News from Banning Motorsports

Terrible's 250 at Primm
Banning Motorsports was bringing the heat to the Terrible's 250 at Primm for the Best In The Desert points series this past weekend. There was 3 class 11 cars fielded by the Banning race team with hopes to fill the podium. Buggy 1156 was driven by "The Wild Cowboy" Tom Shaw with Co-Pilot Danny Foddrill. Buggy 1178 had "The Super Shoe" Rick Graf and Bryan Folks scheduled to drive with Alan Dillemuth and Chris Godfrey to share the Co-Driving duties. The 3rd buggy 1123 had Lee Banning and the "Ace" Lee Jr. piloting the hot rod with Clayton "The Ironman" Buttle taking care of the Co-Pilot duties all race.

1st Ever Qualifying For Class 11
April 16th 2009 the class 11 cars were set to qualify for the event for the first time. There always has to be competition and not just against other teams, but within Banning Motorsports. There was a HUNDRED dollar bet between the 3 buggy's to see who will out qualify one another. With that being said The Wild Cowboy Tom Shaw qualified 1156, The Super Shoe Rick Graf qualified 1178, and The Ace Lee Jr. qualified 1123. When the qualifying was over the Banning motorsports cars all qualified in respected spots starting 4th, 5th and 6th for the start of Saturdays Terrible's 250 race. The man with the bragging rights on the team for the next 2 days with cash in hand would go to Tom Shaw who was the quickest of the group followed by Lee Jr. and Rick Graf.

April 17th was contingency for the event and the cars were shinning and represented all the partners that make each event possible and went very well.
Terrible's 250 at the Primm Race Day
5 a.m came early but the Boys and Girls that make Banning Motorsports possible had the cars stagged and were ready for go time. With the cars starting side by side that set up for a Tom Shaw/ Danny Foddrill and Lee Jr./Clayton Buttle row 3 start, with Rick Graf/Alan Dillemuth starting in the 4th row. At 6 o' clock am the flag drops and Lee Jr. got ahead of "The Wild Cowboy" and took off in the dust and sunrise.

The first lap was looking strong with all 3 buggys running strong and battling for position amongst themselfves, and with the other cars running in the front. Rick was leading Lee Jr. and Tom Shaw by the end of the first lap. Rick and Bryan Folks had a driver change at the start of the 2nd lap as well as a Co-Pilot swap between Alan and Chris Godfrey. Heading into the 2nd lap of the race at mile marker 48 the black cloud was over buggy number 1123 when motor problems struck down and ended the race for Lee Jr., Lee Sr. and Co-Pilot Clayton. With 2 buggys remaining that black cloud came back around and found another Banning Motorsport 11 buggy. This one driven by Tom Shaw and Co-Pilot Danny Foddrill in the 1156 buggy. Another issue with the power plant ended the day for them as well. It does not seem to be the same issue with the 2 motors, just an unfortunate turn of events that happend only 10 miles apart on the race course. With Buggy 1178 the only hope for a strong finish Brian and Chris did a great job running hard the entire time. When the 3rd lap concluded it had Bryan Finishing in the 3rd position.

Great Job to the entire crew for Banning Motorsports which includes Team Captain Andy Megaw, Tim West, Cooper Ericson, Chris Miller, Tim Williams, "Scoop" Godfrey, Danny Foddrill, Big Denny, Amy, Kathy, and Gail. You guys again work your tails off and make this organization profesional and a first class operation.

Honorable Mention goes to Ali Banning who drove with everything she had in the Trophy Kart class till a drive belt came off. Great Job! and keep it up.

After the races concluded the traditional Carne Asada cook out started and the bench racing continued. We celebrated a few April Birthdays with home made ice cream. YUM! Happy Birthday to Tom Shaw, Lee Jr., Cooper Ericson, Clayton Buttle, and Tommy Brown.

The guys and girls that make up Banning Motorsports allow for great finishes and great friendships thanks again for everything that every person/company has done for us.

Banning Motorsports