By Bill W
April 15, 2014 – Small motor…no problem. Facing one of the stoutest fields the MOWA series would see all year, Jerrod Hull grabbed a win at Illinois’ Jacksonville Speedway, and was in the running for a podium finish at 34 Raceway in West Burlington, Iowa. The Rockwell American #12 team was utilizing an eighteen year old, 12-head motor first built in 1996!
Friday’s opener for the MOWA series saw the three-time and defending champion draw outside of row two for his heat. “Two cars got together in front of us there to start the heat, and we were able to start up front,” says Jerrod. “That was where we needed to be. I kind of hit the cushion up there and the car was perfect.”
The heat win earned Jerrod a Dash spot. He drew a six to start the event, and charged to second. “The car was just dead on,” he says. “It was perfect. We were able to get up through there and finish second. That put us on the outside of the front row for the feature.”
With Wayne Johnson on the pole, the race was for the lead on the tight ¼-mile bullring. “Wayne was able to get the jump on us on the first start,” says Jerrod. “They had another start, and we were able to get the jump that time. We were able to get up top first where you needed to be, and we were out front.”
Jerrod negotiated traffic, with the likes of Johnson, Ian Madsen, Kevin Swindell and Brad Loyet in pursuit. “Some of the guys kind of caught up with us in lapped traffic,” he says. “But getting to us, and passing us are two different things. It’s one of those things where leading isn’t always an advantage in traffic, but I think we had a handle on it. When a caution did come out, it did help us to get out of traffic.”
He would go on to win in his first outing of the season. “All in all, (crew chief) Scott (Bonar) had the car great,” he says. “I was just in there hanging on, so it was just perfect.”
The Sikeston, Missouri driver waited a while last year before getting his first win in Macon, Illinois at the end of July. This felt a lot better. “It was tough last year,” says Jerrod. “After a month or so , we were wondering if we’d ever win again. We don’t have to worry about that now. We can relax and let the wins come.”
The team made the eighteen old engine sing enough to put themselves in contention on Saturday at 34 Raceway. “Our primary engine is not done yet, so we’re still using our 12-head motor that we built back in ’96,” says Jerrod. “We knew we weren’t going to do well qualifying. We were just hoping to make the invert, and it worked out to 11th out of 33 cars. With that motor, we were really happy.”
Jerrod used his starting spot outside of row one in the heat to record his second heat win of the weekend and head to another Dash. “Again the car felt really good,” he says. “The top was the place to be in the heat, and we were able to start up there. I don’t know what we have going on, but we have SuperShox and Hoosier Tires and they are just working perfect for us.”
Quick timer Terry McCarl drew a seven for the Dash invert, putting Jerrod row one outside. “We had a great starting spot and I was excited,” he says. “About two-thirds of a lap in, I saw smoke coming out and that being our only engine for right now, I shut it off immediately.”
The culprit was an inspection plug. Once reinserted and with a quart of oil added, Jerrod would start outside row four for the main event. “My start wasn’t too good starting on the top in one and two and we lost a position,” he says of the first lap. “I was able to move down and we started passing cars. There towards the middle of the race, I was battling (Craig) Dollansky for second and I thought we had a really good shot at that.”
A caution appeared at the halfway point with Jerrod sitting in third behind McCarl and Dollansky. Unfortunately, the yellow hindered his chances. “I thought we’d make a run at that point, but as soon as the green came back out, our tires sealed over and we fell back to seventh,” he says. “We were able to get sixth back at the checkers. Some nights the cautions work for you, and some nights they don’t. They definitely hurt us there.”
Still, the team was excited about the weekend. “With the competition we had, we were tickled to death,” says Jerrod. “We knew we had a shot at getting a win, but you never know. To win one with that type of competition gives you some momentum going into the rest of the year.”
MOWA is back at it this Friday night at the Tri-City Speedway in Granite City, Illinois. “We’ll still be down on motor just a little bit, but hopefully, without qualifying, we’ll be good,” says a hopeful Jerrod.
Jerrod and the #12 team would like to thank: Rockwell American, Midland Performance, Super Shox, Sebastian Sand Blasting & Powder Coating, Inc., Chuck’s Small Engines, Don Hamilton, HRP, Lighthouse Christian Center, Logo Daddy, Hoosier Tire, Simpson, Weld, Automotive Machine, Maxim and Heartland Trailer Manufacturing.