Car @ Kwik Trip

(click on to enlarge)

Since my last post, we blew the motor in race shop. Put a valve thru the head. Luckly we were given new heads by RHS the same week it happened. Replaced 1 piston and put new heads on, and went racing at the Dells last Saturday. (8/14/10) More problems! We have been noticing the sound of the exhaust system hasn't sounded right for the past few weeks. We found out why at the Dells. During qualifying the exhaust header cracked. And during the feature it finally broke! Burned off a plug wire too. So our results were not too good that night. We now have a new exhaust header, and are racing tomorrow in Marshfield, Wi. (A flat 1/2 mile) We also put the car on display today at the new Kwik Trip in Oak Creek, Wi (13th st & Ryan Rd)

Madison Race...."Rockin & Racin"

(click on to enlarge)



Another frustrating time with the car at Madison. This time "Norine" decided she was going to develop a miss in the motor that is frustrating all of us. The miss is so bad that we had to sit out the heat race while trying to diagnose the problem. Even tho' we had problems with the car again, myself and Cathy had a "special treat" on this day. My son's (Scott) band (Kings Of Radio) put on a concert on the front straight during the autograph session from 5:15 - 6:00. My granddaughters (Melody & Norah) were there, and my daughter-in-law Tina. The music was outstanding (and I'm not just saying that), they were REALLY GOOD! That alone was worth the price of admission.

Grandpa w/Norah&Melody
Kings Of Radio
Life is Good
Grandpa & Tina
Scott on keyboard
Proud Dad watching

I should have known it wasn't going to be a good day when an ASA official threatened to kick me out of the pits for looking at Tony Stewart's scale numbers. Well......."excuuuse meeeeeeeeeeeee"! We were the next car in line (behind Stewart's) to have the car scaled, and all I was trying to do (although I will admit, I should have know better..lol) was to see were I should be standing to get a good look at the scale readout. Anyway, this official thought I was trying to get a look at Tony's scale numbers. (I wasn't, we don't even race in the same division!) That's when he said "if I did it again, he would have me kicked out of the pit area". Again,,,"excuuussseee meeeeeeeeeeeeeeee"!! Like I said in the previous posts, we might not be running good right now, but we sure make life interesting when we go to the track. It's always somthin!

Started the feature in the back and got caught up in someone else's wreck and did a little damage to the right front fender. Stayed out and moved up and passed a few cars (even with the miss in the motor) to finish 9th. Still 6th in the point standings. Going to get this car fixed and motor straightened out (might be aloud to put better heads on,,,stay tuned) and go to the next race in Shockopee, Minn. July 18th.

Elko Minn....Rained Out!

"What the f^%"?

(click on all pictures to enlarge)

After 800 miles of travel, gas $$, hotel $$, & pit pass $$, for the Maddog Motorsports crew, our feature was rained out after running 1 (that's one) lap! I will say tho' that Elko Speedway is real nice. Under the main grandstand (that is enclosed and air conditioned) they have a stage, dance floor, pool tables, and 2 (that's two) fully stocked bars! For the feature the cars did take the green, but before the first lap could be completed the yellow was displayed because of a spin at the back of the pack. While under the yellow it started lightly raining. The officials kept the field on the track under the yellow hoping the rain would stop. WRONG!! First the rain turned into a deluge, then tornado sirens started going off!! Loaded up the car and headed back to the hotel, where we were told to stay in the hallway until the tornado warnings were cancelled. After the all clear was given, grabbed cooler and headed to the pool. (hold on, our night gets more exciting). Complete with masks and guns, 3 mexicans tried robbing the Taco Bell next to hotel. The receptionist said they were headed thru the parking lot towards our trailer. They weren't tho' and later were caught by the cops.

I'll say one thing about this racing stuff, we may not be running good right now, but we're living exciting life's when we go to the track. So far it's been one thing after another!!!...lol

Race 3...Wisconsin vs Minnesota Round 1

The Hawkeye Downs Raceway results are not very good. But it was an interesting weekend to say the least. We knew it just wasn't going to be a good weekend for us when on the way to the track (somewhere in Iowa) the muffler fell off Shawn's truck. What made that more interesting was when Dennis, myself and Darren Travis had to swerve to miss it in Dennis's Jaguar!
At the track...During practice a guy spun out in front of us and took us with him. We hit him with the right rear quarter panel (poor panel) and took a ride thru a very muddy infield. After fixing panel, and scraping a ton of mud off the car, went out to qualify.


(click to enlarge)

Started the heat race 2nd row inside. Got hung up behind a slower number 36 car (must be something with a car numbered 36....see Dells race), and fell back. Was only a 8 lap race but the 3 car won by half a lap! Results below;


Started feature, again 2nd row inside. But this time got around the 36 car pretty quickly, battled with Cain (#5) for few laps then took the lead. Lead laps 4 thru 17, then car started to go away. Car looked like it did at the Dells when we lead that race. We have to figure out why this car is going away like that on us. (and WE WILL!) Riding in 5th place when the "fun" started.
Shawn knew the car was giving up on him and was giving the 6 car (Jason Thoma) room to get by him, but he (6) couldn't. Coming out of turn 2, Thoma decided to drive thru us, hitting us in the (you guessed it!) left rear quarter panel. Both spun, but Thoma cut his right front tire and had to pit to replace tire. On the restart, we started from the back and pretty much stayed there for the rest of the race. Thoma rejoined the race but it was all over for him too. After the checkered flag fell, Thoma pulled up next to Shawn, and showed him his I.Q. (if you know what I mean?). Back in the pits, the "fun" started.
While trying to get back into our pit stall, Shawn had to back up to straighten car so we could get into trailer. Thoma pulled right up to him, while his crew members surrounded our car. One of Thoma's crew was in Shawn's face on the drivers side while another was comin in the passenger side, and another was in front of the car. That's when Shawn's foot "slipped" off the clutch. ("oops") That was enough of that, when Uncle Kevin grabbed the guy that was in Shawn's face and gave him the 'ol famous WWE head lock. As all this is happening Shawn was finally able to get out of the car and was (discussing?) with Thoma what had happened on the track. That's when we see this 350lb - 6' 4" "bubba" come running (at 40mph at least) into the whole crowd! After we sorted out the bodies and body parts (one of Thoma's crews wife got knocked down and cut her elbow), the ASA officials split everyone up, ending the "match". After Don Heelein (ASA official) listened to both sides, he said both teams would be fined $300.00 for un-sportsman like conduct. You have to remember, their crew came into our "house", our pit stall!
Back at the hotel (parking lot) we broke out the coolers/beer and had a good long talk about what had transpired that evening. About our 3rd beer in, Shawn got a call from Don Heelein saying that we would NOT be fined $300.00 after all. Let the celebration begin. (and it did).

Car lost right taillight during practice incident. But thats ok, cause we lost the left one also!
Maddog's Fighting Crew
Darren (3:00a.m.) All that fighting makes a guy hungry!
"Hey Darkside, what ya doin"?


See ya in Elko, Minn... June 26th.

"PARTY WAS A SUCCESS"

(click to enlarge)

The 2 Crew party was a huge success. The donations/funds it generated will provide us the opportunity to purchase parts for the car and keep us running competively for the rest of the year. Over 120 people attended the party. A big "Thank-You" goes out to all that came and hope you had a good time.
The "2 Crew" would like to THANK our sponsors (in red), donators, and helpers; DRTJ Systems, Athletic-Traffic Striping, Jacks Of All Trades, JimmyMac Super Sauces, Creative Contracting, 9th Ave Auto Body, JimmyLuv's Mix, Crazy Horse, Mad Dog's Saloon, Great Clips, ALDI'S, The Saloon, Southwoods Restaurant, Krier's Haircuts, Hideaway, K-Ranch, TGI Fridays, Beer Capitol Dist., Ryan Road Auto Service, Captain's Cove, Allure Hair Salon, Oak Creek Auto Service, Witt's End Bar, Avon, (Judy Wolter), Chili's, Oak Hill Golf Course, Classic Lanes, Gardedo's, Reggies Amusements, Kenny Parker (Limo Ride)
Tracy Rae Utphall, Randy Klimowicz, Cheryl Dishaw, Dennis Dishaw, Brian Dishaw, Patty & John Zemek, Cathy Augustino, Tonya Pomietlo, Darren & Derrick Travis, Jodi Domagalski, Rich & Mark Brannin, Stefanie Rygiewicz, Belinda Campanelli, Miller Lite girl, Nick ?? (but we love him anyway...lol)

"Norine" @ Norine's On Oakwood. We know she would have been proud.
The "2 Crew"; Shawn Utphall, Jim Madsen, Dennis Koss, Kevin Utphall, Donny Arndt, Kim Arndt, Darren Travis, Tracy Rae Utphall, Cathy Augustino, Cheryl Utphall, Gloria, Shawn Jr. Devon.
"Hope you like yer burger well done"? Hope he drives better than he cooks?!!?

New Pictures from The Dells

(click on to enlarge)

"Norine"

Dennis,Jim,Donny Shawn Utphall (yes we know he needs a new suit)

"Utphall Runover By A Fish"!

Read all about it here. (click on to enlarge)

The new quarter-panels took a hit on each side. Kind of ironic that of all the places the car had to get wrecked for the first (and hopefully the last) time was those panels we worked so hard to find and were so proud of. Oh well, that's why they call it racing. Car looked good and ran good all night. No overheating problems so it looks like we have that solved. Have to try and step up our qualifying setup. I know we can qualify better than 11th. Found out we need more gear also. Alot of the tracks we will be racing on this year Shawn has never raced on before, so all this stuff (gear selection, car setup, tire pressure, etc...) is on a little bit of a learning curve for all of us. But hey, so far it's been a blast!! We finished 8th in the feature, which was a shame cause we we a good 2nd place car and now sit 6th in the standings. This series is going to be exciting with top runners such as; Chris Marek # 3, Jay Kalbus #27, Jerry Thompson #22 and of course our own little buddy Shawn Utphall #2!

Starting from the Pole position

Running up front! Utphall and Fish

Utphall, Marek, Fish
(right before, shall we say;"the shit hit the fan"

Dells Winner; Chris Marek

See you @ the party next Saturday (May 22nd) and @ Hawkeye Downs Speedway in Cedar Rapids Ia, on June 11th for the Keith Fleck/Miller 35L.

MADDOG