TJSlideways.com

Wilson Wins Opening Night at The New 96 Speedway

Four and a half inches of rain since Wednesday, and repeated challenges from Mike Reinke and John Ivy could not stop Toledo, Ohio’s Chuck Wilson from taking the opening night feature win at the New 96 Speedway. The track crew did a heroic job to pump the facility out Friday afternoon for racing. Even though the grounds were soggy, a great crowd turned out on the first night of racing sponsored by the Ionia Chamber of Commerce. […]

Wondering About the World

No matter what I do this week my mind seems to be in Colorado. I’m not that far removed from high school and can remember all the good times I had with all my classmates at concerts, dances, games, and class. Growing up in a small town it’s sometime hard to imagine how someone could do something so horrible as killing a large group of students in a library. When things like this happen, parents and teachers have to find a way to explain to students in other schools why this happened. They also much convey somehow this isn’t going to happen to them at school the next day. […]

Where in the World is TJ Slideways?

There is only one thing worse than a racing off season, it’s getting a taste of outdoor racing and having to take two weeks off from it! Just to clear things up I haven’t moved to Germany, I didn’t run off to Nashville to become a country music star, and I did not give up racing to follow Phish all around the country this summer. […]

Something old, something new…

For as long as I can remember one of the first trips I make to a race all season is for the World of Outlaws in April at the Eldora Speedway. Every spring I notice how much the series has progressed. […]

TJ’s Notebook From the World of Outlaws at Eldora

Travis Whitney’s team was very excited about his performance on Friday night. Finished second in the Channellock Dash to Andy Hillenburg to put him on the outside of the front row for the feature event. Whitney jumped into the lead until Steve Kinser was able to pass the rookie of the year candidate in turn one. Whintney then jumped the cushion and caved in the floorboard on his Maxim chassis. Travis’s crew was also lucky on the weather as they were down to their last engine and were hoping for rain on Saturday.
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Leftovers and Hangovers

I’d like to thank everyone who stopped to say something about the column I wrote last week. It was something I had been thinking about writing for a while, but didn’t know how I wanted to put it. Let’s just leave it as I was inspired by some circumstances to write one day, and that’s what came out. So once again, thank you. […]

TJ’s Eldora Notes

Saturday night’s feature between Brian Tyler and Derek Davidson will be remembered for years to come at the Eldora Speedway. The duo put on a rim riding game of chicken to see who could take their car in deeper into the turn. […]

A Look Into Spring At TJ’s

For the past 22 years the scene early in the spring has been the same at my house. I hear a knock on my door early one Saturday morning just before my Dad barges into the room. Even though I’m still groggy I can make out the smile on his face in the darkness. […]

Kenny Jacobs Now At A Crossroads

Of all the things I expected to see on Wednesday when I checked my e-mail, the Hughes team disbanding for the 1999 season was not one of them. Now the 1999 All Star Champion is without a ride, and the All Stars loose another top notch racing team for the entire season. […]

Butch Schroeder, the Ohio Giant Killer

For just about as long as I can remember I have been going to races in Ohio every summer. During this time there is are always things that stay the same: Eldora’s food is great, Ohio Speedweek is hotter than hell for at least half the week, goggles are required gear, and Butch Schroeder is winning in some kind of race car. I jokingly named him, “The Ohio Giant Killer” after a win at Attica in 1997 because of his height (Hey, us shorter guys have to stick together!). […]

Elliott Rumbles at Ft. Wayne

Tony Elliott put an exclamation point on a magical 1998 season campaign by capturing the inaugural 100 lap “Rumble in the Expo” at the Ft. Wayne Exposition Center. Piloting Mack McClellan’s Sleep Tight Matress Company/Miller Brothers Excavating Hawk/Autocraft, Elliott took the lead from J.D. Turner on lap 77 and sailed forth to his third NAMARS Auto Value midget win of 1998. […]

Happy Holidays

Let me start this week by wishing everyone Happy Holidays and great new racing season:-) Schedules are starting to come together, and the gears are in full motion at Slideways central figuring out where we’ll be attending races out during the 1999 season. Teams and drivers are doing the same thing by getting together to clear up the every muddy ride picture. Thankfully I now have more time to focus on little things like that.
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TJ’s 1998 PRI Show Notes

My feet have almost recovered from walking the Indiana Convention Center and the RCA Dome during the 1998 Performance Racing Industry Trade Show. Being a PRI rookie, I went with the mindset of just learning the ropes and enjoying the 1998 All Star Circuit of Champions banquet. Once I got rolling on the floor though, I lost the rookie stripes and decided to take in the wonderful sights and sounds of this great trade show. […]

November Stuff I Wanted To Write About

It’s mid-November and my life is still going 100 miles per hour. Just when racing season starts to quiet down throughout the Midwest, college really starts to pick up and I wonder where I ever found time to go to the races. Actually since changing my major to Computer Networking I have found a lot more free time to go out and have some fun this semester. I really have about two more weeks to do that, and then I start preparing for finals. So if you see a link that doesn’t work, please be nice about it. We are probably aware of it, but just don’t have much time for the next month to fix it. […]