finally got on the track to race.  There was one caution in our race and that was what I needed to get by dad.  I finished 9th with dad right behind me in 10th.

Saturday, 2/9 - More troubles in practice.  My engine started breaking up and I brought the car in and parked it.  It was handling really well but I knew something was wrong with the motor.  We found a rocker with a broken pin that had bent a valve.  The crew didn't give up though and changed engines in time for the feature.  I had a good run and was able to make some outside passes to finish in 7th with dad in 9th.

Sunday, 2/10 - A scheduled night off doesn't mean a day off.  In the constant search for more power, the crew changed the intake on my car.  They also fixed the clutch and brakes on dad's tour car.  I had driven it Saturday night to start the race and thought I had hit the wrong pedal going into the turn.  There was barely any brakes in the car.  Dad hadn't mentioned it before because he thought the crew had enough to work on.

Monday, 2/11 - New saying, it's better that stuff happens in a practice than during a race.  There was no warning this time.  My engine blew going into the turn.  Oil was everywhere.  All over the car, my helmet, my suit.  It was a mess.  I did spin in my own oil and luckily kept it off the wall otherwise we would have had a lot more work to do.  The crew pulled off another massive effort and was able to take a valve from the blown engine to fix the primary engine and had the car ready for the feature.  Dad and I both started at the back because we had missed time trials.  He was able to get by me on the start and we finished 11th and 12th.

Tuesday, 2/12 - The rain gave us an unscheduled night off.

Wednesday, 2/13 - A few rain showers delayed practice but we still got some in.  Dad qualified 8th with an 18.2 and I was right behind in 9th with an 18.3.  I had a good start, fresh tires, and a car that would break up off the turn.  We were able to figure out what the breaking up was.  Lack of fuel kept me from finishing the race.

Thursday, 2/14 - Valentine's Day saw an increase in speed for both cars.  I qualified in 9th with an 18.171 and dad was 10th with an 18.173.  There was a lot of contact on starts and restarts.  My rear bumper definitely took a beating and that was under caution.  Dad had a good night and finished in 5th and I followed Jimmy Z. across the line for 7th.

Friday, 2/15 - I had a loose car for practice and proved it during qualifying.  I really went for it and ended up spinning off of four coming to the white flag.  I knew I needed to back up so I could get some momentum back before starting my 2nd lap.  I just didn't back up enough and ended up with a 13th place starting spot.  Dad qualified 7th with a 17.8.  I had a good start in the feature and was able to make some passes.  I also made it through a wreck in turn four and was scored in 5th place.  It was a fight to get in line but they finally got the message and let me in.  I was racing with Billy Anderson for 4th.  I was looking outside and inside and he was just too wide to get by.  With two laps to go, the 09 got by me on the inside and went after Anderson.  Coming to the checkers, they got together and I headed to the bottom of the track and crossed the line while Anderson came across the track and just barely got into my right rear.  I was able to keep the car straight and thought I had gotten by him for 4th.  With no photo finish for 4th, two out of three scorers marked Anderson in the spot and I was credited with a 5th place finish.  I finally made the top 5.  I was pretty happy.  Dad had some troubles and ended up with a 10th place finish.

Saturday, 2/16 - On Friday, Norm asked what it would take to be in better contention for a win.  My response was tires and a better starting spot.  Well, I got the tires and the best starting spot you can get.  I turned a 17.663 for the last time trial of the week which was 6th fastest and the last spot for the redraw.  No one pulled the pole and it was left for me.  Jimmy Blewett had fast time with a 17.3.. but everyone else was within a tenth of each other.  Jimmy had pulled the 2nd starting spot and I wasn't too surprised when he beat me into the first turn.  The 60 was able to get by me for 2nd and I moved up to the highside for 3rd.  I was having a really good run going and was working on a top 3 finish when the 20 started working on my rear bumper.  He got a few good hits in, one of which broke my mirrror.  My car started getting loose as well and on Lap 18, it came out from under me off of two.  The left front was hit and we broke a tyrod and lower control arm relegating me to a 12th place finish and 8th in points for the series.  Dad ended the week with a 4th place finish and passed me for 7th in points by only 2 points.  And he's been enjoying his bragging rights ever since!

Overall, the week was a success.  We improved every night and Dad and I had a lot of fun racing each other.

APE Motorsports Tour Modified #96 Racing at New Smyrna Highlights:

Saturday, 2/9 - After rolling and folding 2 blankets and a sweatshirt, I was able to reach the pedals so I could start the tour modified race.  I pulled off when I got lapped to keep the car in one piece.  I matched dad's finish of the night before - 15th.

Monday, 2/11 - Dad can now say he raced against Kyle Bush and beat him.

Friday, 2/15 - Dad gave the crew some pitting practice during the 100 lapper.  Everyone had a good time changing tires and making adjustments.  He came out of it with a 12th place finish.

Next up on the racing agenda:

Practice at Monadnock with the TVMRS Mod on 4/5/08

Thompson's ICEBREAKER 4/4-6/08

See you at the track!

12/30/07

A Look Back at 2007

Have you ever watched the super modifieds at Thompson from the backstretch?  If you blink, you miss them go by.  Well, I blinked and the same thing happened to the 2007 season.  It passed by and now I have to try to think back to what happened.  Here's a brief glimpse back at the 2007 season.

It was a great year for APE powered machines!

Congratulations are in order for:

Mike Romano, 2007 Mini Stock Champion at TIS with 5 Wins

Brad Caddick, 2nd in Mini Stock points at TIS with 3 Wins

Kyle James, 1st Feature Win at Wateford

APE Motorsports had a challenging season:

We raced, we wrecked, we learned.  2007 was all about learning for me.  I started the year by attending the Finish Line Racing School in New Smyrna, FL.  The lessons continued throughout the year with my fellow sk competitors really schooling me.  Our sk modified season can be summed up as follows:  A few mistakes, some good runs, a lot of races with finishes that didn't show how well we ran, and a lot of bad luck.  And - I learned how to shift without a clutch.  I was able to start four True Value Modified Racing Series features.  Waterford was a good experience, we barely made the start of the race at Thompson due to a clutch change but finished well, Seekonk was my favorite (new track and I had to fight to qualify, which I did.  I ran well and made some good passes on the outside but used up my tires in the process and faded at the end of the race.), and Lee which was a tough weekend as the car wouldn't stay running due to an electrical issue and I was the first car out.

We did end the season on a high note with a top 5 run at Wall Township Speedway's Turkey Derby with Tim Arre behind the wheel of Butch's # 96 ROC Modified.  It was dad's first time racing at Wall and he asked Tim to hop in to qualify the car and decided that Tim could get us a great finish which he did.  Special thanks to Tim Arre for giving us some steam to get through the off season.

And now, after having a little time to catch our breaths and to think about 2008, we can announce a few of our plans.  APE Motorsports will be concentrating on running the full season with the Modified Racing Series.  We will also be racing at the 42nd World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing in New Smyrna, FL in February.  The calendar has been updated with all modified racing events, motorsports events and trade shows.  Keep checking for updates throughout the season.

05/01/07

The 2007 Season has officially begun!
The Bud Nationals brewed at the new WSB.
The ice melted at the TIS Ice Breaker.
And the racing heated up at the SMS Sizzler.

APE Motorsports started the season attempting to qualify the 76 Sk modified (a red Raceworks car) at the Bud Nats on March 31.  We were late getting to the track (imagine that! ) and I drew a top five for the time trial order.  We went over the pad and were not allowed to adjust the tire pressures.  Green, white, checker and time trial was over.  I had qualified - for the consi race where I finished right behind the last qualified car.  We did have some mechanical problems - the shifter jumped out of gear, the power steering was leaking and we blew a gasket in the water pump making it difficult for me to see getting into the pit area after the race with lots of steam coming out.  Even with all that, I almost got the spot!  Big thank you to Tom Fox.  Not only is he a great driver, he's an awesome spotter as well.

TIS Ice Breaker
Round 1, April 14 - We were late getting to the track (sound familiar?) but we were able to squeeze into the end of the last practice before the heat race with the 76 Sunoco modified (my Sk light converted).  I quickly found out that the shifter jumped out of gear.  Luckily it was an easy fix - the boot around the shifter was snapped too tight.  We undid the snaps and had no more problems.  Tiger figured this one out for us, thank you!  The heat race was just another practice for me.  The Sunoco mod is just a bit different from a mini-stock.  I love it.  The feature went pretty quick and I ended the race in 16th.

Round 2, April 22 - We were late getting to the track (see a habit forming?).  With cars being allowed to add to the field, the 96 Sunoco mod (a white Raceworks car) made its debut.  I made it out for the practice but Butch was busy mounting tires for his car.  The feature was a wild one with lots of cautions.  Butch kept the pit crew busy making adjustments and we both kept out of trouble.  On a restart towards the end of the race, Butch took a look on the inside of me but couldn't make the pass with a tight car.  I was able to pull away under green and beat him to the line for 11th.  It was a good first outing for us, racing together at the Big T.  I'm looking forward to the opening Thursday night.  We didn't have time to get my Thompson car done so I ran the car I'll be running at Stafford all year.  We should be ready for the opening Thursday night though.  

SMS Spring Sizzler, April 29
We were late getting to the track - just the team though.  Butch was able to drop the truck and trailer off on Friday.  With practice scrubbed, we weren't in too bad a shape.  We actually made the practice the week before and knew what we had and what we needed to work on.  The 76 Sk modified wasn't too bad.  We fought the handling on the car all weekend.  Butch drew my starting spot for the heat and I found myself starting on the pole in the first heat!  Thanks, Dad!   I learned a lot in that heat race.  The competition is intense with less than 5 tenths of a second separating most of the field.  Not enough of a difference to complete a pass on the outside so the inside is the place to be.  The talented and experienced drivers around me steered me to the outside without turning me around so it worked out okay.  I started the 21 feature in 13th.  I made it to 10th when a caution came out putting me in 9th.  Only nine cars would qualify and it was a rough restart.  I held my own though and finished in the last qualified spot.  I had heard rumors about making a show at Stafford being more stressful than the race itself.  It was definitely intense.  There were some big names in the 21 feature and there are at least 15 cars that can win on any given night.  We definitely have some work to do.

Sunday was an awesome day.  I loved the pit party and getting to meet and see everyone again.  It was the perfect opener to my first Sk modified feature at Stafford.  I can't thank everyone enough for all their support. The highlight of the pit party for me was when Shawna Winters stopped by.  Shawna competed in her first race ever on Saturday, April 28 at Silver City and WON!  (Click for pic) Congratulations, Shawna!  Awesome job.
I wish I could say the same for my first Sk modified race at SMS. lol  The feature was full of cautions and close calls.  The first few cautions helped me quite a bit as we quickly found out I had dialed too much rear brake into the car.  I spun right around after hitting the brakes to miss the accidents.  One close call came between turns one and two and I really don't know how I made it through without catching the right front.  It was this )( close.  We had a long green run towards the end of the race and I tried to get a little too much out of my car.  I was fighting a loose off condition and with ten laps to go, I walloped the back stretch wall, rode it for a brief second and then was able to steer off and drive gingerly down into turn three.  The tires stayed up and I was able to finish out the race in the 15th position.  I wanted a top 10 of course but I was happy with the run.  I did bend both right side rims but all in all, the car is in one piece and we can focus on improving rather than repairing.  The finishing order was changed due to a disqualification so my official finishing position was 14th.

Special thanks to everyone that has helped us kick off the 2007 season.  We couldn't have done it without you.

Next up for APE Motorsports:  Friday night opener at SMS.  See you there!

02/26/07

Vacation - a time to relax, take it easy, have a rest and put your feet up.  APE Motorsports definition of vacation: drive 1,200 miles to New Smyrna Speedway's 41st Annual World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing for 9 nights of racing with two sk modifieds and two tour-type modifieds.  The modifieds did have Sunday off and we were there for practice.  For me, it was all about having fun and getting seat time over 600 laps between practices and features for two divisions.  Where else could I get that kind of seat time before the season starts?

There was some tough competition at NSS this year and we were a bit behind in terms of equipment and resources.  As a team though, we improved each night and dad & I had a lot of fun racing each other.  We wouldn't have survived without a lot of help.  Special thanks to the crew that made it possible:  Norm-crew chief extraordinaire, Don, Rich, Janine, Nick, Peter, Kyle, Joe, Russ, Spencer and the Zacharias Team.  And MOM (mom had a lot of fun spotting for me).

When you have four cars, things can get confusing.  We had a lot of laughs throughout the week.  My favorite: I had just come in from a practice in my tour mod and I was still in the car.  Janine, our data acquisition expert, was taking tire temps on dad's car before moving over to take mine.  Well, she stopped one car short at my sk and was looking at the right front tire temp thinking 68 degrees can't be right, then she heard me laughing....

The highlight of the week for me was the Richie Evans Memorial 100 lapper.  It was an incredible treat to be part of such a great event.  It was also my first experience with outside driver introductions.  I'll remember the moments forever, waiting for my name to be called while standing among a great group of drivers before the start of a race memorializing one of the greatest drivers of all time.  The race itself was my best of the week.  I used the longer distance to settle into a rhythm and felt comfortable with the car and the track.  When I saw the checkered flag, I couldn't believe it.  It felt like the race had just started.  I was very happy with a 12th place finish and staying on the lead lap.

When we weren't at the race track, we were either sleeping or eating.  With the modifieds not on the schedule for Sunday night, we visited our favorite Italian restaurant Marios.  The food and service was excellent as always.  We had some good company to.  Did mom really squirt Terry and Tom with a water gun?  At the table?  Yes, she did.  We also enjoyed post race activities at Gilly's Pub 44.  With a kitchen open to 2am and the night's races playing on the screens, it was the place to be.  We didn't lack for food at the track either.  Janine and Rich were the team nutritionists and kept everyone fed on race day.  Janine even broke out the fried oreos on the last day.  Norm was smiling.

A familiar face from the north made the trip south to cheer us on and hooked us up with some delicious home-baked cookies.  Thank you, Cubby!

We made some great memories once again and can't wait until next year to return to New Smyrna.

Next up for APE Motorsports: stop by and see us at the Speedway EXPO, March 2-4 Springfield, MA.

01/30/07

Friday night was one for the memory books.  Thompson's awards banquet was a great time and we enjoyed seeing many friends.  It was such an honor to share the night with two great champions, Jeff Zuidema and Larry Barnett.  These drivers know how to have fun on and off the track.

In addition to a beautiful trophy (that is taller than me when I'm barefoot), Trevor Nickel put together an awesome collage of photos to commemorate the 2006 season.  Thank you, Trevor!!

Next up for APE Motorsports:  It's hard to believe the the 2007 racing season is already upon us.  New Smyrna Speedway's World Series of Asphalt Racing begins on February 9, less than 2 weeks away.  The track is slick with fresh pavement and I can't wait to test the new skills I'm learning on the modified.   

12/04/06

Stafford Fall Final Results:  A four way tie in the SK Light division and a wait of four weeks gave Norm lots of incentive and time to go over every little detail on the car.  And guess what?  The championship was all about paying attention to the details.  Dad, Norm, George, Dick and Peter spent some time with the guys at On Demand Performance in Westerly, RI to get the SK Light tuned up for its final run.  The hard work paid off and we posted our fastest lap of the season 19.824 during practice on Friday, October 27.  I started the feature with a lot of confidence and a great starting spot.  But unlike my beautiful black RE car that loved the outside groove, the pumpkin orange CD car wasn't hooked up for the outside which enabled a few cars to get by and I slipped to 5^th.  The race went green to checker and I finished in 5^th.  With one championship contender finishing in 2^nd, another in 6^th and one on his honeymoon, I was okay with my unofficial 2^nd place points finish, especially considering that after I had broken my wrist, I was just hoping to finish in the top 5 in points.  Here's where the attention to details comes into play.  Norm's great when it comes to details.  In fact, he drives me nuts making me read the rule book over and over again.  With a four week wait and a shot at the championship, he made sure that the car was 100% within the rules.  So when the 70 sk light was disqualified for non-compliant brake components and we were requested to put our car in tech for the championship, I had complete faith the car would pass.  And we did.  We are the Inaugural 2006 Stafford SK Light Champions.  I don't think I'll really believe it until November 17 at the banquet.  Our celebration in victory lane was a little late but well worth the wait.  I was so glad everyone was able to stay until the lights came back on and the pictures were taken.  It was a very special moment and to have our racing family and friends with us was extra special.  We ended the season with 1 win, 10 top 5 finishes and a perfect score of 17 top 10 finishes.  We couldn't have done it without the support of Paul & Lori French and Cliff Nelson Motorsports, as well as the contingency bonuses from Sunoco Race Fuels and Bosch Platinum Spark Plugs.

Racing in November?  Oh yeah.  APE Motorsports just returned from Concord Motorsports Park.  The North-South Shootout was this past Saturday and we couldn't resist the chance to race at a new track with the SK Light.  If you were in NC, you would have heard me say, "Im going to need a psychiatrist when I get home because this track is INSANE!"  I mean, who in their right mind would hold the throttle wide open through a dog leg on a short track?  There's proof right there that no race car driver is in their right mind. :-)  When we first got to the track, I took a look and thought, "Uh oh, what kind of line do they run here?"  I can't thank Brian McCarthy enough for walking around the track with me.  If not for him, I definitely would have spent a lot of practice time searching for the line to get around the track instead of dialing the car in.  Brian definitely got us off to a great start.  Glen Reen, #17 and I represented Stafford well with lap times faster than a lot of the SKs.  Unfortunately, Glen broke a timing chain in the heat race and was unable to start the feature after working on the car until 7am.  We didn't get a chance to do pics but I really enjoyed the camaraderie we shared and I definitely owe Glen for showing me a fast way off of turn 4.  Turn 4 was the most challenging for me and bit me a few times in the feature.  Yes, I was responsible for three cautions with turn four being the scene of the crime.  The first was with some help from a fellow competitor.  I tried to hold on but was hit hard enough where it just wasn't going to happen and around I went.  At least he hit the quarter that came pre-wrinkled with the car.  The second caution occurred when I was looking low for 2^nd and the door was closed.  I checked up to avoid getting into him and went around, again.  Lastly, I was running in 2^nd and was trying to catch the leader.  It looked like I was gaining on him but I was running out of laps.  I gave it my all and tried to get too much coming out of four and went around all by myself.  So with a green-white-checker finish to be completed, I restarted in 3^rd and was able to make a move on the outside off of four on the last lap to grab 2^nd.  (I should have tried that earlier was the general opinion.)  After the exciting finish and going over the scales, I found out that I had won the SK Light portion of the race and got to go to victory lane.  The track and the people were awesome and we had a great time.  We're already looking forward to running again next year.

Next up for APE Motorsports - Plans are in the works for a trip north to Lee, NH for the final TVMS race of the year.

Thursday at Thompson was a very special night in my racing career.  I never dreamed of having fans (aside from family) that cheer for me and I'm amazed every time by the loudness of the cheers and everyone I see in the stands waving and clapping.  I was blown away when I found out that I had been voted the "Most Popular Mini Stock" driver and I will always treasure the moment and my trophy.  With such an awesome start to the night, I wanted to go out and win just like Jeff Zuidema and Larry Barnett.  But where they got the job done, I finished 10^th.  I had a few things working against me with newly installed power steering and a broken wrist but towards the end of the race, I was getting more comfortable with the feel of the car and driving one-handed so we'll be after that win again next week.  I was still smiling as that 10^th place finish took off a little bit of pressure for the last points race of the year and the championship.  Just one more week...

Stafford's last points race is also next week - the Fall Final.  I've always loved going to the Fall Final:  the drive there with all the leaves changing color, the crispness in the air, the pit party on the track and the final races to decide champions.  A championship is a full season of races but this year at Stafford, it comes down to just one for the Sk Lights.  There won't be any need for math.  With a FOUR-way tie, yes that is 4, the champion will be the driver who finishes first.  Lady Luck was smiling this past Friday, and we are one of the four.  It was a challenging night but we made it through.  To start the night off, the sk lights were in the back pit area waiting to go out for the heat race when the wall needed to be fixed.  Well, the cast that I have on does not allow me to straighten my arm (the Dr. wanted to wait one more week, darn it), so I could not reach the switch for the fan.  I didn't want to undo my belt to reach forward because I wasn't sure I'd be able to tighten it up enough.  Time comes to go out and the car wouldn't start.  I did get a push and was able to start the heat but a couple laps in, the car died and I coasted on to pit road.  I had to have the car towed in because there was no way I could steer the car with all that tire, one hand and no power steering.  So we charged up the battery and started last in the feature.  I was able to stay out of trouble and was getting more and more comfortable when the caution came out, and then the red flag.  After what happened while waiting for the heat race to start, I knew I needed to get the fan turned off no matter what.  I loosened my belt and turned the power sucker off.  When it was time to go back to yellow, I turned it back on and tightened my belt.  It was enough.  The race went back to green and I was working to catch the 97 when my car started to hesitate coming out of the turns.  I was losing power.  It may sound crazy, but I talk to my girls (my cars).  And Friday night, I repeated the mantra, "just one more lap" over and over, right to the end of the race.  We made it to the checker and then just barely to pit road where I again needed her to be towed in.  We definitely got lucky with that one.  My 9^th place finish was enough to keep us in the hunt for the championship.

Russ Perry, in his racing debut with the ARTS # 76 race truck, was abandoned by APE Motorsports on Friday at the Waterford Speedbowl.  He had a race truck, an air tank and a tire pressure gauge.  Good thing his laid-back personality drew in the help of Rumor Racing and Big Ball Motorsports.  Special thanks to those awesome race teams and also to Russ, George and Spencer for working on the truck and getting it ready.  Unfortunately for Russ, after showcasing the truck's speed with his impressive practice runs, bad news came on race-day.  Not only was the racing cancelled due to rain, the truck was sold too.  All is not lost as Russ will get another chance behind the wheel of something.  The truck was purchased by Steve Johnson of Rumor Racing.  Good luck to Bill Leonard as he and Tom Smith will be new additions to the popular ARTS family. 

I was excited about winning and made it to victory lane ASAP to celebrate.  I wish everyone could experience a feature win, its such a darn good feeling.  Making the night extra special was Nextel Fan guest and former modified racer, Jimmy Spencer.  We were in tech and I was joking around with my dad and Norm asking them, "do you think Jimmy Spencer saw the race?"  He did!  I missed the PASS pre-race interviews with him and Kenny Wallace but my mom filmed it and a lot of guys in the pit area told me about it.  Spencer said, "I'll tell you something, I'm impressed with that girl that won this race, you see now, it takes a lot to impress me and she ran a heck of a race so I'm going to meet her later."  And he did!  I got to meet him out in the PASS pits and I'll tell you something, I'm going to do what he told me to do...go modified racing. :-)  Mr. Excitement also knows that a driver is only as good as the car they drive and congratulated Norm on the way the car was hooked up and handling.  Some awesome memories were made on Thursday, July 13, 2006.

In the SK Light at Stafford Friday night, I got stuck on the high side during the feature which is where I usually like to run.  But, the high groove only works if you don't have someone holding you up.  With a line of cars inside and no room to get down, backwards I went.  Oh well.  Luckily we had a restart with four laps to go.  And then another after I slipped in the speedy-dry laid down on the track in turns one and two.  Fortunately, the car that didn't get around me hit my front bumper and not my front tire.  So, I restarted in 10^th (and then 8^th after a recalled start) and was able to get to 5^th by the checker.  Burr won followed by Matthews, Matteson, and Place.  So a top 5 and a straight car - we'll call it a good night and a happy ending for an awesome week.

Next up for APE Motorsports is the True Value Mod race at Lee on Tuesday and then back to Thompson and Stafford as always.

Friday night at Stafford was HOT!  The track was slick and the Busch cars were laying down some rubber that felt funky.  I started 6^th in the feature and it was an exciting one.  The initial start saw the #70 of Brit Anderson have a problem with the transmission and I got into him a little, shortening the front bumper.  I was chasing the # 15 of Wade Matteson for most of the race.  There was one lap where with the sun just on the horizon, I completely missed my mark going into turn one but was able to keep it off the wall.  (Next investment will be for a tinted visor.)  I had some luck when a caution came out for the # 21 of Phil Balmer with a few laps to go.  I restarted in 4^th and fought hard in the outside groove.  There wasn't an inch of room to spare on the outside and I ended up tagging the wall with the right front wheel coming for the white flag.  I kept my foot in it and drove down into one.  I didn't know it at the time but after watching the video, we were three-wide for third coming off of two on the final lap.  I was on the outside and able to get into turn three first and held on for third at the checker.  Congrats to the #29 of Chris Matthews on his win and the #97 of Duke Place on his 2^nd place finish.  For me, it was a wild one.  Front bumper $50, ball joint $60, wheel $100, finishing 3^rd at Stafford:  Priceless.

Saturday night at Waterford was WET!  The True Value Mods were in town and you have to appreciate how Waterford got the show in for them as many of these teams come from way up north.  Butch was excited as Waterford is like a home-track for us and we had a 4^th place starting spot for the heat race.  Unfortunately, the spring-bar style radius arm broke during pace laps for the heat and Butch was forced into the pit area for repairs.  After a 2 hour rain delay, the mini stocks hit the track for their feature followed by the TV Mods consis.  Butch was in the 2^nd consi and survived a few cautions until the last restart.  He restarted in 3^rd and lost the inside lane when the car in 4^th jumped the start.  He was racing to get 3^rd back when he made an inside move only to have the outside car come down on him.  He got on the brakes and with the track being slick, got up into the outside car bringing out the final caution and a yellow checker finish.  We were disappointed about not making the show but happy that the car was working well enough to have made a run for it.  43 cars attempted to make it, with only 26 qualifying for the feature.  Next stop for True Value is Star Speedway.

Score: Stafford 3, Rain 4.  Stafford's catching up... Wasn't too sure if they'd get it in, especially as we were caught in a downpour on the way to the track.  But the weather held off until the end of the night.  I didn't set the world on fire during the first practice so a change was needed.  Well, Norm hit on something for the 2^nd practice.  The car felt really good and looked good.  After getting fuel, we checked out the lap times up on the board.  Norm waited patiently for me to read off the times.  After I read off a couple, Norm asks "so Matthews was first?"  It was awesome to be able to say "no, we were".  The heat went green to checker and after a slow initial start on my part, I was able to chase down the 14 by the end of the race but not in time to attempt a pass.  The 15 was hot behind me in third.  We were pretty happy and looking forward to feature time.  I started the feature in 6^th and gained a few spots through luck early in the race that brought out a caution.  I restarted 4^th and moved by the 20 on the outside, the 29 had slowed and I moved into 2^nd to begin the chase for the lead.  The 34 was fast and had the bottom line covered so I began to work the outside.  I had no idea how many laps were left at that point and I was just hoping I would have enough time to get it done.  I never saw the halfway signal and after I finally made the pass, I just kept hitting my marks, looking forward and letting myself just drive the car until I saw that checkered flag.  We won our first SK Light 20 lap feature at Stafford Motor Speedway on June 9, 2006.  Victory lane was incredible, even with slipping off the nerf bar (I landed on my feet) and forgetting all the thanks I always planned to say when I won.  So at the risk of sounding like a broken record like some of those cup drivers do, I'm going to list the rest of what I meant to say here...Thank you Stafford and the Arutes for adding the SK Lights to your family.  This division is awesome.  Also have to thank Bosch Platinum Sparkplugs and Sunoco Race Fuels - first place every race for their support of the division,  American Race Tires - week three and still strong, Transmission Clinic and MY MOM.  Thanks for everything.

3/2/06

New Smyrna Speedway, FL
Highlights
* We had fun.
* We were at the track ten consecutive days.  (Talk about getting a racing fix during winter!)
* We started every race.
* I learned something every race.
* The last night of time trialing was the best time (Night 1 we were 1.2 seconds off the pole, Night 9 we cut that to 0.5 seconds off the pole)
* We finished 6 out of 7 races (I should have voted for a 30 lap feature for the last night but I wanted 50 laps for the seat time.)

Lowlights
* Hitting the wall on practice day...and Night 1...and Night 9
* Getting hit on the driver's side
* The bucket of "shame"  (well, not everything fit into the bucket)
* Cold nights!!!!

Big thanks to my brother.  Norm is the driving force behind APE Motorsports.  Without his hard work and dedication, there wouldn't be an APE Motorsports team.  I can't thank him enough for all that he has done and continues to do.

Thank you to everyone who helped out on the car getting it ready and at the track.

The car needed some work and we had some late nights during the weeks prior to leaving.  Not everyone knows this, but APE Motorsports is a small team.  There is my brother Norm (the man who does everything), my father Butch, friends and family that help out when they can (Joe A., Joe A. Sr., George, Paul and Bob, Russ and Spencer) and myself.  The car was finished just in time to load into the trailer for the trip south.

New Smyrna was a great chance for me to get some seat time in an SK to see if I liked an open-wheel car before the season begins.  I loved it and am looking forward to driving an SK Light at Stafford on Friday nights.  I will still be racing the mini stock at Thompson on Thursdays and you'll also see me listed on the Sunoco Mods roster.  We intend to run 4 races towards the end of the 2006 season.

It was great talking to everyone that stopped by and I look forward to seeing you all again.

See you at the track!

Shelly