2016 Dixie Shootout #6 - MAQMA

For round #6 of the Dixie Shootout, we headed to MAQMA in Braselton, GA. It was a hot weekend that found us dodging rain showers as we tried to get all the racing in.

Dillon qualified 3rd in Jr Animal, making it straight into the A Main. In Jr Honda, he qualified 8th, which put him starting 2nd in the B Main. He finished 3rd, so he started 9th in the feature race.

After a very long day, they weren't able to get all the races in, so we ended up coming back to the track on Sunday for Dillon's races. He ended up finishing 7th in Jr Animal and 6th in Jr Honda.

2016 Lap of Legends

Photo of the cars lined up to start by Larry Chen Photo

As part of the USAC .25 Battle at the Brickyard, the quarter midget drivers were given the opportunity to take a lap around the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It was such an awesome experience for Dillon!

They did a drone fly over video of all the cars lined up before the start. It was really cool to see all those cars on the track together. Dillon is to the far left, just behind the bright yellow car (red car with the black and white V design on the front). You can see him at around 3:10 in the video.

Dillon managed to make his way to the front of the pack by the end of the lap so it's cool to be able to see him on Butch Lamb's video taken from the pace truck.
If you look for the red car with the black and white V shape on the front you can find Dillon starting at around the 5 minute mark in the video. Here are some screenshots from the video where he is seen. You can see him at first in the upper right-hand corner and then he makes his way to the front of the field.

2016 Battle at the Brickyard

We decided to race the "Battle at the Brickyard" as our first USAC .25 National race. We traveled to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, IN, to enjoy a whole week of racing between Mini Indy and the Brickyard (with a little vacation in between). There were a record setting 550 cars registered, with 58 Jr Hondas and 44 Jr Animals!

It was a very memorable experience. Once inside the gates of IMS, we enjoyed getting to explore a little bit of the IMS grounds around the area where we would be racing. Interestingly, the race would actually take place at a temporary track set up in the parking lot.

The opening ceremonies were really impressive with bagpipers, all the drivers walking a lap around the track grouped in their regions and a balloon release. Dillon also got to meet professional race car driver Max Papis (creator of our MPI steering wheels).

USAC used heat races to set the starting order and lower mains. Dillon started 6th and finished 4th in his Jr Honda heat race. He started 1st and finished 4th in the Jr Animal heat race. He made some good passes but had to come up from the back after a spin. There were 69 heat races.

There were 56 lower mains and Dillon needed to finish 4th or better in each of his to guarantee him a starting spot in the next one to try to work his way into the feature races. In Jr Honda, he started 5th in D Main and finished 4th. That resulted in a 10th place start for the C Main. He finished 5th in the Jr Honda C Main, making him the X car for the B Main.

In Jr Animal, Dillon started 4th in the D Main and finished 5th, but someone left that was supposed to be in the C Main, so Dillon made it in and started 10th. He ended up with a 5th place finish in the Jr Animal C Main (just inches from 4th - it was a photo finish), which made him the X car for the B Main in that class, also.

Unfortunately, Dillon ended up not making it out for either B Main since all the other cars were able to complete the first lap in each. We'll finish our first Battle at the Brickyard experience 17th out of 58 cars for the Honda and 17th out of 44 cars for the Animal. Not too shabby for our first try at this event! 

The really cool thing about this event is that it also gives the quarter midget drivers an opportunity to take a lap around the famed IMS track. It was such a cool experience for Dillon! Over the course of the lap, he managed to make it to the front of the pack, finishing up front just behind the pace truck.

You can see some of the videos from the "Lap of Legends" here.

2016 Mini Indy

This year we decided to travel to Indianapolis, IN, to race at the "Mini Indy Speedway" (CIQMA) at the Indianapolis State Fairgrounds. This is a Midwest Thunder Regional race, and they do things quite a bit differently than our own regional series. They do heat races, instead of batch qualifying, and they run the Honda cars on the first day and the Animal cars on the second day.

Jr Honda - 7/02

Dillon started 8th in the 3rd heat race to try to make it into the feature (starting positions based on pill draw). There were 24 total Jr Honda cars trying to be one of the 10 that made it to the feature.

Dillon finished 4th in his heat race which meant he started 2nd in the B-main. He finished 3rd in the B-main which earned him a 9th place starting position in the feature.

Dillon started 9th and was super fast! He made it up to 6th in just a few laps, but unfortunately got caught up in a wreck and ended up in the wall. All the dads jumped in to try to get everything fixed, but they just didn't have enough time to get him back out before the race went green. He finished 10th. We are so proud of Dillon for how he raced today and for making it into the A-Main while racing again stiff competition at a brand new (to us) track!

Jr Animal - 7/03

Unfortunately, the only winner for Sunday was Mother Nature. All racing activities were canceled due to rain.

So, instead of racing, we headed into the city of Indianapolis to enjoy some Italian food and wonderful company at Buca di Beppo!