Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

To start, this is an honest question/observation. I live in Florida now so besides February, there isn't a whole lot of (or any) quality 410 sprint car racing going on here. But anywho, I have tried to follow Lynton Jeffrey and the McCarls over the last decade or so. I had no idea who Lynton was until I got to spend a weekend trying to help (even though I was more henderence than help) when they went down for an early season WOO Texas swing in 2009. I didn't realize that Terry and Lynton we close (seemingly), and I hadn't noticed anything that seemed to have changed with that relationship until a couple of weeks ago when Lynton won the weekly 360 show. He was always really nice to me and you never had to guess what he thinks, because he'll tell you, which I admire. So when he commented about thanking Destiny Motorsports for not wanting that car, and him getting a bit emotional, it perked my ears up a bit. And then when Austin McCarl won, he was emphatic about thanking HRP and how good their wings are. So I said alot to ask this.......did Lynton and the McCarls have a falling out? And/or is it just business and not a big deal?

As a side note, it's sure nice to see Lynton get a nice sponsor and some good results lately.

Thanks in advance!

Something happened some odd years back already for sure. Went from pitting next to each other to spread way out and from thanking Vortex wings to HRP. What exactly happened I do not know but the tensions are obvious nowadays it appears since you noticed as well as I.

After a heat race they were both in a year or 2 ago Terry was mad at Lynton over something that happened on the track. Terry was restrained by 3 guys from going after Lynton. Lynton has not pitted next to the McCarls since then.

I don't think I'd want to go after any Australian sprint racer.

I don't really know anything about any beef between Lynton & Terry, but I did have the chance to meet Lynton this past weekend at Knoxville. He was a super nice guy to my son and I when we were walking around looking at all the cars Friday & Saturday. He was on the phone when we first walked up and as any 4 year old normally does, my son tried to touch the wing which I told him not too because I do not want to be responsible for any broken equipment. Lynton stopped his phone conversation and said, "he can touch whatever he won't hurt anything, go have a look around whatever you would like." He continued his phone conversation and went into the hauler and just let my son walk around as if he owned the place. He asked where we were from, talked about tracks he and I had been too, the racing the previous night, and thanked us for coming all the way to Knoxville and supporting. He wasn't the only one who did this either this weekend or in the past with their fans but there was a geniune feel about him.

Hopefully whatever the issue is between the two it gets resolved. I know some on here have their negative & positive opinions about Terry but I haven't had any type of conversations with him to really get an impression since I only see him race once or twice a year.

We attempted an All-Star race at Angell Park Speedway a few years back.  59 cars showed up including Rico and Smoke.  It was the only race I have ever attended that got "drizzled out."  (It literally drizzed for 2 hours enough to cancel the races)   Anyways, almost every driver high-tailed it out of the pits.  Rico and Tony stayed and signed autographs at their souvenir trailers with Tony staying until every single person that wanted and autograph got one.  We walked into the pits, and the only driver around was Terry McCarl.  We walked up to his hauler, he saw us, turned towards us, and approached us with his hand out thanking us for coming out to the races----apologizing they couldn't get the show in.  Now granted, his hauler was stuck in the mud.  However, he could have been pissed off and wanted nothing to do with us.  He autographed our kid's shirts, took some pictures and shook all of our hands.  That has always stuck with me.  I know many don't like him, but those types of memories keep you from hating anything that happens on track, in the heat of the moment.

Same for me with Donny Schatz.  I've had 2 interactions with him.  As much as I don't like to see him win, I've run into him 2 times-----both at Casey's in Knoxville.  He was very friendly both times---and he didn't have to be because I never bugged him.  

Great to hear stories about drivers who understand how important the fans are to their livelyhood.  I stay away from drivers when it's work time.  I stay away from pissed off drivers after the race.  I try to give myself the best chance of meeting a driver when he is at his lowest stress point and not in work mode.  Like you said with Lynton, you don't intentionally bug him, he then approaches you and you have a positive interaction.  Better than shoving a piece of merchandise in his face while he's on the phone and pissing him off. 

Thanks for the good comments and appropriate feedback guys. Just to follow up on my original post, I drove Lynton's rig from Kilgore to Baytown in the middle of the night and he slept in the back of the truck, we got to Baytown at about 6 AM, He had a  4 page print-off from MapQuest, thats the only way we knew where we where lol. Broke a motor at Baytown, and Terry ended up riding back north with us and it was Easter weekened and I remember Lynton calling his family and wishing them happy Easter and apologizing for not being there. Even at 21 years old at the time (me), I was like man this is how everybody should be. Just good people. Terry was super nice too. He talks alot though, that is a long ride from Baytown to Muskogee haha. I hope both men and their families are all good and stay safe and have great luck.

I am bumping this thread since these two alledgedly bumped wheels,  cars, and fists Saturday night.

See the Husets post race thread.