(Bill W) May 14, 2013 – After suffering motor issues on practice night, David Hesmer an d the BDS Motorsports #1 team made their debut at the Knoxville Raceway last Saturday night. The World of Outlaws just happened to be in town; making it a baptism by fire, but the team rolled the car back in the trailer and is looking forward to this Saturday night’s weekly Knoxville Championship Cup Series event at Knoxville.
David knows that it will take some track time for the team to jell. “(Owner/Mechanic) Bryan (Sundby) and I are still learning each other, and we never got the car quite underneath me,” he says. “I don’t think either of us was as happy as we wanted to be. Bryan has been working his butt off to get things ready here. There were just a couple of things with the way the chassis is working. We were happy to roll the car in the trailer after the first night out with the Outlaws and we’ll be ready for the weekly show this week.”
Communication is probably the most important thing with a new team. “At times, Bryan thought he was seeing one thing, and I thought I was feeling something different,” says David. “We’re working hard, and I think we found some things. We found some things in the shop Sunday when we were servicing the car, so we’re hoping to do considerably better this weekend.”
What about getting back in a competitive sprint car situation for the first time in almost ten years? “I really felt good getting back out there,” says David. “I was glad to have the practice night a few weeks ago. The car has been better each time out on the track. I was probably a little more nervous than I needed to be on Saturday.”
After coming out later in qualifying, David was 35th quick in the 51-car field. It was the first time he has qualified since the 2003 360 Nationals. “The car was really drivable,” he says. “We decided to get what we could, which wasn’t much in the heat race (7th). We started in the B main, with my teammate (Garrett Dollansky) right in front of me. We wanted to be sure we weren’t in an accident that took out both of us. Then we saw (Rob) Kubli flip. We moved up through there a little bit after the restart, and then we had another caution. At that point, I didn’t want to chance risking spending a lot more money than we were going to make back in the B, so I decided to pull in.”
David and Bryan feel good about some adjustments they’ve spotted, and are quite happy with their Parker engine. They’re looking forward to Saturday. “Al Parker asked if the engine was o.k. and I told him it definitely was,” says David. “I have a great owner and a great mechanic in Bryan Sundby and a great engine builder in Al Parker. We’re taking these steps that are necessary and getting used to each other. We’ll get it. We’ll make these four or five little adjustments and by the time we add them all up, things will be a lot better on the track.”
David and the BDS Motorsports team would like to thank: Action Auto Parts, JaFar Lawn Service, Parker Engines, Maxim Chassis, Super Shox, Champion Brands, Brown & Miller Racing Solutions, Astro Titanium, Speedway Motors, Sign Pro of Newton, HRP, KSE Racing Products, FK Rod Ends, Kustom Sprintcar Supply, Fuel Safe, Hoosier Tire Midwest, Simpson Race Products, Sebastian Sandblasting & Powdercoating, Butlerbuilt, Schoenfeld Headers and Red Devil Brakes.
Attached: (Dave Hill Photo)
- Admin Account on May 14, 2013
- Article Date: 5/14/2013 by Bill Wright