Tuesdays with TMAC – Another Knoxville Top Five!
(Bill W) May 20, 2014 – Terry McCarl and the TMAC Motorsports #24 team still find themselves atop the point standings at the Knoxville Raceway after a fourth place finish last Saturday night. Sunday saw the opener for Huset’s Speedway in South Dakota, despite a wing collapse, the Altoona, Iowa driver registered a top ten run in Jeremy Scadden’s #6 machine. This weekend will see the same schedule for TMAC.
TMAC registered the second quick time of the night at Knoxville. “(Brian) Brown got us by six-thousandths of a second, so that was just a whisper,” he says. “You can’t complain about that. He’s been the best qualifier out there the last three years, whether it’s at Knoxville, Eldora, with the Outlaws, wherever. It feels really nice to be comfortable in the car, and not to worry about where you draw. We know we can end up towards the top.”
Another tough heat race awaited with among others, Craig Dollansky, Jason Meyers and Dusty Zomer involved. “I’ve certainly been concerned about (the heats) the last few weeks,” says TMAC. “It just shows you the competition we have right now. You have Jason Meyers and Jason Johnson coming in now, and there will be more and more of those guys. Once you get through the heat, you are pretty proud of it, because we’ve been able to go forward and run guys down at the end (he would finish third).”
Starting sixth every week, while the event takes the top five to the feature can be nerve-wracking, but the team has a system. “Doug (Rankin) has been getting us some good used tires that we have here in a pile that we’ve been using for the heats,” says TMAC. “They seem to affect me for the first couple laps, but they get heat in them in two laps and we can go high, low, whatever we want to do.”
He would start inside row four for the feature. “We didn’t have the preferred line on the bottom,” says TMAC. “The outside was the better place to be. We were fortunate that Clint (Garner) got up on the berm there at the start. We were able to get by him right away. I stayed low and stuck it the best I could. We went into three and four, and Brian got by Davey (Heskin) and me.”
A good battle ensued with Brown. That has been the norm lately at Knoxville. “We were able to run down Brian from there, and got past him,” says TMAC. “Then we had the yellow, and I spun the thing on the bottom of one and two. I was half sideways. It scared me. I recovered pretty quickly. I was thinking how Lori would be mad at me if I spun it out there. It’s funny the things that go through your head in an instant. We lost a lot of momentum and Brian got around us again.”
He continued his pursuit of Brown. “I knew I made some mistakes, and I had to try and pass Mark (Dobmeier) too,” says TMAC. “I was able to get by him. I was moving around and doing some dumb things at that point. I’m still a ways away from being Outlaw fast where I’m making hardly any mistakes. Brian kind of found the rubber at the top of one and after he got by me, I saw what he did. I was kicking myself, because I should have seen that before I did.”
In the closing stages, TMAC was right there with the lead trio. “I was hanging with (Brown) on the original white flag,” he says. “I wasn’t far behind him. On the restart, I knew what was going to happen. He was going to the top there. I had a little too good of a start, and in retrospect, I wish I hadn’t of. I was too close to him to follow him in the rubber and I didn’t want to tighten up. I went in a little off of it to try and make something happen. He just got an incredible run. He did a great job.”
TMAC was able to increase his point lead by 71 points. “We’re not crazy here at the shop worrying about how fast (Brown) is like we may have been in the past,” he says. “He’s had some things go his way. He’s been doing a good job of not messing up his opportunities. We just need to make less mistakes, and that comes with confidence. We have a good racecar. I’m pretty happy with everything. We say it every week, but I can’t wait to get back to the track.”
Sunday was the opener for Huset’s. “I’m driving Jeremy Scadden’s #6 car most Sundays at Huset’s,” says TMAC. “We won’t be up there every week, but we’ll be there quite often. Jeremy and I hit it off immediately, and we get along so well. We’re waiting on Jeremy’s motor. John Singer hurt his back and hasn’t been able to finish it.”
TMAC set quick time to start the evening. “Our Rider (engine) has fourteen nights on it and we were able to get quick time,” he says. “There’s so much talk about rebuilds between a 410 and a 360, but it’s all propaganda really. There may be a few Outlaw teams that do that, but mostly it’s bull. Last year, we ran it seventeen nights and Tommy (Rider) told me to go twenty. He had guys in Pennsylvania that were doing that. The motor builders are making great equipment now. Everyone gets a fuel sheet, and that’s why we check the air all the time. If you fuel according to that, it gets you close. Back in the day, there were more motor problems than now.”
He would finish sixth in the heat. “It was really slick and rough in the heat,” says TMAC of the track. “We aren’t point racing, so there’s no sense tearing up our stuff in the heat. You just need to make sure you don’t miss the invert. Heats are tough there. It’s such an awesome track and the level of competition is high again this year there.”
TMAC would start sixth in the feature. “Someone jockeyed up on the start in front of Mark and I, and Craig got by us,” he says. “We were able to get by Mark and Cole (Wood). We had a good car. The track was slick up to a bit of a ledge. You knew it was going to lay rubber, but you didn’t know when.”
Working hard to move forward, TMAC tagged the wall. “We got up to fourth and I hit the fence really hard in three and four,” he says. “It bent the top wing really bad. It ripped the nuts off our wing stand. We didn’t know at the time under red. I got by Scott (Winters) in the Buffalo Wild Wings car and the yellow came out. I thought I had a good shot at getting by Craig, but the back of the top wing collapsed. It was too bad. It wasn’t anybody’s fault. It was just from hitting the fence. We were able to get back up to tenth and it laid rubber. We were lucky to finish at that point.”
To check out opportunities to partner with TMAC Motorsports on a nightly basis, visit www.TerryMcCarl.com or call 515 957-0020!
Front Row Challenge Tickets on Sale!
The 19th Annual Casey’s General Stores/Musco Lighting Front Row Challenge presented by Searsboro Telephone Company will be held Monday, August 4 at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa, Iowa.
Tickets are now on sale! For more information, call Front Row Challenge Enterprises, LLC at 515 957-0020. For further information, stay tuned to www.OskyChallenges.com!
Websites for the McCarl Gang!
Driverwebsites.com develops the websites for the McCarl boys. Check out www.TerryMcCarl.com, as well as www.AustinMcCarl.com and www.CarsonMcCarl.com!
This Month in TMAC History!
TMAC has won twice on May 19, at the track he is the all-time feature winner at. In 1996, he drove Brad Gray’s #51 to a win over Steve Beitler, Randy Nygaard, Todd Wessels and Dave Ekern. In 2002, he drove the #24 to victory ahead of Justin Henderson, Gregg Bakker, Leonard Lee and Jake Peters.
"Tuesdays with TMAC"!
"Tuesdays with TMAC" is an up close and personal look at colorful sprint car veteran Terry McCarl. To receive "Tuesdays with TMAC", send an e-mail to sprntcar@hotmail.com with "TMAC" in the subject line.
TMAC Motorsports would like to thank sponsors Country Builders Construction, Rossie Feed and Grain, Bosma Poultry, SnowPlow Snow Pushers – www.TheSnowPlow.com, DeBerg Concrete, Colin Bulmer – Bayaire Industries, A.R.T. Speed Equipment, Berryhill Racing, Phil and Vivian, Justice Brothers/Gillund Enterprises, Ryan Yager Trucking, Vortex Racing, Hoosier Tire, Chris Spaulding – Attorney at Law, Schoenfeld Headers, K&N Filters, Rens Trucking, NutriShop – Maple Grove, MN, HRP, All Pro Cylinder Heads, Bob and Beulah Elder, Engler Injection, T&P Brothers, Winters, DriverWebsites.com, CM Rock, Jocko's Sprint Parts, Sander, Brown and Miller, Pro Shocks, Ben Cook, Bell Helmets, Burnett's Rock and Landscaping, Van Der Brink Trucking, Van Der Brink Designs, Morgan Strawberry Farms, Buttman BBQ, Aurora Rod Ends, Crow Safety, Justice Brothers, KSE Steering, Strange Performance, Saldana Racing Products, Scribner Plastics, Waterman Fuel Pumps, Weiland Racing, Butlerbuilt, PBS Bushings and Mote Fasteners.
Bill Wright
Bill W Media
Monroe, IA USA
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