July 31, 2006
Matthews, NC

Trip North Brings Dirt Racing Progress

"Maybe the most any of us can expect of ourselves isn't perfection, but progress"
--Michelle Burford

So maybe it wasn't a perfect run, but Josh made tremendous progress throughout the day in his first race in the Boardman License Bureau/Ainsley Heating & Cooling # 52 E-Mod at Tri City Speedway on Sunday. With only 3 laps of practice under his belt, Josh barely had time to get comfortable with his new ride. He tested the car previously, since then, however, the entire car was replaced leaving Josh with no idea of how the car was going to feel.

Josh started last in the 12 car, 8 lap heat race, and even though he only gained a couple positions, his lap times improved greatly from his practice laps. The 15 lap feature brought the same types of results…Josh ran at the back of the field all night trying to get used to the new car. We got to drive the car back into the trailer; however, the night wasn't without incident…on lap 11 Josh got into turn one too hard and the car pushed up the track into the water barrels. The car was fine (but dirty) and he continued over the last four laps, finally finishing 20th. The good news is, after checking lap times on the internet, we found that Josh turned faster laps than a number of the cars that finished in front of him, just not as consistent. We will take this experience and try to get back up north before the end of the year to work on consistency and get ready for a number of dirt runs in 2007.

Josh on his first dirt run: "I probably drove the car a little too much like an asphalt car, but I got better as the night went on. I want to thank Uncle Mike for letting me drive his car, Mr. Ainsley for his support of the E-Mod and everyone who came out to watch. I was hoping for a better showing but I really believe that with more time we can quickly run much better. I'm hoping to get back up to Western PA/Northeast Ohio before the end of the year to continuing learning and get ready for next year."

Josh will be back in the Legacy car this Saturday at the infamous Hickory Motor Speedway in Hickory, NC. Qualifying starts at 5:00pm with the feature taking the track just after 7:00pm.

Josh with Steve Stallings (Horizon Technologies)