JOLIET, ILL.-- May 9-10 After testing our new Reher-Morrison assembled
665 cubic inch GM engine, our Jasper Engines Team faced a new problem,
More Horsepower than 2008. This was not by design, however the great
products we use continue to get better, and the guys at Reher-Morrison are
doing the same. We made several adjustments and we are prepared for a
successful championship defense.
NORWALK, Ohio-- May 15-17 With rain threatening race conditions, it is
often said that you have to pay your dues before you start winning, but in
the first round of Qualifying at Summit Raceway Park, the run was one of
those that you hate to come up on the short side of. with the best
qualifying conditions sure to be Friday night, we left the starting line,
shook the tires hard and had to abort the run.
The second round of qualifying was plagued by rain, as was most of the
day, the final qualifying session was cold, 9.00pm, with track
temperatures approaching 46 degrees, this was surely going to be a long
shot at best. to our disappointment the cold was not a favorable
combination with added horsepower which resulted in another failed run and
our first DNQ in more than 2-years!
Those are the ones that hurt. To come up short after a banner championship
year, you start looking at all the little things that could have made a
difference in the run.
shift points, keeping the car more centered in20the20groove, one small
change in any of those items could have made the difference in the run.
It's no matter though it still ends our race weekend. We will move on to
the next race and tighten up our offense a little bit more.
With each run we get a little better, we have a horsepower learning curve
that is a great problem to have, and we're getting so close to giving the
rest of the field a solid run for their money. With the way we've been
going I'm looking forward to making the field in Joliet and having a
really solid summer swing.
JOLIET, ILL. -- June 12-14 WOW! What an event, the big race was trying to
qualify for the show. After qualifying finished, NHRA recorded the
quickest top-sportsman field in history. Our new problem of horsepower was
needed indeed. Our Jasper Engines GTO made 3-perfect qualifying runs
before landing the 12th spot at a blistering 6.861 @ 200.35 mph! After 3
rounds of qualifying in Top Sportsman at the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing
Series, THE quickest field in NHRA History!
52 entries showed up for the 32 car field, this was great, I have never
seen anything like it, no one participated in a recession here, This deal
rocked.
We put together a stellar package with a .017 light and a 6.91 at 198.87
mph in the first round, but lost due to driver miscue at the Finnish line.
I had the round in the bag until I made a mistake!
Regardless of error, I feel our team is ready for summer, this may have
been just what I needed to get the show rolling, I started 2008 in the
same fashion, we followed up the weekend with a trip back to Chicago for
the "Mid West Top-Sportsman Series", June 27-28, qualified #6, and went a
couple of rounds to improve on our series challenge.
We're starting to hit our stride, we had some issues that we had to work
through, but I think we're over the problems we started with. We won
rounds at the last event we went to, so I'm hoping we can keep that
momentum going in Columbus.
There are a lot of hard working people behind this, I feel fortunate to
work with some of the best in the industry to continually push ourselves
and improve our game. The level of competition is constantly increasing,
and it's our goal to be front runners in that race. I really can't say
enough about my team of sponsors, manufacturers and crew that stand behind
this program. Their hard work is what makes this program succeed.
Upcoming Events:
June 24-26 National Trails Dragway, Columbus, OH.
August 01-02 Knoll-Gas Motorsports Park U.S. 131, Martin, MI.
August 16 Mid-West Top Sportsman Series Joliet, IL.
August 28-29 Beech Bend Raceway Park, Bowling Green, KY
Jasper Motorsports / Mitchell Smith Racing partners with high-quality and
high-performance companies:
Laser Electric, Valvoline Oil, Jegs, Reh er- Morrison Racing Engines,
SpeedTech Nitrous, RacePak, Hoosier Racing Tire, Fel-Pro Gaskets, DART
Machinery, Automatic Trans Design, Autolite Spark Plugs, Mallory Ignition,
Comp Cams, VP-Racing Fuel, Aeromotive Fuel Systems, Lamb Componets,
Moroso, Diamond Pistons, Donnovan Blocks, Jasper Engines & Transmissions
