By Bill W
May 6, 2014 – Consistency from the beginning of the night to the end is what it takes to win a championship at the Knoxville Raceway. This year, with the competition at an all-time high, the barometer has been raised. After the first three events, Terry McCarl has emerged atop the standings, and though it is early in the season, he has laid a very solid foundation. Last Saturday, he finished second, and he will return this weekend to the “Sprint Car Capital of the World” before making the season opener at the Huset’s Speedway near Brandon, South Dakota on Sunday night.
Last Friday night offered an opportunity to drive Jeremy Scadden’s #6 machine at Eagle Raceway with the Nebraska 360 Sprint Car Series. He would start third in his heat. “We worked our way up to second there,” says TMAC. “We just missed the redraw by tying Billy Alley. We were scheduled to start tenth at that point.”
The Altoona, Iowa driver moved forward in the feature. “Seth Brahmer wasn’t able to start, so that put us starting eighth,” says TMAC. “We had a good start. I think I was up to fourth in two laps. I ran down third. I was trying to move around a little. The track was really on the cushion, there wasn’t much left on the bottom.”
TMAC got a little too anxious at the midway point. “I was fourth with nine laps down and we had a yellow,” he says. “There’s been a hole in turn one at Eagle, Nebraska for forty years. I definitely know better. There’s one getting in and one just past the entrance. There was a lot of moisture between the holes, and I thought I could go between them and catch some juice and maybe get a run on the guy in front of me.”
That’s when disaster struck. “A second later, I stuck it, but the left rear hit that hole,” says TMAC. “I bottomed out the car on the hole and it filled it with mud and dirt. It dug in and bounced and hopped. I thought I was going to save it a couple times, but it kept bouncing and hopping and we got upside down. I felt bad for Jeremy. I think it’s been a couple of years since we’ve been upside down. Thinking about it afterwards, I should have just cooled my jets. It was kind of a ‘young guy’ mistake. I was trying to find something. It got the wings and some bolt-on parts, but otherwise, it wasn’t too bad. We were ready to race at Huset’s Sunday before they rained out.”
Back in the TMAC Motorsports #24 on Saturday at Knoxville, TMAC timed in third quick. “I’m really happy mentally and physically about the way things are going with our team,” he says. “We’ve got some spare parts, and I have a great crew. Doug Rankin has helped so much. It’s unfortunate Austin (McCarl) doesn’t have a ride this year, but he’s a great help too. That gives us two great crew guys. I feel as good as I did back in 2009 when things were going really well.”
The heat went well too, as TMAC drove from sixth to third. He talked about some changes the team has made. “We changed the car a little and changed the motor a bit over the winter,” he says. “I think it’s working really, really well. We’re changing things weekly and making the car better each time out. We haven’t got a win at Knoxville yet, but circumstances beat us more than others being faster.”
In the feature, TMAC found himself third behind Lynton Jeffrey and Brian Brown. From there, he was reeling in the leaders in traffic when the red flag flew with nine laps in the books. “I felt like I was faster than (Brown) before the red, especially coming off the bottom of four,” he says. “The open red gave Brian and (crew chief) Chad (Morgan) a chance to work on their car, and maybe more importantly, it gave Chad a chance to tell Brian where I was running. I was a little tighter than him too. On the restarts, it took a couple of laps to get heat in the right rear tire and get it to stand up and lay in the corner nice. We’d just get going and get another yellow. I wasn’t losing much ground to him, even running in the middle. We had an excellent car. It just took a lap or two to get honking into turn three.”
He would settle for a solid second place run. “Yellows and reds have hurt us this year,” says TMAC. “We’d really love to go non-stop in these races, and I’d like them to be 25 laps. We can’t complain about second on Saturday. Brian was a little better at the end of the race. He’s had a tough year with some bad breaks. Saturday, he had the breaks he needed and that was good for him.”
TMAC finds himself atop the point standings after three nights at Knoxville. “It was a good point night, and that’s important to us too,” he says. “The ultimate goal is to win another Knoxville championship, and to do it in the hardest year ever. That makes us work harder. The bottom line is I’m feeling really good about our team…better than I’ve felt in a long time.”
To check out opportunities to partner with TMAC Motorsports on a nightly basis, visit www.TerryMcCarl.com or call 515 957-0020!
Front Row Challenge Tickets on Sale!
The 19th Annual Casey’s General Stores/Musco Lighting Front Row Challenge presented by Searsboro Telephone Company will be held Monday, August 4 at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa, Iowa.
Tickets are now on sale! For more information, call Front Row Challenge Enterprises, LLC at 515 957-0020. For further information, stay tuned to www.OskyChallenges.com!
Websites for the McCarl Gang!
Driverwebsites.com develops the websites for the McCarl boys. Check out www.TerryMcCarl.com, as well as www.AustinMcCarl.com and www.CarsonMcCarl.com!
This Month in TMAC History!
TMAC has two wins on “Cinco de Mayo”. In 1996, he topped a Huset’s Speedway field driving Brad Gray’s #51. The win came ahead of Travis Cram, Chad Radel, Steve Ballenger and Matt Wasmund. In 2004, he drove Mark Burch’s #1m to a Sprint Invaders victory at the 34 Raceway in West Burlington, Iowa. Ryan Jamison was second, followed by John Schulz, Bobby Hawks and Bobby Mincer.
“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 sprntcar@hotmail.com with “TMAC” in the subject line.
TMAC Motorsports would like to thank sponsors Country Builders Construction, Rossie Feed and Grain, Bosma Poultry, SnowPlow Snow Pushers – www.TheSnowPlow.com, DeBerg Concrete, Colin Bulmer – Bayaire Industries, A.R.T. Speed Equipment, Berryhill Racing, Phil and Vivian, Justice Brothers/Gillund Enterprises, Ryan Yager Trucking, Vortex Racing, Hoosier Tire, Chris Spaulding – Attorney at Law, Schoenfeld Headers, K&N Filters, Rens Trucking, NutriShop – Maple Grove, MN, HRP, All Pro Cylinder Heads, Bob and Beulah Elder, Engler Injection, T&P Brothers, Winters, DriverWebsites.com, CM Rock, Jocko’s Sprint Parts, Sander, Brown and Miller, Pro Shocks, Ben Cook, Bell Helmets, Burnett’s Rock and Landscaping, Van Der Brink Trucking, Van Der Brink Designs, Morgan Strawberry Farms, Buttman BBQ, Aurora Rod Ends, Crow Safety, Justice Brothers, KSE Steering, Strange Performance, Saldana Racing Products, Scribner Plastics, Waterman Fuel Pumps, Weiland Racing, Butlerbuilt, PBS Bushings and Mote Fasteners.