Tri-City Frostbuster 50

YIKES!!! Last Friday, April 17 did not go well at Tri-City Speedway's "Frostbuster 50" in Granite City, Illinois near St. Louis. Weather was great, 45 or 48 late models at the track, stands were full. Miss Sheppard, Dixie (my dog) and I were in the Feger-Shep souvenir trailer most of the night. Miss and I were taking turns watching the heats. When Steve and Brandon raced, she watched the heats. When Jason was out, I watched. Jason finished fifth in his heat, which meant he'd have to go through the semi. Darn it :(

Dixie was not happy at all, but for a complete different reason. My poor dog wanted nothing to do with the dirt that was slingin' up and hitting her as we sat on the bottom row of the stands.

Jason won the semi by a pretty good margin. He looked very good, like he'd be able to move forward in the feature. YEAH!!!!

Feature time, my plan was to cover up Dixie with a blanket on the bottom of the stands so if the dirt hit, she wouldn't mind as much. Typically she will sit still through a very long race. A shout of thanks is needed to the guy in the stands who helped me cover Dixie up before the feature.

Feger started 16th, with Birky and Vaught on the pole. Behind the front row were Don Oneal, Scott James and several other very good drivers. Jason started picking off drivers in the rear one by one. He looked good, potentially a top five car.

Lap 12 -- Jason was up to eigth, battling Brad Neat for seventh. WHAM, Dixie gets hit by a big dirt clod, so we had to move, she wasn't about to stay put for the entire feature. We move to the aisle between the stands all the while watching the feature. KABOOM, within two laps Jason SLAMS into the front stretch wall, nose first exactly where we were sitting. Fence poles tumble down, the garbage can went flying and Dixie and I went running to see if Jason was ok. Poor Night Train didn't so look good. Jason was trying to back up, he had NO idea that the right rear axle was broken. I was just glad he was ok.

The guy who helped me cover up Dixie was saying that dog acts like she know him. So, I'm like, heck yes she does! That's her car and her boy! Dixie pulls me over to the fence, smelling in the air. I don't know if she could hear Jason talking to the officials or what.

So, back to the race. Tri-City threw the red flag. Poor Night Train and Jason were hooked up by the wrecker and dragged off to the pits looking very pathetic. The back hoe came out, officials had to replace three fence posts with new ones. Nearly 30 minutes everything was ready to go racing and Dixie and I went back to the souvenir trailer.

Birky won, so congrats to the Birkhoffer-Mars teams.

Budha, Dixie and I left the track around midnight to make the trek home. The guys came home a couple of hours later, maybe around 4:30 - 5:00 in the morning. Saturday was supposed to be Kamp. Unfortunately, all the guys were in the shop working on the car all day and most of the evening.

Sunday was supposed to be Quad Cities for the UMP/WDRL challenge, but the weather won that race.

Next on the schedule: "The Opening Extravaganza" at Kankakee on Friday, Kamp Motor Speedway on Saturday and Lincoln Speedway on Sunday. A triple header, all events part of the Monster Midwest Series.

See ya there!

Motor is BACK and IN THE CAR!!!

WOO HOO!!! I hear the car running!! How sweet is that!!
We'll be racing all week-end. Thanks to Mulvain Motorsports.

Motor Problems

UGH!!! Darn it!!! The motor needs some work done to it. It only had like 7 nights on it!!

I'm not sure exactly what is wrong, I think it has something to do with the cam. Might sound crazy -- but typically I never really ask, sort of hoping for the no news is good news thing to happen. Plus, when it comes to motors if it is bad, it is quite depressing and everyone that comes and goes at this house gets in a major racing funk.

So, hopefully the guys will be able to get the motor back from Mike Mullvain on Thursday or early Friday morning to get it back in the car before Tri-City so we can have a full week-end of racing.

If not, I'm not 100% sure what will happen, perhaps they will borrow Bob's motor.

So, keep your fingers crossed :) that Mullvain was able to get the parts and get that motor together.

I'll try to update when I know more.

KAMP Northern All Stars

55 late models were on hand for opening night at Kamp Motorspeedway in Boswell, IN. Lots of fans were in the stands too, braving an extremely cold night. When we left the track, the tempature according to my car was 34 degrees.

Qualifing: FEGER FAST TIME in his group and overall.

Heat: Feger won his heat.

Feature: The drivers who won the heats drew numbers to determine feature starting positions. Jason was starting third behind Darrin Friedman and Dennis Erb on the outside.

Feger got off to a really horrible start, shuffled back to fifth.

Erb got out to an early lead and Loomis was right on his tail. Ted was able to get pass Erb on the low side while Jason battled his way back to third. After a yellow, Dennis nudged Ted to get him out of position and take back the lead.

Feger passed Loomis on the highside and was reeling in Dennis when another yellow came out. Jason put a very slick move on Dennis down low and took out the lead, only to relinquish it back for a yellow that came out for Unzicker.

Feger and Erb continued to battle. Jason nearly had Erb when another yellow came out. The two were pretty far out in front and DARN IT!!!!! Feger pulled into the infield. Grandma swears Jason would have had Dennis, but I'm not 100%. Erb was pretty darn fast, so we would have had second for sure.

Ted finished second, but was light on the scales. Sometimes, he just can't get a break. So that put Friedman in second who ran a very good race. Weaver also had a good race, coming from the rear of the field to the top ten, only to have to pull out after an altercation with another car. Richie looked strong early but faded. He had a fast run earlier in the night and won his heat.

So -- what happened. To quote the Brettman -- they had a twenty-five lap battery in a thirty lap race. The darn battery quit. The race sure seemed like 50 or 60 laps with the yellows, but what can you do.

Next week -- the car will be in full charge :)

Thanks to Kamps and track for a fun night of racing, sure they had to work hard to get it in after all the rain last week.

Rising star Feger battles WoO stars at home track

This is an article that was on www.Dirtondirt.com before the Illini.
Michael Rigsby and others do a great job on Dirtondirt.com -- it is well worth the subscription to get to see videos and results from other tracks so quickly.

Other places for results and info:
www.4m.net
www.midwestdirtrackfacts.com brought to you by the one and only Racenut :)

So -- back to the article:
Rising star Feger battles WoO stars at home track.
written by Kevin Kovac from the World of Outlaw Series:

What would a victory in this weekend's second annual Illini 100 at Farmer City Raceway mean to rising central Illinois star Jason Feger? Well, the first thing that popped into the Bloomington, Ill., driver's mind when asked that question was purely financial. The blockbuster World of Outlaws Late Model Series event, after all, pays $20,000 to win from a total purse of $100,000.

“It means I'd be able to buy a new motor,” quipped Feger, who has carved out a growing regional reputation campaigning family-owned Dirt Late Model equipment without big-money backing.

Dig a little deeper with the personable Feger, however, and out bursts the true significance of a triumph in his home state's richest Dirt Late Model event, which kicks off with time trials and qualifying heats on Friday, April 3, and concludes with consolation races, a non-qualifiers' race and the Illini 100 on Saturday, April 4.

“It would be just crazy to win it,” Feger said. “There's gonna be so many great cars and drivers there, and I'm going to have a lot of family and friends there watching. Feger shirts should be everywhere, so winning the biggest race of my career in front of everybody I know would be an unbelievable feeling.”

An outgoing 30-year-old known for his cool race car graphics (his schemes feature tumbling dice), cutting-edge hipness (Feger and younger brother Austin wore colorful Mohawk hairdos to UMP DIRTcar Summernationals events last year) and hard-charging driving style (he's called the Highside Hustler), Feger would be the center of a huge postrace celebration if he could pull off a win.

“There probably wouldn't be enough beer in Farmer City for the party we'd have,” Feger said with a laugh. “I think we might just stay in the pits for a few days.”

Feger's familiarity with the quarter-mile Farmer City oval is certainly his ace in the hole, but it's not the only reason plenty of observers are looking at him as a serious contender for glory in the Illini 100. He enters the weekend riding plenty of momentum, thanks to the strong finish he had to his career year in 2008 and a career-high $7,500 victory last month in a UMP DIRTcar-sanctioned event at Kentucky Lake Motor Speedway in Calvert City, Ky.

The 2008 season ended with Feger's ledger showing 13 feature wins at seven different tracks, including two victories at Farmer City. He finished third in the UMP weekly points, placed second in the Northern Allstars Late Model Series points race and registered a WoO career-high finish of fourth in September at I-55 Raceway in Pevely, Mo. — a body of work that made him an easy choice for the 2008 UMP Most Improved Driver Award.

“Things started clicking real good last year,” said Feger, who launched his Dirt Late Model career in 2001 after spending four years in the Sportsman division. “I've changed chassis brands quite a few times in the past few years, but last year we really got settled into Pierce cars and found a nice baseline setup that's worked for us.”

Feger knows that he'll have to be on top of his game this weekend if he expects to turn back a cross-section of the country's dirt racers.

“I always feel like I have something to prove being a low-budget guy,” said Feger, who works at his family's Absolute Apparel business but hopes to someday go racing full-time and chase the WoO. “I know I can run with (the sport's national stars), but I have to have the same focus as those guys. These (WoO) guys run every lap like it's their last — they're always searching for new lines around the track and changing how they drive if their car starts to not feel right.

“And all these guys know how to be patient in a 100-lap race. That's one of the things I'm still learning.”

Last year Feger didn't even get a chance to strut his stuff in the inaugural Illini 100. He failed to qualify after a flat tire knocked him out of a transfer spot in his heat and he came up two positions short in a consolation race, though he did win the 25-lap non-qualifiers' race following last year's Illini 100.

“It was really depressing to miss last year's (Illini 100),” said Feger. “We were running right behind (2007 WoO champion Steve) Francis when we got the flat in the heat, and Francis went out and finished third in the feature. And our lap times in the non-qualifiers' race were about the same as (Billy) Moyer and (Shannon) Babb (the winner and runner-up, respectively, in the dramatic race).

“I know our car was fast enough last year, but whether I could've done it for 100 laps, I don't know. Hopefully this year we'll be there at the end.”

Illini 100

We were at Farmer City last Friday and Sat for the second Illini 100. Track was FAST during qualifing. Jason went out late, unfortunately Jesse sent him out while Ryan U. was still out on the track. Jason spun on what he thought was his first lap, but it wasn't really cause Ryan was still timing. So Jason only took one more lap. Confused, we sort of was too. Anyway, Jason qualified 20th out of 55 cars, not great, but not horrible.

Heat recap from Dirtondirt.com: Outside front-row starter Brian Brian Birkhofer fought off a late charger from polesitter Steve Francis to win the 10-lapper. Birkhofer was slowed by lapped traffic heading for the white flag when Francis grabbed the lead. But Birkhofer answered the move, going back ahead before the frontrunners entered turn two. Fourth-starting Jason Feger got the third and final transfer spot in the caution-free prelim. Finish: Brian Birkhofer, Steve Francis, Jason Feger, Brandon Sheppard, Russ King, Kevin Weaver, Ted Loomis, Adam Mefford, Cory Daugherty.

Main Event:
Feature Clanton won, only two yellows. Feger started 14th and moved up to 8th. Track was fast up high, but hard to pass on.

The Souvenir Trailer Arrives

Life has become even more chaotic. Shep got a souvenir trailer -- so it's at our house. Worked on a wrap nearly three weeks ago and Aaron's been busy, so it hasn't been output. If you see Aaron, give him some grief for me.

John at Showtime is also outputting some more graphics for Night Train, so eventually the poor car will have roof numbers.

Getting more cool merchandise for the trailer. Also completed new shirt designs, have those in stock now. Images are on the website. We also have beer steins, lighters, coffee cups and more stuff. Gotta work on getting some hats and skullie caps.

Hmmmmmm -- what else is coming?? New postcards, has a kool photo Greg took at Btown with Jason slinging dirt. He took the photo from the stands and it is tight. Also, getting some new tats for the kids. These will have a skull and Feger25.

Looks like I'll be the one in the souvenir trailer most the time -- so stop by and say hi.

As an fyi -- it will be closed for ALL FEATURE events -- cause I'm watching the races :)
Like always, we are soooo very grateful for all the support from people in the stands. I'm so very serious in saying, every cent Jason gets goes back into racing. So THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

Catching up on Result Posts

OK -- I've been slacking posting -- but that's cause I've been pretty darn busy working on tee designs. So, this is my attempt to catch up on posts.

What's Been Going On
The Icebreaker Brownstown
It was FREEEEZING, I swear it took two hours for me to get warm on the way home. But, back to racing. Man, is Brownstown a flat track compared to what I'm used too. A guy infront of me was telling me they added banking.

The people in the stands were really cool that I talked to. Typically, I love qualifing, but that track was SLOW and qualifing was PAINFUL. It was like you wanted to push the cars around the track. Since it was my first trip, I don't know if that's usually what goes on.

The racing -- in the feature for part of it the front runners tight, excellent racing with Clanton, Owens and Bloomer all duking it out for the lead during the first 15 - 20 laps.

Jason had qualified 5th in his group of 30 cars. Finished third in his heat, started 17th and finished 13th. He was right on the rear of Jeep and Bill. Most of the racing was down on the bottom.

During the night, got to warm up and have a beer in Tami and Phil Bossingham's new motorhome. They had the big Feger banner in the front window. So that was fun.

Article from Kentucky Lake Site

Jason Feger and Chad Kinder Take Second Night of March Madness at Kentucky Lake Motor Speedway

BY JAMES ESSEX


CALVERT CITY, KY (March 7, 2009) – Jason Feger of Bloomington, IL scored the biggest win of his racing career on Saturday Night at Kentucky Lake Motor Speedway as he captured the 40 lap-$7,500 to win Late Model Feature. Chad Kinder of Newton, IL took the lead with less than five laps to go to win the $2,000 Open Wheel Modified A-Main. The second night of March Madness again produced excellent track conditions as a large crowd of spectators was on hand under unseasonably warm and windy weather conditions.

Billy Moyer and Shannon Babb would make up the front row of the Late Model Feature as Moyer would get the jump on Babb grabbing the point heading into turn number one on the opening circuit. With one complete lap in the record books Steve Francis would bring out the first caution as he got sideways in turn two as he spun to a stop on the race track. Unfortunately for Francis his night was over as he exited his race car to check out the right front as his night would end on the back of a wrecker.

With the restart Moyer would be the leader on the Delaware double-file alignment with Babb, Feger, Frank Heckenast Jr. and Ray Cook the top five drivers after one lap. The top three would start to distance themselves from Heckenast and Cook who were having quite a race for fourth but most of the attention was up front where Moyer, Babb and Feger were putting on a show in the race for the lead.

Feger would pull even with Babb with eight laps scored and he would complete the pass a circuit later as the driver known as the “Highside Hustler” was living up to his nickname as he ran right along the wall that surrounds the race track. Feger then would set his sights on Moyer as lapped traffic was starting to play a role in the battle for the lead.

Moyer had to pass his son Billy Jr. putting him a lap down as Feger would go around the younger Moyer as well as he would now have plenty of race track to pass the elder Moyer. Feger would drive hard into turn number four and take the lead from Moyer, who came into the race with 702 career feature victories. While Moyer fell to second he now would have Babb hot on his heels as the top three were still keeping the fans on the edge of their seats in an ultra-exciting duel for the top spot.

With Feger’s pass of Moyer on lap 15 to take over the lead the question would be now could Feger hang on the remaining distance with his pedal to the medal driving style? With 16 laps scored a caution for Jeff Larsson who got into the backstretch wall right in front of the leaders would momentarily halt the rapid fire action up front.

On the restart Feger would hold the lead with Moyer and Babb line dup side-by-side behind him. Moyer would get a good restart and clear Babb down the back shute but another caution would negate Moyer’s pass. The next restart would see Babb maintain second in the running order and they would stay that way until the final caution would appear for Jason Riggs one lap shy of the halfway mark at lap 19.

With the green flag in place one more time Feger would see the crossed flags a lap later with Babb holding second followed by Moyer, Cook and Heckenast. The race for the lead would turn into a two-car tussle between Feger and Babb as Moyer was loosing ground the leaders over the last ten laps of the race.

Babb would try the inside several times on Feger, but Feger kept his line up against the wall even bumping the concrete a few times as he was maintaining his lead over Babb which was down to just one car length. As Moyer continued to fade he would slow dramatically on lap 35 pulling into the infield as his night came to an end.

Feger and Babb would race hard all the way to the checkers with Feger repelling Babb’s effort keeping Babb at bay in what turned out to be a barn-burner of a race. Feger would hit his marks on the final lap and take his Bob Pierce Race Cars #25 entry to the finish line as the crowd rose to its feet at the finish as Feger would record the biggest win of his racing career. Babb finished a close second followed by Cook, Heckenast and Jeep VanWormer, Friday Night’s winner.

Afterwards Feger was joined in victory lane by his crew and a throng of supporters including his car builder the Hall of Famer, Bob Pierce. “Man to win this race, I can’t describe it, it feels so good, Shannon Babb is probably my all-time favorite driver and Billy Moyer, I grew up watching him race and to pass both of them and win this race, it is just an unbelievable feeling, I always felt I just needed some breaks go our way in some of these races and we were going to win some, but tonight the car was super fast from the start and I just wanted to keep it out of the wall, I think I hit it a few times, but it didn’t hurt it any,” said the 30-year-old driver who previous career watershed win was a $6,000 win at Macon, IL.

The win by Feger in his Pierce car also marked the biggest Late Model win for the Oakwood, IL based driver turned chassis builder. “Jason did a great job out there, we’re working on a new shock deal with Advanced Racing Suspensions out of Indianapolis and man the car took off right from the get go, hopefully they’ll be many more wins like this,” said Pierce, who success in the open wheel modified ranks is well documented.

Feger’s Mullvain Motorsports powered car is sponsored by LaBamba’s, Campbell Construction, Mulligan’s, Advance Building Systems, BSB Manufacturing, VP Racing Fuels, Absolute Apparel, Showtimesigns.net and Griffin Design Custom Helmets.

Completing the top ten were Don O’Neal, Steve Casebolt, Justin Rattliff, Craig Smith and Jordan Bland. A total of 51 Late Models were on hand for the race.