Ferrell Motorsports

2009 was a complete washout as far as driving goes. The motor was out of the car for the season and has yet to be rebuilt. I did continue to help with the club and enjoyed that so much I excepted the job as president. So for 2010 I’ll be leading the pack so to speak.

This year the double header at Brighton Speedway for Labour Day was also the season finale for the SOS.  The Championship was coming down to the wire between Glenn and Warren.  And I didn’t have a motor.  Lucky for me, Daryl Turford got hired to crew for Sam Hafertepe Jr on the World of Outlaws tour.  That ment that the #29 Turford car was without a driver and I was offered the ride.   Pete offered to let me use the car to finish out the season which was fantastic.  We didn’t have the best season but I wanted to at least go down swinging.

Racing at Brighton Speedway

Because we were also making up a rained out show from the 12th of July it ment 3 features to run on the weekend.  With no seat time in the car at all I went out and drove my heart out to try and make the Turfords proud.  It was a great experiance and I thank them whole heartedly for letting me drive their car, it was fantastic, the car handled great and the motor is very strong.

The track was good for the first feature to be ran on Saturday.  It was an exciting race and I learned a lot about the car.   Because it was a make up for the rain out only cars that had been at the track the night of July 12th where allowed to compete.  The finish was

July 12th ‘A’ Feature (20 laps)
Finish. Number Name (Starting Position)
1. 77x Ryan Hunsinger (1)
2. 42w Rick Wilson (5)
3. 30 Adam West (3)
4. 5 Keith Dempster (2)
5. 25 Warren Mahoney (10)
6. 11j Chris Jones (4)
7. 79 Dick Mahoney (8)
8. 0 Glenn Styres (6)
9. 81 Derek Jonathan (7)
10. 71 Craig Downie (12)
11. 10 Bob Crawford (9)
12. 15 Mike Ferrell (13)
13. 15aw April Wilson (11)
14. 14 Bill Baldwin (14) DNF

The second feature for the night I was ready for more.  I knew what the car could do and I wanted to push a little harder than I had in the first feature.  At the same time I knew there would be a bigger field so I wanted to be careful driving someone else s car.   So we went out and I worked my way up a bit farther.  Honestly I think it was my best race all year.  I drove well, stayed out of trouble and finished the race.  Far better than I had done at most nights all season.

‘A’ FEATURE
(20 laps)
Finish. Number Name (Starting Position)
1. 0 Glenn Styres (5)
2. 42w Rick Wilson (8)
3. 81 Derek Jonathan (1)
4. 11j Chris Jones (18)
5. 30 Adam West (4)
6. 5 Keith Dempster (6)
7. 25 Warren Mahoney (11)
8. 71 Craig Downie (3)
9. 22 Jim Porter (12)
10. 7m Justin Martin (10)
11. 77x Ryan Hunsinger (14)
12. 79 Dick Mahoney (2)
13. 10 Bob Crawford (15)
14. 15 Mike Ferrell (19)
15. 66 Frank Baranowski (17)
16. 9jr Tim Zack (16)
17. 15aw April Wilson (13)
18. 5d Dave Dykstra (7) DNF
19. 01 Kyle Wilson (9) DNF
20. 14 Bill Baldwin (20) DNS

Moving up from 19th to 14th felt like a top 10 performance for me.

We had a great time camping out at Brighton and every year it seems like the weekend event gets bigger and better.  Going into the last race of the year I had high hopes after a great performance on the Saturday night.   However in the heat race I got a bit too aggressive on the start and got tangled up with Dick Mahoney and it knocked the front end out of the car. Pete, Loree, Mini and I all worked hard and managed to get the axle changed in time for the Feature. At that point we just needed to go out and make some laps and end the night and the season on the track and not on the trailer. Thats exactly what we did.

‘A’ FEATURE
(20 laps)
Finish. Number Name (Starting Position)
1. 77x Ryan Hunsinger (1) – $1,200
2. 42w Rick Wilson (8)
3. 10 Bob Crawford (2)
4. 01 Kyle Wilson (5)
5. 7m Justin Martin (6)
6. 22 Jim Porter (4)
7. 30 Adam West (9)
8. 25 Warren Mahoney (10)
9. 81 Derek Jonathan (13)
10. 0 Glenn Styres (7)
11. 9jr Tim Zack (16)
12. 14 Joe Middlemiss (14)
13. 5d Dave Dykstra (3)
14. 15aw April Wilson (12)
15. 5 Keith Dempster (11)
16. 15 Mike Ferrell (15)
17. 79 Dick Mahoney (17)

After crashing out in the last race at the end of last season to finish this year up right in the car and be able to pull into the pits and shut off the motor was great. I feel like I’ll be in a great place to start off next year.

We went out for hot laps at South Buxton and the motor just wouldn’t run.  So I pulled off and we tryed everything we could to figure out what was wrong.  When we pulled the spark plugs out of the motor on the right side water came out of the plug holes.  Thats a bad sign.

We took the motor apart when we got back home and its done for the season.  The heads are cracked and that must be where the water is coming from.

South Buxton strikes again.  I’ve just not had any luck at that track at all.

After getting rained out at Brighton it was time to head to Ohsweken Speedway for the only official SOS race of the season there.  With the good feel I got from the car at Humberstone I was really looking forward to going to the big, wide, fast Ohsweken Speedway.  We also had a bunch of extra friends and family coming to watch so that put on some pressure to perform well.  At the last minute I decided to change some tires around and that made us a bit later getting to the track than I wanted.  Did that wind me up? Maybe a bit.  I went out to put heat in the motor but the track had watered the exit from the warm up area and the car was going to slide right off the roadway so I shut it down and Loree had to come and get me.  The second time the car stalled as I got back to our pit area, (So now I’m really embarrassed in front of our guests) And so I had to go get started for a third time.  This time the officials start calling for the cars out on the track to work in some of the track and I had to head right out to the track.  The car was ready to go and they gave us the sign to wind them up so we did our hot laps right then and there.  Well the car felt GREAT.  I was really happy.  You seem to be going so much faster on that track than the others it really gets your attention.

For our heat race I was ready to go for it.  And I’ll let the video do the talking but I was really happy.  I got beat at the start by some of the fastest cars in the club with the motors that I have little chance of beating.  Plus those guys have been racing weekly at Ohsweken and this was my first time at the track all year.

Heat Race from Mike Ferrell on Vimeo.

HEAT RACE #2
(8 laps – Top 5 Transfer to A-Main)
Finish. Number Name (Starting Position)
1. 5 Keith Dempster (2)
2. 33k Kyle Patrick (6)
3. 69p Rob Pietz (5)
4. 15 Mike Ferrell (1)
5. 75 Jim Sweers (7)
6. 31 John Burbridge, Jr. (3)
7. 99c Nick Cupolo (4) DNF

To be able to run fast and consistent like that I was very pleased.  With the number of cars in the race that night finishing 4th meant I would go right to the main event and not have to run the B main.  With 28 cars entered 4 cars wouldn’t make the big race and I was already in.  That’s a good feeling.

I started 14th in the feature which was also the best start I’ve had for the year.  At the start of the feature I tried to run the high groove and got over the cushion and a bunch of guys got past me.  After that mistake I moved to try and run the middle to bottom of the track.  Problem with running the middle was there was a big rut in the track developing in turn 1 that really threw the cars around.  Dick Mahoney got bounced around so hard it  knocked his oil filter off.  It also got me unsettled on one lap and Kris Root in the Gary Evans car bounced into me.  It knocked his front end out and that was a shame.  It bent the corner of our wing a bit.  But that wing has been abused so bad this year already that you can’t even tell when it got hurt.

Our biggest problem was that at some point going thru turn one, the bouncing and ruts caused the bird cage that holds the right rear suspension up on the car to fail.  So I had to pull off the track and I failed to finish yet another feature for the year.  I don’t have a good record to show for this season with only 1 finish out of 5 races so far this year.  Hopefully in the last part of the season here I’ll be able to turn that around.

‘A’ FEATURE
(20 laps)
Finish. Number Name (Starting Position)
1. 21x Kevin Job (10)
2. 5 Keith Dempster (4)
3. 25 Warren Mahoney (8)
4. 69p Rob Pietz (9)
5. 0 Glenn Styres (17)
6. 5m Brad Malloy (13)
7. 71 Craig Downie (6)
8. 10 Bob Crawford (15)
9. 31 John Burbridge, Jr. (24)
10. 7 Jim Price (7)
11. 90 James Evans (23)
12. 94 Stan Zanchin (19)
13. 33k Kyle Patrick (11) DNF
14. 77x Ryan Hunsinger (1) DNF
15. 1a John Riegling (12) DNF
16. 81 Derek Jonathon (2) DNF
17. 14 Jim Porter (21) DNF
18. 9jr Tim Zack (22) DNF
19. 4z Joel Lehman (20) DNF
20. 30 Adam West (5) DNF
21. 15 Mike Ferrell (14) DNF
22. 79 Dick Mahoney (3) DNF
23. 69r Kris Root (16) DNF
24. 75 Jim Sweers (18) DNF

Once again we were off to Brighton Speedway and I was looking forward to it after finishing the feature at Humberstone Speedway.  We changed the radiator in the car before we went up there.  I had a great new one that BS & B radiator built for me and I wasn’t 100% sure that the old one wasn’t part of the temperature problems we’d been having all year.   So with changing the rad I didn’t get everything ready to go like I would have liked for Saturday morning.  With the distance to Brighton I like to leave before noon so we’re there in plenty of time.  So running late and an issue with the chains on the trailer had me in a bit of a foul mood by the time we got to the track.  Well, in the hot laps I was throwing the car into the corners harder than I have been and it was really working well.  Loree says I was looking good and she was going to punch me from now on before I go on the track to get me mad, as obviously I was driving with some anger out there.  Maybe thats why Tony Stewarts such a good driver?  LOL…. Anyway.  near the last couple hot laps I could feel my legs getting wet.  But they weren’t the really cold wet feeling where there is fuel leaking.. I wasn’t sure where the water was coming from till I got back to the pits and when I pulled in Mini noticed that the bottom rad hose was off.  So all the water had come out of the rad and was spraying all over.  It was an easy fix with a new hose clamp and some water but I was conserned that it would lead to bigger problems with the motor.

Soon it was time for our heat race and with how good things where in hot laps I was looking forward to a good race.   Well just one more thing that went wrong that night was I went out for the race and forgot to hook up my ear phones to the radio so I didn’t hear the call for one lap to go before the white flag.  I THOUGHT it was but I wasn’t sure. So I waiting coming around the corner to see the green flag in the air before I went.  HUGE mistake. In sprint car racing if you don’t GO as or before everyone else is your going to get left in the dust.  Which is exactly what happened to me.  EVERYONE went by.  Well that got the red mist going and I hustled after the feild to try and catch up.  I caught back up to April Wilson by the last laps but just couldn’t get by her and ended up last again.  However I was feeling really good about the car and was looking forward to the feature.

Problem was, mother nature had other plans.. While we where getting ready for the feature race it started to rain and it rained HARD for a good 30 mins.  With that much water and mud everywhere that was it for the night, they had to cancel the rest of the races.  So we slid around in the mud and packed up everything and headed home.  Some of the teams with the big trucks and trailers got stuck in the pits in the mud and it took them hours to get them out.. Lots of fun!  The feature race will be run the next time we’re in Brighton on Aug. 9th.