Tuesdays with TMAC – Second with WoO Sets Up Busy Week!

(Bill W) (June 17, 2014) – Terry McCarl extended his point lead at the Knoxville Raceway via a strong run with the World of Outlaws last Saturday night.  The Altoona, Iowa driver finished second aboard the TMAC Motorsports #24 that was actually the Jeremy Scadden #6.  He totaled his own car the week before in Kansas City.  Nonetheless, the team didn’t miss a beat.  It was the driver’s seventh top ten finish with the WoO this season in eleven features run with the series.  TMAC will run the Jimmy Davies #99 Thursday and Friday in Sprint Invaders competition before returning to Knoxville Saturday and Huset’s Speedway near Brandon, South Dakota on Sunday.

With a quickly drying track, and having drawn the pill to be 21st to qualify in the 48-car field at Knoxville, TMAC saw the red flag fly in staging.  “I was a little concerned when RJ (Johnson) crashed,” he says.  “We were coming out three cars after that.  When you sit there with that kind of wind, you know it’s working on the track.  The track slowed down a bit then, let alone when the guys went out later.”

Still, he was able to land the 11th quick time up to that point, and only lost one spot through the remainder of qualifying.  “I like to judge those situations by looking to see if anyone beats you after you go out,” says TMAC.  “If not, you had a good lap.  The best qualifier in the world right now is Joey Saldana, and he beat us by a slim margin, so we were happy.”

The qualifying effort put him outside of row one for his heat race.  “It’s such an important thing to win the heat now with the Outlaws,” says TMAC.  “That’s how you get to the Dash.  If they took two, like they used to, it wouldn’t have been as high pressure.  (Davey) Heskin had been running the bottom (in an earlier heat) before us so well.  I didn’t really know where to go.  (Brian) Brown was able to move up and he was right behind me on a restart.”

Brown had started tenth after being penalized for jumping on the first start.  After Craig Dollansky and Jason Sides were caught up in a wreck, he moved into second quickly.  The race between the rivals was on for an automatic Dash spot on a single-file restart.  “He slid me, so I went into protection mode,” says TMAC.  “Austin (McCarl) was a little mad at me for not running my race.  He said I should have won by a bunch, but I needed to make sure I won it.  Brian didn’t like it too much, I’m sure, but I was in protective mode and needed to make sure I won the thing.”

TMAC would move up two spots in the Dash after starting sixth.  “It was great to be in the Dash, because we could do a little testing,” he says.  “We learned a little bit, and we were able to move up a whole row.  That was great being able to start fourth.”

Early on, the battle for third was exchanged four times between TMAC and Shane Stewart.  “We were sliding each other so much, I was thinking, ‘Shane we need to stop this, they’re getting away from us,’” he says.  “It wasn’t helping our tires out sliding around like that.  (Second place) Danny (Lasoski) got away from us a little bit, but we were able to run him back down.  I saw Brad (Sweet) not too far ahead of us.”

After getting to second, TMAC had his eyes on the leader Sweet.  “We got by Danny and there were a couple of times I thought we may have a shot at him,” he says.  “It started laying rubber and I kind of found it a little sooner than Brad.  I got into a group of lapped cars, and there was one in particular that I just couldn’t get by.  They were trying to race me hard.  I just had to tell myself to settle into second.  The only chance I had at that point was to get a yellow flag.”

The caution never came in the non-stop event, but TMAC was happy with a second place finish and put fifty more points on his cushion in the Knoxville Championship Cup Series point standings.  “We had a real nice second place finish with the World of Outlaws,” he says.  “You can’t deny that’s a good night.  I really wish the track wouldn’t have laid rubber.  We had a really good racecar after the Dash.  I think we had a lot better car in the feature.  I think we could have given him a run for his money.”

The finish would be sweet for any Knoxville regular.  “We’re really proud of it, just being a local team,” says TMAC.  “I didn’t even have a car to run.  I was running my buddy Jeremy Scadden’s car that we run at Huset’s.  We threw my engine in it.  We picked up our new A.R.T. chassis on Monday, and hopefully, we’ll have it ready for Saturday.”

TMAC is looking forward to running for Jimmy Davies on Thursday and Friday in Iowa stops for the Sprint Invaders at Donnellson and Bloomfield.  “We’ll be back running with Jimmy on Thursday and Friday,” he says.  “Carson will be running the Mastell Brothers #27 there as well.  We can’t wait to get back to Knoxville and Huset’s.  Last week, they had their fifth rainout up there, so we are anxious to get going.”

TMAC would also like to thank Snyder Lawn & Landscaping of Altoona for coming on board with TMAC Motorsports.

To check out opportunities to partner with TMAC Motorsports on a nightly basis, visit www.TerryMcCarl.com or call 515 957-0020!

Category: Driver Updates, Terry McCarl