|
|
|
|
|
Tuesdays with TMAC
– Double the Fun/Double the Wins on Holiday Weekend! TMAC and the Big Game Treestands #24 team started with a clean sweep at the Hartford Motor Speedway with the IRA on Friday, setting quick time, winning his heat and leading the feature flag to flag. “It was a long trip, but a lot of fun,” he says of the decision to tow to Michigan. “Our good friends and sponsors Phil and Vivian live about fifteen minutes from the racetrack. They haven’t been able to see us much this year. They are great supporters of our team, and Austin’s team. Secondly, Michigan is a great hunting state, so it was a good way to promote Big Game too. Tod Quiring thought it would be a good place to run on Friday. You’ll never know where you’ll see us.” TMAC set quick time again at Knoxville on Saturday, before drawing a twelve for the invert in the feature. He ran up to second against the tough field, but was stuck behind Johnny Herrera at the finish. “We thought we definitely had the fastest car,” he says. “Johnny did a good job of making the car wide for three laps straight at the end. I have to change the way I race a little bit. Outlaw guys race differently than local guys, and I have to make that adjustment.” Without any points awarded for time trials, TMAC is thinking strategy at Knoxville. “The way the points are now at Knoxville, you have to game plan differently,” he says. “Let’s put it this way. You won’t be seeing us get quick time at a local show there again. You see guys already taking advantage of it. There’s no reason for some of these guys to be a half-second off of what I’m running in time trials. They have the new system figured out, starting up front in the heat and the feature. We can’t beat them, so I think we’ll join them. Knoxville makes these rules…we need to play by them a little better.” With the NOSA series in town at Huset’s Speedway in South Dakota on Sunday, TMAC endured a tough start. “We had a brand new tire cut in the heat and we had to go pit-side because that’s the rule,” he explains. “I had no problem with that. That put us 24th in the feature. I’m all about putting a good show on for the fans, and I think we did by driving up to tenth in four laps. Gary, Brandon and Jason had the car screaming, and there was no doubt in my mind I was going to win. We really outsmarted a lot of the drivers on the set-up. That’s when the fans were really cheated.” As a fan and promoter at heart, TMAC has no problem starting in the back. “I don’t want to sound like a whiner, because I like a good fight,” he says. “If you put odds on Terry McCarl not getting in an accident starting 24th and trying to win the thing with some inexperienced guys on a treacherous track, it would be 50/50 at best. Whatever. I’m a thrill seeker, and a promoter so I really don’t care. I’m going to do it, and we were going to do it.” TMAC stormed past 14 cars in four laps when an open red flag came out. “We made a few adjustments with shocks and moving the right rear in,” he says. “There was an official on top of my car the whole time. There were plenty of cars around, but he decided to be on top of mine. The pace car went by honking to alert us. It never went by honking again. My guys were off the track.” As a result of some overzealous officiating, it was ruled TMAC’s crew was not off the track in time. “I don’t mind rules as long as I know what they are, and I want everyone to be treated the same, including me,” he says. “I’ve never asked for special treatment anywhere including Huset’s. What is the point of a rule like that? It’s because you don’t want someone delaying the program. I know that, because I have done it in the past at Huset’s messing around with the car. They sent me to the back those times, Tom Van Dam slapped his butt, and I deserved it. I’ll live up to it. This time was different. There was no push truck on my bumper. Gregg Bakker was in front of me, and there was no push truck there. There were three teams with guys on the track after mine were gone! Those are the facts.” TMAC is perplexed at why such an incident could be allowed. “I don’t know why anyone associated with Huset’s would allow that to happen,” he says. “You have a couple of Barney Fife officials who want to show their power by pulling a bullet out of their pocket. As a man, I don’t know how sending Terry McCarl to the back on something bogus like this would please them. If you beat me fair and square, that’s one thing.” “The thing that bothers me the most is that the fans were robbed of a race that they would remember for awhile,” he continues. “If I broke a rule, or delayed anything…that would be one thing…but it was stupid. It pisses me off. I’m not a monkey on a string for those people. I pulled in, and my car owner backed me. He told me to get Lynton (Jeffrey), who he sponsors, off the racetrack too.” TMAC was set to head back to Altoona, but ended up sticking around and winning the Monday night feature at Huset’s handily. “I would have went home, but Tod and Lisa Quiring, my wife and Carson too, said ‘you need to go back and kick their ass’, and that’s just what we did. I feel like they took the trophy from me on Sunday. I wanted to win from 24th and we would have. I’m still mad.” The team is really clicking with three big wins in the last two weeks. “It’s fun right now,” says TMAC. “We’re fast. We conceivably could have won a couple of Outlaw shows (Haubstadt and Eldora) before we pulled off, and we’ve just continued to run well. I’m home right now, and that may be the best thing of all. We got to watch Austin at I-80 Thursday, and he really ran well.” New Websites for the McCarl Gang! Driverwebsites.com has developed websites for the McCarl boys. Check out the new look of www.TerryMcCarl.com, and check out the newly developed www.AustinMcCarl.com and www.CarsonMcCarl.com! Front Row Challenge/Ultimate Challenge Tickets On Sale! Order your tickets now for the $10,000 to win Front Row Challenge, and $15,000 to win Ultimate Challenge at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa. Call McTwo Promotions Tuesday-Thursday beginning from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 515 957-0020 to renew your seats! Infield Party Passes for the August 10 and 11 events will be $25! For more information on the Challenges or on TMAC Motorsports, visit www.TerryMcCarl.com. In"Terry"gation Greg Robertson from Des Moines asks: When you are racing at Knoxville this year, you are racing with your son. What kind of on-track lessons are you giving him? TMAC Answers: Austin is a really good driver. He’s had a few motor problems lately, but he was incredible last weekend at both Knoxville and I-80. When he gets the motor situation squared around, he’s going to be a factor at Knoxville, as far as the top ten every week. He’s ready to run up front. Got a question for TMAC? Send it to us at
sprntcar@iowatelecom.net, and we may answer it in this
section! Put "? for TMAC" in your subject line. On this day in 2002, TMAC was victorious with the Interstate Racing Association (IRA) at the Cresco Speedway in Cresco, Iowa. With 39 cars on hand at the banked 3/8 mile oval, TMAC topped Travis Cram, Joe Roe, Colin Northway and John Haeni. TMAC’s victory with the IRA in Michigan on Friday was his seventh with the Wisconsin/Illinois based 410 series. Website Updates Keep up to date with McCarl Motorsports at
www.TerryMcCarl.com. We keep it fresh for TMAC fans! "Tuesdays with TMAC" is an up close and personal look at colorful sprint
car veteran Terry McCarl. To receive "Tuesdays with TMAC", send an e-mail to
sprntcar@iowatelecom.net with "TMAC" in the subject line.
|
