...News Archive...

May 9, 2008, May 17 & 18, 2008, The Real Story by Dave Nett, June 1, 2008, Watching Nascar by Dave Nett, Ode to Kip, The Dells & More

May 9, 2008 - Columbus 151 - What a good night at the race. We were at Columbus 151 raceway. To start out the night was qualifying, way to go Mark "The King" Findley who took fast time (12.720) congratulations Mark.  But as the first heat race was going to start mark had to pull off the track with car trouble (broken bearing). And here comes Kyle to take his first time win. Good job Kyle and congratulations. As the night comes to an end, the feature Race,  Grant (FIRA) takes the win for the night.

Congratulation to you Grant...great burnout for the fans!  It was a fun and good time tonight. 

"The Real Story"

By Dave Nett "Wreckt'em Racing Team" Crew Chief

The heats were run; equipment all checked over, the troops were set.  After receiving the ok from General LeSage, the troops were sent off the flight deck.  After a couple of laps things are going as planned, then a yellow!  As I look to General LeSage, he gives me the ok to send Corso to the front.  I say, “But sir I don't think his wing man will keep up!”  He looks at me and says, “Send him up”.

 I key up my radio and send Corso to the front; he calls back “send Thiel with me”. “I can’t, Marks your wing man. I need Thiel, Findley won't engage”.  General LeSage, hearing this on the radio, says “Norm give him some time”, he engaged, “Corso did you copy?”  “Yes”, greens out, Corso goes to the front with no wing man.

As I start to wonder what will happen, I hear Corso on the radio…”Findley! Findley! Where the hell are you!  I'm all by myself and there’s a mig on my ass get up here!!” so I jump in…”Findley Engage! Engage! Findley are you ok?”

“I can't do it I just can't I might smash my car”.  I look to General LeSage, “give him a couple more laps he's got a new motor”.  And then it happened…a yellow “oh crap that mig is going to put Corso in the wall”. 

Just then the general grabs my radio, I hear him say to Corso “you know what to do”.  Then he says “Thiel get your ass up here! Be Corso’s wing man!” 

So as the green flag flies again, Corso rolls into corner 3, the mig stay's on his ass,  get's to the apex and with full power spins his tires and loses about 10 car lengths.

I guess they just let anyone fly a mig.   Thiel, low on fuel and ammo, did a great job stepping it up.  After the race I looked at the general, “do you think he'll ever make it back?”  The general said, “Just give him some more time, he needs more time!  Get him back out there as soon as possible”.  And that's the real story!

Mahoney Takes His First Feature Win!

Story by Sue Findley

Slinger/Rockford back to back, May 17 & 18 - Haven't written a story in a while but might as well start one off with my usual weather report...What a beautiful weekend for racing, though mother nature did throw in a few sprinkles.  And my usual hair report....Having a good hair weekend, for those who care (hee hee)  Anyway, it's always tough when we race back to back, and this weekend was a good one with a few minor mishaps but everyone making both races. 

We'd like to welcome Dwayne Williford who will be driving the #23 Christopherson car and Steve Doherty who is driving the #49 Benkert car.  Good luck guys!

While I don't have the full heat/feature results which normally include FIRA, I can give the heat results as they pertain to our points for the Slinger race. 

Slingers - Corso took first in our heat with Lynn taking second and Findley rounding out the top three.  The Feature was won by Mahoney, with Benkert taking second and Williford rounding out the top three, great races guys!

While I was not at the track, I am privy to the stories of the night's racing.  Thiel's fan club showed up at Slingers to watch him race, rumor has it Thiel's daughter was quoted as saying she "likes to see the wrecks".  During the feature, Corso crashed out and had to leave the field, not to be outdone with his "Fan Club" in the stands, shortly thereafter Jim "Wallbanger" Thiel slapped the wall pretty good.  After the evenings event's were complete, Findley wandered over to the "Wreckt'em Racing Team" trailer to discuss the nights racing.

Being the good and dutiful wife that I am, I promptly awoke around 1:00am to make sure "The King" had a hot meal waiting for him.  After taking off his shoes and rubbing his feet, I placed the freshly grilled T-bone steak and baked potato in front of him followed by a freshly baked chocolate cake, with ice cream of course...okay so maybe I exaggerated just a bit, it wasn't a t-bone, it was peanut butter and jelly, and it wasn't cake, it was a  ho-ho, but I just wanted to see if anyone really reads my stories!

Rockford - I hear Jeff LeSage is enjoying his new race car and he must be taking it easy as he's finished two races with the car still in tact, allowing his dad, Greg to come to see us race at Rockford this weekend instead of putting the car back together, great job Jeff.

While Lynn ran a good heat race taking first (Corso took second and Findley took third), he lost a bearing during the feature and as he sat backwards on the track Findley could see him waving his hands across his face hoping no one would run into him, Findley assured Lynn "I saw you, I was looking right at you".

Corso was our feature winner, with Mahoney in second and Thiel taking third, not too bad considering both had trouble during last nights feature, great job guys!  Way to put them back together!!

I haven't had a chance to see if anyone took any photo's but if there are any I'll post them soon. 

June 1, 2008 - Rockford Speedway Story by Dave Nett- As the sun rose Sunday, and the birds began to sing, I thought to myself, “well I should get up and get to the shop, we need to unload the Wilmot car's and load up the Rockford car”.  Then it came to me…it was also Ricks 44^th birthday!  I was sure he was getting his special b-day gift from his wonderful wife so I thought I would take my time.  Funny thing happened, I rocked myself back to sleep trying to get my big butt out of bed.

About a hour later, my girl's woke me up.  The girl’s wished me good luck and said they would pray that Mr. Mark would get his game back.  So off to the shop I went. When I got there Rambo and farmer were all loaded.  I guess the special b-day thing must happen the night of your birthday.  So off we go on the road again, little dog sitting on my lap looking out the window hoping for a good day at the track.  Little dog knows…a win at the track means ice-cream on the way home!

As we rolled up to the track I thought to myself, “this should go fast, I’ll be home by three”. So as we pulled into the pits we looked for a spot with power and water, and we found one.  Then as went to sign in I had to answer the question of the day…”where is Thiel?”…He's fishing.  Then we found Mr. Rob a belt, then it was time to get cars ready for hot laps.

After the first set of hot laps everything looks good.  We had a new set of tires and we needed to run a heat cycle through so we put them on went back out for the next set of hot laps when what do I see out of the corner of my eye…yep!...The King!   On track now I wonder if the King fires up,  will Corso pull up and be his wingman man? If he does, those new tires are going to get trashed.  When you think about it…I would gladly pay the $300.00 to see the King back on his game.

Well no worries I think the King was running his tires through a heat cycle too.  So back to the pits, take the new tires, put the race tires on,  grab the fuel can.  “OH NO! low on fuel!”  Let’s see who would have some hot fuel.   I know! Jason!  So he maybe a mig,  he’s still a good sport.   So I go to Jason’s trailer. “Jason I need a little fuel”.  He hands me a can, “Use what you need” .  Hey, thanks again Jason!

So as I walk back to the trailer I’m not hearing cars so I walk up the hill, look out on the track, and what do I see?...corner men with cans of brake cleaner and rags.  Now I'm starting to wonder what we got ourselves into.  About 30minutes later the guys are getting in their cars when I hear Corso call out Kyle, “Your my wingman.now”.  I'm thinking, “what the hell just happened? He wins one race in front of  general LeSage and now he picks his own wingman!” 

Well I let it slide…after all it is his birthday.  So off they go, round and round, then it happened.  Jocko in the wall!  I was happy it see him moving in the car, I thought he may have passed out.  But he was bitching his suit was 4 sizes too small and his car seat was 2 sizes too small.  So then they back the flat bed up to take Jocko off the track and the truck dumps oil on the track.

Then they find some oil dry, and run back to the trailer to get a broom.  When I think back to the first race I ran, it was a lot like that…but I was  5 years old and it was in my back yard.  Ya got to give them guys a hand, they did a great job with what they had.  I'm just glad they found the oil dry so I didn't have to watch Denny dance anymore…also glad I kept my mouth shut.  One time, long ago, our leader at the time told the track crew how he wanted the track, so the crew dumped 1500 gallons of water on the track and said “Now get out there and pack the track!”  That was a mess! 

So off they go again.  I think Corso won, Jason was second, and I think maybe the King finished like a lap down.  So were back down in the pits and Jocko comes up to me.  “Norm, did you see that the tire come off the car before I hit the wall!”  “Ok now!”  I am thinking to myself…”That is like telling the mother of our unborn child, oh it's not mine I always pull out”.  Jocko, it's over, you smashed Wingnuts car.  Where the tire was its not going to fix the car. I feel bad for Wingy…28 more payments and that thing is his free and clear, from what I saw it will need about 500.00 worth of parts now.   I think if we can all talk to Mark, maybe we can get him to let John put his June payment on the end of the loan and Wingy could use his 500.00 June payment to fix the car. 

So after about a hour we’re out for the big show.  After a lap or two the fast guys go to the front, the King ends up the fastest lap of the race…also the shortest.   Corso won, his wingman Kyle did a great job of keeping the mig off.  Corso and the mig did a great job…you guys all did a great job!  The only way the day could have been any more fun is if Betty and Sue were with us…see ya on the 4th.

Oh! almost forgot!  Little dog fell asleep on the way home so we didn’t get ice-cream and Rambo never did say if he got that special b-day gift!  I think Jim did catch some fish!

Went to the NASCAR race down at good old Chicago land Speedway, Kip hooked me up with some pretty cool tickets.  So, my first time at the speedway, checking everything out as I make my way from the car to a main cross road I think, “man I'm glad bags are in, and not jarts, I bet I passed through 30 games”. So I make my way to the hospitality village, get through the line…not two bad, find the cub tent, grab a pop, do the whole small talk thing and my phone rang.

It was Mr. Corso, he was also there on a scholarship.  Met up with him and the Mrs. for a little while then it was time for the garage tour.  So there I was, minding my own business, and up comes a security guy and says, “Are you Dave Nett?” My heart stopped.  I'm thinking, “damn, they got me for driving through the I-pass lane with no I-pass”. He asked if I would take a moment and meet with Mr. Hendricks.

So off we went after a bunch of small talk again…you know…”how's kip like the new car?”, “what's up with Corso?” He said he watched the video I sent him of Kyle, he likes what saw at that last Rockford race.  He takes me off to the side and says,  “Dave, I need you up on the box tonight, we need to beat this Bush kid”. I said, “sorry, not without my driver in the car”.  He said,  “is he here?” I said,  “yes he is!”  So he grabbed his phone and called him .

So when Corso gets to where we are he had kind of a weird look on his face.  He says to me,  “Norm, not a good idea. We made a commitment to the rascals for one thing, we go out and win this thing and next week they won’t leave us alone till we show back up” .  Good point,  It would be like Findly getting Kip to drive his car just to beat us.

They need someone to mix it up with Bush. I know!  Jason is there!  Rick says, “no, I talked to him earlier, they need a extra pilot so he's flying.”  “Mr. H this is what I can do for you, I'll go to the garage and make some adjustments and lay out a plan for the guys.   Rick will go talk to Johnson and see if he can get him back in the game”.

So we did what we could do, went and had some dinner, watched the race…if you could call it that.  I don't know, I think our races are way more exciting, we have all the things they do…fast cars, the rascal ladies (just as pretty as any lady a saw there), we have our Mr.Hendricks in Mr.V.  (By the way great to see you and Mrs. V back at the track, and miss sue) and we have our up and coming champs like Kyle.

So I'm thinking this guy’s got nothing on us. Also great job at Rockford last time…go Kyle go!   I would also like to thank my cousin Jack who was the flag man that night, good to see you again Jack. Everyone have a safe trip up to the Dells, see ya!!

Ode to Kip
Written By: Alyssa Griffin

You're still not safe, Kip

The Dells & More - Mark makes his mini sprint debut at Wilmot…but first a little review of the Dells.  It was a hot one, not the best for the cars, but as in most of all the races this year the end result was the same.  Except for Mr. Thiel who found out that the power of the little dog can put you in the winner’s circle.  Congrat’s to Jim for taking fast time! 

As Jim got ready to get in his car for the 2nd race, he patted little dog on the head and said the magic words…”If I win this thing, I’ll buy you ice cream.”  Some might say that it was a team effort…so Jim could win one…NOT!

 Corso had the green light, Jim just hit every mark.  It was a great race.   Remember even the best can be beaten on any given night.   Well I guess this takes us from the “rectum trailer” to the “winner’s trailer”. So guess who spoon feed little dog ice cream on the way home…Mr. Jim, and he was darn happy to do it.

 Ok, on to the “Big Story”…Mark in a mini sprint! That was cool!  I was on a little vacation with my girls,  got home about 4 o'clock, grabbed a cooler and off to Wilmot I went.  Stopped about half way through the pits to look at a new car, Joe Fisher had just got a nice car, and who happens by?  Kip and Mark!  Kip said “Norm, look who I got to drive!” I was stunned for a second.   The King in a mini sprint, cool!  So after practice the King gets out and I say “how was it?”  The King says “ok, the things got no breaks!”  I can fix that.  So I fix the breaks and send him out for the heat. 

 Kips out in the heat when the o-ring blows on the oil filter…he goes up in smoke.  Mark comes back off the track gets out of the car and says,  “I may have to get one”.  I like it, the hook was set!!   Get the cars ready for the next race, send them out…Kip makes it a few laps…time for new motor.  No problem, I think he can afford it.  So the King is out kicking butt, next thing I know he's in a battle with the Jack of the mini sprints…the big dog “Mr. Ron”.  Didn't see I with my own eyes but I was told Mark may have helped him spin out.   So this time when he gets out he says, “Norm, find me a car”...set the hook and real em in!  So I have been on the phone ever since.  Think I have a good deal worked out, waiting to hear back from GM and GE on a sponsorship. Will post a pic on line of the new car as soon as deal is done.