TMAC in Victory Lane at Lake Ozark Speedway (Terry Ford Photo)
(Bill W) September 5, 2017 – Terry McCarl and the TMAC Motorsports #24 team were triumphant on Saturday night at the Lake Ozark Speedway near Eldon, Missouri with the ASCS-Warrior region. The Altoona, Iowa driver was aboard the car he named “Farnken-ART”. TMAC would finish fourth in the finale. Meanwhile, son Carson set a new 410 track record Friday at Tri-City Speedway in Granite City, Illinois with the MOWA series.
Lake Ozark Speedway reopened this season and is going strong. “It’s really nice,” says TMAC. “They’ve done a great job with the track, and it’s in a great location. Fans can go hang on the lake like we did with some friends, Mike and Michelle Paglai, who have a place down there. I was very impressed. The track itself is fun and put on two great races. The stands were packed too. The Trimble family is doing a great job with the track. It was a really fun event.”
TMAC lined up sixth in his heat Saturday. “I don’t like being in the first heat,” he says. “It’s usually heavier and narrower. Finishing third still got us in the redraw, which is important. I actually drew the pole for myself, which hardly ever happens.”
He would lead every lap. “The track was a little bit tricky,” says TMAC. “We hadn’t been there since 2008. That made it fun. We ended up even running in the middle in lapped traffic towards the end. It’s always fun when you win, but it was really a fun racetrack to race. I felt loose on the bottom, and went to the top and felt loose there too. Being the leader, it’s a guessing game really.”
The key was being locked into Sunday’s finale where TMAC drew a starting spot outside row two. “They threw us for a loop a little bit,” he says. “It started a little later and they watered it a lot. Going in, we thought it would get slicker than it did. During driver intros, I knew we were in trouble when the front straight was sticky. I knew we’d be a little tight. It was 40 laps and we wanted to hang on and not lose any spots. Unfortunately, I dropped back to sixth and then seventh. I believe we had the fastest car the last eight laps. We were able to get back to fourth, and catch third. I looked up and saw (Brian) Brown. We ran down the leaders at the end. It was a little late, and we ended up fourth.”
The story about the car is a good one. “This is the car I broke my back in back in 2015,” says TMAC of his Knoxville crash in May that year. “That ruined the back of that car (A.R.T. chassis). They quit building cars, but I had a few left. I forced myself to get into other cars when they went out of business. I sold mine to Jeremy Scadden for Carson to run. Carson drove over a guy and hit the fence at Jackson. So the front of that car was junk. I took both those cars to Scott Bonar (Midland Performance). I said the front of this one is fine, and the back of the other one is fine. See if you can cut them in half and put them together. That’s where we got this car. We call it ‘Franken-ART’. Scott did a great job. I’m really impressed with it.”
TMAC had the most fun watching Carson do well Friday. “I’ve been trying to go to tracks that are fun,” he says. “The MOWA group is a great bunch of guys. Granite City is a great track, and I wanted Carson to race there. He set a new track record there and did a great job in only really his third night in a 410. It was his first feature to start and finish. He ended up seventh and learned a lot. He did a good job. He got by Tony Stewart and Jim Moughan in his heat. Those two guys are great racers, so he did a great job. He drove a smart race and got a lot of good laps.”
McCarl Family Websites!
Driverwebsites.com develops the websites for the McCarl boys. Check out www.TerryMcCarl.com, as well as www.AustinMcCarl.com and www.CarsonMcCarl.com!
This Month in TMAC History!
Driving the family #7x, TMAC finished fourth on Knoxville’s Season Championship Night in 1989. Rick Ungar posted the quick time of the night in Guy Forbrook’s #5 at 16.350 seconds. TMAC was 8th quick with a lap of 16.812. Jerry Richert Jr., driving the Durst/Smith #1x, passed Jeff Tuttle who was in the Jordan Brothers #1 on lap 15 to take the victory. Ray Lipsey was third and Glenn Berkner from Sleepy Eye, Minnesota was fifth. Dean Chadd won the 360 feature after starting 15th.
"Tuesdays with TMAC"!
"Tuesdays with TMAC" is an up close and personal look at colorful sprint car veteran Terry McCarl. To receive "Tuesdays with TMAC", send an e-mail to sprntcar@hotmail.com with "TMAC" in the subject line.
TMAC Motorsports would like to thank sponsors SnowPlow Snow Pushers – www.TheSnowPlow.com, Country Builders Construction, Bosma Poultry, Destiny Motorsports, Simplot Grower Solutions, Price Chopper, Hiland Dairy, Searsboro Telephone Company, KC Breweries, A.R.T. Speed Equipment, Berryhill Racing, Phil and Vivian, Justice Brothers/Gillund Enterprises, Hoosier Tire, Chris Spaulding – Attorney at Law, SuperFlow, Schoenfeld Headers, Rens Trucking, NutriShop – Maple Grove, MN, HRP, All Pro Cylinder Heads, Maxim Chassis, Bob and Beulah Elder, Engler Injection, Snap On Tools, Sposato Paint, Winters, Kilani Fender, Inc., DriverWebsites.com, CM Rock, Brown & Miller Racing Solutions, Pro Shocks, Bell Helmets, Burnett's Rock and Landscaping, Octane Ink, Morgan Strawberry Farms, Dynasty Stucco, Aurora Rod Ends, Crow Safety, KSE Steering, Snyder Lawn & Landscaping, Strange Performance, Saldana Racing Products, Scribner Plastics, Waterman Fuel Pumps, Butlerbuilt and Mote Fasteners.
Photos: TMAC in Victory Lane at Lake Ozark Speedway (Terry Ford Photo)
Bill Wright
Bill W Media
Monroe, IA USA
sprntcar@hotmail.com
Twitter: @BillWMedia
Website: www.OpenWheel101.com