New Castle, Ind.—Feb. 21, 2013— To say that the off-season was a busy one for Tracy Hines would be an understatement. With less than three months to assemble a team, build cars and prepare for the 2013 sprint car season, the veteran driver burned the midnight oil in the shop from the instant he returned from the 2012 season-ending events in California last November until he headed south to Florida late last week. He’ll put all of that hard work on display this week at Bubba Raceway Park in Florida as he kicks-off the USAC Amsoil National Sprint Car Series season.
Hines will take to the track aboard his self-owned Hansen’s Welding Inc. DRC with a Stanton Mopar powerplant under the hood for the Bubba Army Winternationals on Thursday, Feb. 21, Friday, Feb. 22 and Saturday, Feb. 23 at Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala, Fla. The veteran driver took part in a practice session at the three-eighths-mile on Wednesday, Feb. 20.
“I’m definitely ready to get the sprint car season going,” said Hines. “We put in a ton of hours over the winter building cars and making sure everything was in place to be ready for the full USAC season. It will be nice to put the helmet on and be able to just focus on the racing aspect for three straight nights at Ocala.”
Hines has made five starts in a sprint car on the dirt at Bubba Raceway Park over the last two seasons. He finished a career-best ninth in the finale at the track last season. The originally scheduled three-night event was cut to two due to a rainout on the middle night. Hines has also raced in the “Sunshine State” in a sprint car at East Bay Raceway near Tampa, making a pair of starts in 2010, finishing 11th in both of those races, with rain also taking one of the features that year.
“Ocala is a pretty fast track and can also be very challenging,” he shared. “With the strong field of cars there, you have to be on your game and time-in well and run up front in your heat and put yourself in a good spot come the main event. We’ve had some decent runs there in the pat and really want to come out of the box strong this week and put complete nights together.”
In a sprint car in 2012, the native of New Castle, Ind., finished fourth in points with the USAC Amsoil National Sprint Car Series on the strength of a pair of wins and 23 top-10 finishes, of which 13 were top-five showings. He claimed his first win with the series in April at the famed Eldora Speedway in Ohio, and followed that up with another win at Eldora in the fall during the 4-Crown Nationals. Hines wrapped up the sprint car portion of his 2012 season with a runner-up finish in the Budweiser Oval Nationals at Perris Auto Speedway in California, after a fourth-place performance in the opener of the season-ending event.
“We had a good year last year in the sprint car, and finished on a strong note, so hopefully we can carry some of that momentum into this week,” said Hines. “Everyone is pretty anxious to get going and has fresh equipment, so it’s going to be a very competitive three nights at Ocala. I’m looking forward to the challenge and hopefully all of the hard work in the off-season pays off.”
Currently, the 2013 USAC Amsoil National Sprint Car Series schedule has 39 races listed at 23 tracks in 11 states. As he has for most of his career, Hines will compete for the championship in all three USAC National Series: the USAC Amsoil National Sprint Car Series, the USAC Traxxas Silver Crown Series and the USAC National Midget Series, which has separate dirt and pavement championships.
“It’s going to be another busy year for us running all three series,” he noted. “There’s nothing I’d rather do that climb into a race car as many times as possible and I’ll get to race more than my fair share this year. As a driver, racing night after night is how you stay sharp and in a rhythm and what you thrive on.”
Hines opened the outdoor portion of his 2013 season earlier this week by competing in a pair of events for the USAC National Midget Series on the pavement at New Smyrna Speedway in Florida. He finished third in the opener and was eighth in the finale of that two-night event. Last month he raced indoors at the Chili Bowl Nationals in Tulsa, Okla., in a midget as well. Tracy Hines Racing would like to thank: Hansen’s Welding Inc., Parker Machinery, Motor City Auto Transport, Turbines, Inc., Afco Racing Products, Daum Crop Insurance, Schoenfeld Headers, Allstar Performance, Kenny’s Components, Race Bumpers and Bell Racing.
For more information on Tracy Hines Racing, visit http://cts.vresp.com/c/?ShortTrackRacingPR/55adcae11b/573ed91d45/ec044c6cde. Follow Tracy on Twitter at http://cts.vresp.com/c/?ShortTrackRacingPR/55adcae11b/573ed91d45/6864cc203b.
- Admin Account on Feb 21, 2013
- Article Date: 2/21/2013 by Tracy Hines Racing PR