I realize it has been quite some time since I've sent out my news letter but work and racing has kept me a little tied up. But I am back in action and have much to tell.
I will not bore you with small details but instead I will give you the Cliffnote version.
We have had about five or six races including the 100 lapper on the fourth of July. We have had a high finish of 8th and ran in the top 5 three times but had bad luck twice. One time I was running in 4th and was put in the wall by the 5th place driver, (those who know me well KNOW I was not what you call a happy camper) and in another incident, we had a slipping clutch that caused us to finish 9th. All in all we have had a great qualifying average of 12th and have still always improved our position come race time. The season is going great as far as my expectations and I could not be happier with our results and what I have learned so far.
Our strong running has definetly caught the eye of a few people which has led to some new opportunities for me lately. Dick Lindholm of National Paving has stepped up and become our title sponsor for the car which has allowed us to continue the year at the pace we are at. I personally cannot thank him or Scott Lamb of CUC Solutions enough for their help and support in my dream of racing.
With National Pavings continued supoport i was offered a Speed Truck ride at Irwindale last weekend by Tom Cunningham. He was duely impressed with my driving and results in the late model and asked me to pilot the #18 truck in last weekend's race. With little time to prepare, we made the race and did fantastic. We went faster than that truck has gone all year and even was faster than the leaders all race until a motor issue late in the event caused us to lose some ground but we were able to hold strong long enough to improve our qualifying position of 9th to 8th. After running in the 5th spot for a stint, I got in my charge to the front. Tom was extremely proud of what his truck was capable of doing and asked me to definetly run some more races in the future when possible.
With all the good things happening I owe it all to a few people that have gone far and beyond to make things happen for me. Chris from Finishline Motorsports, Grandpa Ed, Grandma Clair, my old man Bret, Great Central Transport, CUC Solutions, National Paving, my mom Dawn, Scott Lamb and family, My stepmother Gabbi, my totally rad sister Victoria and everyone that has helped me get to where I am now. And of course i must thank my girlfriend Katherine for putting up with me talking about racing ALL the time. I cannot believe how many people have come together to help me do what I love and cannot thank them enough. I look forward to seeing everyone at this weekends race and hope all is well! Till next time.......
Race #6 06-02-07 Irwindale Speedway
New video clip on You Tube of the action.
Race #5 05/19/07 Irwindale Speedway
Irving strings 2 Hard Charger Awards! Check out the video page to see a clip of the action.
Race #4 05/12/07 Irwindale Speedway
With a little bit of luck and a lot of hard work by myself and Finishline Motorsports, we have finally broke into the top 10! There is still some major steps I must take to improve myself but as a team we made huge strides forward which paid off greatly in the end.
We ran our fastest time ever at Irwindale at a 19:453, which is a full 2 tenths faster than we have ever run. There was a lot of feedback offered by me and brainstorming done on Friday night to improve the car. I had series point leader and veteran teammate Doug McComb drive the car in the final minutes of Friday practice to give his opinion on the setup and to see where I stood. He ended up clocking the exact same times as myself and when he gave his feedback of the car, it is was the same as what I was telling Chris from Finishline Motorsports, who is engineering my car. Saturday seemed a long ways away because of the anticipation of seeing where we stood in the mix of things after such a positive day.
Saturday started absolutely marvelous with a 9th place in the first session of practice. The second practice was used just to shake the car down and make sure the changes we made were the proper way to go.
Qualifying was intense with a great qualifying time of 19:453 which put us in the 17th spot. It may not be what you would call great, but for how close the field was and the improvements we made to the car, I was very pleased with the results.
The main event was one to definitely one to remember. We had a great charge from the 17th position and I was passing cars wherever there was room to fit. 3 times I made it 3 wide in the turns and was able to come out successful, twice on the inside and once right down the middle. With 6 laps remaining, there was a caution which allowed me to catch my breath, which I needed cause I had made it all the way to 8th and was staring at the top 7 knowing I had the car to get up there but time was short. After the caution there was a scramble ahead of me and I played it safe and just brought it home to get our best finish so far and really to bolster us in points.
On top of an amazing race, I also received the Hard Charger award for the most cars passed. It was definitely a great night with our best finish, best qualifying effort, fastest personal time and the Hard Charger award for the main.
What more can I ask? How about an interview for Low Budget TV? Yes, we were interviewed for a broadcast that is distributed on You Tube and many other internet sites. Never thought a Saturday night could this amazing.
We are preparing our car and things for the race this weekend and just getting everything in line to make another great effort. I hope you are able to make it to the race this Saturday night. Also, please sign up for the mailing list on the website so that I can get these out a little faster. Thanks and we’ll see you on race day!
Race #3 04/28/07 Irwindale Speedway
Race 3 was quite an interesting one with a few cautions but some great racing. With a full field of 33 cars, times were very close in qualifying. I was 10th for quite awhile but then got shuffled back quickly and ended up all the way in 25th. Just .015 of a second faster would have put us in the top 15. So even though we were a ways back, I was quite happy with our effort because we were just at the end of a close field. I was guaranteed a spot in the main so I just had to make sure to have a good race.
All was well, I was moving up very fast and at about lap 15, as I was passing a lap car, he was turned sideways by another car and once again the right side door was taken clean off. I have a feeling that my car does not like to have the right side door on! Well, in the course of the accident, the alignment was knocked askew by quite a bit and it slowed my charge forward by a lot. We were able to savor a 15th which I am pretty happy with considering the damage that had been done. It was handling absolutely amazing up until that point but it definately was a handful after the accident.
I just have to thank my dad, Bret Irving, who is my spotter. It was a very hectic race with cars going every which way and he really helped me get through all the messes that were created. I just need to work on my qualifying effort and maybe we could turn a good finish into a better one.
I'm happy that this website is now up and running. It still has some changes to be made and we are trying to get more pics on there but it will definitely help to promote myself and my future sponsors. I will soon be sending the newsletters out from the website account and I would really like it if all of you would request to be on the mailing list. I also must thank my mom, Dawn Irving, for her amazing effort in getting the website up and going. Thank you to you all and please visit the site often and don’t forget, May 12 is the next race. Thanks and take care.
Race #2 03/31/07 Irwindale Speedway
After a great second practice run in the 9th position, we headed to qualifying with some confidence. Well, confidence is not what I had and it had a poor effort on put me in the 27th position. Unfortunately that put me in the last chance race. I had to finish top four in that race to transfer to the main. I was quite upset with the effort that was made in qualifying. I just flat made a mistake and did not push the limits. Even though I was in the last chance I still had a shot to run well.
I was on the pole for the "B" main and finished her up in second. I still wasn't driving it the way that need to be driven…on the edge. Chris from Finishline Motorsports, did not have much to say but what he did say motivated me to take a different approach. You know ,when you are sitting 28th out of 30 cars, it looks like a ton of cars in the field ahead of you and I am not going to lie, it is quite intimidating. I just had to knuckle down and fight.
A good start and off I went, by lap 8 I was in the 19th position and the first caution came out. I had a great restart and the officials thought I had jumped the start and put me back 4 positions. Unfortunately, this was not the last time this happened. I was sent back 2 more times, 3 positions and then once I made my way into 9th I was put back 4 more. 13th with 6 laps to go and there wasn’t enough time to throw in on last charge. I settled in the 13th spot and was quite happy with the end result.
Race #1 03-24-07 Irwindale Speedway
A weekend of up’s, down’s and a whole lot of left’s. Testing went as well as we could have expected. We ended up doing about 9 sessions total and really focusing on just feeling the car and what I can do with it. Times were not what you call great but they were close enough to hopefully make the show.
By the time qualifying rolled around I was definitely sweating it. I knew what I had to do and I had to run at least a 19.50. I ran an 19.62 so I was happy with that and qualifying in the 26th position was ok by me, I wasn’t what you call would thrilled but I tried to keep my head about me and just make sure I made the race because the first couple races are needed to get valuable experience down on racing and just being behind other cars to see what’s going on.
Well, with a 41 car field I was the last car to be guaranteed a spot in the main as 27th through 41st had to race for the last four spots. We accomplished our goal of at least making the show; now I need to finish to have met all the goals we came here with and come to find out that is not what you call the easiest part of the day.
Malay commenced about lap eight when the 99 car was knocked sideways and I went low and had room to miss with ease but his car rolled down the hill and skinned the right side of my car like a cat. During the caution I was instructed by the officials to pit and repair the side in order to continue. I wasn’t the happiest camper having to pit from the 16th spot after working my way up very well from 26th.
I was able to catch the back of the field as they dropped the green and I had to race hard to get myself to the 19th position come the checkered flag. All in all I was happy with how we ended up. Not only did I improve my position from qualifying but the crew and I knew I was a definite top 15 car and were quite happy that I got the experience of a full race under my belt. The only bad part is now I have no excuses to be mid pack anymore!
I have to thank everyone that came to the race and supported me and I really hope that all of you and more are able to make it to the future races. Attached to the this email is a pic of the car and you will see that we need a sponsor! For any information on that please email or call with with any questions. Thank you for your support and I will have another email coming out in a day or two on the specifics for race #2 this Saturday night.
Gates open at 4pm