After 5 consecutive weeks of travel about as far North as you can get from Mobile, Alabama, Thomas “Moose” Praytor were looking for an easy week going to Winchester for the Herrs Potato Chips 200, it didn’t happen.
On Thursday the team was going through the final check of the Project Semi Colon/DK-LOK Ford and found the motor had water pouring out of the exhaust.
“Really surprising and disappointing, we checked the motor out early in the week and it was all good. After we put all of the front end back together we wanted to check it out one more time and with everything hooked up it just didn’t hold up. On Monday bad head gaskets are a problem on Thursday it’s a disaster.”
A 911 call to James Patrick at Professional Engine and everyone went to work. Motor out, broken down and the heads went to machine shop, by 5 AM the motor was back in and by 11AM the team was in route to Winchester. Thinking the worst was behind them.
At 9PM the hauler started blowing tires and by 10 the team was at a complete stand still looking for trailer tires on a Friday night.
Another 911 call to Quinton at Trailer World in Lexington, Kentucky and the guys were opening up the doors at midnight to get the team some spares. By 4 AM on Saturday the team was back on the road to Winchester, the problem was they were still 8 hours away and they should be checking at 8 AM.
Proving that your story is never over the team pulled in the race track at 1 and made the final practice at 2:20 and qualified 12th for the Herr’s Potato Chips 200.
Speaking of teams having a tough weekend the 42 Crosley Brands car driven by Josh Reeves was ready to race but the pit crew set for the weekend was a no show. Our UNOH kids stepped up and volunteered to pit both cars.
About the only part of the weekend that did go to plan was the race. The Project Semi Colon Ford performed under green with the biggest issue being the heat. Prior to the race the track surface was recorded at 129 degrees.
The crew was doing double duty and pitted the Moose first, 4 General Tires and Fuel then hopped down a stall pitting Josh Reeves, 4 General Tires and Fuel, both cars down and away without losing their positions.
“What a week, just so many obstacles to overcome, we couldn’t have done it without a lot of friends not just in Mobile but up and down I-65. We had a great Project Semi Colon Ford, congratulations to Chase Briscoe he was the man all weekend. Our guys had great stops probably the best we’ve had all year. Josh finished 1 spot ahead of us so maybe we should have slowed them down some (laughing). Another solid day, looking forward to the weekend off.”
The ARCA Series has the weekend off before heading to Iowa Speedway.