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John Hall racing team looks
toward 2009 MARION, IOWA (April 19, 2009) - Now that spring has arrived in the Midwest, John Hall and his Left Turn Enterprises racing team will soon be looking toward starting off their 2009 sprint-car racing season. This year will mark the 22ndyear of racing for the veteran from Marion, Iowa, and 1988 Knoxville Raceway Rookie of the Year in the 360 sprint-car division. The team once again plans to run for weekly points at the Sprint Car Capital of the World in Knoxville, Iowa, while also hitting some Sprint Invaders Association shows at tracks around the region. Last year brought a season plagued with mechanical trials and tribulations as things tried to sort out on the brand-new race car. The 2007 season was cruising along on an excellent note until the penultimate race of the Knoxville season, when another driver's mistake led to a violent demolishing of the car. That left Hall unable to make the final race and unable to improve on a 12th-place points run. The 2008 season started off with a pair of 19th place finishes in the first two races at Knoxville in May. But issues with the brakes and other parts soon surfaced. The third week at Knoxville found Hall failing to get out of the night’s consolation race and he sat out of racing the next week. June brought a little resurgence for the team, starting off with a 17th place finish, what would become Hall’s best finish of the year at Knoxville. Devastating floods in Iowa and a rechecking of the motor kept the team from competing once again during the second week of June. The American Sprint Cars on Tour came to the Sprint Car Capital of the World on June 20 and Hall showed that his team was still capable of running competitively. He barely missed qualifying in the top eight of the night’s 50 competitors, which would have qualified him for a redraw for main-event starting position. That good momentum stayed with Hall the next week when he missed the mid-season championship night invert by one, taking him from what would have been a pole-position starting spot back to 13th. Problems with the handling on the car continued to plague the team in July, however, as Hall missed transferring into the mains on twin-features night. The next week saw the team continuing to struggle to make it out of the consolation race. The chance to try a different track came on July 13 with the Sprint Invaders Association race at Cedar County Raceway in Tipton. Special sponsors came on board for this event as two local legislators seeking re-election used the Tipton race to campaign for the November election. Jim Hahn, a Republican from Muscatine, and Jeff Kaufmann, a Republican from Wilton, both retained their seats in the Iowa Senate and Iowa House of Representatives, respectively. After an 18th place finish at Tipton, it was back to Knoxville the next week, where an overheated motor kept Hall from making the main event once again. July finished off on a rough note when Hall could only muster a 10th place finish in the C-Main on a night when many cars were on hand to test the hallowed half mile in anticipation of 360 Nationals. After that, the team took a few weeks off and elected not to run the national event. Instead, they took the time to regroup for a private test session on August 10 at 34 Raceway in West Burlington. While they learned some things there, change came slowly when Hall failed to make the twin feature events at 34 the next week during the Sprint Invaders Association's “Night of the Twins.” The two races in August at Knoxville again found the team struggling to make it out of the B-Mains and Hall finished the Knoxville season with a 21st place point standing. The season wasn’t quite done yet, though, and the last two races of the year brought a timely renewed sense of purpose to the team. On September 20, a maiden outing to the Quad City Raceway in East Moline, Illinois, with the Sprint Invaders started out with a crash in hot laps, but ended with Hall transferring to the main event from the B-Main and coming home with a 14th place finish, his best of the year overall. The final race of the year at Burlington with the Sprint Invaders finally gave the team clarity on the source of the mechanical problems and after transferring to the main event through a B-Main, Hall wound up with a 16th place finish. In all, it was a disappointing year for the team, with Hall making only five main events at Knoxville, all before July, and eight main events overall. But fortunately, there was no serious damage done to the car and the team has used the off-season to continue to ponder mechanical improvements. A freshening of the motor and a new shock package will hopefully provide a strong base for recapturing the good fortune of 2007. The car is owned by Charles and Doris Hall. Crew members are Darrell Bonesteel, Steve Lindell, Cass Page and Cole Page. Regular sponsors include Maxim Racing, Parker Engines, APC Emmert Metal Fabricators, Marion Dairy Queen, Seal-It International, Thompson Aero Service and Chalk Stix Torsion Bars. The team continues to actively seek funding for its 2009 efforts. New sponsorship at all levels is welcome for the season, partial season or even a one-race opportunity. Work will continue on new marketing ideas and further development of the team’s newly revamped website at www.johnhallracing.com this year. For more information on sponsorship opportunities, contact Stacy Ervin, public-relations coordinator, at stacyerv@Lcom.net or 319-330-6849.
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