Patsblog

September 14, 2009

Blog Entry by Pat Graham

Whew! The Supernationals are finally over! It was a super busy week, between working at JR Motorsports during the day, then basically running down to get in the racecar for hot laps it made for a very long week.

Our results on the track were very good. We were able to win our heat race on Thursday night then come back in the qualifying A-main feature and hold off a hard charging Mark Elliott to get the second place transfer spot in a great and sometimes side by side race. It was fun racing with Mark. I don't think we even touched the last twelve laps that we battled.

On to the show on Saturday ... We started in the 4th row in the middle as they start 3 wide for 11 rows. The middle row can be a little crazy to say the least. We were able to miss a few early cautions and had a really good car towards the end. With approximately 8 laps to go we had made it up to 5th place and was working on passing Jay Noteboom on a restart when the leader, Jake Durbin spun collecting the 2nd, 4th, 5th and 6th place cars with him. To say I was dejected would be an understatement. We had worked so hard to put ourselves in place to have a shot to win but it all changed in one corner!

After looking back I have to say it was a great week overall and would just like to say it was fun pitting next to Al Hejna, Jason Mallicoat and Mark Elliott. We all kind of worked together at different times and raced against each other alot also and we had alot of fun between crews. That's what makes racing fun!

I would like to thank everyone that was able to attend the show on Saturday and wish me luck. We basically sold out of our t-shirts for the year which worked out great! A special thanks to Doug, Michele and Tim for working on the car all week to make it happen so I could race and work at the same time. Without them I wouldn't have been able to it.

I am now looking forward to the USMTS Fall Jamboree up at Deer Creek on September 24th, hope we can make the show there also. It will definitely be a tough crowd up there, always is.

Thanks again to everyone this season. I hope to keep this good run right through Deer Creek next week! Hope many of you can make it up to Deer Creek. If you do, be sure to stop by the trailer afterwards.

Pat Graham #1K

Supernationals qualifier in 2002, 2005 and 2009

http://www.patgrahamracing.com

Blog / Race Update

August 24, 2009

Hey Everyone!

Just a quick note on the upcoming schedule. Here are our plans for the next month or so.

August 28 - Marshalltown Speedway - weekly show

August 29 - Deer Creek Speedway - weekly show

September 4 - Iowa State Fairgrounds Des Moines - weekly show - Season Championship Night

September 9, 10, 11, 12 - Boone Speedway - IMCA Supernationals

September 18, 19 - TBD

September 24, 25, 26 - Deer Creek Speedway - USMTS Fall Jamboree

Last week was a lot of fun. We raced at the Iowa State Fair in an IMCA Stock Car for a friend of ours that was out of town. After struggling in the heat race, we were very good in the feature starting 18th and finishing 11th out of 32 cars.

On Friday we attended Marshalltown Speedway, started 8th in our heat and finished 3rd. Then started 16th in the feature and finished 8th. Track was very fun and great racing all around.

On Saturday we ventured up to Deer Creek Speedway in Minnesota to work on our set up for the Fall Jamboree next month. We were trying a few new ideas on the Razor Chassis. I like the old way better than what we tried but it was worth the trip to test-n-tune before it really counts in September.

Hope everyone has had a great summer and I hope to see everyone at one of the above events..... Pat Graham, 1K Racing

6/5/09

We were on a mini-tour to Britt and Allison for the USMTS races this week. We had a great time and made both shows! We ran second in our heat race at Britt and finished 12th in the A-Main. We also collected money in the stands for the Breast Cancer Research donations as Mark Noble has his car lettered in pink to help gather donations also. I think it is a great deal to get to interact with the fans as I was able to talk to many old friends from North Iowa and also collected a lot of money for a great cause!!!

On Wednesday we went to Allison and had a flat tire right away in the heat race. It looked like something punctured the tire so we had to come through the B-Main to make it into the A-Main. From our starting point of 26th we had a really good run up to 14th. We passed the most cars of anybody in the feature, so overall a good two nights of racing. The car worked well and I had a lot of fun seeing some old friends.

We won't be back in action until next Friday the 12th at Des Moines. Take care and I hope to see everyone at the races ..... Pat

5/28/2009

This has been a roller coaster of a month! Mother Nature has been playing havic alot lately but we did manage to get in a few nights of racing this month. We picked up our first feature win of the season at Des Moines and finished third last weekend at Des Moines. We had a very good run in the heat race at Osky winning over Kelly Shryock and making the invert in the field. Unfortunately we were a little off on the set up in the feature and didn't do as well as we would like. We have been really competitive in the other USMTS shows, just need a little luck here and there.

We will be racing at Des Moines this Friday and again on Monday, June 1st, for the USMTS show. The entire #1K racing team is looking forward to these two shows!!

On a sad note, I was given the news that Charlie Clark (former owner of Harris Auto Racing) passed away last Friday night at the races in Beatrice, Nebraska. Charlie and his family were very good friends of mine. When things like this happen it really makes you appreciate your friends and family and all that we have. "Godspeed #22 Charlie Clark"

4.22.09

The sun is out for now!! We had kind of a roller coaster weekend last weekend. On Friday night at Des Moines we finished 3rd in our heat race and was up to 2nd in the feature and gaining on the leader when we had engine trouble. The car was working great up until that point and I think we had a great chance at winning but as they say "that's racing". Bob Meyers from Caseys was a surprise guest in the pits Friday night. Bob and Bill Kimball always keep it light and fun, and they give me advice (I don't always listen to all of it though, haha).

On Saturday we ventured up to Deer Creek near Rochester, Minnesota, despite the weather forcast. We left Des Moines and it was raining and 60 degrees and when we arrived up at Deer Creek it was 73 degrees and sunny, so we thought we had the weather beat, but not quite. We were able to run the heat race and finished a strong second, but the features were rained out.

Team #1K will be at Des Moines again this Friday night and back up to Deer Creek on Saturday night where we will have double features, weather permitting of course. Hope to see everyone out at the races this weekend. Take care ...... Pat Graham #1K

4-13-09

We went to the Iowa State Fairgrounds on Friday, April 10th. It was a little chilly but once the wind went down it wasn't too bad. The night started out pretty well. We have been working on the setup for the last couple of weeks getting it just how we want it. We must have done something right because we started at the back of our heat race and won with a last lap pass. We were not as fortunate in the feature race as electrical problems derailed us on the first lap.

On Sunday the 12th we ventured up to Mason City to the I-35 Speedway. That is my old home track so it was nice seeing many old friends and competitors. We started out the night pretty well running second in our heat race to last year's track Champion, so we thought we had the car pretty close. The feature I redrew #9 which means we started in the fourth row. The track became very slick and one lane around the bottom without much passing, but we were able to get up to fourth place and was very close to passing for third on the last lap. So overall it was a good night for all of the #1K Race Team.

This coming weekend we will be returning to the Iowa State Fairgrounds on Friday and then hopefully traveling with the USMTS car to Deer Creek Speedway near Rochester, Minnesota, on Saturday night.

Thanks for everyone's support and hope to see everyone at the races..... Pat

April 6, 2009

We started the weekend out Thursday with a photo shoot at the Casey's offices. It was great to have all the kids from the day care center be able to come out and see the cars. I went in afterwards and did a short question and answer session with the kids that was fun also. My favorite question was one of the kids was "Could the Incredible Hulk pick up your car?" I told him that I thought he probably could! I think they really enjoyed being able to sit in the car outside also.

On Friday night we went to Des Moines for opening night, the weather was pretty good for early April. After having some steering issues in the hot laps we were able to correct those and start at the back of the heat race and won the heat race. The feature went pretty well after passing Bill Davis Jr. for the lead and leading for a few laps, we were passed by Todd Shute and finished second. It was a pretty good night and good clean racing between Todd, Billy and I. I work with both of them so it would have been a pretty tough Monday if we would have taken each other out :)

This coming Friday, April 10th, we will be back at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines. Hope everyone has a great week ..... Pat Graham http://www.patgrahamracing.com

Happy Easter Everyone!