Bird's Eye View

Season off to Rocky Start for Lambert Racing

2011-06-09T23:30:00.000-04:00

Mars, PA (6-9-11) The start of the 2011 season has been a rough one for Butch and the #27 Lambert Racing Team. After capturing a 5th place finish at Lernerville Speedway on Friday, April 29th, the team was optimistic heading into the first FASTRAK Northeast Tour Event at Roaring Knob Motorsports Complex on Saturday, April 30th. A trip through pre-race tech determined that the carburetor that we run for the last two years is now considered illegal, and we were very fortunate that fellow competitor, Troy Shields was willing to lend us his spare carb for the night. Butch started 5th in the heat, but was spun early on and came back to a 4th place finish, which put him 14th on the starting grid for the feature event. He patiently worked his way through the field to score a 7th place finish.
Thanks to some rainy weather, our next event was not until May 22nd, when the team made the haul to Port Colbourne, ONT Canada for the first ever international FASTRAK Touring event. Butch started 5th in his heat and was able to advance to a 4th place finish and make the re-draw for the feature. For once we drew a good pill, but his 3rd place starting spot didn’t last long, as the pole sitter lost the handle on his car on lap 2, forcing Butch to check-up and be hit from behind. The hit sent him through the infield and he fell back several spots. He had started working his way back through the field, only to fall back again. As the crew stood and wondered what could be wrong with the car, Butch ran 17 laps without any power-steering, and still managed to pull off a 9th place finish. Not what we had hoped for, but pretty good, considering the circumstances.
Memorial Day weekend brought the much anticipated “Wild Card Weekend” and the American Cancer Society Night at Sharon Speedway. We are proud to have been able to raise nearly $1100 for this very worthy cause. Unfortunately, the night on the track did not go as well. After failing to advance in the heat event, Butch was forced to run the B-main, where his 5th place finish was not enough to make the feature event on this night. He went on to finish 4th in the Wheelman Bonus Event for Non-Qualifiers. The second race of the Wild Card Weekend was run on Memorial Day at Lernerville Speedway. Once again, Lady Luck was not on our side, when we drew #63 out of 66 with 46 cars on hand for the 24 starting spots. Butch started the heat event in 9th place and worked his way to a 6th place finish. In the B-main, he started 3rd and took the lead on lap one. Never looking back, he captured the b-main event win in convincing fashion, earning himself the 22nd starting spot in the feature. After a lap one caution slowed the field, Butch was the next caution as he was spun out after another competitor hit him from behind. Just a few laps later he found himself the victim of someone else’s crash, as he was hit as tried to avoid another spinning car. The hit caused extensive damage to the left front of the car, but Butch was able to wrestle it around the track for the remaining laps of the race and finished 21st. Just this week, the winner of that race was disqualified for his tires not passing the independent lab tests, so Butch was credited with 20th place. Despite all of the struggles we have had on the FASTRAK Tour thus far, Butch currently sits in 6th place in the points standings, with our next 8 events being Tour events.
In an effort to try to get a handle on the new car and overcome some of our struggles, the team headed to Sharon Speedway on Saturday, June 4th for a regular event. Once again, we pulled a bad pill and ended up starting 6th in the heat event. Butch was able to advance one position to finish 5th in the heat to earn the 14th place starting spot for the feature event. With the car finally looking like it was going the way it should, Butch raced to an 8th place finish. It was a great learning night for us and the team was optimistic leaving the track, hoping to have left the bad luck and struggles behind.
Little did we know, that our biggest blow would come in the early morning hours of Sunday, June 5th, as the truck we haul the racecar with caught on fire while it was sitting in the driveway. Luckily, a neighbor alerted Butch’s dad and the fire department to the blaze, and the Adams Area Fire Department was able to contain the fire to just the truck. Unfortunately, the truck is a total loss, as is everything that was in it, including Butch’s driving suit and other gear. We were unsure what would happen to the rest of our season, but have been offered a truck to use, for at least this weekend, and will have to determine our next steps day by day. Hopefully, our bad luck went up in smoke with everything else!
Our next event will be a FASTRAK Northeast/MOV Tour race at Tyler County Speedway, in Middlebourne, West Virginia on Saturday, June 11th and we are hoping to make the next Tour race at McKean County Speedway on Saturday, June 18th. Saturday, June 25th the FASTRAK Northeast Tour will be at Sharon Speedway and will be the first of 6 Tour races in 9 days, as the Bully Dog Cross The Borders Speedweek kicks off at Expo Speedway on Wednesday, June 29th. Thursday, June 30th will be back at McKean County Speedway, then on to Raceway 7 on Friday, July 1st. Saturday, July 2nd we travel to Pittsburgh’s PA Motor Speedway, and the Speedweek will end on Sunday, July 3rd at Eriez Speedway. We do not know at this time if we will be able to make it to all 5 events, but we will make every effort to do so.

Don’t forget to “Like” us on Facebook (Butch Lambert Racing), where we have up to the minute race results, schedule changes, news and contests, and as always, our website, www.lambertracing.com is updated weekly with results and stats. You can also follow us on Twitter @LambertRacing27!

Butch Lambert and the Lambert Racing team would like to thank all of their sponsors and supporters for 2011: Bagel Bites, Austin's A1 Bleach, Fannie's Friends Pet Cremation Services, , www.HeinzStuff.com, Fleming Tire & Auto, Lambert Plumbing, RAM Transit Lines, Inc., Kozminski Auto Body, BP Construction, Smardt Equipment, Woodward, Inc., ZeroWraps.com, Mars Beer Distributor, Marburger Farms Dairy, Hotsy, B&E Mini Mart, Herr's Snacks, Afco Racing Products, Epic Action Video Cameras, KAR Fab, Ultrashield Race Products and JNJ Motorsports Media.
Media Contact

Robyn Lambert
724-272-2153
robyn@lambertracing.com
www.lambertracing.com

2011-04-28T23:02:00.000-04:00

Mars, PA (4-28-11) Butch and the Lambert Racing Team are geared up for the 2011 season to get underway. An unseasonably cold and rainy spring has lead to a multitude of cancellations, only allowing us to get one race in so far in the month of April. The maiden voyage for our new 2007 Rocket Chassis took place on Saturday, April 9th at Sharon Speedway, where Butch turned in a disappointing 16th place finish. We went on to discover an issue with the gearing in the new car, and had to purchase all new quick-change gears for the rear end. Although it was not the finish that we had hoped for, it was a good shake down for the new car, and a good opportunity for Butch to get some seat time in the new car. The first scheduled FASTRAK Northeast Tour Race at Tyler County Speedway was cancelled twice due to rain and will likely not be rescheduled.
As long as the local weather forecasters are right, the season will kick-off in full swing this weekend. This Friday night, April 29th, Butch will return to one of this favorite tracks, Lernerville Speedway, where he will compete in the Pro-Late Model (Crate) division. The All-Star Late Models and E-mods will also be competing. On Saturday, April 30th, the FASTRAK Northeast Tour will begin at Roaring Knob Speedway in Markleysburg, PA in conjunction with the Lucas Oil Super Late Models. With no FASTRAK Northeast Tour races scheduled, the following weekend will be an off-weekend for the team, as Butch and Robyn work to move into their new house. We will be right back at it on Saturday, May 14th as the Tour heads to Tyler County Speedway in Middlebourne, WV.
The team will help make FASTRAK history on Sunday, May 22nd as we journey to Humberstone Speedway in Port Colbourne, Ontario, Canada for the first ever international FASTRAK event as part of the FASTRAK Northeast Tour. Sharon Speedway will host the next FASTRAK Northeast Tour event on Saturday, May 28th. It is a much anticipated event, as it is an American Cancer Society, Cancer Benefit Night. You can help support Butch as he races in memory of his late father-in-law, former racer, Bob “Clutch” Kennedy. Sponsorships for the night are only $10 and all monies raised go to the American Cancer Society. In an effort to raise even more money for this great cause, Lambert Racing has teamed up with KAR Fab and ZeroWraps.com to raffle off a custom-made late model wagon – just like the one Butch’s daughter, Madison rides in. The wagon itself has been generously donated by the Kennedy Family. We are working to also fill the wagon with prizes and would gladly take any donations in exchange for logo placement on the wagon.

Please contact Robyn (724-272-2153) for more info.
We will end the month of May at Lernerville Speedway for the first ever FASTRAK sanctioned event there. This special FASTRAK Northeast Tour event will be run with the nationally known USAC Sprints. More information about FASTRAK Northeast and the 2011 Tour can be found at their website FASTRAK Northeast.

Don’t forget to “Like” us on Facebook (Butch Lambert Racing), where we have up to the minute race results, schedule changes, news and contests, and as always, our website, www.lambertracing.com is updated weekly with results and stats. You can also follow us on Twitter @LambertRacing27!

Butch Lambert and the Lambert Racing team would like to thank all of their sponsors and supporters for 2011: Bagel Bites, Austin's A1 Bleach, Fannie's Friends Pet Cremation Services, , www.HeinzStuff.com, Fleming Tire & Auto, Lambert Plumbing, RAM Transit Lines, Inc., Kozminski Auto Body, BP Construction, Smardt Equipment, Woodward, Inc., ZeroWraps.com, Mars Beer Distributor, Marburger Farms Dairy, Hotsy, B&E Mini Mart, Herr's Snacks, Afco Racing Products, Epic Action Video Cameras, KAR Fab, Ultrashield Race Products and JNJ Motorsports Media.

FASTRAK Grand Nationals On-Tap for Lambert Racing as 2010 Season Winds Down

2010-10-01T08:14:00.000-04:00

Mars, PA (9-30-10) As the end of the 2010 racing season looms for Butch and the #27 Lambert Racing FASTRAK team, the FASTRAK Grand Nationals are just getting set to start! The team has had a run of bad luck over the past couple of weeks after having a strong run at Hesston Speedway back on August 7th. A bad pill draw had Butch starting last in his heat event at the Northeast Tour event at Raceway 7 on August 13th, but he managed to race his way into the feature event to secure the 18th place starting spot in the feature. His patience was key in the feature as he worked his way up to a solid 9th place finish. The following weekend we made the five hour trek to Woodhull Speedway in Woodhull, New York for the first time ever. Butch ran well enough in his heat to make the re-draw on the tricky 1/3rd mile track, but of course drew the #12 starting spot for the feature event. Contact at the front of the field at the start of the event caused a large crash involving 5 or 6 cars. Butch looked to have missed the crash by driving off of the racing surface on the back straightaway, but another car spun right into his path resulting in a hard crash and major damage to the #27 machine. He was credited with a 19th place finish, and his very first DNF (did not finish) of the season. Sharon Speedway held a $1000 to win FASTRAK special event on Saturday, August 28th where Butch finished 2nd in the heat, redrew the 8th starting spot for the feature and ended up finishing there on a very slick track with little to no passing.
The Friday of Labor Day weekend would mark our fourth trip to Tyler County Speedway in Middlebourne, WV this season, for a FASTRAK Northeast Tour event. Once again we had bad luck with the pill draw and drew next to last for the heat event. Butch started 8th in his heat and charged his way through the field to take a 2nd place finish and secure a spot in the feature re-draw. In front of a standing room only crowd, he started the feature in 5th place and quickly jumped into 3rd place, where he stayed for most of the race. A bad restart on lap 21 dropped him back to 6th place, but he was setting up to pass the 4th and 5th place cars when disaster struck with two laps to go. The bolts that hold the flywheel onto the motor broke off and the car lost all power. His second DNF of the season netted him a 20th place finish and a very long drive home. We arrived back at the shop at 5:30am and the crew went to work, pulling the motor out and getting the broken bolts out proved to be quite a challenge, but they never gave up! By 3pm the car was loaded and ready for the first night of the Labor Day Classic at Tri-City Speedway, which, unfortunately ended up being rained out. All the hard work paid off on Sunday, though, as Butch brought home a solid 5th place finish in the FASTRAK Northeast Tour event in the second night of the Labor Day Classic.
We had a double header weekend at Sharon Speedway for the Applefest Nationals on September 17th and 18th, with the Saturday night race being race #18 on the FASTRAK Northeast Tour schedule. In the Friday night event, Butch pulled off a strong 4th place finish in what was one of the best races of the year with 5 cars battling for the lead for the last few laps. The entire grandstands were on their feet by the time the checkered flew! On Saturday night, he started 15th in the FASTRAK Tour race and worked his magic to work his way through the field to a 6th place finish.
After winning the FASTRAK Northeast Tour portion of the Fall Classic at McKean County Speedway in 2008, the team had high hopes for this season’s event on September 24th & 25th. Unfortunately, Lady Luck had other ideas and our bad pill draws put us behind the 8-ball before the drop of the green flag. With 44 cars on hand, it was not a good night to draw the last pill in the can for the heat event on a rough and muddy track. Butch started 9th and could only muster an 8th place finish. He lined up in 10th place for the b-main with only 10 laps to make it into the top 2 finishing positions to secure a spot in the feature event. He took to the outside on the start and was on a mission, with two laps to go, he moved into 3rd place, but got held up by the 2nd place car coming to the checkered and missed making the feature event by a fender. As a result of not making the feature, he lost his 3rd place standing in the FASTRAK Northeast Tour points, dropping to 4th by 1 point. Saturday night was a special $1200 to win event and once again, we drew the last pill. This time, the track was in much better condition for the heats and Butch advanced from his 11th starting position to finish 5th. He lined up for the feature in 17th spot and steadily worked his way through the field and was running in 6th place. A caution with 1 lap to go shuffled the field on a bad restart and he ended up finishing 9th.
This Saturday at Mercer Raceway Park marks the beginning of the 2010 $30,000 FASTRAK Grand Nationals. The Grand Nationals are a 3-race series where all FASTRAK regions (Northeast, Southeast, Great Lakes, etc) race for 2 nights in their respective regions, then come together at Wythe Raceway in Wytheville, Virginia for Night #3. For the Northeast, Night #1 is at Mercer and Night #2 is at Roaring Knob Motorsports Complex on Saturday, October 9th. Points for each night will accumulate and the driver with the most points at the end of the three nights will be named the 2010 FASTRAK Grand National Champion. We will also have the 20th and final FASTRAK Northeast Tour event at Roaring Knob on Friday, October 8th. We are tentatively scheduled to compete in the $10,000 to win FASTRAK National event at West Virginia Motor Speedway on October 15th & 16th as part of the Dirt Track World Championship weekend. Once we get through Nights 1 & 2 of the Grand Nationals, we will decide if we will go to WVMS and if we will go to Night #3 at Wythe Raceway or stay close to home and compete at Lernerville Speedway in the Steel City Stampede.

Don’t forget to “Become a Fan” on Facebook (Butch Lambert Racing), where we have up to the minute race results, schedule changes, news and contests, and as always, our website, www.lambertracing.com is updated weekly with results and stats. You can also follow us on Twitter @LambertRacing27!

Butch Lambert and the Lambert Racing team would like to thank all of their sponsors and supporters for 2010: Bagel Bites, Austin's A1 Bleach, Fannie's Friends Pet Cremation Services, Fleming Tire & Auto, Lambert Plumbing, RAM Transit Lines, Inc., Kozminski Auto Body, BP Construction, Harmony's Angel Candle Co., Smardt Equipment, Woodward, Inc., Flinner Signs & Decals, Mars Beer Distributor, Marburger Farms Dairy, Hotsy, B&E Mini Mart, Herr's Potato Chips, Epic Action Video Cameras, Ultrashield Race Products and Fleming Design Services.

Summer Heating Up for Lambert Racing

2010-07-08T21:52:00.000-04:00

Mars, PA (7-8-10) The summer is heating up and Butch and the Lambert Racing team have been on a roll for the last month racking up top 5 finishes and steadily climbing in the FASTRAK Points. On June 4th we returned to Butch’s favorite track, Lernerville Speedway, where after struggling in the heat event to get a 7th place finish, Butch put on a clinic in the feature event, charging from his 14th starting spot to finish 3rd when the checkers fell. Unfortunately the rest of the weekend’s scheduled events at Mercer Raceway Park and Tri-City Speedway succumbed to rain. The following Saturday night, June 12th, Butch made his first appearance of the season at Mercer Raceway Park where the team hosted friends and sponsors for Lambert Racing/Bagel Bites Night. The event was a success and Butch capped a great evening by putting up another strong 3rd place finish in the feature after starting 6th.
The first of three FASTRAK National/Northeast Tour events took place at McKean County Speedway on Saturday, June 18th. Forty-two cars signed in for the $5,000 to win event and Butch started the night out right putting up the 8th fastest time in qualifying. His strong qualifying effort put him on the outside pole for his heat event where he went on to finish second and secure a spot in the coveted feature redraw. He drew the lucky #9 starting spot for the event and was racing hard for 7th place early in the event when he was forced up the track and fell back to 17th place. Undeterred, he worked his way back up through the field during the 40 lap event and came home in 7th place. The car had visibly lost its handle during the closing laps of the event and the crew quickly found the broken right front shock to be the cause. The following night we made our first ever visit to Central PA Speedway in Clearfield, PA for another FASTRAK Northeast Tour event. Butch started the heat event in 3rd place, running a right front shock borrowed from fellow competitor David Scott, and that is where he finished. He re-drew the 8th starting spot for the feature, but struggled to find the handle from the beginning of the 25 lap race. When the checkered fell, he had uncharacteristically fallen to a 12th place finish.
The team had 6 days to regroup before the next FASTRAK Northeast Tour Event at Roaring Knob Motorsports Complex in Markleysburg, PA. For once we drew a good pill for the heat event and Butch started on the pole. A slow restart saw the first heat win of the season slip away and he had to settle for a second place finish, which was still good enough for the feature re-draw. Luck was with us, as Butch redrew the #2 starting spot for the feature event. At the drop of the green flag, he moved comfortably into 2nd place as the event went non-stop for 21 of the 25 laps. He survived 4 separate cautions and a red flag in the last four laps to bring home his 2nd second place finish this season. Four days later, on Wednesday, June 30th, the team rolled into Expo Speedway at the Trumbull County Fair for yet another FASTRAK Northeast Tour event. Expo Speedway is only in operation once a year during the fair and the track conditions on this hot & sunny day were dry and very dusty. Butch started and finished his heat in 5th place, just shy of the feature re-draw, putting him in the 13th slot for the feature event. At times it was difficult to even see the cars throughout the race. Butch used his steady and patient driving style to slowly work his way through the field and crossed the line in 3rd place for his 5th top three finish out of his last seven starts!
One of the most anticipated races of the season was on Saturday, July 3rd at Mercer Raceway Park, where they hosted the FASTRAK National/Northeast Tour “Summer Nationals”. Thirty-nine teams from eight different states signed in for the $6,000 to win payday. Butch put up a great qualifying effort and came out 15th fastest. This earned him a 4th place starting spot in the heat event. He was on a mission from the drop of the green and secured a 2nd place finish in the heat to be able to redraw for the top 8 starting spots in the feature event. After a four-wide salute to the fans, the green flag dropped on the 40 lap event and Butch was riding comfortably in 6th spot for most of the race. At the halfway point he started battling with Super Late Model star Doug Horton for 5th place. The race went green for 35 laps until a caution for a spinning car set-up a crazy final five laps. The field was lined up with 4 lapped cars between the 1st and 2nd place cars. On the restart, Butch jumped up into 4th place, but a spinning lapped car collected four cars running in the back half of the top ten and although the lap counted, Butch was forced to go back to 6th place. On the ensuing restart, another lapped car crashed coming out of turn four and a huge pile-up ensued with the 2nd place car barrel-rolling right in front of Butch. When the dust cleared, the 2nd, 4th, 5th and 6th place cars, plus others were all at a stop. Butch managed to come out without minor damage, but because he had to stop to avoid the flipping car, he was forced to go to the back of the field with just 3 laps left in the event. He managed to pass a few cars and crossed the line in 9th place. It was a bit of a disappointing finish to what could have been a great night.

FASTRAK announced on Tuesday that lapped cars will now go to the rear of the field on all restarts in Northeast Tour events. A little late for our team and all the other cars that were tore up the past two weeks due to lapped cars, but hopefully it will save some headaches and heartbreak in the future.
The team hopes to carry some momentum from this month’s strong finishes into July. This Saturday, July 10th we will compete in the biggest FASTRAK National/Northeast Tour Event of the season at West Virginia Motor Speedway in Mineral Wells, WV as the top FASTRAK drivers in the country will vie for the $10,000 to win payday. Butch has never been to the 5/8ths Mile “Speedplant”, but expectations are high for the event. Saturday, July 17th we will be in action at Mercer Raceway Park for a regular event and will follow that up on Sunday, July 18th with a FASTRAK Northeast Tour race at Tri-City Speedway in Franklin, PA. The following weekend will be regular weekly action at Mercer Raceway Park on the 24th for “Meet Your Hero’s Night”, and Tri-City Speedway on the 25th. On Wednesday, July 28th we will return to Sharon Speedway in Hartford, OH for the 11th FASTRAK Northeast Tour event of the season. We have tentative plans to attend the FASTRAK National Event at Tony Stewart’s Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio on Saturday, July 31st, where Butch won the non-qualifiers event there in 2009. August will also be a busy month with FASTRAK Northeast Tour Races at Hesston Speedway, Dog Hollow Speedway, Raceway 7 and our first visit to Woodhull Speedway in Woodhull, NY.
Butch currently sits in third place in the FASTRAK Northeast Points Championship, just 9 points out of second place. He is also slowly climbing the ranks in the FASTRAK National Weekly Points Championship and is in 23rd with just 14 of the 15 required races. So far in 2010, we have competed in 16 events at 10 different tracks and have recorded 13 Top 10 finishes and nine Top 5’s.

Don’t forget to “Become a Fan” on Facebook (Butch Lambert Racing), where we have up to the minute race results, schedule changes, news and contests, and as always, our website, www.lambertracing.com is updated weekly with results and stats. You can also follow us on Twitter @LambertRacing27!

Butch Lambert and the Lambert Racing team would like to thank all of their sponsors and supporters for 2010: Bagel Bites, Austin's A1 Bleach, Fannie's Friends Pet Cremation Services, Fleming Tire & Auto, Lambert Plumbing, RAM Transit Lines, Inc., Kozminski Auto Body, BP Construction, Harmony's Angel Candle Co., Smardt Equipment, Woodward, Inc., Flinner Signs & Decals, Mars Beer Distributor, Marburger Farms Dairy, Hotsy, B&E Mini Mart, Herr's Potato Chips, Epic Action Video Cameras, Ultrashield Race Products and Fleming Design Services.

Lambert Closes Out May With Strong Finishes

2010-06-03T22:46:00.001-04:00

Mars, PA (6-3-10) After some disappointing finishes at the beginning of the month and a whole lot of rain-outs, Butch Lambert & the Lambert Racing Team has put up a string of strong finishes to end the month of May. On Saturday, May 8th, we were scheduled to race at Mercer Raceway Park, but they once again succumbed to Mother Nature. Fortunately, they canceled early enough for the team to make the trip to Roaring Knob Motorsports Complex. We dodged the rain most of the night and Butch put in a solid run, coming from 17th to 7th at the finish. We made our first visit to Tri-City Speedway on Sunday, May 9th and after charging from an 8th place starting spot in the heat, to a 4th place finish, Butch sat on the outside pole for the start of the feature. Unfortunately, he didn’t stay there long. The car kept bottoming out on the rough surface sending to towards the wall on three separate occasions. Butch was able to hang on and finish 6th.

On Friday, May 14th Butch filled in driving the J19 Sportsman Car at Lernerville Speedway for the vacationing Jason Fosnaught. Although he had never driven the car, and had not been in a Sportsman car in over 3 years, he did a fantastic job of coming home in 2nd place in both the heat and feature events. The Lambert Racing team returned to Tyler County Speedway on Saturday, May 15th for the rained out FASTRAK Northeast Tour race from May 1st. Butch took the green from the 20th starting position, but could only manage to advance to a 15th place finish. We stuck around and competed in the regularly scheduled FASTRAK weekly event at Tyler County. Butch qualified to start 15th in the 18 car field, but for some reason lined up 17th at the start. He patiently worked his way through the race and ended up with an 11th place finish, just shy of 10th. On Sunday, May 16th, we got up early and put a new body on the car to participate in the Pittsburgh Circle Track Club’s “Motorsports Day” at Kennywood Park. The Club had a great turnout of cars on display throughout the Park and we were happy to be a part of the day.

On display at Kennywood Park – 5-16-2010

Mercer Raceway Park once again lost to Mother Nature on Saturday, May 22nd. We returned to Tri-City Speedway on May 23rd and participated in the FASTRAK Driver’s Meet & Greet with the Fans on the front stretch of the race track. Many thanks for Herr’s Potato Chips for providing us with a very popular giveaway to the fans. After struggling in the heat event, Butch was on a mission in the feature event, charging from his 15th place starting spot to a 4th place finish at the checkers!

FASTRAK Meet & Greet at Tri-City Speedway

We closed out the month of May at Sharon Speedway for the first of three FASTRAK Northeast Tour events to be held there in 2010. Our bad luck with pill-draws has continued and Butch started the heat event in 5th place, but quickly charged to a 3rd place finish, earning a spot in the coveted top 12 re-draw for the feature event. Surprisingly, Butch drew the 4th place starting spot for the feature event. At the drop of the green, he jumped into 3rd place. He survived challenges from Mike Pegher Jr & Gary Knollinger but was able to race back passed them each time to maintain his 3rd place standing. He was starting to reel in the 2nd place car at the end of the event and crossed the finish line in 3rd! The winner was disqualified in post-race inspection, moving Butch up to 2nd place finish – his best of the season so far! Butch is currently sitting in 6th place in the FASTRAK Northeast Championship Points and 33rd in the FASTRAK National Weekly Points standings.

May was a busy month for Butch & the Lambert Racing Team, but the season is just starting to heat up with lots of action in the coming weeks!

On Friday, June 4th we will return to Lernerville Speedway to compete with the Pro Crate Late Models. Hopefully we will be able to improve on our 5th place finish from April. Saturday, June 5th will find us at Mercer Raceway Park for a regular scheduled weekly event. The following week we will return to Mercer for Lambert Racing/Bagel Bites night on June 12th! Be sure to join us if you can! We will follow that up with a regular event at Tri-City Speedway on Sunday, June 13th. The following three events will be FASTRAK Northeast Tour races at McKean County Raceway on Saturday, June 19th, Central PA Speedway on Sunday, June 20th, and Roaring Knob Motorsports Complex on Saturday, June 26. We will return to regular weekly action at Tri-City Speedway on Sunday, June 27th. We will round out June at Expo Speedway in Cortland, OH, as part of the Trumbull County Fair on Wednesday, June 30th for a FASTRAK Northeast Tour race.

We have been using our Epic Action Wide In-Car Camera and have posted the videos to YouTube and our Facebook Fan page! Be sure to check it out! We are still working to give our website a refresh for 2010. Don’t forget to “Become a Fan” on Facebook (Butch Lambert Racing), where we have up to the minute race results, schedule changes, news and contests.

Butch Lambert and the Lambert Racing team would like to thank all of their sponsors and supporters for 2010: Bagel Bites, Austin's A1 Bleach, Fannie's Friends Pet Cremation Services, Fleming Tire & Auto, Lambert Plumbing, RAM Transit Lines, Inc., Kozminski Auto Body, BP Construction, Harmony's Angel Candle Co., Smardt Equipment, Woodward, Inc., Flinner Signs & Decals, Mars Beer Distributor, Marburger Farms Dairy, Hotsy, B&E Mini Mart, Herr's Potato Chips, Epic Action Video Cameras, Ultrashield Race Products and Fleming Design Services.

Lambert Racing Ready for 2010 Season

2010-04-01T22:28:00.000-04:00

The 2010 Racing Season is upon us and Butch and the rest of the Lambert Racing Team have been hard at work preparing our 604 Crate Engine powered Rocket Late Model. The team expects our first event to be Saturday, April 10th at Mercer Raceway Park. We hope to follow that up with practice at Tri-City Speedway on Sunday April 11th.
The first FASTRAK Northeast Tour event of the season will take place "topless" at Tyler County Speedway in Middlebourne, West Virginia on April 17th. We will follow that up with a weekend of racing at Mercer Raceway Park on April 24th and Tri-City Speedway's Opening Night on Sunday, April 25th. We will return to one of our favorite tracks on Friday April 30th, when Butch will compete at Lernerville Speedway. The following night we will be back at Tyler County Speedway for the second FASTRAK Northeast Tour event of the year.
The remainder of May will find us racing weekly at Mercer and Tri-City, in addition to participating in the Pittsburgh Circle Track Club's Motorsports Day at Kennywood Park on May 16th. Tri-City will have a FASTRAK Driver Meet & Greet on May 23rd and we will take on Sharon Speedway on May 29th for a FASTRAK Northeast Tour race.
We are working to give our website a refresh for 2010 and also have a new Facebook Fan Page (Butch Lambert Racing), where we will have up to the minute race results, schedule changes, news and contests, so be sure to "Become a Fan" today!

Butch Lambert and the Lambert Racing team would like to thank all of their sponsors and supporters for 2010: Bagel Bites, Austin's A1 Bleach, Fannie's Friends Pet Cremation Services, Fleming Tire & Auto, Lambert Plumbing, RAM Transit Lines, Inc., Kozminski Auto Body, BP Construction, Harmony's Angel Candle Co., Smardt Equipment, Woodward, Inc., Flinner Signs & Decals, Mars Beer Distributor, Marburger Farms Dairy, Hotsy, B&E Mini Mart, Herr's Potato Chips, Epic Action Video Cameras, Ultrashield Race Products and Fleming Design Services.

Looking forward to the 2010 Season

2009-12-28T09:54:00.003-05:00

As 2009 comes to an end, Butch & the Lambert Racing Team are already making plans for the 2010 Racing Season. We are proud to welcome back returning sponsors Fannie's Friends Pet Cremation Services and Austin's A-1 Bleach for the 2010 season. We will have more sponsor announcements in the coming weeks, but would welcome any new sponsors that would be interested in joining our team.

The team is currently on the search for a newer chassis than our current 2002 Rocket. Hopefully we will be able to put something together soon, as the action in the garage will be hot & heavy soon as the team starts preparing for the new season.

Although no official track or series schedules have been released at this point, our initial plans are to follow the 2010 FASTRAK Northeast Tour schedule and compete weekly at Mercer Raceway Park and Tri-City Speedway. This is, at this point, subject to change.

Our first official event of 2010 will be the Mercer Raceway Park/FASTRAK Northeast Banquet on January 16th where Butch will pick up 8th place honors in the Mercer points standings and 7th place from the FASTRAK Northeast Tour points. On January 30th we will attend the Pittsburgh Circle Track Club Banquet where Butch will be crowned the 2010 PCTC Crate Late Model Champion.

Lambert Racing hopes that everyone had a wonderful Christmas and here's to a safe and happy New Year!

Night #3 - Wythe Practice & Qualifying

2009-10-24T13:32:00.002-04:00

Although the team only managed to qualify 35th, it wasn't for lack of effort. The car is working well. We were able to pick up half a second in the practice sessions held after qualifing.

He starts 8th in his heat today and they are taking 4 to the feature. We are optimistic on our chances of making the feature.

Volunteer Speedway - Night #2

2009-10-23T11:04:00.002-04:00

Butch lined up in 8th place for his heat event, but didn't make it far. Going into turn three on the first lap, Mike Blose made contact, cutting down Butch's left front tire, sending him into the infield for the remainder of the event. We were now forced to run the second of 3 b-mains to try to make it into the race.

Butch lined up 11th in the 10-lap b-main and made a valiant effort to bring home a 5th place finish, but it wasn't good enough to make the feature, as they were only taking the top 3 cars.

We were disappointed and had a better car than our results show.

Tonight we will be at Wythe Raceway for Practice and Qualifying for the final event of the 2009 FASTRAK Grand Nationals. Butch currently sits in 24th place in the points standings. Northeast driver Mike Pegher Jr is leading the points.

Practice/Qualifying at Volunteer Speedway

2009-10-22T09:34:00.002-04:00

After being 14th fastest in the first practice session, things went downhill for the Lambert Racing team throughout the night. 49 cars were signed in for Night #2 of the FASTRAK Grand Nationals and Butch was able to put in a 37th place qualifying effort. The margin between fast time and Butch's effort was less than 7/10ths of a second.

Heat races, b-mains & the 50 lap feature event will take place tonight. We believe Butch will start 8th in the 2nd of 5 heat races. He will need at least a 4th place finish to make the feature from the heat. If not, he will have to qualify through one of the the two b-mains that will take place and will likely need to finish 1st or 2nd to make the feature.

More updates tonight!

South-bound

2009-10-20T09:11:00.005-04:00

In less than 24 hours, Butch and the Lambert Racing #27 FASTRAK Crate Late Model team will head south to Tennessee and Virginia to compete in Night #2 and Night #3 of the 2009 FASTRAK Grand Nationals.

On Saturday, October 3rd, Mercer Raceway Park hosted Night #1 of the Grand Nationals for the Northeast Region. After initially starting 17th, then being relegated to 22nd after being caught up in a first lap crash, Butch managed to work his way up to battle David Scott for the 5th place position in the closing laps of the event. He had to settle for a 6th place finish, which put the team in an interesting dilemma since we had drawn a line in the sand at needing to finish 5th or better to move on to Nights #2 & #3 in the South. After much debate, the team has decided to go ahead and make the 8+ hour tow to Volunteer Speedway in Bulls Gap, TN and Wythe Raceway in Rural Retreat, VA this week.

Night #2 will find us on the fringe of the Smokey Mountains in Tennessee and the team's first ever visit to Volunteer Speedway on Wednesday, October 21st for practice and qualifying. On Thursday, Night #2 will end with heats, b-mains, a 50-lap feature event and non-qualifiers races. When the action ends Thursday night, the team will head North on 81 to Rural Retreat, VA for the 2009 Grand Nationals Finale (Night #3) at Wythe Raceway. The action on Friday, October 23rd will include practice and qualifying, with the heats, b's and features the next night, when the 2009 Champion will be crowned. Butch is going into the events in a three-way tie for 6th place (24th overall). Teams from all of the US are expected and the Northeast region will be well represented with 15 or so teams expected to make the trip.

You can listen to all the action LIVE on www.racecastlive.com all four days! Also, don't forget that live race results and information will available practically instantaneously, straight from the track. Please take a minute to sign up, just click on http://twitter.com/LambertRacing27. You can sign up to receive “tweets” through e-mail or text message (standard text rates may apply).

Stay tuned to this blog for nightly updates and results!

2009 Season Comes to Close as Lambert Eyes Grand Nationals

2009-10-02T22:44:00.003-04:00

The 2009 season is just about over for Butch and the #27 Lambert Racing team. It has been a season of highs and lows but it's not over yet! Up next for the team is the long anticipated FASTRAK Grand Nationals, a three race series that pays an unbelievable $30,000 to the winner. All FASTRAK Teams in the nation start at zero points for Night #1 of Nationals, which takes place in their own Regions. The Southern Region will compete at Lavonia Speedway in Georgia, the Great Lakes Region at Langlade Speedway in Wisconsin, and the Northeast at Mercer Raceway Park here in PA. All of the regions come together for Nights #2 and #3 at Volunteer Speedway in Bulls Gap, Tennessee and Wythe Raceway in Rural Retreat, Virginia. At the end of Night #3, the driver with the most points accumulated will be crowned the 2009 Grand National Champion!

The team is going into Night #1 at Mercer Raceway Park on Saturday, October 3rd needing to finish 5th or better to move on to Nights #2 & #3 in the south. We feel that anything worse than a fifth place will not be enough points to justify making the trip South due to lack of funds. Last year's trip cost the team over $2500 and we fell just one point shy of finishing in the Top 30 in points to win any money and came home with only $140 in winnings.

Fifty drivers are eligible to run in Night #1 of the Grand Nationals at Mercer Raceway Park, but we expect the car count to be around 30 cars. Butch is coming off of a 3rd place finish in the last FASTRAK Northeast Tour Event at Mercer on September 12th, so we have high hopes of a good finish.

All of the seasonal points battles are over for 2009. Although they are still auditing the points for the FASTRAK National Weekly Championship, Butch looks to have finished in 30th place out of almost 300 drivers in the US. Four of the top 8 drivers in the points are from the Northeast Division, which is a testament to how strong the competition is in the Northeast.

The final FASTRAK Northeast Tour Event was held last Saturday at McKean County Speedway. Butch finished 7th in the race to wrap up an 8th place finish in the Tour points despite missing two events earlier in the season. He also finished 8th in points at Tri-City Speedway (missed 1 event) and Mercer Raceway Park, despite competing in only 9 of the 16 events held there.

Until next time...

Big Events Still on Tap for Lambert Racing in 2009

2009-08-28T12:55:00.007-04:00

It has been a busy month of August for Butch and the Lambert Racing Team. We kicked off the month with a trip to the famed Eldora Speedway (OH) for a FASTRAK National Event. Although we were disappointed to not make the feature event, winning the Non-Qualifiers race was the highlight of the weekend. Standing in Victory Lane at Eldora is not something any of us are soon to forget.

The team has struggled at Tri-City Speedway (PA) as of late, breaking an axle on August 2nd, finishing 14th on August 16th, and putting in a solid 7th place finish last Sunday, August 23rd. With one point race remaining, Butch sits in 8th place in the standings, despite have to sit out a night earlier in the year.

The FASTRAK Northeast Tour is in full swing and we visited Elkins Motor Speedway (WV) for the first time ever on August 8th where Butch won his heat event and put on a fantastic show for the fans in a battle for 2nd place in the feature event. He ended up taking the checkered in 3rd place, but it was a great race. We were to return to Elkins on August 21st, but that event was cancelled by rain. On August 22nd we returned to Tyler County Speedway (WV) where the team rallied to start the feature in 22nd place and finish a respectable 14th. The next FASTRAK Tour event is at Tri-City Speedway over Labor Day weekend. Butch has competed in 9 out of 11 Tour races so far this season and is currently in 10th place in the points standings with four Tour events remaining.

After Elkins was rained out on August 21st, we decided to race at Dog Hollow Speedway (OH) where Butch picked up the heat race win and finished 6th in the feature.

This weekend will find us at Mercer Raceway Park on Saturday, August 29th for "Meet Your Hero's Night". It is also $10 Family Night so come out and enjoy at night at the races! Sunday will be the last regular event at Tri-City Speedway for the 2009 season. We are hoping to have a good run before the big FASTRAK Northeast Tour event there next weekend.

Until next time...

Butch Lambert and the Lambert Racing team would like to thank all of their sponsors and supporters for 2009: Bagel Bites, Austin's A1 Bleach, Fannie's Friends Pet Cremation Services, Fleming Tire & Auto, Lambert Plumbing, RAM Transit Lines, Inc., Kozminski Auto Body, BP Construction, Harmony's Angel Candle Co., Smardt Equipment, Woodward, Inc., Flinner Signs & Decals, C&D Embroidery, Mars Beer Distributor, Marburger Farms Dairy, Hotsy, B&E Mini Mart and Fleming Design Services.

Lambert's Busy July to Culminate with Trip to Eldora

2009-07-29T22:21:00.002-04:00

The month of July has been a busy one for Butch and the Lambert Racing Team. After back to back FASTRAK Northeast Tour races at Raceway 7 & Expo, the race at McKean County Speedway was rained out on Saturday, July 11th. The team camped for the night at Tri-City Speedway on July 12th, where Butch picked up another heat race win in the crate and had a good run from 9th to finish 5th in the feature. Butch also piloted the Chuck Neely owned #27 Wexford Racing Emod where he finished a solid 6th in the feature.

The Pro-Late Model race at Lernerville Speedway and the FASTRAK Northeast Tour race at Dog Hollow Speedway on Friday, July 17th were also rained out. Tri-City Speedway held its first of two FASTRAK Northeast Tour events on Sunday, July 19th. Butch was able to overcome a bad pill draw to race his way into the feature re-draw with a 3rd place finish in the heat. He re-drew the 8th starting spot for the feature and finished a strong 6th in the 30 lap non-stop event.

The FASTRAK Northeast Tour evet at Dog Hollow was re-scheduled for Friday, July 24th and we decided to make the trip. With not having raced at Dog Hollow in years, and not getting any hot laps, Butch struggled a bit in the heat and got caught in a wreck in the closing laps. He was able to rally to a 5th place finish, which was just good enough to make the starting grid of the feature. He took the green flag in the feature from the 19th starting spot and started working his way to the front. When the dust settled, he had finished 10th. Saturday, July 25th the FASTRAK Northeast Tour made it's first ever visit to Pittsburgh's PA Motor Speedway. Rainy skies and cooler temps made for a lightning fast surface and we were happy with the car after hot laps. Butch started the heat in 5th place, only to be caught in a wreck on lap 2. Unfortunately, he was not able to continue. The crew quickly got to work fixing sheet metal and replacing the front bumper and nose piece. He barely made it out to start on the pole of the B-main when it started raining. That bought us a few extra minutes to get the car back together. Once the rain stopped, the completed the show with Butch finishing in 3rd in the B-main to get the 21st starting spot in the feature. From the drop of the green, he started working his way forward. He was running in 15th position when he got a flat tire on lap 21 of the 25 lap event and had to pull out. He was credited with a 20th place finish. Our bad luck on the weekend spilled over onto Sunday at Tri-City Speedway where we just couldn't seem to hit the set up. He started and finished the heat in 7th place. He started the feature in 13th place and advanced to a 10th place finish. We also had problems with the emod, as he had to pull out of the feature on lap 6 with a broken rocker arm.

This weekend's event is one that we have been looking forward to all year. We will be attending the FASTRAK National "Chassis Challenge" at the famed Eldora Speedway. Last year was our first visit to the Tony Stewart owned track, and Butch qualified an impressive 23rd, only to be caught up in a hard crash on the first lap of the heat event, ending out night.

We will practice on Friday night, then attend an autograph session/car show at the Walmart in Greenville, Ohio on Saturday. We will start the racing off Saturday night with time-trials, heats, b-mains and finish with the 50-lap main event feature. We are expecting there to be 60-70 teams there all vying for a spot in the 24 car starting lineup. We will head home early Sunday morning so we can make it to Tri-City for their regular event.

Send out some good luck vibes for this weekend! We need to get our season turned around!

Until next time...

A Successful Debut and a Couple Trips

2009-07-07T22:51:00.003-04:00

After enjoying the weekend at the Firecracker 100 at Lernerville Speedway, Butch and crew made the tow to Tri-City Speedway on Sunday, June 28th. With the Wexford Racing, Chuck Neely owned #27 Emod finally ready for action, Butch was looking forward to pulling double duty. Rain had hit the speedway earlier in the day leaving the track heavy and rough, but at least we were racing! In the heat event for the Crate, Butch started 7th and could only muster a 5th place finish. An invert Zero put him in 9th place on the starting grid for the feature. He ran a strong race and finished a respectable 7th. Everyone was on edge for the emod debut. After struggling with engine problems most of last year, we were anxious to see what the new season would bring. Butch started on the pole of the heat event and led for the first half of the race. Cautions slowed the race down and allowed Evan Taylor to get by Butch for the win. He held on to finish a strong 2nd. Tri-City has a new car rule in which any new car cannot start any better than 12th in the feature, so Butch had his work cut out for him from the 12th starting position. Lap by lap he worked his way through the field and when the checkered fell, he was in 6th place. We were very happy with the results.

The FASTRAK Northeast Tour had a rare weekday event on Wednesday, July 1st at Expo Speedway as part of the Trumbull County Fair. We made the tow out to Ohio only to get rained out. The show was re-scheduled for Sunday, July 5th, see results below.

On Friday, July 3rd we made our first trip of the season to Raceway 7 in Conneaut, Ohio for a FASTRAK Northeast Tour event. He started the heat event in 5th place on a very rough track and fell to a 6th place finish, forcing him to run the B-Main to try to qualify for the feature. He started the B from the outside pole and got the lead on a nice move in turns 3 & 4. He never looked back and took the checkered for his second B-main win of the year. He started the feature event in 22nd place and was a man on the move. By the time the checkered fell, he worked his way to an 8th place finish! Butch also piloted the emod at Raceway 7, starting his heat in 3rd place and finishing 4th. The re-draw put him on the pole for the feature and he ran a very strong race, pulling off a 3rd place finish. I believe that is a best-ever feature finish for the emod and certainly his best finish at Raceway 7 against some stout competition.

We returned to Expo Speedway on Sunday afternoon for the rescheduled event, this time with sunny skies. A good pill draw had him starting 3rd in a star- studded heat event. Unfortunately, the second place starter decided to try to win the race in the first turn and spun out, collecting Butch. Luckily, he was able to continue, but had to re-start at the end of the field. He was able to muster a 6th place finish, which was good enough to make the feature. He started the event from the 16th spot, but a first lap caution shuffled the field and the ensuing restart was not lined up properly, so he restarted in 18th. The 30 lap event was a long one, with a ton of cautions, but Butch steadily worked his way forward. With 11 laps to go he was up to 8th place and by the final lap, he had finished 6th! It was a frustrating night, but we were very happy to come away in one piece and with another solid top 10 finish.

Up next is another FASTRAK Northeast Tour race, this time at McKean County Speedway on Saturday, July 11th. Butch will also be competing in the UEMS Emod event there. We will head back to Tri-City Speedway on Sunday, July 12th with both cars. July will be a busy month for the Lambert Racing Team, with special events at Lernerville Speedway, Tri-City Speedway, Pittsburgh PA Motor Speedway and Eldora Speedway, in addition to regular events at Tri-City.

Until next time...

Another So, So Weekend, and Rain!

2009-06-25T22:10:00.003-04:00

On Saturday, June 13th, Butch and the Lambert Racing #27 headed to Mercer Raceway Park for a regular event. The show started over an hour late due to poor track conditions, and Butch was fortunate to start on the pole of his heat event on the very rough track. No one really went anywhere in the heat and Butch picked up the heat event win. Madison did the re-draw for the feature and put her daddy 3rd on the grid for the event. He started the race out strong and jumped into 2nd at the start. He was biding his time and closing in on the leader as the race went on. On lap 8, Max Blair caught up to him going down the back stretch, then proceeded to "door" him in turns 3&4. The contact sent Butch up towards the wall and also allowed another car to get by. It was apparent that the hit caused some sort of damage to the handling of the car, as he fell back to a 6th place finish. Butch and the crew were pretty upset about the contact from Blair, as, quite honestly, it was completely unnecessary, and wasn't the first time it has happened.

The team re-grouped for Sunday, June 14th at Tri-City Speedway. A bad bill had Butch starting 7th in the heat event, but he did a nice job to race his way to a third place finish. The invert zero for the feature event saw him start from the 6th hole. Overall, there was not alot of passing in the feature, he advanced a few positions only to be passed by other cars. In the end, we took home a 7th place finish and for once the car was in one piece.

This past weekend, with rain in the forecast and still a bad taste in our mouth from Mercer, we decided to attend a family graduation party in lieu of racing at Mercer. It was a good call on our part, as they rained out shortly after hot laps. We had originally had Pittsburgh Motor Speedway on our schedule for June 20th, but the carnage they have been having there in the crates kept us away. Another good call on our part, as only 7 of the 19 cars that started the feature finished last Saturday. Tri-City Speedway was closed this week for an ATV race.

This weekend we will be attending the World of Outlaws Firecracker 100 at Lernerville Speedway. We had already committed to our camping spot and tickets when the FASTRAK Northeast Tour event was announced for Roaring Knob, so we will not be attending the Tour race. I guess you could say it is our mini-vacation before our very busy month of July. We will be in action this weekend on Sunday at Tri-City Speedway on June 28th. The Wexford Racing #27 Emod is also finally ready for action, so Butch will be pulling double duty, driving both the crate and the emod.

We will kick July off at Expo Raceway on Wednesday, July 1st, as the FASTRAK Northeast Tour event is being held in conjunction with the Trumbull County Fair. We have never been to Expo, but it sounds like a great place! Friday, July 3rd, we will make our first trip of the year to Raceway 7 in Connueat, OH for another FASTRAK Northeast Tour event. We will spend Saturday, July 4th with family, then head to Tri-City on Sunday, July 5th for an Emod only show. July also has four more FASTRAK Northeast Tour events throughout the month at McKean County Speedway (7/11), Dog Hollow Speedway (7/17), Tri-City Speedway (7/19) and Pittsburgh PA Motor Speedway (7/25). The only questionable event for us will be the race at Dog Hollow and that will depend on Butch's work schedule. We will end July with a trip to the famed Eldora Speedway for a FASTRAK National Event.

Last chance to order shirts/sweatshirts this week!!!

Until next time...

More Ups and Downs

2009-06-12T20:32:00.006-04:00

The 2009 season is barely three months old, but Butch and the Lambert Racing Team have already had their share of ups and downs and this past weekend was no exception.

It was a homecoming of sorts on Friday, June 5th as Butch returned to Lernerville Speedway to run in the Pro Crate Late Model event. He took the green flag for the heat event from the third spot and looked to finish there until a bad restart handed him the pole position. He pulled away to a significant lead to pick up the heat event win. For the feature, he drew the 5th starting spot and it was a really good race. He quickly raced his way to third place in the caution filled event. As the race went on, the leader broke, but Butch had been racing side by side and didn't get the spot at the line. Instead of restarting 2nd, he was relegated to third and put up a hard fought battle to capture a second place finish. We were very happy to come home basically in one piece with a top 3 finish.

With no racing at Mercer Raceway Park on Saturday evening, we headed to Tri-City Speedway on Sunday for a regular event. Butch started his heat from the outside pole and quickly took the lead. He cruised to his second heat event win of the weekend with a hard charging Max Blair nipping at his heels. An Invert Zero line-up was pulled for the feature event, putting Butch on the outside pole beside Mike Pegher Jr. As soon as the green flag dropped, it was apparent there was a problem. For the first few laps, Butch dropped to 4th, then charged back to 2nd, only to drop back again, this time to 6th. With only 5 laps on the board, he pulled into the pits leaving all of us to wonder what happened. Our initial investigation found a problem with the carburetor, forcing us to load up for the night. He was credited with a 12th place finish.

Monday evening the team dug a little further into the problem and found metal in the oil, which is not a good sign. The engine was pulled and given to Mike Ingram of Ingram Engines to check out. He discovered early Wednesday that a lifter had come apart. Not something you would expect to see in a motor that only has 14 nights of racing on it. Needless to say, we were pretty disappointed. The good news is that we will have the engine back in time for next weekend and will run last year's motor in the meantime.

This weekend, we will be racing at Mercer Raceway Park on Saturday Night and Tri-City Speedway on Sunday night.

We are also pleased to announce that we have new Butch Lambert Racing T-shirts available for order for only $10! We are also offering tanks, hoodies, sweatshirts and long-sleeved T's. Please contact me if you would like to place an order!

Until next time...

It was the best of times, and the worst of times...

2009-05-29T12:57:00.002-04:00

After Butch's strong run at The Dirt Track at Lowe's on Friday night, the team was optimistic heading into the FASTRAK Southeast event at Wythe Raceway on Saturday night. Unfortunately, that optimism was short-lived, as we knew we were in trouble after hot laps. Butch qualified 33rd out of 40 cars, which put him in 7th on the starting grid for the heat. The crew worked diligently to try to get the car working better, but to no avail. He finished the heat in 6th, forcing him to run the B-main to try to make the feature. The crew went to work once again, but just could not find the magic set-up for the car. Although it was not through lack of effort, his 6th place finish in the b-main would not be good enough to make the feature starting grid, so we were done for the night.

Sunday morning we awoke to gloomy skies and a forecast of 60% rain for the Princeton, WV area. This, combined with the FASTRAK Northeast event at Mercer Raceway Park waiting for us on Monday, compelled us to make the decision to head for home. The team pulled out of Wytheville, Virginia a little after 10 am and pulled into Tri-City Speedway around 5:30pm, just missing hot laps. Butch started and finished the heat event at Tri-City in 3rd place. The Invert Zero re-draw put him in 5th on the starting grid for the feature. The caution flag only flew one time in the event and this allowed the field to get spaced out with very little passing towards the end of the event. Butch crossed the finish line in 5th place, exactly where he had started.

We were thrilled to have survived three straight nights of racing with very little damage or issues and looked forward to having a strong run at Mercer Raceway Park on Monday for the Steel Valley Classic, FASTRAK Northeast Tour event. The night started off well with Butch racing his way from a 7th place start in the heat to a 3rd place finish. This secured him a spot in the feature event and put him in the re-draw for the top 12 starting spots. As luck would have it, he re-drew the 11th place spot to start the feature. The track had changed considerable from the heats to the feature, and alot of cars were struggling at the beginning of the race. A lap one crash shuffled the field and cause some confusion, but Butch re-started in 10th. He was running in about 8th place when disaster struck on un-lucky lap 13. A lead car spun going into turn one and Butch had no where to go and very little time to react. As a result, he crashed hard into the car sitting broadside in the corner, only to be hit two more times as other cars joined the crash. Luckily, Butch was able to walk away. The car, however, was not so fortunate. Both the left and right side front suspension was all but destroyed, and he also took a very hard hit to the left side rear quarter.

The crew took the day off on Tuesday to rest, but started to assess the damage on Wednesday. Their findings were not good. In addition to the front shocks, a-arms, and other suspension, the chassis is also bent, not just in the front, but in the rear as well. There was heavy sheet-metal and cosmetic damage as well.

Unfortunately, we are forced to take this weekend off to re-group. We hope to have the car ready for next Friday's Pro Late Model event at Lernerville Speedway. We have also made the very difficult decision to pare our schedule back to racing one night at week at Tri-City Speedway (barring any specials). This crash has put a serious dent in our racing budget for the year, so unfortunately we will have to sit out some events. Hopefully this will be a short-term change and we will be back to also racing at Mercer Raceway Park on a weekly basis soon.

Until next time...

A Good Night at The Dirt Track at Lowe's!

2009-05-23T10:50:00.003-04:00

Butch and the Lambert Racing Team rolled into The Dirt Track at Lowe's yesterday for the FASTRAK Goodyear Challenge. The event was limited to 50 entries and 47 drivers signed in for the night.

Butch pulled a #28 and started the 4th heat event in 4th place. He patiently worked the inside line and made a thrilling pass on the white flag lap to secure a 3rd place finish and a spot on the starting grid for the feature. We were thrilled to have made the show through the heat and felt that we had accomplished our #1 goal by just making the race.

He took the green flag in the feature from the 16th starting spot. A lap one spin in front of him cost him a few spots, but once the race restarted, he was on the move. Using the whole track, he started weaving through traffic. Coming for the checkered flag, he had a strong run down the backstretch and through 3 and 4 that allowed him to pull right up on the 9th and 10th place cars. Unfortunately, he just didn't have enough time and finished in 11th place, just about a foot shy of a top 10 finish.

We couldn't be happier with our performance and are hoping to carry some momentum into the FASTRAK Southeast Tour race at Wythe Raceway tonight.

A Good Run & a Look Ahead

2009-05-18T19:29:00.003-04:00

Mercer Raceway Park fell to rain and thunderstorms on Saturday, May 16th, giving us a rare night off. Sunday it was off for a chilly night of racing at Tri-City Speedway. Butch started the heat event in 6th place and managed to move up one for a fifth place finish. He was slated to start the feature in 6th, but unfortunately, Carl McKinney had to scratch due to an engine problem, which moved Butch into 5th place for the start. He jumped into 4th on the start and was running a great race. At one point he had reeled in Mike Pegher Jr and was working on 3rd place, but the leader of the race spun coming out of turn 4 and Butch had to lift for a split second, allowing Mikey to pull away again. The leader's spin handed the lead to Max Blair, with Butch now in 3rd. The remainder of the race went green and we were very happy with our third place finish.

This week is the week we have all been waiting for. Weather permitting, we will be making our way down south for a 4 day race swing that will take us to four different tracks in four different states in just 4 days! We will start off at FASTRAK National event at The Dirt Track at Lowe's Motor Speedway on Friday, May 22nd. This race is being held in conjunction with the NASCAR race and the World of Outlaws Sprints. The next night, we will head north to Wythe Raceway in Virginia for a FASTRAK Southeast Tour race. Sunday will find us at Princeston Speedway in West Virginia for another FASTRAK Southeast Tour race. Monday we will head home to compete in the Steel Valley Classic at Mercer Raceway Park, which is FASTRAK Northeast Tour event.

Preparations for the weekend are already well underway as we have alot of work to do to be able to run that many days in a row. First we are putting a new body on the car and will need to re-letter it. Then we need to load up the trailer with lots of spare parts that we hopefully won't need.

Send us some good luck vibes and cross your fingers for good weather!

I will post results to the blog daily so check back soon!

Until then...

Rain and Another Top Ten

2009-05-14T23:01:00.003-04:00

On Saturday, May 9th, Butch and the Lambert Racing team headed to Mercer Raceway Park. This was the first week they had their “In the Spotlight” driver event, featuring a driver from each division. Butch as the FASTRAK Crate Late Model driver featured, and he got to take the car up behind the grandstands and sign autographs for fans on beautiful cards that Mercer provided. The Mahoning Valley Scrappers Minor League Baseball team also had their mascot “Scrappy” there and we had some fun with him.

Butch started the heat event in 5th place and at the drop of the checkered, he finished 3rd. It was a chilly night and the threatening skies finally let loose shortly before feature time, cancelling the remainder of the racing action for the night.

After having the previous week off at Tri-City Speedway, we headed there on Sunday, May 10th. Madison drew her daddy a good pill and he started the heat event on the pole. He had pulled out to a considerable lead, but the caution flew quite a few times and had Butch battling with Carl McKinney and Max Blair throughout the event. He faded as far as 3rd, but managed to pass Carl at the end and finished 2nd. His strong heat finish put him in 5th place on the starting grid of the feature. He hung there for quite awhile, and had even moved up as far as 3rd. A very nasty crash marred the event just past the halfway point. Luckily, it happened just behind Butch, and thankfully, everyone was ok. The top groove came in as the race went on and Butch lost a few spots for a 7th place finish.

This week, we will be back at Mercer on Saturday night and Tri-City on Sunday night – that is, if Mother Nature cooperates. After Sunday’s racing, we will start preparing for our trip to The Dirt Track at Lowe’s Motor Speedway by re-skinning and re-lettering the car.

Until next week…good racing!

A Pretty Good Night

2009-05-03T16:09:00.002-04:00

Our trip to Mercer Raceway Park on Saturday, May 2nd was pretty good. Butch started out the night by drawing the #1 pill which put him on the pole of the first heat event. He jumped into the lead and never looked back, logging his first heat race victory of 2009.

Luck was with us for the feature re-draw as well, as he drew the outside pole for the event. It was quickly evident that the outside groove was not the place to be and Butch fell back to 6th or 7th place with just a few laps in. He raced hard and was fighting a tight car for most of the event, but managed to pull back up to a 4th place finish.

Tri-City Speedway has a Sprint/Late Model special on Sunday, so they are not running crates. Next weekend we will be back at Mercer on Saturday (5/9) and Tri-City on Sunday (5/10).

It is looking like we will be able to debut our new website this week, so stay posted for that!

Until then, good racing!

From Bad to Worse

2009-04-29T10:15:00.002-04:00

After a rough weekend at Lernerville last weekend, we went into the FASTRAK Northeast Tour event at Tyler County Speedway with high hopes. Unfortunately, Lady Luck had other ideas. After drawing a bad pill, Butch started and finished the heat event in 7th place. With 26 cars on hand, and FASTRAK's hard and fast rule of only starting 24 cars, this meant Butch had to run the B-main to race his way into the feature. He started 3rd in the event and worked his way to the lead where he then pulled away from the pack.

He was slated to start 19th in the feature, but somehow ended up starting 21st. He was slowly making his way through traffic and was up to 15th place. On a restart, the field got moved around and he got shuffled back to probably 19th before the green even dropped. On the very next lap a multi-car crash happened right in front of him and he had no where to go. It looked innocent enough and originally appeared that he could continue, but a broken tie-rod, bent shock, and other bent suspension parts ended our night. He was credited with a 22nd place finish. Needless to say, it was a long ride home.

Looking to turn our luck around, Butch and crew worked hard to get the car put back together for Tri-City's opening night on Sunday, April 26th. He started the heat in 6th place and was racing for 4th with #00H Brian Booher when Butch tried to pass him on the inside and Booher turned into the passenger door, spinning Butch out. He restarted at the rear of the field and could only muster an 8th place finish. The poor heat finish put him in 16th place on the grid for the feature event. The car was working good and he slowly started moving through the field. For the last 10 laps of the event, he swapped positions with David Scott and Carl McKinney almost ever lap. It was a great battle and Butch ended up finishing the feature in 7th place. Not the night we had hoped for, but another top 10 finish all the same.

Our weekend plans for this week are a little up in the air. We will either race at Mercer or Roaring Knob. I will post the decision on our website once it is made. Tri-City has a special this week and is not running crates so we have Sunday off.

We are already making plans for our 4-day race through the south on Memorial Day weekend and have secured a spot in the restricted event at Lowe's Motor Speedway by getting our entry in early.

Until next time...

Rough Weekend

2009-04-21T11:36:00.004-04:00

Our highly anticipated return to Lernerville Speedway on Friday, April 17th ended in bitter disappointment.

After drawing a bad pill to start the heat event in 7th (last) place, Butch made a charge towards the front, passing eventually feature winner David Scott with just a couple laps to go and nearly taking second place from Max Blair coming for the checkered flag. His 3rd place heat race finish put him in the redraw for the feature event and he took the green from the 5th place position. I can't say for sure what happened, but coming through turns 3 and 4 to complete the first lap, the 55 of Chris Schneider spun. Butch barely missed him, only to get caught up by another spinning car in front of him. He headed to the pits with heavy damage to the left front of the car, as well as the entire right side and two flat tires. The crew got him back on the track just in time to take the green without missing a lap. Another spinning car caused Butch himself to spin shortly after they restarted the event. About 8 laps into the 20 lap event, it was announced that the race was being cut to 15 laps. What a bunch of crap! There was NO REASON to do that, especially once the race was under way. Butch was caught up in yet another wreck but persevered on and starting making progress towards the end of the event. He was fast through turns 1 & 2 and in one lap passed 3 cars by going to the outside and making it stick. He ended up finishing 7th. If they had gotten to run the whole 20 laps, who knows.

We will have to really weigh our options regarding the next race at Lernerville for the Crates. No transponder data, cutting the race by 5 laps, lax tire rules...the list goes on for why we shouldn't, but we all know why we should.

We all worked very hard on Saturday to get the car ready to go to Mercer and it was a pretty good night. Butch started and finished the heat in 3rd place. He spun on the first or second lap to avoid contact with another car, so he went to the tail of the field and worked his way back to third. He re-drew the 6th place starting spot in the feature and it was a hard fought race. It seemed like every time he made some progress, the caution would come out. He was as far back as 7th and as high as 3rd at times. It seemed like no matter where he went on the track to pass the guy in front of him, the guy was there. If Butch went high, he drifted high and Butch had to lift, if Butch went low, he cut him off and Butch had to get on the brakes. One of those times towards the end of the race, Butch fell back to 5th. On the last lap going down the back straightaway, he pulled even with 4th place and ran into the corner on the high side. It stuck and the next thing you knew, he was beside the 3rd place car at the finish line. He had to settle for 4th but that move on the last lap was awesome!

Next for us is the first FASTRAK Northeast Tour event of 2009. We will be competing at Tyler County Speedway in Middlebourne, WV on Saturday, April 25th in the FASTRAK "Topless 25". No, they won't be racing without their shirts, they will be racing without their roofs! It is our first ever Topless event and it should be alot of fun. They are calling for beautiful weather this weekend too!

Sunday we plan to make our first trip of 2009 to Tri-City Speedway for their opening event. The emod will not be ready for this weekend, so we will just be running the crate.

Until next time, happy racing!

Braving the Cold!

2009-04-13T19:37:00.003-04:00

Saturday night at Mercer Raceway Park was a cold one! It's a good thing there was alot of action on the track to warm things up!

Butch started the heat event in 6th place and quickly jumped into 4th. He mounted a challenge on the 35H of Chris Haines for the entire event, but just couldn't get around him and had to settle for 4th. With 30 FASTRAK Crates on hand, this was just good enough to get him into the pill draw for the feature.

Butch took the green from his 10th place starting spot and drove a very smart race, missing many wrecks and having quite a few close calls. He eventually settled into 5th place and was looking like he might be able to bring home 4th place, but a caution with a few laps to go changed that. It was a hard fought battle, but he came home with a 5th place finish and we were, of course, very happy with that.

This Friday we will return to our old stomping ground to compete in the UMP Pro Late Model event at Lernerville Speedway that is in conjunction with the O'Reilly All Star Late Models. We always look forward to racing at Lernerville and this event should be a great one! As of right now, we are also planning on running at Mercer Raceway Park on Saturday night, but that will be dependent on how Friday goes.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter holiday!

Successful Opening Night

2009-04-06T14:12:00.004-04:00

Mercer Raceway Park got their opening night in this past Saturday and Butch had, what I would consider to be, a successful opening night.

After starting from the 4th place position in his heat race, he went on to score a solid 2nd place behind eventual feature winner, Mike Pegher, Jr. For the feature, Butch once again started in 4th place but quickly moved up in to the second spot. On lap eight he was passed by Max Blair, but ran a good race to finish 3rd and hold off a hard charging Dennis Lunger.

This week we will return to Mercer on Saturday, April 11th. The following week we will be competing at Lernerville Speedway on Friday (4/17) and Mercer on Saturday (4/18). In just over two weeks, we will travel to Tyler County Speedway for the first of sixteen FASTRAK Northeast Tour events (4/25). The following night will be opening night for Tri-City Speedway (4/26).

Check back often, and see you at the races!

Ready for Action!

2009-04-03T08:24:00.004-04:00

Tomorrow night will mark the first event of the season for Butch Lambert and the Lambert Racing #27 FASTRAK Late Model team. Mercer Raceway Park will be holding their opening night event which includes Sprints, Small Block Modifieds, FASTRAK Late Models, Mod-Lites and Mini-Stocks. Grandstands open at 4:30pm with racing at 7pm.

Hopefully, Mother Nature will cooperate and not dump too much rain on us today, as the forecast for tomorrow is favorable.

After what has been determined to have been a successful test and tune session at Lernerville Speedway on March 21st, Butch is looking forward to get into some real racing action this weekend.

We are also happy to announce that we have partnered with Jason Fleming of Fleming Design Solutions to design a new website for Lambert Racing. We expect to debut the new site sometime in April.

April Race Schedule:
April 4th - Mercer Raceway Park
April 11th - Mercer Raceway Park
April 17th - Lernerville Speedway
April 18th - Mercer Raceway Park
April 25th - Tyler County Speedway (FASTRAK Northeast Tour)
April 26th - Tri-City Speedway (Opening Night)

Butch Lambert and the Lambert Racing team would like to thank all of their sponsors and supporters: Bagel Bites, Austin's A1 Bleach, Fannie's Friends Pet Crematorium, Fleming Tire & Auto, Lambert Plumbing, RAM Transit Lines, Inc., Kozminski Auto Body & AlignRite, BP Construction, Harmony's Angel Candle Co., Smardt Equipment, Woodward, Inc., Flinner Signs & Decals, C&D Embroidery, Mars Beer Distributor, Marburger Farms Dairy, Hotsy and B&E Mini Mart.

It's Ready!!

2009-03-19T11:30:00.005-04:00

Finally, we are ready to go racing! Butch is looking forward to practice on Saturday at Lernerville Speedway to shake down the car and break in the new GM 604 Crate Engine.

Our first official race event is scheduled for Saturday, April 4th at Mercer Raceway Park. Tri-City Speedway has moved their opening night back to April 26th, so we will be racing mainly at Mercer for the month of April.

The first FASTRAK Northeast Tour Event is Saturday, April 25th at Tyler County Speedway in West Virginia. It will be our first visit to the track and the cars will be running topless, so we are really looking forward to it.

I'll let you know how practice goes and will hopefully have some better pictures to share soon!

Can you hear it?

2009-03-07T15:17:00.004-05:00

If you listen really closely, you can almost hear the sounds of engines roaring! It's getting close! Only 14 short days until Butch Lambert and the Lambert Racing #27 rolls on to the track at Lernerville Speedway for practice on Saturday, March 21st!

The crate is almost 100% ready to go - just needs lettered - which will be done in the next 2 weeks. Sadly, we were not able to secure any new sponsorship for 2009, but we do still plan to follow the FASTRAK Northeast Tour as much as possible. After practice on the 21st, we will open the season at Mercer Raceway Park on Saturday, April 4th for their first regular night of competition and follow that up at Tri-City Speedway on the 5th for their opening night. The following weekend we will be at Mercer once again, but Tri-City is closed for the Easter Holiday. We will be back to Mercer and Tri-City on April 18th & 19th, then on April 25th we will make our first ever trip to Tyler County Speedway for a "Topless" FASTRAK Northeast Tour Event. We will close April out at Tri-City on Sunday the 26th.

Our first road trip of the season will be over Memorial Day weekend when we will travel to The Dirt Track at Lowe's in Charlotte, North Carolina for a FASTRAK National Event. We have not yet decided where we will go from there - to Wythe or Sharon Speedway.

It does not look like the emod will be ready for the Chiller Thriller at Mercer, but work is progressing in that camp as well.

Check back soon for pics of the new car! I will post them as soon as it's done!

See you at the races!

Change in Plans

2009-02-14T09:55:00.004-05:00

We have made the very difficult decision to not attend the FASTRAK Modoc 100 next month. Instead, we are going to focus on getting the car completed in time for the car show at Clearview Mall. We have a very agressive schedule planned for the beginning of the season and need to be at the top of our game out of the box.

The crate now has a body on it and the rear-end is going back in this week. The new GM 604 crate engine is going in today and we should have the repaired steering rack back by the end of the week. We are making progress!

Next up - getting lettered!!! If everything goes as planned and FSD's schedule allows it, we should be lettered and ready to go by the end of February!

As of right now, our first officially scheduled race event is the Chiller Thriller at Mercer Raceway Park on March 28th with the UEMS Emod Series. Opening night at Mercer will be the following week (4/4), when the crate will make its 2009 debut.

We are still looking to secure sponsorship for the 2009 season. Please contact me for more information - robyn@lambertracing.com.

Enjoy the Daytona 500 this weekend!

Road Trip?

2009-01-24T10:50:00.002-05:00

I had initially thought that our first road trip of the season would be Memorial Day weekend. BUT, plans have changed. We are now focused on trying to get the car finished to attend the first FASTRAK National event of the year at Modoc Speedway in South Carolina for the Modoc 100 on March 6th & 7th!

We are pretty excited about making this trip and hope that we can make it happen. A quick glance at the tentative schedule has us racing at 15 different tracks in 7 states this year!

Butch, Dave & Ron are at "Rocket" school this weekend - let's hope they learn something!

The car will be heading over the KAR Fab this week for the new body, the new 604 GM Crate Engine should be here Monday or Tuesday, so things are falling into place.

We are still looking for new product, associate and primary sponsors to join our team. Please contact me if you or anyone you know may be interested.

On to 2009...

2009-01-07T22:18:00.003-05:00

We are gearing up for the 2009 Season. The Crate is ready to go to KAR Fab for the new body, then it is off to Flinner Signs and Decals to get lettered. I think the emod is also going to KAR Fab and will have a new look this year as Flinner will also be lettering it.

I have been working hard looking for new sponsors to take our team to the next level. We are so close...just need a little more backing to get it done. In today's tough economic times, it hasn't been easy to garner much interest. I feel that the economic situation could be good for dirt track racing, as family's will be looking for inexpensive entertainment and their local dirt track will fit the bill!

We are starting to put together our schedule and hope to begin with the local mall car shows. It will depend on how the work and money flows if we will be ready in time. Not too many tracks have released schedules yet, but we were happy to get a couple events at Lernerville Speedway. I was also happy to see a FASTRAK Northeast Tour Event scheduled at Roaring Knob - we are looking forward to that one. Our first road trip looks to be at the end of May with a three-day trek that will start at The Dirt Track at Lowe's, move to Wythe Raceway, then end at Princeston Speedway in West Virginia. I am already excited for this trip, so I hope we can make it happen and there aren't any scheduling conflicts with the Northeast Tour.

We will be attending the Tri-City Speedway banquet this Sunday, then the Pittsburgh Circle Track Club Banquet on January 31st. Butch will be honored as the 2008 Crate Late Model Rookie of the Year for PCTC.

That's all for now - if you or anyone you know is interested in joining our team as a marketing partner, please contact me.

See you at the races!

Grand Nationals - Wythe

2008-10-22T15:43:00.003-04:00

Sorry for the delay...it was a long night at Wythe, then with the trip home and everything, I got a little behind.

After Friday's practice session and qualifying was rained out at Wythe, the crew spent most of the afternoon and evening getting the car ready to run the complete show on Saturday. We drew a #8 pill, which would have been more to our advantage at Friendship when the track got slower as qualifying went. As our luck would have it, the track at Wythe got faster as qualifying went on, so Butch timed in at 33rd fastest in the 53 car field.

For the heat event, he started in 7th position and jumped up in to 4th almost immediately. As the laps went on, the car in 5th place turned him sideways, not once, but twice, and the second time Butch almost spun out, letting 2 cars by. He finished the heat in 6th place, with only the top 3 advancing to the feature event. He then started the 1st of 2 b-mains in 5th place. He quickly moved into 4th and jumped into 3rd on a restart, but could not hold off a hard charging Max Blair. He ended up finishing 4th, just one spot shy of qualifying for the Feature event.

They did run a 12 lap non-qualifier's feature, which Butch started on the pole of. He eventually drifted back to a 4th place finish, but at least we earned a little money for our trip back home.

Overall, Butch finished 31st in the Grand National Points Standings, just one point shy of 30th place, which was the last paid position.

While we would have liked to have run better and at least make one of the features, we feel that the trip was well worth it, as we learned so much about our car, and our race program. We know now what we need to do to step-up our program and we are more aware of what the different adjustments do to the car. The practice sessions were really beneficial - it was great to go out and get more than 1 or 2 "hot laps" for once.

Now it is time to prepare for 2009! Plans are already being set in motion for a new engine and we definitely have alot of work to do over the winter! Check in often to see what is new with the team!

Rained Out!!

2008-10-17T19:09:00.003-04:00

Practice and qualifying tonight for Night #3 of the FASTRAK Grand Nationals at Wythe Raceway has been rained out. We will run everything tomorrow - thankfully! We were afraid they would make us all stay and race on Sunday.

As I type, the crew is finishing up working on the car and then I guess we are headed out for some food and maybe a few cocktails!

Cross your fingers for nicer weather tomorrow!!!

Grand Nationals Night #2 - Heats, Consi's, Features

2008-10-17T09:50:00.003-04:00

Well, we certainly didn't have the results we would have hoped in the finale of Night #2 of the FASTRAK Grand Nationals. After starting deep in the field of the first heat race (9th) Butch was more like a pinball than a racecar as he was hit on pretty much every panel of the car throughout the race. The 15 lap race had 5 cautions in the first 6 laps and Butch just couldn't get a break. The top 3 finishers of the heat transferred to the feature, but Butch's 7th place finish relegated him to the first of 3 b-mains later on in the night. He started the b-main in 7th place and again, it was a wreckfest. At the end of the 12 lap event, he finished 9th, just 1 spot out of making the "non-qualifiers" feature - so we thought. Apparently, the rules were changed once again, and anyone was eligible to run the non-qualifiers race. That information would have been helpful before the race was pulling onto the track. Although, with the price of the fuel they FORCED us to buy there at $8.50 a gallon ( we have been running 93 pump fuel all season at $4 something a gallon) we really didn't need to waste our fuel running this race.

We are in Wytheville, Virginia now and will be at Night #3 at Wythe Raceway tonight and tomorrow night. Butch is in 24th place overall in the Grand National Points Standings, only 8 points out of 10th place.

Tonight is a new night and hopefully we will have some better luck!

Grand Nationals Night #2 - Qualifying

2008-10-16T01:17:00.002-04:00

After three sessions of hot laps, Butch went out 46th out of 68 cars. He ended up qualifying 50th, which is not as good as we hoped after turning some pretty quick times in practice. He is slated to start 9th in the 2nd heat race.

It's been a long day and most of us have been up for almost 22 hours, so it's time to get some shut eye.

Keep your fingers crossed for us for tomorrow and send those good luck vibes!

It's Grand Nationals Time!

2008-10-06T10:19:00.004-04:00

Butch put in a great performance this past Saturday at Mercer Raceway Park for Night #1 of the FASTRAK Grand Nationals. After a dismal 17th in time trials, he started 3rd in his heat event, which he went on to win. The race format was a little different than we were used to and they lined the feature up straight up on time trials, if you qualified through you heat - IE finished top 6. With 4 cars that time trialed better than Butch not qualifying through the heats, he took the green flag of the 30 lap feature event in the 13th starting spot.

From the drop of the green he was a man on the move, working traffic and missing crashes, including a 10 car pile up that he barely got through. When the checkered flag fell, it was Max Blair taking the win, followed by Dick Barton, Tommy Snyder, Dennis Lunger & Butch in 5th place!

The top 5 finish has put us in a strong position heading into Night #2 of the Grand Nationals at Friendship Speedway in Elkin, NC. The team will head out the morning of 10/15, with practice and time trials that night, followed the next night by heats, consolations & the 50 lap feature.

I plan on updating the blog each night from the Grand Nationals, so stay posted! I hope to know soon where we stand in the points right now and will post any information I can, once I get it.

Good racing!

HE WON!!!

2008-10-03T09:16:00.004-04:00

Although I still am a little bit in shock, it's true - Butch won his first FASTRAK Crate Late Model Feature! Not just a regular show either, but a Northeast Region Touring Event! It was so exciting. Starting on the front row had alot to do with it, but Butch really ran a flawless race to lead all 25 laps.

We went into the Fall Classic weekend (9/26 & 9/27) at McKean County Raceway pretty excited. The last time we had been there, I think it was our third or fourth outing with the car and he picked up a top 10. We have learned so much since then. The schedule for the weekend was the FASTRAK NE Race on Friday and a regular FASTRAK show and $2000 to win Emod show on Saturday. We dodged raindrops pretty much all weekend too.

Butch started his heat on Friday in 5th and finished 2nd (I think). He re-drew the pole for the feature and once he beat Dick Barton into turn 1 on the start, it was all over. He started pulling away as the event went non-stop. I was so nervous the last 6 laps. Madi slept through the whole thing but when I woke her up she was SO excited! She was clapping and laughing. When we got to Victory Lane she laid a big lip lock on Butch and it was so cute! Hopefully I will have some pics to share soon.

On to "The Pittsburgher"

2008-09-15T11:26:00.005-04:00

Most of this weekend's racing action was washed out, including the FASTRAK Northeast Tour event at Mercer Raceway Park that was scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 13th.

That, combined with the previous weekend off allowed the guys to re-group, re-organize and get re-energized for the rest of the big end-of-season shows.

Up next, Butch will be piloting the Wexford Racing, Chuck Neely owned #27 Emod at Pittsburgh's PA Motor Speedway for the UEMS portion of "The Pittsburgher". The team will head down Thursday (9/18) for practice on the big half-mile, as Butch has to work on Friday and will likely not get there in time for hot laps. Friday will see heat race action and Saturday will be the B-mains and Feature.

Our FASTRAK Crate Late Model will stay parked for the weekend - we decided not to spend the money on the tires that we would need to run at Pittsburgh. The next event will be the final FASTRAK Northeast Tour Event of the season at McKean County Speedway on Friday, September 26th. We will follow at up with a regular $750 to win FASTRAK event the very next night (9/27). It will be a busy race weekend as part of the McKean Co. "Fall Classic" as Butch will also compete in the emods on Saturday for a $2000 to win event.

FASTRAK has finally announced that Friendship Speedway in Elkin, North Carolina will host Night #2 of the FASTRAK Grand Nationals. We have our rooms booked - just need to come out of Night #1 at Mercer Raceway Park with a good finish and we will be on our way! More info on the Nationals will be forthcoming.

That's all for now - see you at the track!

We made it through the weekend!

2008-09-04T18:48:00.003-04:00

Well, I think it's safe to say that we had a pretty successful weekend at Tri-City Speedway for the Oil Region Labor Day Classic. One of our main goals for the weekend was to make it in to all three feature events and Butch did that in convincing fashion.

On Saturday, he ran a full show with the emod. It was exciting to see him lead the first 8 or so laps of the heat from his first row starting spot. He had to settle for a second place finish but that was good enough to make the pill draw for the first 12 starting spots in the feature. Typical of our luck, he redrew 10th. He ran a solid race in the feature to finish in 10th place. Considering there were over 40 top-notch emod teams there, we were very happy with our performance. The FASTRAK Crate Late Models only ran their heats on Saturday for the $2,000 to win FASTRAK Northeast Tour race. Butch started the heat in 6th place and quickly moved into third, securing himself a top 12 feature starting spot.

On Sunday, the emods ran another full show and Butch charged from him 6th place starting spot in the heat to challenge for the lead, but the leader got too low in turns 3&4 and threw mud onto the track taking Butch's line away. With almost 50 emods on hand, a 3rd place finish in the heat was good enough to make it into the feature with a 14th starting spot. He ran well in the feature and was racing for 10th when another driver made contact with Butch giving him a flat right front tire. Needless to say, Butch was pretty upset. I'm not going to name any names, but apparently there is one driver in particular that just can't stand to get passed by Butch. This is not the first time he had ended our night for us.

The FASTRAK Crate Late Model feature was an exciting one. Butch started in 8th place and was on the move from the drop of the green. At one point he was up to 4th place but as the 30 lap event went on (caution-free) and the got into lapped traffic he eventually dropped back to a 6th place finish. Still, pretty darn good considering the stout competition. We really must congratulate our friend and neighbor Carl McKinney on his first FASTRAK win. He ran a flawless race and I don't know anyone else that is more deserving than him.

We have decided to take a much needed weekend off, although I expect we will end up at a race track somewhere this weekend as spectators - we just can't stay away! Next up for us is a FASTRAK Northeast Tour event at Mercer Raceway Park on Saturday, September 13th. The emods will also be racing there that night, so Butch will pull double duty.

We are still up in the air on running the Pittsburgher at Pittsburgh's PA Motor Speedway. We will definitely run the emod there, but it is doubtful that we will take the crate. While we can run our Goodyear tires for this event, we fear that we would be at a huge disadvantage, and buying 4 new tires for one event just doesn't make a whole lot of sense right now.

I think I have written a book now, so I will leave it at that...see you at the races!

Specials, Specials & More Specials

2008-08-27T12:01:00.004-04:00

The season is starting to wind down and it's that time of year for all of the "Special Events". This weekend, we will head to Tri-City Speedway for the Oil Region Labor Day Classic. The FASTRAK Late Models will run for $2000 to win, with heats on Saturday and B-mains & Feature on Sunday. Butch will also compete with the e-mod both days, with complete full shows on Saturday and Sunday, each paying $1000 to win under the UEMS sanction. It's always fun to race when the World of Outlaw Late Models are in town, and this event will be no exception. There is always a huge party and bonfire Saturday night, so as long as Mother Nature cooperates, it should be great!

Butch is heading into the weeked on a high note after finishing 3rd in the FASTRAK Northeast Tour race at Eriez Speedway in our first ever trip there on Sunday, August 24th. It is a career best Tour finish for him, and considering I started him out in a hole by drawing the last pill available for the heat race (#66) that's pretty good. He also put in a strong performance Saturday night at Mercer Raceway Park, charging from his 10th place starting spot to a 5th place finish.

The emod should be back together in time for this weekend's race. We debuted a new engine last week at Tri-City, but a lifter came apart and junked the cam, so the motor had to be pulled this week to be repaired. We hope to have it back tonight.

Points are over at Tri-City and Butch finished in 7th place in both the Emod and the FASTRAK Late Models. That's pretty good considering he missed opening night in the crate and 2 nights in the emod due to engine failures in hot laps. He is currently sitting in 41st in the National FASTRAK Weekly Points but they are a little confusing and he is actually a little higher up than that. Despite only having run a handful of shows at Mercer Raceway Park, he is 1 point out of 10th place. Since we will be running there the rest of the season, he should easily move into the top 10 in points there as well.

That's all for now - have a fun and safe Labor Day Weekend!

I don't know what to do...

2008-08-13T15:55:00.004-04:00

these road trips lately have all but killed our racing budget, but it sure has been worth the experience.

This last trip to Eldora was probably the best and the worst. First, we got to do a fundraiser at the local WalMart Supercenter for the Children's Miracle Network. That was very cool to be a part of.

Then we qualified 23rd out of 49 cars - pretty good for a first year FASTRAKer with a low-budget team. The worst was that he didn't even get to make a lap in the heat event because someone got sideways or something and all hell broke loose. Guess who was right in the middle of it? I saw the guy that was above him (how did he get up there if Butch started on the outside??) get sideways, Butch checked up and then got hit. After that, he was a like a ping pong ball! We tried to get the car put back together for the b-main, but to no avail. I was literally begging the official to give us one more parade lap but they threw the green flag just as Butch was pulling to the track entrance, so no dice - Load it up boys, we're going home.

Oh well.

So, the trip only cost us like $2500 with nothing in return - they did not give tow money. I guess that is the price we pay. At least we can say we raced at Eldora! Needless to say, I have two new missions - finish our website redesign, and start looking for sponsors for the 2009 season! If we are going to do this thing right, then we are going to need some serious financial backing.

The next couple of weeks will be the calm before the storm as the regular season winds to an end and the specials start up. We will be at Mercer Raceway Park and Tri-City Speedway this weekend. Next weekend we will be back at Mercer and make our first ever trip to Eriez Speedway for a FASTRAK Northeast event. Labor Day Weekend we will be at Tri-City Speedway all weekend for the Oil Region Labor Day Classic, featuring the World of Outlaw Late Models, emods, stocks and a $2000 to win FASTRAK Northeast Tour race. There is always a monster party there Saturday night too! Should be a fun one, but all it really means is more work for me....more on that later!

Taking the Green!

2008-08-04T13:56:00.008-04:00

The lights are out, the flags are up and I have a new blog!

I have lots of things that I think about saying, but don't, ALOT. Here I can, and will, talk about these things. It might have to do with racing or family or work, who knows!

We had a helluva a weekend - packed the whole fam up in the motorhome because Mercer Raceway was having an event in support of the American Cancer Society. Needless to say, we didn't make it far before the motorhome overheated. We sent Butch ahead with the racecar and headed back for home and plan "b". We eventually made it, but the excitement didn't end there. Let's just say the racing was good and we were happy with our finish. I'll have more to add on the night later. As Liz said, we always find new ways to define adventure!

This week I am stoked that we are racing at the famed Eldora Raceway! Yee haw! Let's hope we fare a little better than we did on our last road trip!