2009 Results

* Black Flagged

2008 Results

Archived Updates:

November 22, 2009 - Once again the track officials get it wrong - Tampa, FL - AJ's finish of 7th place certainly wasn't indicative of the day he had behind the wheel.  Things started quick in the heat race as AJ started in the third position behind pole sitter Danny Sams.  At the start AJ quickly took second place and starting working on Danny.  Within a few laps AJ was in the lead and was checking out on the field.  Danny got his rhythm going right as AJ started losing his and soon they were battling for the lead with only a couple laps to go.  After contact with Danny, AJ was charged with a call and put to the rear of the field.  It was one of those calls that could go either way, and clearly the race officials just don't seem to cut AJ any slack at all.  Even the announcer said from his perspective it appeared that Danny got loose and left the bottom open for AJ, then when AJ pulled next to him, Danny tried to cut to the bottom and spun.  That left AJ with the 6th starting spot for the main event.

Some interesting stuff happened after the heat race when the Tech Director's son's car was underweight going over the scales.  Everyone that saw the readout said he was too light by about a pound, but the Tech Director claimed he was one pound over the minimum weight required.  The funny thing is after the main, he was six pounds over the minimum weight.  I still don't understand why the handler of a legal car would add five pounds of weight??? The things that make you go hmmmmm.

Anyway, so AJ starts out 6th in the main event and quickly makes his way to the front.  He ran second to Danny for a while and made a couple passes for the lead, but each time a yellow had come out so they go back to the last green flag lap, so AJ had to go back to second.  Then AJ left an opening and got passed but was still one of the fastest cars on the track and easily had a top three spot locked up if not first or second.  But then came the call that the race officials now admit was wrong.  The eventual race winner, Isaak Solochek, tried to dive under Danny for the lead, but went through the dirt and got dirt all over the track right in front of AJ.  Needless to say that sent AJ spinning because asphalt racing tires don't handle dirt too well.  Even though we asked about the rule because we think if that happens the track should be cleaned and all cars should get their spots back (like USAC did it at the District races in March), they charged AJ with a call and stuck him in the back of the pack.  Later after watching the tape, the race officials admitted they screwed up again.  However they said they should have put the car that went through the dirt and got it all over the track to the back.

We keep telling ourselves that AJ getting screwed over so much this year by race officials is only going to make him a better racer in the end, but if it keep happening as bad as it has recently I don't see the conversations with the track officials staying as peaceful and polite as they have been so far.  Either way it is what is and we live to race another day.

Huge congrats to Isaak and his family for their first Jr. Honda win and we are sure it won't be his last.  He did a heck of a job holding off AJ's teammate Braden on the last lap for the win in what was no doubt the best race of the day.

October 2, 2009 - New Smyrna - The goal for this race in New Smyrna was to get AJ approved to move up to Junior Honda over there.  We left his Junior Honda setup from Tampa in his car, including gearing and just let him drive it the way it was.  The result was a third place finish and approval to move up.

In the heat race he crashed out after trying to avoid a wreck and broke a steering rod on the front end of the car.  We didn't realize until Sunday in preparations for Tampa's race that he actually broke a rear bearing, rear hub and bent his rear axle slightly as well.

In the main event, he had those bent and broken parts on his car, except for the steering rod that we replaced, but still challenged Braden and Isaak during the race.  He ended up in third place after his friend Isaak won.  Braden was second so the Tampa boys swept the top three spots and all three got approval to move up.

September 19, 2009 - Tampa - It looked like this was going to be a long week after a crash in practice at New Smyrna on Tuesday night destroyed the front end of AJ's car.  To make matters worse, the wrong part arrived on Friday so it looked like AJ might not even get a chance to race this weekend.  On Friday night with the help of the Garcia's 20 ton press we straightened the bent spindle out a little bit.  The spindle still wasn't perfect so we switched it over to the left front and put the straight one on right front.  AJ was able to make laps in Practice on Friday, but the car was still not right and was quite a bit off the pace.  Saturday morning before practice, the crew (Dad and Uncle Jeff) went through the car and adjusted the setup.  In the practice session, AJ picked up over .4 of a second from what the car ran in practice.

For the heat race the crew grooved AJ's tires which really hooked his car up.  AJ started on the pole, but the much more experienced Danny Sams passed AJ and took the lead.  AJ stayed right on Danny's bumper until there was about 5 laps left.  Danny seemed to slip up coming out of turn 2 and AJ made a gutsy move to pass Danny for the lead.  Unfortunately AJ couldn't stick it in turn 4 and looped the car bringing out the only caution of the day for the Jr Honda kids.  AJ had to restart in 4th with only 5 laps to go and finished in that position.

In the main, AJ started third but started the race great and slipped by his friend (practically teammate) Braden on the inside to take over second place.  AJ was just a tick slower than Danny, but he drove nearly perfect for the 50 lap feature and finished second.  AJ was proud of his finish and happy his crew gave him a good hot rod for the race.

August 9, 2009 - Tampa - AJ's first weekend in the much more competitive Junior Honda class was an eventful.  On Saturday he had to practice in the open group with all the other kids that race the same engine as him, even those in the much faster unrestricted classes. This was the scariest part for AJ and dad.  AJ learned quickly that these boys are not novice/rookie drives and they won't let you pinch them off on the bottom of the track.  Unfortunately it took a nice visit to the wall hard for AJ to learn that lesson.  So to hauler we went to piece his car back together for the second half of practice.  That went better, but AJ had one other incident with another car that tore up some of the bodywork on his car.

On race day AJ looked good in practice and in his first heat race he showed some promise.  He finished the heat race in 5th, but the leaders were within site, so everyone was happy with that.  Unfortunately the main wasn't so good as adjustments made to his car made it pretty loose and the gearing change went a little too far so AJ was a little under-powered.  He ended up in 5th place after spinning out three times and getting black flagged.  Overall, it was a good learning experience for everyone and we will live to race another day.

August 1, 2009 - North Georgia - AJ's first trip to the North Georgia Quarter Midget track was a memorable day.  It was to be his final Novice/Rookie race and it turned into his fourth feature win.

Feature Race - After a four spot inversion, AJ started out in the third position.  Right at the start AJ jumped into the second spot and then on the back stretch on lap two he moved into the lead with a great pass.  AJ followed his Uncle Jeff's directions and changed his line which shaved two tenths off his already quick lap times from the heat race.  He started to run and hide as Hayden had to fight his way through the field from the fourth position.  Then about ten laps into the thirty lap event another car spun out which brought Hayden and crew back to AJ's bumper for the restart.  AJ restarted great and just kept hitting his marks lap after lap.  By the end of the race he had lapped every car on the track except for Hayden who was more than a half a lap behind AJ.

Heat Race - AJ started in the fourth position out of six cars but quickly made his way towards the front of the pack and started to press the leader.  For about five laps AJ and Hayden Swank swapped the lead back and forth with a series of cross over moves that had the crowd on its feet.  AJ pushed a little too hard trying to pass Hayden out of turn four and lost control spinning out right in front of the field.  Hayden had no where to go and t-boned AJ then a new driver running his first race slammed in the back of Hayden at full speed damaging AJ's nerf bar and left side body panels.  AJ's knee also slammed into the inside of the car causing him some pain and soreness.  AJ said he was ok to continue.  He had to start at the rear of the field with only 10 laps left, but he quickly made his way to second and started to reel Hayden in.  The laps ran out and he had to settle for a 2nd place finish in the heat race.

USAC Nationals - Racing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway was a great experience.  We had to race around the rain most of the week, but we still got the heat race and main event in.  I qualified in third place for the A-Main by finishing my heat race in second place after starting in last place.  I finished the A-Main in 3rd place behind my Tampa buddies Braden Nash and Noah Weaver.  My dad and Uncle Jeff nailed the setup for the A-Main and my car was wicked fast, but I lost focus a little and made some mistakes which led to the third place finish.  Still we are very proud to have finished third at the Nationals.

June 20, 2009 - The day started off good with AJ telling me (DAD) that he wanted his wristband on the hand that would be holding the checkered flag later that day, so he wanted it on his left wrist. 

AJ's pill draw had him starting off in third place for the first heat race.  AJ went to work on the second place car and after setting him up nicely, AJ was able to dive under him for the pass.  The second place car decided he didn't want to give up the spot, so he ran AJ into the grass and caused a yellow flag.  AJ was found not at fault, rightfully so, and so he got the second spot and the other car had to go to the back.  AJ set his sights on his good racing buddy Isaak.  Isaak is known as "Mr. Consistency" because he runs solid lines and rarely makes mistakes.  It took AJ a few laps to get a nice shot at Isaak and he slipped by on the back stretch.  Isaak tried to take it back a lap later coming into turn 1, but got his tires in the grass and ended up getting in a minor crash with AJ.  We were nervous AJ might get the call, I even told Isaak's mom I thought he was at fault, but in the end the track officials sent Isaak to the back and AJ held onto the lead.  With AJ's toughest competitor at the back of the pack, it was smooth sailing for AJ to pick up the heat race win get to hold that checkered flag for his first victory lap of the night.

In the Feature, AJ was on the pole and Isaak was starting outside pole.  AJ got a great start and he got a little lead on Isaak in the early going.  The third place car looked a little racy and looked like he might challenge Issak early, which would have let AJ really put some distance on the field.  Isaak had none of it though and settled in nicely and started gaining on AJ.  AJ had just started to check out on the field just past the halfway point when the caution flew.  This packed the cars up again, but AJ got a good start again and he and Isaak started to really go at it until the second and final caution flag flew.  This time AJ got a good start, but Isaak got a better one and pulled right up on AJ's bumper.  Isaak tried to bump and run AJ in turn two, but AJ held onto it when they both got a little loose and Isaak ended up running through the infield.  We aren't sure if Isaak broke something, but his car was real loose after that so AJ was able to drive off to his third win in a row.  Here is video of the final laps: TBQMRA - Jr. Rookie - 062009b 

June 7 , 2009 - After the disappointment on Friday night with the rained out event, AJ made it exciting in Tampa on Sunday for his second main event win.  Read the details below and check out the video.

On Saturday AJ started to run a fever and wasn't feeling well.  On Sunday morning he had a fever just a couple degrees higher than normal and a little bit of a sore throat.  He wanted to race still, but his mom questioned whether or not he should.  In the end we decided (Dad decided) that he should race to show mental toughness and commitment (if he had other really serious symptoms, we wouldn't have had him race).  Dad and Uncle Jeff talked to him about how he needed to really focus hard during the heat races and the main event.  They also told him they wanted him to try to win, but with him feeling a little sick they would be happy with him just doing good and finishing the race. 

May 17, 2009 - To make a long story short and get right to the good news, AJ won his first feature event.  Now read on the details from the day and check out the photos section for pictures.

AJ's top competitors were not in Tampa racing this day, but a new challenge showed up for AJ.  A track that changed as much as the Florida weather did was challenging for AJ and his crew.  The track started the day out so slick and loose that AJ had to feather in and out of the throttle to keep the car under control.  Every time he accelerated out of the corners his tires would spin.  AJ did a great job driving the track.

In the first heat race, AJ spun twice and had to go the back both times.  The first time was because he was pushing it too hard trying to make a pass, but the second time was just a bonehead mistake because he lost focus for a second.  At the end though, he got it together enough to win the heat race.

In the second heat race, AJ was good all the way through and lead every lap on the way to a another heat race victory.

Before the main event, AJ's crew made some adjustments to his car.  The sky looked ugly and cloud cover and strong winds moved in which could make the track get slick and loose pretty quickly.  For that reason the crew tightened his car up to try to reduce the chances of spinouts.  Any that knows about racecars knows that a tighter car is a slower car.  AJ did a great job in the main and drove almost perfectly even with a tight racecar.  He won by about a half a lap over second place, but more impressive was his lap times.  He was so consistent that his fastest laps were all the exact same, down to the hundredth of a second.  That is awesome for a 6 year old Junior Rookie driver.

May 3, 2009 - AJ led every 19 of 20 laps in the heat race, but the one he didn't lead was the most important one, the last one.  He finished second in both heats and then drove it to a nice second place finish in the main as well.

May 1, 2009 - AJ had a decent night in New Smyrna, but was also very disappointed with his second place run.  He wanted to win badly, but in the end 2nd was all that was in the cards.  He drove one heck of a race and showed some more great signs that he is progressing pretty good.  That first win will not be too far off.  On this night he took third place in the heat race and second in the main.

April 5, 2009 - This day was supposed to be a bad day all around for AJ, but it turned out to be a bittersweet day.  He was being punished for a less than acceptable report card by our standards, so went to the track to watch his friends race.  He didn't enjoy that part of the day, so hopefully that will work to make him focus in school.

They announced at the end of the drivers meeting today that last month, during the USAC East Coast District Championship race, four drivers set new track records for their classes.  AJ was one of those four drivers.  AJ got a great trophy for his accomplishment as the Junior Rookie track record holder with his time of 10.838 seconds.  To put this in perspective, the other three drivers were Michael Atwell (Light 160), Tyler Clem (Junior Honda) and Garrett Jones (Senior Honda).  Michael and Tyler are development drivers for Stewart Haas Racing (as in Tony Stewart) and Garrett is a development driver for Junior Motorsports (as in Dale Earnhardt Jr.).  We uploaded one picture of him and his trophy and hopefully someone at the track got some additional ones of the presentation since we weren't prepared for it.  Click here to see the picture of him and his trophy.

April 5, 2009 - Tampa - AJ was good on Sunday, unfortunately his car was not.  He buddy Braden Nash won his third feature event and second of the weekend!

First Heat - Before the first heat we couldn't get his car to fire, so instead of starting on the pole for the heat he had to start in the back after we got the car running.  The car was just slow though due to the issue that caused it to not fire to begin with.  He nursed it around the track and kept it on the lead lap and ran fourth.

Second Heat - We put the backup carburetor in the car, but that wasn't the issue and his car still wasn't up to speed like it should have been.  He held on to the lead lap, but came home in fourth spot.

Main - We made a spark plug change and that pretty much resolved the issue.  AJ's car was good, but not great.  He was a little on the tight side and finished fourth again.  He tried to make a few passes, but the long weekend took its toll and he was just fresh out of gas at that point.

Live to race another day!

April 3, 2009 - New Smyrna - AJ started out with a good car in the only practice session of the night and his car stayed decent all night. 

Heat Race - In the heat race he finished in third, but got the second starting spot for main due to his buddy Braden having to go to the back of the pack.  He struggled with his line, but still ran good enough to finish well.

Main Event - The main was a weird race with a lot of laps ran under caution.  The race actually ended due to time instead of laps which always sucks.  AJ's car was decent, but he struggled a little and spin a couple times.  He had to start in the back after each spin, but in the end a 5th place finish was all he could muster when the last caution flew.

On a good note, there were two moves AJ made to avoid wrecking that saved us a lot of time in the garage.  On the one I was already heading to the trailer to start pulling out one of the spare front axles, but he threaded the needle and steered his car through the wreck beautifully!

March 22, 2009 - On Sunday AJ was more six year old kid and less racecar driver.  There is not a lot to talk about.  He drove decent, but not like he did the day before.  He was still good enough to earn a third place finish in both the heat race and in the main event.  He was disappointed after the races, but quickly shook that off and played with his friends for the rest of the day.

March 21, 2009 - Saturday was AJ's day, but unfortunately a questionable (actually downright ridiculous call) put him behind early in the main.

Qualifying - The format for Saturday had the kids on the track for a two minute qualifying session.  Whichever kid put up the fastest lap of the session was the top qualifier.  AJ was nearly perfect on the track and laid down the fast lap of 10.83 seconds which was a tenth of a second faster than the 2nd place qualifying and 2 tenths faster than any other cars.  Being the fastest rookie he got to go to the start finish line and draw a number to set the inversion for the heat races.  AJ drew a number 2 so the top two cars would swap positions for the heat race.

Heat Race - AJ started outside of the front row due to the inversion, but once again AJ drove a perfect race and quickly got to the front.  He stayed out front and won his second heat race in the last two events in Tampa.

Main Event - After the inversion, AJ started inside of row two.  AJ quickly got to second place and was right on Braden's bumper early.  Hunter made a move inside AJ, but for some reason drove his car completely through the infield grass even though AJ left him enough room to get by on the inside.  Here is where it got interesting.  For being in the vicinity of the car that caused the caution, USAC put AJ to the back of the pack.  A call I could understand if AJ ran Hunter off the track or made contact with him, but AJ was at least 3 feet from Hunter on the track.  Either way it was what it was and AJ had to fight his way back towards the front, which he did.  He got back up to second place, but just didn't have enough time to reel Braden in and challenge him for the lead.  After I ripped the race steward a new one, the vice president of USAC showed up at our hauler to apologize for what he said a horrible call on AJ.  That provided very little comfort to a six year old that drove his ass off all day long and had to settle for not being able to get up there and racing with his buddy Braden at the end.  No big deal though...we live to race another day...

February 22, 2009 - The first real race of the season was a day of mixed emotions for AJ.  He started 5th in the first heat race, but made some good moves and finished 3rd.  After the race when we told him he did good, he told us "I will never be happy with 3rd place!"

In the second heat race AJ started on the pole and got out front and led some laps early.  Then his friend, Braden (also sponsored by Patriot Metals) got a good run on him, but AJ crowded him and pushed him down into the grass so he had to go to the back of the pack for the next restart.  He never regrouped after that and finished 5th.

In the main, AJ started in the back and just never got into the grove.  He ran 5th, but kept his car on the lead lap.  Afterwards he admitted he was struggling to keep his mind on the race because he kept thinking about his new racecar. 

Oh yeah...AJ got a new racecar.  Well it isn't new, but it is new to us.  It is Stanley car that was previously owned by Tyler Clem.  It should be a big improvement from his current car.  Check out the pictures in the Photos section.

March 8, 2009 - AJ's first race day in his new car was a good day and one that saw AJ get his first heat race win of his young career.  AJ's car was fast right out of the trailer and a few minor adjustments by the crew made it one of the cars to beat.

First Heat Race - AJ started the first heat race in third place, but had to go to the back of the field after a mistake on the track had AJ facing the wrong direction after a spin.  He shook it off and rallied with only a few laps left to get a spot back and came in fourth right on his buddy Isaak's bumper.

Second Heat Race - AJ started the second heat race in third place, but by the end of the first lap he was out front.  He liked the view from the lead, so he never gave it up for even a lap in the second heat.  After winning his first race ever, even if it was a heat race, AJ held the flag for a great victory lap.

Main event - AJ earned an outside pole starting position for the main event based on his two heat races.  AJ got a bad start and was shuffled back in the pack.  He pushed a little too hard and had to go the back of the pack after a spin.  It only took a couple laps for AJ to make it to third place, but he was over a quarter of a lap behind his friend Braden and Hunter.  AJ focused and hit his marks and began reeling them in.  The laps ticked off and AJ made steady gains, but by the time the checkered flag flew, AJ was within two car lengths of Braden and Hunter so he had to settle for third.

All in all, not a bad day at the track for his first day in the new hot rod.