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Tracy |
30 August - Drivers Announced For NCMP TaG 200
We've finalized our driver line-up for this year's TaG 200 at New Castle Motorsports Park to take place the weekend of October 12 -14. We've entered two teams this year with Dana, Tracy and Lynsey Tilton returning for the third year to make up the Conlin SpeedSports X team. Eric Creech, Barry Hatcher and Ross Ricart will make up a powerful driving team for the Conlin SpeedSports Y kart. (In case you're wondering, the "X" and "Y" team designators reference the extra chromosomes of the drivers on that team!)
All drivers are active TaG racers with Lynsey working some TaG kart races in between her Midget and Mini-Sprint car rides. Barry won the Great Lakes SKUSA TaG Senior championship this year and Ross has been putting in strong drives in his Rotax all year.
For the second year in a row we have been the first team to enter the annual fall race which regularly draws the biggest names in auto racing. Last year Indy 500 winner Dan Wheldon, Scott Dixon, Tomas Scheckter, Sarah Fisher and Ricky Rudd were some of the top names competing with us. Wheldon has already entered the 2007 event as has IRL driver Vitor Meira. We have also heard that Marco Andretti has plans to run the race and we expect many pro driver to be announcing their intention to run in the coming weeks.
After running as high as 7th in last year's 200 with an almost certain top 10 finish thwarted by a broken chain at the mid-race point, we have high hopes to place well with both karts. Support for this year's effort is coming from INFONETICS, Inc., POWERsports, Bad Goat Racing, Behind The Wall Racing Apparel and BGR Graphics. Watch this space for news and rapid developments over the next six weeks as this extraordinary race approaches.
24 - 26 August - CSS Supports 5:01 Motorsports In Longest Day Of Nelson
Conlin SpeedSports had the honor and the privilege to be invited by 5:01 Motorsports to crew for the Longest Day Of Nelson Ledges 24 hour production car race. Tracy, Eric and Jim spent the weekend doing the final prep and support of the Datsun (Nissan to you younger folks) 240Z ITS car driven by car owner Andy Cotyk, Steve Kramer, Lance Loughman and Audrey Zavodsky. For Jim it was a reunion with old friends Andy, Steve and other 5:01 Motorsports personnel he worked with in the 24 hour race in the 1990s. The Longest Day Of Nelson Ledges was a return to the 24 hour format after an 11 year hiatus.
Eric and Jim were part of the over-the-wall crew responsible for refueling and tire changes while Tracy worked the team's timing and scoring stand recording lap counts and times for race strategy purposes. Qualifying second in class and eighth overall, 5:01 Motorsports was running 2nd in class and 3rd overall at the 9th hour weathering rain showers through the evening. But a broken wheel stud required replacement the left front hub and then a faulty thermostat delayed the car in the pits for 30 minutes, dropping the team to 6th in class and 14th overall. But an otherwise trouble free race allowed the team to climb back up to 2nd in class and 7th over all by the time 24 hours of racing was completed.
09 - 11 August - Went To A SKUSA Regional Race & A WKA National Broke Out
Like the old joke about going to a boxing match and having a hockey game break out, we found ourselves racing with the very top TaG racers in the country that were using the final races of the 2007 Bridgestone Great Lakes Superkarts! USA Pro Tour as a warm up for the late September WKA Manufacturer's Cup national race at New Castle Motorsports Park. As the likes of Billy Lewis, Kyle Weigand, Brandon Jenkins, Eddie Cheever, Jr. and other supermen disappeared into the distance, we were on pace with our SKUSA regulars and, for once, were fast (for us) right out of the trailer.
Tracy was scheduled to race both days with Dana coming in Saturday for Sunday's race but when Tracy coasted to a stop early in Saturday's final with a suddenly silent engine, that plan changed. A connecting rod bearing failure took Tracy's engine out of service for the weekend. Had Dana not magnanimously offered her engine, Tracy would have been done for the weekend and out of fourth in the championship. Sunday went better with Tracy squeaking through a big crash (see what Tracy saw here) and hanging on for decent finishes among the SKUSA drivers getting faster with almost every session.
Eric also made progress each time out with the culmination of his weekend putting him in a titanic battle with Barry Hatcher for 6th place with several position changes every lap in the second half of Sunday's final race. On the last lap Eric got ahead and stayed there. A great way for him to finish up his first SKUSA season.
07 August - On-board With Tracy During Commecial Point Qualifying
Tracy had her helmet cam going for the fast & furious TaG qualifying. See what the Commercial Point Grand Prix looks like from between the bales by clicking here. Tracy and Eric hit the track one after another... who do you suppose was in front when the checkered flag came out? Watch the video on YouTube now.
04-05 August - Survival In The Streets
Our second Commercial Point Grand Prix was a lot more enjoyable than our first one but part of that was due to a simple sense of survival.
Unlike 2006 we completed every session on Saturday despite the oppressive heat and humidity. With only two short practice sessions to tune for a brand new track layout we were slightly off for the Saturday race. Actually we were happy to just make it through the first turn after a huge start line crash right in front of Tracy and Dana but which included Eric and Fred Ricart. A stupid stunt by the idiot pole guy in front of the 13 kart field caused a chain reaction that had karts slamming into each other and turned Eric sideways in front of Fred. Fred then launched off of Eric's kart, over the hay bales and into a tree. Fred was stunned but otherwise unhurt. After a trip to Grant Hospital Fred was officially declared very lucky. On the restart Tracy got a brilliant run and was second by Turn 2. She only kept the position for about 6 laps but it was good to see her in chasing the leader. Dana's engine was off the entire race (later tracked down to a broken reed) and finished 7th to Tracy's 5th.
Sunday's practice was good. Over night changes had both ladies happy with their karts so it figured that a few minutes before the TaG race a downpour would come along and soak the track. Having Fred nearly killed - or the spectators who he would have hit if the tree wasn't there - the day before, the ladies and Eric had decided they wouldn't race the streets of Commercial Point in the rain so it was a short day.
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