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Tuesdays with TMAC – Flava McCarl!
(Bill W) August 12, 2008 – In the biggest show in sprint car racing, Terry McCarl could have been "The Show". On a track dubbed, "too good" by many racers, the Altoona, Iowa driver passed 15 of the best in the business without the benefit of a caution until the late stages. His runs from 6th to 3rd in the B, and 23rd to 8th in the A, covered 52 laps around the Knoxville Raceway, and constituted more passing than any other driver!
TMAC shook the family tree for some Nationals help. It finally paid off on Saturday, after bad luck earlier in the week. "After Thursday and Friday, I knew the racecar was fast, and we were moving in the right direction," he says. "My dad, Lenard, was helping me the whole week, helping my normal crew. We were working well together, and he is better these days at figuring out what I need the car to do to be faster."
The 22-lap B main is always a knock-down, drag-out fight and Saturday's fight for the first four spots and a trip to the finale was no different. "On the first start, we drove up to third, but unfortunately, somebody (Roger Crockett) crashed," says TMAC. "On the next one, we were in second after just a few laps. Once there, I wasn't really catching Daryn (Pittman), so I started moving around on the track, going high and coming off low, stuff to get ready for the A. When Chad (Kemenah) got back by us, I wasn't that concerned. I was looking at the big picture, and it helped us."
Lenard did most of the tuning on the Big Game Treestands #24 Maxim for the 30-lap main event. The result couldn't have been better. "When I got in, I told my dad what I didn't want done to the car, but I pretty much let him set it up," says TMAC. "He tried some different things than what we had been doing, and the harder I drove the car, the better it got. It was tight the first couple of laps, but I remember honking into turn three on the third lap, and it just rolled right around the corner!"
The first 23 laps went non-stop on a relatively heavy track, but TMAC had busted into the top ten. He would finish 8th at the checkers, earning hard-charger honors and the wooden clock that goes with it! "The car was great from the beginning to the end," he says. "I hardly had to even adjust the wing. The car was excellent. The funny thing was, before the race, I was on the frontstretch putting my helmet on, and thought, 'well, we'll just kind of do our best here'. Then I started thinking about the clock! I wanted the clock! I'm thinking about doing the Flava Flav thing with the clock."
(http://msfriendly.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/flava-flav.jpg)
Friday/Saturday Blues
Things started with a draw on the backstretch for qualifying, something every driver dreads at the Nationals. TMAC and the team persevered with a good lap. "We drew a late number, and especially on the second day, that's tough," says the driver. "I was pretty happy to end up 13th, my goal was the top 15. It was funny, because the track looked pretty good when I pushed off. It was greasy on the berm so you couldn't go too low, but the straightaway was kind of slick and powdery and you saw that as the night went on. We turned a good lap."
The toughest part of the Nationals can be your heat race, but TMAC excelled driving from eighth to third and gaining a transfer to the Thursday A. "It was good to go out in a later heat (third), and have the track slick off a bit more," he says. "We had a great start, and I missed the bottom a little bit and Craig (Dollansky) got by me. We were all over him, but obviously he's one of the best in the country right now, and he showed it on Saturday night."
During intermission, a TMAC discovery would be an omen for what awaited him later on. "After the heats, I walked the track and found a 10" piece of metal…almost like a guardrail," he says. "It might have come off an enduro car or something. It was sticking out quite a bit right on the cushion. I'm surprised someone didn't cut a tire in the heats. The shovel crew dug it up, and then I was the one who ended up blowing a tire in the feature."
TMAC's blow tire came while he was running sixth on lap 17 of 20. He would return, but could climb no higher than 17th. "We were running fine to start with, and I thought we had at least a top three car," he says of the feature run. "On the third lap, I hit the front straight fence and broke the jacob's ladder. It looked like we'd still finish sixth there, and I don't think we quite would have made the A Scramble, but we'd have been close. Instead of starting the A main in the 6th row, we ran over something, and that's how the year has been going."
Locked into Friday's B Scramble featuring the top ten cars qualified for the B, TMAC was optimistic. "One thing that really kept me going after Thursday was, the car was fast," he relates. "We are just getting better and better in the Maxim. I knew if I could get to fourth in the Scramble that I'd have a shot at the front row for Saturday. Everybody is so tough in that B main. Every couple spots you move up or back is huge. We moved up to fifth and were challenging (Greg) Hodnett for fourth. I thought we may even have a shot at winning, and those things pay good money, and the car jumped out of gear. I was glad that it didn't hurt the motor or anything, and we came back to 7th at the finish." The finish, obviously put him outside row three of Saturday's B.
FRC/UC Success
It was a successful year at the Front Row Challenge and Ultimate Challenge races at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa last week. Promoter McCarl was happy with how things went. "The things I wish for most, are safe racing and no rain!" he says. "We had some great racing, especially on Tuesday. I'd like to congratulate Daryn Pittman and Dave Darland for their wins."
Crazee Combos Continue!
TMAC and Daryn Pittman are continuing their "Crazee Combo" deals at the merchandise trailer! For $25, you can purchase a t-shirt, hat, sticker and coozie from TMAC! Take advantage of the "Crazee Combo" this weekend!
In"Terry"gation
Eric from Newton, IA asks: You drove a Wolfweld chassis in the 1m at Knoxville. Wolfie doesn't build a lot of cars so you don't hear a lot about his chassis. How is it different than the chassis you normally race with?
TMAC Answers: Getting into it is one of the biggest differences. I had been using a 'Tall Boy' Eagle, and there's not as much room. But other than that initial change in scenery, the latest cars have felt closest to the Eagles. Some of the cars in the past had been harder on the right rear. Mark does such a good job as a mechanic that it really is close to the Eagle or Maxim. He and I see eye to eye on setup, and you have to trust anyone that does your taxes. No one is a better welder than Doug Wolfgang, and it makes for a quality team.
Got a question for TMAC? Send it to us at [email protected], and we may answer it in this section! Put "? for TMAC" in your subject line.
Today in TMAC History!
TMAC was 6th in the 1991 Jayhawk Nationals at Topeka Raceway Park on this date. He drove the Offill #88 that day. Jack Hewitt won the race in the Durst #1x and was chased to the line by Gary Wright, Danny Lasoski, Tommy Estes Jr. and Shane Carson. TMAC had towed from the Watsonville Speedway in Watsonville, California, where he had won two days prior over Jason Statler, Danny Olmstead and Howard Kaeding.
Website Updates
Keep up to date with McCarl Motorsports at www.TerryMcCarl.com. We keep it fresh for TMAC fans!
"Tuesdays with TMAC"!
"Tuesdays with TMAC" is an up close and personal look at colorful sprint car veteran Terry McCarl. To receive "Tuesdays with TMAC", send an e-mail to [email protected] with "TMAC" in the subject line.
TMAC Motorsports would like to thank sponsors Big Game Treestands, AmeriCashAdvance.com, DeBerg Concrete and Remington Treestands.
Flava McCarl? (Dennis Krieger Imagery)
Bill Wright
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Monroe, IAUSA
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