12/10/2015
Joshua Hodges
Highest of Highs and Lowest of Lows: Oval Nationals and Western World Review
First of all, I'd like to say Happy Holidays to all and I hope you're enjoying it! November was a busy one for us at Hodges Motorsports; we experienced some great highs and deep lows as far as the racing is concerned. Below I have a recap of the past couple of weeks.
We ran our first Oval Nationals at Perris Auto Speedway with the USAC National tour this year on November 12-14th. I went into it excited at the opportunity to race there after all I've heard about it. However, I knew it'd be a challenge when my first laps would be a few hot laps and then qualifying. Additionally, we had to change motors before a lap was turned because a spark plug wouldn't tighten up in the head (the threads were damaged). After changing the motor, we timed in 23rd of 49 which put us on the front row of the heat, and we won it, giving me a huge confidence boost. We still had to start at the back of the A feature, though, due to our time. We didn't hit the setup perfect the first night, but even then we still were able to pass about five cars to finish 15th, without a caution the whole race.
We moved on to the next night, and this time we were able to qualify 3rd of the 49. This put us starting 6th in the heat and we had to get to the top 4 to transfer. Although we were quite a bit quicker, it took me until the final corner to get by for 4th and we transferred. This put us starting 5th in the A, and that's where we rode for most of the race. On lap 24, there was a caution and on the restart, a car blew a motor running in the top 3, creating a pile up that we were involved in. We got back on track, but finished at the end of the lead lap cars in 13th.
Saturday night was a new program since we were not one of the locked in six cars. The points merged with our others ones and the format was a little different. We qualified 5th and that put us in the second row of the heat but we had to get to 2nd to transfer. Our row didn't go on the start and I slipped to 4th early. We only got back to 3rd before heat race's end, but we had a really fast car again. That put us on the front row of the B and we transferred out of it by running 2nd. That lined us up to start 17th in the Oval Nationals A Feature finale, and I held my ground the first couple of corners before starting to make some moves. However, just a lap or two later the car started slowing itself and eventually shut off. The motor seized due to lack of oil because the piece where the oil filter tightens to started backing out. Our night was over early and I was a bit disappointed but we had a heck of a car and a weekend! We moved on to pull double duty at USA Raceway for Western World.
Running both the 360 and 410 nonwing cars we knew it'd be a challenge, and we were excited for it. In the 360, we started 3rd in our heat and got to 2nd but a yellow came out, negating that pass. The track was narrow and I was quite a bit faster but couldn't make the move so I finished 3rd. However, I missed the scales and had to start at the back of the B. They only took 3 so I had a lot of passing to do. After dodging cars left and right the first few laps, I managed to pick off a few and start moving forward. When I got to 4th there was a straightaway in front of us to 3rd position, and I made about had of it up the closing two laps but unfortunately ran out of laps to transfer. I was disappointed but we had the 410 car to focus on, as well. We qualified 20 which put us on the front row of the heat and we were able to get the jump and win it, putting us in the A Feature. After starting 18th, we made some moves on a really rough racetrack and got better towards the end, charging up to finish 12th. We had some work to do on Friday with the 360 but we had a decent night in the 410.
The next night I drew the pole of our heat for the 360 and, after I got the jump, we were able to claim he heat race and put us in the A feature. We turned the fastest times of all the heats so I knew we had a good car going forward. We ended up 8th in points so we were in the top 8 invert and started on the pole of the A feature as well. I got the jump there, too, and the car was immediately on a rail. We pulled out to a sizable lead after every caution/red flag and lead every lap on the way to the biggest win of my career! We had some things go our way but we also executed well and we were extremely excited, as you might imagine. That locked us into the Saturday A Feature with the 360, but our night didn't go as well in the 410. After qualifying 14th I was running 4th in my heat race, trying to move forward and keep myself in a position to transfer when I biked the car in turns one and two, unexpectedly, and went cage first into the fence. It was a nasty ride, but I'm thankful that all the safety equipment and the Maxim chassis itself did its job protecting me from more than some bumps and bruises. Unfortunately though, the car was junk and the motor also had some damage. That ended our weekend with the 410.
On the final night we only had the 360 revenge draw dash and the A feature to run. In hot laps, we were the fastest car and in the revenge dash draw, we were given the 7 pill to start on he back row of the dash. I was unable to move forward in the dash, but I felt like I learned a lot about what the car and track would do. We started the A feature from 8th, and the cushion was the place to be. It was rough and we were a bit too tight so it was a tough 30 laps but I was able to make some ground here and there. I would pass a few cars and make a mistake, relinquishing those spots back. At the end, I made a lot of ground up through the middle of turns 3 and 4 but a lot of times cars would slide up off of 4 in my way. At the end, I was able to finish 7th, which was not at all a bad day considering the cars we were racing with. As always, I wanted that little bit more, though!
2015 was maybe my favorite year of racing yet. I was blessed to race without the wing in Indiana for much of the summer, and be competitive at some of the biggest nonwing races like the Copper on Dirt and the Oval Nationals, also claiming a Western World 360 prelim night win. I'm looking forward to 2016 and what it has in store for us!
Submitted By: Jack Hodges
