We ran at the Milwaukee Mile on July 17th with the United States Super Truck Series.

This was my first visit to the historic Mile and I really enjoyed the speed of the track.  Pat Stair worked hard all week to get the truck ready and Craig Furlong joined in for the trip to take care of the spotting duties.

We practiced on some pretty old tires and then improved significantly for qualifying on new tires earning the 4th starting position.  Ran 4th for most of the race and then 13 year old Camden Murphy ran me down and passed me so I finished 5th.  It’s kind of aggravating to get beat by such a young kid but bottom line they have no fear at all and I have no intention of finding the wall at over a 100 mph.

We will be racing there again in Sept and I can’t wait.  Pat and I have talked a lot already about how to improve our set up so we can go faster.  Next race for us will be at Marshfield with the ASA Midwest Tour later in August.

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.

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.

On Sat the 29th we went to the track to try some adjustments with the bigger ASA tires.  After I was satisfied with what I learned we put the Big 8 Sportsman tires on and got ready for the Sportsman race.  After qualifing, my spotter mechanic, Craig Furlong, changed the split on the rear tires.

I went out and motored around in the heat and the truck felt okay but not real fast.  Started inside 5th row for the feature.  I planned to just motor around and pick up some points.  The leaders stayed bunched up until sure enough they started taking each other out.  I missed two big wrecks in the first third of the race right in front of me with Craig’s help.  At the half way point one of the drivers wrecked pretty hard into turn 1 all by himself and messed his car up big time and caught fire so the red flag came out.

By now I was up to third with all the wrecking.  I held my position for the last 15 laps and had to go to the tech barn after the race.  Very Cool!

Trick was out of town so we stayed in touch with him via cell phone.  Craig really kicked butt and we worked together very well to get everything done.  It was a good night.

And now we are really looking forward to next Saturday night with the ASA.  Come on out if you can.

Got there a little late, missed the first practice. Second practice truck felt really good, better th…an ever. Only got three laps in third practice, scrubing new tires. Qualified 6th, ran a 14.9, over 5 tenths faster than I have ever run there. Felt Good! Heat race got banged around a bit, not sure where I finished. Started fourth in Feature, big reck on third lap and spun to avoid, lucking to not get hit. Started third after restart, got punted in turn 1 by the #14 Doug Brown, everyone tells me he moved up and hit me but I want to see the tape on a bigger screen before I judge it. Finished 7th. All late models in front of me. Ran one tenth off of the leaders. Room for improvement. Big thing is to get more laps to be ready for the ASA Midwest Tour Race on June 5th. 

Conrad Jorgenson drove the #83 Interstate Truck Driving School Super Truck to a second place finish in Madison on May 2nd (that’s Conrad on the right in the pic above).  Conrad started 6th and worked his way to the lead after 6 laps and continued to lead until a late race caution on lap 32 of 40.  When the green flag flew Jerry Woods got by and Conrad did not have enough time to catch him.  For more information about Conrad check out his website at www.brothersjorgensonracing.com 

Bill Collins drove the #63 Interstate Truck Driving School Super Truck to 8th place at Madison.  Bill had not planned to race the truck since it does not meet all of the ASA rules.   Bill brought it along to put on display but when the organizers did not get the number of entries they hoped for, they asked Bill to run the truck.  Bill had never drvien at Madison International Speedway.  He had never driven this race truck.  When he arrived on Saturday afternoon paractice was over.  So with no practice, Bill jumped in the truck and qualified 8th, just 2 tenths of a second slower than his team-mate Conrad Jorgenson.

The organizors told Bill not to finish up front so he simply drove the race during the race as a practice session and experimented with different lines on the track.  When the checkered flag flew Bill was 8th, same position as he started.

“I had a really good seat watching Conrad lead the race”  Bill commented later.  “I must admit I was disappointed he lost the race due to a very poor restart by the officials”.

You can see all the action for yourself on Fox Sports on Saturday May 15th.  Check local listings but most cable providers will be airing the race at 11:30 am just before the Twins game.

Bill will be running the #63 truck at Elko Speedway (www.elkospeedway.com) this Saturday night (May 8th) in the NASCAR Big 8 Sportsman Division.  The ASA Midwest Tour (www.asamidwesttour.com) will be racing at Elko on June 5th when Bill will run the #63 and Andy Jirik will drive the #83 truck.

We ran our first race with in the U.S. Super Truck Series on Oct 11th.  The race was held at LaCrosse Fairgrounds Speedway in West Salem, WI.

We went down to LaCrosse on Wed Oct 8th to get in some practice and experienced some motor problems.  Conrad Jorgenson from Brothers Jorgenson Racing in Elko www.brothersjorgensonracing.com  took a good look at the race truck on Friday and found some ignition problems.  We practiced on Saturday morning and the truck ran a lot better.

Sunday morning we arrived early for the autograph session and had to stand around on a VERY cold October morning but we got to talk to a lot of race fans.  The LaCrosse Fairgrounds does a great job promoting their events and every one was having a good time dispite the cold weather.

We were grided 5th for the heat race.  As the trucks lined up, the driver starting 3rd had some problems and wanted to start in the rear so we moved up to 3rd starting position.  When the green flag dropped, the #83 Interstate Truck Driving School truck was running great.  Bill followed the leader through turns one and two and then put his foot in it down the back stretch.  As the leader ( Todd Lockington#74) entered turn three he slipped up the track just a little and Collins dove down to take the lead. 

Lockington turned down to try and protect his position and the two touched.  The #74 spun up the track while Collins kept the hammer down and took the lead.  The yellow came out and the officials put Bill at the rear of the field for spinning the winner.

Starting in the rear for the 8 lap heat race, Collins used the outside grove and worked his way back up to third for a decent finish.

Bill then started 7th in the feature with a field of 14 Super Trucks.  When the green flag flew Collins worked his way up to third place by the middle of the race.  2008 Series Champion and soon to be 2009 Champion, John Wood, caught up to Bill with Conrad Jorgenson right on Wood’s bumper.  Collins held the two trucks off for several laps and then slipped just a little high in turn 1.  It was just enough for the more experienced Woods and he moved underneath to take the position.  Collins’ spotter let him know Conrad was following Wood and Bill let him through without a fight as payback for all his help in getting the truck to run so well.

Jorgenson then beat on Wood’s bumper for several laps and finally got by as Collins stayed on contact with the battle.  When Conrad got by Wood with two laps to go, Bill tried to follow but Wood held him off.  Collins took the checkered flag right on Wood’s bumper to finish 5th.

Considering where Bill finished, it was a very successful first time racing with the Super Trucks.  Collins had been frustrated racing against late models at Elko this summer so this event was a significant improvement.  Andy Jirik, who built the #83 truck with help from Conrad, congratulated Bill on a good first race.

The last race of the year for the Super Trucks is down in Memphis on November 7th.  With the success at LaCrosse, Bill is trying to get the motor freshened to make the trip. 

News update on 10/29/09:

We sent the motor over to Jax Engine Specialties to have Pat Stair go through it and make sure everything was perfect.  Turns out after careful examination that one of the heads was cracked.  Pat had a new head shipped in and put it all together.  He is heading off to the engine dyno soon to make sure everything is up to his standards before Conrad puts the motor back in.  If all goes well, we will be hitting the road on Thursday Nov 5th heading for Memphis. 

Bill is excited to run the truck again since we were down on power at LaCrosse with the cracked head.  With full power under the hood the team is hoping to put the #83 truck at the front of the field.  Stay tuned…..

You can get more information about the Super Truck Series by visiting www.usstracing.com