Tuesdays with TMAC – Unbreakable?
(Bill W) August 11, 2009 – Terry McCarl keeps rewriting the record books. For an unprecedented third time, he won the 360 Nationals and the 410 feature in one night at the Knoxville Raceway on Saturday. The Altoona, Iowa driver had previously turned the trick in 1996 and 2001. In addition to what is probably an unbreakable record, TMAC’s wins gave him five victories in his last five tries, including two $10,000 scores! This week, after working hard promoting his Osky Challenges, he’ll be aiming at the $150,000 paycheck that comes with winning the SuperClean Knoxville Nationals!
TMAC timed the Big Game Treestands #24 fifth in Friday’s 59-car 360 Nationals prelim field. “It’s the same as the 410 Nationals, in that you have to take one step at a time,” he says. “If I could pick a qualifying spot to be in other than quick time, it would be fifth quick. By the fifth heat, the track has usually widened a bit, and that helps with the invert. We had a great Charlie Fisher engine in there, and Cale Conley who was driving another one, broke the track record.”
TMAC was one of the few quick qualifiers to transfer through their heat to the A. “We got a good start, and we were all over Travis Rilat for third,” he says. “The important thing is just making it through there and getting a decent starting spot in the A.”
Settling inside row four for the 20-lap main event, the charge to the front was soon on. “It was a bit of a cat and mouse game early,” says TMAC. “It was great racing where I was at with Rilat and Gregg Bakker. Jack Dover looked like he was really fast. He hurt his motor, and that definitely helped us get closer.”
The caution for Dover allowed TMAC to restart third behind Brian Brown and Rilat. “We got up to second after that, and I felt like I was catching Brian,” he says. “I wasn’t as good in one and two, but I thought if I could hang with him there, I could take a shot where we were good in three and four. There was a lap car with a lap and a half to go. I think that helped me, because I don’t think Brian could hear my engine and I don’t think he was worried about someone coming up behind him.”
In exciting form, TMAC stuck the bottom of turns three and four on the final lap, and cruised under the leader for the win. “There wasn’t a whole lot he could do different,” TMAC says of Brown. “He’s leading and he’s not going to change his line. I worked hard not to show him my nose before I had to, because he has an Outlaw driver’s style and he would have adjusted. It just worked out for us, and that desperate move got him at the line. That was tough for Brian, I know. I’ve lost them that way before.”
TMAC really had no serious challenges in wiring the field from outside row two in Saturday night’s 360 Nationals finale worth 10 large. “The car was awesome,” he says. “We don’t run the 360 very often, and I never know how much to hook them up. You don’t want it to get tight on you. The guys did a great job with it, and it’s what we needed. I just did my best not to make mistakes. If someone passed us, they would have earned it.
TMAC’s win came in part due to his mastery of lapped traffic. “I was able to go into one right between a pair of lap cars, and the car just stuck,” he said of one particular move.
The 410 feature win came a little harder, as TMAC timed in tenth in one-lap qualifying. “We tried one last different setup and it didn’t work so well,” he says. “We won’t be doing that on Thursday. With the format the way it is at Knoxville, it ended up working out for us.”
The 20-lap main event was held before the 360 Nationals and took its toll on TMAC. “I had to drive in above the cushion in turn three to get the car to turn,” he says. “It was really a taxing race to run. I had to get the elbows up and drive the heck out of it. That’s my job as a sprint car driver.”
A start outside row two saw him trailing Brown again. The two exchanged the lead on lap eight before TMAC took over for good on the next circuit. It was his 46th career 410 win at Knoxville. “I gave him (Brown) too much room on that lap (8), but we were able to get back by,” he says. “It was a great night. It’s one of those things that you’ll be able to look back on, and we’ve done it three times. It’s pretty special. It takes a lot of crew guys doing a lot of hard work, and my hat is off to them.”
TMAC will begin his quest for six in a row and to become the first native Iowan to win the Knoxville Nationals on Thursday.
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!
In"Terry"gation
Kelly Harble asks: Have you ever had a win streak like this one?
TMAC Answers: I think I’ve won five or six in a row a couple of different times…maybe one of them was 2001, but never to this degree with two of the wins being $10,000. Those are big races, and anything at Knoxville is historic. We’ll never catch Danny (Lasoski) there for wins, but I’d like to be able to get to Doug (Wolfgang) (60). Just to think where I’m at now in fourth, and looking back at all the guys I looked up to when I was young is something special.
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 Week in TMAC History!
TMAC won the Danny Young Memorial this week in 1996 at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa. It would be an event that would evolve into the Front Row Challenge. Jeff Mitrisin, “Mad” Max Dumesny, Tyler Walker and Steve Coelho trailed TMAC on that day.
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