Community Racing Challenge

Team CRC has a muddled weekend.

Cam had his 8th grade class trip scheduled, so he had to miss the weekend of racing. Tough decision, but the right decision on his part, school is more important then racing. He had a good time. Class went to Mackinac Island, interestingly enough, first job I had out of high school was a summer on Mackinac Island.

#57 Okemos Auto Repair Dodge Neon driven by Randy Kretzinger. Photo by Randy Kretzinger.

Randy and I went to Mt. Pleasant Speedway with high hopes of a 1-2 finish. We took the #99 Cat's Parts Mart Ford Focus (which we had to renumber #8 for the night), which is still an unknown (more below) and the #57 Okemos Auto Service Dodge Neon.

We finished 3rd & 4th in the Heat Race, but the cars seemed decent enough. The Focus felt low on power, like it was running out of gas, so we topped off the tank which seemed to make the car run better in the pits. Randy brought his car home 4th, he had one bad lap which cost him a bunch of positions on the track and there weren't enough laps for him to get back to the front. Seemed like he had the fastest car on the track. Joey & Timmy had a tough heat race, you'll have to jump over the

#69 HotJackets.com Dodge Neon after being driven by Joey Rodgers into Taco Salad. Photo by Rob Jenkins.

Jenkins Performance Motorsports page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jenkins-Performance-Motorsports/123521082724) to get the full story. You can see the photo to the left there, so you know there will be some good stuff in JPM's blog post this week I'm sure !!

In the Feature, the Focus ran much better.. we were running 2nd with about 3 laps to go when car suddenly lost power.. went right straight to the back of the field, finishing 6th, last car on lead lap. Randy's run was even worse, on lap one, the fuel pump shorted out and caused a blown fuse. They pushed him into the middle, the race went green the rest of the way, he never had a chance.

Leaving Mt. Pleasant, I"m 2nd in the points, 3 points back. Randy is 5th in points, a manageable16 points back. Cam is 10th in points and will need a good couple of weeks to get back into the mix. He is 6th in the Rookie of the Year standings.

Saturday we headed to the Big O. We took 3 cars, the #99 Cat's Part Mart Ford Focus; the #57 Okemos Auto Repair Dodge Neon; and the #13 Your Sponsor Name Could Be Here Ford Taurus SHO. Also driving for Team CRC/Jenkins Performance Motorsports was James Hammond. "The Hammer" is taking the season off from full time racing (new baby), but got a get out of jail free card for the evening and came racing. He would be piloting the #42 HotJackets.com Dodge Stratus out of the JPM garage. The #00 O'Neils Auto Repair Dodge Neon stayed home (Cam still on trip) and the #8 Your Sponsor Name Could Be Here Dodge Neon needed a couple of repairs (Thanks Bo!) before it gets back on the track.

Scott & I ended up in the slow heat... the #99 Cat's Part Mart Ford Focus still seemed low on power, it felt good coming out of the corner, but then just nothing down the straights. Scott had to change tires just before qualifying and didn't run a real fast qualifying lap. Randy qualified much better, making the 2nd heat, while Jim put the #42 in the 2nd heat heat. 42 Jim Hammond 20.406; 57 Randy Kretzinger 20.595; 13 Scott Rodgers 21.532; 99 Patrick McNamara 21.532. Side Note - Congrats to Russ Potter for breaking the track record for Sport Stocks, a blistering 19.665

#13 Your Sponsor Name Here Ford Taurus SHO driven by Scott Rogers in Victory Lane at Owosso Speedway. Photo by Bob Taylor

In the slow heat, Scott really got it going. He must have been close to black flagging (which also happen in Week 1) as he was quite fast. My car raced much better in the heat. We found a clogged fuel filter which helped the low power situation. Still not right, but better. Scott won the heat race and I finished 2nd. In the 2nd heat, Randy had some handling issues as the car didn't want to turn properly.. it was snap loose on entry making it really difficult to hold onto any speed through the corners. He finished last in the heat race, but the car showed some speed in a straight line. Hammond had a better run, finished 4th and not doing anything silly which might have hurt the car.

In the feature, Randy started on the outside of the front row, with Jim next in line on the inside 2nd row position. Scott and I started way in the back, spots #16 and #17, due to our poor qualifying. When the race went green, the #13 SHO and #99 Focus both showed good speed and both cars were able to move up quickly.. Randy took over the lead on lap one, the adjustments made to the car between races made the car corner much better. On Lap 2 we had "the Big One", a 3 wide multi-car pile up. Randy was in front of the mess, an incident involving #07 Matt Vainner, #80 Bill McBride, #1 Austin Pinnell, #11 Rachel Carpenter and #74 Danny Chapman. From my POV (it happen right in front of me) the #1 drove out of control and into the #80, turning the #80 and sending it flying up the track and into the #07. The #07 spun back down in front of the field where I narrowly missed it (I mean inches) and the car right behind me T-Boned it. The #11 then ran into the back of the #74. It was a long red flag and the #07 and #11 were not able to continue. In fact, the #07 had to be scraped, a total loss. The #1 was able to continue, while the #80 and #74 were both significantly damaged but able to continue.

During the Red Flag, the fuel pump in the #57 failed. Odds are, the pump was failing the night before, which is why it blew the fuse at Mt Pleasant. But on Saturday Night it failed completely and resulted in Randy having to be pushed off.

Once the race went back green, Scott was really flying, he passed me and was making his way towards the front. However, the brakes started glowing red, and then headed towards white. The RF caliber was hanging up and a brake fire was eminent. A caution on lap 14 resulted in a Black Flag on Scott as he was smoking bad and the brakes were basically on fire. I was able to keep moving forward during the race. The car wasn't great, but it was okay. We were lucky that a lot of other cars had misfortune, it helped us get closer to the front. Hammond had a really good run going, he stayed in the Top 5 pretty much the whole race. Brian Beckner cut a tire right at the end which allowed me to get by him and sneak into the Top 5.

Leaving Owosso, I"m 5th in the points, 4 points back. Randy is 13th in points, but close enough that he can be a factor if he strings together a couple of good weeks. Scott is 15th in the points and his own car is nearly complete. Cam is 22nd in points (6th in Rookie Standings) and we are going to need some luck to get him back into things. Jim Cronk is going to be really hard to catch.

Sunday we decided real late to go to Spartan Speedway. I was really tired and low on funds. Randy came down and took the truck and trailer to the track so he could go racing. I went watch and then once I realized my car and stuff were there, I figured why not. Cameron came with me and helped out all night, one of his best performances in the pits. He was bummed he didn't get to race, but I don't think he is quite ready for Spartan, maybe in a few more weeks after a few more races. I didn't have a very good qualifying lap going 17.397. That is better then the 18.120 we did at Spartan on opening night and better then the fastest lap we ran during that race (17.690), but the car didn't seem to have the same power it had the night before at Owosso. This car needs some serious figuring out.

We fixed the fuel pump on Randy's car, but didn't get it done in time for him to qualify. They put him on the tail of the A-Main which is about where he would have qualified anyhow, so we were good with that. Not qualifying the #57 bit us in the ass, when Randy went out for the A-Main, we discovered we had made a mistake installing the fuel pump and he was way down on power and had to pull off.

#99 Cat's Parts Mart Ford Focus driven by Patrick McNamara at Spartan Speedway. Photo by Sarah Brzezinski

In the B-Main, the #99 was a mid-pack car. We did make our way forward early in the race, but that low power thing crept back up. I discovered that if I shut the car off and turned it back on, it got better. Don't know why yet. I also missed a shift on a restart once and ended up in the back. I got back up forward and a late caution put me on the outside of the 3rd row, but car just wouldn't go. I got tangled with Tyler Heeney and ended up carrying his bumper around for 10 or 15 laps. Right at the very

#99 Cat's Parts Mart Ford Focus with Tyler Heeney's bumper in tow. Photo by Sarah Brzezinski

end of the B-Main, the car starting getting hot. We pumped some water out and onto the RF tire, car was absolute junk for the last 2 laps and we finished the B-Main in 7th place, last car on the lead lap.

During the break between the oval features and the figure eight features, we discovered the problem on Randy's #57 and got him back normal for the Figure Eight feature. Special thanks to Rob Jenkins from Okemos Auto Repair who came to the races and visited our pits and helped us all night long. We also discovered that the "getting hot" issue on the #99 was a broken serpentine belt. We decided to start the Figure Eight feature on the tail and pull off in order to save the car.

Randy ran a good race during the Figure Eight, he finished 8th and was in the mix most of the event. He had a early race spin which put him a lap down, but he ran right with the cars that finished 4th and 5th (he was faster actually) and only that early spin put him back in 8th.

On a scale of 1 to 10, it was a 5 weekend..

Next weekend we'll repeat the Mt. Pleasant/Owosso combo, and then head to Mottville on Sunday.

Mt. Pleasant has a stock-four special being presented by Soaring Eagle Casino, so we'll be working hard on getting the #8 Dodge Neon done so we can be ready for that event.

Thanks again to Rob Jenkins and Bruce Fickies for all they do every week to help us out.

Team CRC has a muddled weekend.

Cam had his 8th grade class trip scheduled, so he had to miss the weekend of racing. Tough decision, but the right decision on his part, school is more important then racing. He had a good time. Class went to Mackinac Island, interestingly enough, first job I had out of high school was a summer on Mackinac Island.

#57 Okemos Auto Repair Dodge Neon driven by Randy Kretzinger. Photo by Randy Kretzinger.

Randy and I went to Mt. Pleasant Speedway with high hopes of a 1-2 finish. We took the #99 Cat's Parts Mart Ford Focus (which we had to renumber #8 for the night), which is still an unknown (more below) and the #57 Okemos Auto Service Dodge Neon.

We finished 3rd & 4th in the Heat Race, but the cars seemed decent enough. The Focus felt low on power, like it was running out of gas, so we topped off the tank which seemed to make the car run better in the pits. Randy brought his car home 4th, he had one bad lap which cost him a bunch of positions on the track and there weren't enough laps for him to get back to the front. Seemed like he had the fastest car on the track. Joey & Timmy had a tough heat race, you'll have to jump over the

#69 HotJackets.com Dodge Neon after being driven by Joey Rodgers into Taco Salad. Photo by Rob Jenkins.

Jenkins Performance Motorsports page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jenkins-Performance-Motorsports/123521082724) to get the full story. You can see the photo to the left there, so you know there will be some good stuff in JPM's blog post this week I'm sure !!

In the Feature, the Focus ran much better.. we were running 2nd with about 3 laps to go when car suddenly lost power.. went right straight to the back of the field, finishing 6th, last car on lead lap. Randy's run was even worse, on lap one, the fuel pump shorted out and caused a blown fuse. They pushed him into the middle, the race went green the rest of the way, he never had a chance.

Leaving Mt. Pleasant, I"m 2nd in the points, 3 points back. Randy is 5th in points, a manageable16 points back. Cam is 10th in points and will need a good couple of weeks to get back into the mix. He is 6th in the Rookie of the Year standings.

Saturday we headed to the Big O. We took 3 cars, the #99 Cat's Part Mart Ford Focus; the #57 Okemos Auto Repair Dodge Neon; and the #13 Your Sponsor Name Could Be Here Ford Taurus SHO. Also driving for Team CRC/Jenkins Performance Motorsports was James Hammond. "The Hammer" is taking the season off from full time racing (new baby), but got a get out of jail free card for the evening and came racing. He would be piloting the #42 HotJackets.com Dodge Stratus out of the JPM garage. The #00 O'Neils Auto Repair Dodge Neon stayed home (Cam still on trip) and the #8 Your Sponsor Name Could Be Here Dodge Neon needed a couple of repairs (Thanks Bo!) before it gets back on the track.

Scott & I ended up in the slow heat... the #99 Cat's Part Mart Ford Focus still seemed low on power, it felt good coming out of the corner, but then just nothing down the straights. Scott had to change tires just before qualifying and didn't run a real fast qualifying lap. Randy qualified much better, making the 2nd heat, while Jim put the #42 in the 2nd heat heat. 42 Jim Hammond 20.406; 57 Randy Kretzinger 20.595; 13 Scott Rodgers 21.532; 99 Patrick McNamara 21.532. Side Note - Congrats to Russ Potter for breaking the track record for Sport Stocks, a blistering 19.665

#13 Your Sponsor Name Here Ford Taurus SHO driven by Scott Rogers in Victory Lane at Owosso Speedway. Photo by Bob Taylor

In the slow heat, Scott really got it going. He must have been close to black flagging (which also happen in Week 1) as he was quite fast. My car raced much better in the heat. We found a clogged fuel filter which helped the low power situation. Still not right, but better. Scott won the heat race and I finished 2nd. In the 2nd heat, Randy had some handling issues as the car didn't want to turn properly.. it was snap loose on entry making it really difficult to hold onto any speed through the corners. He finished last in the heat race, but the car showed some speed in a straight line. Hammond had a better run, finished 4th and not doing anything silly which might have hurt the car.

In the feature, Randy started on the outside of the front row, with Jim next in line on the inside 2nd row position. Scott and I started way in the back, spots #16 and #17, due to our poor qualifying. When the race went green, the #13 SHO and #99 Focus both showed good speed and both cars were able to move up quickly.. Randy took over the lead on lap one, the adjustments made to the car between races made the car corner much better. On Lap 2 we had "the Big One", a 3 wide multi-car pile up. Randy was in front of the mess, an incident involving #07 Matt Vainner, #80 Bill McBride, #1 Austin Pinnell, #11 Rachel Carpenter and #74 Danny Chapman. From my POV (it happen right in front of me) the #1 drove out of control and into the #80, turning the #80 and sending it flying up the track and into the #07. The #07 spun back down in front of the field where I narrowly missed it (I mean inches) and the car right behind me T-Boned it. The #11 then ran into the back of the #74. It was a long red flag and the #07 and #11 were not able to continue. In fact, the #07 had to be scraped, a total loss. The #1 was able to continue, while the #80 and #74 were both significantly damaged but able to continue.

During the Red Flag, the fuel pump in the #57 failed. Odds are, the pump was failing the night before, which is why it blew the fuse at Mt Pleasant. But on Saturday Night it failed completely and resulted in Randy having to be pushed off.

Once the race went back green, Scott was really flying, he passed me and was making his way towards the front. However, the brakes started glowing red, and then headed towards white. The RF caliber was hanging up and a brake fire was eminent. A caution on lap 14 resulted in a Black Flag on Scott as he was smoking bad and the brakes were basically on fire. I was able to keep moving forward during the race. The car wasn't great, but it was okay. We were lucky that a lot of other cars had misfortune, it helped us get closer to the front. Hammond had a really good run going, he stayed in the Top 5 pretty much the whole race. Brian Beckner cut a tire right at the end which allowed me to get by him and sneak into the Top 5.

Leaving Owosso, I"m 5th in the points, 4 points back. Randy is 13th in points, but close enough that he can be a factor if he strings together a couple of good weeks. Scott is 15th in the points and his own car is nearly complete. Cam is 22nd in points (6th in Rookie Standings) and we are going to need some luck to get him back into things. Jim Cronk is going to be really hard to catch.

Sunday we decided real late to go to Spartan Speedway. I was really tired and low on funds. Randy came down and took the truck and trailer to the track so he could go racing. I went watch and then once I realized my car and stuff were there, I figured why not. Cameron came with me and helped out all night, one of his best performances in the pits. He was bummed he didn't get to race, but I don't think he is quite ready for Spartan, maybe in a few more weeks after a few more races. I didn't have a very good qualifying lap going 17.397. That is better then the 18.120 we did at Spartan on opening night and better then the fastest lap we ran during that race (17.690), but the car didn't seem to have the same power it had the night before at Owosso. This car needs some serious figuring out.

We fixed the fuel pump on Randy's car, but didn't get it done in time for him to qualify. They put him on the tail of the A-Main which is about where he would have qualified anyhow, so we were good with that. Not qualifying the #57 bit us in the ass, when Randy went out for the A-Main, we discovered we had made a mistake installing the fuel pump and he was way down on power and had to pull off.

#99 Cat's Parts Mart Ford Focus driven by Patrick McNamara at Spartan Speedway. Photo by Sarah Brzezinski

In the B-Main, the #99 was a mid-pack car. We did make our way forward early in the race, but that low power thing crept back up. I discovered that if I shut the car off and turned it back on, it got better. Don't know why yet. I also missed a shift on a restart once and ended up in the back. I got back up forward and a late caution put me on the outside of the 3rd row, but car just wouldn't go. I got tangled with Tyler Heeney and ended up carrying his bumper around for 10 or 15 laps. Right at the very

#99 Cat's Parts Mart Ford Focus with Tyler Heeney's bumper in tow. Photo by Sarah Brzezinski

end of the B-Main, the car starting getting hot. We pumped some water out and onto the RF tire, car was absolute junk for the last 2 laps and we finished the B-Main in 7th place, last car on the lead lap.

During the break between the oval features and the figure eight features, we discovered the problem on Randy's #57 and got him back normal for the Figure Eight feature. Special thanks to Rob Jenkins from Okemos Auto Repair who came to the races and visited our pits and helped us all night long. We also discovered that the "getting hot" issue on the #99 was a broken serpentine belt. We decided to start the Figure Eight feature on the tail and pull off in order to save the car.

Randy ran a good race during the Figure Eight, he finished 8th and was in the mix most of the event. He had a early race spin which put him a lap down, but he ran right with the cars that finished 4th and 5th (he was faster actually) and only that early spin put him back in 8th.

On a scale of 1 to 10, it was a 5 weekend..

Next weekend we'll repeat the Mt. Pleasant/Owosso combo, and then head to Mottville on Sunday.

Mt. Pleasant has a stock-four special being presented by Soaring Eagle Casino, so we'll be working hard on getting the #8 Dodge Neon done so we can be ready for that event.

Thanks again to Rob Jenkins and Bruce Fickies for all they do every week to help us out.