Tuesdays with TMAC – WoO Breakthrough at Knoxville!
(Bill W) June 30, 2009 – Terry McCarl finally broke into the World of Outlaws win column at Knoxville Raceway after running up front on several occasions this year. The race was made extra special, as the Altoona, Iowa driver may have had some divine intervention from his late brother Tommy, and “NoDust” Duane Davis. This week, he’ll try to beat the WoO again at Huset’s Speedway before running Knoxville on Saturday, and heading back to Huset’s Sunday.
TMAC timed in tenth quick at Knoxville. “We put a brand new Don Ott in the car for Saturday,” he says. “Obviously, we were happy with it. People thought we were sandbagging in time trials, but you don’t do that with the Outlaws! We turned a 15.0 in hot laps in our heat, but timed at 15.1. I got down in the grease a little much.”
Winning his heat put TMAC in the 6-lap dash, which he won in record time after a fortunate draw. “My friend Kelly Carlson, who I’ve known since Junior High, had his son there,” he says. “He was the one who drew the two for us. I’m nostalgic, so to set any track record is cool to me. To set two in one night, is pretty awesome.”
The second record would be for 25 laps, as he led from start to finish. “It was good to redeem ourselves after Friday night (US36),” he says. “We thought we should have won the spring show at Knoxville before Donny (Schatz) got by us and it laid rubber. We’ve been knocking on the door with a few of these Outlaw shows, so to finally break that down feels good.”
It’s also good to have the people who make it possible in attendance. “It was good to have Big Game (Tod Quiring), Deberg Concrete and Phil and Vivian from Michigan all there,” he says. “Looking at history, the cars that are fast at this show are usually fast in August, so that bodes well for us going into the Nationals.”
Going back a week, racing found TMAC at Ohio Speedweek and the Hilltop Speedway south of Millersburg. “It’s fun to go to these unique racetracks that don’t have sprint cars very often,” he says. “We went out at the end and were still second quick, but the strangest thing happened in the heat. It was about the fourth lap, and I hit a big clod of mud, I guess. It hit so hard, it bent my front axle and right front wheel. I went a couple more laps, but it just wouldn’t handle and I spun out.”
After winning the B, TMAC drove from 11th to fourth in the main event. “It was difficult to see (dust), so it was very tough to pass,” he explains. “We were pretty good. We got up to fourth, and we were right there. I don’t know if we were starting up front, if we would have had anything for Stevie (Smith). We did get by Brandon Martin (finished second) one time, but he got us back.”
TMAC couldn’t get out of the B after a tough qualifying effort at the Waynesfield Speedway on Wednesday. “Waynesfield is another little joint, that (son) Austin has raced at,” he says. “It was heavy and rough, and I about tipped it over. When you qualify 29th and outside of the invert, it makes the rest of the night an uphill battle. There were seven people in my heat that have won World of Outlaw shows. We were lucky to finish one spot out of a transfer (fifth) in the B, after they moved me back to 12th for the start.”
Friday, it was back with the WoO at the US36 Raceway just outside of Osborn, Missouri. After registering the 8th quick time of the night, TMAC ran second in his heat and won the dash. “The track is fun,” he says. “It reminds me a lot of Eldora or KC Raceway with its banking. The track ended up great. We ran it later in the year than usual, so it was a little drier than usual. We were fast enough to win the dash. I really wanted to win the ‘Big Bertha’ trophy that was Duane Davis’ last work of art before he passed away. Duane’s family had some special wishes at Knoxville, and we were able to grant them. Let’s just say Duane was definitely on board the Big Game Treestands #24 on Saturday.”
Excitement turned to a disappointing sixth at the checkers. “I totally screwed up the setup for the feature,” says TMAC. “If I would have done what I normally do, we would have been up front. As it was, I had trouble driving the car, because it was so loose. We were back in ninth at one point, and as the race went on, I found where the car was working best and we caught the lead pack of cars. As bad as the car was, sixth was pretty decent, but I was mad at myself driving back to Knoxville that night.”
Websites for the McCarl Gang!
Driverwebsites.com has developed websites for the McCarl boys. Check out the new look of www.TerryMcCarl.com, and check out the newly developed www.AustinMcCarl.com and www.CarsonMcCarl.com!
Front Row Challenge/Ultimate Challenge Tickets On Sale!
Order your tickets now for the $10,000 to win Front Row Challenge, and $15,000 to win Ultimate Challenge at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa. Call McTwo Promotions Tuesday-Thursday beginning from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 515 957-0020 to renew your seats!
Infield Party Passes for the August 10 and 11 events will be $25!
For more information on the Challenges, visit www.OskyChallenges.com!
In"Terry"gation
Joann Worden asks: What are the chances of you showing up at Hartford (MI) again on July 10 with the All Stars? We miss seeing you race and we were quite surprised to see you at Eldora for the Speedweek opener. It was great to see you win! We were going to try to make it to Hartford back in May, but weren't able to get there. We would have made it a point to get there had we known you were going to be there. We'd really like to see you back in Michigan! Maybe you can add July 11 in Butler. Hope to see you!
TMAC Answers: I don’t think we’re going to make those Joann. We always like to go up there, because it gives Phil and Vivian a chance to see us. We’re going to be doing some engine work before the King’s Royal though. I’m not sure we’ll even make Lima.
Got a question for TMAC? Send it to us at sprntcar@iowatelecom.net, and we may answer it in this section! Put "? for TMAC" in your subject line.
This Day in TMAC History!
TMAC has two wins at the Huset’s Speedway on this date in history. In 1996, he drove Brad Gray’s #51 to victory over Danny Lasoski, Randy Nygaard, Patrick Bourke and Chad Mellenberndt. A win in 2002 came ahead of Gary DeWall, Justin Henderson, Don Droud Jr. and Gregg Bakker.
Website Updates
Keep up to date with McCarl Motorsports at www.TerryMcCarl.com. We keep it fresh for TMAC fans!
"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@iowatelecom.net with "TMAC" in the subject line.
TMAC Motorsports would like to thank sponsors Big Game Treestands, AmeriCashAdvance.com, DeBerg Concrete and Remington Treestands.
Bill Wright
Bill W Media
Monroe, IA USA
sprntcar@iowatelecom.net