Sorry for not writing the last 2 weeks. After two weeks with top 5 finishes the team was looking forward to going to the track. After alot of talk between Tom Jr and Sr on the set up of the racecar, some changes were made to hopefully make the car stronger. Another change the team had to work with was Topless Night for the second time this season. On topless night all cars have to run without the roof on the racecar. After qualifying for the night was completed the team found out that the changes made were the right way to go. For the first time in 2010 Tom set fast time in qualifying at a 21.31 to the second place car at a 21.44. With the fastest time in qualifying this made Tom's confidence level go up and once again in the feature it showed. Scheduled to start the feature in the 3rd position the field rolled onto the speedway. With the polesitter not making the call this moved everyone up 1 position, starting the 59 in 2nd. As the green flew the field flew down into turn 1 with Tom right behind the leader. After a couple laps Tom got a run off of turn 2 and looked to the outside in turns 3&4. As the field came off of turn 4 Tom had powered to the lead down the front straightaway. For the second time this year the 59 car was out front with the 37j of Joe Tracy right behind. After a couple of caution flags and a couple of late race charges by the 37j that Tom was able to hold off, the 59 car crossed the finish line in the first position. After a fantastic night at the races the whole teams looks forward to next Saturday night July 10th. The next race will be another first for the Jem Racing team, next saturday is called the ALL OUT 100. Only the top 20 cars in points are invited to this features only event. And the starting line up with be a fan draw for the inversion number. So with another great week in the record books, Tom and the team would once again like to thank everyone helping and supporting us this season. Hope to see you at the track soon.
Coming off a personal best finish of 2nd the week before the team was set to improve on that Saturday night. All the events on this night were part of the Elk Mooneyham Memorial races, which offer bonus money to all the features winners. After qualifying for the night was completed the line up was posted and the 59 car was starting in the 1st position fo the second straight week. With the AC Delco feature being the last event of the night the track was very dry and slick. This type of racetrack has always been one of Tom's favorites, so it seemed that everything was going the teams way tonight. At the drop of the green the 59 car pulled out of the gate strong and lead the field down the frontstretch. Unfortunately this would be a race plagued with over 10 yellow flags in the 15 lap event. Every restart Tom was on his game and didnt give anything up on the restarts. As the field took the white flag the win was so close, but as the field went through turns 1&2 the caution came out once again. This set up a 1 lap shoot out for the win. On the restart Tom got a good run, but stumbled a little through 1&2 letting the 37j of Joe Tracy get a run down the backstretch on the outside. As the filed went through 3&4 Tom got a strong run off the final turn to capture his first win of the season and the teams first ever win at Delaware International Speedway. The whole team would once again like to thank everyone supporting us this season. Victory lane pictures will be posted soon, and the next event for the 59 car is next Saturday night at the Delaware International Speedway.
With the team progressively getting better each week this season, this week was no exception. The 59 car qualified in the 7th position out of 25 cars. After the field was handicapped by point averages Tom was starting in the 1st position for the nights feature event. The Delaware International Speedway uses a handicapping system by your season point average for the guys that time in the top ten positions during qualifying on a regular Saturday night. As the feature began Tom jumped out to an early lead. With a feature plagued with many cautions at the start of the event made it tough for Tom to get into a rhythm. After leading the first three laps the 37j of Joe Tracy came from the 5th position running the outside line to challange Tom for the lead. As the feature went by with many more yellow flags the 59 and 37j put on a great show for the crowd racing side by side for the remainder of the event. At the finish the 37j took the win and Tom was a close 2nd. With the teams best finish of the season, and having a shot to win on this night is going to make us work that much harder to stay up in the front of the pack. Thanks again to everyone helping us this season. Our next event is Saturday night June 12th at the Delaware International Speedway. Gates open at 5pm with warm-ups going off at 7pm.
After a solid run the week before, the team was excited for the nights racing events. With the URC Sprints in town for their second appearance of the season at Delaware International this left all the support divisions without a warm-up session for the night. So the team had to have the car ready for qualifying which was the first event of the night for the AC-Delco Modified class. Tom went out and ran some smooth quick laps in his timed hot lap sessions, and was very pleased with the racecar. When the times were posted the 59 car had timed 5th fastest out of 25 cars. The lineup for the feature event was also posted and Tom was set to start in the 6th position. The AC Delco feature rolled out onto the speedway at about 10:30pm just after intermission. After a couple warm up laps to run the track in, it was time to go racing. On the start, the car directly in front of Tom was real slow to get going and caused him to lose a few positions down the front straightaway. As the field went through the first turn Tom got to the lowside of the slow car and began to go forward again down the backstretch then the yellow flag came out. Since the yellow came out before one lap was complete the field was lined up in the original starting line up. After the first start Tom knew what to do on this restart to avoid getting jammed up behind the slow car again. On the restart Tom made a hard left turn coming off of turn 4 to get pass the slow car in front of him. As the field came off of turn 2 Tom was up to the 5th position and gaining on 4th place. After another yellow on lap 10 Tom got a run on the 4th place car and made the pass off turn 4 to gain the 4th position. As the lap few laps went by the 59 car caught the third place car but ran out of time as the race came to an end. After going through tech inspection the 59 car was credited with its best finish at Delaware International. After a great night at the track the Jem Racing team prepare for the next event on the schedule, which is next Sat. night 6/5 at the Delaware International Speedway. Once again Tom and the whole Jem Racing team would like to thank all our sponsors and supporters this season.
After a few rough weeks the Jem Racing team made some drastic changes to the car to help make the car better for the driver. After a good 9th place finish on Topless Night on May 15th the team and driver were still looking for more out of the racecar. With overcast skies and a 40 percent chance of rain the races were still able to be run and the 59 car was quick all night long. After timing in the 6th position out of 24 cars the team was set for the feature event. Starting in the 7th position was a good place to be for the start of the nights feature. With Tom still not having a 65 point average this season, he is not able to be one of the cars to get handicapped for feature starting position. At the drop of the green Tom got a good run on the outside of turns 1&2 to go from seventh to sixth position. As the race went on the 59 car was all over the 5th place car trying to get by. With a yellow flag coming out with 3 laps to go it gave Tom yet another chance to get into 5th. On the restart going through 1&2 the car in front of Tom slowed causing him to check up and letting the guy in 7th get a run on the outside. The last 2 laps were run with Tom and Jon Calloway racing side by side for the 6th postion. At the line Tom ended up in the 7th position by only 1 foot. With a strong run the team looks forward to next weekend. On Memorial Day weekend the 59 car will be at Delaware International racing.
With a very threatening weather forecast for saturday we headed south for the nights racing program. As practice was set to begin a light rain began to fall on the track grounds but it seemed that everyone wanted to race because everyone headed out for practice despite the shower. After qualifying was completed the #59 car qualified in the 8th position. With the first three features completed it was time for the AC Delco modified feature to hit the track. After the first three features the track had become very dry and slick, so it was going to be very hard to pass. On the start Tom got jammed up going through turns 1&2 and this caused a few cars to get by. As the race went on Tom moved back up to 9th. As he went through 1&2 the car directly in front of Tom lost the handle and spun out. With a quick evasive manuever he was able to miss the spinning car, but the cars behind Tom werent so lucky colliding with the spun car bringing out a yellow flag. On the restart Tom held the 8th position to the last lap. As the field went through turns 3&4 the 7th place car drove into the corner to hard an spun on the slick surface, and for the second time Tom made a great move to get pass the spinning car. By making that pass Tom finished the night in the 7th position. Before the night started Tom was in a 4 way tie for the 11th position in points. With another solid top ten finish the 59 car should make a move forward in the point standings. Thanks again to everyone helping on th #59 car this season. Next event will be this coming Saturday May 1st at Delaware International with hot laps starting at 7pm.
With the feature finish opening night still on the whole teams mind, everybody stepped up their efforts for this weeks race. With windy and very cool temperatures all day the team prepared the car for the nights event. With the URC Sprint cars racing at delmar our class does not get a warm up session for the night. With no hot laps, Tom went out for qualifying without a good idea of how the car was going to react. After the session was over Tom and the 59 car qualified in the 11th position out of 23 cars. Looking back at the timesheet from qualifying Tom was .70 seconds off the leader, with the last place car only 1.2 seconds behind the leader. That just shows how competitive the class is to compete in. So after some changes to the chassis the feature was set to begin. As the green flew the car came up to speed and was able to pass a couple of cars in the first few laps. With only one caution flag at lap 7 of the feature, it made for a very quick race. When it was all said and done Tom had finished in the 8th position. After post race inspection of the top 5 finishers was completed the team found out they were credited with the 7th finishing position. The feature winner was found to have a tire infraction and was disqualified moving everybody up one position. Next event for th 59 car is next Saturday night April 24th at Delaware International, with races starting at 7pm.
After a good night of practice the team was ready to go for the first race of 2010. Focusing on qualifying set up most of practice night helped the #59 car qualify in the 5th position. Thanks to Fran from All Tech Automotive for a great engine tune up for opening nights event. At the start of the feature Tom was able to grab the 4th position with a strong outside move through turns 1& 2. After a few yellow flags we finally got a longer green flag run which helped give Tom a feel for how the car was truly handling. The track proved to be one groove on the outside which made it real difficult for passing. Racing hard for the 4th position with only 3 laps to go Tom drove into turn 3 a little to hard and hit a rut in the track which caused him to loose the handle on the car. After the spin Tom restarted the race in 20th position with just 2 laps to go. On this night the team learned alot about the racetrack, and had a strong run going before the spin. After taking many notes about track conditions and driver comments about the handling of the car we will prepare for the next event Saturday April 17th at 7pm. Thanks again to everyone who is helping with Jem Racing team this season, and we look forward to seeing everyone at the track.
On the first saturday of April, the Delaware International Speedway holds a test and tune session for competitors to shake down and prepare their cars for 2010. With temps in the high 60s all day it made for a great evening of practice. With about 10 cars in the AC Delco class for practice it would give the driver and team a good idea of how they were compared to the competition. After the first session of hot laps the car was good and the times showed as Tom clocked in 3rd fastest. After the session Tom and the team went over how the car felt, so that we could make adjustments on the car. In the next three sessions the car progressively got better and the #59 car was timed 2nd fastest the remainder of the night. The team would like to send a special thank you to our newest sponsor and engine tuner, Fran from ALL-TECH Automotive for a very strong motor to start the season. With a good practice night now behind us the car will be checked over and set-up for the first race of 2010. Hope to see everyone at the track on April 10th. Thanks again from everyone at JEM Racing.
After completely our second full season of competition the team is already preparing for 2010. After changing over to a Bicknell chassis car in 2009, and having great success we will be staying with the same car for the upcoming season. Capturing 6 heat race wins, and the teams first ever feature event win back on August 29th at Bridgeport we head into 2010 with alot of confidence. As of the middle of January the car has been completely disassembled. Now in pieces the car will be thoroughly washed and inspected before reassembly will occur. In 2010 the team will be switching gears and going south from the teams shop on saturday nights this season. With much success at Delaware International the 3 times the team competed there in 2009 we have decided to make that our weekly track in 2010. As soon as the schedule is posted from the track we will post it on the main page of the site. Hope everyone is having a good off season, and look forward to seeing everyone when the season begins.
