10/6/2015
Terry McCarl
Tuesdays with TMAC – Last Weekend with NSL Sees Podium Finish!
Tuesdays with TMAC – Last Weekend with NSL Sees Podium Finish!
(Bill W) October 6, 2015 – Terry McCarl and the TMAC Motorsports #24 team finished up their campaign with the FVP National Sprint League last weekend at I-80 Speedway near Greenwood, Nebraska. The Altoona, Iowa driver finished third on Friday night, before suffering some mechanical issues Saturday that resulted in a ninth place finish. TMAC would end up fifth in the driver standings. His next outing will be October 15-17 at the Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare, California for the Trophy Cup aboard the Country Builders Construction #88.
Going into the weekend, TMAC was tied with Bill Balog for fourth in the driver standings. He would time in sixth quick Friday. “Bill timed in better than us,” he says. “He also ran better in the heat race, but we had a really good car in the feature.”
TMAC would qualify for the redraw, and started fourth in the feature. “I-80 is tricky and fun,” he says. “Usually, there is a top way up top, and a bottom way on the bottom. It’s two really different racetracks. It’s such a big banked track. If you’re running around the bottom and there’s moisture like Friday, you need more gear. If you run up top, you need a lot less. It’s tricky to figure out where you need to go with that.”
He seemed to make the right decisions. “We were good, but a little bit tight on the bottom,” says TMAC. “We were cruising up there and got by Bill for third on the start. I felt like I was catching (leader Bryan Clauson) there, and it’s tough for him to change his line. I was kind of in the catbird’s seat for traffic. The yellow came out and that hurt us.”
TMAC would restart second. “I knew if I moved up, Danny (Lasoski) may get us on the bottom, but the only way I was going to win was hanging with him in one and two and getting by him on the bottom of three and four,” he says. “Danny got by us, but we were able to hang on for third.”
The points were almost a wash on Friday, though both TMAC and Balog gained on Tim Kaeding in third. “Bill had a better points night, and we were only down four points going into the last night,” says TMAC. “At that point, we were only 49 points out of Tim in third too. He didn’t have a good night Friday.”
A mechanical problem on Saturday thwarted any chances of moving up in the standings. “We were fourth quick in hot laps, and we only made it a lap and a half,” says TMAC. “I felt the motor starting to go, so I shut it down quick and pulled in. We were going right into time trials, and I made the decision not to change it. We were grasping at straws looking for a cracked plug or something goofy, which we knew it probably wasn’t.”
TMAC hung with the motor for time trials. “I went out and did one lap, hoping it didn’t blow sky high and we were sixteenth quick,” he says. “That put us on the front of the heat race (which he won after a motor change), but put us back in the game a little bit. It did cost us a lot of points. We did what we could do. We’ve lost championships that way, and won them that way too, I’m sure.”
He was back on his game in the feature. “We had a great car, but we had to start 15th,” says TMAC. “There wasn’t hardly anything on the bottom, but it was great down there. Honestly, I kept thinking about Greg Wilson at Eldora a couple of weeks ago. I just put that thing down by the fence. We were able to get up to ninth right away, and then eighth.”
Finally, the bottom just gave out. “It came to a point where the bottom couldn’t compete with the top,” says TMAC. “I had to get up there. We were right there with them, and did the best that we could do, which was ninth. Tim did an incredible job, going from 14th to win. He did what he had to do and so did Bill. If one of them had a hiccup, we would have gotten them, but they didn’t. We ended up fifth in points.”
Newly Designed Websites!
Driverwebsites.com develops the websites for the McCarl boys. Check out www.TerryMcCarl.com, as well as www.AustinMcCarl.com and www.CarsonMcCarl.com!
This Month in TMAC History!
This Week in 2000, TMAC took home $4,000 by winning the Cheater’s Day Festivities at the Huset’s Speedway near Brandon, South Dakota. The victory came ahead of Gary DeWall, Gregg Bakker, Don Droud Jr. and Terry Reilly.
"Tuesdays with TMAC"!
"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@hotmail.com with "TMAC" in the subject line.
TMAC Motorsports would like to thank sponsors Country Builders Construction, Rossie Feed and Grain, Bosma Poultry, SnowPlow Snow Pushers – www.TheSnowPlow.com, DeBerg Concrete, Destiny Motorsports, Searsboro Telephone Company, A.R.T. Speed Equipment, Berryhill Racing, Phil and Vivian, Justice Brothers/Gillund Enterprises, Vortex Racing, Mastell Brothers Trailer Sales, Hoosier Tire, Chris Spaulding – Attorney at Law, SuperFlow, Schoenfeld Headers, K&N Filters, Rens Trucking, NutriShop – Maple Grove, MN, HRP, All Pro Cylinder Heads, Bob and Beulah Elder, Engler Injection, Snap On Tools, Sposato Paint, Winters, Kilani Fender, Inc., DriverWebsites.com, CM Rock, Taco Bravo, Brown and Miller, Pro Shocks, Ben Cook, Bell Helmets, Burnett's Rock and Landscaping, Octane Ink, Morgan Strawberry Farms, Dynasty Stucco, Aurora Rod Ends, Crow Safety, KSE Steering, Snyder Lawn & Landscaping, Strange Performance, Saldana Racing Products, Scribner Plastics, Waterman Fuel Pumps, Butlerbuilt and Mote Fasteners.
Photo: Austin McCarl, Lynton Jeffrey and Terry McCarl (Jeff Bylsma Photo)
Bill Wright
Bill W Media
Monroe, IA USA
sprntcar@hotmail.com
Twitter: @BillWMedia
