The weekend started with a trip to Wesmar for John Stroud, my Dad and I. After stopping for fuel in Oklahoma City Thursday night the starter was stuck engaged on the truck. We waited for an hour for a guy to come look at it and it was fine when he got there…of course. After making it to tulsa at 2am we got up at 7 to put the motor in. With the help of Dan and everyone at Wesmar we got the motor in and headed up to US 36 raceway in Cameron, Mo. I drew a #30 pill lining me up 3rd in the heat race. The track was a cowboy up on the hammer little joint, full of holes and heavy all night long. In the heat I stayed 3rd the whole race everyone was pretty much just single file. After watching the B-main we decided to just leave the car alone just loosen it up a little bit. I started 15th in the main and fell right to the back the car was just too tight and the track was rough. I was trying to just get laps and stay out of the way when one of the leaders ran over my right front lapping me and folded up the front end. Once we got the car rolling we hit the road to find somewhere to sleep for the night and decide where to race.
The next morning we found out there was a huge storm heading right for us but Springfield was clear so we headed there. We found a car wash about a mile from the track, got the car washed and ready to roll for the night. We got the car loaded and went to start the truck to head to the track but it wouldn’t start. After working for two hours to try and get the truck started we gave up and decided we would get someone there to work on the truck and another company to tow the trailer to the track so we could race. Dave Chappel came from the track to try and tow us so he helped us move the motorhome but his truck wouldn’t pull our trailer. He told us we better hurry because hot laps were pushing out when he left the track at 6:30. The other company still hadnt came by 7:00 when a guy John showed up to work on the truck so he called someone from his company to tow us to the track. We called Dave back and figured out what gear to put in and got the car as ready as we could before the tow truck came. At 7:20 the tow truck showed up and we got a call from the ASCS Sooner Region guys saying we were starting at the back of the 2nd heat and we had 4 races before we were up. My dad stayed with the truck and John and I went to the track with Fred the tow truck driver. I was already in my suit and we made it to the track while the first heat was pushing off. With only 13 cars we knew we would be in the main whether we made the heat or not. John unhitched the trailer while someone that walked by helped me get the trailer unloaded, I climbed in, John tightened the tires and we rolled to staging for the heat race. I just made laps at the back but Matt Covington spun on the last lap so I gained one position lining me up 8th for the A-main. My dad got a ride to the track when the truck was being towed to a Kenworth shop, right before the A. A few laps in I made it to 7th and there was a red flag for Joe Wood who turned over while leading. After the red flag I restarted 6th and passed Sherman Davis for 5th place. The track was taking rubber and I ran down Donnie Ray Crawford and Kyle Bellum who were racing for 3rd and 4th. There were only a few laps left and I tried to get around Bellum for 4th and spun. I ended up finishing 8th but it was good to be competitive with some great drivers.
Believe it or not the story is just getting started. After the races there were alotta nice people racers, and race fans offering their help. We had people offering us a place to stay, possible problems with our truck, to help us load the trailer, everything but a new truck. Fred the tow truck driver came back and towed the trailer to the Kenworth shop where we were hoping to be on the road in the morning. We saw an All You Can Eat sign across the street at Waffle House so we decided a good meal and sleep would end our day as best as possible, but only more disappointment hit us because the All You Can Eat ended 2 hours earlier. We still had some good food and a good nights sleep. This morning it looked like they had found a bad transfer pump in the fuel system and got it running but there was an air leak somewhere else in the fuel system. They thought that it was just coming from the left tank so we were going to make it home off the right tank only. While we were hitching up the trailer the truck quit running again so we had to leave it there to be fixed. The guys from the Kenworth shop gave us a ride to the airport to get a renta car to come home. The best part of the whole weekend is we get to go pick up the truck and race again next weekend. We are still planning it out but we will be at a racetrack somewhere in missouri next Saturday night.