So here is the first update for racing... sorry it is a little late start for Saturday nights.

June 15th 2006- Thursday Night Thunder

It was a smooth running opening for the most part. No cars came home in body bags. My car, #42 Ladies League, was the loosest racecar I have ever run. I drew 9th out of 11th and looped it on the first lap. I caught back up with the tail pack, but it was hard to make moves. With the white flag lap, I was running in 8th place with the #77 inside of me. As we came out of two, there was a spin on the backstretch. The #77 lifted, and I did not. I took the car to a 5th place finish... not bad for the set-up we had.

Betsy Field made her first return to the race track since her brain anneurism last fall... and wasn't she a ball of energy. As I sit there, a nervous wreck, she was just happy and excited to be there, and with good reason. She was one of the fastest trucks in the field. She was up to 5th in her race.Then, the Field luck got her. She had a tire down. She raced with a flat for several laps and a caution came out. She came into the pits to change the tire. Unfortunately, there were not enough laps left to get back to the top. The way that she finished allows her to start outside poll for the feature next week.

Also in the field was the # 84 Mighty Truck of Matt Dow. He finished strong with a third place finish. Tony Field in #1 Truck (the defending champion) came out in a 6th place finish. Jamie Boynton, in the #98 truck rounded out the top ten. Jamie only raced a few races at the end of last year,so he is still new to the track. Also new to the track was the #02 of Chad Emery and the #29 of Nick Calvert. Chad finished 13th out of the 17 trucks there, beating some of the veterans of the group. Nick finished 17th, with some engine problems. The motor was just not up to par. He is excited however, to start in the front row with Betsy next week.  All in all it was a good, clean night, and everyone is anxious for thursday thunder to roll on June 22nd.

Saturday, June 17th, 2006- The car is no longer a demon

Andy has struggled all season in the #88 Tarbox Construction/Field Family Racing powered Sport Series limited. The first few weeks led to many breakdowns. Anything that could have broken, did. This caused us to miss the first two heats of the season, and start up back in both the features. The luck continued into the third week of the season, finishing up back again. The fourth week brought us to a 100 lapper, which awarded only show-up points. We made the show through the heat and did not have to go to the consi.The hundred lapper was a test and tune, and it got us some lead way. The next two weeks rained out, with much dismay to the team. We were ready to see what the demon car would do.We got to the track, and found that the car was finally fast. Standing in 23rd in points, we needed a comeback. We got one. The #88 started 3rd in the heat, and finished there. Then, with a surprising turn of events, we found ourselves actually getting a 2nd place finish in the heat. The second place finisher did not report to tech when the race was over, which is qualification for a disqualification. This put us on outside poll for the race. We rolled onto the track for the feature, determined to get a good finish for the night. Early on, Andy was running second, and the leader spun by himself, leading to a caution and Andy getting the top spot. When the green dropped the car took off, pulling away from the field. Andy had a half a track lead, when the caution came out  for some lapped cars spinning. Andy had to restart again on the top spot, with some heavy hitter cars coming up through the field. He once again took the lead, but did not get as far ahead as we would like. This put the veterans of the #8 (Clyde Hennessey) and the #72 ( Donnie Morse)  right up with Andy. He held them off by driving a smooth line on the bottom of the race track. By running this groove, he was not as fast. He needed all the real estate of the race track to be fast, but could not use it with the veterans on his tail. Lap 27  showed another caution. Something in the front end of the car had gone aray, making the wonderful set-up that we had start to slowly dwindle away. Clyde got the early lead, because of a little loose twitch the #88 had. The # 38 of Beaver Norton and the # 40 of Mike Landry went sliding to the outside to outrun Andy. When the checkered flew, Andy sat in a 4th place finish, still holding off the veteran Morse. Overall it was a good run, but the dissapointment was still there after leading so many laps. Everyone in the stands and in the pits were affectionately rooting and pulling for Andy "the kid" Field. The car was good, but the luck again was just not on our side. The plathora of cautions seemed to be our demise. The points we will gain from the good runs we had will help a lot in points. The kid is there, running up top with the veterans, and is making his presence known. The car is there, and this certantly will not be the last week that Andy makes it known. For now, here is the re-cap, We'll see you next week for the run down again.