After months of hard work over the summer, William has purchased a legends car and begun racing at Texas Motor Speedway! Look for William in the, currently, #23t '34 Ford Sedan at TMS! Over the weekend he ran over 150 laps on the 'Lil TMS and had a very impressive first outing in a legends car. The car was built by Cherokee Racing two and a half years ago for a driver to rent but was never ran. It had sat at the teams shop until this weekend when I told them I was interested in the car and wanted to take a look at it. Buddy, the owner of Cherokee Racing, called the driver of their second trailer and told them to turn around and pick up the 23t car. After an inspection of the car they loaded it up and brought it to the track. Upon first glance the car looked rough and I wasn't to sure of what to think about it. I asked Buddy if I could take it out on the track and to my liking, the car handled phenomenally and had TONS of power! I pulled it in and tried to keep my grin to a minimum as to try to show as little emotion as I could even though at that moment I knew the car was mine!
After further inspection and talking I ended up deciding to tell my dad I was going to buy the car. Wanting to drive even more I asked if I could race it that night and sure enough I ended up racing in my first race that very night!!
Now lets backpedal a few hours to give you the whole story of how the weekend went down. I arranged a test drive with the Lonestar Legends driving school and was at Texas Motor Speedway at 8:00am Saturday morning. After a brief drivers meeting I got suited up and strapped into the #14 school car. I went out for my first 10 laps and ran consistent 16.3-16.1 second lap times. I knew I could do way better so during my next 10 lap session I started pushing the car harder into turn one. This session I was running lap times around 15.0 the entire time. I took about a 30-45 minute break before running a 20 lap session, 5 laps shorter than a feature. During this session I began pushing the car harder and harder into the turns. I began getting a good feel of the car and was able to get good control over the handling and how much the car could take before losing grip. During my first 20 lap session I dropped down to a 14.5 second lap time. On to the final 20 laps. I went out about an hour later for my final 20 laps. I was determined to break into the 13 second bracket so I tried doing something different into turns one and two while taking it easy in three and four because of the concrete wall only a few inches from the car going down the front straightaway. The track was getting hotter and the tires began sliding but I still managed to gain a little bit of speed, not enough to break into the 13 second bracket though. My fastest lap of the day so far was a 14.4 during my last 20 laps.
At this point I knew I was going to be buying a legends car, I just needed to find the right one. I figured I was just going to be watching some racing for the remainder of the day either at Texas Motor Speedway or up in Denton, TX at North Texas Karters where I have been racing for the past year. I began talking to some people at Texas Motor Speedway and found out one of the big teams had a car for sale at a great price. I went and talked to the owner of the car and he got the car to the track in the next hour and a half for me to look at. There was a few issues we noticed so we were about to turn down the offer. But then I got in the car and out on the track. I was a little uncomfortable and couldn't see over the dash board but once I got on the track and let the car run wide open down the straightaway I knew all of my concerns would be solved with just a little bit of cosmetic work! I ended up letting the owner know I was going to buy the car then asked him if it would be cool if I raced it even though I had not done any paper work or even paid for the car yet. We settled on a gentlemen's agreement and I was racing that night! I started in the back for my heat race which included the fastest legends car driver in Texas, Baiden Heskett, and many other drivers that have years of experience and a ton of talent.
I started sixth and right off the bat I could have taken control of fifth from the start but was still not used to the car or knowing where other cars were around me so I decided not to jump to the bottom to take the position. I ended up getting lapped once, then once again on the last lap but did what I set out to do and made laps and kept the car out of the wall. I would start twelfth out of twelve for the feature race, fourth out of four in my class. Everyone had a good start so I was stuck in the back following another driver around the track for many laps. I finally got the opportunity to pass a semi-pro driver on the track for position bumping me up to third. Then a few laps later the points leader pulled of the track due to a broken axle which bumped me up once again into second place. The leader of my class was in my sights but I ran out of time to catch up to him. In my first race I finished second. I did not know this though until Monday around 6:00pm. A great day of racing that was only supposed to be a deciding day if I wanted to join the fun, not a day where I JOINED the fun!!! Well worth it though!!!
On Sunday the races were called as we pulled into the pits. Many drivers still wanted to race so the race director decided to let those who wanted to race, race. I need all of the seat time I can get so I decided to take my chances and run in the rain in only my second race. I got lucky though because the rain stopped and the track was dry. I ran a few practice sessions around 1:00pm then the race started at 2:00pm. I started in the back once again. I had a good start but the driver in front of me wanted to go to the back and I did not take action fast enough and drove into the back of him in the first turn. I lost a lot of ground while that happened as the field drove away from us. The track was slick and my car was sliding around like crazy! I kept it off the wall though and brought the car home in one piece which was a victory in itself considering the conditions and a few of the moments like sliding all the way across the track in front of some drivers at one point!!
This past weekend in the legends car was by far one of the most fun weekends I have ever had. Period. I will be racing legend cars for a long time and enjoying every moment of it!!!
Now lets backpedal a few hours to give you the whole story of how the weekend went down. I arranged a test drive with the Lonestar Legends driving school and was at Texas Motor Speedway at 8:00am Saturday morning. After a brief drivers meeting I got suited up and strapped into the #14 school car. I went out for my first 10 laps and ran consistent 16.3-16.1 second lap times. I knew I could do way better so during my next 10 lap session I started pushing the car harder into turn one. This session I was running lap times around 15.0 the entire time. I took about a 30-45 minute break before running a 20 lap session, 5 laps shorter than a feature. During this session I began pushing the car harder and harder into the turns. I began getting a good feel of the car and was able to get good control over the handling and how much the car could take before losing grip. During my first 20 lap session I dropped down to a 14.5 second lap time. On to the final 20 laps. I went out about an hour later for my final 20 laps. I was determined to break into the 13 second bracket so I tried doing something different into turns one and two while taking it easy in three and four because of the concrete wall only a few inches from the car going down the front straightaway. The track was getting hotter and the tires began sliding but I still managed to gain a little bit of speed, not enough to break into the 13 second bracket though. My fastest lap of the day so far was a 14.4 during my last 20 laps.
At this point I knew I was going to be buying a legends car, I just needed to find the right one. I figured I was just going to be watching some racing for the remainder of the day either at Texas Motor Speedway or up in Denton, TX at North Texas Karters where I have been racing for the past year. I began talking to some people at Texas Motor Speedway and found out one of the big teams had a car for sale at a great price. I went and talked to the owner of the car and he got the car to the track in the next hour and a half for me to look at. There was a few issues we noticed so we were about to turn down the offer. But then I got in the car and out on the track. I was a little uncomfortable and couldn't see over the dash board but once I got on the track and let the car run wide open down the straightaway I knew all of my concerns would be solved with just a little bit of cosmetic work! I ended up letting the owner know I was going to buy the car then asked him if it would be cool if I raced it even though I had not done any paper work or even paid for the car yet. We settled on a gentlemen's agreement and I was racing that night! I started in the back for my heat race which included the fastest legends car driver in Texas, Baiden Heskett, and many other drivers that have years of experience and a ton of talent.
I started sixth and right off the bat I could have taken control of fifth from the start but was still not used to the car or knowing where other cars were around me so I decided not to jump to the bottom to take the position. I ended up getting lapped once, then once again on the last lap but did what I set out to do and made laps and kept the car out of the wall. I would start twelfth out of twelve for the feature race, fourth out of four in my class. Everyone had a good start so I was stuck in the back following another driver around the track for many laps. I finally got the opportunity to pass a semi-pro driver on the track for position bumping me up to third. Then a few laps later the points leader pulled of the track due to a broken axle which bumped me up once again into second place. The leader of my class was in my sights but I ran out of time to catch up to him. In my first race I finished second. I did not know this though until Monday around 6:00pm. A great day of racing that was only supposed to be a deciding day if I wanted to join the fun, not a day where I JOINED the fun!!! Well worth it though!!!
On Sunday the races were called as we pulled into the pits. Many drivers still wanted to race so the race director decided to let those who wanted to race, race. I need all of the seat time I can get so I decided to take my chances and run in the rain in only my second race. I got lucky though because the rain stopped and the track was dry. I ran a few practice sessions around 1:00pm then the race started at 2:00pm. I started in the back once again. I had a good start but the driver in front of me wanted to go to the back and I did not take action fast enough and drove into the back of him in the first turn. I lost a lot of ground while that happened as the field drove away from us. The track was slick and my car was sliding around like crazy! I kept it off the wall though and brought the car home in one piece which was a victory in itself considering the conditions and a few of the moments like sliding all the way across the track in front of some drivers at one point!!
This past weekend in the legends car was by far one of the most fun weekends I have ever had. Period. I will be racing legend cars for a long time and enjoying every moment of it!!!