As I have mentioned before, Shenandoah Speedway is a beautiful little track back in the mountains of Virginia.  As it's also a copy of the Lake Erie Speedway I thought I would take my car from Nationals and race there this past weekend.  As good as we were in Erie, I figured I'd have a good shot here.

After pulling into the pits, we learned that 2004 Va Pro Champ Jason Miller was going to bring his car out of retirement and race with us.  How sweet was that?  My car was the best it had been all year, I hadn't won a feature in nearly 2 years and I was going to get to go against a guy who'd dominated Legends in the region in 2003 and 2004.  We've come a long way this year and I honestly felt my car would be better than Jason's car.  Was it ever!  After coming from 5th in the heat race to finish on Jason's bumper (he started from the pole) I started 2nd in the feature.  I dropped to third and let Nick Carlson do the heavy lifting of getting by Jason and then I drove by Nick.  I didn't run away with it, as contact from somewhere had adjusted my toe-out a little too much and the car picked up a major push.  We were still good enough to hang onto the win over Jason and Nick and re-establish ol' #27 as a car to contend with for the win any time we show up.  My team car of Patrick Molesworth also made noise, starting 13th and blowing by Jason for 3rd before a bolt (weakened by an earlier incident in the heat race) breaking and ending his night.

Teammate Mike Solaimani debuted his gorgeous '37 Chevy Sedan and was very fast but settled for 6th after spinning early and rebounding through the field.

Our Yeatts Racing setups have been good all year, but we've finally gotten the guy they are named for back in Victory Lane!

or as the Press Saw It:

The INEX Legends started their evening with a 10-lap heat won by Jason Miller. Miller led the 12 car field to the stripe for their 20-lap feature, but Nick Carlson grabbed the lead in the first turn on the second lap.

That pass was brought back however with a spin at the same time by John Walker. It only took another lap to pull off a similar pass, this time into turn 3. Enter Kevin Yeatts. The Powhatan driver seemed to have the bit in his teeth, running hard and made the pass for the lead on lap 7 after running side-by-side with Carlson for a few laps before taking over on the back chute.

From there, Yeatts was able to hold off the advances from Miller and Carlson at the checkers.

Yeatts said, "I didn’t think I was ever going to win one of these things...it’s been since ‘03 that I’ve won one. Nick and Jason were very strong and I thought the car was a little tight."

Nationals have always been fun.  I've never been successful there, but I have always had fun.  2 years ago at Southern National, I qualified 9th in a car that wouldn't shift in the fastest Legends field to ever compete there.  I got stuffed in the wall in the race, but I had fun up to that point.  Last year, in Las Vegas I...hell folks, it was VEGAS - how is Kev not going to have fun?

This year, I wanted to finish and I wanted a trophy.  Thursday's practice wasn't promising - despite being fast in my last appearance here I was .3 off the pace and mired in the mid 20s for speed.  After some soul searching and a few adjustments, I put AmyLee on the outside of row 2, less than a tenth off the pole!  I got rooked in my heat race, but still managed to only fall to 5th spot starting in the main.  

In the race, I was comfortably in 5th and that's where I remained the whole race - within a second of Clay Hair (the eventual winner) and more than 3 seconds ahead of the 6th place finisher.  Clay ran a great race, and Kerry Gilber, Brian Weimer, and Cotton Spry all followed him closely across the line, along with myself.  I ended up with a tropy and a good weekend.

Duncan rebounded from a bad qualification run and finished 5th for his own trophy in Pros, while Patrick had to settle for being the National Semi Pro regular season champion, after finishing 12th in the semi pro main.  Not a bad way to represent when in the company of the best Legends racers in the world.

Patrick is really close to this 2005 SemiPro national title.  A win tonight and tomorrow night will just about seal it.  I had a new body on AmyLee (and lost 21# in the process) and she was as strong as I have ever felt her at Southside Speedway.  After winning my heat race, we got a surprise inversion which put me 6th on the field.  I came to 2nd in no time, but as always my misfortune followed and I picked up an engine pop which kept me from running the leader down.  I settled for 2nd, Duncan was 3rd, and Patrick picked up his 25th semipro win of the season.

9/24

To Shenandoah we go, and tonight we are greeted by James Buescher, Patrick's main rival for the semipro national title - it would be settled tonight!  I continued working on Krystal to get the wiring healed, and let Addison Rogers borrow AmyLee for the night.  He liked the car, but was forced to run Ryan Ellis' backup car when we opted to put Jersey John in for his final run of the season.  I didn't run my heat race, trying to get the car to work.  Patrick won his heat race and Buescher was right behind him.  For the feature, Patrick was on pole, Duncan was 5th, and I was 14th in a car that finally ran.  I came through the field quickly to 3rd, but the battle between Patrick, Buescher, and Duncan was one for the Legends chronicles.  The 3 cars swapped the lead until Buescher got into Duncan and sent him around.  Both of them had to go to the rear of the field and I had to come off the track for a dragging bumper.  This left Patrick to hold on for the win even while the driver in Buescher's team car continually spun to bring out the caution.  To no avail, however, as Patrick picked up the win (his 2nd in 3 races) and the semipro national title - Yeatts Racing's first national title!

The boys and I journeyed north to Lake Erie for our final shot at the 3/8 mile oval before nationals.  I had yet to run a competitive race there, but Duncan had won the previous 2 features at this track, so I just decided to follow him around.  Starting last in my heat race, I made quick work of both Duncan and local hotshoe Chris Bailey and won the event.  This put me starting 12th right behind Patrick.  We made our way to the front by lap 4, with local racer Rick Riffle and Duncan in hot pursuit.  Duncan got by Riffle on lap 14 and me on lap 21, but he couldn't run Patrick down and that was how we finished - Patrick, Duncan, and me - 1-2-3 yet again.  We've had a great season!

9-17

Since I had run AmyLee the night before, I opted to run Krystal this evening.  Bad choice, as the car hadn't really been gone over since the wire fire the previous time here.  I could never shake the feeling the car was running ragged, and I eventually pulled off the track and watched Kyle Hendershott rough-ride through the field.  Duncan finished 4th and Patrick was 6th.

Duncan won this race in a near cakewalk over CE Falk and Patrick.  I was running 3rd until the end of the race, when oil from Falk's car got under my tires and I slid high.  Patrick and Cameron got by underneath but it was still a pretty good night. 

After wearing out the field on Friday at Lake Erie, Duncan and Patrick met me at Old Dominion Speedway.  We qualified 1-2-5, but due to the invert, Duncan was on the pole in the recently rebuilt white 37.  After getting to the front, Duncan was comfortably in the lead with me in 2nd and Patrick 3rd when unbelievable bad luck hit.  In ONE lap, Duncan's accellerator hung (we think) and he slammed to turn 3 wall - destroying the white car yet again.  At the same time, the wiring in my internal fan caught on fire and shut off my car and Patrick's shifter broke, causing him to have to come in to get his car locked in 4th gear.  All this handed another win to Kyle Hendershott, and we're stuck having to rebuild the white car again.  What a pity, as it's been destroying three times this year while leading. 

Yes, that's me under the flying 911.  Neither of my cars were back together and so I put my motor in the newly rebuilt 37.  It was ungodly fast, so of course I drew last in my heat race.  On lap one, there was a wreck up front and the driver of the 911 didn't get slowed down in time and you see the results.  Surprisingly enough, my car was not hurt badly and I ended up this race in 3rd.  In the Feature, I ran as high as 2nd before a push (from damage in this wreck) set in and I ended up running 4th.

8-27

Langley Speedway was hosting a qualifier and I wasn't in my car.  Bad combo, eh?  I qualified 15th, but the car was good in the feature and I moved to 8th by the midpoint of the race.  Duncan was running 4th and Patrick was behind me in 10th.  Once the 2nd half of the race began, I pressed Kerry Gilbert for 6th (we both passed the 6th place guy on the start) and we made the slightest contact.  This was enough to break my valve stem and flatten my tire - removing me from the race.  Duncan has a race for the ages, however, as he moved as high as 3rd before, unbelievably, his driveshaft came flying out behind his car,ending his night.  For his first real race there, it was a beautiful sight to see.  Nick Smith won the race and Dale Blankenship got the Masters "A Main" starting spot for the Nationals.  I was just going to have to qualify on speed I guess!

CE brought his coupe back and kicked our butts again, but this time Duncan maintained his cool and brought the car home 2nd.  I was experimenting with a little different gear - bad move and I finished 5th, behind Patrick and Brad Arthur.  3 of the top 4 racers were Yeatts Racing customers, so I will take solace in that!

The next night at ODS, Max Smith won the race, but the tech guys DQ'd him over a hairline ride height infraction, giving the win to Kyle Hendershott and 2nd place to me.  Duncan was third, and fell behind Kyle in the point standings. 

Back at Southside and C.E. Falk brought his coupe to town.  Folks, this car has the strongest motor I have ever seen in a Legend, or at least the strongest I have seen this year.  He was pulling me by 2 cars lengths every straight.  Amazing.

In the race, I started on pole, but CE drove past me like I was tied to something and Duncan followed.  Duncan was really giving CE fits until about mid-race when D got loose and smacked the wall, ending his night.  Patrick got by me to give chase to CE but it was too little too late, as CE won, with Pat and me finishing 2nd and 3rd.

The next night we went to Shenandoah Speedway for the first time and I was very impressed.  I hadn't even planned to race, but pulled my car out and had at it with an extremely wrong gear.  Max Smith, Duncan, and Patrick finished 1-2-3 both races and I got a Masters win and 5th overall in the first race before taking to the stands and watching the 2nd race.  This is a very impressive track! 

I journeyed north for my annual beating at Wall Stadium.  My record there speaks for itself - I win or I get taken out.  It would be the latter tonight.  After out-qualifying the field by nearly 2/10 of a second, I re-drew 4th and was in the lead and a half straight up on them by lap 7.  Then the cautions started flying and I found out Wall has this double-file restart deal they use to further enhance our chances of wadding our cars up.  The guy running second was Curtis Truex, Jr, cousin of Matrin Truex and truly a no-driving sack.  On our third restart, he drove me down off the track onto the apron, whereupon we hooked wheels and I went over.  A crappy ending to an otherwise pretty good evening.  The officials at the track banned me for the rest of the year for smacking the top of Truex's car - note to self, don't upset the track's favorite guys!

Anyway, I have finally learned the old lesson, and will not ever EVER be going back to Wall Speedway.  It's a great little track, but not worth having to rebuild my car every time I go up there.

A bonus race at Southside Speedway is always a good thing and tonight was a night I was really looking forward to.  After getting my hand slapped by the big 600 Kahuna for thumping Cameron after my incident with him last week, I had to write an apology letter to him.  He has yet to speak to me about the incident, so I can only assume his heartfelt contrition.

Anyway, I managed to get AmyLee back together for the evening, considering her to be somewhat disposable that evening.  She ran good though, and I was able to get her to 4th after continual fuel issues thru practice and the heats.  Starting last, the car grabbed and cut nicely and I made my way up behind Mike Mohelsky, who's back in his second stint with us in Legends.  For whatever reason, his mother absolutely hates me, but I guess everyone has their demons.  Worse for the evening was my buddy Daryl Harris, who broke his car and was out for the night and the next night at South Boston.  I offered him AmyLee and he took me up on it.

South Boston the next day was HOT!  We managed to pull a dozen cars and Patrick, Duncan, and I were the class of the field.  Pat and Dunc swapped the lead several times and I got as high as second before settling for 3rd.  This was our second 1-2-3 night - things are pretty good this year.

Back to Southside Speedway and this time Cameron just flat took ME out.  I don't know what to say other than he drove right through me.  I was less than happy with his actions so I tried driving through him on the cool-down lap.  In retrospect, hitting him after the flag was wrong, but all I regret is the timing of the hit, not the hit itself.  Cameron has done this to me before and I had taken it long enough.  My plan was to pay him back immediately and not let it fester, but he got his car torn up a week later at Langley, so what went around came around - for both of us.  Duncan won and what would've been a sure 2nd for me turned into a 7th.

At ODS the next night, I qualified 2nd but ended up falling out late due to a fuel problem.  I knew this was a bad weekend to get out of bed.

I took the weekend off on July 4th to go visit my daughter - isn't she beautiful?  I was really hoping she'd be a late bloomer - say around 30!  It was the best weekend I'd had all year!

At Southside Speedway, Duncan kinda fell into a win after Patrick and  Cameron Patrick got together after Pat had taken the lead from Cameron.  It was unfortunate, because Patrick was flying and that car (his backup) had really come around.  It also meant Pat would be driving my car the next night at Lonesome Pine.  As Duncan picked up the win, I picked up 2nd, but was scored 3rd to Charles Hudson as we crossed the line side by side.  Charles is a great guy and racing him is fun no matter who gets the benefit of the nod.

The next night at Lonesome Pine marked our first visit there.  I liked the track but picked the wrong gear.  After taking the pole, my car got really loose in the main and I faded to 3rd behind Travis Watson and Duncan, who's really becoming a hot shoe everywhere.  Pat finished 4th in my backup car.

I qualified 5th with AmyLee, but didn't get to start the race because of an oil line rupture.  It was notable though because one of our competitors was sent to the rear after qualifying for draining his fuel after his son qualified on the pole.  The tech inspectors decided it didn't look right and made him start at the rear.  He came back to finish 8th, so he still did better than me.

I got my blue car back and was ready for a good weekend in Erie, PA and Flat Rock, MI.  Erie took care of that for me by making me start 31st and giving us no heat races.  I had moved up to 12th in about 7 laps when one of the locals spun across the track and destroyed my car again.  Everything behind the driver seat - done.  And it was running so well!  Duncan had a great race, twice coming from the rear and finishing 4th.  Pat finished 17th after being sent to the rear late.

On Saturday, we returned to the site of Duncan's first win.  Even though I had gone to Krystal, the backup car, we were dominant in our heat races, with me winning mine and Duncan finishing 1st and Pat 2nd in their race.  When the green flag dropped,  we all went to the front, but once again Duncan had us covered and picked up his 2nd win of the season.  I finished 2nd after a late race bonzai move took me from 5th to 2nd and Pat followed me and wound up 4th.  Overall, a great weekend for team Molesworth and a so-so weekend for me.

When I pulled into South Boston on May 28, John had agreed to let me drive Patrick's backup car.  Pat wasn't confident in the car for some reason and I had used it the previous week in our South Boston Clinic and felt the car was good enough to win.  After qualifying 7th, I wasn't so sure.

Once the race started, I got drop-kicked to 8th but was proved correct by the car, as I easily picked my way through the field to 3rd under green.  I finished there, as my tires were a little too old (or was it the driver?) and finally gave up the ghost.  I was happy with the car, but Patrick ended up spinning and ruining his primary car so he gets to run this one for the next little bit.  That's too bad, as we head on the road trip next week to Erie and Michigan.

I found an issue with AmyLee that might have meant the motor wasn't laying down, so I decided torun Langley with the car on May 21 to see if I was right.  I was wrong!  The motor was horrible and I ended up 9th in a field of 22 on 3 cylinders.  Not so bad, but not acceptable either.  We seem to be in a slump.

Rain saved a bad run for me at ODS on May 14.  I qualified 12th in Krystal, using that suitcase muffler from the night before at Wake County.

The next day, using AmyLee, the car was lightning fast in practice, but the motor laid over on me and I started 9th and ran no better than 9th before the cylinder that was going bad finally went away.  I hate ODS.

For some reason, with races on Saturday and Sunday this weekend (May 14 & 15), I thought it would be a good idea to sneak in a race on Friday at Wake County, a track I have never seen.  I got Krystal ready to race and purchased on of those new "suitcase" mufflers that Wake requires.  Mike Solaimani, who garages with us, towed down with us and raced also.

I qualified third and ran third, but was awarded second as the guy directly ahead of me was DQ'd for a non-working alternator.  Billy Gomez continued his winning ways.

Somehow, I am still the winningest Legends driver at Old Dominion Speedway in Manassas, VA.  That was all old news now and it's one of the hardest, toughest tracks I compete at.  AmyLee is my "big track car" this season so I decided to race it on Saturday.  The car was fast and I qualified third, well ahead of my boys, Duncan and Patrick, and within a tenth of Kyle Hendershott and Ryan Ellis, the front row.

When the race began, I fell in behind Ryan and Kyle and decided to wait until halfway to make my charge.  This proved to be a big mistake, as once the halfway signal was displayed I broke what will be my LAST 2-piece axel ever and was relegated to yet another ODS DNF.  I really don't like this track and we have two more races here next weekend.

I guess racing during the Spring is always going to be a chancey prospect, and this past Saturday at South Boston was no different.  With the forecast growing steadily worse as the week went by, our hopes for getting in the race dimmed.  Race day dawned cloudy and bleak, but we loaded to Toter and headed west.  A total of 14 cars showed up, but by the time the race rolled around, only 11 were still running.  Allen and Addison Rogers have had nothing but trouble since joining our series and both their cars required work before only Addison was able to make the race.

For the first time ever, all three YR house cars qualified in the top 3.  Duncan took the pole with a 17.9, followed by me with an 18.0 and Patrick with an 18.1.  As the race wore on, I felt my car getting a tad loose and Pat was able to get by me and race his brother hard for the win.  In the end, it was a little too much Duncan as Pat and I followed him across the line; nearly a full half lap in front of 4th place Kyle Hall.  I couldn't have been prouder of the way things went.

Next week, we're back to Old Dominion - if it doesn't rain!

Third Place Is Like...

It was an iffy Friday night when we pulled into Southside Speedway on April 22.  The weather eventually held off for us and we were able to go racing.  Krystal was fastest when we unloaded off the trailer and would only get worse as the night went on.

The track was good enough to allow us to run heat races, which was a small moral victory that no one will ever know all about.  In our heat race, I ran 2nd behind another one of my cars, Duncan Molesworth.  Neither of us was real good, but good enough.  Michael Solaimani, in another car from our shop, ran 3rd.

The feature was dominated by Cameron Patrick, 2002 track champ.  His car was the only one getting through the center of the corner and left us all scratching our heads a bit.  Good racing, Cameron!  Duncan held on for 2nd and was about as fast as Cameron at the end of the race, and I was 3rd, running my best laps also at the end of the race, but still some .2 sec/lap slower than when we'd unloaded.  I know what to do for next time!  Mike S and Patrick Molesworth finished 4th and 6th to complete a not so bad evening.

The next night at ODS, Duncan, Patrick, and I were all going to be factors in a competitive field until the rain came.  We were all pretty tired, though, and no one complained to loudly about loading up.

It was a long time in coming.  After three weeks of rain, we finished the first of what is going to be a long list of successful nights at South Boston Speedway on April 17.  After completely blowing my qualifying lap, I ended up starting 9th.  The car was just ok, and I fought my way to 5th before the night was over.  Craig Goess picked up his 2nd win of the season there, followed by Cliff Daniels, CE Falk, Cameron Patrick, and me.