2017 Season
2017 Numerous Off Season Announcements
While most people think that the off season slows down, it’s actually busier for me than during race season. Aside from the usual school and work, there’s preparing the cars for the next race season, securing sponsorship, working out the details of the new TV show and production meetings. So it hasn’t been slow. Thankfully, I’ll be done high school at the end of January so this will free up a lot of time for me to concentrate on other things before I attend college in the fall. So whats been happening at Adams Motorsports…….
First I am very pleased and excited to announce that Mobil 1 has moved from associate sponsor to Primary sponsor for the 2017 season. Mobil 1 started with me in 2015 as a product sponsor, became an associate sponsor in 2016 and now, primary for the next race season.
Working with Mobil 1 is truly an incredible experience that goes well beyond the race season and the race car. Developing this relationship with David and Mobil 1 is amazing and I’ve met some wonderful people and have had some unique opportunities presented to me due to this. If you missed it, we were on Mobil 1 The Grid TV in July 2016 (Click here to view) which was a lot of fun to film. I am excited to see what amazing experiences will come this year and proud to be representing a company such as Mobil 1.
SE Telecom, who is now entering their fourth year of sponsorship, was my Primary sponsor for the past 2 years. They started with me as an associated sponsor, became Primary in 2015 and will be our secondary sponsor for 2017. Mobil 1 expressed interest in being the primary sponsor for 2017 and James at SE Telecom recognized the relationship that I have with Mobil 1 and the opportunity with having a primary sponsor in the “same” business, and agreed to stay on as our secondary sponsor. Working with SE Telecom is simply amazing. They truly do look out for my best interests and have always been extremely supportive of me. When I mentioned that I wanted to do a charity BBQ to fund raise for the Kids Help Phone, James didn’t hesitate to offer their business location to host the event and he also donated the cost of covering all the food for the event. SE Telecom has been a huge support for me personally and in racing and I am honoured to have them back for the 2017 season. On top of that, they are providing swag for the most amazing give a-ways this year. You won’t want to miss this!
Avaya Canada has come on board as an associate sponsor for 2017. Truly, to be sponsored by one international company is an honour, to have a second international company come on board in 2017 is, quite simply, amazing. I am looking forward to representing Avaya this year and hope that we can do some unique and different marketing together this year. I can’t wait to see what 2017 brings.
Some other news that we have announced recently is that I will be hosting a TV show for Rogers TV, tentatively titled The Fast Lane. We will start filming in March with the air date planned for June. There will be approximately 4 episodes that will run in the summer, with the remainder of the 18 episodes, running in the fall. I had an idea for a television show, to focus on Motorsports, basically a day in the life of a race team, interviews and tech tips.
It is going to be an amazing experience, some great life experience, and I am excited for this new challenge. You can follow along with updates on the show as they are available on Twitter at @thefastlane_2. We will have more information on the website once this area is set up.
We have some other amazing things in the works with Jerry Abramowicz, an interview coming with one of my favourite journalists, Rob Tiognson from The Podium Finish – he asks some tough questions that really make you think before answering, and some other news.
We are looking forward to the 2017 season.
2017 Season has begun
Practice at Sunset Speedway started April 14, 2017, which unfortunately I was not able to there. I am hopeful that the rain will hold off today and we’ll be able to put some laps on the Limited Late Model. My Super Stock is currently in the shop at Radical Rods, Rides and Restoration in Barrie getting painted and should be back next week.
If we aren’t able to practice today, we will spend some time working in the shop and cleaning up the trailer for the start of the season and be at practice Wednesday night.
During the off season, we filmed a couple of segments for Life in the Fast Lane, which will go to air in mid June.
On Tuesday, April 18, 2017, we will be at Canada’s Wonderland with the OPP for Project E.R.A.S.E speaking with the media about taking it to the track and keeping racing and stunt driving off our streets. I am honoured to work with the OPP on this project and look forward to Tuesday.
We have a few other events coming up, off the track, in May and June. On May 13, 2017, we will be in Barrie with the car at the Simcoe County Muscular Dystrophy Walk. I’ve supported Laps4MD for the past couple years and am happy to support this walk as well. We will be at the event from 10am to 12pm with the car.
In June, I will be working on a fundraiser with Make-a-Wish Canada. This is an amazing organization granting wishes for children and I couldn’t be more proud to work with them. I will rappel down the side of Toronto City Hall on June 9, 2017. I am doing fundraising for this event and all donations are appreciated. We are at 45% of our goal of $1500 and have about 5 weeks left. Any help and any size donations are appreciated. You can donate online. Thank you for your support.
We have a press release coming on April 19, 2017, with the finalized plans for our 2017 season so check back next week.
We are looking forward to the 2017 season and can’t wait for it to start. See you at Sunset Speedway.
Opening night -Late Model Debut
Last night was the first race of the season and my first race in the Limited Late Model division. I set my goals realistically, just focused on qualifying for each race, finishing the races and getting seat time in this impressive field of drivers.
We went out for time trials and I did okay. I got a little sideways on the first lap and posted a time of 16.3. I collected myself and posted a much better lap of 15.57 to qualify 18th for the feature.
In the first feature, I was running the car, getting a feel for being out there with everyone. The caution came out fairly early when the 11 car was spun and after the caution, I lined up in 16th. Lap 20 would bring out another caution when another car spun and I would line up in 15th.
We were running side by side for position when another car came underneath me to make it three wide and we hit, causing my car to get out of shape. While I was collecting my car, the 28 went underneath me and unfortunately, we made contact. No damage to my car except a bent rim, I know there was more damage to Paul than that unfortunately, we collected the cars and continued on without caution. We fell back to last place but were able to work our way back up to 15th at the end. I was extremely happy with the finish for my first race.
In the second race, if you are outside of the top 12, you start where you finished in the last race, so I started 15th. There was an early caution on lap 3 with many cars getting a piece of it. We restarted in 13th when a caution came out a couple of laps later on lap 5 for the slowing 31 car. I had lost a spot and would restart in 14th. We raced until lap 14 when the caution would come out for the 25 car in the grass in corner 2. There would be two more cautions on lap 24 and then the final on lap 33. With a two lap race to the end, I was cautious as many times this can breed more cautions at the end of the race while everyone fights for their final positions. I was lined up on the outside and this was good for me as I prefer the high line and my car works really well out there. I made a couple passes on the outside and ended up finishing 10th in the second race.
Earlier in the race, I got into the back of the 54 car and can’t apologize for that enough. Sorry Danny, that was totally my fault and I did not mean to do that.
This was well beyond my expectations for myself and my team for our opening night in the premier division. We had a great night and I look forward to getting back and seeing what we can accomplish next week.
Thanks to my amazing crew, sponsors and friends and the support they give me each and every week. I couldn’t do it with you.
It was great to work with Daniel Bois today. This was the first chance that I had to work with Daniel and I am so happy with the way we worked together and can’t wait to do it again. Daniel is a great driving instructor and I feel he’ll help me achieve my goals for 2017.
May 13, 2017
We had a great start to the day as we attended the Simcoe County walk for Muscular Dystrophy in Barrie as part of our association with the Laps4MD racing program. It was great to meet people and talk about the program and racing at Sunset Speedway.
Finally back to racing after a week off due to weather. The car felt good during practice and I was happy with it. We went out for qualifying and after the first lap, something was wrong with the car, I wasn’t sure what it was so I just shut it down and coasted back to the infield. Because of this, I ended up qualifying second last for the feature.
At first we thought it was going to be the transmission because I couldn’t get the car in gear, so we borrowed a transmission from Zardo Racing, but once we pulled the transmission, it turned out that it was the clutch. We bought a new clutch and changed that in time for the first feature. But thanks to Zardo Racing for loaning me the transmission if I needed it.
In the feature, I started 2nd last and would move up to 19th by the time the first caution came out at lap 11 when three cars would spin, the 14, 57 and 28. Unfortunately, when I went to change gears, the car wouldn’t go into gear and I had to be pushed to pit road. It was a super quick caution, they were going back to green just after I got into my pit stall and the crew only had time to jack the car up before the cars doubled up for the restart, and it didn’t allow time for the crew to get the car fixed and get me out before going laps down. The shifter linkage had come loose after replacing the clutch and the crew had to tighten this and sent me back out. I would fall down 5 laps, but we finished the race, which is the goal and finished 19th. It wasn’t the best start to the day.
Special thanks to Branden, Jamie and Jordan for their help fixing the car, as well as my regular crew, Richard and Jerry and of course, my Dad. Thanks to Branden for helping Richard on pit road, I only have one crew member in the infield during the feature, so the help is very much appreciated.
In the second feature, we started 19th as that is where we finished the first feature. It was green flag racing until lap 13 when the 48Z car would spin bringing out the first caution of the race. On the restart, I was in 18th place. Just a lap later, another caution would come out when the 14, 57 and 28 would spin. The 28 would get his spot back in the line up as he only spun to avoid the caution that had already happened. I would restart in 14th.
A number of laps later, the 48Z tagged me, which turned me into the infield grass, which I was able to collect and get back on the track. As I was collecting my car, the 48Z tried to go by me, we ended up three wide, and we made contact when I collected the car. Unfortunately, it would break the spindle on Billys car and he wouldn’t be able to continue.
We didn’t bring out the caution for this, but there was a caution on lap 22 and we would restart the race in 13th place. Shortly after that, the 46 car would break and was slow on the front stretch. My spotter said “three wide” and I thought he was saying that someone had already got inside me, putting me in the middle of three wide, and I saw we were coming up on the 46 fast and so I moved up, otherwise we would have drove hard into the back of the 46 car coming to the corner, but I did force the 28 car high up the track and I am sorry about that, but I didn’t want any of us to be involved in a huge wreck and destroy the cars. Just a lap later, the caution would come out when the 29 would lose a tire.
I restarted the race in 11th place and in the final laps, I made a couple attempts to pass the 90 car and finally got the pass completed to finish the race in 10th. Extremely happy with two top ten finishes in my first two nights racing the late model.
Again, thanks to everyone that helped get me back on the track, your help is truly appreciated. We are off next week – it is the Spring Velocity at Sunset, but we have opted to not run this race. We’ll be back racing on SUNDAY May 28th as a rain date for the races missed last weekend.
Make a Wish Canada
On June 8, 2017 I will be involved in a fundraiser for Make a Wish Canada and I will rappel down the side of Toronto City Hall for their Media/VIP event. My goal is to raise $1500 for Make a Wish and I am very close to that goal now and would love any help you can all give. Any donation amount is appreciated and goes to help making a child’s wish come true. If you are interesting in supporting me in this event, please click HERE for an easy donation form. Tax receipts are provided. Thank you to everyone that has supported me so far, it is truly appreciated. I can make cash donations on your behalf as well. Thanks everyone!!
June 3, 2017 - Fan Appreciation
This week was fan appreciation and our sponsor, SE Telecom, generously donated an iPad mini for us to give away to a fan. Congratulations to Peter Machek on winning the iPad.
In practice, the car felt great and I was happy with it. I am still trying to get the hang of time trials and laying down a fast lap in a short time, buts it’s still a weekly struggle for me. We qualified 17th for the race.
For the first feature, we were making some good progress on the outside lane and had a good run going side by side with the 31 of Rick Spencer-Walt. Unfortunately, someone got under another car, moving them to the outside lane, which stopped our forward momentum. We ended up dropping back at that point on the outside and had to wait for an opening to get down and start moving forward again. The car got really loose and when the caution came out, we came in to make a tire pressure adjustment to tighten the car up, but it still wasn’t great and we finished the first feature in 17th
For the second feature, we made a sway bar adjustment to help the car and we would start 16th. We had a great battle with the 41B of Mike Bentley, on the outside, side by side for a number of laps. We were making good progress and were moving through the field when unfortunately the 46 of Lane Zardo would have an issue with his car and slowed on the outside groove. It moved us back in the field and the caution came out a lap or two later, but we lost a number of positions. There were a couple of accidents that happened in front of me and I was able to get around them with little to no damage. Some body damage when another car had to come up high on the track to avoid a wreck, but other than that, the car is in good shape. The second feature wasn’t as good as I had hoped for, as I finished in 11th, but overall, a good night since the car is in one piece and I got some more time in the seat.
We are off next weekend, but back racing on June 17th.
We filmed the first segment of “Tech Talk” for Life in the Fast Lane with Thayne Hallyburton and it went great. Thayne is professional and was amazing – I can learn so much for him.
This Thursday, I will rappel down the side of Toronto City Hall. We are still accepting donations to try to meet my goal of $1500. You can still donate HERE to help support the Make A Wish foundation.
Make a Wish - Rope for Hope
I spent the last few months fundraising for Make a Wish Canada to help raise funds to grant wishes for children with terminal illnesses. This was an extremely rewarding experience for me. I met some wonderful people working with Make a Wish and met a young lady the day of the rappel who was so enthusiastic and wonderful.
As part of the media and VIP day on June 8, 2017, I went to City Hall in Toronto and took the step to rappel down the side of the 30 story building. I won’t lie, I was terrified!! The thought of going over the edge of the building was difficult. The hardest part of the day was actually getting up on the edge of the building and stepping down. Once I was over the wall, the fear went away and the experience was simply amazing. I took my time going down the building, truthfully, I didn’t want the experience to end. I wore a go pro on my helmet and stopped a number of times during the rappel down the side of the building and got some great footage. You’ll be able to see the footage on Life in the Fast Lane once the show starts airing this month!
The ability to be involved with Make a Wish and fundraise to help make wishes come true was awesome. Make a Wish is an amazing organization and I am proud to have been able to work with them this year.
Anyone can be involved with this fundraising opportunity. They had a public day on June 9, 2017. If you are interested in participating in 2018, you can sign up. The amount required to participate in the public event this year was $1500, so I committed to raise $1500 as well. That you to everyone that supported me in this event, for such a wonderful organization, I appreciate all the support more than you know.
We are back racing this weekend at Sunset Speedway on June 17, 2107. See you there!
June 17, 2017 - Almost a rain out
The day started out bright and sunny, but around noon it would change and become overcast. We headed up to the track about 1:30pm and it started raining. We sat through some heaving rain, the track and the pits were pretty flooded, but the track did a great job of getting rid of the water and allowing us to race.
We were late starting because of the rain and track drying so each class only had one short practice session. Apparently, we were in a rush to get to the track and sit around in the rain because it wasn’t until I was heading out to practice, which would be followed very quickly by qualifying, and I didn’t have my radios. So, out for practice I would go without any radios! Lucky we live close so my Mom went home to get them and made it back just as I was getting in the car for qualifying.
Normally, we do single car qualifying, which I haven’t quite figured out yet. Getting the most out of two laps isn’t my strong point. I was happy to hear we were going to do group qualifying in groups of 5, and have 5 laps, to lay down our best time. Turns out, I think I might be getting the most out of the car with my abilities at this time as I qualified about the same speed as I would have in single car qualifying. So clearly, getting that fast lap down as quickly as possible is something that I still need to work on and figure out.
We ended up starting the first feature in 15th position, which I was happy with. I actually like starting back there because it gives me the opportunity to pass cars, set cars up, try different lines to make a pass and see what the cars ahead are doing that might work for me. It’s all about learning every time I strap into the car to try to make myself a better driver.
We had a great start to the race and raced hard for 21 laps before a caution would come out when the 48Z and 41B would get together in corner 1, with the 41B spinning and the 48Z hitting the outside wall.
I lined up for the restart in 9th position and was very happy with the progress I had made so far. As I’ve said before, I am more of a patient driver, and I prefer the long runs to pick and choose when I want to make a move. On the restart, the car in front of me was slower than I was, slower than I wanted to go, but the 54 was outside so I had nowhere to go. The 54 would end up getting by me on the outside, moving me back into 10th. A huge wreck happened on the front stretch behind me, so I didn’t see it, but there were four cars involved with the 11 car going over the top of the 20 car.
This would put me back in 10th spot for the restart and I was on the outside, which I prefer. I was hoping for a good finish to the race being out there. Unfortunately, following the long red flag, the stagger closed up on the car as the left rear tire grew larger than we thought it would and my car ended up pushing very badly through the corner. I fought off the 46 car, who happens to be my best friend :), for the remaining laps. It was an extremely hard-fought battle for the 10th position right to the checkers. We may be best friends, but we are extremely competitive, especially against each other. I pushed up a number of times in the corner and Lane would get under me, then I’d power by on the outside to beat him to the next corner, push up and we would start it all over again. I really needed the outside line coming out of corner four to keep my momentum to the finish line, but the 46 was there and in the end, Lane beat me to the line by 0.01 and took the 10th position, leaving me to finish 11th. Next time, I will make sure that I cross that line first
Unfortunately, the rain would start up before we were able to get in our second feature, which was disappointing as I was going to start 9th and was interested in seeing how I was going to make out with a top 10 starting position for the first time this season.
With 7 features in the books and two top tens, I am really happy with my comfort level in the car and how things are going so far in my rookie year in this premier division.
Racing against veterans that have been racing longer than I’ve been alive, numerous multi time champions and 7 of last years top 100 Division 1 drivers in North America, I am surrounded by some of the most amazing talent in the province. The learning curve is huge and each week I do learn new things, not only about racing and the car, but about myself as a driver. It’s truly an honour to race with, and learn from, these talented drivers at Sunset Speedway.
Just found out that our make up feature from last weekend will be this coming weekend, June 24, 2017, and we will race triple 35 lap features. Survival will be a big part of the night to make sure you make each feature race.
My new television show, Life in the Fast Lane, airs for the first time this week. Time schedules are posted below, and the show will be available online later this week, Thursday night or Friday morning, on my website HERE. There will be one episode shown in June, one in July, one in August and then beginning in September, there will be a new episode each week. We are hoping to fit in 18 episodes this season if the weather cooperates with us. Special thanks to Krueger Electric for sponsoring 18 episodes of the show for this season.
Rogers TV Borden Angus/Alliston Sunday @ 8:30pm, Tuesday @ 10pm, Wednesday @ 6pm, Thursday @ 9pm and Saturday @ 9am, 5:30pm and 7:30pm.
It will air on Rogers TV Barrie Thursday @ 6:30pm, Friday @ 11pm and Saturday @ 9:30am.
June 24, 2017 - Best finish of the season
We had a big night ahead of us with triple 35 lap features since we were running a make up race due to the rain out from the week before. You want to race hard in each feature, but you need to conserve too in order make sure your car is in one piece for the other two features. In practice, I had no complaints about the car as it was running well.
For the first feature, I would start 9th. We wouldn’t get far into this race before the first caution would come out on lap 1 and restart again in 9th. I fell back a bit early in the race and was running in 13th when the caution came out again on lap 14. I fell back again on the restart when the car ahead of me didn’t get going but made my way back up before the caution flew again on lap 20 when the 24 would blow his motor. Restarted the race in 12th. The caution would come out again on lap 24 when the 39 would have trouble. I restarted this time in 10th and had moved up to 9th when the caution would come out again on lap 30 when the 31 spun and the 81 was towed off the track.
Back to green with a quick caution on lap 31 when the 3 spun. I would be restarting this time in 7th place. My start wasn’t as good as the 14 and he would get by me on the last restart and I would end up crossing the line with my best finish in the late model to date, in 8th place.
I wasn’t happy with my car during the last part of the feature, so we made some changes before qualifying and it seemed to be okay for the 5 lap qualifying. I had issues with my transponder so I was really disappointed at first when I couldn’t take extra laps to get in a qualifying time, but it turns out that they had timing in the back ground and they were able to get my lap times, and I qualified 13th.
I would start the second feature of the night in 13th place and that is about the best that I can say about this race. The changes that we made to the car were not the right changes and the car was horrible. We ran green up to lap 23 when the caution finally came out and I was able to pit for some adjustments to the car. The adjustments made the car a lot better, unfortunately, only for a couple of laps. I restarted last and was able to make my way back up to 13th. Through the corner the 41 would get under me and put me in the middle of three wide and I backed out of it to save the car, dropping me back to 18th again. The car was not handling well again and I stayed in 18th and finished the race there.
We made some big changes to the car for the last feature and added 3 new tires, which we are reluctant to do because of the tire rule that restricts the number of tires we can buy over a season, but we took a vote and the majority ruled! I would be starting the feature in 18th. I had some issues getting by some of the cars at the back, kept getting chopped when I was attempting to make an inside pass, but I didn’t want to wreck my car or anyone else’s so I was cautious waiting to be able to complete the pass cleanly. Because of this, I was only able to move up to 16th for the finish as the feature was a quick one as it went green to checkers with no cautions. My team has instructed me that from now on, I’ll have to give the car cutting down on me a tap to let them know that I am not going to keep backing out of it, otherwise it’s just going to keep happening. So if I spin someone out and get sent to the back, so be it.
It was great to have my Mobil 1 sponsor at the track tonight, especially since I had my best finish of the season so far. As always, I appreciate the support and backing from Mobil 1.
We filmed the Young Guns episode for Life in the Fast Lane as well, and I think it’s going to be a great episode with Brandon McFerran, Gerrit Tiemersma and Nic & Daniel Montanari. Can’t wait to see how that turns out.
Thanks to my crew for putting up with my bad moods and working as hard as they do on my car each week. Thanks to Gerhig Halliday for coming to help this weekend as well!
We are back on track next week, July 1, 2017.
July 1, 2017 - Things happen fast
July 1, 2017 – The car felt really good in practice and when we went out to qualify, the car was fast and I was mostly happy with it. We had a good qualifying run and qualified 11th for the first feature.
I started feature 1 in 11th position. Thankfully I was starting on the inside row because on the first lap, the outside row stacked up starting with the car sitting on the outside pole. A number of cars were involved, right from the front to the back of the field.
On the restart, I would start in 9th position. On about lap 8, I was put in the middle of a three-wide situation and fall back to 10th position. The car was way too tight for the rest of the race. I would finish the race in 10th position.
Between the first and second feature, we decided to make some big changes to the car and see how it felt. After we made the changes, we found that I would actually be starting the second feature on the outside pole. We may not have made such big changes if I had have known that we would be starting on the front row. But we decided to leave the changes in the car and hope that we went in the right direction, and not too far.
Starting the feature, I knew that I needed a good start or I was going to end up getting trained by the inside line. I actually did get a good start, and anyone who knows me knows that starts are one of my weaknesses. If you jump the start once, you get a warning, if you jump it twice, you go to the back. I didn’t want to end up jumping the start. I got a good start, was ahead of the pole sitter coming to corner one and then blew the corner and gave up the advantage that I had, which I believe would have allowed me to clear the leader and get out front. So, instead, the train on the inside started.
I ended up falling back to 8th position before I was able to find an opening on the inside. A few laps later the 10 car would get underneath me before a caution came out on lap 9. I would restart the race in 8th position.
While coming down the front stretch, I went to go up to the outside wall, not knowing that the 11 car was just starting to pass me on the outside. Unfortunately, things happen fast in racing! Before my spotter had a chance to tell me Chris Morrow was coming on the outside, I moved up the track, caught the front of Morrow and ended up nose first into the wall, and would then hit the side and back end off the wall as well. Neither Morrow nor I had to stop, but a caution was thrown fairly quickly as there was debris on the track.
Initially, the flagman told me to take my position back, then another put me scratch. I was confused about the different information and stopped to discuss it with the starter and they advised that as the caution was brought out due to debris from my contact with Morrow, I was an involved car and would need to start at the back.
I didn’t pit as the tires were all up and under caution, it felt okay. Not much they can do in the pits anyways without going down laps so we stayed on track. The car was absolute garbage after hitting the wall, but we completed all the laps, which is my goal this year, and we finished the race in 16th.
While we were going over the car on Monday night, I found that we had broken the panhard bar mount and that the rear end was bent, so in the end, I am glad that I was able to hang on to the car and finish the race. So, we have some work to do this week. The new mount was hard to find and we had to drive out to London last night to pick one up. Thanks to Derrick Tiemersma for giving me an alternate to use.
Big thanks go out to Chris Morrow. When I came up in front of him, he backed out of it instead of driving right through me and I appreciate that. I appreciate even more that when we talked after the race, he understood that it wasn’t intentional and that my spotter made an error, and in turn, so did I. Thanks for everything Chris and for being a good sportsman.
So overall, with a 10th and a 16th place finish, we seem to be continuing the way it’s been each week with one good finish and one not as good.
We race again July 8, 2017, and my sponsor, The Mortgage Station, is sponsoring the race night at the track. We will be in the VIP area throughout the night. Amazing for The Mortgage Station to support me in racing, as well as supporting the track by sponsoring a night. They truly are about giving back to the community.
July 9, 2017, we will head down to Canadian Tire Motorsports Park for the Mobil 1 Sports Car Grand Prix. Honoured to be invited to attend again this year and can’t thank Mobil 1 and Imperial Oil enough for the opportunity.
Now off to the garage to get this car fixed for the weekend!
July 8, 2017 - A night to remember
This past weekend was the best overall night of racing I’ve had since I’ve started racing in the late model. This weekend was amazing because of how much my team and I learned about the car, how it handles and what adjustments work, and which ones don’t. Paul Jr and Jo came over Saturday morning and helped my Dad and I set up and fine tune my car. We scaled the car and made many adjustments that would hopefully get the car to where we wanted it. Special HUGE thanks to Paul Jr and Jo for all their help before heading to the track, and while at the track.
Our adjustments did just that. I had never felt more comfortable and fast in the car, especially on older tires, as I did on Saturday in first practice. I came off the track with a better understanding of what I needed to do next to set my car up perfect. We made a few small adjustments which were, air pressure and wedge, then we put on the tires that we would use for qualifying and the race. The car felt amazing!! Probably the best set up we’ve had in the car. The car was very fast in qualifying and I ended up qualifying 8th!!! My best qualifying effort to date.
I started 8th in the first feature and battled up to the 6th position, I was battling very hard with the 14 car when I got loose out of corner 4 and ended up losing 2 spots and falling back to 8th. At this point, the car was a little bit tight in the center of the corner and very loose off.
The caution came out on lap 22 for the 39 car due to a broken power steering line, so we lined back up and I restarted 9th.
After the caution, the car went to an extremely bad tight-loose condition. Lap 25 the 54 and I would go into the corner and I wasn’t able to turn due to the tightness of my car, I would go up into him, and give him a flat tire (Sorry Danny :() bringing the caution out. I would restart 9th and would fall to 10th in the remaining 10 laps of the race. Very happy with this finish, considering how the car was handling.
In the second feature I would start 9th and before coming to the green flag to start the race, a caution would come out for the 48 and the 48z. I’m not quite sure what happened, but I will be receiving go-pro footage within the next few weeks of the wreck, I will post it then.
I would restart 7th, the 81 and the 4 car would come together at the front of the pack, he saved it, but further back in the pack the 3 car would spin bringing out the caution, this was still on lap 1. I restarted 7th again.
After a few laps, I had made my way up to the 5th position and was told the 10 car was coming, I would show him the outside lane, he went to the outside and through the corner we made contact causing me to spin. Disappointing as this was the highest up I had climbed to this year so far. I would restart at the rear of the field
I would race my way through the field and raced hard with the 39 car which is always fun! There was a caution on lap 19 as the 4 car spun. I would line up 11th for the restart.
There was another caution on lap 29 as the 90 had a mechanical failure and would stop on the track to be towed off. I would restart 10 and with the 6 lap shootout, I would bring it home in the 9th position. Near the end of the race my car would become a bit loose off the corner, none the less I was very happy with my finish, after coming from the back.
SUNDAY
On Sunday my Dad and I attended the Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix. This is always a very cool event and it’s great to see a different side of racing than I’m used to. There were many amazing people I was able to meet as well as many amazing things I was welcomed to do. During the Grid Walk I was told I would be presenting the trophies to both of the Proto Type division too three!!! This was such a cool experience and it was super fun to be on the podium with all the different talented drivers! Even if a few of them did sprayed me a little with the celebretory champagne!! Haha
All in all a great day to see the other side of racing, from a great facility like CTMP.
Thank you Mobil 1 and Imperial Oil for this experience!
Also a reminder, the Limited Late Models do not race on June the 15th! We will enjoy our weekend off and come back in 2 weeks even stronger! Oh, and with a beautiful car once again as it is currently in being repainted for a mid season refresh thanks to my amazing Sponsor, Radical Rods, Rides and Restoration in Barrie, Ontario. They always give me the best looking cars!!
July 22, 2017
We started the day off with an early morning practice session. We changed the shocks on the car and the car felt strong, different but good. We went out for qualifying an laid down a decent lap at 15.294, but this was about a 10th slower than our qualifying time last race day. We ended up qualifying 13th for the first feature. We made some adjustments and quite simply, the car didn’t like the changes, neither did the driver.
We started the first feature in 12th, by lap 5 the outside row was falling back. Going into corner 1, I got the clear from my spotter, and it was a tight spot, but the 25 tagged my bumper and I got turned around. To the back I went.
On lap 12 I had made my way back up to 11th and the 39 drove under the 11 putting me on the outside of 3 wide and I ended up falling back to 14th. On lap 16 the 39 and 54 would get together bringing out the caution. I restarted the race in 12th but could not keep the car low. It was absolute garbage, to the point where I could barely get it to turn in the corner, and I fell back to 14th. A debris caution came out on lap 22 so I made a pit stop for an air pressure change hoping to help the handling of the car. I would restart last again with 13 laps remaining.
On lap 23 the 41 and 3 would get together bringing out the final caution of the day, I restarted in the 13th position, but lost a spot before ending the race in 14th. This was not what we were hoping for this week.
In the second feature, because I finished the first one in 14th, I would start the 2nd feature in 14th. We made some more changes and for the first few laps, the car felt better. I made my way up to about 11th before the outside line was held up by a slower car up front and we would start to go backward once again. Unfortunately, by about lap 5, the car was not handling well again and we were not having a good second feature either.
Things got a little dicey around lap 10, running in 12th, when the 3, 41 and I got into a three wide situation, with me in the middle. I got hit, which sent my car sideways, I went from making people wonder if I would hit the inside wall or the outside wall, but managed to get the car under control and save it from some extensive repairs.
Again, not the finish we were looking for as I finished in 16th.
We’ll make some more changes to the car this week and hope for a better week next week.
July 29, 2017 - Bad Start, Better end
In practice the car felt okay, and when we went out for group qualifying, things looked pretty good as we qualified top in our group which give an overall qualifying of 13th. We ended up starting the first feature in 11th as the pole sitter had to start at the back for a reason unknown to me and another car went scratch.
In the first feature, the 41 car would spin on lap 9 bringing out the first caution. My car was terrible and I couldn’t make the car turn in the corners. We would restart in 11th. The second caution of the night came out on lap 15 when the 29 car would spin. At this point we were still in 11th and the car was getting worse with each lap. By the end of the race, I would fall back to 16th and finish the race there. Not happy with the car at all for the 3rd straight feature, I made a call on what I wanted to change, and hoped that this was the right call for the next feature.
Since I finished 16th in the first feature, I was scheduled to start 16th, but ended up starting 15th as the 29 had to make a pit stop before the green flag. From the beginning of the race, the 3 car was dumping fuel on the track and ended up catching on fire on lap 5 bringing out the first caution of the night. I would restart 15th.
Lap 6 seemed to be a bit of a challenge as the 57 and the 48 got together and spun bringing out another caution. I would restart 14th. On the restart, the 3 and 69 would spin bringing out the caution again, and once again I would restart in 14th.
We raced up to lap 16 without incident and the car was much better with the change that we made and I was happy with how it felt…finally, but then a caution came out for debris. On lap 16 the 24 car would spin in corner 3 collecting a bunch of cars including the 28 (who I helped into the damage when I tagged his rear bumper as we were all scrambling to stop and avoid it, Sorry Paul), the 81, 69 and 3 cars. I had minor right fender damage as a result but didn’t have to pit so I would restart in 9th. Video courtesy of Motorsport Alley below
I didn’t need that caution as it hurt the handling of my car. I was having issues keeping the car low out of the corners and unfortunately rubbed door to door with a few cars through the exit of the corner. On lap 22, the 81 car would slow out of the corner and bring out the caution as she slowed on the back stretch. I would restart in 9th position again.
By lap 29, I was falling back a bit, going through corner and through the exit of the corner, I got into the back of the 69 car and spun him bringing out the caution. Under caution, he came through the field to get in front of me and brake checked me to show his displeasure with me. I ended up hitting him in the back when he brake checked, then the 28 hit the back of me. Unfortunately this would cause some damage to the 28 car when he was an innocent party, but I understand the 69’s frustration with me, but he was black flagged from the rest of the race.
I would restart on lap 29 in the 14th position, but caution would come out again quickly as the 48 car went around. We’d go for another restart on lap 29 and this would be the last of the night. I would end up finishing the race in 13th.
Not the results we were looking for, but at least with the change that we made, the car is going back in the right direction and for the most part, handling much better than it had been.
We have some work to do this week from the damage we sustained to the front of the car and the hood and a little body work.
We race next weekend, August 5th and then will be off for two weeks, not returning to action until August 26, 2017.
While most people think that the off season slows down, it’s actually busier for me than during race season. Aside from the usual school and work, there’s preparing the cars for the next race season, securing sponsorship, working out the details of the new TV show and production meetings. So it hasn’t been slow. Thankfully, I’ll be done high school at the end of January so this will free up a lot of time for me to concentrate on other things before I attend college in the fall. So whats been happening at Adams Motorsports…….
First I am very pleased and excited to announce that Mobil 1 has moved from associate sponsor to Primary sponsor for the 2017 season. Mobil 1 started with me in 2015 as a product sponsor, became an associate sponsor in 2016 and now, primary for the next race season.
Working with Mobil 1 is truly an incredible experience that goes well beyond the race season and the race car. Developing this relationship with David and Mobil 1 is amazing and I’ve met some wonderful people and have had some unique opportunities presented to me due to this. If you missed it, we were on Mobil 1 The Grid TV in July 2016 (Click here to view) which was a lot of fun to film. I am excited to see what amazing experiences will come this year and proud to be representing a company such as Mobil 1.
SE Telecom, who is now entering their fourth year of sponsorship, was my Primary sponsor for the past 2 years. They started with me as an associated sponsor, became Primary in 2015 and will be our secondary sponsor for 2017. Mobil 1 expressed interest in being the primary sponsor for 2017 and James at SE Telecom recognized the relationship that I have with Mobil 1 and the opportunity with having a primary sponsor in the “same” business, and agreed to stay on as our secondary sponsor. Working with SE Telecom is simply amazing. They truly do look out for my best interests and have always been extremely supportive of me. When I mentioned that I wanted to do a charity BBQ to fund raise for the Kids Help Phone, James didn’t hesitate to offer their business location to host the event and he also donated the cost of covering all the food for the event. SE Telecom has been a huge support for me personally and in racing and I am honoured to have them back for the 2017 season. On top of that, they are providing swag for the most amazing give a-ways this year. You won’t want to miss this!
Avaya Canada has come on board as an associate sponsor for 2017. Truly, to be sponsored by one international company is an honour, to have a second international company come on board in 2017 is, quite simply, amazing. I am looking forward to representing Avaya this year and hope that we can do some unique and different marketing together this year. I can’t wait to see what 2017 brings.
Some other news that we have announced recently is that I will be hosting a TV show for Rogers TV, tentatively titled The Fast Lane. We will start filming in March with the air date planned for June. There will be approximately 4 episodes that will run in the summer, with the remainder of the 18 episodes, running in the fall. I had an idea for a television show, to focus on Motorsports, basically a day in the life of a race team, interviews and tech tips.
It is going to be an amazing experience, some great life experience, and I am excited for this new challenge. You can follow along with updates on the show as they are available on Twitter at @thefastlane_2. We will have more information on the website once this area is set up.
We have some other amazing things in the works with Jerry Abramowicz, an interview coming with one of my favourite journalists, Rob Tiognson from The Podium Finish – he asks some tough questions that really make you think before answering, and some other news.
We are looking forward to the 2017 season.
2017 Season has begun
Practice at Sunset Speedway started April 14, 2017, which unfortunately I was not able to there. I am hopeful that the rain will hold off today and we’ll be able to put some laps on the Limited Late Model. My Super Stock is currently in the shop at Radical Rods, Rides and Restoration in Barrie getting painted and should be back next week.
If we aren’t able to practice today, we will spend some time working in the shop and cleaning up the trailer for the start of the season and be at practice Wednesday night.
During the off season, we filmed a couple of segments for Life in the Fast Lane, which will go to air in mid June.
On Tuesday, April 18, 2017, we will be at Canada’s Wonderland with the OPP for Project E.R.A.S.E speaking with the media about taking it to the track and keeping racing and stunt driving off our streets. I am honoured to work with the OPP on this project and look forward to Tuesday.
We have a few other events coming up, off the track, in May and June. On May 13, 2017, we will be in Barrie with the car at the Simcoe County Muscular Dystrophy Walk. I’ve supported Laps4MD for the past couple years and am happy to support this walk as well. We will be at the event from 10am to 12pm with the car.
In June, I will be working on a fundraiser with Make-a-Wish Canada. This is an amazing organization granting wishes for children and I couldn’t be more proud to work with them. I will rappel down the side of Toronto City Hall on June 9, 2017. I am doing fundraising for this event and all donations are appreciated. We are at 45% of our goal of $1500 and have about 5 weeks left. Any help and any size donations are appreciated. You can donate online. Thank you for your support.
We have a press release coming on April 19, 2017, with the finalized plans for our 2017 season so check back next week.
We are looking forward to the 2017 season and can’t wait for it to start. See you at Sunset Speedway.
Opening night -Late Model Debut
Last night was the first race of the season and my first race in the Limited Late Model division. I set my goals realistically, just focused on qualifying for each race, finishing the races and getting seat time in this impressive field of drivers.
We went out for time trials and I did okay. I got a little sideways on the first lap and posted a time of 16.3. I collected myself and posted a much better lap of 15.57 to qualify 18th for the feature.
In the first feature, I was running the car, getting a feel for being out there with everyone. The caution came out fairly early when the 11 car was spun and after the caution, I lined up in 16th. Lap 20 would bring out another caution when another car spun and I would line up in 15th.
We were running side by side for position when another car came underneath me to make it three wide and we hit, causing my car to get out of shape. While I was collecting my car, the 28 went underneath me and unfortunately, we made contact. No damage to my car except a bent rim, I know there was more damage to Paul than that unfortunately, we collected the cars and continued on without caution. We fell back to last place but were able to work our way back up to 15th at the end. I was extremely happy with the finish for my first race.
In the second race, if you are outside of the top 12, you start where you finished in the last race, so I started 15th. There was an early caution on lap 3 with many cars getting a piece of it. We restarted in 13th when a caution came out a couple of laps later on lap 5 for the slowing 31 car. I had lost a spot and would restart in 14th. We raced until lap 14 when the caution would come out for the 25 car in the grass in corner 2. There would be two more cautions on lap 24 and then the final on lap 33. With a two lap race to the end, I was cautious as many times this can breed more cautions at the end of the race while everyone fights for their final positions. I was lined up on the outside and this was good for me as I prefer the high line and my car works really well out there. I made a couple passes on the outside and ended up finishing 10th in the second race.
Earlier in the race, I got into the back of the 54 car and can’t apologize for that enough. Sorry Danny, that was totally my fault and I did not mean to do that.
This was well beyond my expectations for myself and my team for our opening night in the premier division. We had a great night and I look forward to getting back and seeing what we can accomplish next week.
Thanks to my amazing crew, sponsors and friends and the support they give me each and every week. I couldn’t do it with you.
It was great to work with Daniel Bois today. This was the first chance that I had to work with Daniel and I am so happy with the way we worked together and can’t wait to do it again. Daniel is a great driving instructor and I feel he’ll help me achieve my goals for 2017.
May 13, 2017
We had a great start to the day as we attended the Simcoe County walk for Muscular Dystrophy in Barrie as part of our association with the Laps4MD racing program. It was great to meet people and talk about the program and racing at Sunset Speedway.
Finally back to racing after a week off due to weather. The car felt good during practice and I was happy with it. We went out for qualifying and after the first lap, something was wrong with the car, I wasn’t sure what it was so I just shut it down and coasted back to the infield. Because of this, I ended up qualifying second last for the feature.
At first we thought it was going to be the transmission because I couldn’t get the car in gear, so we borrowed a transmission from Zardo Racing, but once we pulled the transmission, it turned out that it was the clutch. We bought a new clutch and changed that in time for the first feature. But thanks to Zardo Racing for loaning me the transmission if I needed it.
In the feature, I started 2nd last and would move up to 19th by the time the first caution came out at lap 11 when three cars would spin, the 14, 57 and 28. Unfortunately, when I went to change gears, the car wouldn’t go into gear and I had to be pushed to pit road. It was a super quick caution, they were going back to green just after I got into my pit stall and the crew only had time to jack the car up before the cars doubled up for the restart, and it didn’t allow time for the crew to get the car fixed and get me out before going laps down. The shifter linkage had come loose after replacing the clutch and the crew had to tighten this and sent me back out. I would fall down 5 laps, but we finished the race, which is the goal and finished 19th. It wasn’t the best start to the day.
Special thanks to Branden, Jamie and Jordan for their help fixing the car, as well as my regular crew, Richard and Jerry and of course, my Dad. Thanks to Branden for helping Richard on pit road, I only have one crew member in the infield during the feature, so the help is very much appreciated.
In the second feature, we started 19th as that is where we finished the first feature. It was green flag racing until lap 13 when the 48Z car would spin bringing out the first caution of the race. On the restart, I was in 18th place. Just a lap later, another caution would come out when the 14, 57 and 28 would spin. The 28 would get his spot back in the line up as he only spun to avoid the caution that had already happened. I would restart in 14th.
A number of laps later, the 48Z tagged me, which turned me into the infield grass, which I was able to collect and get back on the track. As I was collecting my car, the 48Z tried to go by me, we ended up three wide, and we made contact when I collected the car. Unfortunately, it would break the spindle on Billys car and he wouldn’t be able to continue.
We didn’t bring out the caution for this, but there was a caution on lap 22 and we would restart the race in 13th place. Shortly after that, the 46 car would break and was slow on the front stretch. My spotter said “three wide” and I thought he was saying that someone had already got inside me, putting me in the middle of three wide, and I saw we were coming up on the 46 fast and so I moved up, otherwise we would have drove hard into the back of the 46 car coming to the corner, but I did force the 28 car high up the track and I am sorry about that, but I didn’t want any of us to be involved in a huge wreck and destroy the cars. Just a lap later, the caution would come out when the 29 would lose a tire.
I restarted the race in 11th place and in the final laps, I made a couple attempts to pass the 90 car and finally got the pass completed to finish the race in 10th. Extremely happy with two top ten finishes in my first two nights racing the late model.
Again, thanks to everyone that helped get me back on the track, your help is truly appreciated. We are off next week – it is the Spring Velocity at Sunset, but we have opted to not run this race. We’ll be back racing on SUNDAY May 28th as a rain date for the races missed last weekend.
Make a Wish Canada
On June 8, 2017 I will be involved in a fundraiser for Make a Wish Canada and I will rappel down the side of Toronto City Hall for their Media/VIP event. My goal is to raise $1500 for Make a Wish and I am very close to that goal now and would love any help you can all give. Any donation amount is appreciated and goes to help making a child’s wish come true. If you are interesting in supporting me in this event, please click HERE for an easy donation form. Tax receipts are provided. Thank you to everyone that has supported me so far, it is truly appreciated. I can make cash donations on your behalf as well. Thanks everyone!!
June 3, 2017 - Fan Appreciation
This week was fan appreciation and our sponsor, SE Telecom, generously donated an iPad mini for us to give away to a fan. Congratulations to Peter Machek on winning the iPad.
In practice, the car felt great and I was happy with it. I am still trying to get the hang of time trials and laying down a fast lap in a short time, buts it’s still a weekly struggle for me. We qualified 17th for the race.
For the first feature, we were making some good progress on the outside lane and had a good run going side by side with the 31 of Rick Spencer-Walt. Unfortunately, someone got under another car, moving them to the outside lane, which stopped our forward momentum. We ended up dropping back at that point on the outside and had to wait for an opening to get down and start moving forward again. The car got really loose and when the caution came out, we came in to make a tire pressure adjustment to tighten the car up, but it still wasn’t great and we finished the first feature in 17th
For the second feature, we made a sway bar adjustment to help the car and we would start 16th. We had a great battle with the 41B of Mike Bentley, on the outside, side by side for a number of laps. We were making good progress and were moving through the field when unfortunately the 46 of Lane Zardo would have an issue with his car and slowed on the outside groove. It moved us back in the field and the caution came out a lap or two later, but we lost a number of positions. There were a couple of accidents that happened in front of me and I was able to get around them with little to no damage. Some body damage when another car had to come up high on the track to avoid a wreck, but other than that, the car is in good shape. The second feature wasn’t as good as I had hoped for, as I finished in 11th, but overall, a good night since the car is in one piece and I got some more time in the seat.
We are off next weekend, but back racing on June 17th.
We filmed the first segment of “Tech Talk” for Life in the Fast Lane with Thayne Hallyburton and it went great. Thayne is professional and was amazing – I can learn so much for him.
This Thursday, I will rappel down the side of Toronto City Hall. We are still accepting donations to try to meet my goal of $1500. You can still donate HERE to help support the Make A Wish foundation.
Make a Wish - Rope for Hope
I spent the last few months fundraising for Make a Wish Canada to help raise funds to grant wishes for children with terminal illnesses. This was an extremely rewarding experience for me. I met some wonderful people working with Make a Wish and met a young lady the day of the rappel who was so enthusiastic and wonderful.
As part of the media and VIP day on June 8, 2017, I went to City Hall in Toronto and took the step to rappel down the side of the 30 story building. I won’t lie, I was terrified!! The thought of going over the edge of the building was difficult. The hardest part of the day was actually getting up on the edge of the building and stepping down. Once I was over the wall, the fear went away and the experience was simply amazing. I took my time going down the building, truthfully, I didn’t want the experience to end. I wore a go pro on my helmet and stopped a number of times during the rappel down the side of the building and got some great footage. You’ll be able to see the footage on Life in the Fast Lane once the show starts airing this month!
The ability to be involved with Make a Wish and fundraise to help make wishes come true was awesome. Make a Wish is an amazing organization and I am proud to have been able to work with them this year.
Anyone can be involved with this fundraising opportunity. They had a public day on June 9, 2017. If you are interested in participating in 2018, you can sign up. The amount required to participate in the public event this year was $1500, so I committed to raise $1500 as well. That you to everyone that supported me in this event, for such a wonderful organization, I appreciate all the support more than you know.
We are back racing this weekend at Sunset Speedway on June 17, 2107. See you there!
June 17, 2017 - Almost a rain out
The day started out bright and sunny, but around noon it would change and become overcast. We headed up to the track about 1:30pm and it started raining. We sat through some heaving rain, the track and the pits were pretty flooded, but the track did a great job of getting rid of the water and allowing us to race.
We were late starting because of the rain and track drying so each class only had one short practice session. Apparently, we were in a rush to get to the track and sit around in the rain because it wasn’t until I was heading out to practice, which would be followed very quickly by qualifying, and I didn’t have my radios. So, out for practice I would go without any radios! Lucky we live close so my Mom went home to get them and made it back just as I was getting in the car for qualifying.
Normally, we do single car qualifying, which I haven’t quite figured out yet. Getting the most out of two laps isn’t my strong point. I was happy to hear we were going to do group qualifying in groups of 5, and have 5 laps, to lay down our best time. Turns out, I think I might be getting the most out of the car with my abilities at this time as I qualified about the same speed as I would have in single car qualifying. So clearly, getting that fast lap down as quickly as possible is something that I still need to work on and figure out.
We ended up starting the first feature in 15th position, which I was happy with. I actually like starting back there because it gives me the opportunity to pass cars, set cars up, try different lines to make a pass and see what the cars ahead are doing that might work for me. It’s all about learning every time I strap into the car to try to make myself a better driver.
We had a great start to the race and raced hard for 21 laps before a caution would come out when the 48Z and 41B would get together in corner 1, with the 41B spinning and the 48Z hitting the outside wall.
I lined up for the restart in 9th position and was very happy with the progress I had made so far. As I’ve said before, I am more of a patient driver, and I prefer the long runs to pick and choose when I want to make a move. On the restart, the car in front of me was slower than I was, slower than I wanted to go, but the 54 was outside so I had nowhere to go. The 54 would end up getting by me on the outside, moving me back into 10th. A huge wreck happened on the front stretch behind me, so I didn’t see it, but there were four cars involved with the 11 car going over the top of the 20 car.
This would put me back in 10th spot for the restart and I was on the outside, which I prefer. I was hoping for a good finish to the race being out there. Unfortunately, following the long red flag, the stagger closed up on the car as the left rear tire grew larger than we thought it would and my car ended up pushing very badly through the corner. I fought off the 46 car, who happens to be my best friend :), for the remaining laps. It was an extremely hard-fought battle for the 10th position right to the checkers. We may be best friends, but we are extremely competitive, especially against each other. I pushed up a number of times in the corner and Lane would get under me, then I’d power by on the outside to beat him to the next corner, push up and we would start it all over again. I really needed the outside line coming out of corner four to keep my momentum to the finish line, but the 46 was there and in the end, Lane beat me to the line by 0.01 and took the 10th position, leaving me to finish 11th. Next time, I will make sure that I cross that line first
Unfortunately, the rain would start up before we were able to get in our second feature, which was disappointing as I was going to start 9th and was interested in seeing how I was going to make out with a top 10 starting position for the first time this season.
With 7 features in the books and two top tens, I am really happy with my comfort level in the car and how things are going so far in my rookie year in this premier division.
Racing against veterans that have been racing longer than I’ve been alive, numerous multi time champions and 7 of last years top 100 Division 1 drivers in North America, I am surrounded by some of the most amazing talent in the province. The learning curve is huge and each week I do learn new things, not only about racing and the car, but about myself as a driver. It’s truly an honour to race with, and learn from, these talented drivers at Sunset Speedway.
Just found out that our make up feature from last weekend will be this coming weekend, June 24, 2017, and we will race triple 35 lap features. Survival will be a big part of the night to make sure you make each feature race.
My new television show, Life in the Fast Lane, airs for the first time this week. Time schedules are posted below, and the show will be available online later this week, Thursday night or Friday morning, on my website HERE. There will be one episode shown in June, one in July, one in August and then beginning in September, there will be a new episode each week. We are hoping to fit in 18 episodes this season if the weather cooperates with us. Special thanks to Krueger Electric for sponsoring 18 episodes of the show for this season.
Rogers TV Borden Angus/Alliston Sunday @ 8:30pm, Tuesday @ 10pm, Wednesday @ 6pm, Thursday @ 9pm and Saturday @ 9am, 5:30pm and 7:30pm.
It will air on Rogers TV Barrie Thursday @ 6:30pm, Friday @ 11pm and Saturday @ 9:30am.
June 24, 2017 - Best finish of the season
We had a big night ahead of us with triple 35 lap features since we were running a make up race due to the rain out from the week before. You want to race hard in each feature, but you need to conserve too in order make sure your car is in one piece for the other two features. In practice, I had no complaints about the car as it was running well.
For the first feature, I would start 9th. We wouldn’t get far into this race before the first caution would come out on lap 1 and restart again in 9th. I fell back a bit early in the race and was running in 13th when the caution came out again on lap 14. I fell back again on the restart when the car ahead of me didn’t get going but made my way back up before the caution flew again on lap 20 when the 24 would blow his motor. Restarted the race in 12th. The caution would come out again on lap 24 when the 39 would have trouble. I restarted this time in 10th and had moved up to 9th when the caution would come out again on lap 30 when the 31 spun and the 81 was towed off the track.
Back to green with a quick caution on lap 31 when the 3 spun. I would be restarting this time in 7th place. My start wasn’t as good as the 14 and he would get by me on the last restart and I would end up crossing the line with my best finish in the late model to date, in 8th place.
I wasn’t happy with my car during the last part of the feature, so we made some changes before qualifying and it seemed to be okay for the 5 lap qualifying. I had issues with my transponder so I was really disappointed at first when I couldn’t take extra laps to get in a qualifying time, but it turns out that they had timing in the back ground and they were able to get my lap times, and I qualified 13th.
I would start the second feature of the night in 13th place and that is about the best that I can say about this race. The changes that we made to the car were not the right changes and the car was horrible. We ran green up to lap 23 when the caution finally came out and I was able to pit for some adjustments to the car. The adjustments made the car a lot better, unfortunately, only for a couple of laps. I restarted last and was able to make my way back up to 13th. Through the corner the 41 would get under me and put me in the middle of three wide and I backed out of it to save the car, dropping me back to 18th again. The car was not handling well again and I stayed in 18th and finished the race there.
We made some big changes to the car for the last feature and added 3 new tires, which we are reluctant to do because of the tire rule that restricts the number of tires we can buy over a season, but we took a vote and the majority ruled! I would be starting the feature in 18th. I had some issues getting by some of the cars at the back, kept getting chopped when I was attempting to make an inside pass, but I didn’t want to wreck my car or anyone else’s so I was cautious waiting to be able to complete the pass cleanly. Because of this, I was only able to move up to 16th for the finish as the feature was a quick one as it went green to checkers with no cautions. My team has instructed me that from now on, I’ll have to give the car cutting down on me a tap to let them know that I am not going to keep backing out of it, otherwise it’s just going to keep happening. So if I spin someone out and get sent to the back, so be it.
It was great to have my Mobil 1 sponsor at the track tonight, especially since I had my best finish of the season so far. As always, I appreciate the support and backing from Mobil 1.
We filmed the Young Guns episode for Life in the Fast Lane as well, and I think it’s going to be a great episode with Brandon McFerran, Gerrit Tiemersma and Nic & Daniel Montanari. Can’t wait to see how that turns out.
Thanks to my crew for putting up with my bad moods and working as hard as they do on my car each week. Thanks to Gerhig Halliday for coming to help this weekend as well!
We are back on track next week, July 1, 2017.
July 1, 2017 - Things happen fast
July 1, 2017 – The car felt really good in practice and when we went out to qualify, the car was fast and I was mostly happy with it. We had a good qualifying run and qualified 11th for the first feature.
I started feature 1 in 11th position. Thankfully I was starting on the inside row because on the first lap, the outside row stacked up starting with the car sitting on the outside pole. A number of cars were involved, right from the front to the back of the field.
On the restart, I would start in 9th position. On about lap 8, I was put in the middle of a three-wide situation and fall back to 10th position. The car was way too tight for the rest of the race. I would finish the race in 10th position.
Between the first and second feature, we decided to make some big changes to the car and see how it felt. After we made the changes, we found that I would actually be starting the second feature on the outside pole. We may not have made such big changes if I had have known that we would be starting on the front row. But we decided to leave the changes in the car and hope that we went in the right direction, and not too far.
Starting the feature, I knew that I needed a good start or I was going to end up getting trained by the inside line. I actually did get a good start, and anyone who knows me knows that starts are one of my weaknesses. If you jump the start once, you get a warning, if you jump it twice, you go to the back. I didn’t want to end up jumping the start. I got a good start, was ahead of the pole sitter coming to corner one and then blew the corner and gave up the advantage that I had, which I believe would have allowed me to clear the leader and get out front. So, instead, the train on the inside started.
I ended up falling back to 8th position before I was able to find an opening on the inside. A few laps later the 10 car would get underneath me before a caution came out on lap 9. I would restart the race in 8th position.
While coming down the front stretch, I went to go up to the outside wall, not knowing that the 11 car was just starting to pass me on the outside. Unfortunately, things happen fast in racing! Before my spotter had a chance to tell me Chris Morrow was coming on the outside, I moved up the track, caught the front of Morrow and ended up nose first into the wall, and would then hit the side and back end off the wall as well. Neither Morrow nor I had to stop, but a caution was thrown fairly quickly as there was debris on the track.
Initially, the flagman told me to take my position back, then another put me scratch. I was confused about the different information and stopped to discuss it with the starter and they advised that as the caution was brought out due to debris from my contact with Morrow, I was an involved car and would need to start at the back.
I didn’t pit as the tires were all up and under caution, it felt okay. Not much they can do in the pits anyways without going down laps so we stayed on track. The car was absolute garbage after hitting the wall, but we completed all the laps, which is my goal this year, and we finished the race in 16th.
While we were going over the car on Monday night, I found that we had broken the panhard bar mount and that the rear end was bent, so in the end, I am glad that I was able to hang on to the car and finish the race. So, we have some work to do this week. The new mount was hard to find and we had to drive out to London last night to pick one up. Thanks to Derrick Tiemersma for giving me an alternate to use.
Big thanks go out to Chris Morrow. When I came up in front of him, he backed out of it instead of driving right through me and I appreciate that. I appreciate even more that when we talked after the race, he understood that it wasn’t intentional and that my spotter made an error, and in turn, so did I. Thanks for everything Chris and for being a good sportsman.
So overall, with a 10th and a 16th place finish, we seem to be continuing the way it’s been each week with one good finish and one not as good.
We race again July 8, 2017, and my sponsor, The Mortgage Station, is sponsoring the race night at the track. We will be in the VIP area throughout the night. Amazing for The Mortgage Station to support me in racing, as well as supporting the track by sponsoring a night. They truly are about giving back to the community.
July 9, 2017, we will head down to Canadian Tire Motorsports Park for the Mobil 1 Sports Car Grand Prix. Honoured to be invited to attend again this year and can’t thank Mobil 1 and Imperial Oil enough for the opportunity.
Now off to the garage to get this car fixed for the weekend!
July 8, 2017 - A night to remember
This past weekend was the best overall night of racing I’ve had since I’ve started racing in the late model. This weekend was amazing because of how much my team and I learned about the car, how it handles and what adjustments work, and which ones don’t. Paul Jr and Jo came over Saturday morning and helped my Dad and I set up and fine tune my car. We scaled the car and made many adjustments that would hopefully get the car to where we wanted it. Special HUGE thanks to Paul Jr and Jo for all their help before heading to the track, and while at the track.
Our adjustments did just that. I had never felt more comfortable and fast in the car, especially on older tires, as I did on Saturday in first practice. I came off the track with a better understanding of what I needed to do next to set my car up perfect. We made a few small adjustments which were, air pressure and wedge, then we put on the tires that we would use for qualifying and the race. The car felt amazing!! Probably the best set up we’ve had in the car. The car was very fast in qualifying and I ended up qualifying 8th!!! My best qualifying effort to date.
I started 8th in the first feature and battled up to the 6th position, I was battling very hard with the 14 car when I got loose out of corner 4 and ended up losing 2 spots and falling back to 8th. At this point, the car was a little bit tight in the center of the corner and very loose off.
The caution came out on lap 22 for the 39 car due to a broken power steering line, so we lined back up and I restarted 9th.
After the caution, the car went to an extremely bad tight-loose condition. Lap 25 the 54 and I would go into the corner and I wasn’t able to turn due to the tightness of my car, I would go up into him, and give him a flat tire (Sorry Danny :() bringing the caution out. I would restart 9th and would fall to 10th in the remaining 10 laps of the race. Very happy with this finish, considering how the car was handling.
In the second feature I would start 9th and before coming to the green flag to start the race, a caution would come out for the 48 and the 48z. I’m not quite sure what happened, but I will be receiving go-pro footage within the next few weeks of the wreck, I will post it then.
I would restart 7th, the 81 and the 4 car would come together at the front of the pack, he saved it, but further back in the pack the 3 car would spin bringing out the caution, this was still on lap 1. I restarted 7th again.
After a few laps, I had made my way up to the 5th position and was told the 10 car was coming, I would show him the outside lane, he went to the outside and through the corner we made contact causing me to spin. Disappointing as this was the highest up I had climbed to this year so far. I would restart at the rear of the field
I would race my way through the field and raced hard with the 39 car which is always fun! There was a caution on lap 19 as the 4 car spun. I would line up 11th for the restart.
There was another caution on lap 29 as the 90 had a mechanical failure and would stop on the track to be towed off. I would restart 10 and with the 6 lap shootout, I would bring it home in the 9th position. Near the end of the race my car would become a bit loose off the corner, none the less I was very happy with my finish, after coming from the back.
SUNDAY
On Sunday my Dad and I attended the Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix. This is always a very cool event and it’s great to see a different side of racing than I’m used to. There were many amazing people I was able to meet as well as many amazing things I was welcomed to do. During the Grid Walk I was told I would be presenting the trophies to both of the Proto Type division too three!!! This was such a cool experience and it was super fun to be on the podium with all the different talented drivers! Even if a few of them did sprayed me a little with the celebretory champagne!! Haha
All in all a great day to see the other side of racing, from a great facility like CTMP.
Thank you Mobil 1 and Imperial Oil for this experience!
Also a reminder, the Limited Late Models do not race on June the 15th! We will enjoy our weekend off and come back in 2 weeks even stronger! Oh, and with a beautiful car once again as it is currently in being repainted for a mid season refresh thanks to my amazing Sponsor, Radical Rods, Rides and Restoration in Barrie, Ontario. They always give me the best looking cars!!
July 22, 2017
We started the day off with an early morning practice session. We changed the shocks on the car and the car felt strong, different but good. We went out for qualifying an laid down a decent lap at 15.294, but this was about a 10th slower than our qualifying time last race day. We ended up qualifying 13th for the first feature. We made some adjustments and quite simply, the car didn’t like the changes, neither did the driver.
We started the first feature in 12th, by lap 5 the outside row was falling back. Going into corner 1, I got the clear from my spotter, and it was a tight spot, but the 25 tagged my bumper and I got turned around. To the back I went.
On lap 12 I had made my way back up to 11th and the 39 drove under the 11 putting me on the outside of 3 wide and I ended up falling back to 14th. On lap 16 the 39 and 54 would get together bringing out the caution. I restarted the race in 12th but could not keep the car low. It was absolute garbage, to the point where I could barely get it to turn in the corner, and I fell back to 14th. A debris caution came out on lap 22 so I made a pit stop for an air pressure change hoping to help the handling of the car. I would restart last again with 13 laps remaining.
On lap 23 the 41 and 3 would get together bringing out the final caution of the day, I restarted in the 13th position, but lost a spot before ending the race in 14th. This was not what we were hoping for this week.
In the second feature, because I finished the first one in 14th, I would start the 2nd feature in 14th. We made some more changes and for the first few laps, the car felt better. I made my way up to about 11th before the outside line was held up by a slower car up front and we would start to go backward once again. Unfortunately, by about lap 5, the car was not handling well again and we were not having a good second feature either.
Things got a little dicey around lap 10, running in 12th, when the 3, 41 and I got into a three wide situation, with me in the middle. I got hit, which sent my car sideways, I went from making people wonder if I would hit the inside wall or the outside wall, but managed to get the car under control and save it from some extensive repairs.
Again, not the finish we were looking for as I finished in 16th.
We’ll make some more changes to the car this week and hope for a better week next week.
July 29, 2017 - Bad Start, Better end
In practice the car felt okay, and when we went out for group qualifying, things looked pretty good as we qualified top in our group which give an overall qualifying of 13th. We ended up starting the first feature in 11th as the pole sitter had to start at the back for a reason unknown to me and another car went scratch.
In the first feature, the 41 car would spin on lap 9 bringing out the first caution. My car was terrible and I couldn’t make the car turn in the corners. We would restart in 11th. The second caution of the night came out on lap 15 when the 29 car would spin. At this point we were still in 11th and the car was getting worse with each lap. By the end of the race, I would fall back to 16th and finish the race there. Not happy with the car at all for the 3rd straight feature, I made a call on what I wanted to change, and hoped that this was the right call for the next feature.
Since I finished 16th in the first feature, I was scheduled to start 16th, but ended up starting 15th as the 29 had to make a pit stop before the green flag. From the beginning of the race, the 3 car was dumping fuel on the track and ended up catching on fire on lap 5 bringing out the first caution of the night. I would restart 15th.
Lap 6 seemed to be a bit of a challenge as the 57 and the 48 got together and spun bringing out another caution. I would restart 14th. On the restart, the 3 and 69 would spin bringing out the caution again, and once again I would restart in 14th.
We raced up to lap 16 without incident and the car was much better with the change that we made and I was happy with how it felt…finally, but then a caution came out for debris. On lap 16 the 24 car would spin in corner 3 collecting a bunch of cars including the 28 (who I helped into the damage when I tagged his rear bumper as we were all scrambling to stop and avoid it, Sorry Paul), the 81, 69 and 3 cars. I had minor right fender damage as a result but didn’t have to pit so I would restart in 9th. Video courtesy of Motorsport Alley below
I didn’t need that caution as it hurt the handling of my car. I was having issues keeping the car low out of the corners and unfortunately rubbed door to door with a few cars through the exit of the corner. On lap 22, the 81 car would slow out of the corner and bring out the caution as she slowed on the back stretch. I would restart in 9th position again.
By lap 29, I was falling back a bit, going through corner and through the exit of the corner, I got into the back of the 69 car and spun him bringing out the caution. Under caution, he came through the field to get in front of me and brake checked me to show his displeasure with me. I ended up hitting him in the back when he brake checked, then the 28 hit the back of me. Unfortunately this would cause some damage to the 28 car when he was an innocent party, but I understand the 69’s frustration with me, but he was black flagged from the rest of the race.
I would restart on lap 29 in the 14th position, but caution would come out again quickly as the 48 car went around. We’d go for another restart on lap 29 and this would be the last of the night. I would end up finishing the race in 13th.
Not the results we were looking for, but at least with the change that we made, the car is going back in the right direction and for the most part, handling much better than it had been.
We have some work to do this week from the damage we sustained to the front of the car and the hood and a little body work.
We race next weekend, August 5th and then will be off for two weeks, not returning to action until August 26, 2017.
August 5, 2017
The last few weeks have been difficult. We had a great night a few weeks ago with two top ten finishes and since then we have done nothing but struggle with the car.
We are off until August 26, 2017 and this will give us a few weeks to work on the car, make some adjustments and do some testing with the hope of getting the handling back in the car.
This past weekend, the car felt okay in practice, and in qualifying our times weren’t too far off. 9th through 16th were all in the 15.3’s, just that I was at the high end of the 15.3’s…..and qualified 16th.
I would actually start the first feature in 15th. It was going to be a bad night from start to finish. The car was okay in the beginning, I was running on old tires, so I didn’t expect too much. By lap 12 we had moved up a bit to 13th place and I was coming into corner 1. I was cleared and came down for my corner entry but found the front bumper of the 28 car instead. He tagged the rear quarter of my car and I went spinning around bringing out the caution.
I restarted at the back and on lap 15 I would be the reason for bringing out the caution again. Running again with the 28 car and I couldn’t get my car to turn through the corner and needed more track, which wasn’t available unfortunately as I had a car on the outside, and I pushed up into the 28 and spun him. Feels terrible to be involved in two cautions, never mind when it’s with one of your families good friends. I spun Paul out and we both went to the back again. The caution would come out again on lap 23 when a car spun and I would restart in 14th. By the end of the race, I was able to make my way back up to 13th for the finish. Not the race I was hoping for.
In the second feature, it was pretty uneventful for me. I started in 13th and didn’t do much for this feature other than fall backward. The car was so tight through the centre of the corner and pushes up so bad in the corner. Because of this, I can’t get on the gas out of the corner. All and all it was a frustrating night. I ended up finishing the race in 17th.
Thanks to Gord Shepherd for loaning me gears for my car so we could make a change between features. It helped with the car, now we just need to work on the setup and hopefully get this right this time. A small crew (Me and Dad at home) and a few that help out at the track when they can, is tough. Never enough time or hands to do everything that we should be doing.
HUGE Congrats to Danny Benedict for his amazing run on the weekend. I can’t remember for sure, but I think he finished 3rd and 5th or 6th in the two features, after qualifying 3rd! That was an amazing night.
August 22, 2017
We did a lot of work in the garage and went for testing during our week off. Thanks go out to Rino Montanari (and Nic and Daniel of course) for their help during testing. We were able to get the car better that night, and then made further adjustments and the car was really good this weekend.
In practice, we tested it out to see if we needed any changes and ended up adding a spring rubber. Second practice, I had some new tires for the race so we scuffed those in and then waited for racing to start.
I had a good qualifying effort that I was happy with. I qualified 9th, which anyone that knows me knows that this was a very good qualifying effort for me.
In the first feature, I started the race in 9th position. We had a quick debris caution on lap 3 and I had fallen back two positions to 11th at this point. On the restart, I was on the inside and the inside lane stacked up and I fell back to 13th, however the caution would come out again quickly as the 39 car would hit the wall in corner 3 and pull off the track and the 90 would go to pit road.
Starting again on lap 3, in the 9th position and I would settle in comfortably until lap 19 when the 69 would go around, I assume with some help from the 14 car as he would go to the back. We would run green until the racing up front got aggressive as the 10, 41 and 31 would make contact, with the 31 getting the worst of the damage when he would hit the front stretch wall. The 10 and 41 both went to take their spots back, however, both were deemed to be involved cars and would be sent to the back, while the 31 would be towed back off the track.
This all happened on lap 33 with only 2 laps to go. I would restart in 6th position and I fought hard to break into the top 5, for my first top 5 of the season, but I couldn’t make the pass on the 3 car and would have to settle for 6th.
For the second feature, I would start in 4th position. I fell back to 5th off the start but settled in there for the first 6 laps before the 57 spun bringing out the caution. We would restart on lap 6 and I was in the 5th position. Just ahead of me on the restart, the 11 and 14 would get together which would result in the 14 getting a flat tire and bringing out the caution. I would end up restarting in 4th.
I ran in 4th for the longest time, attempting to make the pass on the 11 car and each lap I would close on him in the corner, but wasn’t quite in there and he would close the door. My Dad kept telling me on the radio to send it in the corner as the lane was there for me to take, but being a rookie and being that Morrow races me clean all the time, I wanted to race him the same way that he races me. I spent a lot of laps tying to make this pass on him, and I ended up paying for it, it allowed two cars to get by us both on the outside, dropping me back to 6th and then someone ended up getting underneath me and I got trained back to 11th.
Morrow is a great guy and he didn’t do anything wrong, but as I was told afterward, and what I clearly learned, was that I am going to have to be a little more aggressive to make that pass, as quickly as possible, as I just ended up losing a top five finish. Lesson learned and back at it again next week.
Congrats to Rick Spencer-Walt for coming out in the second feature in the 69 car, after his was beyond repair after the first feature, and he wheeled that car from the back, up to, I believe, a 4th place finish. Awesome job!
MRN was the highlight of my day
This past Saturday we went into the day high expectations to have a great finish. Last week we finished 6th and 11th in the features, after running in the top 5 for most of the second feature before getting trained on the outside. So expectations for a good day were high.
In practice the car was good and we ended up qualifying 9th for the feature with 20 cars starting. So far so good.
In the first feature, we started 9th and lost a position early to fall into 10th where we would run under green until lap 18 when the 3 car got into my left rear bumper in corner three sending me around. We had to go into the pits with a left rear flat. We made an adjustment to the car at the same time, as the spare tire we had was not the same size as the one that came off the car.
When we returned to the race track, we lined up 19th for the restart, the car was horrible when we went green. In two laps, the car was out of shape three times and I wasn’t able to get on the gas without spinning the car around. Lucky for me, the 57 would spin on lap 20 and I was able to head back to the pits again for a much needed adjustment.
On the restart, I was 17th and the car was not any better than it had been before the adjustment, so clearly we didn’t make the right adjustment.
On Lap 31 the 3 car would spin and bring out the caution and with just 4 laps left, I was barely hanging on to the back of the pack and would finish the race in 19th. It was a horrible race.
With finishing the first feature in 19th, this is where I would start the second feature. We had made some changes before the second feature, and I was hopeful that we would have a better result. On lap 9, the 81 would spin to bring out the caution. I would restart again in 19th.
On lap 10, the 28 and the 24 would get together on the back stretch, turning the 24 sideways and he would then be hit by the 48 car. The 48 had to be taken off the track on the tow truck, the 24 would be able to continue, but would be at the back for the restart.
I restarted 13th and the car was actually feeling a bit better, the car was pretty decent in the outside groove. By the time the caution came out again on lap 21, my car was very poor handling again and I’d once again make my way down pit road for some changes. This time I would restart in 17th. On lap 31, the 11 would get into the back of the 81 causing her to spin, and the 3 car would go around, bringing out another caution.
Thinking that might be the last caution of the night, and end this dreadful night for us, I lined up 16th for the restart. There would be another caution on lap 33 when the first and second place cars would get together, resulting in the 41 car going around and the 39 being sent to the back as an involved driver. Not liking the call, he spoke to the officials and ended up getting black flagged for driver misconduct.
We’d restart the race for the final time and finished in the 17th position.
This is the worst results I’ve had all year, worse than my first night in the car, and I couldn’t be more disappointed. There were a lot of important people at the track that night and I wanted to have a good showing, but obviously it wasn’t meant to be.
Thank you to my sponsor, Avaya, for attending this weekend. It means a lot of have you there to support me.
Thank you to Kyle, Buddy, Tony and Dylan from MRN radio for coming up to watch the races. Kyle is one of my favourite friends in the world and it was great to finally get to spend some time with him at my home track instead of random races in the USA. Sorry I didn’t have better results for the night that you finally made it here to watch. Next time it will be better Kyle, I promise. But thank you all very much for making the ride up to watch. I appreciate it.
Listen to Kyle on MRN radio on Coast to Coast on Wednesday as he will talk about his time at Sunset Speedway this weekend……and probably a bit about the CTMP NASCAR Truck race as well.
Also, this week, tune in to Jack Dodson’s Racing Insider News from Virginia Beach, Virginia as I will be live on the show Tuesday after 7:45pm.
September 2, 2017
Race cars are funny things. August 22nd we finally got the car back to where we wanted it and had a great night with a 6th and 11th place finish in the features. We came out on September 2nd with hopes for another strong finish and the plan just didn’t come together. We struggled with the car all day. We made some changes through the week and when we headed back to the track on September 9th, we had hopes for a better night. It’s been a tough few weeks with, quite simply, not having the time to work on the car. My Dads been busy with work, I am still working full time and in college full time, so there isn’t a lot of time to spare for the car.
We struggled with the set up on the car again and in qualifying it was horrible. We qualified 16th out of 19 cars. We would line up for the first feature in 16th. The car wasn’t horrible, but it certainly wasn’t great either. We stayed with the pack, made a couple of passes – the race went the entire 35 laps green to checkers – so it was pretty much just a line up and go race – and we were only able to improve our position up to 14th for the end.
We found some issues after the first feature and went about making some changes. We were hitting the track with the chassis through the corners, which was an issue, found a few other minor things and adjusted.
For the second feature, we would start in 14th. On lap 5 the 48Z would go around and I would restart the race in 14th place. Struggled with the car a bit, although it was better than the first feature. It was another quick race as there was only the one caution. The only exciting part was when the 81 got into the back of me with about 5-6 laps to go and turned me sideways, but I was able to save it, but not without losing positions. I would end this race, I believe in 17th.
Next weekend is my last weekend to race this year. We’ll see if we have the issues worked out with the car. This is not the way that we wanted our last three weeks of the season to go. We had a great season with a number of top 10 finishes, running in the top five a couple times without the results, and now when we wanted to put a push on at the end of the season, we’ve just lost the handle on the car and cannot get it back. Hoping for better things this weekend on Championship night to end the season on a good note.
Championship night - It wasn't the end to the season we wanted
We were hoping for a good end to the season, since the last few weeks have been bad. It clearly wasn’t meant to be. Dad and I have both been too busy with work and I just started college, so the car unfortunately has to come last.
We made some changes this week to the car and thought we had things figured out. We went out for first practice and the changes that we made were finally the right changes and the car felt great and was fast. But toward the end of practice, I let off the gas in the corner and when I went to get back on it, there was a problem. I had a bad vibration in the car and there was no power. I shut the car down immediately and took it back to the pits.
We took the hood off, and hoped for a small miracle that it wasn’t something that was going to end our day. We had some help from Jamie and Paul from the Maltese crew as well as Paul Sr from the Geotz crew. First off, thank you to everyone that helped us, you are all amazing and I appreciate you all so much. Unfortunately there was no good news to be had. We had definitely broke something in the motor and that would be the end of the #2 car for the 2017 season.
My Dad was supposed to run the car next weekend at Velocity and I feel so bad for him that he won’t be able to do this now. It was something that we planned all year for him to do and I am so disappointed that he won’t be able to. It would have been his first time back in a late model since 2004 and I was really looking forward to seeing what he could do in the car with this incredible class of drivers. I was only 5 when he stopped racing late models, so I don’t really remember that.
On a positive, Nick Geotz said that I could use his back up car for the night. This was exciting for me as, anyone that knows Nick knows that he has amazing equipment and I was excited to get in this car. And it did NOT disappoint.
I took the car out for a couple of practice laps to get a feel for the car and how different it is from mine, then we went and qualified. I was still adjusting to the car, how different it was to drive with the seat placement and how much closer the wheel is in this car than mine. We just took it easy in qualifying.
For the first feature, we would just run a few more laps to get the feel of the car, then park the car for the remainder of the race. This is Nick’s back up car, so if anything were to happen to his primary car during the first race, this car needed to be available to him for the second feature. I just took the car out for 5 or 6 laps to log a few more laps in it and then parked it. Nick lead the feature from lap 1, as he was fast qualifier, until lap 31. He was coming up on the rear of the field with the 11 and 81 in front of him side by side. The 81 and the 11 would get together, causing the 11 to hit the wall and bring out the caution.
This was not what Nick needed. With a four lap shoot out, he had to hold off the 10 car in order to get the win. It was a great battle up front, but unfortunately for Nick, the 10 would get by and take the win.
For the second feature, Nick gave me the okay to race the car. I was starting last and wanted to take the first few laps to let everyone sort themselves out. I was racing someone else’s car, a much better car than my own, and I wanted to give all my respect to the car, and to Nick, to make sure I didn’t damage it. After a couple laps when I felt comfortable, I raced the car a little harder and was feeling pretty comfortable but when I came out of the corner, something didn’t feel right. Because I have too much respect for Nick and Paul Jr (Who will be racing the car soon) I didn’t want to break anything or damage the car, so I decided to just pull off and keep the car safe. I was only 4 points behind and could have moved up a position potentially, but decided that it wasn’t worth potentially damage the car when Nick was good enough to let me use it.
Congrats to all the Champions this weekend – Gord Shepherd, Jordan Howse and Cameron McGlashan – the Mini Stock Championship was by FAR the most exciting finish as no one knew that McGlashan was going to slide in there and pick up the championship. Congrats to Nic and Daniel Montanari on their great seasons as well as Nick Geotz and Rick Spencer-Walt for all finishing in the top 3 in their divisions.
Congrats to, I believe, Daniel Montanari on winning the Mini Stock Rookie of the Year and Chris Allard on winning the Super Stock Rookie of the year. I am honoured to be Rookie of the Year for the Late Models as well and look forward to sharing that honour with you both at the banquet in November.
Good luck to everyone at Velocity. Unfortunately Dad won’t be racing, but we will be there to crew for the Geotz team that weekend.
2017 Late Model Season Review
April 2017 – Two weeks before the start of the race season, we made the decision to race the Late Model instead of the Super Stock and make a run at the Late Model Rookie of the year. With 3 other registered rookies, we felt we could contend. We made the announcement and sold the Super Stock. It was a big leap for me. I raced 3 years in the Mini Stock Division, so this taught me how to race, but with a front wheel drive car, it didn’t teach me about rear wheel drive racing and car control for these cars. With only one year the in the super stock and making the move to the top division, I was well aware of the huge learning curve ahead of me.
May 2017 – Our goals going into the season were to get some seat time, learn from some of the best in the Province, some of the best Nationally actually, win Rookie of the Year and to finish in the top ten before the end of the season.
That top ten finish would come sooner than expected as I had a good outing on the first night, finishing 15th in my first feature and bringing home my first top ten on opening night with a 10th place finish in the second feature. So to cross that goal off the list so quickly was a confidence boost for sure.
We would continue with the learning curve, getting more seat time through May (Which we only had one race night) and I would once again pick up another 10th place finish.
June 2017 – We started out June with decent results, almost into the top ten the first week with an 11th place finish.
On June 8th I had the privilege of working with Make a Wish Canada for their Rope for Hope Campaign. I rappelled down the side of Toronto City Hall and raised over $1800 for Make a Wish. This was an incredible experience, I highly recommend it to everyone, and I can’t wait to participate in this again next year. June continued with some decent finishes just outside of the top ten, but I did manage to get my highest finishing spot, to date, on June 17th as I finished the feature in 8th.
July 2017 – July was an up and down month for me. I added 3 more top tens to my season, but toward the end of July we had a few struggles with the set up on the car. This continued on until August. Overall though, July was my best month, where I put up the most top ten finishes.
July 8th – I would have a great qualifying run and start 8th in the feature, ended up finishing the first feature in 10th. In the second feature, I started 9th and avoided a huge wreck right in front of me coming to the green flag with the 48 and 48Z, so we escaped a big one there. This would be my best race of the season as I raced my way up to 5th and was hoping for my first top 5 finish. However it was not meant to be as the 10 and I were racing side by side and we made contact which caused me to spin to the infield and therefore I would have to restart at the back of the pack. Disappointing when I was having such a good run, but we were able to salvage a good finish as I was able to race back up to a 9th place finish. Posting my first night of tens in both features.
Also in July, I was fortunate to be able to attend the Mobil 1 Sports Car Grand Prix at CTMP and present the trophies for the Proto Type Division. It was an extremely cool experience.
August 2017 – We only raced twice in August, but on the final race night of the month, I put up my best finish of the year, finishing the first feature in 6th position. As a team, we were quite happy that we had worked out some issues with the car and were able to put up a good finish. For the second feature we started in 4th and I fell back to 5th and was trying to make the pass, respectfully on the 11 and it was an error on my part. I ended up letting someone get underneath me and then got trained. So instead of having a great finish, likely a top 5, I ended up finishing 11th.
In August we hosted our 2nd annual charity BBQ with SE Telecom and Avaya Inc for the Kids Help Phone. It was a great event, we had a lot of fun and we raised over $2,000 for Kids Help Phone. We have plans to do this event again in 2018.
September 2017 – This was not a great month for us. There was something wrong with the car, the handling was off, and no matter what we tried, we just couldn’t figure out what the issue was. Dad hasn’t raced Late Models since 2004, so a lot has changed since that time. We are learning these cars together as we go. Finally, we found that the car was scraping off the track and causing it to upset the car. We had felt a loss of power out of the corners, but put this down to the handling of the car and the inability to get back on the gas on corner exit. We got the set up fixed on the car and on the final night of racing, in practice, the car felt awesome once again, I was able to turn it through the corners and it was fast out of the corner……the problem was, about 8 laps into practice, as I went to get back on the gas, something happened with the motor, there was no power and I shut the car down and took it back to the pits.
We would not get to race the #2 car in the final night due to motor issues, but as a blessing, we didn’t blow the motor up and it needs to be rebuilt over the off season anyways. The good news is that we at least figured out the handling issue, better late than never, before the car is parked for the winter. Something to work from for next season. It was frustrating to end the season on a bad note, basically for the last month, especially starting off as well as we did.
But as a positive, I was able to drive Nick Goetz’ back up car for the final night of racing. To be able to race in some of the best equipment out there, to be given the opportunity and for someone to have the faith in me to let me use their car, was incredible. I can’t thank Nick enough for allowing me this opportunity.
September has been a great month for me with many unique and rewarding experiences. I was able to work with some Nascar Truck drivers and be a part of the Ariel Atom test day at CTMP. Incredible experiences where I learned so much.
One of the other highlights of September was to have my friend, Kyle Rickey, and his friends at MRN radio come to Sunset to watch the racing. It’s always great to see Kyle, unfortunately my car was garbage after I was spun out and I didn’t put in a very good performance that night.
All in all, the season was incredible. We struggled sometimes through the season with the car, sometimes with the driver, but we are incredibly happy with the results.
We finished the year, with not only the Sunset Late Model Rookie of the Year honours, but I am also the NASCAR Provincial Division 1 Rookie of the Year. I am beyond excited about this. It was our goal for the year, we were able to achieve this, and we can’t wait for the next season. I just became the youngest ever Provincial NASCAR Division 1 Rookie of the Year for Ontario, and the first female to win the award in Ontario, with hopefully more to follow from the other talented female drivers in Ontario.
Off Season – I have some big plans for the off season. Currently attending Fanshawe College for marketing, but electing to do all my courses online so I can travel during the off season, I will be heading off to North Carolina October 14th. I plan to spend the winter travelling to different race tracks, different types of racing, to learn all I can about racing in the USA. I cannot wait to start this adventure.
I will be returning to Ontario for the Sunset Speedway banquet in November and I am very fortunate to be able to attend the NASCAR Home Tracks Banquet in North Carolina in December as the Division 1 Rookie of the Year. This is one event that I am looking forward to more than anything. It will be an amazing experience and I am happy to be able to share it with Gord Shepherd, Nick Geotz and Rick Spencer-Walt as they attend for being in the top ten in points nationally. Congratulations to those three teams on their outstanding season.
Kendra Adams; Life in the Fast Lane – this was an incredible experience for me and my team. To be able to highlight our rookie season in the Late Model with Rogers TV was unique and a lot of fun each week. Many thanks to my producer and camera man, Ron Clarke. Ron has been amazing to work with, makes each week a lot of fun and draws a little bit more out of me, and my personality, every week. It has truly been my pleasure to be able to do this. Thank you Ron for believing in my idea for this television show, and for making it a reality. Thank you to Madison FitzPatrick, my other camera lady, who is outstanding and who I consider a lifelong friend. Best times are had when Madison is there.
The show runs weekly now on the Rogers TV Fall schedule, but if you miss an episode, you can catch up on my youtube channel where the episodes are posted. http://www.kendraadamsmotorsports.com/kendra-adams---life-in-the-fast-lane.html
Special thanks to all my sponsors, who I wouldn’t be able to do this without.
Mobil 1 – David Swain (and his wife Margaret) are more than just my Primary sponsor. They truly are like grandparents to me and the relationship that we have built is incredible. Thank you David, and Mobil 1, for believing in me and being there with me along this journey.
SE Telecom & Avaya Inc – James Stortz and Grant Stortz from SE Telecom have been with me since day 1 and their support has been outstanding. Incredible people that are always willing to go out of their way to help me with my goals. Special thanks to James for connecting me with Avaya Inc and Corey Mindel. It was great to bring on another Global Marketing Partner. I can’t wait to see what we can accomplish together in the future.
Epic Racewear – Well, we can all thank Epic for making me look good! Their suits and apparel are simply the best. They have never disappointed me with any apparel they have provided. But above that, they are simply amazing people who have also become some of my favourite friends.
To all my associate sponsors, thank you for always supporting me, for being with me year and year and being a huge part of why I am able to continue doing what I do each year.
~Radical Rods, Rides and Restoration – Keeping my car looking fresh all the time!
~Paul Quail Transport
~The Mortgage Station
~Krueger Electric
~Speedy Auto Machine
~Tyger Shark
~Global Simcoe Paving
~My Mink Lashes
~JT & Company
~Infinet Motorsports
~Colin’s Small Engine Repair
~Wix Filtres
I truly am blessed to have each and every sponsor that I have and I cannot thank you all enough for your support.
I look forward to seeing where we can all go from here and the exciting things we can plan for the 2018 Season.
Thanks as always to my parents, my crew, friends, family and fans that have supported me week in and week out. Huge shout out to Jerry Abramowicz and Eric Uprichard for helping me out when I need pictures at the track or a photo shoot. You are simply the best!!
