Green
Bay, Wisconsin (September 27th 2004)
Rain Rain go away, lots of rain was falling as
Josh and his budgeted crew on Friday set up their pits under heavy rains from
hurricane Ivan. After finally
getting the Semi tractor situated thanks to the help of the track crew and their
tractor. Josh was excited about the
race track, but not excited to see the black skies over head.
After talking with CORR officials it sounded like the races would be
postponed by a couple of hours. By
the time the sun started to shine the track was in perfect shape, thanks to the
hard efforts of the Robinson family and the track crew.
“The track looks great, the truck is ready and so am I!”
Josh started in 15th position and made his way up to 12th
going into some of the first series of turns.
As Josh started his second lap, “I noticed that something wasn’t
right, the motor was running strong but I wasn’t getting all of the power to
the ground.” Josh was right, the
drivers side axle decided to twist apart, so Josh only had one wheel getting
power to the ground. “With the
huge amounts of elevation change the truck was barely making it to the top of
each steep incline, I decided instead of wrecking more stuff to pull off the
track.” As Josh was now a
spectator of the race he got to see then leader Art Schmitt roll his truck over
in front of him. Josh proceeded to
help out in the efforts of getting Art off of his lid.
“Here I was talking to one of the volunteer firemen when all of a
sudden I heard a crash and I saw Art flipping in the air and landing on his
roof. I went over there, it just
didn’t seem like the guys knew what to do so I hooked up the lines which
helped to pull him back over. These
guys maybe considered competitors on the track, but I’m friends with all them
off of the track also. Too bad that
Arts truck started on fire shortly after we flipped him over, I know he was up
there in points.” After the race
Josh and his fine crew which consisted of Matt Gerald and Jeff Kozlowski helped
change out his ring and pinion and axle, along with cleaning all bearings and
the rear end housing out. “I
can’t say enough about these guys, we got it done, but each one of us knew
what we were doing and got it changed out in a hurry.”
Due to some shipping problems, Josh didn’t receive the correct carriage
bearings for a spare ring and pinion, so he had to elect to go to (because
that’s all he had) taller gear for Sunday’s race.
Starting in the 15th position Josh
knew that he had a chance to gain one position in the points if he could salvage
a strong finish. With that being
said and some words of confidence from his spotter Matt Gerald, Josh was fired
up for the race. As the green flag
flew Josh filed in and came out of a couple of positions further up in the
field. “With this gear and tire
package, I knew that I would have to drive the wheels off of this truck in order
to get a good finish. I never got
it out of third gear!” Josh
fought his way up to 11th place and was right behind Mark Oberg.
“Matt was telling me to be smooth through the turns, which really
helped me maintain my momentum and I was catching Mark lap after lap.
As the white flag flew Matt told me that if I had any moves I needed to
do them now.” As Josh was
following Mark into the last 180 degree turn before the finish line, Josh said,
“I knew that this was the corner I had to make my move in, I did the outside
inside move on Mark and the truck pulled through the corner great!
I really needed that last lap pass for 10th place.”
Josh finished the season overall in 14th place in points and
was the highest finishing rookie of the pro-lite division.
“I learned so much this year, sure we had a lot of mechanical failures,
but I’m glad that these things happened to us, because if they wouldn’t have
happened this year, they might have reared their ugly heads next year when I’m
higher up in the points standings. I
can’t thank my sponsors, family, friends, and fans enough for the support that
I got from them this year. Thank
You!!! We can definitely chalk this year up to a learning year.
Next year expect bigger and better things to happen.
I’m looking forward to the off-season to pursue more potential sponsors
and I know that I will do a lot better for next year.
Thank you for a great year!!!”
We
would like to thank all of our sponsors for their support...
Dedicated Systems, Inc., Dedicated Repair, Inc., BF Goodrich tires, Halron
Oil Co., Inc., Quaker State, Powermist racing fuels, Engine Ice
hi-performance coolant, Sir Speedy of Green Bay, Captain Steve's
www.beercanchickenroaster.com, Jim & Tina Willison Trucking, TOYOTA along
with Josh's friends and family.