Hicks Lawn Services truck racing
- Thread starter hickslawns
- Start date
Had our end of the year awards banquet last weekend. Finished third in points for the season. Pretty survive already said that in this post. Banquet was good.
Black Friday was yesterday. The only Black Friday sale i partook in was for that race truck. My wife was not impressed by the savings. Added a couple of new bead lock rims. Normally $180-200 plus shipping and sales tax. I ended up at $140 per rim after shipping and sales tax. I also went out last night and winterized the truck. Made sure to get some antifreeze in the block. I guess you could say the 2025 season has begun.
Black Friday was yesterday. The only Black Friday sale i partook in was for that race truck. My wife was not impressed by the savings. Added a couple of new bead lock rims. Normally $180-200 plus shipping and sales tax. I ended up at $140 per rim after shipping and sales tax. I also went out last night and winterized the truck. Made sure to get some antifreeze in the block. I guess you could say the 2025 season has begun.
Last edited:
ThatBuckeyeGuy
Active Member
Motor is at the engine builders. Other is in the engine stand. Waiting on parts. Unfortunately will be forced to do some work on the head I've been running. Going to need a cam and ??? Ugh.
Season begins May 3 at Atomic Raceway in the Chillicothe area. Never raced there. We have 2 races there this season. 2 races at Millstream in Findlay. 5 or 6 at Limaland. 2 at Waynesfield. Sounds like Oakshade is trying to fit us in there schedule possibly. Probably be a decent number of races spread around the state a little more than last year.
Season begins May 3 at Atomic Raceway in the Chillicothe area. Never raced there. We have 2 races there this season. 2 races at Millstream in Findlay. 5 or 6 at Limaland. 2 at Waynesfield. Sounds like Oakshade is trying to fit us in there schedule possibly. Probably be a decent number of races spread around the state a little more than last year.
Got my tires and rims mostly ready. Just need to check out the four the truck is rolling on. I picked up some really nice used tires again. The modified rules changed and they can't groove tires anymore. That made a lot of used tires available for classes without grooving rules. Fairly priced too.
Hoping to make the engine and transmission tomorrow and get it dropped in before the end of the weekend.
Would like to get my leaf springs checked for what poundage they are measuring. At least have an idea what they are. Might tweak the spring weights. Probably going to revamp a lot of setup stuff and start from scratch this year. Big changes aren't generally good. If it works (or doesn't work) it is harder to know what change to undo. Need to scale it again at a minimum.
Probably just bang out the body panels and maybe have portions of the wrap redone. Budget is already shot. Good thing I have some sheet metal if it won't bang out. Can make minor repairs without spending more.
Pretty good tires for the money with room to sell some of my old tires and recover a bit of my expenses.
Hoping to make the engine and transmission tomorrow and get it dropped in before the end of the weekend.
Would like to get my leaf springs checked for what poundage they are measuring. At least have an idea what they are. Might tweak the spring weights. Probably going to revamp a lot of setup stuff and start from scratch this year. Big changes aren't generally good. If it works (or doesn't work) it is harder to know what change to undo. Need to scale it again at a minimum.
Probably just bang out the body panels and maybe have portions of the wrap redone. Budget is already shot. Good thing I have some sheet metal if it won't bang out. Can make minor repairs without spending more.
Pretty good tires for the money with room to sell some of my old tires and recover a bit of my expenses.
We received confirmation one of our sponsors is on board again. The Wapak VFW is a pretty happening Post. I'm a member and eat there on occasion. Can't say I've ever seen the place empty. Some nights you can't find a table. Glad to have them officially on board again. First race is Atomic Speedway in Chillicothe. May 3 if anyone is interested in attending. Pretty confident going into the season but first race bugs make me nervous being 2.5hrs from home. It will be the shake down run to see how everything is working. New motor. Adjusted set up. Could be rocking or could struggle. Hopefully we rock the field. Time will tell.
Atomic Speedway rained out for tomorrow. They already called it today. Limaland runs Friday, May 9th. That will be my first race of the season. We shall see how everything works. Different motor to start the year and changed some setup stuff in the office season.
Fast group of trucks last night. Started outside row 1 in P2. Finished in P2.
They had a redraw and the invert had me starting the same place for the feature. Lap one, turn two, the guy on inside spun and we had a complete restart. The guy who won 9 of 11 was now in the pole. I ran 2nd place for 9 laps. He was slowly creeping away from me. Tried a different line to see if I could reel him in. That was dumb. Lost two spots.
Finished 4th. Solid night. Motor was good. Setup changes from the off season were better but not there yet. I'll get there. Happy with the results. I was in striking distance most of the race. That's what it takes.
They had a redraw and the invert had me starting the same place for the feature. Lap one, turn two, the guy on inside spun and we had a complete restart. The guy who won 9 of 11 was now in the pole. I ran 2nd place for 9 laps. He was slowly creeping away from me. Tried a different line to see if I could reel him in. That was dumb. Lost two spots.
Finished 4th. Solid night. Motor was good. Setup changes from the off season were better but not there yet. I'll get there. Happy with the results. I was in striking distance most of the race. That's what it takes.
- 6,796
- 145
Holiday weekend coming up. They scheduled a Sunday race for us at Waynesfield Raceway Park. It will be my 50th race and a week or so before my 50th birthday. I'd really love to give myself an early birthday present. Going to let it all hang out.
Waynesfield Raceway Park Started last in the heat race. Moved up to second. Running down the leader. Something let go under the hood.
Our silver lining is the handling woes I've been chasing the last two years were gone. Found something between races. The truck has never handled so well. Let's hope we are over that hurdle.
Next race is Friday at Limaland Motorsports Park . Going to try to get the backup motor into the truck tomorrow. It's a short work week and we are short handed this week. No promises but I'll do my best to get out there for our sponsors.
Not sure if it is accurate or not but according to the timing I beat the track record by 4/10ths of a second tonight. That record has stood for a looooong time. Truck was flying all the way up to the point she let loose.
Our silver lining is the handling woes I've been chasing the last two years were gone. Found something between races. The truck has never handled so well. Let's hope we are over that hurdle.
Next race is Friday at Limaland Motorsports Park . Going to try to get the backup motor into the truck tomorrow. It's a short work week and we are short handed this week. No promises but I'll do my best to get out there for our sponsors.
Not sure if it is accurate or not but according to the timing I beat the track record by 4/10ths of a second tonight. That record has stood for a looooong time. Truck was flying all the way up to the point she let loose.
Drove the Warriors Way 17 for all it had tonight at Limaland Motorsports Park . Started 3rd in the heat race. Battled for the lead. Multiple occasions we were three wide. Won the heat race with what I was told was 8/1000ths of a second difference between first and second place.
Started the pole of the feature in the light rain. Still figuring out the handling but now doing it with a backup motor. Was solidly in a battle for third with Tony Anderson Racing. His experience proved better. A bobble here and there cost me third. In efforts to try some different lines to get around him I bobbled again and dropped as far back as 6th. Climbed back to a fifth place finish. Not the results I wanted after starting the night with a heat race win. I'll take it though. Truck is handling better. I am steadily improving as a driver. Need to focus on being smoother. No more bobbles. Work on the truck to get more forward drive. Minor tweaks is what I need. Feel like I've crossed a big hurdle with the handling. Now just need to squeeze all I can out of the backpack motor.
Muddy mess at the end of the night.
Started the pole of the feature in the light rain. Still figuring out the handling but now doing it with a backup motor. Was solidly in a battle for third with Tony Anderson Racing. His experience proved better. A bobble here and there cost me third. In efforts to try some different lines to get around him I bobbled again and dropped as far back as 6th. Climbed back to a fifth place finish. Not the results I wanted after starting the night with a heat race win. I'll take it though. Truck is handling better. I am steadily improving as a driver. Need to focus on being smoother. No more bobbles. Work on the truck to get more forward drive. Minor tweaks is what I need. Feel like I've crossed a big hurdle with the handling. Now just need to squeeze all I can out of the backpack motor.
Muddy mess at the end of the night.
Thursday July 3 we race at Waynesfield Raceway.
Saturday July 5 we race at Millstream in Findlay.
Just in case anyone was looking for different activities over the holiday weekend.
Both nights we run with winged sprint cars. Thursday is sprint cars, modifieds, and our trucks. Saturday is trucks with wing and non-wing sprint cars on the quarter mile track. Should be fun.
Still in the backup engine. Made some more setup adjustments attempting to free it up. I think it is going to be a step forward. We shall see.
Saturday July 5 we race at Millstream in Findlay.
Just in case anyone was looking for different activities over the holiday weekend.
Both nights we run with winged sprint cars. Thursday is sprint cars, modifieds, and our trucks. Saturday is trucks with wing and non-wing sprint cars on the quarter mile track. Should be fun.
Still in the backup engine. Made some more setup adjustments attempting to free it up. I think it is going to be a step forward. We shall see.
Good heat race win at Waynesfield Raceway Park tonight. Redraw gave me a good starting position. Still digesting the chain of events in the feature which took place. Moments of solid racing. Moments of "well that was stupid." They gave us a 20 lap feature. I spun on lap 12 while running 5th (I think.) Drove the truck back to 6th with 8 to go. Not as impressive as it sounds. I think we started with 19. 13 started the feature. I might have passed 2-3 for a 6th place finish. Tough track to pass on tonight. Not the finish I wanted. Kicking myself.
We will be at Millstream in Findlay tomorrow night.
We will be at Millstream in Findlay tomorrow night.