Austin & The Moose Crew had such positive energy heading into last nights race at Perris Auto Speedway.
The team had regrouped , put together a backup car (and gave it all they had to give to get the happenings of the past race at The Pas, where the 92 Moose Car was victim of being slammed into the turn 4 wall while leading out of their thoughts. ( this incident found it necessary to order a chassis to replace this one that is completely junk )
Daytime temps in the desert can be unbearable and yesterday held up to that - as when the 20 USAC/CRA drivers climbed into their machines, Mother Natures heat index had the thermometer registering in the 100's. During hot laps Austin felt that he might be feeling additional heat inside the car as he saw massive plumes of white smoke billowing from the engine area. Thinking that he could of been on fire, Austin scurried the 92 into the pits. where the crew found that the concern was just oil overflow splashing on the hot headers and that everything else was A Ok. It's time to challenge "the clock" and for several races, Austin has missed the top spot by 100th's of second to the All Time Series Champion, Damion Gardner. But finally, last night Austin collected the Woodland Auto Display "Quick Time $100.00 award". A huge thank you to the Woodlands for all they do for this series.
The support of several companies has made the series able to hand out crisp $ 100 bills to the heat race winners at each event. SO, hats off to:
Driver Sponsored By
Heat 1 - Matt McCarthy - Flowdynamics
Heat 2 - Damion Gardner - Huntington Beach Glass & MIrror
Heat 3 - Brody Roa - All Coast Construction
Hard Luck - Austin Grabowski - Billsjerky.co
Hard Charger - Matt McCarthy - Memory of Chet & Jim Gardner
6th in Qualifying - Logan Williams - Memory of Shawn McDonald
By venture of qualifying 1st quick, Austin started 6th in the 7 car line up and forged his way to a 2nd place finish, securing his qualifying time for the Main event line up.
It was a pleasure for the teams and we are sure the fans to see the starting grid for the Main Event line up on the front straightaway and the drivers introduced 1 by 1. This we feel gives the fans ( especially newbies to the sport ) to get a glimpse of each and every driver before they strap into their 410 cubic inch fire breathing machines to do battle for 30 laps.
Whereas it is a an honor being recognized as " the fastest" it then lines you up in the 6th position for the Main Event ) as the top 6th timers are inverted, to make the competition more competitive for the fans ) Matt Mitchell, who started on the front row got the jump on the field and had a massive led on the field - Austin doing battle with his younger brother lap after lap for 2nd was finally able to take the 2nd spot and then with 7 laps to go disaster happened, as from what the crew can determine, a bolt on the steering arm broke sending Austin in to the turn 1 wall. What you would think would only be damaging the front end, the hit Austin took was so hard ( and thank God Austin is ok ) that the collision took out the front axle, front brakes, steering arm, driveshaft, birdcages, rear end, all shocks, a section of the rear chassis ( which hopefully can be repaired , as another new chassis is SURE NOT SOMETHING THAT IS DO ABLE AT THIS POINT ) and who knows what else. As the field restarted with just 7 to go, leader Matt bobbled in turns 1 -2 loosing the lead to Damion Gardner. Damion went on to claim the checkered flag. Congrats to Damion and the Alexander Team.
In closing Moose Racing has not found it necessary to miss a night of competition in over 20 yers, but with the events of the last 2 races, the team is having to regroup yet again, and hopefully find the funds to rebuild yet another new car. As this team has never come out and asked :
If you or a company that you know are looking to be a marketing partner of Austin Williams and the Moose Racing team, 1 of the top teams in promoting sprint car racing on the West Coast please contact Tom or Lauri Sertich (lauri@spintcars.com or 714-394-9292)