Once again we capped off our year at the Oval Nationals in Perris Ca. Uncle Ty, Chance and Dad were along for the four day event and Ray Stansberry was on hand once again turning the wrenches on the chassis. Ray couldn’t make it out for the Wednesday night practice so he hooked us up with Jimmy Crawford. Jimmy is an accomplished sprint car driver who ironically drives a black and red #3 most of the time. Jimmy had us on the track most of the night making little changes to the chassis and letting me learn what those changes were doing to the car. He was easy to work with and I really appreciated his help.

The Oval Nationals always has the best non-wing guys in the country with the latest equipment, and here we were with the same motor we ran last year. I turned my fastest two qualifying laps of the year but they still didn’t stack up very well against the national guys. I missed the transfer out of the C by one spot on night one and by two spots out of the heat on night two. We were running around mid pack in the Semi when the pan-hard bar broke and sent me to the pits. Then during hot laps of the final night we lost the rear brakes and I ended up in the wall. Before the Nationals I had finished every race in the last 9 outings, but it seems that some of the old parts caught up with us this week.

I really enjoyed how the car was handling by the final night and I also liked the cockpit adjustable left rear shock that Ray loaned us (it was the only shock that survived the crash). I want to Thank Ray for his continued help and Jimmy for his help throughout the weekend. I’m glad Ty and Chance came along. It’s always more fun with the family around. Thanks to Mom and Dad for their support and for letting me drain my bank account. I especially want to Thank my sponsors for all the help they gave us this year; Ron Nicholson and The Toiyabe Group, Josh Blakeley and Blakeley Landscaping, SoCal Performance for the fuel, Rob Pitts and TBC for the gas and graphics, and Frank Giamonna at Santa Rosa Auto Parts, for all the great parts they provided this year. Thank you to all the teams and individuals who took the time to offer advice and help throughout the year. I hope I can return the favor some day.

We learned a lot this year and have an idea of what we need to do to get faster for next year. We found out that not only are we down on horsepower, but we’re about 150 lbs heavier than the fast guys. I know we can’t afford all the trick stuff, but hopefully we can get the motor freshened up and cut a few pounds off the car by next year.

I hope you all enjoyed this season and I’m looking forward to putting on a better show for you next year. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Marty