After a long and cold winter in Wisconsin, Scotty Thiel and the Scott Thiel Motorsports #64 team headed south to East Bay Raceway Park in Gibsonton, Florida early Tuesday morning. They arrived at the hotel early Wednesday morning after enduring some weather and traffic delays. Practice night took place for the team on Wednesday night and they began to prepare for an exciting weekend of racing to come.
The crew didn’t make too many adjustments to the car on Wednesday and tried to get as many laps as possible in the three hours of open practice available. “It sure does feel great to be back in this car” said an exciting Thiel after the first round of hot laps occurred. They were able to get on the track a total of four sessions and were sitting 22nd quick out of the 53 cars in attendance. “We didn’t do much to the car tonight, just tried to get some seat time in. It’s been a long winter but we have some room left for improvement” said Scotty after the final session. The team took the car to the car wash for the first time in 2014 and prepared the car the following morning to the first night of racing action in the 2014 season.
Scotty drew a 90 pill to start out the first night of the Winternationals which set him to start 8th in the fourth heat. A passing point system was in effect for each preliminary night and Scotty knew he would have to pass a handful of cars to be set up comfortably to make the A-main on the first night. Track conditions made passing difficult after the drop of the green. Scotty tried several lines but was only able to move up into the sixth position, forcing him to run the B-main. Scotty was complaining about not being able to get the car to rotate in the center of the corner so the team went to work to prepare the car for the B. Scotty would go and start 5th in the first B-main of the night and the top 2 from that race would transfer to the nights 25 lap A-main event. After the drop of the green flag, Thiel knew he was going to have his work cut out as the car was wicked loose from the start. He tried all he could do to hold on to it and fell back to the 9th spot. “I screwed up and made a bad call on the car tonight. We struggled in that heat to get the thing to turn and went the wrong way for this B. That really hurt us as far as points go” said a disappointed Thiel after the night.
Friday was a new day but the draw did not improve much for Thiel as he drew a 74 pill, setting him to start seventh in the sixth heat race event. After the final hot lap session was over for the evening, Thiel pulled off the fastest time out of the 53 cars in attendance. “You don’t know how good that feels to be the quickest car here after hot laps. It’s only practice but we worked hard today to regroup and get this program going in the right direction.” said Scotty. The heat race event was short lived after the drop of the green as two cars got together right in front of Thiel going into turn one. Scotty darted to the high side to avoid the wreck but was clipped by one car and shot into the wall were he then tipped it over on its side. The car was fine, just needed a new left rear tire and the crew was able to get the new tire on but the field was already lined back up and they would not allow Thiel to get pushed back off and finish the heat race event. Scotty would be forced to run the B-main yet again and would have to come from the 11th position. Passing was even more difficult as a black slick race track was presented. Scotty was only able to move up one position after the 12 laps of green flag action occurred. After two preliminary nights, Thiel would be 43rd in overall points, making Saturday’s event a very critical one in order to make it into the final 40 lap, $10,000 to win Ronald Laney Memorial A-Main event.
Heavy rains came over night and made for a very fast and tacky race track for Saturday’s final event. Scotty would start 6th in the 4th heat race of the night. The winner of the heat would get locked into the A-main and the rest would get lined up accordingly in three B-mains. After the green flag flew for the heat race event, not much passing occurred in the fast eight laps of action. Scotty moved up into the fifth spot right away on the first lap and was nose to tail with the top four cars. That finish did not help Thiel out much as he would have to come from the 8th position in the B-main event. The top two cars out of the B-main would get locked into the night’s 40 lap A-main event. Scotty knew he had his work cut out in order to just move up a few positions but he needed to make the top two. The car worked great in the heat race so the team left it alone for the 12 lap B-main event. The track conditions became faster and faster as the night progressed.
The cars were pushed out for the B-main event and got lined up quickly to take the green flag. As they came out of turn four they took the green but would get called back as the flag man did not like the start. This gave Scotty another opportunity to get a better start and he did just that as they took the green flag again. He shot to the outside and charged into turn one. He went from eighth to fourth coming out of turn two and would complete the slide job to the third position going into turn three. Scotty was on a move and settled into the third spot after one lap of green flag action. His eyes were set on the second place car and was gaining slowly lap after lap. He was really hoping for a caution to come out to help in his favor but that did not happen and he fell short of making the top two final transfer positions for the 40 lap A-main event. “We gave it all it had right there. I couldn’t have asked for a better set up car in that race. We just needed a caution to help on our side but it didn’t happen. We tried hard and had to come over a lot of barriers this week. Its unfortunate we didn’t make the show but charging up threw that B main made up a little bit for our crappy week. I guess you can’t get lucky all the time and we sure did not have any good luck on our side this weekend. We will go home and prepare for the rest of the season and build on from what we all learned down here” said Thiel after a close attempt of making the show.
Scott Thiel Motorsports next event will be March 29th at 34 Raceway in Burlington, Iowa with the Sprint Invader Series. Last year, Thiel was runner up at this event. They have about a month to regroup from Florida and prepare for three races with the Sprint Invaders before they tackle the rest of the 2014 racing season. Keep up to date at www.scottythiel.com for more information as the season gets closer with an updated schedule of events.
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Scott Thiel Builders located in Sheboygan, Wisconsin is a custom home building and remodeling company. Looking for a luxury get away? Contact Scott Thiel Builders for your next lake house vacation home. Multiple properties are available along the beautiful shores of Lake Michigan! Contact STB at 920-458-5763
D&H Sales and Service:
D&H Sales and Service is a full service shop that has been under the ownership of Brad Dahmer since April 2003. We pride ourselves on quality work, friendly service and convenience. We carry a full line of Lawn mowers, tractors, zero turns, snow blowers and chainsaws. We are an authorized service center for Briggs and Stratton, Kohler, Tecumseh, Kawasaki, Subaru and Honda engines. All of our mechanics are factory certified technicians for everything that we service. Call us today @ (920) 458-1865 or e-mail us at dhrental45@yahoo.com
Ti22 Performance:
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Triple X Race Co:
At Triple X Race Components, we don’t just build race parts – we race too. We know how expensive it is to race. That’s why we offer the most common Sprint Car, Midget, and 600 Mini Sprint parts. We keep our costs down by building thousands of each part. We build the parts that get damaged the most. With our discounted pricing, you can afford to race hard and race to win.
Rhey Graphics:
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Torsion Bar Rate.com:
Torsion bar testing has been around as long as the bar has. There are many different ways to test bars, but they all have the same goal.... to compare one bar to another and give the results in a numerical value (PSI, FORCE POUNDS, RATE). This is good, but can be hard to understand.
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Velocity Wings:
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Super Shox:
Since 1997 Super Shox has been dedicated to building high performance shock absorbers with extreme durability at a reasonable price. Each year more racers make the switch to Super Shox and it shows with wins and championships. Super Shox have high quality products that will give you an advantage. Besides building a quality product customer service is at the top of our list to keep you satisfied and winning races. Please give us a call or e-mail to discuss how we can serve your needs. 847. 548.SHOX
Brad Dahmer Motorsports:
Established in 1990 with years of racing and fabricating experience on dirt and asphalt, Brad Dahmer Motorsports will see you through your racing endeavors. In early 2005, Brad Dahmer Motorsports changed its’ name to Bullet Proof Motorsports. This was a change in the name but not a change in customer service. Brad and several employees are heavily involved with the chassis design, fabricating and racing services. Bullet Proof Motorsports also offers a wide range of racing equipment and supplies. Contact Brad by phone at 1-920-458-1865 or by e-mail at bdm@charterinternet.com.
Marketing partnerships with Scott Thiel Motorsports are still available for the 2014 season. Please contact scotty@scottythiel.com to learn more about these exciting marketing opportunities right away!!
- Scotty Thiel on Feb 25, 2014
- Article Date: 2/25/2014 by SixFour Promotions