It is tough. Here is the reality: Don't like it? Buy your own truck. Maintain it. Store it. Race it. Do what you want to do with it. Someone pushes, you push back.
I get it. That is the option. It isn't an option I wish to pursue.
Hicks Lawn Services truck racing
- Thread starter hickslawns
- Start date
It is tough. Here is the reality: Don't like it? Buy your own truck. Maintain it. Store it. Race it. Do what you want to do with it. Someone pushes, you push back.
I get it. That is the option. It isn't an option I wish to pursue.
Last race of the season. Drew a good number for heat race. Outside position in first row. Small field of 9 trucks. 3 of them win every week. The rest of us fight for fourth and are all pretty close. Great field. One guy with over 50 truck feature wins. Another with over 200 feature wins in the stock/modifieds.
Two of the guys got around me in heat race. Just plain fast trucks. I held on for fourth place in the heat. Truck was hooking great. First time I had races this particular truck. Hard to be dissatisfied with this.
Feature brought confidence and I was hoping for a too 5 finish. Good start. Moved into third and held it for about half the race. Got squirrelly coming out of four at some point and smacked the wall. Fish tailed. Smacked it with rear end again lifting rear end off the ground for a second. Straightened it out and stayed on the gas. After this the truck just went down hill. Motor was fine. I think the toe in got knocked out of alignment and it was like driving on ice the rest of the night. I didn't care. I knew what I could do if setup properly. I dropped a couple more spots but was simply trying to finish in one piece. Didn't want to crash myself or anyone else. Was working fine until white flag lap. One of our guys had a throttle stick and spun it low in middle of 1/2. I was already on the high line and on the throttle. One of our other trucks went high to miss him and I t-boned him hard. Race over. Finished 8/9. Not sure how as they called the race. Maybe 9th place dropped out? Not sure but it is what it is. That's racing.
Two of the guys got around me in heat race. Just plain fast trucks. I held on for fourth place in the heat. Truck was hooking great. First time I had races this particular truck. Hard to be dissatisfied with this.
Feature brought confidence and I was hoping for a too 5 finish. Good start. Moved into third and held it for about half the race. Got squirrelly coming out of four at some point and smacked the wall. Fish tailed. Smacked it with rear end again lifting rear end off the ground for a second. Straightened it out and stayed on the gas. After this the truck just went down hill. Motor was fine. I think the toe in got knocked out of alignment and it was like driving on ice the rest of the night. I didn't care. I knew what I could do if setup properly. I dropped a couple more spots but was simply trying to finish in one piece. Didn't want to crash myself or anyone else. Was working fine until white flag lap. One of our guys had a throttle stick and spun it low in middle of 1/2. I was already on the high line and on the throttle. One of our other trucks went high to miss him and I t-boned him hard. Race over. Finished 8/9. Not sure how as they called the race. Maybe 9th place dropped out? Not sure but it is what it is. That's racing.
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Thanks for taking us along, Phil...
Good things happening for 2020. A little history. Waynesfield Race Track used to run these trucks weekly. In 2019 they quit running. Rented out the track to a promoter for 4-5 races. No trucks in any of these shows. We ran in Indiana last year. Fast forward thru the 2019 season into 2020.
DTTS: Dirt Track Truck Series has been born. Currently have races lined up at 3 tracks. Working on a fourth. Hoping to add more shows. Another business jumped in to be a series sponsor along with Hicks Lawn Services. Trying to get some more "corporate sponsors". The series will have a payout at the end of the year and award banquet. Hoping to build this entry level dirt track class back up to where it used to be. Sounds like I will be in one of the trucks for a "full time ride". Doesn't mean I need to race every weekend. If I don't, I guess I won't be in the points race at end of the season though. Little tricky. As a series sponsor, you want to grow the field. I'm not sure you necessarily want to win the points at the end of the season. Great way to turn off people. the guy finishing mid pack every week will likely place better in the series than someone who hits 3/4 of the races and finishes higher. The idea is to grow the field and reward those who show up weekly. 2020 should be a really fun year!
DTTS: Dirt Track Truck Series has been born. Currently have races lined up at 3 tracks. Working on a fourth. Hoping to add more shows. Another business jumped in to be a series sponsor along with Hicks Lawn Services. Trying to get some more "corporate sponsors". The series will have a payout at the end of the year and award banquet. Hoping to build this entry level dirt track class back up to where it used to be. Sounds like I will be in one of the trucks for a "full time ride". Doesn't mean I need to race every weekend. If I don't, I guess I won't be in the points race at end of the season though. Little tricky. As a series sponsor, you want to grow the field. I'm not sure you necessarily want to win the points at the end of the season. Great way to turn off people. the guy finishing mid pack every week will likely place better in the series than someone who hits 3/4 of the races and finishes higher. The idea is to grow the field and reward those who show up weekly. 2020 should be a really fun year!
Yes. Not for me though. I'm still just a sponsor. I'll get more driving time. I'm not making rules. I'm not in charge of anything. They have asked nothing extra out of me. Just doing what is right by trying to spread the word. Unofficial marketing. Trying to be an ambassador to people interested in dirt track. This is a great entry level class. Low cost of entry. Easy to get a start here.
So run a full season, then pass the baton the following season when someone sees how much fun it is...
Updates:. That last race of the season when I was running 3rd and tapped the wall? While working on truck it was determined the toe was way off. He said the tires were about pointing towards each other. I scratch my head as to how he could tell though. . .after all the race finished with me t-boning another truck. I don't know. I'll take his word.
Series is sort of at a stand still. The track which hosted us for 6-8 races last year has yet to release a schedule. This means we have 2 races at Limaland and 2 in Gas City. One in May and one early June. Will we rain out? Will Covid-19 force cancelled early season racing? Sort of a bummer. Be nice to have at least 8-12 races in the series for the first year. Time will tell. Maybe Montpelier will step up and lay out a full schedule allowing us to add more races.
Series is sort of at a stand still. The track which hosted us for 6-8 races last year has yet to release a schedule. This means we have 2 races at Limaland and 2 in Gas City. One in May and one early June. Will we rain out? Will Covid-19 force cancelled early season racing? Sort of a bummer. Be nice to have at least 8-12 races in the series for the first year. Time will tell. Maybe Montpelier will step up and lay out a full schedule allowing us to add more races.
Had to drive 5hrs to Beckley, WV. Got the first races of the season in. Truck isn't right. Sputter problem. 18 trucks started the 40 lap feature. Two of our trucks ended up with flat tires. One owner took 2nd. I took 8th. Not proud of 8th. It was a matter of attrition. Only 8 trucks finished the feature. Kind of cool mixing up our 4cyl trucks with the v6 and v8 guys.
They also let us run their local truck class which I believe is 4/6 cylinders. Truck ran like crap again the first 10 laps but was handling better. Then out of nowhere it cleaned up and ran like a raped ape. I was lapped but as the truck cleaned up I was able to run with the leaders (almost). They would slowly pull away, but it felt good to finish the night knowing the truck is capable of running similar lap times to the v6 trucks. Next weekend we run Indiana.
They also let us run their local truck class which I believe is 4/6 cylinders. Truck ran like crap again the first 10 laps but was handling better. Then out of nowhere it cleaned up and ran like a raped ape. I was lapped but as the truck cleaned up I was able to run with the leaders (almost). They would slowly pull away, but it felt good to finish the night knowing the truck is capable of running similar lap times to the v6 trucks. Next weekend we run Indiana.
Sounds like a good night. And well worth the drive. So how much did the guy who got 2nd win? And what did 8th pay? 
1st $1000. 2nd $700. 3rd $500. I got $300 for 8th.
. Less $50 fee to join their "series", $30 pit pass, $200 diesel, 15-20 gallons race gas at $7.50/gallon, $25 entry fee, $50 for the other race. . . .even the winner doesn't really win financially. Nice to cover fuel costs anyway.
. Less $50 fee to join their "series", $30 pit pass, $200 diesel, 15-20 gallons race gas at $7.50/gallon, $25 entry fee, $50 for the other race. . . .even the winner doesn't really win financially. Nice to cover fuel costs anyway.
To add more. We are used to 12-15 lap features. Their local class runs 20 lap features for a 4/6 cylinder small truck class called Renegades. We ran this class.
There is a CRS series of racing. Not sure what all they cover. They have a truck class which runs v8s and run asphalt. Once a year they run a 40 lap feature at this Beckley, WV dirt track.
The local track allowed us to run both classes. That means 2 sets of hot laps, heat races, and a20 and 40 lap feature. For the CRS race we also ran a qualifier.
We brought 4 trucks. We run 2.5L four cylinder engines as per our local series rules.
Don't want to bash the asphalt trucks. They were wicked fast on straight aways. Some handled okay in turns. Some had NEVER raced on dirt. Lots to figure out for them on set up. With this many laps, and running 2 classes with 4 trucks and no pit crew. . . We were hustling to keep getting them tweaked and back on the line. At times we just dealt with handling issues or my sputtering engine issue. Other times we could make adjustments. Didn't get to bed until 430-5am this morning. Up at 9am to load and roll home. It was worth it. I'd say we got over 100 laps in total. More with caution laps. (And there were plenty.)
This is the truck I drive. Never drew a caution flag all night. Even so, there was carnage. We have work to do on every truck before Friday. I think we had 3 flats between 2 trucks. They all took some body damage. Our number one truck took second in the big feature. Our number 2 truck was running great until he got a flat. In second feature he had a fuel issue and couldn't get started.
Some views from my seat while going thru inspection.
There is a CRS series of racing. Not sure what all they cover. They have a truck class which runs v8s and run asphalt. Once a year they run a 40 lap feature at this Beckley, WV dirt track.
The local track allowed us to run both classes. That means 2 sets of hot laps, heat races, and a20 and 40 lap feature. For the CRS race we also ran a qualifier.
We brought 4 trucks. We run 2.5L four cylinder engines as per our local series rules.
Don't want to bash the asphalt trucks. They were wicked fast on straight aways. Some handled okay in turns. Some had NEVER raced on dirt. Lots to figure out for them on set up. With this many laps, and running 2 classes with 4 trucks and no pit crew. . . We were hustling to keep getting them tweaked and back on the line. At times we just dealt with handling issues or my sputtering engine issue. Other times we could make adjustments. Didn't get to bed until 430-5am this morning. Up at 9am to load and roll home. It was worth it. I'd say we got over 100 laps in total. More with caution laps. (And there were plenty.)
This is the truck I drive. Never drew a caution flag all night. Even so, there was carnage. We have work to do on every truck before Friday. I think we had 3 flats between 2 trucks. They all took some body damage. Our number one truck took second in the big feature. Our number 2 truck was running great until he got a flat. In second feature he had a fuel issue and couldn't get started.
Some views from my seat while going thru inspection.
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