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*****NEWS SECTION FINALLY UPDATED 7/12 AFTER A BUSY TWO
MONTHS*****
It’s been awhile since I have
had a chance to sit down and update this section of the site. Thanks to all of those who have been
checking in and wondering why I haven't been keeping it up to date. Alison has been doing a fantastic job
keeping the MTR
Facebook Fan Page up to date, so you can
always check that out for the quick version of what is going on with
MTR. Because so much has happened
since my trip to Columbus in May, I'm going to make one post that covers
them all and get everyone back up to speed.
We have a well deserved week
off for the Legends Million Dollar race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in
North Carolina, and then it's back to the track at Flat Rock Speedway on
July 24th. Thanks for
checking in and we'll see you at Flat Rock!
Owosso
Speedway—July 10th, 2010, MTR Grabs Win #4 of 2010 and 10th
Career Feature Win: Since it was like I was at a gunfight with
a knife with the worn out Federal tires I had a Spartan, I bolted on a new
set of right side tires for the race at Owosso. I knew that was the only chance I had at
being competitive and boy did it pay off.
I spent the first 3 practice sessions breaking in the tires and this
particular set of right sides came in nicely. The car was really hooked up by the 4th
practice and I began to like my chances of running up front during the
feature. I started 4th in
the heat race and lost some ground to the leaders on the start of the
race. I made up the lost ground but
had to settle for 3rd place.
I was turning really fast laps during the heat race, so I felt great
about the feature race. We almost
didn't get to have the feature race—it poured rain for a solid 30 minutes
or so just as we were lining up to start the feature race. Thankfully, the rain subsided and the
track was able to dry in about an hour.
Kudos to the Owosso Speedway track officials and crew for working so
hard to get the track dry and get the show completed as scheduled! My heat race finish earned me a 4th
place starting spot for the feature.
Owosso is one of the few tracks, if not the only track, that has
somewhat of an outside racing groove, so I wasn't too disappointed with
having to start on the high side. On
the start, the outside line got the jump and I moved into second place
coming out of turn 2 on lap 1. I got
a good run on 2 time series champion John Turnbull Jr. and took the lead on
lap 2. I knew that the fast cars
that started behind me would be coming quickly, so I tried to get as far
ahead as possible as quickly as possible.
As you have read on this page before—momentum is everything at the
big tracks and once you lose ground to someone, it's hard to make it up
unless you are a lot faster. I was
able to jump out to almost a straightaway lead and that was the difference
for me. Lap traffic allowed the 2nd
place car to gain on me at times, but I was able to maintain a comfortable
lead for the entire race. The race
also went caution free which was nice for everyone, especially me. I led 29 laps and picked up my second
career win at Owosso and my fourth feature win of the season! This was also my 10th career
AVB2BMLS win! This win felt really
great because of all the hardship I have gone through over the past few
weeks getting caught up in incidents that weren't of my generation. It's frustrating when that happens, but
it's also incredibly gratifying when things turn around and go your
way! Thanks to all my fellow drivers
and competitors for their congratulations after the race!
Spartan
Speedway—July 9th, 2010, MTR Gets Back on Track with a Top 5
Finish: After a week of spending 2 days of my
vacation fixing my torn up race car again, I was just hoping to finish the
race at Spartan. Spartan has been a
good track for me over the years, but this was the first time there on
Federal tires, and it’s been a crapshoot as to how well the Federal tires
grip at each track. The car was okay
in practice—I spent most of my time chasing the car between loose and
tight. I thought I had the car just
right, but I think I put too many laps on my tires and wore them out by the
time the heat race was over. I started
2nd and finished 3rd in my heat race, which netted me
a nice 3rd place starting spot for the feature. I was excited about my chances in the
feature, but the car just did not have any grip once the race got
started. I could not get any forward
bite off of turns 2 and 4 and I was getting eaten up coming off the
corners. I was running 2nd
when Levi Rouster got a run on me coming out of turn 2. Unfortunately, 3 other cars followed him
underneath me and I was in 6th place by the time I got back down
in the lower groove. The race was
littered with cautions as guys just seemed to not be using their heads on
this night, so there was plenty of opportunity for gaining spots on
restarts. Tony Monge, who led the
first part of the race, had to retire from the race due to engine trouble,
so I got to 5th place by attrition.
I stayed there for a few laps and got my way up to as high as 3rd
place because the top 4 cars were really beating on each other and losing
lots of momentum from the contact.
Unfortunately, I just could not get any grip off the corners and I
was a sitting duck. I fell back to 5th
spot and that is where I finished the race.
After two consecutive DNFs, I was just glad to finish. This was one of those races where you
realize you just don't have the car to win and you have to simply take what
the race will give you. I was more
than happy to inherit a spot or two from the top 4 cars banging on each
other, but I didn't have the car to go get the spots on my own, so I just
stayed close and within striking distance.
Bryan Knuckles from Columbus, OH won the race. He took advantage of the banging around
that the top 4 cars were doing, and he came out on top by being patient and
smart.
Angola
Motor Speedway—July 3rd, 2010, MTR’s High Hopes for INEX
National Qualifier Dashed with Another Wreck: I was looking forward to Angola after a
hard week of fixing the car and bumming about what happened at Dixie. Angola is one of, if not the nicest
facility we get to race at, so it's always nice to go there. The car was not good in the first
practice. I was trying some
different things with the setup and they did not match well with the track
and the track conditions. I quickly
changed the setup back to my normal large track setup and was quickest in
the 2nd practice. I
picked up 4 tenths with the changes I made, so I felt good about the
direction I was headed. Angola let
us qualify for our heat race lineups.
Unfortunately, one of the other classes had oiled down the track
during their qualifying session and the track was a mess for us. It was slick with the mixture of fluid
and speedy dry. I qualified 4th
out of 16 cars and I was way off my practice times, so I was frustrated
with that result. Fortunately, with
the way the MLS lines up heat races when we do qualify, this was no penalty
at all. I started 3rd in
my heat and took the lead on the start of the race. I led 8 of 10 laps and then Levi Rouster
got inside me and we battled side by side to the checkers. He beat me to the finish line by about 4
inches. It was a great heat race and
a lot of fun! That finished netted me
a 2nd place starting spot for the feature. Angola is a wide race track, but it is
tough going on the outside groove in a Legends car, so I knew I'd have to
get down on the start. I was able to
do that, and I took the lead on lap 3.
I led the next 13 or so laps until Rouster got a run on me coming
out of turn four following a restart from a caution. I raced side by side with Rouster for a
lap and 3rd place car tried to follow Rouster by me on the
inside coming out of turn 2. The 3rd
place car lost his car when he got underneath me and ran me up the track
and out of the groove. I still had a
run on the outside of him but he continued to drive me up and off the back
straightaway. I checked up to avoid
the grass that was coming and to get back on the track behind him, and when
I did, the 4th place car drove up and over my left rear tire and
came crashing down on my left front tire.
This tore up the back of my car and bent up the front suspension
again, so my day was done again, just like Dixie the week before. I would have hoped that the 3rd
place car would have had better car control or given me some room to race
and that the 4th place car would have recognized what was
happening and given me some racing room, but neither obviously
happened. So, I went from leading
the race one lap to wrecked in turn 3 the next—very frustrating. I finished last in the race.
Dixie
Motor Speedway—June 25th, 2010, MTR’s Good Run Derailed by a
Lapped Car: After winning at Dixie the first trip
there this season, I felt good about my chances to contend for the win
again. The car was on top of the
leader board for most of practice but I had to start behind the invert for
the feature which yielded me a 7th pace start. Tyler Rycenga and Levi Rouster started 3rd
and 5th respectively so I followed them to the front. I made some contact with the 3rd
place car as he came down on me when I was passing him on the low side and
I lost a bit of ground to Rycenga and Rouster. I was running Rycenga down for 2nd
place when I found even greater trouble.
A lapped car inexplicably came down on me entering turn 3 while I
was going underneath him to pass.
This move caught me by complete surprise and I had to drive down
into the grass to avoid contact.
When I did this I drove over the tires that mark the inside of the
track and my front toe was knocked out about 3 inches. The car was junk after this and I could
not drive it competitively. The
track gave me my spot back after being taken out by the lapped car, but the
car was so undriveable that on the restart I had to pull over and let
everyone pass safely. I can only
hope that everyone learns from this incident with the lapped car and pays
more attention to what is happening around them when the leaders are
passing them. This incident netted
me a 14th place, DNF result.
Levi Rouster won the race for his second win of the 2010 season
Auto
City Speedway—June 19th, 2010, MTR’s ACS Ownership Extends with
4th Consecutive Win and 3rd of the Season: With all the success I have had at ACS, I
was looking forward to heading back there.
I started the day on Federal tires, but my tires were worn down too
far after Owosso to get any grip or be competitive. I bolted my BFGs back on the car and
immediately, without any changes was 4 tenths of a second faster. This was the first time I had put the BFG
tires back on the car since I had started running the Federal tires. It was so nice to drive a Legend car
again! The car was so much more
controlled and damped in its response—it was perfect. Several other drivers followed my lead
and put their BFGs back on their cars as well. Of course, I started last in my heat
race. I fought my way to 3rd
which earned me a 6th place starting position. I knew the outside would be tough at ACS,
but I felt good about the car with the BFGs on it. I was able to get down on the start and
worked my way to the lead by lap 11.
Tyler Rycenga had worked his way to 2nd place and kept me
within about 6 or 7 car lengths for most of the race. He too was on BFG tires. He and I checked out on the field, and I
was able to keep him behind me to take the win at ACS. It was my fourth win in row at ACS dating
back to the 2009 season opening race at ACS.
Owosso
Speedway—June 12th, 2010, MTR Posts Another Top 5 Run at Owosso: After a two week layoff we headed to
Owosso Speedway for another "superspeedway" race for Legend
cars. I recall Owosso being bumpy
and abrasive last season when we raced there, but the track had really
seemed to degrade even further over the course of the year. My car was fast, but inconsistent. I started on the outside pole for the
heat and led every lap to take the win.
That 1st place heat finish earned me a 6th
place start for the feature. Owosso
has more of an outside groove than most tracks, but it’s still a losing
battle trying to be faster up high than down low. On the start, the outside lane just did
not get going and I got shuffled back to 9th on the first couple
of laps. Once I got down on the
inside, the leaders had checked out and there was really no catching them
without a caution. I battled with
Chance Rice for a few laps for 5th and that lost me ground to
the leaders as well. Once I got
around Rice, I was a straightaway behind 3rd and 4th
place. I got to the bumper of 4th
place by the end of the race but didn't have enough time to challenge. Momentum is so important at these big
tracks. One bad lap takes 3 laps to
recover and it's hard to make up ground once you lose it. I settled for a 5th place
finish. I felt like I had a top 3
car. Loren Short took the win for
his first AVB2BMLS feature win, followed by Levi Rouster, Tyler Rycenga,
and Tony Monge.
Kalamazoo
Speedway—May 29th, 2010, MTR Follows Up Dixie Triumph with Top 5
Run at Kzoo: A quick run home and a gear change later,
led us to Kalamazoo Speedway. Kzoo
is a fantastic facility and a great place to race Legend cars. It’s a small 3/8ths mile track, but is
similar in layout to Lanier National Speedway where we raced last year for
the asphalt nationals. My car was
fast in practice and in the race, but as with most of the big tracks, it
usually comes down to where you start.
I had to start behind the invert for the feature which turned out to
be 7th place. I worked my
way to 4th place, but stalled out there behind Levi Rouster and
Tyler Rycenga. All three of us were
running very close lap times and we raced bumper to bumper for 10 laps to
finish the race. Rycenga couldn't
make the run on Rouster and I really had nowhere to go with Rycenga holding
a low line to try and pass Rouster.
I was waiting for Rycenga to get underneath Rouster and I was going
to follow him by, but it didn't happen and I had to settle for a fourth
place run. Chance Rice bolted his
BFG tires on for the feature and led flag to flag from the pole position.
Dixie
Motor Speedway—May 28th, 2010, MTR Takes the Checkers at Dixie: This was my first race on Federal tires
and I have been racing them since, so I'll go ahead and give my opinion and
assessment of the tires now—they are terrible. The car is much more unstable with the
Federal tires due to their soft sidewall and narrower tread pattern. When entering the corners, the car wants
to slide laterally because the softer sidewall and smaller contact patch
can't handle the weight transfer to the right side of the car. In the center of the corner, the car just
wants to take off into a drift towards the wall. It’s not an understeer or an oversteer,
it’s just a lack of lateral grip in the tires. This makes the car much more difficult to
drive consistently. If it sticks one
lap, it probably won't the next.
I've been trying several things to compensate for the tire, but haven't
found the perfect solution just yet.
The tires also seem to be wearing faster than the BFG tires, and
they also seem to give up more quickly during a long race run. So, not only do they not grip as well as
the BFGs, they wear out faster and don't perform as well during the course
of a race as they get hot compared to the BFGs. All in all, I think it's a huge step
backward for Legend car racing to have this Federal tire. In all fairness to US Legend Cars, they
don’t have much to choose from when it comes to a 13” tire—tire
manufacturers don’t make them anymore because there are very few, if any
current production vehicles with wheels that small. It’s just too bad that we couldn’t have
gotten a tire that at least performed as equally as the BFGs.
Other than the fact that I
was on the new tires at Dixie, the night went well. Dixie Motor Speedway now uses Raceceivers
to allow communication between the track and the drivers. This is new to Dixie for this year, and
on this night it showed. Despite the
fact that the track officials can talk to the drivers, Dixie was doing a poor
job of managing the start of the heat races and all three Legend car heats
were a mess. Dixie was not
communicating when the start of the race would be to the drivers and
instead was just randomly starting the race. On the start of my particular heat race,
the top 4 cars were not within 25 feet of each other because some guys took
off and some didn't when the track threw the green flag. I was one of the cars that didn't and
ended up finishing 3rd in the heat. This is a situation where some common sense
on the part of the track can go a LONG way towards helping put on a better
show for the fans. The Raceceiver is
a great tool and I am proud that most tracks have migrated towards using
them, but they need to not be afraid to use them properly.
The third place finish in
the heat race earned me the pleasure of a 9th place start in the
feature. Staring on the inside was a
big help and I started working my way to the front quickly. With the help of some cautions, I was
able to get to 2nd place by the 11th or 12th
lap of the race. I passed Rick
Kilbourn for the lead and opened up a comfortable margin. Levi Rouster got to 2nd pace
and began slowly running me down. He
got within about 3 or 4 car lengths with about 8 laps to go and I knew he
and I were going to have a battle for the win. Unfortunately, that was not to be as we
had a caution and on the restart, Rouster was rooted up out of the way by
the 3rd place car, and I was able to pull out to a comfortable
lead once again. My tires had
started giving up during that 10 lap run where Rouster was running me down,
but the caution allowed them to cool and on the restart I took off
again. I was able to maintain my
lead and take the checkers for my first career feature win at Dixie. To top it all off, my parents were in
town for the weekend, and they were able to see me win again, which is
always special for them and me!
May
16, 2010—MTR’s First Trip to Columbus Motor Speedway Doesn’t Go Well: With the AVB2BMLS series not
staging an event last weekend, I decided to take a trip down to Columbus
Motor Speedway to compete with the FAST Midwest Tour. Columbus Motor Speedway is owned by the
Nuckles family and Brian Nuckles has raced with us in Michigan several
times. I had wanted to go down there
and race for quite some time, but our Michigan schedule had never allowed
it until this date. I should have
stayed home.
The weather on
the weekend of May 9th was awful, to put things nicely. The forecast for Columbus had a small
chance of rain and it was cold and windy.
Because of the cold, windy conditions and rain that somehow managed
to find the speedway, we were only able to get about 20 laps of practice
and the track cancelled all heat races to help get the night’s program
completed before conditions got unbearable for the few fans that did show
up. This put me behind the 8 ball
from the start. I found some speed
in those 20 laps, but only enough to qualify 10th out of 20
cars. Qualifying was based on the
fastest practice time in the final of two practice sessions. I was .5 seconds off the pole time, but
felt I could become a top 5 car if I could get the set up a bit
closer. I worked on the car best I
could with the limited amount of track time we were able to get and lined
up for the feature. It didn’t take
long for things to go from bad to worse, as two cars up front got together
in the middle of turns 1 and 2 on the first lap. Everyone tried checking up to avoid them,
and everyone, including me, piled into one another. I wrapped my front bumper around the
frame, lost both front fenders and collapsed my left front spring/shock
when I slammed into the car in front of me.
Amazingly enough, no one had any terminal damage, so everyone got
back rolling and we lined up again for another attempt at starting the
race. I knew my car was damaged and
could tell things weren’t right, but had no idea how much or how bad. I stayed on the track and held my breath
as I drove into turn one on the next start.
This time two cars in the back got together and we had to start the
race a 3rd time. With all
this going on, I knew the night wasn’t going to end well. On the 3rd start the field
was able to get going without incident.
Because of the spring/shock problem on the front of my car, the car
wouldn’t turn like it should. I ran
several laps as hard as I could and stayed right around 10th
until I went for a solo spin coming out of turn 4. I pulled to the inside and decided to
park my car in the infield until the race was over. I noticed other cars have some trouble
and pull off the track, so I waited for another caution and rejoined the
field at the rear to gain some positions.
12th was where I finished the race.
It doesn’t get
much worse than that--drive 3.5 hours south to crash on the first lap. I did like the track and Brian and his
father were very hospitable, which was appreciated. Columbus Motor Speedway is a top notch
facility. The people with the FAST
Midwest Tour were also very friendly and hospitable as well. Despite these things, my night was pretty
awful. Perhaps my next trip down
there will be more pleasant--it certainly can’t get much worse.
The AVB2BMLS
raced at Crystal Motor Speedway last night in what was the first of 3 dirt
track races for the series. Everyone
that knows me knows my incredible disdain for dirt racing, and after 3
years of mostly lows at dirt races, I decided to give up on it this
season. It certainly was strange to
not be at an AVB2BMLS race. This was
the first race since the start of the 2007 season that I did not compete. This also most certainly eliminates me
from any 2010 AVB2BMLS championship considerations. I have mixed feelings about that as well,
but “it is what it is” and “it’s just one of them deals.” The AVB2BMLS returns to where it
belongs—asphalt race tracks—in two weeks on May 28th at Dixie
Motor Speedway and May 29th at Kalamazoo Speedway. I am looking forward to those events and
getting back on track! We’ll see you
at the track!!—MT
May 2nd, 2010—MTR Grabs First Victory of the Season
in AVB2BMLS Opener at Auto City Speedway: The Auto Value
Bumper to Bumper Michigan Legends Series Presented by ZMax Micro Lubricants
(deep breath) opened the 2010 season at Auto City Speedway on Saturday
night. Auto City has been a great
track for MTR over the years and Saturday night proved to be no different.
The car was fast off the trailer despite a
slick racetrack. Rain had moved
through the area in the morning so the track was greasy from all the
humidity in the air. I made a few
adjustments and lined up 3rd in my heat race. The heat race went well and I was able to
work my way to the front and take the checkers. The car was handling well during the heat
race, but it was still daylight during the heat race and the track would
change quite a bit from the heat to the feature. I had to draw the invert number and I
ended up starting 9th for the feature. Our feature was 35 laps, so I felt I
would have plenty of time to work to the front barring any incident. By lap 4 I found myself in 4th
place and by lap 8 I was in 2nd place. After battling for a few laps, I was
able to grab the lead and pull away a bit.
The car was handling well and I felt I had made the right
adjustments to account for a changing race track, but the track just did
not have a lot of grip, so the car was a bit loose all night. Every few laps we would have a caution
and that would bunch us all back up.
I was getting good restarts and was able to sustain my lead. The final caution came with 3 laps to
go. I was able to get a great
restart and I pulled away from a hard charging Loren Short, a rookie in our
series, to take the win. Tony Monge
was third, followed by Tyler Rycenga and Rick Kilbourn.
It feels great to start the season out with
a win! The car performed very well
and I was able to make the right adjustments throughout the day. Auto City Speedway has been a great track
for the Michigan Legends Series for 16 years and I have certainly enjoyed
the last 3 races there. I look
forward to returning there on June 19th for our next event at
the track.
The next AVB2BMLS race is May 15th
at Crystal Motor Speedway. Those of
you that know me know that I am not a fan of the dirt tracks. We’ll see if I make the race. Columbus Motor Speedway is racing May 8th
and I’d like to go down there and race with the FAST Midwest series if
possible. Either way, we’ll see you
at the track!!—MT
January 24,
2010—2010 Rolls In with a Prestigious Award for MTR: Welcome back to Matt Todd Racing.com and
thanks for checking in on us in 2010!
As I have done since 2007, I’ll be keeping everyone updated on what
is going on at MTR throughout the season through the website. It has been a very nice few months off
and I am excited about the upcoming 2010 season!
2010 has
started off fantastic for us. I received
word this past Tuesday that MTR has been selected as the “2009 Intercomp
Race Team of the Year” by INEX and US Legend Cars! This is a very distinguished award and it
is given each year to only one Bandolero or Legend race team throughout the
entire United States. The award is
given based on performance, sportsmanship and representing INEX and US
Legend Cars in a positive way at every race. Intercomp Racing is a Minnesota based
company that manufactures all types of racing quality measuring devices,
such as scale systems, shock dynamometers, alignment equipment and other
racing related products. You can
learn more about them and their great products at www.intercomp-racing.com. I am very much honored that MTR will be
representing Intercomp, INEX, and US Legend Cars throughout the 2010 season
as the recipient of this award. This
is an award of which everyone involved with MTR can and should be proud. Thanks to the good folks at Intercomp,
INEX, US Legend Cars, and AVBBMLS for their recognition and support and to
everyone involved with MTR that makes it all possible!
A lot has
happened with our sanctioning body and the parent company that runs Legend
car racing throughout the world. The
parent company, Speedway Motorsports Inc (SMI), has changed the name of 600
Racing to US Legend Cars International.
This was done in an attempt to relate the title of the company more
towards what it actually does, which is to sell Legend cars and racing
throughout the world. SMI has also
injected $200,000 into the INEX national points fund for 2010 and is
staging a $1,000,000 payout Legend car race in Charlotte, NC on July
15-17. SMI wants Legend car racing
to get the national recognition it deserves as a great way to get involved
in motorsports at the grass root level and also get it more recognized as a
proving ground for some of today’s most talented race car drivers and
teams. You can learn more about INEX
and US Legend Cars at www.uslegendcars.com.
Thanks for
checking in with MTR in 2010. Be
sure to check back often during the racing season for updates and photos
from each race we attend and how it all went down. We’ll see you at the track!—MT
November 17, 2009—2009 MTR Year in Review: 2009 was a roller coaster ride for MTR. The season was filled with many highs,
including 7 INEX feature wins, and a few lows, including 4 DNFs. Here are just a few of this year’s
accomplishments:
·
2009 State of Michigan INEX Semi Pro Champion
·
3rd place finish in Semi Pro INEX Raceceiver
National Tour points
·
7 INEX Semi Pro feature race wins including 2 INEX
Raceceiver National Tour races
·
6 AVBB Michigan Legends Series feature wins including
the 13th Annual Great Lakes Nationals
·
Top 10 qualifier and finisher in the Semi Pro A Main
race at the Legends Nationals in Georgia
·
Selected as “2009 Intercomp Race Team of the Year” by
INEX and US Legend Cars
When the 2009
season started, the goals for MTR were to win a feature race and to finish
top 3 in AVBBMLS points. While
those goals were certainly accomplished, not winning the Michigan Legends
series championship is disappointing.
I’m not sure how many times in Michigan Legends Series history
someone has won 6 feature races and not won the championship, but I know
it’s not more than one or two in 15 years of series history. We’ll be back next year and hopefully we
can equal or better this year’s accomplishments.
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