Double Take...That is what we will call this past week end of Holiday racing. After I give you the race recap you will see why.

Friday, the 4th of July, we headed south for Kansas City, we have never been to Lakeside Speedway before, so we were excited about racing here, as we had heard it is a very racy track. There were 53 sprint cars signed in for this ASCoT event. Jack continued in his pattern of drawing high and drew in the sixties I believe; he would start 8th in the 2nd heat race. Jack had some hitters in his heat race, and knew he needed to get up on the wheel, which is exactly what he did. On the initial start, Jack blew around everyone on the cushion, and looked as though he was going to check out, but they threw the yellow, on the next restart he did it again, but was not able to gain as many spots, but still worked his way up to a 3 rd place finish, finishing behind the 2 guys who started on the pole. Again this earned him a chance at the “A” feature redraw, where you got it….he drew the # 8 match book…..AGAIN. He will start the main 4th row outside, unlike other nights with this bunch, he did not have a whole lot of big hitters in front of him, but there was still a few who would be a handful. Right out of the chute, Jack went to work on them and ran 3rd the better part of the race, settling for a 4th place finish after he, Chappel and J Johnson all hit lap traffic and Jack made the wrong move. I know the lap traffic was either going to work in his favor or work against him, and unfortunately it worked against him. We are still very happy with a top 5 finish, and when a person considers where Jack had to start in all events for the evening, we are very happy with the outcome. When you can gain positions and race to the front with this group of racers, you are truly doing something. We enjoyed the fireworks after the races, unlike Foxy who was hiding in the coach under the bed, scared to death. We decided to load up and head east for our next day of racing.

Saturday, we arrived at the Lake Ozark Speedway and unloaded our car and went right to work on preparing for another great night of racing. Now here is where I could tell you to read the report above and minus a few details almost everything is the same. Jack drew high, would start 8th in the 2nd heat race, and just like the night before, got up on the cushion and blew pass them all, until a yellow came out, on the restart. Jack would drive hard and work his way up to a 3rd place finish, behind the likes of Chappel and Maier. Again, he made the redraw and you got it, guess what he drew?????  The matchbook with the number 8 in it. Can you believe that? That is like 3 times in a row now. I joked with the guys who do the lineups, that we wouldn’t draw anymore, than can just give us the 8th spot, but like I said, I was joking, and I hope our luck of the draw changes soon. Now unlike Friday night, Jack did have some very heavy hitters in front of him, and he would need to be elbows up and drive if he wanted to move forward tonight. Well, he did just that. You could see that he was on a mission, and started picking them off one by one and was up to 3rd and actually passed Gary Taylor for second, but because Taylor’s transponder was not working and they had a yellow, they gave Taylor back the spot on the restart, which really stunk, because Jack had earned it fair and square, but that’s racing, just like a few slide jobs that Jack gave and received. It was a very exciting race, and I along with some others, believe if it had stayed green at the end, the winner may not have been Jason Johnson. Jack along with Gary Taylor, Gary Lee Maier and Wayne Johnson were all coming; they were dicing through lap traffic like rockets. Jack would end up letting Wayne Johnson get around him on the last 2 laps and settle once again for a 4th place finish. So as you can see the similarities of the 2 nights are almost scary. Saturday night’s race was the Daniel McMillan Memorial race, which is a tribute they do for JessieHocket’s Cousin and crew chief who lost his life 2 years ago, and I got say, this guy must have been a great guy, because you would not believe all the people that were at this race to pay their respects. It is a great event, and we are honored we could take part in it.

I’m writing this report on Sunday morning from the comforts of our motor coach in Lake Ozark, MO. I will be rolling the boys out of bed soon, as we may head to the lake for some boating, the boys are a wee bit tired as they decided they needed to go “out” last night. But they deserved it, when you can run in the top five with the ASCoT guys; you definitely have a reason to celebrate. We are so proud of Jack, and all the great accomplishments he has had here lately. We wish Wayne was back, but we are making the most of what we have and what we have learned, and with Wayne not being around, even though we don’t like it, has been good for Jack, because it has made him believe in himself, and helped him to realize that you can do whatever YOU set your mind to.

We sent our good friend Kathryne on her way south last night with her Papa, and I must say I’m going to miss having her around, as I’m sure someone else will too.

Jack has some big decisions to make early this week, as we have finally hit a point in the season where National races are overlapping with Midwest races and he needs to decide which he wants to do. Next week is the start of speed week with ASCoT down south, and Marc and I would really like for Jack to do this, but it will be his decision. In case you are wondering ASCoT stand for American Sprint Cars on Tour. Jack is currently 8th in National points and 2nd in Midwest points. He is one spot out of being the National Rookie of the Year, and we believe if we worked hard at it the rest of the season, he could have a shot at it. So, we have a lot of things to think about and some big decisions to make.

We want to thank Michael, Randy and Paul, who all made the holiday trip with us, and were a huge part of our success this past week end. Thanks Guys.

Thanks to everyone who came out, and to the many new fans and old fans as well, we love you all, and we are glad we are able to put on a show for ya !

Hope everyone had a safe and fun 4th of July and we will se ya at the track!