I'll promote the crap out of it for you guys.
Sorry @"J" the hood is already sponsored. Deck lid available. Spoiler available. One nice size spot on the side. And for the right price, I'd gladly pull the "Hicks Lawn Services" off the rear quarters.
Hicks Lawn Services truck racing
- Thread starter hickslawns
- Start date
Sorry @"J" the hood is already sponsored. Deck lid available. Spoiler available. One nice size spot on the side. And for the right price, I'd gladly pull the "Hicks Lawn Services" off the rear quarters.
I will chip in $100 to get started and when we get to a good number in the 4 digits we need a picture of @Dustinb80 & @giles ugly mugs on the side
That's a mighty fine start. 4 digits would give me a really nice shock package. . . . Hmmm. . .
We can put their faces on the nose where the headlights would normally be if you want. Or the side. I'm easy. Lol. Not sure if they can do vinyl graphics with a face. We may need a charicature (sp?).
Funny how this triggered a thought. One of the regular guys at the track is the main pit crew member for the 10 truck that has seven wins this year. They drink a lot and have a tattoo kit with them often. For the right price he will tattoo your name or whatever you ask on his body. Most of them are on his butt cheeks from what they say. He slid his pants a couple inches down to show the top of his butt cheeks to prove they weren't BSing. He started dropping trowel and everyone was like "WHOA, STOP! We believe you!"
If they will tattoo your name on their body for the right price, I'm sure I could put some TOO faces in my truck.
Two photographers there Saturday. Got some nice shots. The 33 won the heat with the 10 truck second. They flipped in the feature. I was third in each. Battled them as long as I could. Videos on Facebook. Sorry I can't share Those videos with a copy and paste. They are on the Team Hicks Motorsports page.
Pics show me some things as well as the video. I need to do something about the roll over. Whether spring or shock or both. I don't know. Try one thing at a time is the way to determine. Enjoy the pics.
Maybe not the best thing passing outside. Too much can go wrong. If you do it you better be able to motor by fast before the turn and hope they don't slide up the track.
Pics show me some things as well as the video. I need to do something about the roll over. Whether spring or shock or both. I don't know. Try one thing at a time is the way to determine. Enjoy the pics.
Maybe not the best thing passing outside. Too much can go wrong. If you do it you better be able to motor by fast before the turn and hope they don't slide up the track.
Friday. Gas City I-69 Speedway. Should be an awesome show for the fans. I think they have non wing sprint cars, trucks, modifieds, compacts, and some steel block vintage class. Not sure if stock car class will be there or not.
Rolly in the 10 truck has been on a rail this year. His son bought the 33 truck which was second last race. His other son is returning and has quite a few feature wins. Tony Anderson got career win 403 at Eldora last weekend. He picked up a ride in the trucks and the truck is no joke. I'm riding high on confidence. I feel the 5 of us should have a pretty solid battle up front. The next 5-6 trucks are all pretty even and battle weekly. The next 3-4 trucks are mostly stock motors and generally pretty close. Racing throughout the field should be great for the fans.
Sounds like my son will be tagging along with me which is nice. Pretty nice facility. They have big name races at least a couple times a year. I watched a sprint car race on TV with racers all over the country a few weeks ago. Not that they will be there or we will be televised, but it is cool knowing you are racing where the big boys put in a televised show recently.
Consistency is my word right now. One stand out race is just that. Need to put a string of them together where I'm squeezing what I can out of the truck and growing as a driver. I feel that is my next step. Consistently be at the front. With that comes pushing the leaders, and eventually a feature win. Consistency is where that starts. I've been diligent in maintenance and studying videos. Races are not won at the track. They are won on prep work between races. I've got a heat race win under my belt. Need to step it up if I want a feature win in the company I'm racing in. Next step: consistency.
Rolly in the 10 truck has been on a rail this year. His son bought the 33 truck which was second last race. His other son is returning and has quite a few feature wins. Tony Anderson got career win 403 at Eldora last weekend. He picked up a ride in the trucks and the truck is no joke. I'm riding high on confidence. I feel the 5 of us should have a pretty solid battle up front. The next 5-6 trucks are all pretty even and battle weekly. The next 3-4 trucks are mostly stock motors and generally pretty close. Racing throughout the field should be great for the fans.
Sounds like my son will be tagging along with me which is nice. Pretty nice facility. They have big name races at least a couple times a year. I watched a sprint car race on TV with racers all over the country a few weeks ago. Not that they will be there or we will be televised, but it is cool knowing you are racing where the big boys put in a televised show recently.
Consistency is my word right now. One stand out race is just that. Need to put a string of them together where I'm squeezing what I can out of the truck and growing as a driver. I feel that is my next step. Consistently be at the front. With that comes pushing the leaders, and eventually a feature win. Consistency is where that starts. I've been diligent in maintenance and studying videos. Races are not won at the track. They are won on prep work between races. I've got a heat race win under my belt. Need to step it up if I want a feature win in the company I'm racing in. Next step: consistency.
I just looked it up because it sounds like a good show, that us a haul from me! Enjoy
Here is my win for the night. Had my son along with me. Thanks for the help Garrett!
Where to start? Track was rough. Official apologized over the receiver about "the plowed field" we were about to race on. His words. But hey, we all had the same conditions to navigate.
Heat race I started the tail (7th) and moved up to third. By the time I got to third the first and second place trucks were three counties ahead. I'll take it. Truck wasn't quite right in handling. As rough as the track was, it was hard to determine what changes were necessary. Had to digest and do some thinking before the feature.
Feature had me starting 6th. I took some stagger out of the front and added some to the rear. Not sure if that is what was needed or if the input from Frank Paladino about air pressure in the right front made the difference, but it was better. Thanks Frank! Worked my way up to fourth. Got tied up by a lapped car. It couldn't decide which way to go for a couple turns and I let the 29c get around me while I failed to make up my mind on where to pass the lapped truck. Nothing against the 29c, but that ticked me off. My indecisiveness/cautiousness cost me a spot. We had a yellow with 2 laps to go and I made up my mind he wasn't going to finish in front of me. Again, nothing against him but when I get fired up and determined. . . Things happen. I had been way too cautious the entire race. My head was saying "just survive the conditions" for about 12-13 laps and be conservative. So I got up in the wheel the last two laps and got around him with a little help from the bumpy line he chose to take in the track.
Take aways?
Fourth place is alright when there are over 500 combined wins in two of the drivers in front of you. Congrats on win #404 Tony Anderson Racing! Good run for Rolly again and it looks like his son can wheel a truck as well (I didn't know what to expect as I had never raced against him before.)
Set up adjustments for the feature was an improvement. That's a win for me.
Shocks still suck but not sure if brand new ones would have been much better.
The amount of oil the engine is losing in the heat races and features is concerning. Might have to put in the little motor and freshen the big motor before I do irreparable damage to it.
Attitude is so so. Lining up to go out I was thinking preservation rather than attack. Once settled into fourth place I felt I got complacent and this allowed me to get passed. Might need to dig down and discover another gear in the attitude department if I'm going to run down the top three.
Consistency marks were hit. Need to continue to focus on consistency.
Probably should align the truck and put it on some scales if I want to move up. Season three of ownership and I've yet to align or scale the truck. It is time.
Will keep you posted in regards to what race I'm going to next. Need to look at the calendar and work schedule to decide what my next race is.
Feature: started 6. Finished 4th.
Where to start? Track was rough. Official apologized over the receiver about "the plowed field" we were about to race on. His words. But hey, we all had the same conditions to navigate.
Heat race I started the tail (7th) and moved up to third. By the time I got to third the first and second place trucks were three counties ahead. I'll take it. Truck wasn't quite right in handling. As rough as the track was, it was hard to determine what changes were necessary. Had to digest and do some thinking before the feature.
Feature had me starting 6th. I took some stagger out of the front and added some to the rear. Not sure if that is what was needed or if the input from Frank Paladino about air pressure in the right front made the difference, but it was better. Thanks Frank! Worked my way up to fourth. Got tied up by a lapped car. It couldn't decide which way to go for a couple turns and I let the 29c get around me while I failed to make up my mind on where to pass the lapped truck. Nothing against the 29c, but that ticked me off. My indecisiveness/cautiousness cost me a spot. We had a yellow with 2 laps to go and I made up my mind he wasn't going to finish in front of me. Again, nothing against him but when I get fired up and determined. . . Things happen. I had been way too cautious the entire race. My head was saying "just survive the conditions" for about 12-13 laps and be conservative. So I got up in the wheel the last two laps and got around him with a little help from the bumpy line he chose to take in the track.
Take aways?
Fourth place is alright when there are over 500 combined wins in two of the drivers in front of you. Congrats on win #404 Tony Anderson Racing! Good run for Rolly again and it looks like his son can wheel a truck as well (I didn't know what to expect as I had never raced against him before.)
Set up adjustments for the feature was an improvement. That's a win for me.
Shocks still suck but not sure if brand new ones would have been much better.
The amount of oil the engine is losing in the heat races and features is concerning. Might have to put in the little motor and freshen the big motor before I do irreparable damage to it.
Attitude is so so. Lining up to go out I was thinking preservation rather than attack. Once settled into fourth place I felt I got complacent and this allowed me to get passed. Might need to dig down and discover another gear in the attitude department if I'm going to run down the top three.
Consistency marks were hit. Need to continue to focus on consistency.
Probably should align the truck and put it on some scales if I want to move up. Season three of ownership and I've yet to align or scale the truck. It is time.
Will keep you posted in regards to what race I'm going to next. Need to look at the calendar and work schedule to decide what my next race is.
Feature: started 6. Finished 4th.
Racing in Montpelier Indiana tomorrow. Was going to sit it out and race Waynesfield the following weekend until they cancelled that race. Guess I'll drive to Indiana tomorrow because the next race is September 15.
Trying something totally different for set up tomorrow. Things are working but not getting me the results I'd like. This may or may not pan out. I can always change it back prior to the feature if it is that bad. Sometimes the wild changes propel you forward and sometimes they backfire. Time will tell. The only known fact is the truck is fast but not necessarily "top 3 fast." Let's try to change that.
Trying something totally different for set up tomorrow. Things are working but not getting me the results I'd like. This may or may not pan out. I can always change it back prior to the feature if it is that bad. Sometimes the wild changes propel you forward and sometimes they backfire. Time will tell. The only known fact is the truck is fast but not necessarily "top 3 fast." Let's try to change that.
Started 4th in heat race. Shot off the start like a rocket into the lead. Lead 5 laps I was told. I wasn't counting. Finished 2nd.
Started 4th in the feature. Ran third much of the feature. Ended up 4th. Still digesting what happened. Not sure if I changed up my line, if my intensity dropped, or if the handling went away. Maybe when I see the video it will help determine. I opted to leave the stagger in the truck. She was real loose. Probably should have taken some stagger out. Finished 4th.
Steadily improving. Need to keep doing the work. Work on truck setup. Work on making the driver better. Always room for improvement. Even the people who finish at the top of their fields have room to improve. I'd guess Michael Jordan felt he could clean up a few things here and there. Lol
Started 4th in the feature. Ran third much of the feature. Ended up 4th. Still digesting what happened. Not sure if I changed up my line, if my intensity dropped, or if the handling went away. Maybe when I see the video it will help determine. I opted to leave the stagger in the truck. She was real loose. Probably should have taken some stagger out. Finished 4th.
Steadily improving. Need to keep doing the work. Work on truck setup. Work on making the driver better. Always room for improvement. Even the people who finish at the top of their fields have room to improve. I'd guess Michael Jordan felt he could clean up a few things here and there. Lol
Phil, ya need to hear that's progress across the board, congratulations!
Ya finished
Ya didn't wreck, or get wrecked
Ya led laps
Ya "felt" the setup and decided to try something new....but loose is fast, unless you were OOC and couldnt put the power or wheel into the track
That's a win my friend! Im hoping ya can build upon it. Consistency is the key, time to put together a streak, then ya can aim for taking the checkered! 2nd - 4th is just 1 mistake/crash/turn away from a 1st!
Ya finished
Ya didn't wreck, or get wrecked
Ya led laps
Ya "felt" the setup and decided to try something new....but loose is fast, unless you were OOC and couldnt put the power or wheel into the track
That's a win my friend! Im hoping ya can build upon it. Consistency is the key, time to put together a streak, then ya can aim for taking the checkered! 2nd - 4th is just 1 mistake/crash/turn away from a 1st!
Tweaking. Tuning. Fine tuning will come as I get laps.
Yesterday I got the truck "aligned." Okay. Somit was just toe and camber. Caster is another animal where you need more tools. I've heard multiple numbers for ideal toe. 3/16" to 3/8" from a couple sources. I was around an inch. They were both like "You ARE going to feel a massive difference in the track." Sounds like she was pretty far off. For starters, both front tires were pointed out slightly. Don't need to know dirt track set up to know a pigeon toed vehicle is going to scrub speed. Left passenger camber alone. Drivers side I was at 1 degree and could only get it to 2 degrees. Sounds like it is okay there. Ideal actually.
Picked up a box of used shocks from a buddy too. Going to swap some shocks. Hit the track. Take notes. Fine tune. Learn. Have fun. Should be interesting to see what these changes did and move on from there. Keep in mind these are crude tools and basic adjustments. We aren't on a Hunter Alignment rack but we at least have a crude baseline.
Yesterday I got the truck "aligned." Okay. Somit was just toe and camber. Caster is another animal where you need more tools. I've heard multiple numbers for ideal toe. 3/16" to 3/8" from a couple sources. I was around an inch. They were both like "You ARE going to feel a massive difference in the track." Sounds like she was pretty far off. For starters, both front tires were pointed out slightly. Don't need to know dirt track set up to know a pigeon toed vehicle is going to scrub speed. Left passenger camber alone. Drivers side I was at 1 degree and could only get it to 2 degrees. Sounds like it is okay there. Ideal actually.
Picked up a box of used shocks from a buddy too. Going to swap some shocks. Hit the track. Take notes. Fine tune. Learn. Have fun. Should be interesting to see what these changes did and move on from there. Keep in mind these are crude tools and basic adjustments. We aren't on a Hunter Alignment rack but we at least have a crude baseline.
I made the flyer. It's like playing Where's Waldo to find me, but I made the flyer.
The track put up $300 for the driver who has the most people come thru the gate saying "I'm here to watch Phil Hicks" or whatever driver they are watching. Some others chipped in and got the total to $500. Wouldn't that help the payout? $300 to win. $500 if you bring the most fans.
Should be a decent show with only the four classes. Shouldn't drag on all night. Good racing. Truck class has been getting some great action throughout the field. I am really hoping to be pushing the leaders. No promises as it is racing and I still have plenty to improve upon. It certainly does feel good knowing I have steadily improved this year. Need to take it to the next step where I can consistently run up front. Waynesfield is where I had my break thru race about 3-4 races back. Be nice to follow up with another solid performance. 5 races remaining. I can only attend 3 of them. Weddings on two of them in October. Got to make it count and get the points I can when I am there. I've said I am NOT running for points. And honestly, I'm not. But. . . If you are going to the end of the year awards banquet anyway? May as well bring home a check and a trophy.
The track put up $300 for the driver who has the most people come thru the gate saying "I'm here to watch Phil Hicks" or whatever driver they are watching. Some others chipped in and got the total to $500. Wouldn't that help the payout? $300 to win. $500 if you bring the most fans.
Should be a decent show with only the four classes. Shouldn't drag on all night. Good racing. Truck class has been getting some great action throughout the field. I am really hoping to be pushing the leaders. No promises as it is racing and I still have plenty to improve upon. It certainly does feel good knowing I have steadily improved this year. Need to take it to the next step where I can consistently run up front. Waynesfield is where I had my break thru race about 3-4 races back. Be nice to follow up with another solid performance. 5 races remaining. I can only attend 3 of them. Weddings on two of them in October. Got to make it count and get the points I can when I am there. I've said I am NOT running for points. And honestly, I'm not. But. . . If you are going to the end of the year awards banquet anyway? May as well bring home a check and a trophy.
Started pole in the heat race. Fought back and forth. Got passed with a couple to go. Finished second. Learning things. Figuring out how the adjustments were affecting how it handled. As a bonus: led 5 laps in my last race heat race, got passed, and he walked away. Tonight I got passed and stayed with him. Darn near rear ended him on the white flag lap. Going to see if he will install a brake light for me to see when he is going to stomp the brakes.
Feature started second row inside. Mike Sawmiller took off and lead green to checkers. Congrats to him on the win. The next four trucks were a hornets nest all bottled up. Hindsight is 20/20 but I can see where I was too conservative. We all raced clean though and it was a blast. The pack didn't seem to break apart until we came up on lapped traffic. I was in 5th and struggled to get around 4th place and a lapped truck. After several laps the 4th place driver got around the lapper, I passed the lapper next lap, put it up high and used momentum to take 4th. Was trying to reel in 3rd but ran out of laps.
As a competitive person I should not be pleased with 4th place in the feature. As a realist and optimist I can see growth. And let's give credit where credit is due: there are some darn good trucks and drivers to contend with in this class.
Goals have remained consistent throughout the season. Steady growth was a main goal and we are seeing steady improvement. A more recent goal has been consistency. The last 4-5 races have provided consistency.
Moving forward the goals need to remain and more need to be added. First off let's hope this little motor keeps motoring a few more races. She is getting tired. I need to continue to learn and improve upon setup. Made some adjustments between races. Positive improvement. I need to keep learning and bettering myself in this department. Lastly, I still need to improve as a driver. Tough to beat guys with decades of experience and hundreds of feature wins. It won't happen unless I improve behind the wheel. Baby steps. Getting there.
Heat race: 2nd. Feature: 4th
Feature started second row inside. Mike Sawmiller took off and lead green to checkers. Congrats to him on the win. The next four trucks were a hornets nest all bottled up. Hindsight is 20/20 but I can see where I was too conservative. We all raced clean though and it was a blast. The pack didn't seem to break apart until we came up on lapped traffic. I was in 5th and struggled to get around 4th place and a lapped truck. After several laps the 4th place driver got around the lapper, I passed the lapper next lap, put it up high and used momentum to take 4th. Was trying to reel in 3rd but ran out of laps.
As a competitive person I should not be pleased with 4th place in the feature. As a realist and optimist I can see growth. And let's give credit where credit is due: there are some darn good trucks and drivers to contend with in this class.
Goals have remained consistent throughout the season. Steady growth was a main goal and we are seeing steady improvement. A more recent goal has been consistency. The last 4-5 races have provided consistency.
Moving forward the goals need to remain and more need to be added. First off let's hope this little motor keeps motoring a few more races. She is getting tired. I need to continue to learn and improve upon setup. Made some adjustments between races. Positive improvement. I need to keep learning and bettering myself in this department. Lastly, I still need to improve as a driver. Tough to beat guys with decades of experience and hundreds of feature wins. It won't happen unless I improve behind the wheel. Baby steps. Getting there.
Heat race: 2nd. Feature: 4th
Phil, are seasoned guys the mentoring types? If so try picking their brains on some tricks of the trade. I doubt they got it ALL figured out on their own….
@"J" I would say they are. I've seen them work on another person's truck for a couple hours while they could be chilling. There are 3 guys I'm bouncing ideas off of and the set up stuff is moving through right direction. Just can't change too much at s time. Need to see how the changes worked it didn't work. Change 6 things and it gets worse then how do you know which change to undo?
Made modifications. Didn't work. Made adjustments for said modifications. Got a little better. Not good enough. I was second of 6 in my heat race. Went backwards in the feature. Started 3rd. Finished 5th of 13. Not upset. Just part of the process. Make no changes. Be content with where you finish. Make changes. Be willing to accept when they don't work. Be ready to make more changes before the next race.
It's been a month. I've missed two races due to weddings. Dropped to 10th in points. I did learn that I was 3rd in track points for Montpelier Speedway. That was nice because I didn't know they were keeping track.
I've made major changes since the last race. Too many to remember them all. I borrowed some scales and found my numbers and percentages to be way off from the suggested "good starting point" type numbers.
We have a double header this weekend. Friday night in Montpelier for the Monster Mash race. Saturday in Waynesfield for the Goblin Classic. I am essentially doing some test and tune for next year with hopes of major gains. Really nothing to lose and now I have a more solid base line with actual scale numbers and percentages. I feel it will be an improvement overall although the truck may handle a lot differently than I'm used to. It should be a nice bit of info to start next year unless I hit the lottery and build a fire breathing monster motor for next year. If that happens, the additional power would likely change my set up needs.
Let's see if the weather holds. If so, I really need top three in heat races and features for a good climb in end of year points.
I've made major changes since the last race. Too many to remember them all. I borrowed some scales and found my numbers and percentages to be way off from the suggested "good starting point" type numbers.
We have a double header this weekend. Friday night in Montpelier for the Monster Mash race. Saturday in Waynesfield for the Goblin Classic. I am essentially doing some test and tune for next year with hopes of major gains. Really nothing to lose and now I have a more solid base line with actual scale numbers and percentages. I feel it will be an improvement overall although the truck may handle a lot differently than I'm used to. It should be a nice bit of info to start next year unless I hit the lottery and build a fire breathing monster motor for next year. If that happens, the additional power would likely change my set up needs.
Let's see if the weather holds. If so, I really need top three in heat races and features for a good climb in end of year points.
