USRA/ASA Quotes & notes

**rebelracewriter** · April 3, 2006

USRA Truck fast qualifier, Craig Roper

“Horespower! We made a little change before we went out to qualify, but never got to practice it. We made a spring change because we looking for a little bit and it worked out. We got lucky. You kind of know what you’re shooting for and try one thing or another and sometimes it works out. Sometimes you just hit on a combination. The temperature change is going to be different. You’ll have dial yourself in from what you learned last night.”

Sponsors, McGinnis Welding Supply, Bradfords Transmissions, Brians Tire. ARTS Chassis w/ 350 Chevy crate motor

USRA Modified fast qualifier, Billy Becka

“It was just pure luck. The car was so tight it should have never stuck. I was worried about that Chrudimsky guy. I guess he got a little scared and forgot to drive it off into the corner(said jokingly while Chrudimsky listened in). My experience in other classes here doesn’t help much. The chassis is totally different than anything I’ve ever driven. You carry so much more speed and the cornering speed is greater. I’ve made a few changes for the race. Changed the panard bar trying to loosen it up a bit.”

Sponsors, A Auto & Truck, Insurance Auto Salvage, R&D Fleet Service, Seguin Tire, Rays Auto & Truck, Wilson County Speed. John Heil Chassis w/ a Ted Magellan motor.

ASA Series drivers on running a new track;

Jake Ryan, “We had a past champion(Larry Bendele) at the drivers meeting. He talked about the line, the track and how if you disrespect it, you’re in the fence. We tried searching for lines in practice. Didn’t change much on the car. Once we found a line that worked good, then we adjusted on the car. We mock qualified last night when it was cooler and laid down a pretty good lap. We’ve been good since we unloaded. We’ll see how qualifying goes. It’s a similar set up to what we had in Nashville, except we run a little softer spring and changed gears. We just want to do well, top five, top three. Obviously we’d like to win, but a good finish would be nice.”

Landon Cassill, “The car is set up really well. Our crew does a great job and we get a lot of support. We’ll see how it goes in qualifying. It’s hotter now and the track is going to be pretty slick. The car’s going to be a little free during the day(qualifying), but should tighten up at night. We’ve been ok in practice. We were the fastest in one session, second in another and top five in the rest.

Jay Middleton, “At a track like this, the line is most important. There’s a big transition in the corners and a few bumps you have to dodge. It takes a little while to get your line down. We got some help on what to come here with. We had to go up on springs, but other than that we were pretty much in the ballpark. We had a little problem with bottoming out, but the car was pretty stable. The car’s been real consistent and should be good in qualifying.”

Eddie Hoffman, “You try to get some information wherever you can and a baseline from that. It turned out this wasn’t much different than Nashville, so we left it pretty much the same it was. We did some adjusting(on the car) and the driver did some adjusting as well. I had to get the feel for the track and how to drive it. We’re close. It’ll take few laps. We’re looking for a top five, top three would be nice. That’s pretty much what we’re looking for and expecting out of the team.”

ASA Drivers on San Antonio Speedway

Jake Ryan, “I love the track. I think it’s neat. I grew up racing a track like this. It’s kind of like Rockford(Ill.) It’s kind of bumpy, old asphalt, but it puts the racing back in the hands of the driver. It was kind of intimidating when we first walked in here.”

Landon Cassill, “The tracks a lot of fun. I just wish we had the toter-home here for the air conditioning.”

Jay Middleton, “It’s a cool little race track. It’s a lot of fun to race on. It’s a little like IRP with the line you have to run. I can look at the wall(turn 2) and tell it might cause a problem.”

Eddie Hoffman, “This track is a lot like Rockford, our track back home, but super-sized. It’s got the same corners and feel to it. Guess it’s true everything is bigger in Texas.”

Local drivers on running/making the show.

Colt James, “I told you we’d either be heros or zeros. We found we were going the wrong way on things. If we had found that out earlier, we might have been even better.”

JC Umscheid, “Well we made it! We were the last one to make it in on time.”

Local drivers that failed to qualify.

Lloyd Alexander, “I’m a little disappointed(about not qualifying), but not too much since we just got the car finished Friday afternoon. We just didn’t get enough time to figure it out”

Eddy Wallace, “Ya, I’m disappointed. The tires were the biggest thing. It was just loose all weekend. We tried to adjust it and got it so tight it pushed like a plow.”