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Tornado Alley – Eagle's Nest!
(Bill W) March 27, 2008 – After a two-year absence, Billy Alley will be back on the track where everything started, Eagle Raceway. The 1/3 mile oval is close to home for the Lincoln, Nebraska driver, and it will play host to the Ice Breaker Challenge for 360 sprints this Saturday and Sunday night. A Friday night practice session will allow the 2002 Eagle Raceway champion and SA Racing to unleash their 410 engine for the first time this season on a track in which they are comfortable.
Billy grew up watching heroes like JJ Riggins and Ray Lipsey at Eagle before driving with success there himself. He relishes the opportunity to return to competition at Eagle. "I'm excited to be racing at home," he says. "We haven't raced there since the World of Outlaws show in 2006. Usually when we go there, we're pretty good. We've done well when the Outlaws have come, so hopefully, I can at least make the A main this week!"
Six of Billy's last seven races at Eagle have been in a 410 with the World of Outlaws. He has more than held his own with the WoO at his home track, posting three eleventh place finishes as well as a 12th against the best in the business. His last 360 action at the track came when he drove the Mark Burch #1m to a sixth place finish in the Jim Eckley Memorial in June of 2006.
Billy's partnership with Shane Sterling eases his mind about recent struggles and keeps his eye on what's most important…what lies ahead. "Eagle is the next race, so that's what I have to focus on. My partner (Sterling) makes everything easy for us. He understands what's going on with our early struggles here, and he works to keep everyone 'up'. That's what our team needs right now, because we're not used to struggling."
A Step Forward in OKC
The team traveled to the Spring Nationals at the State Fair Speedway in Oklahoma City last weekend for a two-night show. Again, 50+ of the best drivers in sprint racing were gathered and starving action. Being a tick off is going to have a huge impact in that kind of scenario, and that was the case for the team. "We struggled quite a bit again," says Billy. "We tried to go back to more of a normal set-up for us from what we had in Dallas, and it still didn't work too well. Friday night it was heavy and we kind of finished where we started in both races."
A fifth place finish on Friday in the heat, and a disappointing third place tally in the B, left Billy one spot out of a feature transfer. Saturday saw a bit of luck in the heat race. "We did get the car better on Saturday, but it wasn't where we need it to be," says Billy. "We can't blame it on the draw. Kaleb Johnson, who's a great go-kart racer up in Sioux Falls and is going to be famous some day, drew for me. We started on the pole and by the time we hit the flag stand, we were fifth. We had some stumbling problems at the start of the race. Luckily, we got back to fourth, and then Terry McCarl dropped out with engine problems and Natalie Sather had some problems on the last lap, so we got back to second."
The fortunate circumstances set Billy outside of row eight for the main event. "In the feature, we stumbled back to 22nd by lap two," he says. "I just couldn't get any forward drive from the car at the beginning. At the end of the race, (Bob) 'Buns' (Richardson) was really positive about how the car looked. I was the last car on the lead lap (finishing 20th), and Jason Johnson was behind us, but couldn't get around. We made our first feature of the year, so we were happy. Of course, if you would have told me that a month ago, I would have thought that was terrible."
The team continues to try to get their Wesmar power hooked to the track. "We've had some trouble with the motor on the starts so far," says Billy. "'Buns' changed the whole thing around, and we may have gone a little too far on Saturday. It's more of a hesitation without a smooth power band, and the tires are spinning out from underneath me. It's a beast of a motor, but we need to find a way to get that power to the track. When we get to some momentum racetracks, I think we're going to take off with this motor."
Of course, there is the issue of the tough competition faced so far with a new team. "That ASCS deal is tough," admits Billy. "There are guys that I didn't know, and I still don't. I do know what a lot of their tail tanks look like now though! There were a lot of fast cars there, so we have to put that in perspective, but we're never going to be good with it until we're in front of them!"
Website
Read in depth about Billy and the Race Team at the website.
To learn more about Billy Alley and SA Racing, visit www.BillyAlley.com!
T-shirts
SA Racing apparel can be viewed at www.BillyAlley.com and purchased at the track! Also visit www.RacingThreads.com for apparel on clearance!
Down the Alley
Julie in Lincoln, NE asks: You seemed to have immediate success at Eagle Raceway. I think you won the third time you had run there. What is it about Eagle that suits your style?
Billy answers: I grew up at Eagle, and had been watching guys race there since I was little. Believe it or not, I'm a listener. Listening to JJ Riggins and Ray Lipsey, and Bob Richardson definitely helped me get around that place. A lot of the credit goes to Bob. He not only found my style right away, but knew how to set up a car for that race track. It wasn't like we were going somewhere that no one had ever been.
Got a question for Billy? Send it to us at [email protected], and we may answer it in this section! Put "? for Billy" in your subject line.
Alley's Anecdotes
Billy goes to Eagle having won nine times in 41 feature starts there (22%). He also has 20 top fives (49%) and 25 top tens (61%) at the banked 1/3 mile oval. The 2002 Eagle Raceway champion as a rookie, the track was a big reason he won National Sprint Car Hall of Fame and Museum 360 Rookie of the Year honors that season. He won six of his features at the track during the 2002 season.
Tornado Alley
"Tornado Alley" is an up close look at the past, present and future of 2006 Knoxville Raceway track champion, Billy Alley. To receive "Tornado Alley", send an e-mail to [email protected] with "Alley" in the subject line.
SA Racing would like to thank Delta Oil, Sterling Physical Therapy, PC, Bolz Farms, Aeroquip, Awesome Racewear, The Buckles Brothers, Buss Excavating, JEI Chassis, McLain Motorsports, Schmit Automotive, Wesmar Racing Engines, Red Devil
Brakes, Fuel Safe, C&R Radiator, Vortex Wings, Sander Engineering, K&N Filters and Harris Decals.
Billy in action at State Fair Speedway in Oklahoma City (Doug Johnson Photo)
Bill W MediaMonroe, IAUSA[email protected]
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