8 posts tagged “evergreen speedway”
The rain held off just enough for us to take the cars to Evergreen Speedway for the first test of the year. Jeff picked up right where he left off last year and was fast right out of the box. A few minor adjustments to the car and he will be winning early in the season. Natalie did an amazing job driving her Whelen All American Series car, "The Miss" around the 3/8 mile track and ran consistant lap times for all three sessions within a half of a second of Jeff's times. Look out boys, this girl can drive! We will be testing more this Friday night from 6pm to 9:30 pm on the big 5/8 mile oval at Evergreen and all Day Sunday at Yakima Speedway. Come out and support racing in the Northwest! You can watch practice Friday night for free and watch the season opener Saturday night where the Northwest Late Model tour cars will tear up the big track all night long. For more information go to www.evergreenspeedway.com
Jeff's Answer: The Rock Church first found its name on a race car when Roger Habich approached The Rock Church and myself, as pastor, about sponsorship. At the time The Rock Church leadership board was not comfortable with the sponsorship of racing, so Melinda and I personally helped Roger with income from the closing of a real estate transaction we had. I bought out Roger’s partner Nathan and became 50% owner. Instead of putting my name on the car Melinda and I thought, “This would be a great way to let people know that The Rock Church cares about people who love racing." That was 2001.
My input: When I first approached The Rock Church regarding sponsorship, the answer from the church was a resounding no. I had spent two years building a new race car and out of the blue my partner Nathan was relocated to another state for work, and needed to sell his ownership in the car. I wanted to race so I was calling all over town 'dialing for dollars' trying to find funding for the 2001 season. We were not attending church, and did not have a relationship with Jesus, yet God had a bigger plan for our family. That phone call rekindled a 20 year friendship that had grown apart over the years. It was Jeff and Melinda that believed in me, and got on board. We started attending The Rock Church the Sunday after 9/11 and several families from the race track followed. I am thankful we knew where we were to be planted and the seeds were already sown.
Jeff's Answer: NO, I have never and will not drive The Rock Church race car in competition at this time.
My input: True, and believe me, I've tried to get Jeff to race The Rock Church car for the last five years. He won't do it. My goal since we've started as always been to have Jeff drive. I knew all along that Jeff has the natural ability required to be competitive at the super stock level and I love sharing my passion of racing with someone who 'gets it.'
Jeff's Answer: It's awesome when people who love Jesus and their church want to sport the logo. There is nothing like word of mouth and free advertising.
My input: I am one of those people too. I put The Rock Church logo on the Stude when we raced in Mexico last year for La Carerra Panamericana because of nothing more than this; The Rock Church is my church and I am proud of the people of The Rock that are changing the world. No money ever exchanged hands.
Jeff's Answer: NO, never has, never will. When I started racing (2007) the pastors of our church took an offering for my racing on Father's Day. I declined to use those funds for my racing and sowed them into our missions giving for the year. I will not conflict my personal interests with that of our church.
My input: Ha! This is funny to me because when Jeff and Melinda first came to the track, and people found out that they Pastor a church, the whole "pass the plate racing" rumor kicked into high gear. Honestly. This question is asked by people who know the truth, they just listen to stupid comments made by people who don't know the truth. We never have, and never will, use tithes and offerings as a way to fund any hobby, racing or otherwise.
Jeff's Answer: In 7 years being involved at Evergreen Speedway The Rock Church has seen scores of people directly connected to racing find Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Our mission is, “Connecting People to Life.” Racers are people also, and we use our budget to reach people every weekend at The Rock Church, we are not limited by race, gender, income level or subculture.
My input: Go into all the world and preach the gospel. All the world. Simple as that.
Here's a question I'm not asked often enough,
Q: "Jeff, What's your end-game?"
Jeff's Answer: I want racers to know the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Before I started in this racing thing I don't think there was one racer attending The Rock Church, I don't think we reached a single person at the largest venue in our city. Today there has been dozens, and on most Sundays you can meet some of them if you want. They are some of the most fun passionate people around. On the track we are competitors having a blast; at church I am their pastor. I count it a blessing to see racers at TRC every weekend. What is that worth to me, as a pastor? More than I've ever spent on a race car part.
My input: Racing is exciting, that is why scores of people fill the stands every weekend to be entertained, join a race team, or drive a race car. For some of them their life is a mess, and the come to the track as a distraction, to watch the competition and destruction. What they don't expect is a message of hope and a team of people in the pits and in the grandstands dedicated to the mission statement of The Rock Church; Connecting People to Life.
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Yesterday's article:
The season finale at Evergreen Speedway is upon us and what a year it has been! The points battle is shaping up to be exciting right down to the wire. Although John Zaretzke and Shane Harding have a sizable lead over the rest of the field, Shane could still mathematically beat John for the championship if enough cars show up for the 150 lap closer on the 5/8th mile oval. The race for third through sixth is up for grabs between me (currently third), Naima Lang, Darrin Stordahl, and Lex Johnson, all four of us within 10 points of each other! I can guarantee that this week none of us will be holding back as we attempt to clinch the highest possible finishing order for the last race and the season points championship. We will be accompanied on the huge .646 mile oval by the NSRA sprint cars for the Rory Price Memorial, and the Super Figure Eights will determine a points champion as well.
DO NOT MISS THIS RACE, IT WILL BE A DOOZIE!
Congratulations to Lane Sundholm and Chuck Richard for their victories in the Bomber and Mini Stock classes. Two hard working and well deserved champions!
I am so blessed to get to do what it is that I love so much. Racing has been a passion of mine ever since I obtained my drivers license two days after my 16th birthday. I soon figured out that racing on the street was a bad idea when I received my first ticket a month or so later. It was then I decided that I needed a race car. I didn't have very much money so I started looking for a car that I could buy that was in my price range. My months of searching yielded a race ready 1967 Dodge Dart 4door Bomber car with a 318 V-8 for $325 from my friend Aaron Jelcick who was heading off to school soon. I was set. I test drove it on the runway at the airport and found out a few things that I didn't know.
1. When power shifting an automatic transmission from 1st to 2nd at redline, 2 clicks too far is reverse and surprisingly it will go into gear and begin turning the tires just as fast backwards as it had previously been forwards. Exciting!
2. Racing is EXPENSIVE! My little tranny experiment cost me two tires and a wheel.
This is where YOU come in. No I am not asking you to sponsor my racing program although if you are interested in getting involved with what we are doing we have many promotional packages to fit any marketing budget. What I am asking is for you to use the people who do support us. Those names on the side of the cars are there because we sell the space to business people who love racing and want exposure, which in turn brings other race fans to them as customers. NASCAR fans are the most brand loyal people on earth. Prove this to our sponsors by letting them know that you came to them because you saw their logo on the side of our race car at the speedway.
Here are the companies who have kept us racing every week this year. Jeff and I truly believe that they are the BEST in their field. Each of them have built their businesses on Christian values and pride themselves on honesty and integrity.
MTS Construction. Commercial and residential site work and utilities. If you need a site prepared for a building, from demolition to underground utilities, give Nolan a call.
Contact: Nolan Bender 425-754-6322
Rock Of Ages Plumbing. Who doesn't need a plumber? Rock and Sue Borchardt are two of the nicest people on the planet and have been hooking up and repairing the pipes in commercial buildings and homes for 13 years.
Contact: Rock Borchardt 425-483-7202
Visit www.rockofagesplumbing.com
The Rock Church. Come check out our church. Shanna and I spent five years searching for a church to call home. All of the places we attended were nice but we just didn't feel like we belonged. Sound familiar? We attended The Rock after the terrorist attacks on 9-11 and immediately felt welcomed. Take everything you know about church, huck it out the window and show up on Sunday at 9:00am or 11:00am or both. Visit www.therockchurch.info for more information.
Contact: 360-805-0699
Aaron Anderson's Hometown Lending. In this crazy home market it is great to know you have someone in your corner who knows the business and will try every angle to get your financing handled. Aaron is super cool and will make you feel comfortable the moment you meet him.
Contact: Aaron Anderson 360-805-4333
Speedway Autocraft and Refinishing. We have two of the nicest cars at Evergreen Speedway because of Fred and Jayleen Hall who own Speedway Autocraft And Refinishing. If you are involved in a fender bender, DEMAND that your insurance company uses them for the repairs. They are a Progressive Insurance preferred shop and have state of the art equipment and the best in the business body men and painters. They just repaired Shanna’s BMW and it is flawless! Fred personally inspects every car that leaves the shop and it doesn’t go if he doesn’t like it. I think every car is a show car to him
Contact: Fred & Jayleen at 360-805-3130
So go out and buy a piece of land, have Aaron finance it, have Nolan prep it for the building, have Rock plumb it, crash your car along the way and have Fred repair it, and praise God that it all worked out perfectly at the Rock Church on Sunday!
There are five races left in our season and we are second place in points. The state championship is still within reach so don't miss the exciting action at Evergreen Speedway every Saturday through September 15th. For more information visit www.evergreenspeedway.net
I regularly field questions concerning the guy we all are trying to catch this year, John Zaretzke. "Why is he so much faster than everyone?" they ask, "He must be cheating." It is difficult to imagine how one person can be so much better than the rest considering we all have to follow the same tightly policed restrictions. This year, it is John, the last two years it was Shane Harding. When the race cars are so similar as they are in NASCAR racing, all of the little things we do add up to a combination that either works or it doesn't. When we find that combo, we stick to it and tweak it until we have the perfect set up for our driving style. I DON'T THINK HE IS CHEATING!
I have followed John this year and tried to understand how his car can corner so well. I mean, while I am waiting for my car to slow down enough to make the turn, his is already turned and is accelerating off the corner. My conclusion.......(pause for suspense purposes)......his combination is better than ours right now. Yep that's it. He has done his homework and built a set up out of the best parts money can buy. His shocks are the same ones that the Nextel Cup cars run and he's got someone who knows what they are doing building them. His team is strong with Rodney, Robert, and Lil B who have been with him for as long as I can remember. Oh yeah, and their driver, what's his name? John has tons of natural ability and more car control than anyone I have seen drive. This is the same guy who went to Phoenix for the Southwest Tour race, missed the drivers meeting and had to start at the rear of the field and won the race. The guy can drive. So why aren't we watching him run against Greg Biffle and Kasey Kahne this Sunday on television? The only answer I can think of is he hasn't dominated in the right venue to get noticed by the right people.
So what do I do about this little problem that stands between me and my first victory this year? Keep trying of course! Every week we have gotten a little faster, tweaked the car to perform a little better, and learned more about what the tires are going to do. We run the fastest laps of the race nearly every week so we've just got to figure out how to make that fast lap be near the end of the race versus the beginning. In all types of competition, we only go as fast as needed to win, it's human nature. The bar is just set high this year by the #51 Zipfizz Chevrolet team and we've all got some work to do to catch them.
Total Velocity Motorsports is made up of some Very competitive cats who’s desire to win builds with every moment that passes leading up to race day. So how do we diffuse the built up energy when the race rains out? They say a picture is worth a thousand words and I believe that holds true in this instance. After being de-throned at SEGA GT head to head racing by Dano, Aaron whispered “mommy” and then sported his young daughter Donelle’s pink Chanel eyewear around the shop for the next hour. Whatever it takes to ease the tension Aaron! Anticipation for this week’s race on the 5/8th’s mile track is at an all time high being the first big track race for the “Weapon” as well as the maiden voyage for Jeff on the super speedway of the west. Come out and see all the fun at Evergreen Speedway this Saturday evening. The Autograph session is at 6:15 with the show starting at 7:00pm. See you there!
Changing a Super Late Model into a Super Stock Race Car In my last post, I briefly described the changes needed to install a crate engine into our Super Late Model car.
After working on the car Tuesday night, here is an in depth review of what those changes will require.
Redistribute the weight
The Super Stock minimum weight rule at Evergreen Speedway this year amounts to 2,800 pounds.
Last year as a Super Late Model, the 76 car weighed in at 2,950 pounds. What to do with 150 pounds of ballast? Just drop it out, right? Not so fast..., proper weight distribution is critical for handling. So, we need to look carefully at
where that weight loss is going to come from and do some serious calculations.For starters, the crate engine is 40 pounds lighter and, along with the dry sump system we will be
removing, you get another 30 pounds or so. The car’s ballast provides an additional 350 pounds
in the form of 40-pound bars of lead, which need to be redistributed. It takes time and a coordinated
effort to remove the weights, weigh the car, and reposition the weight bars. Our 6'3" 250# wheelmen (me or Jeff) complicate the weight balance. We do not have the extra
50 to 90 pounds of breathing room that teams with smaller drivers have.
(This is why most professional racers you see on TV are 5'5" and 160 pounds.)
Consequently, every item on the car needs to be reconsidered for weight reduction. We've got some work to do!
Remove the dry sump oil system components
The Super Late Model ran on a dry sump oil system. The crate engine contains a wet sump system.
So, we have to remove all the dry sump oil components and install a large capacity oil cooler. All the oil inside the crate engine resides at the heat source, and race engines don't tolerate hot oil very
well, you get the picture.Changing the entire ignition and wiring systemsAnother rule: In order for technical inspectors to police the 6300 maximum RPM limit, all the SS cars at
Evergreen must have the GM brand MSD box, rev limiter, and ignition system. (It's another
attempt to keep us honest.) Officials can drop by at anytime and swap out the ignition box, or the rev chip, which should
keep the traction control claims at bay. This may seem a little over the top, but I like the fact they
are really trying to reduce the possibility of cheating.Revamp the exhaust system To suit the lower 6300RPM rev limit and smaller cylinder head ports, the team needs to overhaul
the entire exhaust system. This means new headers, collectors, down pipes, and muffler to create
optimum back pressure to the 400HP mill. Of course, there are many possibilities for header selection:· Build them myself (huge time commitment) · Buy the best available crate engine set (HUGE dollar commitment) After careful deliberations with the team, I went with a combination of both. Buy the common, less
expensive parts and modify them to my liking. This reduces the costs and time factors and might even
give the best power advantage of all the options.Address clearance issues The deeper oil pan requires the crankshaft height to be one inch higher for the sump to clear the ground,
so the motor mounts need to be modified. The air cleaner ascends. Now, the hood doesn't fit! I have always wanted one of those mailbox type hood scoops like you see on drag race cars,
so here's my chance! Not to worry, the car won't make it through the body template
with one of those, so I guess I'll just have to build an air filter housing with enough drop in it
to clear the hood and allow the 11-inch crank height. It seems to never end, but I can assure
you that with the incredible team TVM has grown into, it will get done right. And, it will get done right now!There is a tremendous amount of work to accomplish in a very short period of time.
So, remember the TVM race crew while you munch on your chocolate bunnies and know that
every possible effort is being made to have "The Weapon" ready for the war on April 14th.I'll keep you posted on our progress.
