Austin McCarl – Getting Laps!
(Bill W) July 27, 2009 – Austin McCarl added to his 410 sprint car education last weekend, as he ran two main events in two states. He competed Friday night with the Midwest All Star Series in Illinois before competing at the Knoxville Raceway on Saturday. This week, he’ll get plenty of laps as he plans to run the 410 at US36 Raceway near Osborn, Missouri on Wednesday with the All Stars and Saturday at Knoxville. He’ll take the 360 to Crawford County Speedway in Denison, Iowa on Friday night in ASCS regional action.
Friday’s MASS show was at the Spoon River Speedway near Canton, Illinois. The sixteen year old driver competed at “The Spoon” last Fall with the Sprint Invaders and the Tom Knowles Memorial. The track conditions on the extremely high-banked 3/8 mile oval were night and day from that event. “It laid rubber last year, and this year, it was a really good racetrack,” says Austin. “It had a good top and bottom throughout the night. In the feature, you had to be good on top.”
Austin timed in Janet Holbrook’s #17A 12th in the 26-car field. Starting in the second row of his heat race, he rushed to the checkers first. “We were happy with the qualifying effort, and also the heat win,” he says. “It was a real confidence boost to be able to win the heat from the second row.”
The 30-lap feature saw Austin start outside of row five. He held his own, crossing the line on the dry-slick surface in the fourteenth position. “It got pretty slick out there,” he says. “We were moving around a little bit, and racing some guys out there. We were shuffled back a couple of spots, but we learned a lot about running the top of the track on the slick stuff. It was a good positive 30 laps of experience for us, and we loaded it back on the trailer.”
With 34 cars at Knoxville on Saturday, qualifying would be crucial. Austin timed in 32nd quick. “I screwed up qualifying, and it pretty much killed us for the heat race (7th),” he admits. “I couldn’t pass anyone from the back out there.”
A light bulb seemed to turn on in the B main. With few watching him from his 11th starting spot, Austin began to charge. He garnered the fourth and final transfer spot in the late stages. “We were fast in the B,” he says. “I could pretty much drive wherever I wanted. That was the best I’ve felt at Knoxville. It’s about time!”
A lap seven incident changed the face of his feature though. “Calvin Landis spun out in front of me, and I went into turn three full blast,” says Austin. “I saw him and I had to check up. We missed him, but I smacked the fence and it packed the right rear full of mud.”
That would prove to be the beginning of a chain of events resulting in a DNF. “There was a vibration on the restart, and I got really tight on the top out of nowhere,” says Austin. “The next couple laps I was over the cushion, and I spun it. Then the tire blew on the restart. The nerf bar on that side had been digging into it, and I didn’t know it.”
The engine was running well last weekend. “We put a new set of valve springs in it,” he says. “Last week, when we broke the rear-end, it turned 9300 (r.p.m.’s). It’s running pretty good right now.”
Austin and crew chief, Lenard McCarl, will take the #17A to US36 Raceway near Osborn, Missouri to run with the All Stars on Wednesday, before putting the 360 in for Friday’s race at Denison. The week will conclude with another run at Knoxville.
Austin would like to thank Janet Holbrook, Lenard, Kenny, Jimmy, DeBerg Concrete, AmericashAdvance.com, Burnett's Rock and Landscaping, Phil and Vivian, and Goodyear Tires for all their help!