From Peterson Media
Getting off to a strong start last weekend in Tucson, AZ, Tony Bruce, Jr and his team had high hopes heading into the Cocopah Cup at the Cocopah Speedway, however the Owasso, OK driver was a tick off all weekend, leading to a rather disappointing results.
“We were just a step off all weekend, and I really can’t put my finger on what it was,” Bruce said. “The beauty of our sport is we will race again and put this weekend behind us.”
Getting back in action on Friday night, Bruce found himself in a star studded heat, and his fourth place finish from his third place start forced his Hinchman Racewear/Eagle Motorsports/Oil Medics machine into the night’s B main event.
Lining up on the front row of the B with Brady Bacon, Bruce would lose the drag race heading into turns one and two, though he mirrored Bacon all race long.
The Liberal, KS native would hold the second spot, and make the call for the feature event, where he would line his Smiley’s/SWE/Maxwell Industries machine up in the 18th spot.
In the feature event, Bruce had his share of struggles, as he could not seem to make his one8 Motorsports machine go forward.
TBJ would end up finishing in the 15th spot.
“Friday just started off on the wrong foot as we lost spots in our heat, and wound up in the B,” he explained. “We had good speed in the feature, we just couldn’t seem to make anything work to get going forward, and we stayed in the back all night.”
Back in action on Saturday, Bruce’s woes would continue as he got off to a bad start in his heat, and fell back to the seventh spot after starting fifth.
Seeming to regain his composure, TBJ would get back to the fifth spot at the stripe, but the lack of passing points put him back in the B main again.
Lining up sixth in the B, TBJ had a little work to do to transfer to the feature, but the veteran driver made a strong move on the start to shoot his FK Rod Ends/ButlerBuilt/FK Shocks machine up to the fourth spot, where he would finish, and transfer to the feature.
Starting 20th, Bruce again seemed to struggle getting his car to work for him, as he seemed to fight his car, but slowly gained spots.
“We got a little better late in the race, but still, we were not very good,” he said.
Hanging on, TBJ would score a 13th place feature, and escape Yuma, AZ with no major issues.
“Unfortunately, these weekends happen, but we have a strong team, and we weathered the storm and got out of there with no major issues.”
Bruce would like to thank Hinchman Racewear, Eagle Motorsports, The Oil Medics, Smileys, SWE, Maxwell Industries, FK Rod Ends, Butlerbuilt, Factory Kahne Shocks, DriversWebsites.com, Racinboys.com, Wilwood, Schoenfield Headers, Hoosier Tires, HRP, Kaeding Performance, Schaefer Oil, Fuel Safe, Bell helmets, Four Seasons Radiator, Southern Trailer Works, KSE, Brown and Miller Racing Solutions, Weld Wheels, and ISC Racer’s Tape for their support.
2013 BY THE NUMBERS- Races-4, Wins-0, Top 5’s-1, Top 10’s-2
ON TAP: Bruce and his team will head back to their home shop before retuning to action at the Devil’s Bowl Speedway on March 22nd-23rd.
STAY CONNECTED: Stay updated with TBJ by visiting his website at
www.tonybrucejr.com, or by following him on twitter @tonybrucejr.