Racers Only prepping for 2009

Mohave Valley, Az: 2008 turned out to be a good season for Racers Only motorsports, we came away with a WIN at the season opening SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge and followed that up with a 3rd place finish at the SNORE MINT 400 race where we lead for 3 ½ laps and had the transmission fluid leak out of the pan. Our car is still relatively new to us considering we have only raced it 3 times, so we are still learning the true capabilities of the car…..it is EXTREMELY FAST. With all that said, two 1st place trophies and a 3rd isn’t too bad for our first 3 races eh?

Well, it's that time again. I have finally forced myself off the couch and headed out to the garage for the dreaded "Prep job". The gearbox is off to Dave Folts Transmission for a rebuild and all the suspension pieces went to Collins motorsports where they were magnafluxed with only a few minor cracks found. Pete Corwin (Got Sand?) will weld up the cracks and make a couple new parts for the body and reinforce the transmission mounts. The TT Killer will need all new grade 8 nuts and bolts, rod ends and a new set of CV's. Since the car is in a million pieces, we've started to scotch brite the frame with WD40 and once its clean check for any cracks that might have developed from the MINT 400 race. As soon as the gearbox comes back we will slowly start putting the pieces back together and hopefully get a jump start on testing and dialing in the suspension.

Our plans for 2009 would be the SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge, the BITD Parker 425 and the SNORE MINT 400. All three races are HUGE spectator races with television coverage for the Parker 425 and the MINT 400. After the MINT 400, we will play it by ear and see if we can fit in a couple more races. We also have an in car camera and will be giving the footage to both TV companies after each race.

Huge thanks AGAIN to my sponsors that have helped us out this past year: JET JOC, Wide Open MRI, CareFlight, BFGoodrich Tires, Ironclad, Beard, C&R, Butch’s speed shop and KING shocks. Lastly, I need to thank the guys who have worked there butts off to help us keep doing what we love: Pete Corwin, Pete VanRooy, Matt Bare, Ted Ward, Keith Basso, Chuck Soper, Gary Kolar, Macrae Glass (and his boys), the guys at Collins motorsports, and of course my wife Tracy and daughters Lindsey and Hanna.

Rory Ward

Racers Only Motorsports

racersonly@yahoo.com