BREAK IT DOWN: Kaley Engstrom Micro Mayhem Airport Raceway 6/13/13

This is my driver...

The race weekend started and ended with a ton of excitement. One of my sponsors and good friends, Dave Jones, hooked me and my family up with hot passes to the NASCAR race. He gave my dad and I the full tour of the Fox television compound. Even introducing me to the head honchos as “This is my driver” – haha. (It’s kinda embarrassing but at the same time makes me feel so honored.)  Meeting Jeff Hammond was cool!  I must say I gained a lot of respect for what those guys do! I was amazed with all that went into producing and broadcasting a NASCAR race. Unfortunately the Sprint Cup race was on Saturday night, which is the night I race my 305 sprint car, so I had to make a choice……..  well I am a racer so it was Kennedale Speedway Park for us.

Here she is - not all the graphics are on yet.

It was only my fourth sprint car race and I was still pretty nervous, on top of that we were having some fuel problems. My heart was pumping with excitement when the grid steward was calling my heat race. When my dad pushed me up to the shoot, all I could think of was how many hot shot drivers were in my heat!!When the green flag flew it was a drag race down the front stretch between me and Scott and luckily I made it into the turn first! Once I led the first lap, Justin Melton battled with me and was able to make the pass for the lead. Jeb Sessums was also able to get by me to take second. After those to awesome drivers passed me I was sitting comfortably and was able to take the checkered in third.  I pulled in to my pit with a big smile on my face! My crew was just as excited and pleased with the finish as I was. We knew that we had a great setup, just had to keep up with the track.

 Before the rounds of features started, I went up and checked the lineup board. Guess what? I started outside front row!!! Right when I saw that butterflies began to take over my stomach. Everyone kept saying, “just step on the gas and you’ll be fine”. But honestly that is easier said than done! I climbed into my car, buckled up once again and got pushed up to staging. I said my pre-race prayer and took one last deep breath before firing the car up on the track. The flag man gave the signal one to go! As we rounded turn one it was green flag time!! I took off like a rocket got going in second place. By half way through the race I found myself in fourth place. During the caution all I could do was think “dang I am really in fourth place against all of these awesome guys”. The green flag came out once again, but this time I had Chase Brewer behind me trying to rattle my cage. HE hit me once going into turn 3 & 4, and then drove right into me in turn 1 &2. He ended up taking himself out and tearing up his car. After that wreck happened I looked up and saw that I was in fourth! HA! He wasn’t able to rattle or get me scared; I continued to hold my own. There was only three laps left, and by the time we got the checkered I ended up in fifth place. I was more than happy and everyone could see that! But then I had to go to the scales to weigh, found out I was 20 pounds lite. Even after finding out I was DQ’ed, I was still so happy with how hard I drove. And it was an awesome feeling when the other drivers came and told me how good I had done.

For more about my home track visit www.raceksp.com and to meet Jeff Hammond visit his website http://www.jeffhammond.com/.  Of course to follow my got to my website: www.kaleyengstrom.com  or tweet me @kaleymichelle61 and like me on my facebook fanpage at KaleyEngstromRacing

Sasquatch Indoor Nationals

Cedar Lake Indoor Nationals aka "Sasquatch Indoor Nationals presented by Jack Link's Beef Jerky"

New Richmond, Wis., March 8-9, 2013 - It was 20 degree weather, wind blowing hard, ice and snow everywhere. This Texas girl was not ready for a Wisconsin blizzard. (Don't think my Texas teammate Payton Pierce was either.)  But let’s go back to the beginning.

I was so excited to get back I the seat of the McCreery #57K midget.  We were just coming off a win I the micro so I knew we were on the right track!  Richard Pierce finally came over to pick me up to leave, not going to lie I hated having to go without my Dad, but I had to! So we were off, headed North into unknown territory.  Not knowing what to expect I packed about 5 jackets.  Once we got to Kansas for our first stop I realized I should’ve brought a heavier coat!

With 4 foot of snow surrounding us we finally made it to the track.  The butterflies started to overcome my body.  It was only practice day but I was in a new car and just wanted to run good.  It came time to get my suit on and hop in the car.  I got all buckled up and was excited to see what this car could do!  They pushed me off, car fired and sounded great.  Green flag!  Green flag!  I step on the gas. The first turn went great, get in to the straight away and the car falls on its face, lap after lap.

I pull into the pits and tell the guys what’s going on.  They start running around changing batteries, wires checking injection and the whole nine yards. Tokay with all that being checked and good, it should run now, right? Well I get buckled in again, motor fired of perfectly. I get on the gas then boom….the motor falls on its face again.   When I get back to the pits the crew is dumbfounded – what could it be?!  To sum up the first day; it was full of motor problems.

We showed up for day number two, hopeful for a better day.  I went out for hot laps, the problem still not fixed.  The crew changed some more things thinking for sure that it’s fixed now!  But in the heat race it only got worse.  I knew if we could get it fixed that the car would be great.  After a asking a bunch of people and ripping our out hair, we found the problem.  It was the fuel system.  Unfortunately I had to go out for the “B” Main.  Not knowing how the car would be at full power we still went out with high hopes.  Right at the green I knew the problem was fixed, but my comfort and driving style for the car was not 100%.  So we ended up not making the show.  Everyone kept saying keep my head up, but if they were in my shoes they’d have been down too.

Finally the last day arrived.  I went in with a new found confidence since the car was running great!  But of course I get stuck in the most stacked heat race with all the big boys…..It was time to get up on the wheel.  As the four-wheeler pushed me around the track, I was trying to plan out my start.  I lined up behind Tracy Hines.  We had a great start. The car felt awesome out of turn 2, but as I try to make a pass I get slammed in the side, making me pull a huge wheel stand and a car gets by me.  I pull in line on a one lane track, lap after lap I get more and angrier with the guy that hit me.  Everyone in the pits knows we would have been in a good spot if he wouldn’t have done that…..but that’s racing.  Now we are stuck in the “B” Main again.  I tell myself, “I am going to make the “A” Main.  I am going to make the “A” Main.”….    I get a great start, driving hard and fast.  I found myself stuck behind someone who races midgets every weekend who is very good!  (This was only my 3^rd time in a midget!!) We battle for a few laps; I knew it was time to make a move.  As I was trying to make a pass, I hear ….”YELLOW  YELLOW”…..  And I’m like NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.  Such bad timing.  With only a couple of laps to go I missed the “A” Main by ONE SPOT….

With all the downs of this weekend, I still wasn’t too sad because I knew I got valuable seat time and I got better as a driver.

For full race results see http://www.cedarlakespeedway.com/news_article/show/238088?referrer_id=700585

Special Thanks to my sponsors Common Sense Approach (Bob Petell), Truxton Productions (Dave Jones), PSI Soft (Frank Clark), Andy Hogan Racing (Toni Hogan) and McCreery Motorsports (http://www.facebook.com/#!/McCreeryMotorsports?fref=ts), and the Best Texas teammate I could ask for, Payton Pierce (http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Pierce-Racing/111833272163273) and to his Dad for driving us all the way to Wisconsin for this wonderful racing opportunity.

Please be sure to check out my website at www.kaleyengstrom.com and my Facebook Fan Page www.facebook.com/kaleyengstromracing, and follow me on Twitter @kaleymichelle61.