From CDR
After two nights of racing with the All Star Circuit of Champions were followed by three consecutive nights with the World of Outlaws to open the 2011 season, Craig Dollansky and the Big Game Treestands #7 team showed they were one of the fastest cars all week long at Volusia Speedway Park. Before spending the upcoming off week regrouping and getting things back in line, I caught up with Dollansky to put a wrap on the action in Florida and look forward to what’s ahead on the Outlaws schedule.
Night 1
Qualifying: 17th
Heat Race: 1st
A-Main: 2nd, start (17)
“On the first night we didn’t qualify well but we won our heat race, started seventeenth, and progressed through the field as the race went on. We had a restart with a few laps left, with the All Stars they keep lapped cars in and at that point we were running fourth and there were four or five lapped cars mixed in there. We only had a few laps left and ended up getting a couple more positions to end up 2nd. It was pretty cool to see both Big Game Treestands cars come home first and second and a great way to start the week.”
Night 2
Qualifying: 3rd
Heat Race: DNF
B-Main: DNF
“We went into the second night after they had gotten a fair amount of rain, it was pretty cool out, and the air was real good. We qualified good and that put us in the third row of the heat race. Given the track conditions after the rain it was hard to get through from the third row and we were one of the few cars to get out the third row and get into the top two positions. The car felt good and about four laps into the heat race we lost a motor. Unfortunately that took us out of the mix for the dash and we had to run the B-Main. Four laps into the B-Main while running in a transfer spot we lost that motor too and that ended our night.”
Night 3
Qualifying: 9th
Heat Race: 1st
Dash: 6th
A-Main: DNF, start (6)
“On the third night we weren’t great but we were good enough to finish in the top five but Lasoski blew a tire in front of us. I got over the back of him and bounced the front end. Later in the race with three laps to go when I went into turn one all of a sudden something broke in the steering and sent me straight into the wall pretty hard. I thought I had hurt my back so we went to get that checked out later that night and found there was nothing major with it.”
Night 4
Qualifying: 9th
Heat Race: 1st
Dash: 2nd
A-Main: DNF, start (2)
led 27 of 30 laps
“Loosing the two motors on Thursday and then a car on Friday really put the team behind for Saturday. My crew of DJ, Luke, and Troy, as well as Scott Benic, worked hard trying to get everything back in order and did a great job, it was a hard crash and I was sore going into Saturday night’s race. The car was good and we had a great night going, anytime you’re out front leading you don’t really know the size of lead you have but I felt like we were getting through lapped traffic good and running a good pace. I felt the motor starting to let go with about eight laps to go, it was kind of hanging on and I thought we might make it to the end but it started going down to fast and ended our night which was unfortunate for the entire team.”
Night 5
Qualifying: 5th
Heat Race: 1st
Dash: 2nd
A-Main: 11th, start (2)
led 24 of 30 laps
“On Sunday we had the lead again and were going along real good until the latter part of the race with about ten laps to go and the front end started acting up. I thought we had broke a shock the way the car was steering making it a hand full for me to deal with. After breaking the steering on Friday I was even more concerned so I tried to adjust my line and was trying to deal with it and get to the end where we finished 11th. After the race we found out what the problem was and we were lucky to make it to the end of the race without losing the entire race car. The left front radius rod bolt had come out, the nut was gone, and had come all the way out to the point where it was rocking back and forth with the radius rod just hanging on the end of it. How we got to the end of that race I have no idea but we were pretty fortunate.”
“We showed all week long that we have a very strong race team. We were plagued with some issues and our results don’t show what we truly have going on here. I have a great team with DJ Lindsey as my crew chief. That bolt coming loose isn’t from a lack of effort and hard work these guys were putting in. Five consecutive nights of racing is a lot of racing and a lot to keep up with. It was a long stressful week and we had a lot of troubles that put us behind.”
Looking forward to Pike County Speedway on February 25th and Royal Purple Raceway on February 26th
“We’re going to take advantage of this time off and get things back in order and get our motors back up and going. I feel great about our cars, we have some issues we have to get sorted out with our motors and we will get them sorted out. Brian Morrison builds a great motor and we realize what caused us to lose some motors. The results didn’t show it but we have a very strong team here. When we run the way we did in Florida the wins will come and I’m looking forward to getting back to racing at Magnolia and Houston.”
Craig Dollansky Racing competes on the World of Outlaws circuit with great sponsors in Big Game Treestands, Karavan Trailers, Aggressive Hydraulics, and Aeroquip Performance Products. Other supporters of CDR include Snap-on, Schoenfeld Headers, Morrison Racing Engines, Maxim Chassis, Integra Shocks, Winter Rearends, Sander Engineering, Overnight Wraps, Simpson, GATR Volvo, Butler Built Seats, Wings Unlimited, QuickCar Race Products, Saldana Racing Products, FK Rod Ends, KSE Steering Gears, Astro Titanium, Ray’s Autobody, Premier Powder Coating, Spectro Oil, Bob’s Bike Shop, Justice Brothers Products, CarMate Trailers, and R&R Enterprises.