Dan Simpson Racing July 4th Weekend Recap
By George Hague
July 7th…Rio Vista, CA…Dan Simpson, the second year, 64 year old sprint car driver, faced 34 drivers Friday night at the Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, CA. His first challenge was a draw that put him 5th out for qualifying and he clocked in with a 12.132, which held up for 11th quick of the 34 qualifiers.
Simpson lined up the DES Inc, Flowmaster, DryVac Services Canada, # 4s on the outside of row two for the heat and had a terrific battle with Brandon Carey the entire 8 laps with Dan being edged out for the final transfer to the Main event at the checkered flag, which resulted in a outside front row B-main starting spot along side Brad Sweet. Simpson followed Sweet the entire 12 lap B-Main to the checkered flag and a spot in the main event.
Dan lined the 4s up in the 11th starting spot and muscled his way to a 13th place finish after bending the Jacobs ladder on lap 13 of the 25 lap feature event. The night ended with Dan Simpson moving into the top ten in the Silver Dollar Speedway year long point's race for the first time in his young sprint car career.
Saturday found the team back at Silver Dollar Speedway and round number 17 of the Golden State Challenge Series. The night was looking great after hot laps, the crew had the car setup just right for the ¼ speedway. Dan, knowing he had to have a great qualifying time, with 37 cars signed in for racing , he ran the DES Inc #4s hard into turn one and the car jumped the cushion and started to flip wildly over the embankment and down the other side. After a couple of minutes Dan climbed from his badly damaged car, and to the delight of the fans, did a couple of shoulder rolls down the track to show the crowd he was OK.
Without a qualifying time Simpson was relegated to the back of the 10 car heat race and needing a fourth place finish to move directly to the A-main event. He raced to a fifth place finish which meant a 19th place starting spot for the B-main. The crew had rebuilt the Vac Dewater, Flowmaster, DES Inc Maxim after the qualifying incident and had adjusted the car after the heat for the run through the B-main. Needing a 6th place finish to move to the A-main, Simpson an the team where on a mission and when the checkered flag fell, on the shortened 12 lap event, Simpson had motored his way to a 7th place finish, just short of a spot in the a-main. As the car rolled back to the pit area the crew was notified that one of the qualified cars would not be able to make the feature and Simpson, the alternate for the B-main, would tag the rear of the main event.
Starting last in the 22 car field was going to be a challenge, but once again the crew and driver had worked all night for the opportunity. Dan had worked his way past a few cars when a car spun directly in front of the 4s and with no where to go, Simpson made contact, breaking the front wing mounts. After a trip to the pits he again started in the back for the field and when the checkered flag flew for winner Brad Sweet, Dan Simpson and the DES Inc Racing Team had finished 17th and still in the 12th spot in the year long Golden State Challenge Series Championship race.
This weekend at Silver Dollar Speedway will see a second car racing under the DES Inc banner. The popular Oroville driver Destiney Hays has signed a deal to race out the 2008 season with the team, running the 8s number on the familiar red DES Inc, DryVac Services Canada, Flowmaster Vac Dewater colors. For additional information regarding the DES Inc Racing team and their 2008 schedule go to www.dansimpsonracing.com .
