DECEMBER 10th, 2009
It has been a while since
the 36mini.com webpage has been updated. So just a quick update on the
World Series race. The 36mini had some great lap times in practice and
pulled out number 9 and it looked like we would have had a good start
in the qualifier. But, it seems like there were only 20 numbers instead
of 60. So I started 5th in the qualifier. I was running up in the top 3
with only 2 laps to go and was ready to win my 6th heat race and then
my throttle cable broke. I cant complain I had a great 2nd half of the
season without any problems. But, I was on a mission and was hoping to
finally get a feature win. So in the feature the 36mini started dead
last, as the green flag dropped the pack did not go and I dove under
the pack to avoid hitting the car in front of me and a few other
drivers followed. So that put me in the dirt and about a half lap from
the leader. So with 20 laps to go and everyone wanted to win the race I
was sure that there was going to be a caution. Damn it was I wrong once
again. I wish I had a clock on my car. I don't think I ever drove it
that hard. I was so far behind and I have no idea how I finished in 8th
place. If there was a caution. I would have had a better finish. I
don't believe that I could have won but I did have a good chance to get
a top 5 finish. So all in all it was a good race and the car is back
home in one piece.
Other News from the 36mini:
The new rules for the 2010 season came out a few weeks ago and I don't
agree with them at all. I guess I am the only one because they don't
benefit me and they benefit every other driver. They say that the
Jacking Bolt do not help in making the car faster they just make it
easier to set up the car at the track. So in theory doesn't that make
your car faster??? The other two new rules also do not benefit fwd
cars. Do we really want these Mini's to be faster? Why not just open up
the rules and run whatever you want? That's the way it seems. So after
all these rule changes I want to see if they anything for the vw
guys. So if the track does not give anything to benefit the vw's then I
might sell all of vw stuff and either move up a division or call it
quits. So if anyone is interested in the 36mini feel free to email me.
OCTOBER 10th 2009
The 2009 Point Season came to an end September 24th 2009. Scott
Michalski has finally won a Championship at Thompson Speedway. The last
points race is always a crazy one. There is so much going on and this
is where finishing will matter. For some it was a matter of finishing a
position ahead of the other and for other people it was just to start
the race. As for the 36mini I thought I had 15th place secured with no
chance of moving up or down. So my mind set was to go out and win. That
was the first time ever I had that set in my mind. I am usually out
there having a good time, race clean, and bring the car home in one
piece. But, the ORC's got me once again. After winning my 6th heat race
this year the 36mini was starting on the pole. So the chances of
winning were closer then I thought. In the heat race Tim Higginbotham
started on the pole and he was leading the race with a lap and a half
to go. I was right behind him in second place and he had this one
wrapped up. His car was running great until he fell of the pace
(electrical problems). I wanted to see another vw win a heat race or
feature this year. But to close off the season the 36mini got the heat
win. The first heat race didn't go so well for the 14 mini. He was
too busy dressing up the 36mini as a unicorn. So heat time he had a
fuel leak (forgot to tighten his gas cap because he was laughing at the
36mini and his gay looking unicorns that he put on my car) But, that
wasn't the end for the 14 mini. He got in a wreck with the 19 car that
put him out of commission and his top 10 in points just faded away. If
I had a mustang even with the chance of winning my first race and a
great pole start I would have lent him my car. I would have let him
drive my vw but I don't think he wanted to be seen driving a black car
with Pink numbers and rainbow colored unicorns. But the last laugh was
on him. In the feature race the 36mini was leading a strong 13 laps in
first place with a few car length lead. But like last time the 36mini
was in the lead a member of the ORC squad spun out and the lead faded
quickly after the yellow came out. By now all the fast cars were right
in my alley. I say the 05 car of Churchill starting right behind me. I
knew that was trouble. The 1.8l vw motor didn't have what it took to
beat the power of the Churchill's powerful motor. So once again a
disappointing but great 2nd place finish. So with the 2nd place finish
and Scott Jussaume MIA I moved to 14th in points. This year I couldn't
be happier. I was 30 something in points half way through the season. I
went through motor issues, carb issues, and after all the bugs were
fixed its the best the car has ever been. I would like to give a big
Thanks to Andy Publicover who has helped me all season long. Since he
had his bad wreck in the Icebreaker he went fishing all season and in
his spare time gave me the same speed as his VW. I would also like to
thank Ron Rixam for his help in setting up my cam and also Steve
Michalski for all his help in my carburetor issues. I had a good solid
motor but the cam was way off and the carburetor issues were way off.
So a few simple solutions that I never looked into made this small vw
motor show its real power. There is still more power hidden in this
motor but since I had a great finishing year my help might
disappear..lol
Stafford Speedway FALL Final 2009
This year Stafford Speedway added the Mini Stocks to there Fall
Final Schedule. This is the first time ever that Stafford had Mini
stocks at there track. There was a good sign up of 41 cars prior to the
event and the majority of cars were from Thompson. I think there were
going to be more cars showing up, But the weekend looked like a total
washout. There was a 100% chance all day on Saturday and about 70% on
Sunday. So once again the odds of the race event going on that
weekend are like Romjue winning a race.
(Romjue your chances are really getting better). The 36mini showed up
on Friday for practice. I had the same exact setup and tranny as
Thompson. I wasn't sure what it would do. But the car was impressive. I
only lost about 300 rpm. The car also handled great. I was running as
quick as the fastest cars out there. Then I brought the car home that
night and was ready to head back to Stafford next weekend. But, the
race event was still on for Saturday and I got a call saying that the
Tour modified's are on the track. So I rushed to get there for my hour
commute and after 30 minutes the event got canceled for the night. Now
I know how people feel when Thompson makes everyone show up and the
cancel. I like my 10 mile commute to Thompson.
So it seems like Sunday is a Go. They are running the whole show on
Sunday. We had one quick round of practice and then it was feature
time. There were about 27 cars and the 36mini was starting 26th.
They placed you by when you sent your registration form. If you helped
them dry the track on Saturday you started up front. So there were 4
lucky people up front. The 21 of Chad Baxter and the 05 Of Churchill.
But for Churchill it ended before it even started. I hear his valve
cover was loose and he had an oil fire and his day ended. So on to
feature time. The 36mini was hanging dead last and the strategy was to
hang back a bit and hope for a wreck. It happened really quickly in lap
one. So I was able to move a few more positions. Its a new track for
everyone and I think everyone was mad where they started and I knew
everyone would race up to the front. The race was only 15 laps and it
came really quick. I managed to work my way to 8th place and that's
where I finished. If I had a few more laps I think I could have had a
top 5 or better. The top 3 were racing really had for the win and who
knows what would have happened if there were a few more laps. But the
outcome Chad Baxter wins his first career win. I was happy to see
a Thompson guy beat the 2 Waterford guys but even happier that Chad
won. I am not sure what Stafford plans on doing next year, The rumor
states that they will add the mini stocks to there program. But for
the rules I am still not sure, would it be an all mustang track or will
they leave it open for FWD cars.
So there are a few more open shows left, and then the 2009 season will
be wrapped up. So this year the 36 mini had a great year and hopefully
will continue next year. There will be a full update after World
Series. I will also try and update videos and pictures in the near
future.
And this one is for Steve Romjue. So Steve's Theory is correct. The
unicorn just comes out of nowhere and you cant catch him..lol
UNICORN <----------- click here
Steve and Leo are
disappointed about there final point finish at Thompson for 2009 so
they took up another hobby (That's also why the 14racing.net site has
not been updated)
STEVEANDLEO <---------- click here
September 23rd, 2009
I forgot to update the site. I was too busy prepping something for a
fellow racer. I also have black spray paint all over me. Anyway's I
cant remember much about last week. The only think I remember was the
top 10 were racing really close and I was hanging a few spots back
waiting for a wreck. The odds were really there. I mean serious
odds. The chances of a wreck were the same odds as Steve Romjue never
winning a race. And there wasn't a wreck, so Steve you have a chance.
The feature race started out really bad for the Taylor team. The 36mini
started right behind the 75 car and going into turn 1 on the first lap
the 75 car just spun around. It collected the 04, 75, 23, and the 5.
The odds of that happening are the same odds as.. never mind ( refer to
the first paragraph). I was right behind the spin and the odds of me
hitting him were( refer to first paragraph). I cant believe I missed
him. So overall it was another good race for the 36mini. It was an 11th
place finish. If I could only have done this well all season. So this
Thursday marks another end for another race season. The toughest
challenge is the 3 people in 9th place. They are all tied for 9th, with
a few hungry people behind them that also want a top 10 finish. The
36mini is stuck in 15th place. So even with a win or a last place
finish I will be 15th in point for the season.
September 10th 2009
It was a crazy night at Thompson once again. The season is coming to an
end and everyone is battling out there to get as many point as they can
to either secure there spot or move up some positions. Scott Michalski
has a 44 point lead on Brad Caddick and even with a few good finished
it still might not be enough to capture a championship. Scott Michalski
has finished in the top 5 in point 5 times in the last 6 years. He has
never won a championship but got really close in 2005. The last race of
the season Ron Rixam's motor blew up on the last lap coming out of turn
2 and coasted to the finish line and finished the race to beat Scott by
4 points. There is only 12 points separating 3rd-6th, and from 7th to
12th there is only 64 point difference. So these last few races there
going to be some crazy racing.
I would like to Congratulate Trevor Michalski on his first career heat
race win. But, all his happiness and joy ended on the last lap of the
feature when he was sitting in 7th place. I did not see the wreck but
there were 3 cars that got heavily damaged. I hope he will be able to
make it back this week. As of now Trevor is still in 1st in rookie
points. But Lloyd Anderson will be back next week and is only 20 points
away from being the highest rookie in points. You also have to watch
out for Brent Gleason he sits 32 points behind Trevor, It could have
been a closer battle but as a good mini stock driver he lent his car to
Brad Caddick earlier in the season. It might have cost him the Rookie
of the Year. But, a beer and some pizza will make up for it.
36MINI News
Once again it was a good week for the 36mini. I finally purchased a
Keith Dorton Carburetor. It sure did wake up the little VW machine. I
still had to fine tune it, but it ran good and didn't give me any
problems. We started the heat race in 7th and managed to finish in 2nd
place. The car was really tight so I had to play around with the setup.
So for the feature, I was hoping it would have loosened things up. But,
It got the car even tighter. We did get a good 6th place finish. I
realized what I did and hopefully I will fix it next week. If I get
this car a little looser I might actually have enough power to mow the
lawn and shoot me out of the turns. Then we will see who dresses up as
an Orc...
SEPTEMBER 5th, 2009
The 36mini is once again back on its old pace. The last few weeks
the 36mini finished in 2nd, 7th, and 12th. So without any qualifiers we
started the feature 19th out of 22 cars. Some cars that missed a few
races still started ahead of me. So all it took was in the first lap
was a car spun out and I avoided the accident and then somehow got hit
in the right front. There was a big vibration and the steering wheel
was shaking so I took it easy for the rest of the feature. We had a
17th place finish.
I ran into a few issues with the front right axle and I had to replace
it. It was a great day to try and play around with the timing and see
if there was anyway to get more power coming out of the turns. I guess
it didn't help so its set back to the same setting as last week. I ran
into more problems at the end of the feature when my right wheel
bearing caught on fire. I guess it was on tight or just got loose from
the hard driving all day and a few bumps to the rear wheel.
September 8th, 2009
There was a lot more damage then I thought, The whole
right front had to be replaced and the whole right rear was also
replaced. I just need to do a few more tweaking and it should be all
set for this Thursday. I have been looking at the weather report and it
looks like there is a 60% chance of rain. So if it gets canceled on
Thursday the rain date is for Sunday September 13th
AUGUST 31st 2009
This week has been a great success for the
36mini. We had a career best finish (2nd) and also a heat race win.
After 6 years of racing in the mini stock division at Thompson Speedway
this has been the best week so far. The 2nd place finish felt like a
win. It seemed like the 36 mini is only good for 8 laps. This week it
proved that it could last more then 8 laps in the front and finish in
the top 5. As for the 36mini, the goal each and every week is to go out
have fun and bring the car home in one piece. I'm not out there to win,
I am not there to wreck anyone, I'm not there to take anyone out. I am
there to have fun. This season we had a bad start with several motor
issues, and carburetor issues. I finally managed to get a block to hold
up and not blow bearings, the carburetor is finally working and set up
right. I can also go out there and race without blowing up or breaking.
It feels great. I just hope that I can finish off the season and have
everything running well and bring the car home in one piece. I have to
thank all of the guys in the division that have helped me throughout
thr season. We only have a few VW guys left and without their help I
would still be battling with these VW bugs. As for the carburetor
issues that's where I get help from some of the mustang guys. But, once
again its a VW, not a mustang so I have to battle some of the issues
myself. I also have to build up some confidence in myself. In the last
few years I have been running through lots of problems and was always
racing in the mid pack. This year running a few races up front its a
different ball game, its a different race. Its a lot rougher and they
will try to do anything to get ahead of you. So far its been good clean
racing, but the season is almost over with only a few races left and
the top 10 is getting real close in points. So this September there
will be some great races in the Mini Stock division.
So this weekend the 36 mini is still on the
trailer and on Friday I opened the hood to see where the water was
leaking after the race on Thursday. It looks like its coming from 2
areas one on the head and one on the water hose. So if the head is
cracked I am in trouble. I will know later on today.
So what else is going on in the 36mini world. I am still debating about
getting decals and painting the car. But, as in recent years painting
the car has always been bad luck for me. I do have a few sponsors that
I need to put on the car. I am still thinking about the "pepto" car. I
finally put the last sponsor on the car and that race ended up being
it's final race. So depending on how I feel I might take the high
quality pink duct tape numbers and retire them and get some legit
numbers and keep the car black. I always loved the "sleeper" look. But
I think its time to make it look some what presentable.
To end a great week. The 36mini won a heat race, came in 2nd in the
feature, and the biggest news on Sunday morning at 7:45am I became a
proud uncle of my niece Kate Gorgievski.
Thumper Motorsports gets THUMP 'D !!!!!!!
August 20th, 2009
I was a great day for Thumper Motorsports for one
member and a bad day for the other. Leo Defevers won his first career
race tonight and just as the race was finished his motor gave up. He
had to get pushed into victory lane. I don't think he cared about his
motor at that time. He was just happy to get in Victory lane. But, all
his hopes and dreams ended after a post inspection Leo Defevers was
disqualified. I spoke to Leo after the race and what seemed to be a
great day for him he ended up leaving with a DQ, blown motor?, and his
teammates car totaled. I hope they can get something together and get
both cars back next week.
It seems like every time the Mini stock race is the last feature it
ends up being a wreck fest. As for the 36mini it was a good night. In
the heat race I started on the outside pole. I got a good jump on the
restart and hit about 8000 rpm before I shifted into 3rd. I knew if I
got a good start it would be hard for the rest of the guys to catch up
on me. After lap 4 it seemed like I would get my 3rd heat win of the
season. But, the 64 car of Tim Taylor came from dead last and was
within inches of my rear bumper. I glued my foot to the pedal and I
have no idea how I held him off. If there was another lap I don't think
I would have won the heat race.
So winning the heat race meant the 36mini was starting on the Pole. The
car felt perfect, It handled perfect, and the Carburetor was running
perfect. I don't think I ever said that in one line in my whole racing
career. I am glad that I started up front they were so many wrecks, I
know if I were in the middle of the pack I would probably be one of
those cars. The cautions were killing me. My perfect carb was loading
up on me but I still managed to get some good starts. But, the hungry
mustang pack was coming my way and the so called "perfect carburetor"
started puttering on me. And once Leo got passed me I fell in the
bottom groove and that's when I lost my line and 6 more mustangs pass
right by me. Overall I am happy with my 7th place finish and a heat
win.
AUGUST 5th 2009
Sorry for the late update. It
has been a busy week for the 36mini. On July 30th it was the Mini
Stocks 30 lap feature. I was surprise that there was only one
caution during the race. I spoke to a few people prior to the race and
it seemed like everyone had the same idea. Take it easy for 15-20 laps
and then go racing. So for the 36mini it was a 17 place finish. I was
lucky to be able to run the feature. During the first practice the axle
seized up and the boot ripped. So it was a race home to pick up a spare
axle. I just finished putting the axle in the car and the second mini
heat race was just about to start. So I took that as a practice run
and wanted to make sure everything was snug and tight. So when the
feature started I was waiting for that caution to come out near the end
of the race and it never came. I cant complain I finished the race and
its in once piece.
So after being in the racing mood I decided to take a trip up to Maine
for the 4-cyl National Race. I attended last year as a spectator and
this year I thought it would be fun to bring the 36mini. So it was a
long long Friday setting up the car and installing a different
transmission and axles. So it looked like it was going to rain on
Sunday. That was the last thing on my mind. If it rained, I think I
would have cried. I did have a few tears after I found out there were
49 mini stocks that would be competing on a 1/3 mile oval. That's a lot
of cars. There were 4 heat races and they were only taking the top 7.
The 36mini was in heat 4 outside pole. That ended really quick when I
missed a shift and my motor mount broke. So since it was going to rain
they wanted us to start right away. So we had 5 minutes to fix a mount
that was broken off the tranny. So a little JB weld and a ratchet strap
will have too do. It was a long short 50 laps. There were a bunch of
cautions for the first few laps but then it got a little better. At one
point the 36mini was in 7th on lap 22 after lining up from the caution.
Then the next caution(lap 23) the 36mini was in 27th. I didn't get
passed or I didn't spin out??? So it seemed like that only cared about
the top 5 and the rest were just out there to have fun. So the
unofficial standings for the Thompson guys are:
Mike Veins: DNS
Billy Pomposelli: 16th
Mike Gorgievski: 17th
Chad Baxter: 34th
Roger Ducharme: 24th??
For the Record the 36mini passed Billy Pomposelli 4 times. So how he
finished 16th I am not sure. I did see him talking to the Tech guy and
he handed him an extra bill. ( He mumbled something like make sure I
finish ahead of the 36)
It was a great weekend, It was great to run at a different track. But
the amount of work and money involved.. Im not sure if it was great
anymore.
JULY 23rd 2009
There isn't much of an
update this week. I forgot to post last week so here is a brief summary
of last weeks race. "It was a mess"
Well maybe I should say a little more. It was a wreck fest in every
division. So this week Thompson added a new member to the staff so
hopefully thinks will change.. (Its Thompson Do you actually think it
will change).
As for the 36mini the car is getting better. I have solved most of the
issues that we have been battling all season. The latest addition was a
new fuel pump. I guess that was causing my main carburetor problems.
But, the car is running better and the car got bent twice in one week.
So last Thursday there was a little shake in the front end that scared
me a little. I don't want the front wheel to fall off. So I took it
slow for the first ten laps then pushed harder for the last 5 and
finished in 12th. I am happy with that finish.
Today's even July 23rd, 2009 was canceled due to Rain. I was not
planning on going, I saw the weather report and it was 90%
flood/rain. I guess Thompson was hoping that they will beat the rain.
What are they thinking??? That's like saying Steve Romjue will win a
race. Who are they trying to fool. ( I still have hope in you Steve,
maybe next week) It was great to break in my new tires today. I think
they will be ready for next weeks big 30 lap mini race.
July 13th 2009
This is the first update for the 36mini in a few weeks. We had
another bad day for the Double feature race on June 25th. If you have
been reading from previous post the head that was on the car had a
crack in the valve guide area and was leaking oil in 2 cylinders. So
now I know where my power was hiding. So before the race I only had a
few days to get a decent head. So I ended up taking a head out of a
spare engine and just cleaned it up swapped cam and springs from the
other head and slapped it on. So on race day I took it out for the
practice in 4th gear to break in the new rings. The car was feeling
good but I still had a lil sputter and the cam was all messed up. So
for feature time I started near the back and the car felt great but
within two laps in the race I felt a big sputter and then that was it..
I thought the motor was done. So I missed the 2cd feature and later on
in the week I found out that the pressure plate bolts on the crank just
spun off and broke. So luckily for the rain dance the races got
Canceled on Thursday July 2cd. This gave me time to fix the crank and
order a new clutch assembly. So Thompson added a July 9th race to the
Schedule. I needed to hurry up and get the clutch in next day air. So
after a few practice runs the car had power but only for two laps and
the the carb was sputtering. So I checked out my wire connections and a
few of the wires were loose. So I think my who carb issue was lack of
voltage to the fuel filter. So the last and final practice the car had
fuel and the car had power. The cam was coming in to late and the power
was at the end of the straights. So with help from Ron Rixam he gave me
a few pointers and I think the cam and carb issues are set where they
need to be. I was starting outside pole in the first heat and I was
thinking if the car holds up I can gain a bit and without cautions I
will have enough to win my 2cd heat race of my career. But, they said 3
people are starting in the back so that meant Jeff Moffat was starting
on the pole. There went all my hopes. So as the green was thrown I just
step on the gas pedal and off I went. I didn't look back and just kept
on driving. I think Moffat missed a shift. So half way through the
race I took a few looks in my rear view mirror and didn't see anyone
close to me. So with the last few laps. I was thinking about what will
happen??? Could a wheel fall off? Could my bearings break? Will my
carburetor give up? Will my pressure plate break?? or will Steve Romjue
pass me to win. After that thought How could I lose...lol
It was the 36mini's first heat win in 2009 and 2nd in 36mini history.
Luckily there were not not a few laps more or a caution there was a
fast roaring crowd of mustangs catching up to me.
It was time for the feature and the 36mini was starting on the Pole. I
got a good jump on the restart but with all of these hard pounding
mustang vw haters I could only keep up in the lead for a few laps. I
cant complain how the car felt but I was not use to running up front in
a pact of maniacs. I tried to hold my line and stayed away from
trouble. I did a good job avoiding them for 13th laps. I believe I was
in 7th on lap thirteen, Then I got hit in the left rear entering turn
1. I guess some people see the track as a rectangle. Luckily the
wheels were still on the car and no one hit me. I started in the back
for the last few laps and managed to gain a few positions and finish in
8th place.
So I thought I didn't have to do that much work on Friday but I was
wrong. The hit I sustained on the 13th lap bent the rear chassis and
broke all my rear mounts. So there was a lot of cutting, cranking and
welding. We were working on the car all night.
So On July 11th 2009, The Full Fender Frenzy was held at Thompson
Speedway. I missed the first rounds of practice. So for the second
round I was playing around with cam timing to see if I can get more
coming out of the corner. So the car felt good the track seemed greasy
from all the rubber. I started 14th in the feature and the car wasn't
feeling the same I think I should not have adjusted the cam before the
race. I also had a rear that felt like it was going flat on me. So once
again lap 13th and 14th.. (There is something about that 13x2(26) and
14 that haunts me) On the restart going into turn 1 Jeff moffat spun
out (or was spun out) and as Steve Romjue head into the grass I
followed and had the spun car beat but after post race talks Mike veins
gave him a little push and I hit moffat. I guess I had it coming to me
He avoided my spin and got wrecked and now I avoided his and got
wrecked. It was a hard hit for me but the car still drove and it was
fine. After looking at the car it was nowhere near fine. I bent the
front chassis over about 4 inches. So since the car was running great I
thought I would spend some time and get a paint job and decals but,
this week I have to battle getting the car straight again.
UPDATE
June 23rd 2009
The head is in the car, the motor isn't smoking, my hair is growing back. It seems like its getting better everyday.
UPDATE
June 22cd 2009
The polls are in:
Who has a better chance to win a feature race:
A. AJ Allmendinger
44%
B. Steve Romjue
14%
C. 36MINI
36%
D. I never heard of Steve Romjue
6%
UPDATE
June 21st 2009
The head is almost done and should be in
the car by tuesday night. My hopes are getting better as AJ
Allmendinger finished 7th. Does that mean Romjue or I will have good
luck in the double feature we will see on Thursday. It looks like it
will be a nice hot and humid day oon Thursday so hopefully we will be
racing.
UPDATE
June 19th, 2009
There is alot of
updates going on. This week the 36mini got saved again and the June
18th races got canceled due to rain. The head has been removed from the
car and it looks like the head needs to get repaired. It seems like the
valve guides and valve seals were giving me a problem this whole time.
So we are putting a spare head on the car and shipping this other
head to get fixed. So from a motor point of view all the bugs should be
worked out. If I can get this carburetor/fuel issue fixed . I will
start on the pole and win the feature. Hey if everyone else thinks they
can win so can I...haha
UPDATE
JUNE 17th 2009
So once again the motor came apart and I
changed the rings and hopefully it would solve my smoking issue. I
guess I was wrong once again, the smoking seems like it got worse. It
is 36mini rain dance time, actually it might be 36mini end time. The
head might be junk and leaking oil into the cylinder. I have spent so
much time and money on something that I am getting to the point of
giving up. I have a rare head that I can set up my cam and springs and
give it another try. But, I need to solve these carburetor issues. So
if the races are going to be held this week I will not be there once
again. I hope to be there for the dual features next week.
June 15th 2009
After 2 weeks there is
finally an update on 36mini.com. Since the starting of the season
everything has been either going up in smoke or everything has been
going slow. So I just had to carry the tradition and make the website
slow.. I need to be perfect.
I need a new nickname it could be "SMOKE" but Tony Stewart actually
wins and finishes races. Let's see what other nicknames would be good:
"blow up"
"smokie the bandit"
"bearing breaker''
"motor rebuilder''
"should retire"
"needs to get out of a vw"
"embarrassing man"
"mosquito killer"
"loose lug nut"
"3 wheel man"
"never going to finish a race this season''
"ping bang boom''
"wah wah"
"romjue #2 fan"
"up in smoke"
So if anyone else has any idea please let me know.
So
since the last few weeks the problems never get better, The carburetor
issue is messed up the motor is messed up and im messed up. I have been
battling carb/fuel issues in the last two weeks ( I mean 6 years). So
then we put another carburetor that worked perfectly on another vw and
I have the same issue. So maybe there is more the carb issue. So at the
end of the last feature the car started smoking and as you can see
there hasn't been that many mosquitos at the track . So in the last few
weeks the fuel issue will be replaced with all new parts and the motor
will come out once again and find out what the hell is the problem. I
have been racing for over 6 years and with the lack of help and the
lack of knowledge its becoming to be a pain for me. I am wondering if I
can fit a mustang motor in the car. I did not bring the car to the
track this week because I did not do anything to it. I saw the weather
and there was a 95% chance of rain. So on Thursday I find out there is
a 10% chance of rain. So once again I did the 36mini rain dance and it
didn't work. So I headed to the track with my loser alley gear and was
watching the races up in the stands. But, the luck got better for me.
As I look up in the sky there was still a huge cloud of smoke from my
mosquito fogger last week. It must have did something to the ozone and
it started raining and the event got canceled. So even though I didn't
race I still helped out some of you. Well we will see what happens next
week as the motor will be torn down tomorrow.
I would like to Thank my new sponsor:
Brothers Pizza
165 High St
Clinton, Mass 01510
(978)-365-7700
Tell them you saw them on 36mini.com
JUNE 1st 2009
There is not that much news. The Thompson event for May 28th has been
cancelled due to rain. I know we had a bunch of people complaining that
the weather was good to race. I think it was a good call to cancel. I
know I was not ready, But if we did show up, I bet the rain would have
showed up too. So that give the 36mini team an extra week to try and
resolve more carburator issues. We got a new base plate from holley and
we will slap that on the Keith Dorton and also change the fuel
regulator. So the 36mini should be starting on the pole this week
again. So maybe the issues will be solved...once again who am I
kidding. I just hope that we can get everything in perfect running
order so I can have some time to paint the car and get some decent
decals. So if anyone is interested in giving the 36mini team a hand
feel free to email me.
I guess I cursed myself
this week. I knew I would go back to my carburetor issues. I miss the
first practice, got to run the second and I have my lovely sputter come
with a few laps in the race. I thought I would have it fixed for the at
race.... I guess I was wrong. I was starting on the pole and I felt
that if the few carburetor adjustments worked I would take a good jump
and have a good lead. So with a few laps in I was about a straightaway
from the 2 cd place car. I had a big smile on my face and knew that if
it went green I was going to win the heat race... haha who am I am
kidding the carburetor starting flooding out and my great lead ended
and my smile turned the other way. So with the lack of knowledge and
the lack of help I tried to do a few more adjustments for the feature.
So I had the same problems and I finished like I did at the icebreaker.
That's all for now.....
MAY 20th 2009
There
has not been that much news lately. The 36mini was back in action at
Saturdays practice. We managed to throw a bottom end together and get
back on the track. So we did a few practice sessions to break in the
motor. (Luckily it didn't literally break). So next practice we went
out to see what this motor had for power. Well all I can say it was
flat, The motor didn't give me any power at all. So after scratching my
bald spot on my head I came up with a brilliant idea and thought I
would advance my timing a bit. I think for once in my career I think I
got it perfect. The last practice was the fastest and quickest the car
has seen. I pushed it so hard that my carburetor broke, I broke the
base plate.. So since I don't have a carburetor to replace it I went
crazy searching for a replacement. I happen to remember I had an old
one collecting dust somewhere so I blew the dust off and now I am in
luck and have something for this seasons first race.
April 7th 2009
There is not that much news. The Thompson event for May
28th has been canceled due to rain. I know we had a bunch of people
complaining that the weather was good to race. I think it was a good
call to cancel. I know I was not ready, But if we did show up, I bet
the rain would have showed up too. So that give the 36mini team an
extra week to try and resolve more carburetor issues. We got a new base
plate from holley and we will slap that on the Keith Dorton and also
change the fuel regulator. So the 36mini should be starting on the pole
this week again. So maybe the issues will be solved...once again who am
I kidding. I just hope that we can get everything in perfect running
order so I can have some time to paint the car and get some decent
decals. So if anyone is interested in giving the 36mini team a hand
feel free to email me.
(Update)
I have been scratching my head for a while now and I have a bald spot.
I needed to find out what was really wrong with the motor. So I decided
to take a look at the motor. So I drained the oil and it looked clean,
but I still wasnt convinced, So I dropped the pan and found some nice
metal shavings floating around. I guess the oil pump got clogged and
blew the oil filter gasket. So my new motor that has 8 races on it, has
been refreshed 3 times because of blown bearings. So once again the
motor needs to come out and get rebuilt. I just wish that I can run one
ran without any problems. So I will give it one more attempt and then
if that fails I will hang out in Losers alley once again.
Well where should I begin?
Should we talk about the ICE or the Breaker. The 2009 season went
underway at Thompson Speedway. The minis had a great practice and great
clean qualifier. Then all hell broke loose on the feature. The 36 Mini
started 15th and ended up in 29th. I was just reading some of the
archive's and I think I should just copy and paste it for the update.
It seems like the 36mini does the same thing every race. Every post
that I write I blab about the same thing over and over. So enough about
me lets get to the race report. Andy Publicover was back in action, the
last time he saw that track was last year at the Icebreaker. It was the
first practice and in lap one turn one he spun out (first time ever)
and Blanchard had no where to go but right into him. So it was fishing
for Andy last year, so this week he put his tackle box away for a week
and brought his vw hoping to catch a big plaque. He finished first in
his qualifier and he was starting on the pole. So with Scott Michalski
on the outside pole Andy had to give it all to try and come up with a
victory. But, all his wait and glory came to an end halfway through the
race when some sort of mix up with Veteran driver Joe Godbout who blew
his motor in qualifying and got back to the track to race on Sunday.
Joe was having a hard time getting his new 37 mini up to speed and
handling ( I swear he has 10 identical cars). As Scott and Andy were
coming into turn 1 Joe was about to get lapped and Andy was passing
Scott for the lead and then as I was scratching my head in pit row I
look up and Andy's car almost flew over the wall. The hit was so hard
that the whole front end was moved over a foot. That ended it for Andy.
It seemed like Ron Rixam had a chance to make it in the top 5 but with
4 laps to go coming out of turn 2 Steve Michalski somehow got spun and
4 more cars followed. So with the restart it was Chuck Rogers and Brad
Caddick fighting for first but Chuck pushed the nitrous button and took
off to win the Icebreaker. Brad Caddick came in 2cd place and the whole
Cindy Burdick Motorsports team couldn't be happier (well if he won they
would have been) But it was a great start for Brad and he will be in
the winner circle this year. Tim Higginbotham had an great race, he was
in 5th place with 4 laps to go and to avoid hitting anyone when the 3
car spun he had to start in the back. Mike Veins had a top 5 finish in
his newly acquired mustang. I guess some of the vw guys figured out how
to beat the mustangs...drive one. Jt Supernant is getting comfortable
with his new vw and finished in 16th. (I didn't mention Romjue at all,
do you think this is the first post that he wont get bashed by the
36mini.com.) Steve Romjue finished in the top 10. I believe he will
actually win a race this year.. I also believe that AJ Allmendinger
will win one too.
And for more breaking news Jeff Barrows is in his new TIS modified, Its
a big jump from his dodge mini and his best move yet. But he is still
leaking oil. So nothing changed.
36MINI NEWS:
I can finally say my carburetor issues are solved. We had a great
practice run on Saturday after the heats and I was looking forward to
having a good race on Sunday. But, 2 laps in the oil pressure light was
on and I had anywhere from 5-25 psi and I just pulled it in. After
tightening every bolt, checking every hose and making sure everything
is tight prior to this weekend. The problem was.... the oil filter came loose ( I wrote that small because im embarrassed and if Romjue finds it, then he will bash me)
April 7th 2009
(Update)
I have been scratching my head for a while now and I have a bald spot.
I needed to find out what was really wrong with the motor. So I decided
to take a look at the motor. So I drained the oil and it looked clean,
but I still wasnt convinced, So I dropped the pan and found some nice
metal shavings floating around. I guess the oil pump got clogged and
blew the oil filter gasket. So my new motor that has 8 races on it, has
been refreshed 3 times because of blown bearings. So once again the
motor needs to come out and get rebuilt. I just wish that I can run one
ran without any problems. So I will give it one more attempt and then
if that fails I will hang out in Losers alley once again.
March 28th 2009
Well the 36mini.com is back
online. The previous website was a total mess and it wouldn't let me
update the site. So I had no choice but to switch to a whole new
website design and plan. So hopefully the updates will be back in full
force. The site will be updated as fast as my car has been running in
practice. So you might get an update next year some time.
I cant believe the
season is about to begin, There were a good amount of cars at practice
and a bunch of new driver, new paint schemes, and some fast cars. The
practice sessions for the last few weeks were kind of a waste of time,
The track decided to go to a different rotation and the weekly series
racers got 10 minutes of track time the first week and waited over an
hour to go out again. Then this week we got 20 laps and waited over an
hour to go once again. I partially like going on the track a few laps
then coming in doing a few adjustments and getting back on the track
and try and get all the bugs fixed. In the beginning of the season
there a lot of cars that are out there with new cars, motors, tires,
and diff setups. I don't think running 20 laps and then waiting 1 1/2
to go back will help with your setup. I cant speak about other drivers
but for the 36mini it was hell, I can never seem to have a good day
when my fuel delivery is a 100% efficient. In last weeks practice I was
leaking fuel all over the place, So after checking out all the sources
it came down to the fuel cell. The connections were loose. So after
tightening them up I was ready for practice the 28th. I showed up and
was hopping that I solved my fuel issue, but then again you know my
luck. The carburetor had so many issues I was about to throw it in the
garbage. I have no idea what I am doing with a carburetor, I tried
changing the jets, adding some extenders, hitting it with a hammer and
I failed all 3 times. So this week I will try a few more things and
hopefully solve my fuel issues. On the other hand when the fuel kicked
in, the power the motor had was great and fast. If I could only delete
the turns at Thompson I would have been fine. So for now I can only
dream that my fuel issues would go away but, as usual once they go away
I will have another problem to deal with. So see everyone next week,
and hopefully it wont rain.
January 29th, 2009
The first update of 2009. The 2008 season fina lly
came to a wrap up this weekend with the annual awards banquet. The
36mini team headed out there to congratulate the 2008 Limited Sportsman
champion Scott Sundeen. This has been a great year for Scott. He had 2
wins, He was named most popular driver in the sportsman division, He
was the Sportsman Champ, And also he received an award for Team
Starter( or stater as written on the trophy).
36mini news:
Not
much going on in the 36mini world, The final touch ups will be done by
the end of the month and as usual im still debating on a color. I also
have 2 other complete vw sciroccos that are race ready. The plans are
to run every race this year and possibly use only one car. But, I hear
Steve Romjue will be back, so I think I might need a few more cars. As
for the gossip world there will possibly be around 5-6 rookies(maybe
more). So the best advice I give is to check out the ROOKIE ORIENTATION on www.14racing.net . So in less then 2 months we will be back at Thompson. So start wrenching and see you at practice.
Hmmm, Did I tighten the tie rod bolt yet???
if you talk trash about my tie rod.. You never know your tie rod on your wifes car might break.. hehehe
2008 ARCHIVES
December 14th, 2008
After 2 months of slacking off and relizing the season is over, I decided to update the site with some useless junk. The new 36mini is getting a makeover and is in the final phase, The rear end was a bit bulky so we did a few modifications to the rear so its a flat rear, I know some like the rear a little plump but we decided it was better to have a flat rear. The side on the other hand were really flat and wrinkled, So we bulked up the side and gave it a little modification so its a bit more curvy. So the last phase we will strip the body and either have a racing strip, maybe fully shave the front end, or trim it up a bit. Then it will need to get dressed up with a new fresh coat of paint. Im open to suggestions, anyone have an idea what color I should paint the car???? The final stage wont be done until it gets a little warmer outside.
Hmmm, Did I tighten the tie rod bolt yet???
October 20th, 2008
The 2008 season came to a wrap this weekend with the World Series, The 36Mini team got motivated and put together there new car. We had over two months to prepare but as usually it came down to the last week. I ran out of time and didn't have the other car ready for the outlaw race. I would like to Thank Tim Higginbotham for all his hard work on getting the car ready and all his help on World Series weekend. We tried to go back to a carburetor and it just didn't work out for us. I forgot how big of a pain it was to get it setup right. I was complaining about Fuel injection for the last few years, But I think we just ran out of time, and we set it up as best as we can. I ran into many problems getting the car ready for the week, The car wasn't getting spark, so I lost a day of troubleshooting and it came out to be a pickup coil in the distributor. It feel great to have a new car, I am kinda mad that I waited so long to get the car ready. The car was just put together and it wasn't even scaled or tuned up. I also ran into more problems with the fuel pump, after 4 failed fuel pumps I headed to Napa to pick up another one.. I took the qualifier as a practice and I was still having carb problems. I just couldn't seem to get it right. It was sputter in the straights and the clear in the turns. Then with a few adjustments it was sputter in the turns and clear in the straights. SO i just couldn't win. Since we didn't have any practice on Saturday we had to set it up as best as we can. The 36mini started in 15 position and finished a disappointing 12th. I am happy with the finish but I ran into a few problems during the race. In the turns it was sputtering all in the turns, so I was losing a lot of speed. Then half way into the feature I heard a whine in the left front. I knew something was wrong so I fell way off the pace. So I was taking it easy in the turns and I feel back quick. After the race I found out the tie rod was loose and the bolt was almost off. I am lucky it stayed on or I could have made a repeat of what happen to a few of my other cars. So this year has come to an end and I still have a car that's in one piece. We will have an easy winter and have to decide what color and what else to do to make the car look better. I will post pics of the car at a later date and update my site throughout the winter. Once again I would like to thank everyone who gave a helping hand on the 36mini.
Sept 26th 2008
The points season is finally over!!!!!! The 36 mini.com would like to congratulate the number 18 car of Danny Fields for winning the 2008 Mini stock championship for the 2008 season. The 36 mini team has been working on getting there two sciroccos ready for the World Series. There is only a few more stuff to do on both cars and hopefully will make there debut in a few weeks. As the motivation is gone, the World Series will be a time when I can shake down both these cars and get them ready for the 2009 season. They will both be Black with nice top of the line numbers (duct tape). It seems like ever season the 36mini ends up getting demolished by people who are ROOKIES or part time drivers
Sept 24th 2008
I didnt have a chance to update the 36mini website because I lost everything on my laptop. So I lost everything saved for my site. So I tried stealing some stuff off the site thats published and added them to create this one. It seems like evrything racing related this year has crashed on me.
I was also working on a myspace page.
You can check out the build of the 36mini as well as prior 36mini cars on:
Check out the new 5th dimension performace and repair website:
If you need a race motor built or if your car needs a tune up give them a call for a great rate and great service... Tell them you saw them on 36mini.com
Update:
Aug 6th 2008
I still have no clue what to do.....Im still scratching my head and thinking. While I was thinking I added some pictures I took on my cell phone from the 4cyl National Race. I uploaded them to Photobucket CLICK HERE.
Update:
Aug 5th 2008
I don't know what too do??? So many choices, and so many things I can do to wrap up the season. Would I be back in a Mini to finish out 2008? Would it be a VW that I have in my possession right now? Do I fix my other scirocco? Do I fix the rabbit? Or do I buy a sportsman? I guess if I choose one of the mini's I could go back and have another car demolished by an inexperienced driver. Or I can get into a Sportsman try it out for the rest of the season and get a better car for 2009? I just don't know where to go, I guess for now I will just sit on my hood and scratch my head.....
July 31st, 2008
Well today was the "BIG" race for the MINI stocks it was the extra distance 25 lap event. It was great to see Tim higginbotham back in a car and this time it was a rear wheel drive Mustang. I guess his luck with fwd cars is over and he found himself in a car that almost made the full feature. He made the distance for a regular 15 lap race but ended having problems when his spark plug wire fell off. It was a good day for the vw's. Mike Veins was looking great and had a great run in the top 5 but again with a few laps left he was pushing the car to the limit and a dollar spring fell off the carb and that ended his great night. Ron Rixam was running strong and finished 6th. These mustangs keep getting fast.. or is it the vw are getting slower. It seems like the same 5 mustangs are dominating the field. The guys that ran Beech Ridge for the 4cyl nationals seem like they had problems in qualifying but with a great crew they were all back in action and ready for the feature. So after a long rain delay Thompson did finish there Thursday Night race.
As for the 36mini team, we "were" calling it quits for the rest of the year the "pepto" car is destroyed and the motivation was gone. I gave up hope and was planning on taking my time and getting the new scirocco ready for next season. But things have changed. I will be back.. If the scirocco is not done I have other plans up my sleeve. I didn't want to spend any more money or time on a race car but I feel like I need to come back and finish off the season. I am not sure if I can get the new car ready but im out there looking to get anything to be back next week. So if anyone has a mini let me know, I have lots of cash on hand and also time.. I don't care what it is as long as its a mini stock ,has 4 wheels, and it runs.
July 12th, 2008
Once again I dont know what to write. This season has been a total mess. The only race I finished was the Icebreaker. Then I had to do something with the body. It was so beat and so ugly that It was time to do a full makeover. We put a new body, new pink paint, real decals and a mustang nose... The car was looking good. It was know as the "Pepto" car or the "Pink" car. It also had a few other names but I have to keep this site PG rated. So the Full Fender Frenzy might have made the "pepto" car retire. In lap 2 of the feature We got hit hard coming out of turn 2 that practically ripped the car in half. We have another vw that is almost complete but, after all the bad luck this season it might be the best bet to either call it quits for the season or stitch up the ass of the "pepto" car and go back racing.
June 26th, 2008
I guess I am slacking on the website updates. Since the last update the 36mini was getting a mini operation. The fuel injection, fuel filter, and fuel pump were changed. The car was ready to get loaded up on Wednesday June 25th. So while getting ready to load up the car I hear some knocking coming from the motor. I knew it was not good. So after taking out the valve cover it wasn't coming from there.. So the next step was the oil pan. Once again It didn't seem like it was coming from there. So at 11pm, I was all fed up and started doing a 36mini rain dance. I knew it had to be transmission related and I just gave up and said forget it. So on Thursday I didn't even show up, I stayed at work and was dancing there too, They had to lock me up in a cage because they thought I was insane. So after everyone left, I escaped from my cage and went online to check the weather.. The races are still on, So the next choice was to go outside and do a naked cowboy dance.. Still there wasn't any rain. So I got home and I got a few calls saying the qualifiers just got done. Then I did a "special dance" and I got a call back and they said that it got canceled right before the mini feature.
July 3rd, 2008
I didn't race and I still had a lot to do to get to the track for Thursday. I had to take the transmission out of the car and replace the whole clutch. The knocking noise was from a broken pressure plate. I hate working alone. I was doing aerobics to put the transmission in the car. Its hard to go under a car and operate a jack. Well, Thursday came quicker then expected, Since it was July 4th weekend, traffic was a mess and It took me a lot longer to get home. On the way to the track my state of the art trailer gave up on me and the axle broke and my tire had a little to much camber. So by the time I got there, I missed the first practice. I went out for the second practice and everything went perfect.. AHHHH!! It feels great to have the car get back up to speed and actually last the whole practice. But, I didn't get that lucky on the feature. I had to start 24th because I missed last weeks qualifiers. I made it a lap and a half and my state of the art vw gave up on me and the shock mount broke of the spindle and my left wheel was cambered like my trailer. So I was heading full speed into the 3rd turn wall and luckily I just skimmed the wall and didn't do any real damage. I started to go and I had no idea what was wrong. Then I was way off the pace and got blacked flagged. I pulled off and found my problem. Then I look in the stands and this scruffy guy with shorts, a wife beater, and video camera was laughing at me. I believe he use to drive the 14 mini car. So I think after I replace my broken shock, axle, and spindle. I should be ready for the Full Fender Frenzy. Everything should be fixed.. I hope that I will make at least 2 laps this week.. See ya all
June 19th 2008
The 36mini got the shits once again this week, The 36mini arrived at the tarck today a little after 3pm. The traffic from cambridge was a mess due to the celtics parade. I needed alot of practice. I only got 2 rounds and the car was ok. The new/junk cam was ok. The first round it didnt have anything, the second round it picked up. I tried advancing the cam and it gave me some more power coming out of the corner but the car was way too tight. So I did a quick adjustment and I was heading back for a third practice but they sent me back. So without a heat race I was starting 13th in the feature. So the car made it a lap and a half and after the caution the temp jumped from 200 to 250. I didnt know what happend. So I tried to get it back together and went out again and same thing happened. I found out my belt dissapeared. So once again the "Pepto" car shit the bed. I guess pink isn't a good color after all. So after the race I got pushed onto my trailer and the ramp fell and I bent my rear end. I think I got in more accidents off the track then on the track. So now im getting pissed, Im going to start replacing the fuel injection, the fuel pump, the rear end, and other junk. So hopefully I will finish a race this year. I can never seem to win. Its either a chassis problem or motor issue.
June 12th 2008
Well it was not a good week for the 36mini and about another dozen cars. I think I'm glad I didn't run in the feature. It was kinda odd watching the race from the stands.. I know how Steve Romjue feels now. I thought I had everything all set and then in the first practice 3 laps in I heard a thump a plump a boom.. I thought my exhaust broke. So I pulled in and was trying to figure out what happened. The exhaust looked fine, there wasn't oil all over so I had no clue.
I don't understand how I always break the impossible. So I headed back home to find another cam and when I put one in the car I didn't have enough valve clearance and shims, so I decided to load up and call it a night. The mini race was a mess with a lot of cars getting damaged. I hope they had enough time to get the cars ready for this weeks race. Well, for the sportsman race it went well for the Sundeen team.. Jay Sundeen won his first 20 lap feature followed by his Dad Scott Sundeen.
June 17th, 2008
I had to hunt down a cam and put it in and get it shimmed right. I didn't have time to research another cam so I had to put a so-so cam in the car. So who knows what it will do. I also had another problem when i was towing the car. Some idiot slammed on his brakes and my strap broke and the car fell of the trailer. So now I had more to worry about, I had more accidents off the track then on the track. Well I hope everything is fixed.
June 11th 2008
There isn't that much news. I have not been working on the car due to other issues. So the car will hit the track the same way it was the other week. I hope I can get all the quirks figured out for next week. The weather looks like its going to be in the 80's Thursday with 0% chance of rain. So hopefully we will be racing.
June 5th, 2008
What a waste of a night once again. I guess the track canceled on us a few weeks ago and people were complaining. So this week we got to the track and got 2 practices. Then in the drivers meeting we had a vote from every driver whether we should run or not. I think it was about 95% not to run and 5% to run. So tonight's event got canceled.
May 29th 2008
The season started off on a good note for some, but for others it wasn't great. We had a strong show of Mini's tonight. I believe there were 32 cars signed up. As for my vw buddy's it didn't go so well. Andy Publicover was out fishing, Ron Rixam was MIA, Mike Veins watched too many James Bond movies and didn't tighten his oil plug so he can have all his oil leak out, Rookie Chad Baxter was hanging in there but couldn't beat his teammate Pomposelli, JT made it to the feature, Tim Higginbotham......no comment, the 36mini "ITS PINK". 3 vw's finished dead last this week. It seems like the Thompson mini's are turning into the Waterford mini's. Soon it will be all mustangs and one volkstang. I'm not sure what else to write, I have heard from the peanut gallery in the stands that the top runners were in the mid 24's. I don't understand how each year the mini's get faster and faster with the same rules. I bet if you put some of the top runners in the sportsman division they can finish in the top 5.
So for 36mini news, My power disappeared, I have the same motor, same tires, same timing and im a way off the pace. I guess the Pink paint leaked into my motor. What else is new, the car handles the motor is junk. The motor is great the car doesn't handle. So hopefully mid season I can figure out all my problems...hahahaha
May 23rd 2008
Tonights event has been canceled due to rain, The 36mini stock was ready to race and all packed up ready to go after a long long night to get everything ready. So a month of prep time, dealing with Jeff Barrows and long restless night the RA' stang is all set to go. The final touches were all done by 1130am and then I got a few calls saying that tonights event was cancelled. I dont know if I should be pissed or happy. I guess im happy, now I can concentrate on giving the car some motor tlc. So the 36mini has gone throught alot of changes in the last 6 years. The first car was a rabbit with a blue mettalic paint and bear claw font white and pink, Then it went to a purple scirocco, to a yellow golf, and then ended up going to a red rabbit. So now things have changed. The car is Pink, with white numbers and a blue outline. I would like to thank the chemist at M&M auto body for his creation of the 36mini pink paint. I would also like to Thank Jeff Barrows and Barrows Motorsports for all the work and headaches they have caused. The car looks the same but pink and a twist...=)
April 4th 2008
It was around 7pm and the 36mini still did not have a motor, But as promised the motor was ready shortly after. So I picked up the motor and headed back to my house and Jay Sundeen was waiting the give me a hand to get the motor set on the mounts. After that it was all me, It was a dark night and the lighting in the garage was dim. So I had to work with a drop light, A simple motor install took me a good 5 hours. I was paranoid and had to start changing parts, so that my wheels wouldn't fall off and the 15mini stock would end up stealing it. So after everything was all set it was too late to start up the motor to break it in. So I will have to wait until Saturday morning.
April 5th 2008
While checking the weather it didn't seem like we would be getting much practice on Saturday so I woke up around 8 and was heading over to finish the break in process in the motor. As I was filling it up with water, a stream of water was leaking from the head. So there goes this weekend.... I called my motor guy and he told me load it up and head over. So now it was time to rush, so I took a few things with me and headed to his shop and we had to take the head off and install a new headgasket. The rain was stopping, and practice was starting. So we started the motor up and we didn't have any oil pressure at all.. After messing around with it another hour we lost all hope. So I was near the track so i decided to change the oil pump at the track and bring the car anyway's. At the track I had the car on jack stands. I was taking the pan off and I hear the minis were getting ready for there last practice. So I headed back to watch the practice and a minute later I had someone running to me telling me that someone hit my car. WTF.... I ran back and one of the sportsman cars were backing up and hit my car and knocked it off the jack stands. So we got the car back up on jack stands, changed the oil pump and put some fresh oil and a filter and still no oil pressure. So I had one more thing to do.. I got the Doctor of VW Andy Publicover to my car and within a few minutes there was oil pressure. So after that I had to head over to tech because they didn't like my Swiss cheese floors. They let me run but I need to do some minor..OK MAJOR work on the car. I had a great practice last week and the car and motor were fast and Perfect.. As most racers in the Mini stock know when you car runs perfect, that means its either going to blow up or get destroyed. So my car ran like S&%t this week. I took the Qualifier as a practice to break in the motor and it seems like I lost so much power. I also think I need some new tires on the car, I felt like Fred Flintstone out there. I ended up finishing 8th and then spun around at the end of the race because a radiator hose blew on a car. I am lucky I didn't get nailed. I still don't know where my power went , I have the same motor as I did last week with a better crank new bearings and rings. I think my car ran faster when I had oil mixing in with my gas.. Hmmm so is that illegal to run.. Damn I cheated. I guess I have to add some oil to my fuel tank to start going faster.
April 6th, 2008
The first feature races were kicking off the 2008 season today at noon. I mean at 11:45.. or was it 11. I got to the track around 11 and next thing you know there pushing the minis on the track. I was in a crappy situation. My motor wasn't pulling as hard out of the corners. So I need to do a few timing adjustments but I couldn't start the motor before noon. So we had no choice but to start with what we had. We were in the 16th position and ended up finishing 16th. It was a disappointing finish but at least I was able to start and finish the race in one piece. There were 27 cars that started the feature, It seemed like there were a group of cars running in the 24.8 range and then everyone else was around the 25.2-25.5 range. So the competition was tight. We ran green to checker in both qualifiers and feature. I was really amazed that we had a clean race and it was accident free. That is except Steve Romjue, I was behind him and he waved me by and I was like what a nice guy.. But then I saw him in pit lane the next lap. I didn't get a chance to talk to anyone after the race, So I wonder know what happened. Anyway's we have some time to rest before we kick off our 2008 season on Thursday nights May 22cd.
As I was ready to head out I heard there was an accident and a car hit the Budweiser sign. So I went out to check the scene, and it didn't look good at all. When you see a Police Officer taking photos of the accident, you know that's not a good sign. So I heard the driver of the 4x Shane Hammond was the one that was in the fatal accident. The 36mini crew would like to extend our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of the Hammond family and the entire NEMA community.
March 31st 2008
AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! Well the 36mini showed up to the track this week. We were a few mins late.(2hrs) It was all up in the air if we were going to bring the car to the track. I had to work this weekend, but I made an attempt to take the car out for a few practices and see if our motor was all set to go. I guess i found out the hard way. The second practice was an all out run to see if the motor can handle running under 25 sec. It sure did feel like it was. I thought I was going really fast, ever turn a puff of smoke came from underneath the 36mini. By the last lap, the oil pressure gauge went from 80 psi to 20 psi. So that meant more problems. I installed a new gauge just before the second practice, so unless I didn't install it right it meant I blew something up.
So as much as I hate taking the motor out, It was time to take the motor out once again. I want to thank everyone who helped me take out the motor. Oh wait I did it myself..lol
So this time the bearings are going, the rings are going, and the crank is going. I brought the motor down to 5th dimension racing tonight and there not going to use any magic this time. I hope it will get done in time. That's why I like dealing with them, when there is a problem they will do what it takes to get me back on the track. So hopefully my motor will be ready to go. I will keep you updated.
March 27th 2008
I finally have an update. Unlike some other people who don't have a car, and still cant update there page. (I don't want to mention any names) Well, as some of you know we had our first practices last week. There was a good number of cars that showed up, but there still a bunch more missing. It was great to see a few new cars ,drivers, and crew's come out and tune there car. I didn't have a chance to talk to the driver of the 15 mini stock but I was keeping a close eye on his tires. I guess the crew did a good job setting up the car and not listening to the previous owners recommendations.( I don't want to mention any names). I hear from many people that we had times in the mid 24's. I thought my 25 flat was great but I guess I am a half second off.
The 36mini uncovered there car an hour before practice and this year it didn't work well for us. We had one good solid practice and the next practice the oil pressure gauge was acting funny. So after a few laps the pressure went to zero and I just pulled in and called it a night. So the damage once again, we were low on oil and spun a bearing. So after 5 years of racing, I finally learned that you cant just uncover your car run 25 sec and then not expect something to blow up. Well, the problem is fixed now. I brought the car over to 5th Dimension racing and with a few nods of there head they started there magic and within a few hours the spun bearing and junk crank were fixed. So I think this year I should take it serious and try and thank the 5th dimension group that all there work has paid off. So if your looking for a mini stock motor I would recommend them. They are affordable and they build good motors. They are also located near Thompson speedway. So if you are interested in being part of the 5th Dimension team feel free to contact me and I will send you to the right direction. We have a few more issues to work out on the car and we will be all set to go Saturday. So hope to see all of you and some next week. Except one person that doesn't have a ride in the mini's( I wont mention any names)
Febuary 9th, 2008
I didnt relize that I didnt post the update. Well, there isnt much going on in the 36mini world. We will be missing the speedway expo this year for the first time since we started racing. We will be in Las Vegas for the UAW-Dodge 400 Nascar race. So we will be out of commision from Feb 27th to March 4th. Then when we get back its til to start getting ready for the first practice. I am waiting for a few more parts to arrive so I can complet the scirocco and have a rolling chassis ready. This weekend we will be heading over to Moto-town usa, to cheer on Jeff Barrows racing his Quad. He might not be a star at Thompson but he sure does have people talking about him at moto-town.
January 28th 2008
The season is fast approaching and there is less then 2 months when we will be able to hit the track and get ready for the 2008 season. The rules and Schedule are posted on www.thompsonspeedway.com . This season should be an exciting season as we have some new drivers, and also some old drivers that are stepping back into the minis to try and regain there fame. As the 36mini, we are in the process of building a new car for the 2008 season. We were in the process of building the car last year and the year before. But, I have to make it sound good for this season, so that's why I mentioned it again. The old rabbit will be back for the icebreaker ( I hope the snow melts so I can see my car) I just wanted to post a quick update and I should have the new links, schedule and pictures updated soon.
This Weekend was the 36mini crews first time at the Banquet, it was great to see all the racing guys.
2007 Archives
December 17th, 2007
Just an update before the holidays, This years 3rd annual F1 Boston trip was a great success. Unfortunatly, I didnt get banned this time. But, Jason Paquette left with a few bruises. After leaving some tire marks on his car at the World Series, I left him with a few bruises after I hit him hard in the hairpin turn. I was going to catch up to Steve Romjue but he was too fast.
The 36mini team will be at the Banquet this year to congratulate Scott and Jay Sundeen and to throw tomatoes at Steve Romjue. So until then Have a Safe and Happy Holidays..
November 23rd, 2007
The next event for F1 Boston for November 25th has been filled. So I guess you need to wait for the next outing or you can come watch. It should be a fun day of racing. The "GOD" of the Thompson Mini stock division Steve Romjue will be there to sign autographs and also take photos. The price of autographs and a photo are $100 and will be donated to the 36mini team.
October 12, 13, 14
The 2007 Thompson Speedway season is finally over and the 36 Mini finished off with a top 5. Many people have ask me how the hell did I manage to get in the top 5. Well... there are many different possibility's. It could be because all of the faster guys got caught up in accidents or just died out, or the real "GOD" is Mike Gorgievski. I bet I got in the top 5 because Steve Romjue wasn't racing to slow me down or take me out (Steve I have to give you a hard time because you didn't run World series) . I bet Steve was in turn 4 and nearly shit his pants after he saw me leave some tire marks and red paint on Jason Paquette shiny blue car to beat him for the 5th spot by a few inches. I didn't deserve to finish that good but I will take it. I was hoping for a top 10, in which I was in that spot for most of the race.
I hate working on my car because every time I do something, I always find something else wrong with it. After putting the motor in the car my left wheel was really loose, So it ended up being a bad wheel bearing/hub. I have used a lot of them during the season, So I had to go on a hunt and find one. I had a day off on Friday and early in the morning I finished up the rest of the motor and changed the hub and as I was ready to leave it starts down pouring. So with a quick call to Jason Paquette, he said its raining take you time. So I ended up arriving at the track around 2pm and the track officials came by and said your on the track in 15 mins. So the first practice went well, I was running about 25.2, but I had a bad vibration in the left front. So I assumed my hub was junk. So luckily we have a few vw drivers out there that bring enough parts to build another car. I got another hub and put it on the car. The second practice was not good at all. I had the tire rubbing on the shock tower. So I find out the hub that I replaced was junk. So what do I do... I put the old one back on and had the track welder weld the spindle to the shock and tried to pull it as far away from the shock as I can. So during the qualifier no tire rub. But... my car was toed out over an inch. So with a bad finish in 8th I would be started 16th in the feature. So after the race I corrected my toe and was waiting for another practice run. But, since the minis are only good to dry the track when it rains, there was no more practice for us. So all I could do is hope it would last in the feature, I guess it did and the overall outcome was a top 5. So this is the first time this season they had more vws in the top 5 then mustangs...lol
So for a brief out cap of the Thompson minis and Outlaw minis. The number 10 car of Mike Romano won the race leading all 20 laps. Behind him was Andy Publicover and Ron Rixam but the 2007 Mini Stock Champion never looked back and just proved he still had it and won this years World series event. It was great to see Brad Caddick race this event. After the 8 mini stock wrecked his mini on Friday Brad put his motor in his car and scored a top 10. Tim Higgenbotham returned this week with his dodge and in the first lap got collect with another car and sustained some heavy damage. The hard hit of the night was Jeff Moffat, I guess he got hit hard by Steve Michalski in the drivers door. That's the only thing I don't like about the world series. From my past experiences you can finish the race in one piece or you can go home with 2000 lbs of scrap metal.
In the outlaw minis there was a big field of cars, there were a different varieties of cars. You saw some Thompson minis and also some x-cars. But once again Joe Godbout came back to Thompson to try to add another World series plaque to his wall but his glory ended when he was leading the race in lap 8 and hit an oil slick in turn 3. But For our 2005 Thompson Mini stock champ Ron Rixam it worked for his favor and he gained a lot of positions on the incident. So it was a good night for Rixam finishing 2cd in the Thompson race and 4th in the outlaw race.
Well there you have it, The season is over, take a vacation. Get some sleep and rest and just think in another 6 months we will be back at it. So check the 36mini web page during the off season for updates and any news relating the Mini Stocks. I am also thinking about getting rid of this site and just setting up a basic page.
October 11th 2007
Well, we got the motor back from the motor builder. The motor wont be as strong as it was at the last points race but, it will make it to Thompson this weekend. We were waiting on a few parts to complete the motor but we just ran out of time and just used what we had.... This racing bug is still in me and I just cant seem to quit and not run one race. It was a fun time putting a motor in the car when its raining and gets dark out at 6pm. So I hope I didn't put the motor on backwards. So before we head to the track tomorrow I need to hook up a few more stuff. And hopefully the rain will stay away and we can finish this season so I can hibernate for the winter. On another note if anyone reads this I changed my mind DONT BUY STEVE ROMJUES CAR.. (You can.. but if you do buy it, then he wont race next year.) hmmm maybe I changed my mind again, you should buy it.. That bastard has wrecked me many times... Here is proof.. hahahahahaha
September 20th, 2007
The season has final come to an end. Mike Romano came victorious this year and is the Mini Stock Champion for 2007. I remember when Mike Romano started and had his black number 10 Mustang. I use to keep up with him and we would race together in the mid pack, then as the next 2 seasons came he keep on moving up the pack and I was still stuck in the middle of the field. Damn!!! I wish I followed his footsteps. Brad Caddick ended the season on a bad note. He was driving hard to get up the pack but a few hard hits and his car ended up a few feet smaller at the end of the race. I think I heard that if Caddick won the championship he would retire from the Mini Stocks. So that means we have to deal with him for another season...hehehe
I guess the biggest news is that Steve Romjue Finished in the top 10 this year. He might have not been the fastest car but he sure did show up to every race drive people clean( He did take out a few cars in the middle of the season but I don't wanna talk about that at this time.) , get a good finish every race( well if you finish on average 12th every week its not that good)But he did his homework, the last few years if you ran every race and had at least a 15th place or better every week you would finish top 10 for the year. On other hand Ron Rixam started off his season with 4 dnfs and managed to finish 4th in points... so anything can happen. And for the Hard luck award I think it might have to go to Mike Anzalone. I remember when I first saw him at practice he was one of my top picks to win the Championship. After such a disappointing season he will be back next year with 3 cars. I will update the site as soon as i find out any more news or gossip on what people plan on doing next year. If you want you can all email me.
36MINI NEWS
Its kinda funny, I read some of the archives and it seems like I write the same stuff every year. My motor blah blah my timing blah blah Steve Romjue is "GOD" blah blah im a one man crew blah blah. But, I can say this week I felt what it feels like to run up front.. IT SUCKS!!! Every week you go to the track and there the same bunch of guys up front banging and hitting, then the middle of the pack is ok and then the back of the pack people just cant pick a line or drive. So the adrenaline I felt when I was leading the heat race was scary. I have never been in that situation before for that many laps. And to be honest I wish i could just be a mid pack runner again. The motor in the car is the first time I actually had everything brand new and replaced. I did not have any helicoils in the spark plug hole, there wasn't any cracks in the exhaust. The only issue I had was that the motor sounded like a diesel. The valve clearance was too loose. So with all the pride in glory in the heat race, I was starting pole in the feature. But this time I had all the front runner right behind me. I was in second/third place right behind Scott Michalski on lap 9 then the caution came out and then it all happened, I hear a rattle in the motor, For me a rattle in the motor is nothing new. But my theory *%ck it run it came in place and when the green flag dropped I was dropping too. The motor started from a little rattle to a clump clump...... So the race ended for me.. . So the season should be over for me but now that I had a heat win and have confidence in myself I decided to take the motor out of the car. Get everything fixed up and race the World Series. So the outcome is a spun bearing, a junk rod, and a junk crank. I have a few weeks to get it ready. So with some time to rest, sleep and get the car 100% ready I should be there to finish the season at World series...
September 13th, 2007
So with 2 races to go in the season and a week off the 36mini decided to put its new motor in the car. I wish I just called it quits and relaxed. It was a long stressful week and the outcome wasn't good. I had the motor in the car on Tuesday night and the motor fired up right away but it sounded like a diesel. I broke in the motor and called it a night. The days are getting shorter and working outside in the dark doesn't help. So on Wednesday I knew I had to adjust the valve clearance. So after checking the clearance, I was WAY off!!!! So I tried to adjust them the best I can and run with a ticking motor. So would all this work pay off.... NOPE!!!! The first practice the car did not have any power. Then when the practice was over smoke was coming in every direction and as I look at the oil temp its at 5 psi.. NOT GOOD!! So I thought the worst, a blow motor. As I came into the pit I checked under the hood and oil was all over the motor. I had no idea where oil was coming from. The block didn't have a big hole in it. So that was good, but oil was leaking from the oil filter housing. After using atv and making sure it didn't leak we found out it was cracked. So I miss the next practice and the qualifier. Luckily the track welder can weld aluminum. So we put everything up and check the cam timing( it felt off) and it sure was. So we set it up and hit the track. So overall, it wasn't bad. I still need to play with timing so i can get some speed down the straights, adjust my valve clearance and I should be good. I started last in the feature, and managed to get up to 11th in the restart and with 5 laps to go according to Scott Nickel, my left rear tire was getting flatter every lap. So by the last lap the tire was off the rim and I kept on going. So I guess you can finish a race on 3 wheels..lol
I ordered some shims so hopefully they will be in before next week...
So the time has finally come... The final points race of 2007. This last Thursday night race should be a good one that you don't want to miss. In the Mini stock Division Brad Caddick is only 12 points away from Mike Romano for the Championship. Steve Romjue is one race away from getting a top 10 but Rookie John Kelly is back and he wants a top 10 and a ROTY award.
In the Sportsman Division this week 3 top runners had bad finishes so the top 4 in points got really close. Can Keith DeSactis run away with his 26 point lead and retire as a 2007 Champion or will Ernie Larose come back to Thompson after a few years off and win another Championship.
The 2 races races to watch this week are also the TIS Modified's and The SK modified, In the TIS Modified's Kurt Vigeant is in the lead with 4 points over Tim O'Sullivan. Kurt was looking good in points until this week when he skimmed the wall and ended up finishing 10th. In the Sk Division will Keith Rocco come out victorious? It will be tough with Woody Pitkat and Tommy Cravenho who are both only 14 points out. So all this will be happening at Thompson Speedway next Thursday Sept. 20th. It should be a great and exciting night. Just remember drive safe!!!!!
OH yeah btw The Limited Sportsman #66 Ken Bamford is SCUMBAG!!!!
August 30th, 2007
When will this season end???? With only 2 points races left the season is nearing completion. Every year near the end of the season I just cant wait to go to bed wake up the next day and not have to worry about getting the car ready for the next race. Then when the season is over I wanna race again. I had so many goals this season and I didn't complete any of them. I have a new motor and also another vw that is "90%" complete. So I didn't get a chance to get that running because of all the problems through the season. So with limited funds and limited time, I just tried to do what i can to get to the track with the old 36 rabbit. The motor is old, the body is mangled, the car is falling apart.. Even JB weld wont hold up...lol
It all started last weekend when I changed the oil and found more metal pieces in the oil. So with a change of fresh oil and plugs, I prayed that the car would last one more week. So getting to the track the car still held up but the motor was skipping. So the bottom end held up but the spark plug didn't. I had to put a helicoil in the spark plug hole and the threads were all messed up and the plug would not stay in the block. So I tried a few things and then gave up and used some JB weld to get the plug to stick. A few laps in the feature, it didn't work. So once again a disappointing finish and hopes of a top 10 diminishing. So with this week off I have no choice but to put the new motor in the car. Its kinda dumb putting a new motor in the car with 2 races left but if you wanna race you have no choice. The handling in the car is getting better and now I know that when i put this motor in the car it just wont run right. But, I can break it in and get it tuned up so that I can have it ready for next season. I would like to thank the crew of the 41 car with there help in trying to get me out for the feature. Also would like to Thank Scott Nickel for my own gallery on smugmug. After looking at those photos I have to do something with the body. I put all my time and money into the other car and motor that it didn't leave me much to work with. So before I show up to the track next year I will have a new look.
August 23rd, 2007
I made it to the race this week. An so did 26 other cars. We had a few new cars at the track tonight. Just like every year we start the season with a big field then in the middle of the season it goes down and then the last few races everyone seems to make it back to race. So with a tight work Schedule and a big mess last week the 36mini crew (this week it was myself) Had to get the car ready. So with 4 restless nights I managed to get the car fixed and ready to race. I just missed the first practice, I had to work later then I wanted too. But the second practice was a mess. Everyone I talked to had the same problem. I guess the Mod rubber was still on the track and gave us a sticky track. So this week the Mini stocks were the last feature and oh did the track change alot. So with 27 cars starting the feature the 36 mini was starting 17th. At the restart I couldn't get it into 3rd gear so I lost alot of positions fast. Then I was stuck behind some new drivers, and 3 wide cars that it was impossible to pass them cleanly. So I used the brakes this week more then I have all season. So we had a disappointing 19th finish. So a top 10 for us this season seems really slim. The motor is getting really tired and the new motor keeps on looking at me and wants to be put in the car. I think I might just finish off the season with the motor in the car and start out fresh next year. There is no point in mesing with a new motor with only 3 races to go. So with 3 points races left, Brad Caddick is closing down on Mike Romano with 18 points away from the top position. And for the top 10 spot there are still 6 cars within points from each other. So it should be an interesting last 3 races. So this week we have to get the car tuned up and fix our shift linkage problem. So see ya all next week.
August 16th, 2007
I don't know where to start.......... HMMMM!!!!!! I am lost for words. Tonight had to be one of the worst nights in racing. I guess I should have done a rain dance and everything would have been fine. I arrived at the track at 230 and all I heard was mini stocks out back. So I thought I would make it in time and set up the car and get everything ready to tune the car but I missed the first practice. So for the second round I was all set and ready but the track was tight for me. The FWD cars do not like mod rubber. So the second practice my times were in the 26 sec range and I needed to loosen up the car alot. So the third round of practice didn't make a difference and the car was still way too tight. Luckily, we had one more quick round of practice and with another attempt to loosen the car up it was still tight. I felt like I was driving on rocks, or better yet rubber rocks. Then on the last lap my shift linkage got messed up so now I had another issue to deal with. So with a change in shift linkages and a few turns here and there I was all ready to race. Then I found out I got Pole once again. Before tonight's event I was in 12th place and any hope of getting closer to top ten point I needed to start up there and have a decent finish. I was doing fine hanging in 5 place until the caution came out, then on the restart I missed a shift and shot down to the bottom of the track and 5-6 more cars flew by me. So now I was back in 11th place and then the 34 car pass me "cleanly" in turn 1-2. You can tell he is an experienced driver unlike some racers. So a few more laps I am holding on to my 13th place position when the 75 car of Glynn Roy was gaining up on me. I pinched the car in 3-4 and that's when the 75 gained up less then a car length behind me. So going into turn 1 he decides to go under me and run over my left rear tire and use me as a speed bump. My left rear wheel broke off and sent me to the wall. I guess many other people have told me he likes to drive with 8 wheels instead of 4. So since he had to pass me when he knew he was tight and to gain 2 points and another position I ended up not finishing the race. So in that case if I wont finish the race because of him then he wouldn't finish either. Its kinda funny how G-ROY flaps his mouth, He drives like he talks.. dirty, full of himself, no clue what he is saying or doing.. The list goes on. I come to Thompson every week to race and have fun, I drive everyone clean, I don't have a problem with anyone, I mind my own business and I smile and go home.. But if you piss me off i don't hold back and if you wanna play lets play. I thought Crazy Cosmo was a mess but I guess you have him beat. So like I said " You know who I am, You know where I pit, and you know my email" So if you have a problem and you stick to your words that you will knock me down. I would love for you to try. You know where and how to find me.
The Sportsman division had a similar situation there were lots of 3 wide racing, impatient drivers, 10 people fighting for one spot and everyone blaming everyone. There were a few top cars that got wrecked bad, and fingers were flying everywhere. But in this situation there is a difference, your running up front and every position counts. So sometimes you have to take chances and accidents do happen. In my race, I was racing to get closer to a top 10 finish for the season. The other driver was racing for 2 points and $5 more on his check.
To end the night we had a tragedy in the mod tour race. I am glad I didn't have to witness the incident, but when I heard the new last night it was a long restless night and really sad that we lost one of our weekly racers. It will be an odd feeling next week.
The 36mini crew would like to extend our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of John Blewett III
August 9th, 2007
The 36mini is feeling better every week. We had a disappointing 13th finish (unofficial) tonight but the small changes we did to the car sure did bring back life to the car. After last weeks race the car starting picking up all its power at the end of the straightaway and had little power coming out. So this week it was time to adjust the timing a bit. The distributor timing was way off, so after advancing the timing the motor came alive. Its an odd feeling when i feel all the power going in and no power coming out.. This week it was the total opposite. So for the qualifier I was starting in 3rd but the first 2 spots the cars backed off right before the start. So that meant pole once again. I had a great jump off the start but with the former 2005 champion on my side the lead didn't last long. I did keep up with Ron Rixam for a few laps until the faster guys starting making there way. So with a few laps left I was in 4th place with no cars in sight behind me. So since they were handicapping the top 6 there was no point in trying to race the fast guys. I was happy that I was keeping up with them. Well, a 4th place finish ended me up once again on the pole for the feature. So i felt confident enough and started up front. I knew it wouldn't last long but, if i can start up front and manage to stay in the pack it would end up to a good finish. BUT, as always something has to go wrong. It was lap 2 and my car suddenly died. I saw the caution come out so i went in the pits and jumped out of the car to see if my throttle broke, or axle.. but everything seemed fine. Then one guy in the infield said "Did you check your fuel pump switch" So i flipped it up and it started right up. As i jumped back in the car to get everything on the lights went off and the green was coming out next lap. By the time i got back onto the track I was a half lap down. So for 8 laps I was praying for a yellow and I did get one. So I managed to get 6 more spots and finish 13th. So I am getting closer to the top 10 spot in the standings. After the race I noticed that one of my motor mounts was broken and my exhaust was hanging. So for next week we will be getting that fixed and also get ready and do a few more timing changes to see if we can get it perfect.
Well I would like to end it with some sad news.. Scott Roy sold his 37 mustang last night. So with a good chance to get Rookie of the year and leaving with 5th in points he decided to sell his car to the 72 of Tyler Poulin. It will be a big change for Tyler since he is switching from front wheel drive to rear wheel drive. Rick Blanchard did that switch a few years ago going from a Dodge to a Mustang and it did him good. So I hope Tyler will enjoy his new car and have better luck then he had with his Dodge..
August 2cd, 2007
Tonight was a big day for the Mini stocks in many ways.. We had our big 25 lap race. It was a great ending for the 36mini as we finished 11th and then after post race inspections finished in 7th. The car felt great, After a long, long battle with handling issues it is somewhat resolved. There was this mysterious shake in the front end and thanks to Ron Rixam we might have found the problem. It wasn't a steering rack it was the heim joint on the steering shaft. It was binding up on me. So instead of changing out the rack we just bent the steering bracket straight. So because the small things were overlooked we had issues all season and last. So for the qualifier the 36 mini was starting 3rd. I had the track officials ask me if i wanted my 3rd starting spot and I felt like the car could keep up and it sure did. We finished 5th in the qualifier. I did have a problem right before the start, The right front tire was loosing air rather quickly. After checking the tire there was a small pinhole leak in the tire. We didnt have time to change it so I put an old bald tire on the right front and prayed I wouldn't kill myself. It did upset the chassis alittle and made the car a little tight but without any bind in the steering I could still turn easily. So for the feature we plugged up the tire and put it back on and we were ready to take our 4th spot in the feature. Its kinda scary when your starting in 4th and you have 10 strong top runners behind you, that are quicker and faster then you. The 36mini held up with the pack and was running strong in 8th place until I got caught up in lap traffic on lap 23 that made me lose 4 spots and set me back at 12th. So by the time I could catch up the people who passed me the race was over and I could only pass one car to get an 11th place finish. It would have been great to get a top 10 but I cant complain the car felt its best all year and the 4 year old motor still has some juice left in it. As I loaded my car on the trailer I found out that 2 people already got Dq'd and that I got a 9th. As the race day was over 2 more cars got Dq'd and then I got a 7th place finish. I don't know what's going on with the Mini stock division it seems like every week half of the top 5 keep getting Dq'd. It seems like they get Dq'd and still are in the top 5 in points. It sucks for the legal people who are trying to get up in points when you have to run with these cars that have illegal motors. I guess I should just add some illegal parts to get me up there. If they had stricter rules and big fines and point losses it might make people think twice about what they put in there car.
July 19th 2007
Thompson Speedway made us come to the track and cancel the event on us once again. So for the 37 Mini stock of Scott Roy all of the people who showed up to the track will be after you next week because of your rain dance. Well I cant complain I actually did a rain dance myself a few weeks ago.. So I will take it easy on you...lol
So hopefully everyone who had trouble at the "Full Fender Frenzy" will be back next week.
This weekend the 36mini team will attend the 13th annual waterfest vw meet in Englishtown, NJ. So maybe our other VW will be victorious in the autocross and Drag Race.
July 14th, 2007
The Mini stock Division finally raced and got 2 feature events today. After 2 rain outs the Mini Stock cant complain this week. It was a crazy day with a car flipping over, a few cars getting Disqualified, Some big wrecks and some big changes in the point position. It was 2 practices, 2 qualifiers and 2 features. They all came really quick, For some it was a quick adjustment but for other it meant they couldn't race the next feature. As for the 36mini team we had an ok day. In the first feature we started 24th and finished 17th and the 2cd feature we started in the back of the pack and managed our first top 10 of the season. I had to cut this short because I was going to talk trash about someone who flipped me off at the end of the race.. So I will resume the news and results next week.
July 5th, 2007
I guess there isn't any luck for the Mini Stocks the last few weeks.. Once again rain hit the speedway and all events were run except the Mini Stocks. We had a good amount of cars in the Mini Stock division this week, there were 26 cars ready to race. A few old faces showed up this week Tim higginbotham showed up with his 68 Dodge power machine. I am not sure if its a mini, a pro stock or a mod. But it sure does have a 4cyl motor in it..lol Also Kenny Stilwell decided to come back. I guess after coming out and helping out he is itching to race. So this Saturday is our first Full Fender Frenzy so it should be a great weekend and hopefully we will get a chance to race. I would like to congratulate Jay Sundeen for his first career win in the Limited Sportsman Division. The race was called on lap 11 and Jay Sundeen was declared the winner. So see everyone on Saturday and hope it doesn't rain..
The 36mini was feeling a little better after a long week of get a new rear axle, scaling the car, and getting the rear squared the car handled great. So hopefully with a few more practice sessions we will get it perfect and back up to speed... "Who am I kidding"
June 28th, 2007
This week got cancelled Due to Rain. I guess when I did my rain Dance last week I forgot to reverse it. I didnt think I would have the car ready to race so with my stiches and a banged up head I was dancing for rain. I guess my rain dance is still in effect it looks like there is an 80% chance of rain on Thursday.. So we might have another week off.
June 21th, 2007
I don't know where to start. I wish I could just skip this week. This season so far has been a crazy one. I think this week might have topped it off. There were 4 cars that were disqualified in the post race inspection. I believe they were all camshaft related. So for 4 drivers they were extremely upset for all the other drivers they were all happy that they got to move 4 spots. It was also a tough week for the #17 of Mike Anzalone. At the start of the season he was 2cd in points and the season looked like he would be a top contender for the championship but these last 2 weeks has moved him down to 5th. Last week in the feature he got collected in the wall after the spin outs in turn 1 and this week I let Tim Higginbottom drive the 36 to give me some pointer and in turn 3 he spun out and Mike Anzalone had no where to go and hit him hard in the left rear which banged up both cars and also left Tim going to the hospital for Neck and back pains. So with about an hour before the features The 17 car had the welder tidying his car. I was trying to get my rear end straight and had a bunch of people help me out. I knew some and I didn't know some, but I would like to thank everyone who helped to get me back on the track. It was really banged up and I had a severely bent shock and a twisted real axle and time was running out. We tried bleeding the brakes and somehow get it straight but we just didnt have anytime. So my next option was just to go out get a few points and some tow money. The sad part is that I got 15th which is my second best finish. So as of now the car is still bent out of shape but the good thing is that Tim is feeling better and just a little sore. I would also like to thank Tim for all his work he did on the 36mini. He came over Tuesday and spent his whole day re-wiring the car. What a difference it made, We found some loose distributor wires, and a loose fuel pump wire. Now we have a nice secure wiring job. If you are interested in getting any wiring done to your existing or new race car contact me or see me at the track and I can direct you to him.
UPDATE:
June 24th 2007
While working on the car tonight and removing the rear axle. The axle mount sprung out and hit me on my eyebrow, So my day got cut short and I ended up going to the ER and getting 5 stitches. I guess I'm accident prone on and off the track. So as of now I'm doing a rain dance.. I don't think I will make it this Thursday. Unless I have some nice friends who will help me out.. =)
June 14th, 2007
Today wasn't a good race for the Mini stocks!!! Especially for the 36mini. When we first arrived at the track we changed out the water temp gauge and our dead battery. The first practice wasn't as strong, we had a small timing issue and didn't get the car up too speed. So for the second round of practice we adjusted the timing and headed out to practice. The car got alot quicker, but i was all over the place. I try to move up the high grove and the car wouldn't handle, so i stuck to the lower groove. I was getting some good times but I knew that I could be quicker. So for the qualifier I was starting in 3rd but since the 2 car wasn't able to start the race that got me the inside pole. We ended up finishing 6th but I was happy with the car it felt good and seemed like i got some power that I have been lacking all season. But then all the trouble started, after the qualifier I was driving down pit road and got a 6 inch 3/4 X 3/4 that went right into my rear tire. Since I didn't have a spare with me I was hunting for a used tire. I did find one but, it wasn't something I would have like to run but I had no choice. It was too late to buy a new tire. So I was starting outside pole. Since the car felt good in the qualifier I figured I would just start up front and fall back and maybe get a good finish instead of starting last and working my way up. But all hell broke loose (figuratively and literally). The second lap i was going into turn one and the car just looped around on me. I think it might have been my fault. I don't believe anyone hit me, I guess one lesson that I learned is make sure I bring some spare tires. I think my stagger was off in the rear and running the lower line killed me. Luckily I avoided the oncoming traffic, Its scary as hell when you spin out and see 20 cars full throttle coming in front of you. So off to the next restart, going into turn one again the 14 car of Steve Romjue got sideways and the car behind him braked and went down to avoid him and a quick jerk to my wheel got me sideways again and I slide up to the wall and with no where to go to 40 car hit me right in the drivers side door. That has to be the worst place to get hit, all i could feel is my brain in my head shaking. As the safety crew got to me they said the car got hit but they said i could still keep going. So i put my belts on and put it in gear and all i could smell is a burning clutch. I had no clue what i was doing. When the car got hit it bent my shift rod so I was in third gear. So I just pulled in and called it a night. After the race I heard that someone was talking trash about me, well if you have a problem you know who I am, you know where I pit, and you know my email so feel free to come see me. I spend as little money as I can to race and get the car to and from the track. This is a hobby for me not my life. If it were my life then I obviously wouldn't be driving in the mini stock division.
June 7th, 2007
Today we had an extended practice.. 3 sessions!!! We had 3 sessions last year every week. So I don't understand how we had more practice.. Anyway's, the 36mini missed all of them. After last weeks qualifying the shake in the rabid rabbit got worse. Since last year I have been battling this shake in the front end, So after hitting the wall numerous times I guess I can say im afraid to go hard into the turns. Its not a good thing to be afraid but with my luck when I feel comfortable with a car and push it too its limit it ends up spinning out or hitting a wall. I can relate to my last time in the yellow 36 golf. I had it set up perfectly and I finally overcame my fear and ran the car as hard as I can and the hub broke and sent me into the wall. So I wanted to race badly and bought a car to replace the golf. It might not have been the best choice but at the time it was my only choice if I wanted to keep racing. So i still have the rabbit and I am in the process of building another vw and hopefully get my beloved golf back in action. So enough of the whining and bitching and time for the update.
I think I finally found my shaking issue.. It came down to the outer tie rod. So I changed that on Wednesday night and then headed to my house to watch the ppv Nascar race. So all that I had to do on Thursday was set up toe and off to race. hahahaha... It couldn't be that easy. When i got to the track I noticed the other tie rod was loose also and when i tightened that up, my right axle came loose from the joint.. So I missed the first and second practice and I was planning on getting out to the last practice until I noticed I forgot to put the washer and bushing on the axle. So as I took everything apart and put it together, I jumped in the car and headed to the back and missed the last practice. So no practice for me. I started in the back of the pack in the Feature and as the first few laps came there was a caution, The 51 car was in the wall and then next thing you know there was a cat and mouse chase with Scott(51) and Steve (3). Rumors state that they are out for 2 weeks. I just dont think you should be doing stuff like that in a race when you can damage other cars. If people have a problem with anyone take it elsewhere.. Go to the parking lot. If my car got damaged to there stupidity, There would be a similar incident like what happened at world series a few years back. So after the restart, my car just lost so much power and I fell back really quick. I was only taching about 5000 rpm and I had no clue what was going on. The shake in the car got a little better but the power wasn't there. So another poor performance for the 36mini.. We ended up in 17th place. So after the race and during the weekend we found out there was a fuel line leak (running at 80psi with FI and a leak not a good thing) So we also found out we blew a spark plug, melted some wires, blew a bushing in the shift rod and had an air leak on the intake. So all of those problems have been fixed. ( I HOPE) The only problem we are battling now is an electrical problem. So with the 3 poor finishes we should be starting closer to the front of the pack. If I can keep up Ill stay up front if not I will drop low and have people pass me...lol
MAY 31st, 2007
Today's features got canceled due to weather. So next week we will be resuming our May 31st events with features only. So that means we will have extra practice time and then an all out crazy feature. The 36mini dealt with axle/hub issues last week and we didn't get it solved until last night. So today we just tried to run it in the first practice and it was tight and there was a little vibration that scared the hell out of me. Then the second practice we set up the toe and camber and it felt better..but, it still had that little vibration. After hitting the wall numerous times I went into the turns at a slower pace. (What else is new?). So getting out of the corner i was alot slower then the rest of the cars. I think this motor is finally giving out on me. In the qualifier we started 3rd and quickly fell back to the end. I guess i need to put an ad for someone to help me out.. It worked for Steve Romjue...lol I have a new motor that is waiting to be transferred into a new vw that im putting together but, I might just have to put it in the rabid rabbit. So with all this vibration and motor issues, I might just go crazy this weekend and replace everything.. But then again I will probably just go hitch the trailer Thursday afternoon and just haul it to the track.... AGH So many choice and so little time.
MAY 24th, 2007
The season officially began this Thursday night and Mike Romano captured his first victory at Thompson Speedway. I knew Mike Romano was a contender this season when I first saw him at practice. It seems like all the Mikes are doing better this year except one..lol. It was also great to see Jeff Moffat get his vw machine back up to speed and finishing the race. I guess he cured all his virus in his motor. But on the other hand Ron Rixam caught his bug, Hopefully he will bring back his 2005 championship rabbit back into action. This season should be an exciting one, we already had two different winner and also different cars in the top 5. This year should be a competitive year and with so many cars that are up to speed I bet it will be a close finish at the end of the year. As always the 36mini has its issues, The car felt great but there was something off, the new thing I learned is if your in doubt Change It!!. Since the Icebreaker feature something felt odd with the axle/hub and I checked it and it looked fine. When we were in qualifying there was a big puff of smoke that looked like it came from the rear end, so I decided to pull off. After checking the car, I thought the brake line was leaking or the tire was rubbing, there wasn't any leaks so we opened up the right rear so the tire would clear. So then the feature came and we started dead last and every lap the car was smoking. So I didn't know if it was the clutch, brakes , or tire rubbing. But that didn't stop me from trying to finish the race. Then in lap 8 I hit the brakes and it seemed like I lost brakes.. "Its the Mini stocks who needs brakes" So I went another lap and then the 20 car of Billy Pomposelli lost his right wheel and the yellow was thrown. So I was checking my brakes on the backstretch and all of a sudden the car revved like crazy and that was the night for me. I thought the clutch went but, after putting it on the trailer I noticed the axle broke. After hitting the wall a few times because a hub/axle broke I was lucky that it decided to go on a caution. So now that I replaced my right front, Hopefully I will feel more confident next week and push it to the limit.
MAY 13th, 2007
The 36mini didn't make it to practice this week due to truck issues once again. The start of this year has been awful for my daily driver and my tow vehicle. They are both dyeing slowly on me. So a new vehicle will be purchased and will limit my funds for the start of the season. So the 36mini project is on hold, and HOPEFULLY we will be there with our last years car. We are planning to get everything straightened out by the middle of the season. We plan on running a full season, but might miss a few weeks if we can not get to the track. As for practice May 10th. I hear there wasn't a big show out of cars. I guess everyone is ready for the season and tuned up to perfection. Jeff Barrows tried to step up a division and test out the limited sportsman. He drove the car out of the trailer when he got there and on the way home he needed a tow truck to put it in. He hit the wall coming out of turn 4 ( I guess he watch too many 36mini videos). Well, the car was banged up bad, if a mini took a hit like that your car is junk. Luckily he was able to use a few chains and straighten everything up. So next week is the last practice to fine tune your car, before the season starts.
May 6th 2007
The first Thursday Night race is a few weeks away. There will be 2 last practice sessions before we kick off the season on Thursday. Its your last chance to get some seat time and to perfect your car before the season finally begins. As for the 36mini, we are in the process of a new project that will most likely not be completed for the first race. We finally have a freshly built motor by the 5th dimension race team. The first motor we had was built 4 years ago and it still runs like a champ. We will still be using the old motor in the 36 rabbit mini. And the new motor will be put in our other primary vehicle. As for the paint scheme and decal of the 36mini rabbit it will remain the same. We will be there for the practice session on May 17th and we might attend the May 10th practice. So good luck to everyone and I hope we can have a clean, fun, and safe season.
April 22th 2007
The Icebreaker is finally over!!!! It was a perfect day for racing. The Temps were in the 70's the snow was gone and the sun came out. Actually I don't think it was a perfect day for racing... We only had a quick few laps practice, and the last few weeks we tested out cars when the temps were in the 30's, so we didn't know what to expect for the Mini Stock feature. The 36Mini qualified 5th last week and we were starting 8th for the feature. The car felt great and was set up perfect for the colder temp. We ended up finishing in 11th place which is where we usually finish at the Icebreaker. The biggest shock of the day was Steve Romjue with a solid 9th place finish. That makes it his 2cd top ten of his career. I would like to congratulate Andy Publicover for his first win in almost 3 years. I bet it feels great to be in the winner circle back again. Andy went into the Icebreaker with the motto "IM GONNA WIN!!!" so once he got out in the lead there was no one stopping him. Its kinda hard to make an update this week because as you know when your in the race you dont see what happens. Ron Rixam had a bad start to the 2007 season when his motor blew within the first few laps. It was an odd icebreaker. It seems like our car counts are getting lower ever year with only 23 cars starting the feature. We had 5 rookies, a few part time racers and the rest were old timers..lol If this continues the tis mods will have more cars in the feature then we do.
The 36mini crew is working on a few projects and we might have a new look for the first Thursday Night race.
April 7th 2007
We were back at Thompson for the second round of practices, this time the mod tour wasn't there so we had alot more practice time.
There were a few new minis out there this week to tune there cars as well as a few from last week. It was great to see Brad Caddick back in his old 24 mustang with a new paint scheme. Jason Paquette was also back this year and he hopes to run a full season, I guess he has his old 94 number back so maybe that will bring back his good luck. But as we can all remember a few years ago at icebreaker his new mini was destroyed. The 60 car of John Kelly showed up in a nice neon yellow/white mustang, Steve Romjue and Leo defevers showed up late. Steve Romjue loved to go fast and finish the whole practice without the help of a push truck. Leo did the 36mini method just uncover your car and go race. I think all winter since his car was sitting the motor just recharged itself and when he came out to practice you couldn't catch him. If he keeps up like he did in practice I bet he will finish in the top 5 in points. As for Rick Blanchard and Mike Romano there running with the limited sportsman's.. that is in lap times. Another Hot runner is Mike Anzalone. I think he will be another contender for the top 5 in points. There isn't much to write about Jeff Barrows, I bet you can guess what happened to him.. Once again the mysterious oil leak. Jeff Moffat was back and he had a seat next to Barrows when he ran into motor problems again.. It must be a Jeff thing.
Now for the 36mini it ran great once again, I just have to watch out for primer cars on the track spinning out, cars dripping oil and cars trying to drive over me. So the weather for this week looks like we will have snow so once again the icebreaker might get moved. The 36mini has alot of minor tweaking to do prior to this weekend. The shifter needs to get fixed so I don't miss gears, the Fuel injection needs to get adjusted and change the oil.. So I am looking forward to Icebreaker with the old rabbit..then next practice things might change =)
March 31th, 2007
Today was a great day for practice. The weather was good, the snow melted and the rain did not play a factor. There were about a dozen cars in each division that showed up to test they machines. As usual they were some cars that had a $1000 paint job and decal and then they were the ones that just hung a body and showed up to test there motor and get some seat time. The 36 mini had transportation problems and the mighty old dodge gave up on me once again... I guess if you race one or use one to haul your car they always break or leak some type of fluid. So Jeff Barrows was nice enough to let me use his Truck, It might ping and tick but it got me to the track and back home.
In the mini stock division Steve Romjue finished all his practices and didn't blow up, I guess you have to thank Jason Paquette of JJ chassis. If your looking for a Chassis guy Jason is the one to go to.
Jeff Moffet brought back his Scirocco and I guess the Bugs are still hanging around in his car since last year. He left practice early with a motor problem
Ron Rixam was back in his new scirocco and he caught my bug from my car when he was trying to help me out. He was quick but a little more tuning and he will be someone to watch for 2007
Jeff barrows was back in his dodge and as usual he was spitting oil from his motor, I guess he watched to many James Bond movies, Ron Rixam was behind Jeff catching all the oil he spilled. Rixam said " The price of oil is getting expensive, so instead of wasting it, I will save it and run it at the icebreaker"
The Michalski's showed up and as usual and they are looking strong, They will also be up there trying to get there first championship.
Mike Romano was the fastest one out there and if he keeps driving like he did in practice everyone needs to watch out.
Crazy Cosmo Cassamasa came in his newly acquired sunfire and with some seat time he will be moving up in the standings.
It was also good to see Tyler Poulin back in action, He is kinda like me if those bugs don't haunt him then you cant catch him.
There was also a new Roy in the division with his newly acquired 37 mustang, So some seat time in the car and he will be another good contender.
As for the 36 mini, we got bit by the bug. It wasn't the racing bug it was the lean bug. The car handled great and when it wanted too it had power. The first few practices it was bogging out on me and it just would not go. I melted a few spark plugs because I was running lean (no fuel) I am lucky I didn't blow the motor. But after a few practices and a few changes the speed picked back up the last practice run. It feels great to handle that good and to be that fast. I was still lacking in the fuel, so if i can richen it up then you better watch out. I guess i kinda deserve it, I covered my race car after world series and it was uncovered until this morning.
So I hope everyone that missed this practice will be there next week.
Sorry about the webpage I deleted it by accident and had to change alot of stuff. I will be changing templates until I find one that I like.
March 8th, 2007
This weekend we headed over to the Big E for this years Speedway Expo. The 36 mini crew packed up in there truck and heading over to Springfield. We attend this event every year because once this is over that means in a month we will be racing once again. Last years expo was held at Foxboro and many people were extremely upset that the venue changed and lack of vendors and felt that it was a waste of $15. But, this year it was back at the Big-E and Speedway Illustrated put on a good show. I was kinda upset that I couldn't find any roll bar padding for a buck each. It was great to meet up with a bunch of people and hear if some of the rumors are true. Also catch up on how people are doing and if they are ready to race. While checking out the cars, Steve Romjue sneaks up and gives me a nudge. He was happy to see us but then again he was extremely upset that nobody was selling any lightweight rods to go with his lightweight pistons and knife edged crack. Then along came Brad Caddick and Steve almost knocked him out. In Steve Smiths book in chapter 3 it says if you cant beat em and cant cheat em...just take them out. I guess Romjue has read this chapter one too many times. So this years expo I left with a bag full of catalogs and papers. Also, the 36 mini mascot won the Pet of the Expo this year. So look out for Buddy in the Next months issue of Speedway Illustrated.
2006 Archives
OCTOBER 15th, 2006
Congratulations to Joe Godbout III, The young talented driver out of waterford came to Thompson with a Thompson mini and Outlaw Mini. It will be sad that there might not be another godbout in the mini division next year as his plan is to sell his minis and get into a Late model. So if anyone is looking for 1 or 2 competitive mustang minis for either waterford or thompson they are both for sale. There isnt a better way to show off your car for sale by winning the Thompson mini and having a strong run in the outlaw mini. The World Series this year was finally not cancelled, It might have been below freezing both mornings and they were die hard race fans from all over new england eager to race and put on a great show. To end the year there were some big wrecks, some cars on fire, some fist getting thrown(not by me) and a whole lot of fun. I had to update this site asap because the www.14racing.net guy is a pain in the A$$and he hunts me down every day to update my page.(Sorry Steve, since you didnt race I had to give you some props)
The 36mini arrived early on friday to prepare for this weekend and as usual cam timing played an issue, While advancing and ratarding the cam the power felt the same no matter what i did. I dont know who the real retard is but, after the second to last practice I checked all my spark plugs and the first 3 were white as a ghost, I thought it was a friday the 13th prank. But, when i got to my 4th spark plug it was blown to pieces. So we changed the plug and set the timing to where we had it the other week and damn was the car fast, I forgot how it feel like when all 4-cyl work. So I pulled number 7 out of the bucket and I was starting pole in the second heat. I always opt to start in the back but, I felt that I finally had some power and I can keep up with the pack. WHo am i trying to fool, When the green flag went down, I was in 2cd gear then I missed a hift and almost got plowed by the number 9 behind me. I feel back 4 positions and was following the top dogs of the minis and fnished in 5th in the quailifier for the first time this season. I had a huge push throughout the heat and I needed to get that fixed for the feature. Ichanged out the right front sring to make it alot softer and for the feature it threw my whole geometry off and make my car super tight. We finished in 12th place. So I ended the season on a happy note. So check back in a few days/weeks and I will add a bunch of pictures from world series.
September 28th 2006
CONGRATULATIONS to the 2006 Mini stock champion the number 76 Shelly Perry. She finished her race in a bang, not like last years champion Ron Rixam..her motor didnt blow but, she did get banged around a bit and ended in the wall on the last lap. The final Thursday race is finally over, so now we can look ahead for the world series then we can finally rest and get ready for the 2007 season.
The 36mini team finally resolved there problem, after adjusting timing left and right with no power it was finally time to go to the top vw dogs (Ron and Andy) and get this car moving. With a few adjustmenst to the fuel injection and some timing adjustments we got more fuel and power. We were going to start in the 13th position but as always decided to hang in the rear. I managed to keep up with the pack and finally got the jingles out of the motor issue.. Oh wait the season is over now..damn it!!!! Well, the back up car rabbit will be replaced with the old yellow?? 36 golf, this time with a new motor a new paint scheme and duct tape number.. Hmmm.. maybe its time to get some real decals.
So once again the 36mini team is slacking, It has been a long and stressful month so far, with racing and a wedding. I would like to congratulate my brother for finally getting married after 13 years. It was hard to update my page, and to prepare for this wedding, so now that all the planning and the best man speech are done, now its time to concentrate on the racing and the page. I will be bringing a few cameras at the World series and i will try and get some clips and photos of the minis. There is rain in the forecast for this weekend so hopefully we can run this world series event in october.
So a brief summary of the race on Sept 21st. We thought that we had the motor all set where we needed it, but once again our luck isnt there. The 36 mini missed the first practice so the next two we tried to set timing up and both times we only put about 5000rpm with no power. So we tried something different for the feature and that also didnt work out. I figure out if I cant win maybe i can try and win a hard luck award again..lol I need another black on the other side of my wall.
September 15th 2006
The races for Thursday Sept 14th has been canceled. That will make it 3 weeks since the last race. The last few races in all the divisions should be an interesting one to watch. In the mini stocks Shelly Perry is leading with 62 points so with a good finish in the next race should lock the championship for her. In the limited sportsman Larry Barnett is in the lead with 38 points ahead of Scott Sundeen. So these two races you will see both these cars battling for the championship. Larry was the LS champion back in 2004 and he would love to have another big championship trophy on his shelf. As for Sundeen he has finished in the top 5 the last few years and would love to bring home a championship. In the TIS mod's we have Roger Larson Jr. who is in the lead with 36 points. So with the small car count in that division if he just starts both races he could have this locked up for him. In the mods rookie Woody pitkat is going to have jeff malave pushing hard to show him who is a veteran in the mod's with only 6 points between these drivers it will be an exciting last few weeks. In the Late models there are 44 points between the leader Steve Landry and 5th place Jeff Hartwell. In the pro stocks Jeff Zuidema has a 54 point lead. So the next few races like I said last year are going to be crazy, Drive safe and have fun. If your battling for the championship or your battling for 20th place just remember you win a trophy and get some gas money at the end of the year. Your not wining the nextel cup..=)
As for the 36mini, we had some issues with tech and needed to change out the front spoiler. They don't want me to have an aerodynamic advantage so next week since we changed it out we might finish last instead of second to last. So with all the spare time the 36mini crew had we changed out the front spoiler, we banged out some dents to our passenger side door and actually changed the valve springs for the first time in 3 years. And we also adjusted our valve clearance, so it might not sound like a diesel anymore. I think we might finally have solved our motor issue and have iy set up right. We will see next week.
August 31, 2006
What a race for the mini stocks tonight!!!! It looked like a demo derby out in the heat race. There were 28 cars that started the heat race and only 19 started the feature. The heat race was a mess, I don't understand what there thinking of putting 28 cars in a qualifier. Why not just give us 23 laps in the feature. Its great to get some track time and run a heat race but, its not worth going out there when people think that in the heat race you win a million dollars if you finish first. The 36mini started last once again, We didn't have much time to prepare our car because we were in a sunny state and relaxing thinking about swimming, beach, and martinis. So with a few hours that we had on Wednesday we made sure that our left front wheel wasn't going to make more laps then the car. As always i forgot to tighten the ball joint and it was a pain to finally get that secured. As we got to the track to start our car, the battery was completely dead.. So we missed all the practices trying to get a jump. The mini division is a funny division one week there 15 cars the next there 30, One race its nice and clean then the next its a wreck fest. It doesn't matter if your fighting for first in point or last in point, Everyone out there is driving like A$$&*^%#. For the first 6 laps I was hangin in the back and it seemed like there were only a handful of cars that finished. I actually finished 7th which gave me a 5th place start in the feature. I could have stayed up there but the odds were that i would get either wrecked or cause a big wreck fest so once again i opted to start in the rear. The feature was suprisingly much better then the heat race. Even tho I finished in 16th I can say I had a good day. This makes it the second race that the new 36mini finished a race. I did get hit hard in the heat race on my passenger side door but it didnt causeany damage to the frame. So for some we can relax for a few weeks until the next race, but for other they will either try and make there car faster or fix up all the damage that the heat race has caused them. It was also great to see a new feature win the number 10 of Mike Romano. I remember back a few years ago when Mike and I ran together every week. Somehow he went up in the standings and I went back in the standings.. I guess if iI really wanna win I should take it serious build a tank and go race.
August 24, 2006
I guess the celebration for the 36mini ended tonight. We were able to start and finish a race, and now we didn't even get a lap. I finally was starting to get a feel for the car, the car felt quick and it handled perfect. I guess running with a blown shock really does make a difference. The 36mini started in the rear for the qualifier and something didn't sound right with the car. After a few slow and puttering laps it ended up being a spark plug wire that came off. So my luck in the feature wasn't any better. I was hearing a clunking sound in the left front and all of a sudden my rim just fell off. So in the 36mini career I have had at least one rim blow off on me on all four corners. So next time you race make sure you check your rims, tires/pressures, and lug nuts. So see you next week, I am finally taking a vacation away from work/racing and heading to a hot sunny place.
Sorry about the new videos on the 36mini photo page, The page will be updated in the near future when I have a clue what im doing...=)
August 17, 2006
The 36mini is celebrating there first finish in the new rabbit. The new vehicle has been a problem since it first got on the track. After a broken alternator belt, to a bent valve, to a blow motor the 36 mini has finally finished a race in the new rabbit. We replaced the motor with our old motor that's about 3 season old and it held up to get a 17 place finish. We are just happy that we started and finished. The car was still way off we replaced the whole right suspension from our old scirocco and we know everything was perfect on the right side. We were way off on toe, after setting up the toe we entered the feature and the car was shaking down the straights and wouldn't turn in the corners. I hope we solved the problem for next weeks race. It ended up being a blow shock on the left side. We have our car scaled to where it should be, toe set, and shocked replaced. SO hopefully next week we should be a little better in the turns.
August 10, 2006
Finally, The bunny is back and hopping away, After 3 weeks of long hours and nights the 36mini rabbit was back in action. The 36 mini missed the first two practice due to timing issues and once they were resolved we were able to make it out for the last practice. It feels great when all the work that you have done in the last few weeks to prepare the car and it finally runs..well almost... As the 36 mini entered the track for the first time in a few weeks its happiness gave up quickly, While getting ready to start the practice the 36mini died. All the hard work and long hours to finally complete the car it all seemed like it was over, once again the car had to get pushed off. It seems like the only front bumper that gets in contact with my rear bumper is the tow trucks. Luckily the 5th dimension racing team was all set up with there car so they had time to diagnose the problem on the 36mini, So after checking every possible issue, It came up to be a timing issue once again, It was off a few teeth. So we adjusted the timing belt and it started right away. So we had to quickly sign up and go out for the qualifier, We started last and actually finished. It felt great to finally start and finish. The car felt good but it was shaking like crazy and it was bunny hopping in the turns, So when we swapped out the suspension a few weeks ago we forgot to set toe. We were about an inch off so I guess i know why we were handling bad, So we started to adjust toe and it started raining and the event was canceled. So the 36mini team should have a easy week.
June 29th, 2006
As many of you know I have purchased another mini stock to temporary replace the old yellow vw golf 36 mini. Many of you have seen the new mini racing at Thompson last season and this season. I am sorry that I have not updated the site in a few weeks. It has been a long few weeks with trying to prepare the old mini to get straighten out and purchasing a new vehicle. Unfortunately, we missed this race due to the fact that I trusted the weather and that we had problems at work. I was watching the weather all day long and it seemed like we were going to get severe rain and it was as high as 70% so I stayed at work a few hours later and was going to arrive at the track a little after 6. While in the car leaving from Boston, I contacted a few people at the track and they told me It was clear and it wasn't going to rain.. I should have figures that out.. I think last year every Thursday we had a 70% chance of rain. So driving from Boston to Auburn in rush hour traffic, I can say that if i passed as many cars as i did on the mass pike I would have won the feature. I was loading up the car when i got a call saying the sportsman race is just starting. So I figured there was no point in attending the race paying $50 and missing everything.. So instead I took my $50 and spent it on a few Budweisers. SO hopefully next week i will be back and in red. I hope everyone enjoys there 4th of July weekend be safe have fun and see you Thursday.
JUNE 15th 2006
I think we got lucky that the first race of the season got canceled, or did we not get lucky? After a long week of funeral and jet lag. The 36mini was ready to race for the season opener. We were running some great times at practice and the timing was way off. So with the few day I had to prepare we got the timing just right and set everything up Wednesday night. It was a rush to get to the track. I had to get a tow vehicle for the race because the might Range Rover died on 395 on the way home from practice (fuel pump). So i was to the track with limited supply of parts and tools. As i arrived at the track I only had a chance to run one practice session. I ended up signing in late so I started last in the qualifier. I was told there were 31 minis that were signed in. So i started last in the first qualifying run and it ended for the 36 mini 2 laps in. As I was going into turn Three the rotor/hub broke and my wheel went flying off the car. I hit the wall really hard and sustained heavy damage to the right side. As for now I think the 36mini will retire for the rest of the season or partial season. I could get it up and running in a few weeks but, I think my time has finally come. I will slowly get things fixed and may come back later in the season. There are many other responsibilities in my life right now that I have to put racing on the side. If by any chance i get motivated enough I will get a temporary replacement but for now the season is on hold. The 36 mini will be going to the frame shot next week to see if we can get it somewhat straight. But the main issue is the engine. With the hard hit i broke many parts. Like i said before im not in a big rush. So whatever happens. happens.. I will try posting some pictures of the car within the next week.
JUNE 1st, 2006
This was our final practice before the NDWS kicks off its season for 2006. There were a good amount of minis at practice testing out there new motors and setting up there chassis for the start of what should be an exciting season beginning next week June 8th. The 36mini got in about 4 solid rounds of practice. The car was handling great but low on power. We were going to play around with cam timing but we had problems with a few stripped bolts on the timing gear. So hopefully next week we should have that issues solved. We did purchase some new paint which is a VW matchstick red pearl paint. As soon as the weather gets better we should have time to get it painted. As for decals we will have to wait and see how this color turns up on the car. So after the car gets painted we might go back to our high quality duct tape for a few races. Our motor is still on hold as we are waiting on our cam and block work. Hope to see you all next week.
04/01/06
The 36mini showed up for the second practice. There were a good amount of mini stocks. Due to rain the practice was cut short and ended around 3. So I hope everyone got there cars all tuned up and are ready for the Icebreaker. The forecast for Saturday looks like rain but, You know how it is....every Thompson race there has to be a chance of rain. So hopefully we will see you at the Track on April 8th and 9th.
APRIL 8th & 9th
ICEBREAKER
Saturday
Well I guess you can call this first Nascar event at Thompson Speedway for the 2006 season an Icebreaker. I arrived at the track on Saturday at around 9:15 and as I was unloading my car the minis had there first practice run. Shortly after that rain would postpone the event for about 6 hrs. We had some rain, some hail, some sleet and some snow. But, after that it was time to start racing. As usual they end up putting the minis out to dry the track and while trying to warm up my tires I spun in turn one and I think from then on I was paranoid about spinning again. The Thompson speedway staff was generous and let us have 3 rounds of practice. The 36mini solved the carburetor problems but now we ran into cam timing issues. So with the few practices I tried a few different setups and i didn't like any of them. So i set it up the way I started.
Sunday
I arrived at the track around noon and was setting up the car getting ready for the feature. There was a big field with 29 minis and I was starting 7th. While we were all lined up ready to enter the track my tach. was going crazy and I couldn't start the car. Thanks to the 72 Of Tyler Poulin He gave me a push and i was able to start right up. And now for race time, I think this needs to go in the record book. There was a green to checker race which I think everyone was shocked. But, for the 36mini I had a loose wire on the distributor and going down the straights it would just cut off on me so I lost alot of position and ended up finishing the feature. Congratulations to the #5 of Brian Vincent who was the feature winner at The Icebreaker. This season seems like its going to be a competitive season. Andy Publicover is back in his vw #9 machine running a full season. Jason Paquette is also back in action with a new car and give it a few practice runs and when he shakes down his new car he will be back up in front. Todd Henshaw came out strong with a 4th place finish. Ron Rixam wants to repeat his championship and was pushing hard but ended up in 6th place. The 6 of Jonathan Deshaines and the 17 of Mike Analone showed a great race and are in the running for rookie of the year. This year should be an exciting year as there are strong competitive cars.
And for the 36mini we have 2 months to prepare for the start of the first TNTT for 2006. We are in the processes of replacing the motor, some body panels, getting a new paint job, and some professional decals. If we cant be competitive at least we will have a good looking car....lol
Other News
I was disappointed that in my 4 years of racing I didn't see the #14 car in the pits at ICEBREAKER.. Sorry Steve i was going to put race with me but we don't want to get into that..=)
MAY 30, 2006
Not much news so far. I have been busy with housework and have not had enough time to prepare the 36mini. As of now the car is naked (body off the car). The new paint Scheme is still on hold due to time issues but will get painted asap. Once the car is painted then the next step is to order decals. So i might be back to the old duct tape for a few races. We are in the process of building a motor just waiting on the machine shop. So the first few races will be an old junky motor with the old yucky yellow paint. Well, I hope everyone is ready the season begins in another week. See ya at the track.
JULY 6th, 2006
The 36mini is back. Is it a vw golf? Is it yellow? No its a red rabbit. It was a wierd feeling driving a different car. I purchased this vehicle a few weeks ago and I finally got to see what it has for power. It was a quick car but, without having time to scale the car, I took it easy for the first race. I had to get used to manual steering instead of power steering and also a smaller car compared to a slightly wider and bigger car. I did have a chance to get a few practice runs and the car was really tight. I tried to loosen it up but it still was way off. When the feature started we were all lined up and waited what felt like hours for the NEMA midgets to finish. While we were all waiting for the start of our feature all of our windows were fogged up. So who came to the rescue... Todd Henshaw, He un strapped himself from the car and came to ever mini and wiped off our windshields. Its a great feeling when you have other mini drivers help you out, A simple wipe to the windshield, helping someone out, or even lending them a part to race. So then in the feature i started near the back. I was out there this week to take it easy and have some fun...well, that's what i try to do every week. But this time I took it really easy. There were a few crashes and a lot of cautions in the first few laps, I guess waiting lined up so long to race you build some anger inside of you. I worked myself up to about 14th spot in the 4th lap and then on the restart I had a car die out on me on turn 2 in front of me and another car just got into me and practically ran over me. Then a lap later we had yet another caution, and as i was driving into turn 3 I was smelling something cooking, then I looked at my temp gauge and saw the temp at 270 So i pulled off and ended the race. The hit that i received on the 4th lap must have disturbed my motor and the alternator belt got shredded. So hopefully the motor is still ok.
UPDATE
JULY 13th, 2004
In preparation for this weeks event the 36 mini is back on the disabled list. The motor did sustain some damage. Luckily the race did get canceled on Wednesday and if I didn't take half the day off from work then I could have slapped on a head and raced on Thursday. It was a busy week at work and impossible for me to take off more time. So hopefully be back once again next week. I guess my hard luck is hitting me again. This weekend the
36mini crew will be in Englishtown, NJ at the 12th annual Waterfest vw meet.
JULY 27th, 2006
There isn't much news from the last few weeks, The 36mini team are back on there hard luck roll, I guess rabbits are not for me. We have attended 5 TNTT races this season and we haven't finished one yet. Next week will probably be our last attempt on racing the rabbit. The motor is completely destroyed so we are putting our back up motor to run the big 25 lapper next week. We will be changing the whole suspension and "hopefully" finish at least one race this season. This season we have the most sponsors and 2 cars and we still cant finish a race.
2005 Archives
July 7th, 2005
First off I would like to say kudos to Terry Boudreau in the 21 ministock for showing true class and sportsmanship. In the heat race I was put into the wall by the #21 and forced to call it a night. After the race I questioned Terry as to what the cause of the accident was. I was informed by Terry himself he was checked from behind and pushed into me. After careful review of the tape, I found the nearest car to Boudreau was over a car length behind him. If you've recently viewed Terry's website you'll see that his story has changed and I have been labeled an "unstable driver". I'm still trying to figure out how on earth I can be labeled the unstable one when I was in the wall with the #21 in the side of me and I now have a freshly painted green back bumper from being pushed.
Now I'm not one to call names and I won't stoop to Terry's level by posting trash talk. It's actually quite an honor that I made Terry's website, heck I'm very honored that I'm the topic of your conversations every single Thursday night. I guess this is still left over bad blood from our decision to change engine builders. Now, now Terry...we have changed our engine builder to 5th Dimension Racing. I know you miss me, but you'll just have to grab a tissue and deal with it.
Again thank you for thinking of me Terry and kudos to your crew for mouthing off to the ladies of the #36 in the pits after the races. You say nothing to me on Thursday, yet you post a full commentary on your website. You are truly a class act!
July 19th,2005
"Even though we all have our goals, and we want every point we can get, really, we're racing for the fun of it. Nobody, not this years champion, or the person racing for 20th position is going to get a ride in the Craftsman Truck Series at the end of the season. There is no big check coming to put your kids through college. And no talent scout looking for a "hot shoe" in the Mini-Stocks to put in his Tour Modified."
We are all here for the love of the sport, I show up every Thursday looking for a clean safe race. I'm not looking to win, I'm just looking to have some fun and put my car back on the trailer in one piece. This is not my full time job, this is my hobby. Now lets all move ahead from some of the childish drama that's unfolded in the mini stock divison and have a good time.
Check back on Thursday for updated race information
July 13th, 2005
Well, after the July 7th race we were unsure if we were able to continue driving The 36mini. After reviewing the tapes numerous times it was clearly shown the #21 deliberately spun me out. Driving into turn 1 I was on the higher line getting ready to go in the turn, the #21 was in the lower side of the track with the #87 about a car and a half length away. Just as I was going into the turn the #21 hit my left rear bumper/tire, which spun me sideways and then the #87 got in back of the #21 and that's when he got my left front wheel which made me shoot into the wall. So the results ended up in 4 bent rims, The right front control arm, ball joint, spindle, shock and axle were all bent. On the left side the spindle was also bent and ball joint, I also cracked the radiator, cracked my rear mount and broke my front mount, also the front end was tweaked about 3 inches. The rear bumper was broken on both the brackets, The front right bumper sustained heavy damage, and also my rear axle was bent. So I guess it didn't seem like I would be racing for a while. But, once you get bitten by the race bug I guess you can never stop. I was planing on painting the car and putting decals but, I had more to do and think about rather then paint. I spent countless hours working on the car by myself after work until about 2 in the morning everyday. I got the car somewhat ready by Monday night but I needed some finishing touches. That's when I brought the car to Scott Sundeens garage and had the final touch up with welding and replacement of the spindle. After going to bed at 3 in the morning and waking up at 5 to go to work I was exhausted. I left work early because I had to pick up some rims from Northeast at the track. After changing the rims Ron Rixam noticed that my rear axle was bent so with help from Ron Rixam and Scott Sundeen we were able to get the rear somewhat straight. So the last thing left was to install the radiator. Once installed I staretd teh car and noticed the radiator was still cold and the temp was around 180. So I had to take out the thermostat and luckily got it ready to get the last practice. The car felt good but I was still skeptical cause I did most of the suspension work myself. So once again the minis were having a Qualifying and I was stating 3rd. I opted to start in the rear and shake down the car and took it easy for the qualifier. So feature time. I started in 15th and worked my way up to 11th. I took it easy because I wanted to go home in once piece. So the race finished and as I was exiting the race track the Mini Tech man pointed me over to the scales. I was kinda shocked that they took someone who is 18th in points and finished 11th in the race over to get tec'd. So I went on the scales and everything went well and then I was told to line up with the other minis and get my car tech'd. I don't think in the history of Thompson Speedway they have ever tec'd someone who is 18th in points and best finish this year 7th. So they were tech'ing carburetors. So mine passed with no problem and then my carb spacer also passes with no problem. So I guess they wanted to go diggin for more, They were questioning my manifold. The one I have been racing with that all last year and this year and I also asked ''Scoots'' last year about my manifold and he said it was fine to use. Now this year you run a 2002 seekonk championship car and it seem like everything is wrong/illegal. I feel privileged to be tech'd due to trethening the top runners. It is truly an honor to be spoken so highly of by the T. R. E. Racing team. Just ask his newest victim Tim Higginbotham. Geee Tim isn't it an honor to be so respected. Thank you Terry and Scoots for continuing to give me the motivation to show up every Thursday. Now I think it becomes a little more clear why A. J. Pollard and I chose to run Legal 5thdimension Racing Motors. For a legal motor that will keep em talking contact Chris at 5th dimensionracing.com.
July 21, 2005
Once again not a good day with the carburetor. After finally getting a new carburetor and having the car running great the last few weeks tech messed up my whole setup after I had to take it all apart. After trying to find a carburetor manifold for a vw (which is almost impossible) I managed to find one. After finally getting the manifold and carburetor setup I was missing a few long bolts on the manifold. I just couldn't seem to find one that was long enough to fit. So I just tried to plug that up with another bolt. It would also be wise to change the manifold gasket after taking manifolds off all season long but I didn't change it. I got to the track and missed the first practice trying to get the right bolts. But still no luck. So out I took it to the second practice and something didn't seem right a lot of putting and no power at all in the high rpms. So I decided to change a few gaskets on the carburetor and try that out for the qualifier. Still same problem. A few laps in the qualifier the throttle bracket broke off and that was it. I guess its back to the beginning of the season with all this carburetor problems. So for the feature we changed the throttle plate and tried to mess with the fuel/air ratio and the car sounded great and revved up nice but once feature time came around it actually got a lot worse. It just didn't want to go. I guess there is a leak somewhere. So I guess this week its time to fool around with the carburetor and change all the gaskets and maybe it will work. So hopefully the 36mini will be in full effect for the 30 lapper next week.
July 28, 2005
VW Virus Hits Thompson Speedway at 30 Lapper
It seemed like the vw's had some type of curse or virus that was going around at Thompson Thursday. It hit the 36mini first. After a long week of trying to get our carburetor and manifold air leak free. I still had problems in practice. One more time if this damn carburetor sputters on me im throwing it in the garbage. I was starting pole so I needed to hurry up and get this setup right. After changing jets, adjusting the fuel bowl we were ready to qualify. I almost missed qualifying. So I was planning on starting in the back but, I just wanted to run the first lap to see how it runs and if I was still sputtering I would have just pulled down below. The car felt great but it wasn't running to peak performance. In the turns I was fast but the straights were killing me. In lap 6 going into turn 3 I was hit from behind and went spinning in to the wall. I guess im cursed with qualifying for 30 lappers. Last year my hub/axle broke off in turn 3 and the car also sustained heavy damage. So the damage on the 36mini was in no shape or form to perform the feature. The rear axle was bent and the rear was heavily damaged and tweaked about 8 inches. So the plan was to try and put the car back together just to make it up in the feature. I managed to get most of the car to make it move on its own. With thompson changing the rotation of the races it meant that we didn't have much time. So the feature was right about to begin and I was still spitting brake fluid from the rear. I tried to just crimp it off but still it kept flowing. I finally got it to stop and I headed back to the gates and they were already on lap 5. So I guess it will be another busy weekend. I guess with me and the other vw's we will be in the shop all week long to get our machines back a 100%. While working on the 36mini this weekend, Amy was bored and she decided to make some decals for me. Well, they may not be perfect but the certainly beat duct tape.
Aug 4, 2005
After a long restless week getting the 36mini fixed it was ready to race. What a hot day for racing. I got to the track right as they were calling out the first practice. So I needed a few more bars in the back welded and a quick change of the carburetor. So I called over the welder and he got right to work. Also, Tim Higginbotham came over to change the carburetor and add a fuel pressure regulator. We were trying to hurry up so we can make the second practice but we were unable to make it out. So now we had some more time to make sure everything was right. I took it out in the third practice and the car felt odd. I was hearing more rattles then usual and also my throttle cable got loose. So I didn't have a good practice to shake things done. I was shocked that we didn't have any heat races, maybe that's why we had less cars going into the body shop this week. I was going to be starting in 16th but I opted to start in the back because I had no idea how my car would hold up. Starting the race the carburetor felt great and the car was riding nice but when I would tap the brake the car would just want to spin out on me. I had a problem with my left rear caliper. So I was afraid to go in hard in the turns, so I kinda just coasted in. In lap 12 I was in about 12th position when the 66 spun out in turn 3 as I slammed on the brakes the car just spun around and I was heading back to the wall the same way as last week. I was praying that I don't hit the wall. Luckily I missed it by a few inches. So I started in the back with a few laps to go. The restart was all screwed up. So half the back wasn't ready at all. They were not going so right as I got to the start/finish line I dove underneath and picked up a few spots. I was going to try and pass a few more cars but, should I pass and get a few points or should I just finish 16th and go home and make up on my lost sleep. I took option 2. Well, this week its time to check out the brakes and hopefully get my rear caliper replaced or fixed. So it should be an easy and relaxing week. See you on Thursday..
Aug 11, 2005
This season has been a rough season for the 36mini. With a few DNS and DNF we have fallen to 19th place. After working on the car trying to resolve the caliper/brake issue all week we found out that the right front rotor was cracked in 2. I ran the race last week with a broken rotor. So after finally getting a 100% of my brakes working and my rotor replaced it was time to go racing. But, once again something just didnt feel right with the motor. Somehow it just doesnt have as much power. I started 16th and finished in 16th. I was a second off the pace. I finally got the handling issues and the carburator problems solved but now I face a major problem. The motor is getting tierd on me and its time to replace the head and cam. After speaking to 5thdimensionracing we came up with a unique cam. So we should have a freshly build head for the next race. So either ill be back in the running or I will be in the back.. I guess we will find out.
Aug 18, 2005
The season isn't getting better for the 36mini. After researching cams we came up with a unique cam and went ahead and built a fresh new head to use for the rest of the season. I took the day off from work so that I could get some practice time and adjust the timing and get use to the new cam. I arrived at Thompson and got ready for the first set of practice but, practice started an hour late so we only got on quick practice. The car felt like it was running good but still wasn't sure on what I should do about cam timing. So the next set of practice I was going to let Tim Higginbotham take it out and have his output on what the car needs and where we need to adjust timing. It felt kinda odd seeing your car in the practice and actually spectating instead of racing. After the first lap of practice the car just died. I thought the throttle linkage on the carburetor failed again but I guess it was more trouble then I expected. We found the timing belt has snapped. So with a few hours to spare we headed up to NAPA to pick up a new belt. After trying to adjust the cam something was binding up on us. We took the headcover off and noticed that one of our covers on the valve spring was cracked and it also ended up cracking the head. So it was a mad dash to go and pick up my old head. With only about an hour left we swapped parts into the old head and swapped everything from the new head to the old head. With only a few minutes before our head we had the whole setup all assembled and ready to go. The feature was getting ready to start, unfortunately for the 36mini it didn't want to start. After trying every possible thing it just didn't want to fire and the green flag dropped and once again another DNS. I guess this year everything that could possibly go wrong went wrong. Last year we started every race and this year we missed more then we actually finished. I would like to thank everyone who help this week in trying to get the car together. Our goal for next week is to show up and start the feature. If not ill just drive a Sportsman...lol or better yet just stay home.
Aug 25, 2005
Congratulations to RON RIXAM on his feature win. I guess Ron had to show his brother Rod what he is missing by winning tonight's feature. As for the 36mini we finished a race. The car was fast in practice and it felt like everything was going well except for the little carburetor gremlins still hangin out making a little putter here and there. So feature time I started in 15th place. In the first lap it was bad luck again for the 72 Tyler Poulin. He started the season with a few impressive runs but then his luck just turned the other way. It seems like the guys who were running good in the beginning of the season there luck has swapped sides on them. There were a few more cautions in the race and I manage to hang in 7th place. I could have pushed harder but the pack in front of me was bumping and grinding and I didn't want any part of that. The last caution is what killed me. On the restart those carburetor gremlins multiplied and started putttttering a lot more and has slowed me down a lot. I got a lot of speed on the straights but then coming out the puttering continued to haunt me. So a 13th place finish was good enough for me. I have been doing a lot of adjusting, changing, switching but I still have not got it right. So either this week or next I will finally put fuel injected in the car and see what it does.
I would also like to Congratulate JAY SUNDEEN in the Limited Sportsman who got a 5th place finish. Jay being a rookie driver this year just received his drivers license before the season. He has never driven any type of race car but he wanted to race with his dad. He started in the Limited Sportsman division which is a hard division with many cars and many wrecks. In the beginning of the season he spun out a few times and hung out in the back just getting use to the car. But, now he felt confident enough when he had the chance to start up front he would give it all he had. He was leading half the race and ended up in 5th place. That's something more then half these drivers have not accomplished yet in this division. So watch out next year for another Sundeen in victory lane.
Sept 1, 2005
I guess the first day of September brought us some luck. The 36 mini team has finished a season high of 4th place. We were starting in the pole for the qualifier. We had a good practice session and we felt like we could maybe keep up if the carburetor would keep up and stop its loving sputtering sound. Starting on the pole we got a good start and lead half way through the heat until the little gremlins started to sputter on me. We still managed to finish in the top 6. So that mean it was another pole time for the feature. Prior to the feature we made a few adjustments to the float and regulator and off to the feature. The car felt great and the gremlins didn't have much room to swim in the bowl so the sputtering only came up a few times. The cam we have in the car is only two weeks old and its really not set up at all. We have been using all our time trying to get all the sputters out and we have not had time to pay with timing. On the turns I flew by everyone and on the straights....no comment. So with a few laps left in the feature we were in 7th place and it felt great that we are in the top 10 once again. There was a caution on lap 13..??? and it was going to be a green, white, checker. As the white flag was getting thrown I was still in a comfortable 7th place until the 86 of Clyde Caswell thought the race was over. I passed him and that put me in 6th place and right as I see the checkered flag coming out of turn 3 the 3, and 76 collide and I finished 4th. The first Top 5 this season for the 36mini. The 36mini will be at practice on Friday and we can finally tune the cam so that we can have a little bit more power on the straightaways.
Sept 15, 2005
CANCELED DUE TO RAIN
With three points race left in the season it should be a very interested end to the season. For some drivers they were glad it got canceled this Thursday and for some drivers they will have to pray and work hard to advance in the standings. Its going to be a battle in every division, it doesnt matter if your looking for a great finish to either win the championship or to come in the top 10. To some even if you get in the top 20. Just rememeber not to drive over your head and if this year you didnt end up finishing where you expected, there is always next year. Have fun and be safe.
Sept 9-11, 2005
It was a good weekend for racing. I took a day off on Friday so that I can get some quality track time. Every division got about 50+ laps of practice. This was a good time to tune your car and get it all set for the last few races. As for the 36mini it was time to play around with cam timing and try and get the most power. After advancing and retarding the cam we adjusted it to a happy median. So after a restless night of camping and parting at Thompson we had to be up and ready to get our first practice at 9 am. As always there were problems with the ambulance and our main and backup ambulance responded to an accident on 395. So our practice was cut short. I guess it paid off to practice on Friday. We ended up getting a few practice runs at the second round of practice. The car felt great and it was running the best all year. So I was starting outside pole for the second heat and I was excited that we could actually have a good chance to win. The first lap the 72 pole sitter and I were neck to neck and going in to turn 3 I was checked up by another car and I was inches from the wall and I fell back about 7 positions and ended the heat finishing 7th. So since they were handicapping the top 5 in each heat I was starting 14th in the feature. After waiting all day to finally race I guess everyone was eager to run and it ended up with a few cars severely damaged and some cars just dyeing. Within a few laps coming out of turn 4 all I saw was the 99 get sideways and head right into the 14 of Steve Romjue. Luckily for power steering I ended up missing all the cars and heading onto the grass. After all the adjustments that the 14 car made during practice his car had a potential of finishing in the top 5. Also involved in the wreck was the 9 of Andy Publicover who had spent day and night to finally get his scirocco up to speed and posed a threat to the top runners. I guess the moral of the story is that if your car runs perfect it wont last for long. I also had some trouble with handling, the track was so loose or it could have been my tires were really used up all weekend. I did manage to get a top 10 and finish in 9th. So hopefully all of the mod rubber is washed off and my tires will stick.
Oct, 8th,2005
CANCELLED ONCE AGAIN DUE TO RAIN MAKE-UP RACE OCTOBER 29TH
Sept 29, 2005
CANCELLED DUE TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS,
STRONG WIND, AND RAIN
OCT 28-29th
Well, its finally over the 2005 season came to an end after a month long wait with rain and snow. It was surprising to see so many eager race fans and drivers attend the World Series of Racing at Thompson. To the long wait in line to get your pit pass, to getting stuck in the mud, waiting all day freezing you butt off. Then having Saturday get canceled due to snow and rain. There were many upset fans and drivers but then again most of them showed up Sunday to watch 15 features. It was a long day for all of us but now its over and we can look forward to next year.
36mini results
Since the last race the 36mini was on the trailer covered and waiting to run on a non rainy day. I did some adjustments to the motor and adjusted the valves and tried to get everything ready for the next race. On Saturday we had a quick practice 5 laps with 3 being a caution and the jet size on the carburetor was too big for the conditions and the car was running like crap. The tires felt hard and stiff and the made the car really loose. I went to sign in and I picked number 1 so that meant starting the pole. Oh boy it was a decision if I should start in the pole or start in the back. If we were to run on Saturday most likely I would have started in the rear. But on Sunday the weather was great and around 230 the temps were up to the mid 60s so with downsizing the jet size a lot I figured that I would have enough power and tires would stick. I was waiting for the 5 hot laps that we were going to get but then when the green dropped I didn't realize that this is feature time. Luckily there was a caution and we had a restart. My tach suddenly dies and I have no idea what was going on the car was puttering and stalling then when I got to speed it went all away. I was running the car way too lean for the condition and it robbed all my power on the straights. With cars getting tangled and cars blowing up I managed to finish the race in 10th position. On the last lap I believe 3 cars went up in smoke and oil was all over the track. But when I finished in one piece I was happy that I can say one car actually survived a season. It was an OK season for the 36mini and it was a pleasure running at Thompson with some old and new faces. Hopefully I will be back next year. If not I will defiantly come watch. So long 2005 season and see you in 2006.
36 MINI FUTURE
As some may know I have purchased a house so my fund are limited. I do have a car in one piece with a few back up motors. So depending on sponsors and funds this could be a break from racing a full time season. So the last month I have been lazy on the website due to home shopping and first time home buying. So check the website in the upcoming months and I will be adding a bunch of pictures and hopefully a few videos. I had to update this site because I didn't want to see a bunch of loyal readers outside my house with torches and pitch forks.
I would like to thank everyone who has helped me in 2005. A big thanks to www.5thdimensionracing.com and AMY without there hard work and dedication to the 36mini none of this would be possible.
02/01/2006
I would like to say congratulations to Jay Sundeen who was the Rookie of The Year in the Limited Sportsman. This season was his first season in any type of race car and first time ever in a standard shift vehicle. He had a great season with 1 top 5, 1 top 10. There are many drivers out there that have been racing in the division for many years and have never reached a top 5 finish. So be on the lookout Scott, a new rookie driver is on his way to the top.
36MINI NEWS
The car is still covered in the same location. I actually flipped the switch last weekend and pressed the starter button and it just fired up. The 2006 season is still questionable. Still waiting on a few sponsors.
03/06/06
There isnt any major News. The 36MINI is still covered and untouched. We have picked a new parts sponsor from a major vw tuner and will disclose all the new information as soon as the papers are signed. There have been many emails asking me about Pictures and Videos. They will be added as soon as I make some time to upload them onto to site. The outlook for the Icebreaker seems like we will be running the car right off the trailer and going racing. We are in the process of building a primary motor and will be finished as soon as the parts get delivered from our sponsor. There is 3 weeks left until the first practice so get off the couch and get the wrenches moving and get into gear. Until then see you at the track.
03/25/06
I guess the season is coming to a start. There were a handful of Mini stocks at the first practice of the season. I had to work in the morning so the 36mini made it to the track around 2:30pm. We purchased a few new rims and tire. The tire prices went up this year to a $100 each. On Friday night I tighten up some bolts and changed some gaskets and loaded everything up. On the first practice run I ran out of fuel. I forgot to fuel up, There was a lot of oil on the track and i almost spun out. Thanks to the #14 of Steve Romjue (lol). It was great to see Steve out there, but unfortunately his 14 machine didn't last a lap and ended with motor problems (blow motor). Our 2004 Rookie of the year started his 2006 season with a blown motor. I hope that it isn't anything major and we will see him at Icebreaker. There were a few rookies testing out there cars , and it seems like the old timers were really showing that its going to be a competitive year. I hope that I can figure out fuel injection and slap it on for the next practice. If not its back to the old carburetor.