PRESS RELEASE:
LAKE ODESSA, MICHIGAN
Green Bay, Wisconsin (May 24, 2005)
Josh and Crew in tow arrived into I-96 Speedway Friday morning with great anticipation of good things to come for the first two rounds of CORR Lucas Oil Pro Series. The weather was a bit windy but dry, with a chance of rain on Sunday. Josh proceded to take advantage of the two practice sessions to shake down the truck and try different gear & tire combinations. “The track was in great shape, the rhythm section in the back was a little much, but everybody has to go through it. I like the track setup and how they incorporate the two clay ovals into parts of our track.” The track was a fast track and after a couple of practice laps, Josh pulled off with a low battery and a badly bled clutch line. “That’s what these practice sessions are for, to ‘shake down’ the truck and find out if the truck is mechanically sound for the riggers of these rough tracks.” The second test session went off with out a hitch. “The truck felt great and I feel really comfortable about the 3rd place start for tomorrow’s race.”
SATURDAY’S
RACE, ROUND #1; RING &
PINION/HOT SEAT WOES!
The day was sunny and the track was fast at the I-96 Speedway. Starting in third place – due to a random first race draw, Josh had his best starting position ever. As the green flag flew Josh was passed by Steven Federico going into a hairpin turn and was blinded by the mud and mistakenly turned early. “This is completely my fault, I made a mistake, and I was trying to make up the positions of what I just lost.” By the about fifth or sixth lap, Josh was shifting from second to third gear when the rear end of the truck locked up. “This is just unfortunate, with the truck stuck in third gear and no way to get it out, I was unstraping myself to get out of the truck when I noticed the air filter caught on fire, so I proceeded to use my auxiliary fire extinguisher and put out the flames.” Josh and crew worked on the truck till late changing out a ring and pinion gear in the rear end that was completely destroyed. Two fans from Ohio even asked if they could help, of which Josh put them to work right away. “I was there working on my race truck and these two younger guys asked if they could help me, and I said, ‘the more the merrier’ I appreciate all the help I can get. Aron and Phil helped me out a lot.” The crew worked hard and till the wee hours in the morning getting the truck ready for the next race day.
As the weatherman had predicted the nice sunny skies turned dark and gray Sunday morning, with that being said, CORR officials shortened practice for the day and moved up the race schedule and hour and a half earlier for the Pro-Lites to race. In the morning Josh wanted to make sure the motor wasn’t harmed during the fire along with the sudden shutting down. “When I started up the motor with the clutch engaged everything was fine, but as soon as I let it out it sounded like the clutch went out of it and a lot of grinding occurred.” With only an hour and a half before the race was to start, the transmission had to come out to inspect the clutch assembly. “When we got the tranny out, I took the clutch assembly apart, that is when we discovered the pilot bearing in the motor was junk. It took us a long time to get the bearing out, we actually had to get a die grinder cut it in half to get it out. I looked over the clutch assembly, everything appeared to be ok.” With only 5 minutes before the race was to start and with a new pilot bearing and the transmission reinstalled, Josh proceeded to start up the engine. “I was crossing my fingers that everything would be working properly, I started up the engine with the clutch engaged, but as soon as I let it out the terrible grinding sound was back. My heart just dropped! The crew busted their butts to get this truck back together. Unfortunately the amount of time to change out the transmission and shifter linkage takes more than 5 minutes to take out and put back together. What really gets me is that at 1:00 PM, CORR officials backed the race start to 1:30 PM, I was hoping for the skies to open up and rain more to buy us some more time, but to no avail, We simply didn’t have enough time to change out the transmissions in time. I really feel bad for all of my sponsor’s, fans and family, I would be the first to want to be out there especially for the crew they helped me out so much, this is just a total let down. Unfortunately I was looking for a better start to the season and I’m having an identical start as I did last year. I will definitely be ready for the races in Antigo.”
On the brighter side of things, Josh’s cousin and teammate Ben O’Connell Won the first round and placed 2nd on the second round to have a 9 point lead in the Light Buggy class. Congratulations to Ben for a very successful race weekend.
The 2005 CORR Lucas Oil Series will head to Langlade County Fairgrounds in Antigo, Wisconsin on June 11-12 in what will be rounds 3 and 4 of the 2005 CORR Lucas Oil Series.
For more information visit WWW.HINTZRACING.COM