I’m writing this at 2:54 AM Saturday morning, we just got home from a very exciting night at the speedway, Last week as you know Aaron made a 3rd place feature, and tonite, he lapped the field three times to place 2nd in the Feature! He has really been focusing on his entries and exits trying to become smoother. He passed cars on the high side at the bottom and you will even see on the video link on Youtube where he slices right between two cars coming out of turn 4! This kid was the talk of the track tonight, the announcer broad casted a lap by lap coverage of Aaron all the way to the checkered flag. The fans stood to there feet as they cheered for the youngest driver on the track! He truly is rapidly gaining a large fan base!
It is working Great!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxeFTVy65iU
We raced the #9d B MOD tonight and did ok in the heat finishing 5th. We started on the poll in the A Main and the car was set up well and Darren was really driving well when a yellow flag was thrown, His radio was not working right as it comes out and could not hear clearly and was DQed and had to pull off track. Darren was very upset, but it is a safety issue. We will get them monday!!
The #9m and #9d will be there Monday Night 5-25-09 !!!!
We ran the #9m 410 sprint car tonight and was really getting around the track well in the A MAIN when a barrel (yes Barrel) was hit and went in front of our car and Marlon had to hit it . We went from 11th to 9th at that point, then passed more cars moving to 5th when the right front tie-rod broke and we hit two more Barrels! That ended our night, but we had fun watching Marlon move through the pack of fast cars. The car needed some major work and did not race Sunday at Huset’s.
Great night for #9 Aaron Wendt in his 360 Sprint Car. He raced to 3rd in the Heat Race and 3rd place in the ‘A’ MIAN. Great job!! Aaron was holding 2nd place till a Yellow re-start where He lost 2nd and held on for 3rd by a straight away.
Last week Aaron ran 6th in the ‘A’ Main for his first race in a Sprint car at Black Hills Speedway! Looks like he is progressing well moving from 6th to 3rd this week! How about 1st next week!!
A very busy day with Darrens Graduation and Party. Then off to the races with both cars ready for action.
The #9d Mod of Darrens was running great and handling well tonight when in the A Main he was hit in the rear and hit the berm, handled it ok and then car stopped in the next turn. Darren said it acted like it ran out of gas. It was a ignition wire that was forced loose after the hit and the car is ok, but that ended his night. He is excited that he was able to race well and will ready next week.
A very dry track had it in for our #9m Marlon Jones Sprint car tonight after making big changes after the Heat Race we could not even get a chance to use it when the #33 spun out in front of Marlon and almost stopped in time but still hit hard enough to wreck some bars and changes were not fast enough to make it back in the race. We will get-em next time!!
The night started well with a Heat Race Victory for the #9m Marlon Jones Car!!! We started 2nd in the ‘A’ Main and was doing well for about 4 laps when the car developed a sputter in motor and we still managed 5th till 2 laps left, it went yellow and on restart the motor coughed and ran on and off the rest of race to finish 12th. The track was so rough the car were bouncing around so bad I thought most would wreck before end of race. There were big ruts all over the place. We had the dry sump tank shake loose and who knows what else? We should be able to make repairs this week, barring any huge problem. It really beat up the drivers this week and hopefully they fix it for next week.
Happy Mothers Day!!!
Mike Wendt
In the words of Brian Wendt
It was an exciting evening at I-90 Speedway in Hartford SD. Aaron Wendt of Empire Auto Racing made his debut in his first 360 Sprint Car Saturday Evening April 25th, 2009.
“I was a little nervous at first, but when I got on the track everything I have been learning in a mini sprint for the past three years started coming forward”.(Aaron)
Marlon Jones of Harrisburg, SD has been very instrumental in Aaron’s up coming career in racing, and has been spending a lot of time with Aaron in Car Set up, Fueling a Motor, Driving Styles and Techniques as well as just being around the presence of such a great driver as Marlon Jones. They used to call Marlon “Ole Smoothie” for years, and that is one of Aaron’s greatest tasks ahead, is to learn to drive that car as smooth as Marlon and get to the front.
Aaron placed 6th in his heat race and in the Feature he finished 12 out of 22 cars! It was a little “jerky at first” but I realized what I had to do…Gas is on the right, turn left, and stay out of trouble! Aaron drove that car through a major caution and past his next three cars at the re-start! Aaron will be filling the race season this year at his home track in Rapid City, SD, Black Hills Speedway on the half mile, as well as Gillette Thunder Speedway in Gillette WY, I-90 Speedway in Hartford, SD and eventually “more than a test & tune session” at Husets Speedway in Brandon, SD!
Darren Wendt, also ran his B MOD #9D and was running very strong and 2nd place in the heat race when he was bumped by the #9 car in turn 2 and fish tailed then he started to control it when he hit a very large area of standing water left on the track coming out of turn 2 and spreading down the backstretch. The car went out of control andturn to the right heading straight off the track when he was T-Boned by the #1 car with no-where to go. It flipped his car very hard and he is still bruised and sore today one week later. We are very glad and thankful he is going to be ok. The car looks to be repairable, but we will only know when it gets to the frame machine. Darren is in California this week on a DECA school trip for Nationals and will not race till at best next weekend. Thank you all for your support and prayers!
photo of water that night
Mike Wendt,
Father
