My first visit to Hawkeye Downs in Cedar Rapids Iowa was on Friday June 11th. 

Fun track but really crowded pits made it a pain.  The weather was hot and humid which took a lot out of me and my crew.  I’ve asked my guys to add some more insulation to keep the truck from heating up so much.  The three of us looked like we had crossed a desert by the end of the night.

The ride down was a bit rough in Iowa.  Some of those Iowa roads could use some improvement, with a bulldozer!  We even blew a trailer tire and had to stop to  replace it.  Good thing we do enroute inspections.

I out qualified Conrad so that was kinda cool but we were a full half second behind John Wood.  John’s truck was really fast at Hawkeye so he won and his brother Jerry was 3rd.  Conrad finished 4th and I finished 6th. 

I really need to get on the gas sooner coming off the turns in order to pick up the pace and run with the leaders.   ”Trick” is working on some changes to help me so I am looking forward to doing better.

Next race is Madison on Friday July 2nd.  Second time at that track so I am looking to improve.  Then we will run Elko on Saturday July 3rd.

The race was scheduled for Saturday night the 5th of June but rained out.  Rescheduled for Sunday June 6th.

Trick and Pat worked their butts off.  I appreciate all of their work.

Trick had made some changes and the truck felt really really good in practice.  With the shortend schedule we did not have qualifying.  Based on points, I started outside front row for both heat and feature.  Ran side by side with the #27 truck for several laps and then cleared him.  Led 6 of the 10 laps.  Conrad Jorgenson caught me with one lap to go and then got by me by a nose at the finish line to beat me in the heat.  Conrad’s truck was just a little over on left side weight so they gave me the victory.  I would rather have beat him on the track.

Feature started out pretty good.  I cleared the #27 truck pretty quick and led a few laps than John Wood moved up in his #72 truck.  Wood got his nose under me and then Conrad got by followed by Jerry Wood in the #73 truck.  Conrad and John got together, John spun, and Conrad was sent to the back of the pack by the officials. 

On the restart, Jerry Wood took the inside line and I lined up outside him.  I got a good restart and wouldn’t ya know it, I stayed right with him.  For like 20 laps.  Yea, 20 feaking laps.  It was the most intense and fun racing I have every done in my life!  Door handle to door handle.  Side by side, lap after lap.  Led 12 laps during the feature. VERY COOL!

With 10 laps to go I got my right rear pretty hot and got loose.  As soon as that happened, I was freight-trained again and dropped by to 5th. 

The truck handled really well. Better then ever. Trick did a great job setting up the truck for me.  Craig called a perfect race for me on the radio.  We have a couple of little glitches to fix that will help us be a little more consistent.

We are off to Hawkeye Downs in Cedar Rapids this coming Friday.  The race today will be televised on June 19th on Fox Sports North and Fox Sports WI.  Check your listings.  It should be a good TV race with all of the side by side action.  I had two cameras in the truck and can’t wait to see the footage.