#73 Limited Sportsman 2004&2006 Sportsman Division Champions Thompson International Speedway Thompson Connecticut

- 5/2/08

2006 Results & Points 2005 Results & Points 2004 Results & Points Schedules Thompson Press Releases Track Weather Links Team  Leadfoot's Bio Crew Sponsors Simlick Reality      Voice Mail # 1-860-848-5921 Pettit Racing Engines      Shop # 1-860-345-3339 Rayline Racing Bodies The Joie of Seating Becoming a Sponsor (Contact Larry) T-Shirt Sponsors --Quaker Lane Tools of RI --Pauls TV of Groton CT --Sound Medical Associates of Ledyard --Outback Steakhouse (NL, CT) --John Simlick, Coldwell Banker Realty of Ledyard --Liberty Hill Home Inspections of New London --Dr. Robert Barnett, Gales Ferry Chiropractic Photos Photos of Thompson Speedway Photos By Cliff Moon Merchandise T-Shirts Pens Contact barnettracing@comcast.net To Order   Email Us      -Driver: Larry      -Web Master: Jon Comments

Stop in and visit! 217 Boston Post Road East Lyme, CT 06333 Crew Update 5/1/08: Work Work and more work.  Still Keeping busy over here, The car will be displayed at Post Road Market in East Lyme on the 10th of May, I will have more info on that posted later today. Icebreaker Race Report. 1st loser....well that is one way to look at it! Congrats to the Gleason clan for putting a pretty darn good car out there. They deserved the win. We settled for second place. Practice started a bit late on Saturday the 5th due to rain overnight. First practice went off without a hitch. During the second practice session we matched our fastest times we ever ran last season. No more practice for us. I headed up to spot for the Brady Tour Mod Team as Bobby Santos would be racing their car for the Icebreaker. In our heat race Jesse started up front in his 81 car, my race would be spent in a great battle with Ed Puleo in the Banta 55. We were side by side for many laps. I gave him one bump to test his new "Lexan rub guard". It held up OK they reported. I inched ahead to take second place. We would take the green Sunday in the third position. It had turned very cold and damp over night. Maybe it changed the track or our car slightly??? The race would go green for 18 laps, we dogged Jesse for nearly all of them. I could pull along side of the 81 car, but never finish the pass. Jesse drove his own race, never chopping down or mirror driving me at all. For that there was no way I was going to give him a fender on opening day sheet metal. When the caution came out on lap 18 things changed again....I guess it is a matter of trust. I have not forgotten last season quite yet, and I stayed conservative the last couple of laps. Todd Ceravolo finished 6th after getting sandwiched and put to the lawn. Lost power steering, but still came from the back to get the solid finish.  Bobby Santos got in a minor accident and parked the Brady 00 car. The rest of the story: Tuesday night of race week, the only body part on the car was the roof (from the old 73 car no less). Nearly all the mechanical items were done though. I was getting a bit nervous about finishing up in time. To add a curve ball to race car preps, I had also just started working the night shift for a re-fueling outage at Millstone Power Station. That meant that I was working during the day alone on the car, and Jonny, Jimmy, and Wayne were working in the evening. Thursday I left work at 3am with a long list that just had to get done on the car including: mock up last fender, weld seams, prep for painting, paint the yellow, (then sleep for a while) and then paint the red areas. Heck we had the car on the trailer at 1:15am on Saturday! Plenty of time to spare! The end result was a car that looked pretty decent, but we did not have anytime to go back and second check everything on the car. I bet we missed some minor things that we could have made better. Several times during the race, we needed just a few more inches to get ahead of the 81 car. Jesse drove a mistake free race. In hind sight, maybe if I pushed just a bit harder I could have made the pass for the win. I think I had a slightly better car, just not quite good enough to make a pass without Jesse making a mistake. we will be even better come May 22nd, and looking forward to the 50 lapper on May 29th. I look forward to the handicapped race starts. Passing lots of cars is way more fun. PS....Looks like the enclosed trailer should come off the assembly line by the end of the month. yee haa! Click to Enlarge Our team has helped show engine builder Mike Pettit's talents by winning Many feature events since 2001.  We were Mike’s first engine built for the Limited Sportsman division!  Go Pettit Racing Engines! Sponsor John Simlick/Coldwell Banker has gained increased business recognition as a direct result of his involvement with our team.  He has sold several houses as a direct result of his sponsoring our team!  We also hope his sore knees are not a result of his many trips dashing down to victory lane with us! Click to Enlarge The following business helped us purchase nearly 300 team shirts in the 2006 calendar year: Quaker Lane Tools of RI Pauls TV of Groton CT Sound Medical Associates of Ledyard Outback Steakhouse (NL, CT) John Simlick, Coldwell Banker Realty of Ledyard Liberty Hill Home Inspections of New London Dr. Robert Barnett, Gales Ferry Chiropractic Thanks to the support from these businesses, we have been able to wear the shirts as race team uniforms, give some away to young fans, use as contest prizes, and sell many to raise some pennies to help maintain our performance on the track. With all these shirts out there…our car, and these businesses names have been dashing all over southern new England! We still have some of the T-shirts, long sleeve T shirts, golf style shirts, and sweatshirts available. Priced from $10 through $20. Any problems viewing the Website E-mail Webmaster

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