| News Archive
September 9, 2006 I apologize I've
been real bad about updating the site. However, last
night we ran at Selinsgrove Speedway for their final
358 race of the season. Due to an impending rain storm
they decided to run all sprint cars in the same warmups.
During warmups something (I assume a clump of mud) came
back and bent a fitting on the oil tank, cracking it,
causing it to leak. Thanks to Scott Flammer for lending
us an oil tank. We got everything back together for
the heat race. Duane started 4th in the heat race. When
the green flag dropped Duane raced Nyle Berkes down
the front stretch into turn one. He came out of two
with the lead and ended up winning the heat race.
This put us starting 7th in the feature. So, we bolted
on some new tires and made some minor adjustments, and
fueled up the car. All of that was a waste of time,
lining up for the green flag we got a slice in the right
rear tire. The tire was going down and this made for
an ill handling racecar. We tried to plug the tire on
a red flag but it was still leaking and we ended up
13th thanks to some accidents involving the front runners.
Thankfully everyone was ok but several drivers went
home with bent parts.
August 19, 2006 Selinsgrove ended up
getting rained out last night but not until the B main
was on the track. Rain checks will be used next weekend
to watch the B main, A main, Late Model feature and
Road Runners.
We qualified 19th out of 43 sprint cars who took time.
Not a great run but it put us in the inversion. As usual
our luck was not with us, the track got faster as time
went on. So, we made a bunch of changes to the car for
the heat race and started on the outside of the pole.
Duane took off and led all 8 laps to take the heat race
win. So, next weekend we'll probably start in the top
15, come see if Duane can go to the front, it should
be interesting.
July 15, 2006 Second WIN of the season.
If you missed this feature you missed a good one. Duane
led all 25 laps but had some good competition behind.
Adam Romig, the rookie, ran second until getting into
the wall with what looked like a flat tire. Then Scott
Flammer ran a good second until he broke coming out
of turn two. Kyle Bachman ran a good second for a while
but Blaine Heimbach got around him with about 7 or 8
laps to go. A fuel stop on lap 21 put Blaine behind
us on the restart but Duane held him off and took home
the win.
A special thanks to everyone here at Selinsgrove. See
you next weekend!
July 8, 2006 I don't have all the details
on this night but Duane is starting to get in the groove.
He ended up with a heat WIN and led for a good part
of the feature before several cautions caused too many
heat cycles in the already used tires. The tires started
to go away and he ended up 4th. After the troubles we've
had recently, we'll take a fourth and see what we can
do this weekend.
July 1, 2006 Just a brief note...We
didn't get to run the heat race because on the start
another driver drifted up and put us in the fence. It
broke the wing, the rear end, bunch of radius rods,
arms, etc. Instead of fixing it to run the consi we
decided enough is enough and packed up and went home.
Duane is taking the 410 to Selinsgrove tonight for their
postponed Speedweeks show.
June 17, 2006 We ended up a respectable
10th...We time trialed 10th... So I guess we had a 10th
place car...We put on a different front wing for the
heat race and found out that the deeper dish wing made
too much of a difference in the car and Duane struggled
in the heat race. Needless to say we changed back to
the other style wing for the B main. In the B main he
started 4th and ended up third. That gave us our time
back for the feature and we started 11th..We were up
to as high as 9th when the red flag came out with two
laps to go. We found out that the tire had a slight
leak so we pumped it up so Duane could finish the last
two laps. Furlong got under us on the start which put
us back to 10th. Respectable, but we've got some things
to try next week. Hope to see you there..
June 10-11, 2006 Never a dull moment.
My hat goes off to these teams that run 2,3, and 4 nights
a week, I remember doing it with the Midgets and it's
much easier 1 night a week. Duane ran both Saturday
and Sunday nights this week...
Saturday...We've been having some trouble getting back
to where we were at the end of last year. Not sure if
it's the car or the driver, or maybe the wrench, heck,
at this point it could be just about anything. We qualified
for the Saturday night main through the B-main and ended
up 17th overall. I see other good teams struggling as
well and feel a little better knowing we're not alone.
We'll just keep trying things until we hit the mark
again.
Sunday... Duane was in the 410 with the NST at Selinsgrove.
Watching Steve Kinser get around Selinsgrove was very
impressive. Congrats to Mike Erdley, he ran a heck of
a race. However, Kinser was fun to watch, he tried low,
high, and against the outside guardrail. We didn't qualify
for the main but we learned some things and will bring
the 410 out again at the next race for them.
June 3, 2006 A pretty decent weekend...We've
been having trouble getting really hooked up like we
were at the end of last season so we've been trying
some different things. It rained on Saturday afternoon
really putting some moisture into the speedway. The
track conditions for the heat race were not ideal. It
was rough!! Duane led most of the heat race but the
12G passed us with 2 to go and Duane ended up second.
That put us starting 5th for the feature. We left the
car pretty much alone since the grader was out and smoothed
the track out a bit for the feature. We ran pretty good
for the feature running 8th most of the race. A restart
with 2 to go put Mike Walter right behind us and he
was just faster, so we ended up 9th. Overall a decent
showing. We'll be out on Saturday with the 358s and
Sunday for the NST show with the 410s.
A special congratulations to Morgan Hons on
his first go kart win at Penn's Creek speedway.
May 27-28, 2006 Well we raced all weekend,
Saturday night at Selinsgrove with the 358 and Sunday,
also at Selinsgrove with the 410. Saturday night went
ok. It was the challenge race with the 360s from URC.
We didn't qualify well and ended up outside of the invert,
although we qualified 15th of the 358s that were there.
We didn't make the show through the heat race so we
put on some older tires to run the consi figuring why
burn up a good set of tires. An incident with two pushtrucks
and a fuel line later we watched the consi from on top
of the trailer. The end of Saturday night.
Sunday went much better. It was the first night out
for the 410. Our goal was to shake down the car and
motor for the upcoming NST show at Selinsgrove. Early
on we found out that we need to replace the valve springs,
so we'll be doing that this week. But the car and driver
were pretty good. With the motor laying down on the
top end we knew it was just going to be a test night
so we tried some different setups and played a bit.
We should be in good shape for the NST weekend. And
we may have found something to help the 358 program
as well.
Next weekend join us at Selinsgrove on Saturday with
the 358 sprint cars.
May 20, 2006 A rough night! AGAIN...The
pic is still from last weekend, the car is in one piece...Have
you ever had one of those days where you couldn't do
anything right? Well, Saturday night was one of those
for our whole team.
Warmups didn't go well, the driveshaft slid out of the
rear end and ended warmups. Thankfully the postponed
Late Model Feature gave us time to fix it.
In the heat race we just couldn't go anywhere and ended
up outside the transfer position.
In the Consi we finished second behind Jordan Frontz
which put us starting 20th for the feature
For the feature we made some subtle changes that had
some drastic effects. Our times in the feature were
off 5 mph from the consi. Duane stayed out and ran to
finish the feature but our 18th finishing spot is not
reflective of what we're capable of.
Next weekend is the 358/URC challenge on Saturday and
the 410 show on Sunday. Hopefully you'll join us for
both.
May 13, 2006 A rough night! After the
rains came and they worked in the track again, everyone
went racing.
We started 5th in the heat race. The two cars ahead
of us on the inside lane didn't take off on either start,
so we got held up by them. Duane did a good job and
worked his way into a transfer spot. However we missed
the handicapping spot (3rd) by one and ended up 4th.
We started 13th in the feature and on lap 2 Pat Cannon
got sideways and collected Adrian Shaffer and Nate Snyder
and Duane tried to squeeze by on the outside but the
hole closed up and we ended up upside down against the
wall. The end of the night for us, on lap 2.
We checked over the car on Sunday and it's not too bad,
Duane has some work to do this week but the frame is
straight so that's a good thing.
A special congratulations to Charlie Anderson
on his 3rd place finish last Saturday at Selinsgrove!
May 6, 2006 A WIN!!! We started second
in the heat race and led the entire heat race. It was
a nice comeback for us.
For the feature we figured we'd stick with what we knew
worked. We didn't have new tires for the feature so
we used a Right Rear tire that Bardo's Tire in Bloomsburg
volcanized (fixed) for us and a left rear that had several
races on. We started second in the feature and took
off side by side with Jamie Walsh in the 98 and going
through turns 1 and 2 came out in the lead. Someone
didn't make it through the start so we had to restart.
This time Jamie got a good start and Duane went a little
high so Jamie got the lead.
Jamie led for 15 laps before he burnt a piston. This
gave us the lead. Duane did a heck of a job with not
the greatest handling car to maintain the lead. Pat
Cannon was coming up through and it looked like he was
going to get us with 7 laps to go.
Then the red flag came out. We added fuel and figured
we'd not change anything. On the restart Cannon wasn't
as fast but Mike Walters was coming strong. Another
lap and Mike would have had us, but the race was only
25 laps so we took home the win.
This was win #1 for the season, plus one last year.
Lets hope for a couple more this year. Thanks to everyone
who came out for "Pack the Track" night, it
looked like they had a great turnout.
And I almost forgot, a very special thanks to DON OTT
ENGINES.. Don took great care of us and we put the engine
in Saturday morning. The engine worked awesome, never
missed a beat.
April 29, 2006 Again I've delayed in
posting, this time because last weekend wasn't a good
one. We went out in our heat race with the same setup
we normally run and just didn't go anywhere. We weren't
sure if it was tires or what so we re-blocked the car
(that wasn't it), re-checked stagger (nope), re-checked
wheel spacings (nope, not it either), and right before
the consy I decided to check the shocks. Here the right
rear shock had backed off. We have Penske Shocks and
they rule, but I never checked them from the week before
and paid for it. So I reset the RR and the LR and put
new tires on it for the consy. We qualified for the
feature, but would start last.
For the feature we figured we'd try something since
we were starting last anyway. Needless to say it didn't
work, so now we'll go back to our regular setup. Let's
hope for a better weekend this coming April 22nd. Hope
everyone ate enough on Easter Sunday!!
March 31, 2006 Sorry for the delay
in this posting, it was my first complete weekend off
from work in months and I didn't spend it behind a keyboard.
Anyway, Selinsgrove had 46 358 sprint cars for Saturday
nights Opener. That is excellent for them. Duane drew
pill #46 or #48 (not sure) so we started at the tail
of our heat race.
Duane went out for engine starts and we knew right afterward
that we had the wrong setup in, we thought the track
would be heavy, instead it dried out like always. Without
enough time between engine starts and warmups we decided
to change the setup after warmups. As soon as he came
in from warmups we started changing the car for the
hard/slick conditions.
When Duane rolled out last for his heat race we knew
we were in pretty good shape, he likes this setup and
it works for him. At the drop of the green Duane passed
several cars and was running 5th by the second lap.
We couldn't catch Haas so we ended up 5th, one spot
out of the feature, this put us in the B main.
We tightened the car up a little more for the B main,
and the leader didn't start the B main so instead of
starting 3rd, we started on the pole. This worked out
well because Duane led the first 8 laps of the B main
which if we'd have finished that way we'd have started
21st for the feature. However...
With two laps to go the car rolled to a stop coming
out of turn 2 on lap 8 with a blown motor. That was
the end of our night, hopefully, we'll have the motor
back for next week to return to Selinsgrove. If not
we may still make it, I'll post more as I know it.
March 16, 2006 It looks like we won't be making it to Selinsgrove this weekend. We still have some work to do and instead of wearing ourselves out on Saturday and missing something we'll be taking another week to get everything done.
March 13, 2006 A lot of work has been accomplished over the last several weeks. The truck and trailer have been waxed. The truck now has flames on it, I hope to get pics this coming weekend. Don Ott has finished Duane's 358 engine so Duane and Randy will be dropping that in this week. We hope to be racing this coming weekend at Selinsgrove but it will depend on how much gets done this week and the weather. Randy's 410 car is almost done and ready to go. And Randy's 358 car is ready to go.
Off-season2 Our 1 J&J sprinter
is in the Selinsgrove Mall this week. The other one
has yet to be completed. The skin has been painted by
Bardo's Collision and the car is just waiting for the
engine to be back from Don Ott. It is due back at the
end of February or beginning of March.
Off-season Randy has acquired a 1999
Kenworth T2000 tractor for towing during the 2006 season.
He acquired it after it was repossessed and sold via
silent bid. It needs some work and needs seating in
the sleeper but it will be ready for the 2006 season.
Pics will be coming soon.
Work is already underway to get Duane's 358 Selinsgrove
Sprinter back together for 2006. Wade Stauffer's PowderBirns
has already powdercoated the frame and we have the front
axle and rear end back in the car. The motor hasn't
been sent out yet, so that's next on the list. Randy's
410 sprinter (if not sold) will be ready for the 2006
season as well.
November 16, 2005 Well we sold the one car
but still have a 2002 Maxim for sale. Will sell it as
a roller or a raceready 358. If interested give Randy
a call at 570-336-0369.
October 27, 2005 We'll be attending
Silver Springs racing flea market on Saturday November
17, 2005. Stop by and see us, we have a complete 358
sprint car and a sprint car roller for sale as well
as some fuel tank shells and midget pieces as well.
September
17, 2005 Clinton County Speedway - Talk about
a busy night, I was happy when it ended. Original plans
were to have Duane & Randy in the 410 cars, and John
Heydenreich in the 358. Duane couldn't make it so Randy
and John ran the 410s and Brian Kobylarz ran the 358
in warmups. For the heat race Randy's car was a little
light in the front end causing it to come off the ground
whenever he stood on the gas so he didn't go anywhere
in his heat race. In John's heat race he ran pretty
good for being a little rusty and ended up third in
his heat race, I believe.
We made some changes to both cars for the feature. John
had a tire going flat and we jacked some weight in the
torsion bars in both cars and moved the tires out on
both cars. Randy started 13th and John started 9th but
some accidents at the beginning of the feature put Randy
starting 11th and John starting right infront of him
in 9th.
John quickly moved up to fourth and was on the move.
Under a caution John pulled in with no brakes. We were
able to get the brake line fixed but couldn't get the
air out of the lines to get some pedal back so he was
done for the night. While we were fixing the brake line
Randy got hit in the front end and was also done for
the evening.
Racing is over for us for the season except for possibly
going to Hagerstown for the Halloween weekend.
September
10, 2005 Clinton County Speedway - Not a great
night for us. Randy ran the 410 Saturday afternoon. We tried something in the heat race that just didn't work so we finished where we started, last
We started second to last in the feature and ran back there until Randy pulled in. We had a lot of oil coming from the motor so Randy pulled in so he didn't hurt the engine.
We'll be off to Clinton County Speedway again this Saturday. We'll be running three cars. Randy will be in one, Duane in another, and John Heydenreich will be in to run our 358 Selinsgrove Speedway car against the 410s. Randy and John will also be driving ARDC Midgets for Mike Miller at Clinton County Speedway.
September
3, 2005 Clinton County Speedway - Not a great
night for us. We had intended to run two cars. Duane
in the one 410 car and Randy in the other. Well, it
didn't go as expected. In warmups a rookie ran into
Duane and got hiim upside down, take a look at the animated
GIF above from Kathy Bierly.
So, Duane took over Randy's car and ran second in his heat behind Joe Deihl. Considering it was his first run in that car for the evening it was ok for us.
Duane started second in the heat but got loose coming off turn 4 and lost the start to Clark Simonton. Simonton went on to win the feature. We steadily fell backwards until the temperature went to 280 and Duane pulled in.
We'll be off to Clinton County Speedway again this Saturday.
August
27, 2005 Selinsgrove Speedway - A pretty good
night for us at Selinsgrove.
We rebounded pretty well Saturday night. At the last
minute Randy decided to run the second car, so we had
both Randy and Duane running Saturday night. Normally
that doesn't work out well for us, but we ended up pretty
well.
In Duane's heat race he started on the outside pole
of Wade Stauffer in heat 2. He powered into the lead
and never looked back. He finished quite a ways ahead
of everyone, it was a good run for us.
Randy's heat race was the first time he was able to
get on the track. We had some trouble with the car for
warmups but his heat race went ok. It was only the second
time he's been in a car this year so he was still getting
used to it again. We found out that the setup that Duane
runs isn't very comfortable for Randy.
For the feature we bolted on new tires for Duane and
a different set for Randy as well. For Duane's car we
also made some wing adjustments and tightened the car
up a bit. For Randy we made several changes to make
the car more comfortable. Duane led for 23 laps, the
car was good and he started on the pole. Beaver couldn't
run with him, on the restarts Beaver would get beside
him going into turn one but Duane would power around
the outside and walk away. He started having to pump
the brakes on lap 15 and on lap 20 lost them totally.
Without brakes he couldn't run into turn 3 as he had
before and Franek started to really catch up. Without
brakes we ended up 4th.
That was our last night at Selinsgrove for the season.
Clinton County Speedway goes to racing Saturday afternoons
so come out and see Duane and Randy in the 410s.
August
19, 2005 Selinsgrove Speedway - Not a great
night for us at Selinsgrove.
Selinsgrove had 46 cars. We qualified 13th. The night
went downhill from there. We didn't make the top 5 in
our heat race so we were forced to run the B main.
The B main didn't go much better. We finished 6th I
believe. I'm not sure, it was either one spot or two
from the A main. So we loaded up and called it a night.
I think we have one more race at Selinsgrove then Clinton
County Speedway starts racing Saturday afternoons so
we'll probably be running there Saturday afternoons.
August
12, 2005 Clinton County Speedway - We returned
tonight to Clinton County Speedway to run the family
410. We're still having an oil leak so this week Duane
will be yanking the motor to replace the rear main seal.
Our heat was was pretty good. We started and finished
3rd in our heat race. It wasn't great but we'll take
it. It would put us starting up front for the feature.
We started on the outside pole for the feature. Clark
Simonton was able to take the lead and we followed him
for a couple laps until Phil Walter went around us on
the outside. He's a wild man. A lap later Daryl Stimeling
got around us on the bottom. We ended up fourth, a decent
finish.
Duane will be racing next Saturday night at Selinsgrove
Speedway for their big race. They'll be time trialing
and that hasn't went well for us in the past but with
the new Don Ott motor and the new setup we're hoping
for a better qualifying effort. Come out and see how
it pans out.
August 6, 2005 Selinsgrove Speedway - We'd hoped
to go back and show them how it's done, but as usual things
didn't go as planned. The track had more moisture than normal
so we changed setup and went back to a setup we used at the
beginning of the season. It seemed to work well for the heat
race. We ran our entire heat race with an ailing motor and
finished 3rd.
For the feature we decided we didn't want to hurt the motor
anymore so we switched cars and ran Randy's car. This put
us at the back of the pack for the feature. We had trouble
getting around a car and ended up over the cushion. The mud
from the cushion caused damage to the tie rod, water pump,
and oil tank.
Duane will be racing next Friday night at Clinton County Speedway.
We'll be taking next Saturday night off.
August 5th, 2005 Clinton County Speedway - Duane ran the 410 tonight. Our heat race went really well. We started 3rd and ran second behind Nyle Berkes in his 358 for most of the heat race. Duane was finally able to get around him and take the win. We had to fix the front wing from a little contact with Berkes but nothing major.
The feature didn't go quite as well. We took the early lead and three laps in Duane spun around in turn 2. We started at the back of the pack and came up through a little bit but not the end result we'd hoped for.
July 30,
2005 Selinsgrove Speedway - Good News and Bad News.
Good News: We figured out the J&J Chassis and it was on a
rail and we won the feature. Bad News: Selinsgrove declared
us light on the scales and DQ'd us.
The Heat Race went as usual. We started behind someone who
screwed us up. Duane was trying to pass the 45 for the lead
and actually lost 2nd and 3rd. He ended up 4th in the heat.
Started 2nd in the feature. From the drop of the green Duane
led the entire race. Bob Bidelman was the closest to him and
he couldn't catch him. Duane ran the cushion all night long
and even if Bob did catch him that's where he was running
also so there was no way he could pass. It was a good race
and Duane dominated it. After the race we came across the
scales at 1465. After the heat race we came across at 1565,
I'm not sure how you lose 100 pounds in a sprint car, short
of losing both rear wheels. Anyway, we'll consider it a win
and move on. However, I'm sure you won't see us at Selinsgrove
in the coming weeks. We'll probably go run Port Royal and
Clinton County instead. I'm sure we'll return to Selinsgrove
eventually to run our new found set up and go take their money,
but it will be some time.
To our fans: We have ran the same car with the same components
every week at Selinsgrove since the first race so there is
no way we could be light at the scales. I'm not sure what
happened with their scales, and they aren't the first track
to have this same problem.
It looks like we'll be returning soon to prove a point.
July 22, 2005 Clinton County Speedway - The night went pretty smoothly until the fourth turn of lap one in the feature, but I'll talk about that later.
We're in the process of trying to find an oil leak in the aluminum 410 so we decided to take it out again. We knew it was either coming from a fitting or it's the rear main seal. Randy replaced the fitting prior to this weekend, but the leak is still there so now the motor has to come out to replace the rear main seal. Anyway, Duane went out for warmups and everything ran well, the car seemed to hook up even with the old tires that were on it. The heat race went well also, started 3rd and ended up second behind Blane Heimbach. A good showing.
Started 5th in the feature. Tracy Potter took the lead on
lap one and was leading going through turns 3 and 4. He spun
coming out of four and Nyle Berkes spun to miss it and Duane
got into Nyle. Tracy comes out of it with barely a scratch
while Nyle needed 2 wreckers to come off the track and Duane
came off with a destroyed top wing and front wing, a bent
axle, the front bumper in the shape of a pretzel, a flat right
front tire, and the front axle bent which moved the right
front wheel back 4 inches. The crew didn't have time to change
all of it so we sent him back out after making sure nothing
would cause another accident. Needless to say the car had
to be a handful to drive. But Duane ended up 14th, at one
point was actually 12th.
July 15, 2005 Clinton County Speedway - We had a long night. When I arrived, after warmups, it looked like we were done for the night. We went to work and found out the drive shaft had come out of the rear end, we replaced the drive shaft just in time for the heat race and went out for the heat race. Started 6th, ended up 5th.
For the feature we started around 14th, give or take. We survived a first lap red flag, then a second lap red flag but during the caution Randy stepped on the brake pedal and it went to the floor. When he came in we found out that the rear end center section had broken off right where the rear caliper fastens. Needless to say we weren't fixing that in time to go back out. Done for the night.
July 16, 2005 Selinsgrove Speedway - RAINED OUT
July 9, 2005 Selinsgrove Speedway - Where to start...It rained at approximately 4 pm which meant the track really needed ran in. The speedway waited till late to get started with this process so we didn't get on the track till after 8:30pm. I was really surprised to see the number of people in the stands, they are real troopers. I was even tempted to leave and go to Millville Fireworks so I was surprised to see they all stayed.
We really didn't know what to do for warmups. They held our warmups till after several heat races to finish running the track in and Duane and I discussed setups but didn't want to change too much knowing that there would only be two heat races between our warmups and heat races. So we changed the Right Rear tire, the spacing on the RR tire, and the rear shocks. It was a guessing game for us with different bars than we normally run and weren't sure which set of shocks would go best with them. We started 4th in the heat race and finished 2nd in our heat race. The car ran pretty well, the advice and help from Dave Reedy of Penske Shocks really paid off, and the torsion bars from Chalk Stix seem to really grip the racetrack.
We started 6th in the feature, I think. By now it was getting to be a long day and I'm not sure exactly where we started. Duane ran in the top 5 for the first 21 laps then on a restart going into turn 3 a shock pin broke (it's always the cheap pieces) which meant the left rear shock wasn't doing anything. He slid up the racetrack and a couple of cars, including Heimbach and Stutts, passed him. I think we'd have finished in the top 5 had the pin not broke because Duane could finally hold it on the bottom and there were only 1 or 2 cars really doing anything around the top of the track. However, we ended up 12th because every time he slipped up someone else went under us. But the new setup seems to be good, so we'll keep trying things from there and hopefully get better.
July
2, 2005 Selinsgrove Speedway - We had a pretty
good night. Our feature finish results don't show the
kind of night we had. We started 3rd in our heat race.
Duane took off on the first start but they didn't take
it and we went for the restart. On the restart the leader
didn't take off and hung us and Kelleher up. We ended
up 6th but we were definitely fast and should have had
a better finish. After the heat we found out the rear
end was bound up so we decided to change it. We had
it done in plenty of time for the feature.
We started 13th in the feature. We didn't really progress
forward but the car worked good and we could stay on
the bottom in 3 and 4. We're trying some different things
and Duane says it's the best the J&J has felt since
he climbed in it. A thanks goes out to Dave Reedy of
Penske Shocks for the advice.
July
1, 2005 Your friendly neighborhood webmaster
climbed behind the wheel friday night at clinton county
speedway just to get back in the seat. I was late due
to PennDOT and their never ending road construction
on I-80. Duane did engine starts and warmups. I went
out for the heat, started last and finished 6th, an
ok result i guess. The feature i started 12th and was
running 11th when Tracy Potter spun in 3 and I hit his
left rear wheel. I bent several front end pieces and
was done for the night. Duane will be running tonight
at Selinsgrove.
June
25, 2005 Just plain a bad night for the whole
team. Randy, in his first night out, ran pretty well.
He missed making the feature in his heat by 1 or 2 spots,
and missed it in the consi. Duane's car just didn't
hook up from the time we unloaded it. We made a lot
of changes without any success. So, we'll bring it back
to the shop and take a look and examine what we can
do to make it better.
June
17, 2005 It was a good night for us at Clinton County Speedway. We started on the pole of heat race because of points and won it. Joe Deihl was the only one close and he ran with us, but as usual passing is another thing. We started on the pole of the feature but Chuck Roan in the 22 beat us to turn 1. Duane ran second for the next 15 laps. Shawn Howe spun in turn 3 and Chuck had nowhere to go and ran over the nose of the 17 car breaking a rear torsion heim end (at least that's what I heard he broke) dropping him out of the race. Duane inherits the lead. While under that caution his already deflating left rear tire goes flat so he comes in to change it. We get him back out and he moves up a couple of spots to finish 11th. Oh well, from a possible win to 11th, not a great night but the car is in one piece.
It's looking like we might take two 358 cars to Selinsgrove Speedway this coming Saturday. Randy's car is just about finished after getting the motor back from Don Ott and Duane's car is just about put back together after getting the frame back from Alan Cole. We'll fire them this week, make sure everything is ok, and hopefully be at Selinsgrove. The two J&J Chassis sitting side by side should look good. This will be Randy's first race of the season.
June 15, 2005 Just to update everyone, Duane will be running at Clinton County Speedway on June 17th as our J&J frame is not fixed yet from the crash at Selinsgrove two weeks ago. Alan Cole has it almost done though. Also to update, Randy's 358 motor is back from Don Ott so you'll get to see him at Selinsgrove Speedway in the 21M in the near future.
June
10, 2005 Last night we ran Clinton County Speedway. We went out for engine starts and found out we had a cracked fitting on the fuel shutoff on the dash that was leaking and also blew a fuel line. For warmups we forget to turn the main shutoff on so the car wouldn't run. So we went for our heat race (starting last) without any track time. We quickly found out that we missed the setup. We finished last and it wasn't pretty.
So to prepare for the feature we made some changes: reblocked the car, cranked some weight around, moved the wing, changed stagger, moved the Right Rear tire, and changed a front torsion bar. So, the feature rolls around and we're not sure if the changes we made were going to work. We started 11th and came up to 6th. At one point we were running 5th but Daryl Stimeling made a pass on the outside of Duane. All in all it was a good night, it's all in one piece.
Scheduling for next weekend has not been solidified. Duane may run Clinton County and Randy at Selinsgrove or we may just take two cars to Selinsgrove. Stay posted, I'll post it here when I know.
June 8, 2005 Just to update everyone, Duane will be running at Clinton County Speedway on June 10th for their Coca Cola Night. Check out Clinton County Speedway for more info.
June 3, 2005 Mother Nature has won and Clinton County Speedway has cancelled due to rain. As has Williamsgrove and Trail Ways. They'll be a lot of fans, drivers, and crew at home watching SPEED channel tonight. It looks like the frame of our J&J 358 Sprint Car is going to Alan Cole for repairs on Friday. Keep an eye out for posts this week to see where we'll be racing next week, probably Clinton County since we'll miss this weekend. I'm itching to get behind the wheel of a 410 so maybe in the coming weeks I'll get that opportunity. If you'd like to see me behind the wheel drop me a line in the guestbook.
May 28, 2005 I apologize, these updates have been slow coming. I've been out of the country and unable to access things. However, Saturday night we attended Selinsgrove Speedway for their 30 lap event. As usual we had no luck for this big race.
We started third in our heat race behind Rick Hench. On the start Hench didn't go at the orange line so Duane dipped below and took the lead. The starter, who by the way can't see turn 3, didn't accept the start and Duane went back to his third starting spot. The second restart Rick actually took off. Duane ended up third. A respectable finish, but the left front Penske shock had the fitting break off and lose it's gas. I could actually see the left front tire bouncing through turn 3.
We started 5th in the feature. On the start Duane said his shield fogged up and by the time he got it up so he could see he was 10th. He then dropped back one more spot behind TJ Stutts, I believe. Duane moved up the track and found the top more to his, and the car's, liking. He picked up a second and a half by moving up. He was catching TJ when Adrianne Shaffer spun in turns 3 and 4 collecting TJ Stutts, Duane, Jeff Furlong, and one more car I can't remember. The J&J Chassis, Don Ott powered car was damaged pretty badly. The rear-end housing, headers, front axle, spindles, front axle, front wing and top wing, and the frame is bent and will need a partial front clip.
You'll find us at Clinton County Speedway next Friday night racing the family-owned 410.
May
6, 2005 - Last night we were off to the opening
night of Clinton County Speedway. Their car count and number
of people in the stands and pits was impressive for the first
night out.
We went out for our warmups so Duane could get used to the
power of the 410 over the 358 and Clinton County Speedway
which is much smaller than our normal Selinsgrove Speedway.
Alls well for warmups.
Our Heat Race was really good. We were supposed to start third
from a pill draw but the pole sitter dropped out before the
start with mechanical issues so we started on the pole. He
took the lead from the start and kept it throughout the event.
The 21 of Ron Stroup was on his bumper but unable to make
the pass.
Based on a pill draw for the feature we started on the pole
again. However Ron Stroup who started on the outside of the
pole was faster than us and took the lead. We ran well and
finished 7th, a good night for us. Nothing broken!!
Tonight (Saturday) we're off to Selinsgrove for Pack The Track
night. A special thanks to everyone that was there to help
us: Wally, Radar, and Ryan.
April
16, 2005 - Well, the second race of the season
has come and gone. The night was semi successful. We seem
to have fixed last weekends brake problems with the help of
Kreitz Parts out of Reading.
The track was again dry and slick. But to add to the the dry
track the Late Models ran their annual 30 lap event. Selinsgrove
Speedway scheduled this event to run prior to the Sprint Car
feature which really made the track dryer than normal. So
by the time we got on the track for the feature there was
nothing left.
Our Heat Race was really good again. We started on the outside
of the pole and led from the green flag over Jeff Furlong,
Nate Snyder, Davie Franek, etc. The race went non stop in
2 minutes 37 seconds (.10 seconds slower than last week).
And yes we tormented Duane on that fact.
We made some more changes and started 2nd in the feature,
again by virtue of a pill draw. We put on new tires for the
feature but it didn't seem to help us. We went from 2nd and
ended up somewhere in the vicinity of 10th or 12th. We need
to go back to our setup from last year and tweak from there
and possibly test to make sure a torsion bar didn't go bad.
What we tried to run tonight just didn't work and burned up
the set of rear tires for no reason.
For next week we'll work on setup and be back at Selinsgrove
again. A special thanks to everyone that was there to help
us: Irv Beagle, Bouncer, Neil Petock, Steve Fernburg, and
Randy (dad).
For those of you interested, Clinton County Speedway (co promoted
by Randy) is gearing up for it's season opener on May 6th,
hope to see you there.
See you next weekend at Selinsgrove.
April 10, 2005 - Saturday night was our first race
of the season. Duane and crew seemed anxious to get the night
started. We arrived at Selinsgrove Speedway early to get unloaded
and get our Don Ott Motor teched. We were found legal in Cubic
Inches and Compression so we put it back together and started
to prep the car for the evening ahead.
We originally set the car up for an average to heavy racetrack.
We went out for warm ups with that set up and found out very
quickly that the track had dried out. So, immediately following
warm ups we changed our Penske Shocks to our dry-slick shocks
and tweaked the car and the wing for the Heat Race.
Our Heat Race was much better. Duane started on the outside
pole, by virtue of a pill draw. He quickly took the lead and
never looked back. The heat went non-stop with a time of 2
minutes, 27 seconds. Our first heat win of the season.
We made some more changes and started 6th in the feature,
again by virtue of a pill draw. Within the first couple of
laps we were up to 4th behind Steve Buckwalter and gaining
on him. Then our brakes faded and we went back to the 8th
place. There were two red flags during the feature which enabled
us to try to get brakes back, but they only returned for a
short period of time, then gone again. We ended up 7th after
an extraordinary effort by Duane.
For next week we'll work on the brakes and be back at Selinsgrove.
Our Don Ott motor worked impressively and the J & J Chassis
seemed to hook up to the track. A special thanks to everyone
that was there to help us: Irv Beagle, Bouncer, Neil Petock
and Randy (dad).
See you next weekend at Selinsgrove.
March 26 , 2005 - Hello and Welcome to Mausteller.com.
As promised, I will do my best to keep you updated on the
schedule and happenings in the Mausteller garage. Well, it
looks like our first race will be Selinsgrove Speedway on
Saturday, April 2nd. Duane will be running a J & J #21.
Our motor is fresh from Don Ott and we are almost ready to
race. Please come out and cheer for Duane and our entire team.
Randy is officially a part of Clinton
County Speedway. He and Jeff Weaver will be co-promoting and
co-running the track. Please come out and support Clinton
County Speedway. If you haven't been over there on a Friday
night please do so. It's a good night of racing. It's a fairly
small track which means there is constantly racing for position
going on all over the track. Keep an eye out for changes to
clintoncountyspeedway.com as we'll be keeping you posted on
happenings through there as well.
Randy's racing schedule is still
up in the air since he won't be racing at Clinton County Speedway,
but we'll keep you posted as we know more.
And most important, RACING SEASON IS FINALLY HERE!
January 14, 2005 - Today is the release of
our new website. We have not yet found a home for our new
site but are currently in the process of finding one.
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