Tuesdays with TMAC – March Madness!
(Bill W) March 16, 2010 – Terry McCarl was torn last Saturday night. While competing with the World of Outlaws at Houston Raceway Park near Baytown, Texas, his son Austin was competing for the state basketball championship back in Iowa against, among others, the #1 recruit in the nation (headed to North Carolina) Harrison Barnes. Unfortunately, Austin and Southeast Polk ended one rung from the top, but it was a great season…oh, and dad finished a solid seventh.
“(Owner) Tod (Quiring) was really great about the whole thing and urged me to go home and watch the game,” says TMAC. “It was really too late. The team wasn’t expected to get as far as they did…who would have known…it was just fun to watch.”
The Outlaws were running two nights in Texas. On Friday, it was the Lone Star Speedway near Kilgore. After posting the 11th quick time of the night out of the 30 cars entered, TMAC ran away with his heat. “We were actually turning faster laps in the heat than in qualifying,” he says. “We had the fast time of the night there in the heat. We knew we were fast.”
After an eighth place dash finish, TMAC posted outside row four for the main event. Despite the car taking off, he didn’t make it out of turn two. “We had a great start, and we were passing (Jason) Meyers for fourth already going into one,” he relates. “That’s when I spun out and took Donny (Schatz) with me.”
The incident was unfortunate. “It was 100% my fault,” says TMAC. “We’ve had some issues with the new car we put together at Tulare. We spun out in Tulare trying to get by Kraig Kinser too. Now we go to Kilgore, and the same things happen. I’m just glad Donny could restart, but he’s in a point battle and you hate it. It makes you feel like an idiot.”
TMAC recovered to finish thirteenth, and came to a conclusion on the reason for the spins. “Both the tracks we spun out on were wet and heavy,” he says. “I knew something must be wrong. One problem has been in the tire, and the car doesn’t run as high. The tires don’t grow like the Hoosiers. I’ve always set my car low. I could see where the bolt on the torque tube collar was hitting my seat. I think the car was set too low. As I entered the corner, I think we were hitting the bolt on the torque tube and locking the car up. I think we got it figured out there.”
Things were better in Houston. “We qualified solid (9th quick) again,” says TMAC. “It was really greasy on the bottom. Bronson Maeschen was down there with us on the front row. I think we were both going to make it out of the heat and into the dash. Before the white line, we got together, and it took us both out. It was unfortunate for both of us.”
The Big Game Treestands #24 team worked hard to get ready for the B. “We couldn’t have been going 40 miles per hour, but we tore our cars up pretty good,” says TMAC of the incident. “We had to thrash to make the B main, and he didn’t get back out. It bent the down tube on our car right above the motor.”
Then he ran away with the B. “I tried a little something with the setup,” he says. “Obviously, we didn’t get to see it in the heat, but it really worked in the B. We were two-tenths quicker than Sides, who won the dash. It’s nice to have (Craig) Dollansky and (his crew chief) Mike Woodring around to bounce things off like we did, and it was nice to see them win for Big Game Treestands on Friday.”
The start was slow, but once the racing got underway, TMAC was quick. “I screwed up down in three and four and (Danny) Lasoski got underneath me,” he says. “We were back in twelfth when the yellow came out a couple laps in. It went 38 laps non-stop from there and the car was a rocket. At one point, we were battling top five with Schatz. He was kind of in the road at that point, but he’s usually set up for the end of the race, and he shot up to third, I think.”
TMAC battled loose conditions, but brought a seventh place finish home. “We’ve had the left rear sink two inches three times now,” he says. “It happened once at Volusia, once at Vegas and once in Houston. You don’t mind a half-inch, but two inches is hard to deal with out there. We just got pretty loose and we hung on to second.”
This weekend the WoO heads for two nights at Volunteer Speedway near Bull’s Gap, Tennessee. “Our motors are strong and the cars have been fast,” says TMAC. “I think we’ve definitely figured out some things with the way the car rides, and I’m looking forward to Bull’s Gap.”
Front Row Challenge/Ultimate Challenge
The 15th Annual Front Row Challenge and the 9th Annual Ultimate Challenge will be held Monday and Tuesday, August 9 and 10, 2010 at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa, Iowa. Advance ticket holders from 2009 can purchase the same seats NOW by calling McTwo Promotions, Inc. at 515 957-0020.
Tickets will be open to the public on March 23. Visa, Mastercard and American Express are welcomed. Visit www.OskyChallenges.com for further details.
Websites for the McCarl Gang!
Driverwebsites.com has developed websites for the McCarl boys. Check out www.TerryMcCarl.com, and check out www.AustinMcCarl.com and www.CarsonMcCarl.com!
In"Terry"gation
Mike Valdez asks: Why did you choose #27 back in the early ‘90’s and why did you switch to #24?
TMAC Answers: 27 was my football number when I was 14 years old. It was what I was wearing when I met my wife (Lori) at the skating rink. She picked #27 to run the year after we left Country Builder’s (California). The next year, Roger and Laura Hall helped us out and they ran #24 with their go-karts. They wanted me to be that number, and I thought it sounded good. It was the same year Jeff Gordon became #24, so we didn’t copy him. It’s a cool number, and it has stuck.
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!
In 1991, TMAC took the B main win at the Mini-Gold Cup at the Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, California. Driving for Weldon Offill, he advanced to seventh in the main event. Brent Kaeding won the Mini-Gold Cup that season ahead of Keith Kauffman, Dave Blaney, Johnny Herrera and Joe Gaerte.
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, Remington Treestands and Rossie Feed and Grain.
Bill Wright
Bill W Media
Monroe, IA USA
sprntcar@iowatelecom.net