Our Epic Ventures team once again turned out in full force at Spencer Speedway. We knew it would be an exciting and jam packed day with the NASCAR Whelen Tour Modifieds as the headliner show for a rare Sunday event. The schedule was changed so that the regular weekly classes would run first and that meant 1 fast practice, rush to your heat race, then mad dash to your feature line-up. With all 3 EV SST Modifieds in attendance, our drivers and their crews sure were hustling.

Terry ran the #5 this week with a new set up that proved to be just a little too loose on the sunny hot track. During the short break between practice and the heat, Jimmy and Doug threw some changes at the car and made sure everything was good to go. With the help of a decent starting spot in the feature Terry would run as high as 3rd before falling back to a respectable 6th place finish. Terry isn't satisfied with that result and has more big changes at the ready.

Jody let Tom suggest some last minute chassis changes to the #89 and with the helping hand of Billy Dostman (a past crewman for Terry who was able to return for anther special event) we sent Jody out and he posted his fastest times to date but the car was just a bit too loose to make a hard charge to the front. This day Jody would get a lesson in patience vs. speed. Jody followed Amy Catalano up through the field and was competing for a possible 10th place finish when he got caught up in one wreck and a few laps later was spun by a competitor. Unfortunately, with damage to the sway bar mount and a leak in the radiator, Jody had to pull it pit side once again and recorded a 15th place finish. Originally frustrated with what could have been, Jody cooled down and again felt proud of stepping his game up another notch. Jody's regular crewman Kevin Ide kept up with the fast paced day and it was good to see Bob Uhlst return for the first time in 2009.

Team owner Tom Fecteau made his 2009 driving debut this day. With no pressure, just a focused desire to get back in to a racing rhythm, Tom was pleasantly surprised with how well the yellow #50 handled vs. past seasons. The lessons from our travels could clearly be felt by Tom and he looked forward to picking up his lap times. Strangely, Tom noticed that after about 5 laps of the heat race there was an odd odor like a mix of exhaust fumes, oil and warm plastic. Tom completed the heat but rested in the car trying to assess why he wasn't feeling well. Donna and Billy made sure there were no obvious issues with the car and Veronica helped Tom cool off. During the feature the smell and ill feelings returned and after about 30 laps of green and yellow flag laps, Tom pulled it in for a 20th place finish. It was later determined that his fresh air helmet was actually drawing in exhaust fumes. After a few minutes, Tom recovered and was eager to head to the grandstands where the team secured a section of bleachers and everyone was entertained to a fantastic race by the NASCAR Tour Modifieds.

Also noteworthy was the continued consistency of Kris Hillegeer in his Street Stock and his brother Ryan in the Super Six class. Both of these men finished 3rd in their main events keeping their string of top 5 finishes going strong. Click here to read more about the day's events and complete run down: Spencer Speedway 071209 - Whelen Modifieds

Our next race will be at Holland Speedway this coming Saturday the 18th for the George Decker Memorial SST 100 Lap event. We are preparing the yellow #50 SST Modified for Terry to take down to this first time visit to another of the New York State NASCAR sanctioned tracks. This race is a really big event on the SST Tour proven by the 34 cars in attendance last year. We will be bringing our camper once again and hopefully will get to make some new friends during and after the races. Wish us well and we hope you can be there as well.