We drove 8 hours on Wednesday to race the 4 day event at AMS  Alabama Manufacturer Shootout in Cullman Alabama. I ran 4 classes, intermediate nitro truggy, intermediate nitro buggy, intermediate  e-buggy and open e-truggy. 4 classes was a lot, even with family and friends helping out.

I’m just now getting in to nitro and this was my first big event getting to race it. I just got my nitro truggy built and aside from getting the engine broken in I had never even driven it until this event.

Practice day went great, I got plenty of track time and got the track down by the second time out. Qualifying day was rough. We had some things we didn’t go over on the nitro so I didn’t make a qualifier and I was having problems with my sensor wire in E-truck so I pulled it off and didn’t get to finish that qualifier as well. I ran gold ellipse on all of my cars for the qualifiers. In nitro truggy I qualified 4th, and finished 4th in the super pole which put me starting 4th in the A main. In nitro buggy, I qualified 5th in the b main and finished 6th in the super pole.  
In e-buggy, I qualified 2nd in the b and finished 4th in the super pole for the b-main. 
In e-truggy, I qualified 4th in the a main and finished 9th in the super pole. My e-truggy super pole was rough, the track was too dusty to run ellipse, they were super edgy. I switched to blue relapse or rehabs for the mains.

My first main on Sunday was nitro buggy b-main. Everyone got in clusters in front of me and then the cars behind me hit me and I was put in the back right at the start. The B-main was a 30 minute race and I knew if I worked hard enough and cut out mistakes, I had the speed to make it to the bump. I finished 2nd that race and got the bump to the A. For the A-main I ran blue rehab. The car was so edgy due to the dust, it was like the rear end was on ice. The top end was a little fat as well but I told Todd, my pit guy, to keep it as is because I couldn’t control the power I had already. I had a flame out midways of the race. I was in my head the whole time, I finished 10th.

Next, E-buggy B-main. They ran double B-mains. The first B-main I got up to 2nd after the 2nd corner. But then the guy I passed decided to send it off a jump you don’t send it off of, attempting a pass on me but instead blasting me in the rear. Surprisingly my car didn’t break, but unfortunately I got the short end of the stick on that one and it put me dead last. I was so ticked off, I couldn’t focus the rest of my race. I had 1 more chance though shortly after the first b-main. I was on blue rehab, the car was great. I was more cautious of the cars behind me this time and aware of the ones in front. I made my way to the first spot and kept out front the entire time, taking the win as well as the bump to the A. My first buggy A-main went alright, I kept getting caught with people and wasn’t that consistent. I finished 4th. A-main number 2 was rough. The tires were crazy loose due to all the dust. I wasn’t consistent at all and finished 14th in that one. A-main 3 was going good in the beginning. I didn’t get my spot on the stand and I kept misjudging the 180 coming before the straight away. I was in 5th right behind the other 4 and I tubed it. I ran green rehab this run and they were super edgy. With it being edgy and me being my own worst enemy due to frustration, I finished 9th and 9th overall. I was so disappointed with that finishing position because I knew I could do better than 9th.

My first e-truggy A-main I ran blue relapse, they were really good. I finished 4th. A-main 2, I finished 4th again. A-main 3, I made my way to second and drove so great. My truck felt amazing and I drove very consistent and got to second place and stayed there. Something happened to the guy in first so I took over the lead. With a lap and a half to go I lost a lot of power. I thought it was a battery issue but I had grazed the back wall and my left rear universal shaft snapped and I had to roll every jump for the next 1.5 laps. I didn’t have any bad wrecks, I had such a lead on the field at this point I still managed to win this round and ended up taking  4th overall in E-truggy.

Last but not least, my nitro truggy A-main. I had some problems with dirty driving and traffic. The truck was amazing. I ran blue relapse and they were hooked up! Eventually I took the lead by a good bit. I was very fast and laying it down making clean passes and driving my line. I flamed out in pit road once which took my lead away. I pushed myself beyond after that, making sure my line was perfect every lap to hold on to second place. And I did exactly that! That race was so much fun. I’ve never ran 30 minutes before, let alone 45! It didn’t feel like 45 minutes, but when I had to walk down the driver stand, my body said other wise.😂 I was so stiff, I had just marshaled a 45 minute race before hand as well. I was so excited that I put this truck on the podium that I managed to knock the whole stand over. 😂😂 I went out with a bang on that one lol. 😅

I can not get over how fun this race weekend was. I not only put all 4 cars/trucks in the A but they all made it in the top ten and I put both trucks on the podium! This is probably the best I’ve done at a big event. I looked ahead and stayed consistent the  majority of the race weekend. I have so many people to thank for this weekend. First, I want to thank my parents. Both of them worked very hard helping me keep up with 4 cars. Dad was on tires, and mom would rebuild any diff I set out for her. Thank you Todd Christian for all your help with the nitros, I couldn’t have done any of it without you. Thank you Wade Piggott for all the help and Gary Studt as well. Thank you Paul Wynn for always helping with tire selection and thank you JConcepts Inc for being track side with products especially at an event like this. Thanks Chad Cup for helping me out in a pinch. Thank you Chad Phillips for helping me out with the parts I needed. Thank you Bobby Moore for building such a fun track. Thank you Dave Liekam, Lance, and all of the Racetime crew for putting on yet another fun, awesome event and for all of the hard work you guys put in to making this thing happen for us racers.  Huge thanks to my sponsors. My equipment withstood all of the track time this weekend and kept me going to get all these cars in the show.

Thank you to everyone that came to hang out and see me in the HB pits. I had a good time meeting new people, signing some autographs, taking pics etc. You guys really make me feel special. Thank you to everyone that came and bought shirts and hats. Thank you for the overwhelming support from everyone online. I can’t believe all of the likes, comments and messages I’ve received. I’ve tried my best to like or comment back, I hope I didn’t miss anyone! I enjoyed getting the messages cheering me on from your homes. ☺️

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