Finally the season has started

Saturday was the first race day of the season at Fremont Speedway However it wasn’t the outcome anyone hopes for and the night was cut short when the 4N made contact with the wall in the Heat Race. The Team would make some repairs and start at the tail of the field but pulled off after a lap with some issues from the crash.

It was the first time competing at Fremont in a 410 and depending on how the season goes probably won’t be the last.  Here are the results from Qualifying, heats, and the Feature

 Smith Family Foods Night

April 21, 2018

410 Sprints – Fort Ball Pizza Palace

 Qualifying
1.16-Chris Andrews, 12.078; 2.8J-Jess Stiger, 12.228; 3.97-Broc Martin, 12.268; 4.4H-Cap  Henry, 12.325; 5.3J-Trey Jacobs, 12.364; 6.68G-Tyler Gunn, 12.371; 7.22M-Dan McCarron, 12.384; 8.35-Stuart Brubaker, 12.470; 9.23-DJ Foos, 12.477; 10.09-Craig Mintz, 12.579; 11.1-Nate Dussel, 12.588; 12.41-Thomas Schinderle, 12.697; 13.9Z-Duane Zablocki, 12.701; 14.4T-Tracy Hines, 12.749; 15.2+-Brian Smith, 12.765; 16.4N-Jim Morris, 12.799; 17.5K-Adam Kekich, 12.807; 18.00-Thomas Meseraull, 12.966; 19.91x-Aaron Middaugh, 13.037; 20.20I-Kelsey Ivy, 13.072; 21.7-Shawn Valenti, 13.102; 22.14H-Todd Heller, 13.145; 23.8M-TJ Michael, 14.656;

 Heat 1 (8 Laps)
1. 09-Craig Mintz[1] ; 2. 4H-Cap  Henry[3] ; 3. 16-Chris Andrews[4] ; 4. 22M-Dan McCarron[2] ; 5. 9Z-Duane Zablocki[5] ; 6. 91x-Aaron Middaugh[7] ; 7. 4N-Jim Morris[6] ; 8. 14H-Todd Heller[8]

 Heat 2 (8 Laps)
1. 35-Stuart Brubaker[2] ; 2. 1-Nate Dussel[1] ; 3. 8J-Jess Stiger[4] ; 4. 8M-TJ Michael[8] ; 5. 4T-Tracy Hines[5] ; 6. 3J-Trey Jacobs[3] ; 7. 5K-Adam Kekich[6] ; 8. 20I-Kelsey Ivy[7]

 Heat 3 (8 Laps)
1. 23-DJ Foos[2] ; 2. 97-Broc Martin[4] ; 3. 68G-Tyler Gunn[3] ; 4. 00-Thomas Meseraull[6] ; 5. 41-Thomas Schinderle[1] ; 6. 2+-Brian Smith[5] ; 7. 7-Shawn Valenti[7]

 A-Main 1 (30 Laps)
1. 09-Craig Mintz[2] ; 2. 16-Chris Andrews[1] ; 3. 1-Nate Dussel[6] ; 4. 23-DJ Foos[4] ; 5. 97-Broc Martin[7] ; 6. 35-Stuart Brubaker[3] ; 7. 68G-Tyler Gunn[9] ; 8. 2+-Brian Smith[18] ; 9. 8M-TJ Michael[11] ; 10. 4T-Tracy Hines[14] ; 11. 00-Thomas Meseraull[12] ; 12. 3J-Trey Jacobs[17] ; 13. 4H-Cap  Henry[5] ; 14. 9Z-Duane Zablocki[13] ; 15. 22M-Dan McCarron[10] ; 16. 7-Shawn Valenti[21] ; 17. 5K-Adam Kekich[20] ; 18. 41-Thomas Schinderle[15] ; 19. 20I-Kelsey Ivy[22] ; 20. 91x-Aaron Middaugh[16] ; 21. 8J-Jess Stiger[8] ; 22. 4N-Jim Morris[19]

Hard Charger: 2+ Brian Smith +10

 

Weather Wins Again

So far both of the practice dates at Sharon Speedway have been canceled due to weather and wet grounds. All the prep work has been done to the Sunburst Environmental Sprint car now it is just a waiting game as to when mother nature decides to cooperate. Friday (April 20th) is the first race night the 4N team has on its schedule. The weather worked in Attica Raceway park got in a good night of racing that seen 44 410’s at the track. below is a link to their A main from the dirt race report youtube channel.

 

The good news is the preseason wait is now over. There is at least 1 race on the schedule every weekend until the end of August. Get out and support your local dirt track or any dirt track. Support who supports the racers and the tracks. Hope to see everyone at the track soon. LET’S GO RACING

I just wanna drive ’til I run out of highway
Into the purple sky

~Kid Rock~ Purple Sky

 

 

Safety First

Sprint car racing has been getting more popular in recent years. The equipment has been getting better and the speeds have been increasing. With that trend safety and safety equipment also needs to be upgraded. Nothing is ever going to be 100% safe, but every little bit helps. The basic safety equipment is a helmet, firesuit, gloves, and shoes. Seems pretty basic but there are lots of other equipment you don’t see right off. Most drivers wear some kind of Nomex fire-resistant underwear. Pictures of this safety equipment below.

 

 

Other safety equipment that most are using now is some form of head and neck restraint. They have evolved from just a foam neck roll to a Hans device or a hybrid pro.

 

 

Seats have also changed to try and cut down on injuries. Now there are more full containment seats and even some carbon fiber options.

 

one of the last things is the safety belts. The belts commonly used now have a ratcheting system attached so that the driver can tighten the belts by themselves. As opposed to having to have someone else pull on the waist belt to get them tight.

Safety is always going to be a concern when it comes to sprint car racing. Because so many different things can go wrong, trying to prevent any serious injury is always going to be an issue that needs to be addressed.

 

“I just wanna drive till I run out of highway into the purple sky”

Kid Rock – Purple Sky

 

 

Old race videos

Before Jim Morris started racing in the 410 sprint division he was competing in the outlaw sprint warrior division at Mercer Raceway Park below are some video results from a few of those races. The first one is from little guy nationals when Jim went on to win the night 1 race.

This next video is one of the many battles Jim and #46 Michael Bauer had in their years of competing against each other in the OSW division. Michael has also moved up into the 410 sprint division.

this last video is from 2016 and is a 410 race at mercer raceway park. Jim in the purple and white 4N that was used to raise awareness for Pulmonary Hypertension.

About Pulmonary Hypertension

 

After looking back at old races and the season being so close to starting hopefully, the cold weather and snow can start to disappear.

“I just wanna drive till I run out of highway into the purple sky”

Kid Rock – Purple Sky

Opening Night 2018

Not counting 1 or 2 practice sessions in early April. April 20th is going to be the first race of the season for the Sunburst Environmental Race team. It still is a month away but its coming up fast. The past few weekends have been the mall shows with lots of different cars on display. However, Lernerville Speedway will be the track as it is their opening night of the race season. Located in Sarver Pa Lernerville Speedway is a 4/10 mile dirt track, and is close to 50 years of racing. One of the only tracks to feature the top 3 divisions of racing weekly (410 Sprints, Late Models, and Big Block Modifieds). 

The Sunburst Environmental Race team is looking forward to racing at Lernerville Speedway this season and hopes to be competitive every week.