7/24/2012
Eric Schulz
Back at it!
It’s been a long week for Eric Schulz and the crew. After rolling the HRA non-wing sprint last week during the heat race, the crew really pulled together to get the car put back into tip-top shape in time to make it back to Rock Rapids IA. Eric hit the track for the hot laps starting off easy and making sure that the car was going to react the same as had before the roll over. After some chassis tuning and a quick wash job to get the dirt off of the sponsor’s names, Eric hit the track for his heat race, finishing in second. Eric lined up the #4 Papik Motors Sprinter on the inside of the second row for the start of the main, feeling more confident after some more chassis tuning. The start of the race was a fast paced one with a lot of passing and side-by-side racing, shuffling everyone around. After a few restarts and some hard racing Eric found himself in second reeling in the leader! “The track was getting slick, and I knew that I need to find a different line to catch the leader,” stated Eric, “I moved around a bit and found the top was working best, but very difficult to run.” After a few laps up top, the car started going away for Schulz and he was not able to hold it on the track, slipping off of turn two and re-entering the track in third with one lap to go. ‘The track went away for my set-up and I broke concentration on a lap car and drove right off the end, no excuses for that.” Eric finished in third and was very pleased with how the car worked after being completely rebuilt!
Saturday night was the famed Jackson Nationals and Eric would be piloting Dick Veenkers 360 winged sprint. After breaking a lifter in the motor two weeks ago and getting it running last week and dialed in for this week, the car ran real strong in the heat race, however, you could see that the chassis needed some fine tuning for the added speed that the motor was giving out. The Windom MN based team lined up in 18th with the 23 car field and as the race wore on, Eric was seen as far up as 15th! All that would change after a late race caution. “After that last caution the car just didn’t feel the same, we just weren’t hooked up any more” stated Schulz at the end of the night. When the checkered flag flew over the track, Eric had dropped back to his starting spot of 18th.
“I was real pleased with the car, ‘Louie’ had this thing set-up to sail through the corners, it was a shame to have the tire seal over the way it did at the end.”
This week you can find Eric in Rock Rapids IA again on Friday as he competes with the HRA, and then you will see him back in the 410 at Husets Speedway to run with the All-Stars Circuit of Champions on Sunday!
Stay tuned on facebook and right here at ericschulzracing.com for some very exciting news release about some articles of clothing!
We’ll see ya at the races!
