NEWS
	March 8, 2010 The start of the Lucas Oil Season 2010 was exciting as there were 17 trucks in Unlimited 4- the largest ever four wheel drive field that I have been in. It was nice to have all the U4 drivers together so that it can be a real race, as opposed to the split series we had last year. I hope it continues. We debuted our new truck, built by Dave Clark and Jimmy Davidson. It is a winning truck, and was competitive right away. We made it thru the weekend without breaking, and finished fourth on both days. (Saturday’s race we got a black flag which is probably going to be overturned, as it should not have been a black flag. The finish results show eighth, but should get revised to fourth place points for Saturday after review by competition director). Unfortunately, the finish order for Saturday determined Sundays start, so it was a tough race Sunday to work my way through to get to the front. By the end of the race Sunday we were right behind Carl Renezeder and Scott Douglas fighting for second place, so the race ended on a fairly positive note considering it is a new truck that we are just beginning to unlock the potential of.   Race Recap - Chula Vista Sept 13,14 - 2008 The Chula Vista had ideal weather for racing this past weekend; not so hot that engines would easily overheat, but just right to make sure that plenty of fans turned out for Rounds 11 and 12 of the CORR Pro 2 and Pro 4 Races. There were a few minor setbacks in preparations as last minute testing on Thursday to ready the US Navy trucks for the weekend's races yielded a broken A arm and shock in the Pro 2 and a blown front diff in the Pro 4. This spilled over into Fridays practice and qualifying. The team fixed the issues and by race time on Saturday, the trucks were ready for action; and so was I. Saturdays race in the Pro 2 was a partial success. We started eleventh and finished eighth, which is not great, but a success in that the truck was working well, and by the second half of the race, I had gotten comfortable enough to start moving around other drivers. We just needed more laps to pick up more positions. The Pro 4 race on Saturday was a fun one, most of the race. Started out in second to last place because we broke in qualifying. We have been struggling to get the Pro 4 to work all season, but Josh Fleury, team engineer devised a new front geometry which was in place for Saturday's Pro 4 race. The truck is finally competitive!! We moved quickly from 2nd to last to 3rd position, all without any contact with other drivers. However just after passing Rick Huseman to take 3rd position, I hooked a rut at the entrance to turn three that had developed, and the truck rolled over a couple of times. It took a while for the carburetor to clear and the engine to re-fire, and then I had to make a trip to the pits to tear off the remainder of the hood, so we could finish the race. What the &$@#(&. Throw us a bone already. On Sunday, the Pro 2 qualifier went decent, with a good 2nd lap. Made an over rotation on the third qualification lap and so had to settle for qualifying 7th . The race was fun and fairly uneventful for the first half from my perspective, just stayed out of trouble. After the mandatory restart, we were is about the same position, and a couple of trucks got crossed up and so started to move forward. Then disaster struck as John Greaves broke and either was pushed over or moved over, but I had nowhere to go except into him. I think we briefly moved into the top four spots, but the contact with Greaves left my rear shock broken, so we were done. Sunday's Pro 4 qualifier was okay until we had a front flat tire that kept our qualification effort to 5th place. Race went okay as we did not tangle with anyone, but we were down on power, possibly a bad plug, not sure yet, but the truck was not able to move around the other trucks like the day before. We had to settle for limping home in fifth place. All in all a positive weekend, in that both trucks now are able to run toward the front of the pack. Next stop is the very front of the pack, which is the preferred location from which to view the crowd.   Race Recap Chula Sept 29 - 2007 Hello friends. – I have had several requests for updates on how we are doing, so I am going to start doing a race recap after each event starting with this past weekends event at Chula Vista - September 29th and 30th. Saturday’s race was a tough race as I was black flagged, which I felt was not my fault. The beginning of the race went well as I passed Douglas and Huseman without incident. Greaves was running strong and my position in second was secure, so I decided to wait for the mandatory caution. On the restart, I turned up the wick and was looking inside on every corner. On the third corner I went inside and had light contact with Greaves. Unfortunately it was tire to tire, so the tire ends up catapulting whatever it touches and so it looked like heavy contact. I expected to be going side by side through that corner but instead I saw Greaves go up and over. I thought to myself, there goes the race, because in general if you have contact with the leader while passing and the leader flips, then you are going to get flagged. Upon serving the black flag, the hot pit flagman kept me in the penalty box for over one minute which was ridiculous, so the race was lost. Sunday in the morning was the highlight of my weekend. The truck felt great, and we were able to be top qualifier without really pushing the truck. For the race the truck was a different animal. Although there were no changes to the truck, the throttle was sticking badly and the carburetor was bogging down consistently in the corners. On the straights it was no problem, it would run hard, but I could not get any exit speed out of the corners. I drove like a madman to try and hang with Greaves and Huseman, I was trying inside lines in the corners so as to have the shortest distance to cover which seemed to be a better solution than carrying no exit speed and taking the corners wider. The crash came about, because I felt the throttle stick on the approach to the ski jump. I hit the brakes to counteract the sticking throttle, and it was too much braking, the truck seemed to take off normally, but it just kept rotating until the nose hit and then it was crunch time. I was awake through the whole crash and it hurt like hell. I am normally knocked out during a heavy wreck, but this is my first wreck with the neck restraint device. The feeling of going through the wreck, I can describe it as being a crumpled up piece of paper that is being kicked by a giant. Each time the truck hits the ground is akin to being kicked into a smaller and smaller ball that could just disappear. The smallness is probably connected to the air being forced out of my body by the impacts. There is no air replacing the lost air, and each hit forced more air out of me. When the impacts stopped, it took about 10 seconds to recompose and then try to take a breath. I have done heavy squats and leg presses in the past, and the feeling of trying to take a breath is similar to pushing a heavy, heavy weight. I started moaning or grunting to overcome the pain and try and force air in. It took a while, but it slowly started working again, and then the life force returned. Of particular interest to me is the steering wheel. In a wreck it is important to me to hold onto the steering wheel, no matter what. I get the old death grip on that wheel and the g forces on it usually rip the metal steering wheel like paper. There was in car video during the crash which may or may not be on the NBC show on October 14th. I am interested to see if you can see the steering wheel change shape during impacts. The race truck was totaled, and the new truck which was 80% complete is now the focus to complete so that we can get to the next event. It looks like we will not make Texas as the there is not enough time to complete the new truck. The crew chief Case Gunderson (who builds a very sturdy truck as can be seen by how it was able to withstand such a horrific crash, with only one tube torn, and not at the weld unlike my last big crash in 2001 where almost every weld on the truck failed) and the crew in Wisconsin are going to have to work hard to get the new truck ready to win in Vegas. To everyone out there who is concerned- thanks, but do not be concerned – I am fine and will be back in the front hopefully at the Vegas race. I feel the momentum building as we are getting faster and faster as a team, and soon there will be fewer and fewer reasons holding us back from taking many victories on the CORR circuit.   2007 Plans 3-9-07 Cenniracing will race in both the CORR and SWORR race series   Los Angeles 3-7-07 Cenniracing will be in Los Angeles from March 16th -19th testing its winter developments at the Antelope Valley Race Track