9-4-09: Well I guess I quit too soon. After having two weeks to prepare the car for the final race of the season at Spencer Speedway (two weeks because of  a rain out last week), I had given up on getting back into the top ten in points. The season isn't over till the checkered flag waves. WE GOT TENTH PLACE!!! We looked forward to a good year, but we had many obstacles to over come, like getting taken out of the race coming to the green and other mechanical problems due to being involved in other's wrecks. But we persevered. We worked hard, did our maintenance, and tried to improve weekly, and it paid off. To finish tenth in points, I would like to think, was a great accomplishment  because the competition was better this year than in year's past. Some might say we backed into tenth because the previous car in tenth did not show up for the final race. But the way we see it is we were prepared to race each and every week, and that's what we did! Now the bad news: we only finished 11th in the race. We were really expecting another top ten finish, but our fuel pump failed, ending our night....and season. We (our team,) Matt, and Cline Racing (our team mates) have decided not to compete in  the Race of Champions at Oswego this year. We figured the money saved by not racing at Oswego would be better spent on getting our cars better prepared for next season.

Thanks to SPONSORS, crew and friends will come soon in another update.

THANKS for YOUR support this year.

8-28-09: RAIN!! Not at all what we wanted. We worked hard all week preparing the car for tonight's race. With this rainout, all hopes of getting back into the top ten are gone. We only had a slim chance of getting back in, by cutting the tenth place position by half this week and half next week, but picking up 32 points in 1 race is almost impossible, depending on how many cars show up. Oh well we are ready for next week now. We still haven't made concrete decision about Oswego's Race of Champions. See you next week.........

8-21-09: Friday started with a rain delay, but we able to race. A 100 lap SST Tour race was on the schedule, but only 25 points were awarded for the people who showed up. So with nothing to gain in points, our strategy was set with our draw for starting position. Our draw was ball 75 out of 75, so we started last. Our goal for the night was to see if all our rebuilding worked. In the heat race, Matt just felt out the car. He said the car felt good. Starting last (22nd) in the feature race, Matt dropped a few car lengths back in case there was an early accident, after the cars settled into single file he started to pass cars. A few cautions and many cars passed, Matt was up to 12th. We had 2 way radio communication for the first time this year and Matt said the car was good. On a restart going into turn 1, Matt got turned around and had to come into the pits with a right rear flat. The crew quickly changed the tire and got him back out on the lead lap. Again Matt worked his way through traffic and was up to 13th when the caution flew again. This time the cars had to stop on the back straight. When the cars started to roll, Matt radioed that the car was stuck in 3rd gear. Matt pulled into the pits, shut off the engine, while we jacked up the car and manually put the car into 4th gear. Dropping the jack, we were unable to restart the car in 4th gear. Our night was over, we got our 25 points, and only have to fix the shift linkage, along with our regular weekly maintenance. Only 2 weeks of regular season racing left. We have yet to decide about going to Oswego for the ROC race. On a sad note, our team mate Mark Cline found a hole in the # 4 piston and won't be able to continue this season. Wish us luck and see you soon.

8-14-09: Grrrr, our third straight DNF. We are now officially out of the top ten in points; we have been in the top ten for most of the year. After working furiously trying to get the #05 back together from the wreck two weeks ago, we were ready to race. We had to purchase many new parts and install them. We scaled and set up the car, and were all set to have a good night. Unfortunately, we had unknown residual damage. During the white flag lap to take the green flag, the steering rack broke. I guess this was "good luck" because, if this happened while racing the results could have been catastrophic. Matt was able to take the green and complete one lap. The rack WAS inspected during our repairs, but must have been really stressed from the wreck two weeks ago when we hit the wall really hard. It worked fine during practice and the heat race. We will repair the rack and have the car ready for the next race. With the level of talent in front of us and with only 2 point races left, I am sad to say we probably won't get back into the top ten, and that was our goal for the year. I DO have to say that I am PROUD of our effort and dedication that we put into our program this year. I am not giving up, just looking at things realistically. The talent and dollars of the teams ahead of us are daunting. We will give it our best shot and hope for the best. Wish us luck as we have a big 100 lap SST race this week, where cars from all over the state will compete. See you there.

8-7-09: First and most important, we have to THANK Mark Cline for offering us the use of his car, the #81,  this week. We did not get to finish all the repairs to our car from last weeks wreck. This week was double points week and we are 10th in points; Mark wanted us to stay in the top ten. THANKS Mark! With that said, as we pulled into the track, we were told all mirrors had to be removed for the races. We, as well as all the other drivers were not happy with this decision, especially on double points night. The track tried this years ago with disastrous results. Today, 18 cars showed up, and at the checkered flag, only 7 cars were on the track, and I believe only 5 cars were on the lead lap. Lets hope we don't do this again next week. OK, now for our results, we got our 5th top ten of the year, finishing 10th. But that is not as good as it seems. Matt was black flagged because the car was smoking , and we were the first car out of the race on lap 4. We checked to find the leak, thought it was a valve cover gasket, and tightened the screws. While we were fixing the car there were many wrecks that put a bunch of cars out of the race. We sent Matt back out 5 laps down, but the car started smoking again. Matt was black flagged again after running another 6 laps, and got his tenth place finish. Those 6 laps put us ahead of 4 other cars. Afterwards, we checked and it WAS a valve cover gasket, but just tightening the screws that held it in place did not do the job. We replaced the gasket, now the car is set for next week. See you then.......

8-1-09: The hit was a lot harder than we thought. Once the car was power washed and in the shop, we found a lot more damage. Matt hit the wall so hard with the right front, that the left front spindle bent and has to be replaced. The left side nerf bar was bent also, but that was from the car hitting Matt. A lot of the nose tin was bent, but that all can be pounded out. We also had INTERIOR tin bent from the impact. We didn't plan on replacing the interior tin over the winter, but now we might have to, to get the car looking sharp for our sponsors. We thought the new right front tire might be able to be reused, but it also has a big hole in it. Total damages for this wreck could add up to between 3 and 4 grand. Ouch!

7-31-09: Friday, July 31st started out to be promising. We had four new tires and with the chassis changes we made, the car was fast. Matt was running his fastest times of the season in practice. Starting second in his heat race, we envisioned a possible heat win, but things did not go as we hoped. Matt had a great start and almost a full car length lead by the time he got to the back stretch on the first lap.......I said almost. About 3/4 way down the back stretch, the car Matt was passing turned right into the rear of the car, turning Matt around and into the infield. Restarting last, Matt was able to work his way back into the top five for a qualifying spot. After the heat Matt talked to the officials about the other drivers actions. The Race Director confirmed that the other car was at fault. Ok, we moved on. Again, Matt said the car was perfect and again he was running his fastest times of the year. It looked like he had more speed to use. Starting second in the feature race, again our hopes were high..........until the green flag came out. Matt had another fine start, but the pole sitter lost the handle on his car and slammed into the left side of Matt's car sending him HARD into the outside wall. Very hard contact was made. The car bounced several times into the wall destroying the right front suspension. After the car was towed into the pits, we surveyed the damage, LOTS of damage. The upper control arm, lower control arm and the shock were all snapped off and in pieces. The rotor was cracked and the spindle was bent. The right side nerf bar was bent back into the rear tire and also bent down into the headers where it put in a nice big dent. We can live with the dent and hope it doesn't hurt the engine's performance. The nerf bar will have to be sawed off and replaced. The shock mount was bent...and the biggie, so was the frame. We also had damage to the left side nerf bar where the car hit us, but that is no big deal. Oh yeah, both right side wheels were destroyed. Like I said, LOTS of damage and it's going to cost a lot to fix both in money and time. It took us around an hour of hard work just to get the car to roll so we could get it on the trailer. As a consolation, the other driver came up to us after the race and in true sportsmanship apologized for his mistake. He also offered to lend us some parts to get our car back to the track. We appreciated the fact that he was man enough to admit his mistake, come talk to us and offer parts, but even loaned parts have to be replaced and that costs money. But hey, this is racing and we choose to do it. The repairs begin. We don't know if it will be ready for next week, but we will give it our best effort if our budget allows. Our biggest fear is the bent frame. Thanks go out to all the people that helped us get the car temporarily repaired to get it on the trailer. Hope to see you soon.......
PS We took a heavy hit in the points and most likely dropped from 9th  to out of the top ten, how far back, we don't know yet.

7-24-09:  Another rainout! The car was all ready, we even drove to the track in the rain. Most of the trip, the sun was out but eight miles from the track it started pouring. Once at the track, the rain started to let up, then stop, the sun came out again and the track officials started to dry off the track. Long story short, we were able to get in two sets of practice. The changes that we made to the chassis seemed to work as the car looked really stable on the track and Matt's lap times were better. We just put on four new tires, just the second time this year, when the rains came. It poured for an hour and when the track officials decided that they would not be able to dry off the track, the races were officially canceled. The good news is that we have four new tires for next week and the car is all set. In other good news, I got to see my grandson's FIRST RACE. The track held a kids bicycle race and Matt Junior "won" the "20 month old" category. Junior had a blast and we gave him a little trophy. Hopefully we will have a picture of him to share, holding the checkered flag. See you soon....... 

7-17-09: The car was ready, but Mother Nature threw us another rainy day. With the races cancelled, our work will be an easy one. We are going to make a major chassis change this week, resulting in (we hope) better bite. See you Friday.

7-12-09: Just a short note this week. After heavy thunderstorms Saturday, the races were postponed to Sunday. A full day of racing had to be squeezed into just five hours because of the curfew. Matt finished 3rd in his heat race (out of 11 cars) and finished 9th in the feature race in a field of 22. He started on the pole and led for four laps before dropping to third. Around lap 12, Matt lost the handle coming out of turn two and had to chase the car into the grass to save it, loosing several positions. He resumed racing in about 15th place. Matt doesn't know what happened to the car. He said it felt like he had a flat tire, but after two laps the car  started to handle pretty good. Later, trying to pick up a position, Matt got turned around, again in turn two, and was pushed sideways. Matt came into the pits, we quickly looked the car over (it was fine) and sent him back out on the lead lap, but back in 20th position. Now the fun began. The car handled great and Matt picked off car after car finishing ninth. He was even gaining on more cars in front of him when the checkers flew. With this finish, by my calculations, Matt moved up from 11th to 9th in points. Matt said that he had the most fun he has had all year, as he got to pass some very fast cars. And guess what, he did this all on old tires, these tires have more than three features on them. GREAT job Matt, and good luck next week, as I will not be able to attend.

7-3-09: Sometimes I think if it weren't for bad luck, we wouldn't have any luck at all. Friday night we had twin 35 lap feature races, plus one set of heats. Racing started at 7:30 with the 35 lap make-up race. Four cars had two weeks to repair their cars from a first lap accident and were able to participate. Unfortunately, Matt was involved in an accident before one lap was completed (not his fault) and we didn't get two weeks to fix our car for the next feature, which was later that evening; and a double points race to boot. The good luck was Matt was not hurt. It could have been very bad as another car hit Matt and climbed up the drivers side, ending up on top of the car. You can see tire marks where the other car drove up onto our car. After being towed into the pits and seeing if Matt was OK, we assessed the damage. Thinking it was only a bent wheel, a flat tire, and toe in, we changed the tire. When we dropped the car off the jack, I noticed the left front spindle was cracked at the tie rod. I said not to go back out as it was unsafe to continue, otherwise we would have made it out back on the lead lap. With the help of my crew, Joe Munson, Mark Clines crew, and Ed Hawkins Sr. we were able to tear the left front apart, replace the spindle, and send Matt back out to finish the race some 28 laps down, but we didn't get a DNF. THANKS GUYS! We set everything but the toe, but by sending him back out we picked up 3 positions. After the feature we did have some good luck, we were in the third heat race. This gave us some time to really repair the front end. We checked everything out and reset the toe. Our efforts resulted in the best heat finish of the year; getting a 3rd place finish. In the feature, Matt started third and quickly dropped to 12th. The car was very, very tight at the start of the race and he couldn't drive his line. One car dropped out with engine problems, then Matt was able to pass a few cars and get another top ten finish, placing 9th. Not bad considering a short time to get the car turned around and repaired and back on the track. With that ninth place finish in the double points race, Matt moved up from twelfth to eleventh in points. See you next week..........

6-26-09: Well, we were ready for Friday's racing, but the races were canceled. Here in Greece, we had a severe thunder storm with plenty of hail. I actually had to shovel out the floor of the trailer we had so much. The sun came out later in the day and the evening was beautiful, but the track got swamped and I guess the parking lot was a mess also. It was our first Friday night off in a while, didn't know what to do. We will also have this week off from our weekly maintenance program, as the car is ready. Enjoy your week and have a HAPPY 4th.

6-19-09: Friday night was semi good for us; we were able to buy  three new tires for the evening. Unfortunately for us, we didn't do too well in our heat race. Starting on the outside of the front row, at the drop of the green, Matt had to take evasive action as not to get wrecked. He had to move way up to the outside, out of the groove, to avoid being hit. The car on the pole got very loose and almost slammed into Matt. By avoiding getting hit, Matt dropped to sixth, but was able to race back and finish in fifth. We got to see some good racing in the other divisions, while waiting for our feature. Unfortunately time was not on our side as the Officials tried starting our race by dropping the green at 11:17. With the late hour and only 13 minutes to complete the race, people were anxious to win. On the first lap coming out of turn two there was a major wreck, bringing out the red flag. Many cars were involved some receiving heavy damage, but fortunately, Matt was able to avoid all the spinning cars, he was starting 15th. We will run double features next week, see you there.

6-12-09: We had our work cut out for us on race night. During the past week we made numerous changes to the car, trying  to make it handle better. After hitting the track for the first set of hot laps, we found the car to be very loose. Adjustments were made and in the second set of hot laps, the car was better, but we still needed a lot better times on the stop watch. We made more changes, but in making those changes, we missed the third and final practice. Matt was scheduled to start second in his heat race, but elected to start scratch, since we didn't  know what to expect from the car. He started 7th and finished 7th, even though our times were better. Suggestions were made by fellow competitor Kevin Timmeran and his crew. THANKS guys. A right front spring change and a sway bar mount change were made and Matt was ready for the feature event. Twenty-one cars showed up for the DOUBLE POINTS RACE and Matt  started 18th. By lap 19 he was up to 6th, thanks to good driving and luck avoiding other's wrecks. Thinking we were going to pick up some valuable positions in the points with a good finish disappeared on lap 19 when the points leader, frustrated that he couldn't pass Matt, spun him going into turn one. No damage was done to the car, just to our position in the points standings. The car that hit us was put to the rear for rough driving. Matt was able to move up and finished 14th; not quite what we were hoping for. All this was done on older tires. We could only afford to buy one tire this week, but we opted to save that tire for next week when we can put on two. If my figures add up right, this dropped Matt to 12th in points. Almost forgot...At some point during the race in trying to avoid someone else's wreck there was one of those accordion type accidents where everyone hits someone else. Matt got into the car in front of him after being hit from behind, just one of those racing deals. After the race we (the crew) found the bolt on clip was destroyed. Matt knew this during the race and had to be cautious on restarts. After the race, Matt went to apologize to the car he hit, but they had already left. Even though we slipped in the standings, Matt said he had a good time out there, as he was able to pass a bunch of cars and felt he was competitive. THANKS go out to my crew for working so hard, to Mark Cline's crew, and to Timmerman's crew for their help also. See you next week.

6-5-09: Matt got his second top ten in the second points race of the year. Another tenth place finish--two tenth place finishes in a row! Even with two tenth place finishes, Matt dropped to eleventh in points. The good news is he is only five points away from being in eighth. We knew the competition was going to be very stiff this year. During the race, Matt was more lucky than good. He battled a poor handling car the entire race. The car just did not want to turn. We are going to tear the front end apart this week to see if we can find the problem. The good news was that we came home undamaged. Next week is a double points race and we are hoping for the best. See you then.

5-30-09: The first two weeks of racing are in the books. In the season opener, a 100 lap SST Race, Matt took his freshly rebuilt car to compete. Things did not go as planned, and he was caught up in the "big one" on lap 6. Matt was able to slow and miss the cars in front of him, but the cars behind him caught up way too fast and made heavy contact and ended up ripping off the lower control arm, finishing our night. Matt finished 26th out of a field of 29. It could have been worse as only 11 cars were running at the end of the race.

The first points race of the season at Spencer Speedway was the following week and we made the necessary repairs to the car. Our hope for a good finish and even a Heat Race win were high, as we had the car "dialed in." Our times were very good and we were on the pole. Again things did not go as planned. On the initial start, the second place car failed to go resulting in a complete restart. On the restart, the second place hit Matt three times before exiting turn four to take the green. With Matt's tire on the white line and almost in the grass the second place car that jumped the start again came down on him, resulting in the car getting airborne for a few feet. Once Matt got the car straightened out he was able to lead the race for 2 laps, but couldn't maintain the lead because the front end was knocked out of alignment. He held on for a 4th place finish. Not only is this what I saw but we were running an in-car camera, and the video backs up everything I described. Oh well, we had a feature race to run. We fixed the front end and lined up in 11th for the start for the race in a field of 23. At this point let me say that Matt is happy with the power of our new engine. We know we still don't have the power the top teams have, but on our budget, Matt feels we can be competitive. Again bad luck hit us. On lap five, some cars  tangled and spun in front of Matt completely blocking the track. Matt had only two choices and milliseconds to decide, crash into the cars in front oh him or go into the grass and hope he wouldn't hit the tire barrier too hard. It had rained all morning and most of the afternoon, so there was no control for the cars once they were on the grass. Matt went for the grass, and barely hit the tires, but another car behind Matt slammed into him pushing us hard into the tire wall. The nose on Matt's car was all crushed up, down and sideways, dragging on the track. Also the car that hit him from behind, bent the rear bumper up about 6 inches and tore into the left rear quarter panel and C pillar. Quick repairs in the pits got the nose of the car to stop dragging, and we got Matt back out on the lead lap, but he was now in 22nd. This time good luck, a good car, and good driving, gave Matt his first TOP TEN of the season finishing in tenth. All in all, we are happy to be tenth in points, knowing the wreck could have been worse. Repairs will be made and we will return to the track, happy to compete. SEE YOU THERE

5-15-09: Test and Tune night at Spencer Speedway: Well, we got the car to the track for testing and luckily it was only for testing. We went into the night with the attitude that there was no pressure. If something major broke or didn't work...oh well, we would load it up, go home and fix it. Getting the engine three days before practice was a little stressful, but we couldn't do anything but wait until it was done. We didn't want the engine builder to rush and forget something and, when we got it, we took our time installing it so we didn't forget anything. Last minute checks were made and we had Matt take the car out on the track. No pressure was on Matt; all we wanted him to do was to shake down the car. Once the green flag flew for full speed practice, Matt tried out the new car. Lap times were a second and a half off the pace and Matt had the car sideways a few times. He brought the car in a few laps early so we could fix the problems. A quick air pressure change was all that was needed to tighten up the car some, but that was not our real problem. We had very little to no brakes. The brakes were bled twice in the shop, and seemed fine, but you can't imitate race conditions in the shop. We bled all the brakes in the pits again, the pedal felt better, but was not right. Taking the car out a second time, we still had brake problems. Matt had some brake, but not much. He tried a few laps at speed, but not being able to get into the corners hard affected his lap times. He couldn't properly get off the corner because of the wide turns due to no brakes. Otherwise the night was a success, no other problems were found. Twenty cars showed up for practice and even with no brakes, Matt was still 11th fastest. Both test runs were on old worn out tires from last year and the fastest car was on new tires and we were only 0.7 seconds slower. We figure with new tires and brakes we should be right there running with the best. Things look promising this year.........

4-27-09: The  2009 version of Matt's new paint job was a BIG SUCCESS at the WNY Stock car Show 4-25-09. Hours of hard  work rebuilding the car paid off as many people admired the car at its debut. The car is not done yet as we are still waiting for the engine to be completed. But we made a commitment to have the car at the WNY Stock car show, so we put in a fake engine, to make it look race ready. We (well mostly Matt, my buddy Joe and Rick Allen from BIGFOOT GRAPHICS) worked till well past midnight the previous 3 days before the show getting the car ready. Their hard work (I have to brag, because it felt so good) got us MANY comments from the crowd that our car was the best looking at the show. It definitely will be easy to spot on the track. Lots of new photos will be added to our web site. With the body complete, we are going to start working on the set up. We hope to have it close to perfect and then only have to drop in the engine before practice and racing starts. It's less than a month before the racing season begins. Hope to see you there.

3-13-09: The rear end is back in the car and squared up, with all new heims and links. The new full containment seat is bolted in as are the seatbelts. All the lead weights were repainted and installed. The electrical wires have been plumed and installed. We are starting to reassemble the front steering parts. Now the bad news, typical Friday the thirteenth news. We got a call from the engine builder that our engine block is cracked. We don't know how it happened, it was stored in a semi heated garage, and when we took it out of the car last fall, we drained all the water then flushed it out with antifreeze. We are making a game plan later today as what our path forward will be. Either way, our car will be at the Western New York Car show April 25th. It may not be completed, but It WILL be there.

2-2-09: We have been working weekly on getting Matt's #05 NASCAR Modified ready for the 2009 season. Work done to date include: pulling the engine/tranny out, taking the old body off, and stripping the chassis down to the bare frame. We checked for cracked welds and found none. The rear end is going to be gone through and rebuilt. We are getting four new hubs and rotors, all new rods and rod ends. The chassis was shipped off to Rick Kluth to put on a few new parts, which include new mounting points for our new full containment seat. A new adjustable panhard bar mount is being installed and a few bent bars are being replaced. We are also getting a new body fabricated by TINMAN. All outside body panels will be new with new styled "A" and "C" pillars. The only old body part will be the roof. We still have to get a new fuel cell and plan to get new shocks and springs if our budget holds out. Once we get the chassis back, it will be repainted orange and the body will be put on and will be a black and white scheme. The engine will be going to the engine builder either late Jan. or early Feb. for a total rebuild. All bumpers and nerf bars will be new for 2009 also. Matt and I attended the Troyer Racecar Shop, chassis and set up seminar, and we hope to use the things we learned to help us get better and more consistent finishes. Enjoy the pictures of the 2009 rebuild on the photo page.

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