|
Thursday June 9 – We have decided to put our race season on hold
immediately. Chris has a very busy work schedule this summer.
Along with the high costs of traveling and our poor performances, we
have decided to regroup and consider our options for moving
forward. Once we have made a firm decision, we will post it here on
the site ASAP. Thanks everyone for your support of our race team
and we hope to have an announcement to make in the near future
regarding our racing plans.
Wednesday June 1 – Tipton, IA – We headed north to compete in
the Corn Belt Clash event. We drew the tail of a heat race and
Chris was trying to make his way forward when he ran over a grader
tire that had been knocked into the track. Chris went ahead and
finished the heat race, but when he got back to the pits, we
discovered that the grader tire had torn a scavenge fitting loose on
the oil pan, causing a bad oil leak. The engine was not hurt, but
we were done for the night.
Friday May 27 – The Show-ME 100 saw 82 cars signed in to take
time trial laps. The car was too loose in time trials which put us
at the rear of a heat race. The track took rubber early on in the
heat race which made passing nearly impossible. Chris finished way
back and was looking at starting on the tail of a b-main on
Saturday. The team decided to pack it in and head home while the
car was still in one piece.
May 16 - It
has been a cold wet spring, but we have managed to work in a few
races between the weather and work. Chris and Mike traveled to
Topeka, Kansas to the Heartland Park Speedway on Friday April 8th.
Chris started on the front row of his heat race and was running a
solid 2nd
place to Terry Phillips when a late caution put Jesse Stovall on his
bumper. Chris was not able to hold off Stovall and ended up running
3rd
which put him on the pole of the first B-main. Chris jumped out to
the lead in the B-main and was pulling away when the engine began to
miss. Chris pulled in to save the engine. We found out after the
race that a piece of debris had hit the crank trigger wheel and
broke off one of the pickup leads causing the engine to misfire. It
was tough luck when we had a car good enough to make the show.
On
Saturday May 9th,
we traveled to the Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, MO. Chris drew
the tail of a heat race and made his way up to 6th
to earn the 2nd
row of a B-main. Chris needed to make 2nd
to transfer to the A and was running 3rd
when a caution flew with 3 laps remaining. Chris got up on the
wheel and raced his way to 2nd
to make the show. In the A-main, Chris struggled on a slick surface
to get the car going forward. Finally after a late caution with 6
laps remaining, Chris found a good line and passed several cars the
last few laps to salvage a 16th
place finish. A very tough show with 55 cars and with Chris still
shaking off the rust, we were happy to make the show and get a
finish.
On
Saturday May 14th,
we traveled to the DLRA/MLRA event at the Springfield Raceway in
Springfield, MO. Chris started outside the front row of the heat
and took the lead for the first 5 laps before Jesse Stovall worked
past Chris. Chris was cruising in 2nd
spot when a late caution flew. Chris had to choose a lane for the
double file restart and he picked the inside lane. This was a very
bad choice as Chris got shuffled back to 6th
in about 2 laps. This put us deep in a B-main and the track was
just not racy enough for us to make it up to 2nd
spot to transfer. We missed the show due to a bad decision of lane
choice for the heat restart as the 2nd
spot would have put us in the A-main. Chris was very disappointed
in the mistake he made which cost us a spot in the show. The car
was working decent so we are happy that we have the speed needed to
make the show…now we need to get the rust shook off the driver and
have a little good luck!
This weekend, we plan to travel to the Thunderhill Speedway in
Mayetta, KS on Saturday May 21st
for an MLRA event. We then plan to attend the Show-ME 100 at the
Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, MO on May 27th
and 28th.
April 7, 2011
Hello everyone. We apologize for the long time we have gone without
updating our website. After a very hectic winter, we are finally
ready to start our 2011 racing season. We plan to kick things off
by attending a pair of MLRA events on April 8th
at the Heartland Park Raceway in Topeka, Kansas and April 9th
at the Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, MO. We have posted a
tentative schedule of events on the website, so please take a look.
This summer will be a very busy summer for Chris at John Deere, so
our racing plans will be subject to change at any time, so please be
sure and check our schedule and our updates often as we will do our
best to keep everyone informed about our racing plans. The very
high costs of fuel and travel will also weigh into our racing
decisions. We are hoping to have some good racing luck and to get
our race season off to a good start this weekend. We will post our
results early next week.
Sunday August 22,
2010 – State Fair Speedway –
Sedalia, MO
After finally getting our engine back from having it
repaired, we headed to the track for the MLRA event at the State
Fair. Chris noticed noise in the drivetrain when he took the car
through tech and the guys discovered that the ballspline shaft in
the transmission was cracked and twisted and very close to a major
failure. They quickly made repairs and Chris hotlapped the car with
no issues. The race track was very dry and slick and one laned on
the bottom for the heat race. Chris started outside row two and as
the field entered the first turn, the cars on the front row
tangled. Chris slowed down to miss the incident and was hit and
turned around from behind and ended up stopped against the guard
rail in turn 1. Chris was able to restart but had to go to the rear
due to the incident. Chris fought up to a 5th
place finish which put him on the front row of the B-main. Chris
jumped into the lead exiting turn 2 in the B-main but the torque arm
broke at the end of the back straight and caused the driveshaft to
fail. Chris coasted into the pits. The crew was able to make quick
repairs and Chris took a provisional to start the A-main. Chris had
passed a few cars in the early laps but the track was one laned and
rubbered up on the bottom so passing was very tough. Chris had to
spin to avoid a car that got crossed up in front of him entering
turn 3 and he decided to park the car to avoid any additional
possibility for damage. It was yet another night of tough luck for
us in a very long 2010 season.
After the races the team got together and we decided that we had
overspent our budget and the cost of repair parts to fix what we
hurt during the fair race along with our horrible luck has led us to
make the decision to park the car for the remainder of the 2010
season. We have removed all races from our schedule for the rest of
the year. We just cannot afford to throw any more money at the car
and with the costs of travel and they way our luck has been, we
think we need to cut our losses and begin getting ready to try again
next season. We would like to say a big thanks to all of our fans
and sponsors/supporters and want everyone to know that we do intend
to be racing again in 2011 after we get a chance to get our bills
paid and get our equipment freshened up and ready to go.
We
will post news and updates here as they happen.
Chris Smyser at 24 Raceway Moberly Mo.
June 29,
2010
This week, we will NOT be attending the events we had scheduled on
July 1st,
2nd
and 3rd
at Oskaloosa, Omaha and Corning. We have no engine right now as
ours is being repaired and we also have to make repairs to Reid’s
backup engine after Moberly last Thursday. We are unsure right now
exactly when we will have our engine back so we have marked the
remaining races in the month of July as tentative on our schedule
and our schedule page has been updated. We will post our plans here
on the site as soon as we can get a better idea of when we will have
our engine back. It is very frustrating to miss a race close to
home and also to have a car that is working good and not be able to
go race it. We will just have to be patient and try to come back
strong once we get our engine back. Stay tuned here and we will
post our plans as soon as we know what they are.
Saturday June 26,
2010
–
Since we had no engine for our car, we did not attend the race at
the Springfield Raceway.
Friday June 25,
2010
– State Fair Speedway – Sedalia, MO
Night #2 of the 3 night weekend found Chris climbing behind the
wheel of Reid Millard’s #14 GRT machine as we had no engine for our
own #25s Lazer GTO. Chris finished 3rd
in the heat race to earn the 10th
starting spot in the A-main. Chris was unfamiliar with how to
adjust the GRT so the crew took a guess at how much to tighten the
car for the A-main. The car was decent in the early laps, but
contact with Kelly Boen messed up the toe-in on the front end and
the car would not turn around the bottom as well as it had in the
early laps. Chris moved to the cushion and held his own until the
last half of the race when the car got very loose exiting the
turns. Chris held on for a 14th
place finish. Not a very good run, but at least we had the
opportunity to race. Another huge thanks goes to Reid Millard for
allowing us to race his car.
Thursday June 24,
2010
– 24 Raceway – Moberly, MO
The MLRA Thunder Tour rolled into the 24 Raceway for the first of 3
straight nights of racing. Chris started 3rd
in his heat race and raced furiously with Terry Phillips in the
early laps before giving up the spot and then losing the 4th
spot late in the going as he was fighting with a tight race car. We
ended up on the front row outside of the B-main and Chris fell into
the 2nd
spot behind Ricky Frankel exiting turn 2 on the first lap as Frankel
did a slide job on Chris and made contact with the left front
causing Chris to lift off the throttle to prevent a crash. Chris
had the better car and took the lead on the 3rd
lap with a slide job entering turn 3. Chris was driving away to the
B-main win when disaster struck. The engine we had borrowed from
Reid Millard broke a valve as Chris raced down the back straight,
ending our night.
Wednesday June 23,
2010
This weekend it looks as though the weather is finally going to
cooperate and allow us some sunshine to race in. We will be heading
out for a 3 night grind of MLRA events in Missouri. On Thursday
June 24, we will head close to home to the 24 Raceway in Moberly,
MO. Following that we will be heading to the State Fair Speedway in
Sedalia, MO on Friday night June 25 and then as long as we still
have everything in one piece we will head south to the Airport
Raceway in Springfield, MO on Saturday night June 26. We still do
not have our primary engine back to race with, so we will be using
Reid Millard’s backup engine for the weekend so we really want to
say a big thanks to Reid for allowing us to keep on racing while our
engine is being repaired. Let’s hope we can have a good weekend and
race hard and stay up front! Stay tuned here for the latest Smyser
Racing news and updates.
Friday June 11,
2010
The weekly races at the State Fair Speedway in Sedalia, MO have been
cancelled due to low car counts and low attendance, so we will not
be racing this Friday or next Friday. We have updated our schedule
to remove the weekly Sedalia events, so check it out and stay tuned
here for the latest news and updates.
Thursday June 10,
2010
The Thursday June 10 event at Allison, IA was rained out and will be
rescheduled. We will plan to attend as long as we do not have a
conflict.
Wednesday June 9,
2010 – Fayette County Raceway –
West Union, IA
The Cornbelt Clash rolled into the Fayette County Raceway for a
$2,000 to win event. Our night started off very badly as we could
not get the starter to roll over when we attempted to start the
car. We immediately dove into the electrical system and began
attempting to troubleshoot the problem. The battery indicated good
voltage and we began to look at switches, wiring, solenoid, etc. We
worked feverishly all night attempting to solve the problem and
ended up missing hot laps and our heat race. As the A-feature
rolled to the track, we thought we had the problem solved and when
we attempted to start the car, all the power went out. We again
checked the battery which had been indicating good voltage on our
volt meter and it was now completely dead. After the A-feature, we
installed a different battery and the car was fixed. Evidently, the
battery had just enough voltage to indicate that it was good on a
volt meter, but it was in fact bad. We wasted the whole night
chasing all of the rest of the electrical system when we could have
made a quick battery change and been racing. This is just another
of the unbelievable bad luck situations that we have seemed to find
ourselves in over the last few seasons. You cannot believe how
frustrated the team was and how hard we worked. We finished in 2nd
spot at Sedalia on Friday and the car was in fine working
condition. All we did was do our routine maintenance and go to the
track thinking we were ready to race. I guess we will chalk it up
to experience and move on as that is all we can do.
Monday June
7,
2010
This
week, we plan to head right back into action on Wednesday June 9 at
the Cornbelt Clash event at the Fayette County Raceway in West
Union, IA. Then on Thursday night June 10 we plan to head to
another Cornbelt Clash event at the Highway 3 Raceway in Allison,
IA. As long as we are still in one piece from the previous 2 nights
we then will plan to wrap up our weekend at the State Fair Speedway
in Sedalia, MO on Friday night June 11. Let’s hope for some dry
weather, some racy tracks and some good racing luck and maybe we can
break through and get a win!
Friday June 4,
2010 – State Fair Speedway – Sedalia,
MO
After working hard all week to install Reid Millard’s back up engine
in our Lazer machine, Mike and the team met up with Chris to compete
in the Friday night show at Sedalia. Chris started from the pole of
the heat race and ran away to take the win and earn the outside
front row starting spot. Chris jumped into the lead at the drop of
the green and led the first lap but hooked a rut in turns 1-2 on the
2nd
lap and had to slow down just enough to let polesitter Matt Johnson
slide up into the lead. Chris ran down Johnson and the two waged a
fierce battle for the lead over the final 10 laps of the non-stop 20
lap race racing through lapped traffic with Chris pulling alongside
Johnson several times in the corners. Chris was never able to get
enough traction on the low side to take over the lead and had to
settle for a strong 2nd
place finish. We had the faster car for the last half of the race,
but we just did not have the track position. We are definitely
improving the race car and we are looking forward to continuing to
race and learn and get faster. Again, a huge thanks to Reid Millard
for graciously allowing us to use his spare powerplant, and a big
thanks to Mike, Mark and Chet for working feverishly all week to get
the car ready to go.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
We are happy to announce that we
will be racing this Friday June 4 at the State Fair Speedway in
Sedalia, MO. With our primary engine damaged on Sunday at the I-80
Speedway and our backup engine not yet ready, we were looking at
having to sit out several weeks until we could get our program back
in order. Reid Millard has graciously allowed us to use his backup
power plant so that we can continue to race and work on improving
our performance. Huge thanks to Reid for stepping in and helping us
out! Mike, Mark, Chet and the guys will be working hard at the shop
to get the engine installed and have the car ready for Friday
night. We plan to take it one race at a time as we move forward.
We will keep our schedule updated and keep posting our plans here on
our website. Stay tuned and wish us luck!
Friday May 7,
2010 – State Fair Speedway –
Sedalia, MO
Chris and the team traveled to Sedalia where the rain finally stayed
away long enough to get a race in. Chris grabbed a 2nd
place finish in his heat race to earn the 3rd
starting spot for the 20 lap A-main. At the drop of the green in
the A-main, Chris rolled to the 2nd
spot only to give it up a lap later. Chris held 3rd
until the halfway point when the first caution flew. On the
restart, Shad Badder drove past Chris and also all the way to 2nd
spot and began battling with David Turner for the lead. The caution
flew again with 5 laps remaining and Chris was sitting in the 4th
spot. The car was too tight in the center of the corner on the top
side of the track, so Chris went to the bottom on the restart to try
and gain some ground. The car was better on the bottom and Chris
battled hard for the 3rd
spot but came up a little short and finished 4th.
The track was slick and black and the car was a little too tight.
This is good because we can easily loosen the car up to make it roll
the center of the corner better and this should get us closer to
contending for the win. PHOTOS
This Friday we
plan to return to Sedalia for night #3 of the weekly racing series.
We then will head southwest to the Nevada Speedway in Nevada, MO to
compete in the MLRA event on Saturday May 15.
The Smyser
Racing Team would like to thank our sponsors – Heartland
Motorsports.com, Peterson Fluid Systems, The Brake Man, Fluid
Filtration Systems Inc., MH Equipment Co., Fast Track Photos, Out
Pace Racing Products, Mike Crump Racing and Sales, Lancaster Machine
Shop, Lazer Chassis, Fast Shafts, Weld Racing, Allstar Performance
and Millard Family Chapels.
Friday April 16,
2010 – State Fair Speedway –
Sedalia, MO
We traveled to the State Fair Speedway for the first weekly event
held since the 2003 season. A stout field of 20 late models was on
hand for opening night. Chris started from the rear of his heat
race and was chasing down the 2nd and 3rd
place cars when the right rear wheel got full of mud and caused a
severe vibration. Chris had to pull in and take a DNF to save the
car which put us on the tail of the 20 car 20 lap A-main. Chris
immediately went on the charge in the A and had made his way to the
top 10 by the half way point when a car spun directly in front of
him. Chris had nowhere to go and had to stop to avoid a crash,
which put us back on the tail end of the field. Chris raced his way
back up to the 8th spot when a red flag flew for a hard
crash by Al Purkey. Chris was looking at a green-white-checker
finish to try and grab some more spots, but the race was called due
to time limit. We were not happy with 8th place, but we
were happy that the car was working better. We were able to pass
some cars and learn more about the car, and we will look to continue
improving as we move forward.
This Friday April 23, we will return to Sedalia to try and get a
better finish and to keep on making our 25s machine faster night
after night. We have updated our schedule for the month of April so
be sure and check it out and stay tuned here for the latest Smyser
Racing news and updates.
PHOTOS
Saturday April 10 – Lucas Oil Speedway –
Wheatland, MO
The MLRA thunder tour rolled into its home track on Saturday and a
tough field of 48 cars was on hand. Chris started 6th in
his heat race and fought a very loose race car in the early laps.
The car spun and he went to the tail and had made his way back up to
the 6th spot when he was hit from behind entering turn 3
and spun out. Our bad heat run put us deep in the first B-main.
Chris was starting 11th and needed to make the 3rd
spot in only 12 laps. The guys worked hard on the car and made
several changes to tighten it up. Chris raced hard and the car was
much better but we came up one spot short, finishing 4th.
We started the night off on the wrong foot and it cost us making the
show, but the car came home in one piece. We will take what we
learned and hopefully continue to gain on making the car faster.
This Friday we plan to head to the State Fair Speedway in Sedalia,
MO for the first weekly race put on by new promoters Reid Millard
and Jason Bodenhamer. It should be a great night and we are hoping
for a better performance. Wish us luck!
PHOTOS
Saturday April 3 – I-80 Speedway – Omaha,
NE
The MLRA opener was on tap with a stout field of 50 cars. Chris got
a bad start in the heat race and had to fight his way back to finish
5th where he started. In the B-main, Chris was running
in the 3rd spot when the first caution flew. On the
restart, Chris pulled ahead of Chris Spieker and dove low into turn
1 attempting to pass for the lead. The nose of the car clipped the
inside guard rail and sent Chris for a spin. Chris restarted at the
rear and was passing cars when he had a cut left rear tire. Chris
took a provisional starting spot in the A-main and started 25th.
The track was hard and slick in turns 1 and 2 and on the high side
in 3 and 4. The track was heavy and rutted from the middle down in
turns 3 and 4. The car was just too loose in the black and was
tight on the throttle in the heavy rutty part of the track. Chris
was able to move to 21st but could do no better. The new
2010 Lazer car was racy in the heat and B-main, but Chris was a
little rusty and made a mistake in the B. Then we just did not make
enough adjustments to get the car right for the track in the A. We
were able to finish the night with the car in one piece and we will
do our homework and work to get the car working better for the
coming weekend.
We will be traveling south to the Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland,
MO for the MLRA event on Saturday April 10. Let’s hope we can start
to get our Lazer machine dialed in and headed to the front this
weekend.
Click here for photos from I-80 Speedway
March 26
Mother nature has kept us in the house for yet another
weekend. The MLRA event has been rescheduled for July 9-10.
Hopefully the weather will improve and we will be able to compete in
the MLRA event scheduled for Saturday April 3 at the I-80 Speedway
in Omaha, NE. We have updated our schedule and filled in some event
dates, so check it out and we will see you at the races!!
March 23
Well, Mother Nature kept a firm grip on the weather and kept us in
the house for another weekend. The MLRA event at Coffeyville was
“snowed out”. The show has been rescheduled for March 26 and 27.
We will be there if the weather will cooperate.
March 3, 2010
Well it’s been a very LONG, COLD, SNOWY winter, but the days are
finally getting longer and the deep freeze is beginning to thaw.
That can only mean one thing, that the race season is about here!
We have our tentative 2010 schedule up on the site now and we will
continue to fill in dates as we move into the season. We intend to
try our luck following the highly competitive MLRA Series in 2010.
Last year, we missed two points paying races en route to a solid 6th
place finish in the final year point standings. This year we intend
to do better!
We will be racing a brand new 2010 Lazer Chassis this season and we
anticipate that the things we learned in 2009 will help us be much
better right out of the box in 2010. Chris will be working closely
with Kyle Berck to improve our performance and to hopefully help
both race teams improve by sharing information back and forth. A
big thanks to Jim Bernheisel and Kyle Berck for their efforts to
help us get our Lazer cars moving to the front.
Our first event of the season is right around the corner. We will
be heading south to Coffeyville, OK to compete in the MLRA opener on
March 19 and 20. We are hard at work putting the finishing touches
on our Clements powered Lazer hot rod. We will have photos up on
the site as soon as we can get the car finished up and we will begin
updating the site regularly as we move forward into the season.
Stay tuned here for any news and updates.
|
