By Todd Michaels
. This would also be Troy’s first drive with team owner George Rudolph’s new Steele Performance Parts Diablo Chassis.
“I’t’s good to be back home for the weekend, and it feels really good to see that so many of my fans, friends and family are keeping up with all of my races in the Midwest right now,” said DeCaire. “We got to the track early at Orlando because my team owner George Rudolph was rolling out the Diablo for the first time and we wanted to shake it down, but unfortunately as we were getting ready for the heat races the thunder and lightning moved in and then the rain came and that was it.”
The TBARA series then moved over to the ultra-fast New Smyrna Speedway for Saturday night, where Troy has already won twice this year with the TBARA.
“To say we were fast in practice would be an understatement,” continued DeCaire. “I was running 15.2s when everyone else was struggling to get into the 15s at all. Then I put down a 15.19 which is my fastest ever lap there. We put on new tires for the heat, which I won, but the car just wasn’t running right and I only ran 15.9s. We took everything fuel related apart and found the issue and got everything back together in time for the feature.”
With heat index temperatures reaching 105 during the day, the heat lasted into the evening, and the feature would get even hotter with Troy looking for a way to get out front early.
“At the drop of the green flag, I moved to the outside and made some passes and got to the front and checked out,” continued DeCaire. “I had half-a-lap on the field after fifteen laps, but then a caution came out. I don’t know if I ran over something, but the car was bad loose everywhere, including the straightaway, so I thought maybe the right front shock lost gas. I got passed for the lead, but I didn’t want to lose so I put the wing all the way back and mashed it, but I just couldn’t catch the leader. After the race I saw there was a hole in the right rear and chunks were just gone. I don’t blister tires, so I must have run over something during the caution. I don’t want to complain about finishing second, but we had the speed to win before that happened. That’s racing, I guess.”
Troy DeCaire was scheduled to compete at Oswego Speedway for the USAC Silver Crown race, but that race was just canceled. Troy’s next race is August 6 at Dixie Speedway in Michigan with the Auto Value Sprint Series, followed the next night with the Hoosier Outlaw Sprint Series at Illiana Speedway in Indiana.
About Troy DeCaire
Racing since the age of four, Troy DeCaire has been winning races and championships since he was old enough to hold a steering wheel in his hands. After graduating to full-blown sprint cars, and competing with what is arguably the toughest pavement sprint car series in the country while still a teenager, DeCaire proved to be a quick study, picking up the series championship in 2007 and 2008. In 2009, DeCaire also added a wingless series championship to his resume. To learn more about Troy DeCaire, please visit his new website at www.troydecaire.com.