Summer's almost over. Hard to believe. We've had a lot of great racing going on this season and the time just flew by. We still have quite a few more races to go, but I definitely need to update on our past races and get it all down.
Ocean Speedway - 7/18/08: Off to Watsonville to race the crate late model. Standard field had all shown up. 13 cars in attendance. Came in 2nd in the heat; won the trophy dash (yay!), and 2nd in the main event to Bobby Hogge. Finishing behind Jeff was Andy Obertello, Bobby Scott and Phil Priddy.
Santa Maria Speedway - 7/19/08: We love racing at Santa Maria. They absolutely love the late models there and the officials, fans and racers are so nice. None of the officials show any partiality, and everything is done on the up and up. You just know when you show up there that you have the most chance of racing fairly and with no "promoter favoritism." It is very refreshing. There were 32 super late models in attendance and it was going to be a battle to get into the main event! But of course Jeff was up to the task. He qualified 3rd quick overall, finished 2nd in his heat race, finished 4th in the trophy dash, and would have had a top 3 in the main event, however bad luck struck again, and he got a flat tire with 11 laps to go while running in the 3rd position. He came into the pits, the tire was changed, and he managed to get back up to 12th position at the finish, but we were very disappointed. We'll come back and get em next time though. We can't wait to race Santa Maria again!
Ocean Speedway - 8/1/08: Off to Watsonville to race the crate late model. 13 cars in attendance. Jeff won his heat; won the trophy dash, and came in 2nd in the main event to Bobby Hogge. Finishing behind Jeff was Bobby Scott, Phil Priddy and Ray Martin.
Antioch Speedway - 8/8/08: Back to Watsonville to race the crate late model. Small field of only 10 cars in attendance. Jeff won his heat; came in 2nd in the trophy dash, and came in 3rd in the main event behind Bobby Hogge and Bobby Scott. We would have finished 2nd in this main event, however the officials decided to run 26 laps instead of 25, and our MSD box gave out on the 25th lap. Also, the wonderful decision of allowing lapped cars to be placed in front of the 2nd and 3rd place runners was made with 3 laps to go. This always gives the fans an exciting finish to watch, doesn't it? NOT! Finishing behind Jeff was Phil Priddy and Andy Obertello.
Silver Dollar Speedway - Chico, CA - 8/16/08: We have been waiting to race at Silver Dollar Speedway for a very long time; and man, we were NOT disappointed! This is one of the most awesome facilities we have ever been to. This is one of the most banked, hooked up, racy tracks in California. You have to be on your A-game to race here. Despite it being 107 degrees, we were ready for the challenge! 23 super late models were in attendance and Jeff out qualified them ALL! Yep, he was smooth as butter and fast as can be. Only .100 of a second from setting a new late model track record! Jeff looked like he had been racing there for years! The old track record was set in 1990 in late model WEDGE cars, which definitely gave more needed downforce to this hooked up joint, but that is neither here nor there...
Because this was a special Saturday show at SDS, there were only two classes of cars running and everything was very rushed. We didn't have time to make many changes as we were so busy just scraping mud off the car! However, that didn't stop Jeff from doing just as great as he always does when running with the Western All Stars. In every Western All Star event that Jeff has ran this year, he has qualified in the top 3 overall, finished either 1st or 2nd in every heat race, which had him in every trophy dash as well. Pretty good statistics when running with the best in the West! If it wasn't for breakage and flat tires, I personally believe Jeff would already have had his first win with the WAS. In any event, Jeff finished 2nd in his heat race, finished 4th in the trophy dash and then just ran an incredible main event; dodging the worst of the speeding bullets to finish 3rd behind the winner Bobby Hogge and 2nd place finisher, Ryan McDaniel. If Chico plans on running late models again, which I so hope they do, we'll be there FOR SURE!
Ocean Speedway - 8/22/08: Back to Watsonville to race the crate late model. 14 cars in attendance. Jeff won his heat; came in 2nd in the trophy dash, and came in 2nd in the main event behind Bobby Hogge. Finishing behind Jeff was Andy Obertello, Bobby Scott and Phil Priddy.
Labor Day plans: Weekend off! Boating out at the Delta and enjoying some much needed time off. Then we'll be back to gear up for some end of season big shows! We're definitely planning on running the Dirt Nationals out at Hanford, and we're thinking really hard about running the Maselli at Petaluma Speedway. Not sure yet if that is in the cards. We'd also like to hit up one more late model race at Santa Maria Speedway, but we're not sure if that isn't just too much racing in too short a time... Well, we'll be sure and let you know!
CRATE AND SUPER LATE UPDATE!
It's getting hot again. Really hot! Last time we updated the page we had just finished a bad heat wave and another one is starting up. Sigh. Guess we'll have to do a bunch of coastal racing to try and beat the heat. Good thing
Santa Maria Speedway is in our future...Well, first let's cover the past before we go on to the future.
Ocean Speedway - 5/23/08: Off to Watsonville to race the crate late model. Standard field had all shown up. 15 cars in attendance. Won the heat; 2nd in the dash, and 2nd in the main event to Bobby Hogge. This will start to sound familiar as I continue to update.
Ocean Speedway - 6/13/08: Back to Watsonville to race the crate late model. Won the heat, 3rd in the dash, and 2nd in the main event to Bobby Hogge. Are you sensing a pattern yet?
Ocean Speedway - 6/21/08: First night of a back to back Western All Stars Super Late Model weekend. Unnaturally hot out at Watsonville. I believe it was somewhere around 108 degrees! This is almost unheard of in this coastal town. Nevertheless, Jeff had the car ready to go. We needed to be on our game and he definitely was. He went out and qualified 2nd quick out of 30 cars. He was flying. Unfortunately, so was Bobby Hogge, who qualified fast time. Jeff and Bobby started side by side in the heat race. Hmmm, wonder where we finished? Guess... Yep, that's right. 2nd. Back to that pattern thing again. Finishing 2nd meant that we were automatically in the trophy dash, but the Western All Stars has this weird "pill pull" thing, and Jeff ended up pulling a 7. He ended up finishing 5th in the trophy dash, which meant a 5th starting spot in the main event. Once the main event got underway, we could tell the car was good. Jeff quickly moved up to 3rd position and was racing for 2nd when he slowed on the front stretch and pulled off the track with what we thought was a flat tire. After taking a look at the car in the pits, it was pretty obvious it was more than that. Turns out the J-Bar had broke, which took out a shock, which took out the tire and that took out half of the side of the car! Wow, domino effect! Well our night was over, AGAIN. We were starting to feel like our bad luck in the Super Late Model just wouldn't end. However, Jeff was determined to make the show at Antioch the next night, so Jeff and John got to work and got the car back together again.
Antioch Speedway - 6/22/08: Another scorching hot day, and we headed off to Antioch Speedway for the 2nd night of racing with the Western All Stars. 30 cars made the showing for this race as well. During qualifying, you could tell that the car was good, and our time held up for 2nd quick overall. That placed us on the outside pole of the heat race, and we ended up winning it! Confidence growing, we pulled a great pill for the trophy dash (a 2!!), and ended up winning that race as well! This put us on the pole of the main event! We were really excited until John Soares decided to bring the tractor out on to the racing surface and grate it! What the heck was he doing??? We had the car all set up for a dry slick race track, and he goes and changes it on us? Jeff watched the track and tried to figure out what to do. He changed the set up for a more hooked up track. Ooops. The track went away in a hurry during the main event. Right back to dry slick! Dangit!! We managed to hang on for 3rd place, which with our luck in the Super Late Model was basically a win, but Jeff was really disappointed as he had hoped to pull a hat trick. When interviewed in the winner's circle after the race, Jeff said, "I really wanted to kick John Soares in the ass for changing the track like that." We were dying!! But that's Jeff for you. Brutally honest, all the way.
Antioch Speedway - 6/28/08: Out to Antioch to race the Crate late model. Very disappointing turn out of cars. We will have to think twice before we return to run there again.
Ocean Speedway - 7/04/08: July 4th! Racing out at Ocean Speedway is always fun on this date. Unfortunately, due to all the fires in the area, the wise decision to cancel the fireworks was made. Disappointing nonetheless. They usually have a great fireworks display. Oh well, another time. Back to the race. Only 12 crate late models in attendance, probably due to vacations, etc. However, it went pretty much the way it always does. Jeff won his heat, with Bobby Hogge finishing 2nd behind him. This put Bobby on the pole of the dash, which Bobby won, and Jeff finished behind him in 2nd. Bobby started on the pole of the main event and Jeff started in the 3rd position. Bobby ended up winning the main and Jeff came in 2nd. Sigh.
Next weeks plans: Weekend off! Fishing maybe? Definitely!! Because the following weekend (the 18th and 19th), we will be racing out at Ocean Speedway in the Crate late model on Friday, and then off to Santa Maria Speedway to race the Super Late Model on Saturday! Coastal racing all the way!!! Hopefully the heat stays inland when we go to the coast. If you're in the area, come on out and cheer us on. The
weather should be great!
AWFUL APRIL - MARVELOUS MAY?
Kind of a strange heading, huh? But honestly, April was one of the worst months for us that we have had in a very long
time! We are so not sorry that it is over! Bad luck seemed to follow us everywhere, and not just on the racing front.
I guess that happens to everyone from time to time. Makes you stronger, right?? Well, that's what we keep telling
ourselves anyway!
Well it was a toss up between fishing and racing on Saturday, and Jeff decided to get back to work and go racing. We
drove up to Antioch to make the Crate Late Model race there. It was, once again, a smaller turnout than we'd like, but
the track promoter is giving it time to build up the car count, so we're hoping that more Crates will show up soon. The
guys that are running there are great competition though, so the races are always exciting.
Jeff won the heat race in a pretty dominant fashion, though he did start on the pole for that one. Being the winner of
the heat race, he was required to pull a pill for starting position in the main event. Our "good" luck held (NOT!), and
he pulled an eight, making us start in the eighth position for the main event. He was going to have to work for the
win in that one! John and Jeff made some changes to the car and he went out feeling pretty optimistic. Justifiably so!!
He flew around that track! No one had anything for him. Jeff has come a LONG way in the patience department and he used
it with great finesse on Saturday. Waiting and waiting to pass cars until I thought I was going to scream. But he definitely
knows what he's doing, because he was up front, leading the pack and pulling away from the field. Jeff was followed to
the checkered flag by Eric Van Hoosier, Shawn DeForrest, Joel Hannagan and Andy Obertello.
Next weeks plans: Friday racing out at Ocean Speedway. This should be a good race as the 360 Sprint Cars are on
the ticket as well. We rarely get to race with them, and their nice big tires pack the track well. If you're in the area,
plan on making this race, you won't regret it!!
APRIL UPDATE
Sorry for the radio silence lately. We've had some technical difficulties along with a lot of racing and I just
haven't been able to post on here. Sorry! I won't let it happen again, I promise!
I'll just give a quick update by date and track. That will be easiest:
Hanford 3/29/08 We decided to drive down for the race with the Western All Stars at Kings Speedway in Hanford.
The car looked great, qualified 3rd fast out of 36 cars, finished 2nd in the heat race, and 5th in the trophy dash.
Unfortunately, the track became extremely rough for the main event, and we just missed the set up. Jeff hung in there
till the end, but we still only managed to finish 8th. Pretty disappointing, but the car was very fast and looked
great and that was exciting.
Antioch 4/12/08 First night for the crate late models at Antioch and a disappointing turn out. Jeff won his
heat race, and pulled a 10 for starting position, so he had to start at the back of the field. He still ended up coming
forward fairly quickly and ended up finishing 2nd in the main event.
Antioch 4/19/08 2nd night for the crate late models at Antioch and another disappointing turn out of cars.
Jeff finished 2nd in his heat race, and was starting 4th in the main event when the green flag flew. Unfortunately one
of the cars on the track got out of shape on the first lap, ran down the track into another car's path, who tried
to avoid him and ended up straight into us, finishing us for the night. What a waste of gas to drive up there.
Watsonville 4/25/08 Won our heat, finished 3rd in the trophy dash and finished 2nd in the main event behind Bobby
Hogge.
Marysville Speedway 4/26/08 Long drive down to this new speedway to run with the Western All Stars. Also our first "back to
back" race this season. The Super Late Model looked great and again timed in 3rd quick in the field. Jeff won the heat
race in a dominating fashion and pulled a 4 for his position in the trophy dash. Bad luck struck again as Jeff hit a
rut in turns 3 and 4 and the 2nd place car got into him, hard. Jeff thought that he had a flat, so he pulled off the
track. When he was told that the tires were fine, he went out and rejoined the field at the back of the pack. He finished
7th, which was now his starting position in the main event. However, the main event had just gotten started, and Jeff
was looking GREAT, when a Nevada driver got out of shape, gave us the mother of all wheel shots, and we ended up breaking
our rear end. Not only did we BREAK the rear end, but the bell on the housing actually broke in HALF. Amazing. Needless
to say, we did not finish very well this night.
Next weeks plans: Next week's plans are to either race the crate late model on Saturday out at Antioch Speedway,
or take the boat out and go fishing. We haven't decided yet. Hmmmm. I'll leave it up to Jeff. :o)
3/24/2008 Update!
DOS!
If you missed the Ocean Late Model race out at Ocean Speedway this past Friday, I honestly believe you missed one of
the best races of the year! This race had the fans on their feet, the announcer going crazy and all of us in the
pits yelling our butts off! I didn't think that crate racing would be this exciting, but when you have two such
great drivers like Jeff and Bobby Hogge, I guess it can't help but be crazy competitive.
It was a perfect day weatherwise in Watsonville and While there were only 12 crate late models in attendance, the
competition again was there. Tom Sagmiller laid out the most perfect track of the year and we want to say THANKS
for that! Hope all the tracks we race on can be that smooth!
Just as a quick recap, Jeff started fourth in the heat race and ended up winning it. That was exciting and Jeff was
really pleased with how the car handled. However, since we had to start at the back of the trophy dash (they completely
invert the trophy dash), he figured it was a good time to try something different with the car set up. Jeff ended
up finishing 2nd to Bobby Hogge in the dash and John and Jeff decided they liked the changes that they had made. Jeff
decided to leave the car alone and run the car "as is" in the main, but had a sudden change of mind in staging and John
dragged the jack down pit lane and made the changes. Good thing, because the car was PERFECT! Jeff started 3rd in
the main event and in about 2 laps was leading. Bobby Hogge was right behind him. That's when the fun started. Those
two raced side by side, lap after lap, and changed the lead countless times! Restart after restart you never knew who
was going to be in the lead. I was, as usual, pacing and biting my nails (I've been told I do this). When Jeff ended
up pulling away and winning the race, I was yelling so loud I almost lost my voice! I want to see that race again,
big time! The DVD of that race is a must buy!
Next weeks plans: Next week's plans include an extremely busy weekend for us. Racing at Ocean Speedway in the
late model on Friday, and then up and out early to travel down to Kings Speedway to race the Super late model with
the Western All Stars. Then Sunday, up early to wash TWO race cars... Sigh... Anyone want to volunteer to wash just
one of them??? Please??? :o) In any event, come out and cheer us on if you're in one of those areas. We'd love
to see you!
BACK AT IT!!
It seems like the off season gets shorter and shorter. This new racing season just came out of nowhere! I think
we were expecting the first few races to be rained out, but nope. Friday came bright and clear and with a dry
week behind it. Jeff of course, being the prepared person he always is, was ready and raring to go.
It was good to be back out at the track. 13 crate late models were in attendance, with last years biggest competition,
Bobby Hogge and Bobby Scott, out there again as well. Also, Andy Obertello, a competitor in the Super late models,
has decided to race in the crate class too. So the competition is there again this year and it looks to be a
really fun season!
Jeff had me pull his starting position number for the first week and man did I blow that one. I pulled him a
number that would guarantee he start in the back of the heat race and that's exactly where he started. I shouldn't
have worried. He came to the front quickly and finished 2nd behind Bobby Hogge. That put him into the trophy
dash and wow was that an exciting 4 laps! Mainly because he won! :o) After watching the track, Jeff was pretty
worried about the set up on the car for the main event so he and John made a number of changes and Jeff went out with
his fingers crossed. It was a very exciting main event with a lot of back and forth and more restarts than I care
to remember! In the end, Jeff crossed the checkered flag FIRST!, with Bobby Scott behind him. Andy Obertello
finished in 3rd, Nick DiCarlo in 4th and Joel Hannagan rounded out the top five. Jeff came home with the twin
hardware and guess what? The trophies were BLUE! Just like the car. Must have been an omen.
Next weeks plans: Next week is an off week for us. I think we'll go fishing! The following week (the 21st)
we'll be back out at Ocean Speedway trying to follow up our win of this week. Come out and cheer us on if you
can!
10/08/2007 Update!
A CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON!!
This is wild. Didn't think I'd ever be writing about winning TWO track championships in ONE season.
Not to mention a California State UMP title. But yeah, that's the way it went down. We have always,
and I mean always said that we do NOT race for points. But really, thinking about it logically, what
wins track championships? Consistency!! And who is one of the most consistent late model drivers in
California? Jeff Decker, that's who! So maybe we should just race for points from now on?... What do you think?
Naaaah!!
It's been a crazy few weeks, but I'll try and break it down for you.
Antioch Speedway. Last we updated, Jeff had won the last Super Late Model race on 9/1/07 by at least
a half a track! We were expecting to race one more time out there and that would decide the championship, in
which Jeff had a large lead in the points. Unfortunately, Antioch decided that they would cancel the last race
and well, we won the championship! Just like that. Kind of anticlimactic. We would have liked to be out there
celebrating. Maybe take the car around the track with the checkered flag. Give something to the fans after the
race. Oh well. We'll definitely party at the banquet on January the 5th! I have to buy Jeff a checkered flag tie...
Do you think he'll wear it? Again, naaaaah!
Ocean Speedway. The points battle was tight. Bobby Hogge and Bobby Scott were tied for 2nd place and
not very many points behind us. We knew we had to stay on the top of our game. Two more races to go. We arrive
at the track on 9/21 and run our heat race. Wow, did he win that one. Get the car ready and line up for the
trophy dash and the sky just OPENS UP! The races are cancelled for the night. Ahhhhh!!! We have to wait to
run a rain make up date. The way the scheduling worked out, it would be a back to back race Friday, 10/5 and
Saturday 10/6. Man, we hoped nothing happened to the car on Friday! It would be a long night getting ready for
Saturday if it did.
Well Friday rolled around and we were ready. We arrived at the track and found that 18 late models were in
attendance! Wow! We did really well in the heat race, winning that, which lined us up 4th in the Trophy Dash. We
finished 2nd in the trophy dash and then 2nd in the main event, behind the winner, Bobby Hogge. We were lucky to
finish 2nd in the main event as Jeff had broken an upper A-arm on about the 4th lap into the race! Unbelieveable
that he was able to hold on for 2nd. After the race we were told that we had clinched the championship and we
didn't even need to run the race on Saturday. Sounded great, but we weren't positive, as the points tally given
to us was totally unofficial, so we fixed the broken A-arm, loaded up the car and prepared for Saturday.
Saturday we pulled into the track and it seemed like we had never left! As we were somewhat confident that we had
the championship in hand, we had loaded up prepared to celebrate, with a BBQ, a cake, champagne and lots of friends!
As this race was the rain out make up date, all we had to run was the Trophy Dash and the Main Event. We had to
start 3rd in the Trophy Dash and ended up finishing 2nd in it. Before lining up in the Main Event, Jeff discovered
a crack in one of the birdcages (a suspension piece in the rear end), and patched it with hose clamps as best he
could, however we were a little worried about it as we had to start 4th. We shouldn't have been worried! Although
the first couple of laps were a little scary, with Jeff slipping back to about 6th at one point, he came charging
back through the field and was leading the race by lap 10. He had half a straightaway lead on 2nd place by lap
21, when the yellow came out. AAAAAHHHH!!! Why does this happen?? Again, we shouldn't have worried, though it
did give the fans an exciting couple of laps as Jeff and Bobby Scott went side by side for about 3 laps until
Jeff passed him, and gave no doubt as to who the 2007 Ocean Speedway Late Model Champion really is! Winning the last
race and the Championship was so exciting for me, I once again lost my voice from all the yelling I did. Oh well,
it was worth it! You shoulda been there!!!!!!!!!
Next weeks plans: Yep, we have plans for next week. The season is not quite over. Jeff will be driving the
#75X Modified of Jim and Annette DiGiovanni at Ocean Speedway's IMCA Nationals on October 12th and 13th.
This is a $5K to win, two-day show and should be a lot of fun! Come out and cheer us on one of the days if
you can! Then it's party time! We will celebrate our great season, relax a little, travel to watch some
racing (Las Vegas and Arizona), and generally just prepare for next season. We don't know what's on tap with
the racetracks, we will have to wait until after the Promoter's Workshop in January, but whatever the promoters
decide, we will be there racing SOMETHING! How do you follow up on such a great season? Well we have all
winter to figure it out.
9/05/2007 Update!
RACING UPDATE!!
Wanted to get a quick update out to all of you on the results of the last two weeks.
I'll just give an update by racetrack and date:
8/24/07 - Ocean Speedway. Wow. What an unbelievably horrific track the guys had to race
on this night. We could not believe it! The track looked like an ATV road course track with all
the ruts and whoopties. Cars were flying every which way and it was not a matter of IF your car would
break, it was just a matter of WHEN. The track was so horrible that at one point in the main event,
Jeff thought that his steering was broken and pulled into the pits under the first yellow that flew.
We reassured him that nothing was broken, sent him back out, and he was able to come back through the
field to finish in a respectable 4th place.
9/1/07 - Antioch Speedway. It was SO HOT!!! It was about 105 degrees in Antioch on Saturday
and the humidity was pretty high as well. At 11:30 PM, we were still sweating! Unbelievable. It was
also pretty hot out on the track as Jeff won this main event by at least a half a track! I guess this
was a pretty boring race for the fans as Jeff literally had no competition, but we thought it was
exciting as hell that he ran away from everyone like that! Sweeeeeet!
Next weeks plans: This coming weekend is race free. I think we'll take the boat out and see if we can
hook a fish or two. The following weekend on the 15th, we have our last UMP Super Late Model race out at
Antioch. Jeff is still leading the points in this series, so hopefully he can pull out a good finish and
take the championship! Come out and see how it all plays out! Have a great week everyone!
8/20/2007 Update!
AUGUST UPDATE!!
I know, I know, it's about dang time I updated this web page huh? Well this summer has been amazingly
busy and we have been trying to improve our shop and work area conditions so there hasn't been one
spare moment to do this. I swear! I will be as faithful as I can in the coming weeks as this season
winds to a close. There are tight points battles everwhere and anything can happen! I have been told
by the "Boss" that I need to stay on top of this as this is my part of the deal (smile). I'll have
to catch you up a little bit.
I'll just give an update by racetrack and date:
8/4/07 - Antioch Speedway. Took the Super Late Model out to Antioch to support the UMP series.
Only 8 cars showed up! We were stunned. This is a fantastic track with a fantastic crowd of fans that
love late models. The Promoter is guaranteeing $1500 to win. What do these drivers want? Well, there's
nothing we can do but continue to run there and hope that other drivers realize what a great place this
is. Nevertheless, some fantastic drivers had showed up including Richard Papenhausen, Bill Pearson and
Kellen Chadwick, so we would still have to be on our game. Because we had won the previous week, we
had to start 8th in the main, regardless of our finish in the heat race (which we won). Jeff was tricked
by the racing surface this night and we missed the set up; however, he was still able to pull off a
nice 3rd place finish behind the winner Bill Pearson and 2nd place Richard Papenhausen.
8/10/07 - Ocean Speedway. This was a pretty unbelievable night as Jeff took a broom to the
place!! He swept everything! Won the heat race, won the trophy dash and ended up winning the main
event as well. Sweeeeeet!
8/11/07 - Lake Anderson Speedway. Okay so there's no such speedway, but it was my birthday and I
wanted to take the boat out, and it ran like a champion, and we had a blast! Really nice birthday.
8/18/07 - Antioch Speedway. Back to Antioch this Saturday on a hot, breezy day. Again only 8 cars
in the class showed up as Antioch was running against the Western All Stars who had a show in Bakersfield.
Jeff started 3rd in his heat race and was running down the leader with ease in the heat race when all of a
sudden he stopped on the track!! We couldn't see any exterior damage or a flat tire, and we definitely hadn't
seen him hit anything, so we were really worried. For good reason as it turned out. Jeff had lost oil
pressure! It turned out that on our belt driven oil pump, the belt had broken. Jeff and John checked the
Oberg filter and there was nothing in it! Hooray! Jeff felt that he had shut the engine off in time to
avoid damage, so they changed the belt, fired up the engine and we were able to start the main event.
Bullet dodged. Jeff came through the field quickly and cleanly and ended up with a respectable 2nd place
finish behind the winner Shawn Deforest.
Next weeks plans: Friday out at Ocean Speedway with the Crate Late Model. Only 3 more crate races to go.
Hopefully the track is not as rough as it has been the past few weeks. We're looking forward to being down
in Watsonville again. Come and see us if you can! Have a great week everyone!
7/30/2007 Update!
A WINNER OF A WEEKEND!!
I shook up the magic 8-ball this weekend and asked it two questions. I won't tell you what the
questions were (you can probably guess, anyway), but I will tell you the answers. The first answer
was "You Can Count On It," and the second answer was "The Stars Say Yes." Well my magic 8-ball has
not failed me yet! With a double header weekend and double header wins as the payoff, I'm putting
that little sucker in a velvet lined box!
On Friday we brought the crate car out to play at Ocean Speedway. What a track that was! Dry, dusty,
rough and man, just unbelievable. Started 4th in our heat race and ended up finishing 2nd in that.
This qualified us for the trophy dash, and WOW, what a trophy dash. Jeff and Bobby Hogge started on
the front row together and it was a side by side battle all four laps. It truly was something to
see and the crowd really got into it. Jeff ended up winning the trophy dash, but not by much!!
After the trophy dash Jeff and John determined that some adjustments had to be made to the car, as
Jeff was getting thrown around in the car something fierce. There was no way he was going to be able
to drive the car for 25 laps with the set up it had on it. They made all sorts of changes, crossed our
fingers and we went out to line up for the main event, in which we started fourth.
Bobby Scott jumped out to an early lead followed very closely by Bobby Hogge and Jeff. 3 laps in and
it looked like it was going to be a great race, when unfortunately, Bobby Hogge stopped on the track, a
victim of a broken control arm mount. At the restart it was Bobby Scott and Jeff lining up in the front
row and they quickly broke away from the pack, with Jeff right on Scott's tail. After several attempted
passes, Bobby got into the back of a lapped car and spun, giving Jeff the lead. That was all she wrote
and Jeff walked away with the win, followed by Dennis Pelphry in 2nd and Ray Martin in 3rd.
After a quick switch around of cars on Saturday, Jeff loaded up the Super Late Model to run with the
Super Late Models out at Antioch Speedway. With a disappointing 5 car turnout, you would think that
the racing would be less than optimal. It was anything but! Everyone that was there came to win and
it was a great track as well! Jeff and Kellen Chadwick had to start at the back of the main event and
they quickly moved forward and put on a show for the fans. Jeff jumped out to the lead and Kellen tried
his best to find a way around, but he really didn't have anything for Jeff, and Jeff ended up winning the
race shortened 15 lapper. It had us all cheering!
Next weeks plans: Saturday out at Antioch Speedway with the Super Late Model. John Soares has told us that
several Oregon cars have contacted him and will be making the trek down to compete. As we won this past
weekend, the best Jeff can start in the main event is 10th, so it should make for an exciting race.
Have a great week everyone!
7/23/2007 Update!
JULY RACING UPDATE!
It was so hard to update this page because I just didn't want to take the other story off, LOL!
What an exciting weekend that was, but I have heard from enough people telling me that they want
to know what has been going on in our racing, that I had to bite the bullet and change the front
page.
I'll just give an update by racetrack and date:
6/30/07 - Kings Speedway. This was the Western All Stars Gary Jacobs Memorial 50 lapper.
We will always support this great memorial event and we are so glad that is so well supported! 46
late models showed up! We qualified 6th quick overall, but only 4th fastest out of our "group"
qualifying. We made the main event, but had to start in 13th. Jeff avoided a lot of accidents, drove
clean, and ended up finishing 6th overall.
7/3/07 - Antioch Speedway. This was a special Tuesday night show racing with the UMP Super
Late Models. 15 late models showed which isn't bad considering the day they were running! We pulled
a 75 pill out of a possible 75 pills, and had to start at the back of the heat race where we still
managed to finish 3rd. This had us starting 6th in the main event. Jeff quickly moved forward and
the car was very impressive! The last lap pass on Shawn DeForrest to finish 2nd had us all cheering!
7/6/07 - Ocean Speedway. Running with the Ocean Late Models out at Ocean Speedway in Watsonville
is always fun for us. We love this racetrack, the weather and the awesome people that show up to support
the racetrack. Plus, Jeff always does well here! This Friday was no different as Jeff finished 2nd in
the main event behind the dominant Bobby Hogge.
7/16/07 - Ocean Speedway. Repeat of 7/6/07 report above! Wow, that was easy.
7/21/07 - Antioch Speedway. Back to Antioch this Saturday on a hot, breezy day. Only 10 cars
in the class showed up as Antioch was running against the Western All Stars who had a show in Bakersfield.
However, some tough competition was there with Kellen Chadwick and Richard Papenhausen being some surprise
shows. Jeff finished 2nd in his heat race behind Kellen Chadwick and that had him starting 3rd in the main
event. Jeff jumped out to an early lead and looked like he was unbeatable, but the car was set up for a
hooked up race track, and the racetrack went away about 10 laps into the main event, and so did Jeff's car.
This was all Kellen Chadwick needed, who with his home track advantage, had set his car up for a dry slick.
He passed Jeff on lap 17 and Jeff ended up finishing in 2nd place behind Kellen.
Next weeks plans: Another double header. Friday out at Ocean Speedway and Saturday back out at Antioch.
Jeff is leading the points in both series at both tracks, but the competition is there and anything can
happen! Come on out and support us at one of these shows! You're guaranteed to have a great time and
you will see dirt track racing at it's finest! Have a great week everyone!
6/25/2007 Update!
WOW! WHAT A WINNING WEEKEND!
Jeff was HOT, HOT, HOT this weekend. The good luck was flowing our way and Jeff was just
unstoppable! Jeff has been having such a great year considering he hadn't won a race yet.
But we went into this weekend with high hopes of a win and with a few hopes and prayers later,
we not only had one win, but TWO! And what a win the second one was! The biggest of Jeff's
racing career to date!
Friday was our regular stop at Ocean Speedway to run the Crate late model. The car was not
all it could be, as the track was extremely rough and rutty. After finishing 3rd in the heat
race, John and Jeff switched out the Koni shocks that were on the car for the Afco shocks and
Jeff went out for the main event, lining up in the 6th starting spot. Jeff immediately felt
a positive difference in the handling of the car. He quickly moved forward and was running in
the 3rd position by about lap 6. Bobby Hogge, the race leader at the time, suddenly slowed on
the race track and pulled off, the victim of a broken rear axel. At the re-start it was Jeff
and Bobby Scott in the front row. Jeff jumped out to the lead and never looked back and took
his first Crate win of the season out at Ocean. How sweet!
I could write at least two pages about what happened on Saturday, but you would all probably
be extremely bored by the time I was through rambling, so the best thing I can do is attach the
picture and the story written by Dennis Daniels of Saturday nights event out at Antioch Speedway.
Jeff Decker Takes $5,000
UMP Super Late Model Feature At Antioch With 26 Super Late Models checking in to compete for the $5,000 top
prize, it looked like the show would be a heavyweight battle between several
of the best drivers on the West Coast and a NEXTEL Cup driver. The
front row of the Main Event featured Mike Johnson on the pole with Kellen
Chadwick on the outside. Other drivers starting inside the front four
rows included Bobby Hogge IV, Clark Guglielmoni, Jeff Decker and Kenny
Wallace. At the drop of the green flag, Johnson and Chadwick raced
side-by-side through the first set of turns, racing down the back straight.
As the two ran through turns three and four, they were still side-by-side.
Exiting turn four, Johnson on the bottom thought he had cleared Chadwick and
moved up the track. He had not cleared Chadwick and his car ran over
the front end of Chadwick. This started a multi-car pileup which ended
with Chadwick out. Joining him on the trailer after only one lap
included Kenny Wallace and Guglielmoni. A red flag flew to clean up
the track. Wallace exited his car on the front straight and waved to
the cheering fans. Wallace had earlier finish second in his heat race,
showing the skills of a top-notch driver. Showing up to a track he had
never seen and driving another competitor's car is difficult. He made
it look easy. We all would have liked to see him have a chance to race
for the win but....stuff happens! When the race restarted, Johnson held the lead and Hogge,
who made it through the pileup, ran second. Trailing Hogge was Decker
and Zack Forster. As the race was restarted, Johnson had Hogge on his
rear bumper, racing on the dry slick track. Just a couple of laps
later, the incident with Chadwick would now bite Johnson. His right
rear tire has started to lose air and Hogge was able to race by into the
lead. The next lap, Johnson slowed with a flat. A caution flew
and he was able to pit, change it and return to restart at the rear of the
field. Moving up to second behind Hogge was Decker and Forster.
Throughout the rest of the race, Hogge was nearly dominant. He sped
away after restarts with Decker holding his own in second. With three
laps remaining, a loose muffler hit the track and Hogge ran it over just as
the caution flag flew. Decker had been in a fight to keep second as
Johnson had worked his way through the pack and was challenging for second.
The last restart looked like it might give Decker and Johnson one last shot
to try to find a way by Hogge and take home the money. As the final
green flag flew, Hogge entered turn one and his car appeared to almost lose
control. His right rear tire was nearly flat from running over the
debris. Decker took advantage and ducked under and into the lead.
Hogge maintained control and still remained in second. Johnson could
see the issues with Hogge's car and found his way by into second a lap
later. Decker would speed on to victory, while Johnson gave tow and a
disappointed Hogge ended up third. Decker ran clean the entire race
and put himself into position to take advantage of any mistakes. It
was good luck that was on his side and earned him his biggest pay day of his
career. Decker not only took home the cash, he was also given two VIP
tickets to the NEXTEL Cup race at Infineon Raceway for Sunday's race.
The VIP package, courtesy of sponsorship by Sprint - Together With NEXTEL,
includes two race tickets, entry into the Sprint/NEXTEL VIP hospitality
tent, a tour of the pit area, and free food and drink all day long.
Decker also earned a Sprint phone with a bluetooth wireless headset.
Congratulations Jeff!
Having all this wonderful luck this weekend reminded us how grateful we are to have such great
sponsors, as they give us the ability to run with the best every week. We wanted to take a minute
and say THANKS SO MUCH to our sponsors: The Pink Poodle, Pinnacle Home Builders, Vassallo Tile,
Steel City Signs, Brad Furr's Big O Tires, Aue Enterprises, and last but not least, our newest
sponsor, Stealth Carbuerators! We could not have had such an amazing weekend without all of
your help and support.
Next weeks plans: Next week we have Friday off and it's a good thing as we are planning on
running the Western AllStars Firecracker 50 - the Gary Jacob's Memorial race out at Kings
Speedway in Hanford, CA on Saturday the 30th. This is also one of the biggest races of the
year, paying out a $29,000 purse with all kinds of contingency prizes. All the big dogs will
be there and we planning on throwing our hat into the ring as well. Gonna be in the Central
Valley? Don't miss this huge race! With all the talent expected to show, it should be one
exciting night! For more info, check out www.westernallstars.com.
Have a great week everyone!
6/14/2007 Update!
COASTAL RACING
It's been a couple of weeks since we've updated the page. In that time we have ran the
crate late model out at Ocean Speedway and we've raced the Super Late Model at Santa Maria
Speedway.
Overall we did well at each show. At the 6/1 Friday show at Ocean Speedway, we won our
heat race, finished 2nd in the trophy dash and finished 2nd to Bobby Hogge in the Main event.
That main event was definitely a disappointing one, as we should have won that race, but due
to lapped traffic, on the last lap, Jeff was passed by Bobby. However, Jeff remains very happy
with the new Victory Circle's performance and knows that once we nail the set up on that car,
no one will be able to touch us! I personally can't wait for that!! You all will probably
hear me scream from wherever you are, LOL.
Saturday (6/9), we made a last minute decision to take the Super Late Model out to run at Santa
Maria Speedway. Jeff had recently switched the SLM over to race gas as opposed to alcohol, and
wanted to make sure that we had no overheating issues with the switch. We were expecting the
race track to be semi-hooked up as historically, this is a coastal track and holds moisture pretty
well, however, we could see the track quickly deteriorating and drying out and by the time Jeff
qualified, it was dry as a bone. The later qualifying times were significantly slower than the
first qualifiers and since were were unlucky enough to qualify almost last, what does that tell
you? We ended up finishing 3rd in our heat race, which had us starting ninth in the Main event.
It was going to be a tough race in which to move forward as the track was basically a one-laner,
and with it being so dry and slick, a cautious race was probably the best course for us to
take. Jeff ended up finishing 4th in the Main event, with an exciting at the checkered flag
pass of Jerry Stewart. The top finishers in the main event were winner Devin Crockett, A.J.
Kirkpatrick, Billy Griffin, Jeff Decker, Jerry Stewart, John Lowrey and Brad Pounds.
Next weeks plans: Next week is a Friday show (the 15th) out at Ocean Speedway in the Crate Late
Model. We will try and lay low on Saturday and Sunday as the weekend following that will be a
double-header with Friday at Ocean Speedway and then the big show $4,000 to win Super Late Model
Show out at Antioch Speedway on Saturday the 23rd. This should be a big show with lots of
attendees! Nextel has stepped up to sponsor this race and Kenny Wallace will be coming out and
racing the promotors Super Late Model! If you are anywhere in the area, DO NOT miss this race!
This should be one of the biggest races of the season!! For more info, check out
http://www.antiochspeedway.com. Have a great week everyone!
5/14/2007 Update!
JEFF REALLY SHINES WITH THE WESTERN ALLSTARS!
From our previous post you know that we planned on running out at Kings Speedway in Hanford
with the Western Allstars on Saturday. We had not run with this touring class this year as
our schedule had not permitted, but we were determined to make this show. We made the 3-hour
tow down and arrived around 2:00 PM. It was already packed, and all the big names were there.
Mike Johnson, Bobby Hogge, Steve Drake, Chris Shannon, Kellen Chadwick, etc. 33 cars in all.
Big competition. It was going to tough to make the show.
The Western Allstars have a different qualifying format than most shows and it is really cool.
You pull a pill like usual, but your pill determines the "group" you will qualify with. Say there
are 40 late models. If you pull a #20 pill, you will qualify with the 10 drivers that drew a
pill closest to that number. So you don't necessarily have to be the fastest car out of all 40
cars, you just have to be the fastest out your group of cars, because then you will start on the
front row of your heat race; the heat race will include the same group of cars you qualified with.
Jeff was second quick out of the group of late models he qualified with and started outside, front row of
his heat race. He led nine laps out of 10, but was body slammed on the 10th lap by the 2nd place
car and ended up finishing second. By finishing 2nd, Jeff automatically transferred to the A-Main,
and was also in the 8-lap trophy dash.
It had been pretty hot and dry all day at Hanford and that led to some tough track conditions. The
track was dry as a bone, slick as glass, and ROUGH as could be! You could actually see the cars
bouncing out of turn two. It was pretty amazing that the drivers were able to hold on to their cars.
Jeff and John made several adjustments to the car for the current track conditions, but Jeff was unsure
how they would work, as the track was just so unpredictable. The trophy dash would be a stacked
8-lapper, with Mike Johnson, Kellen Chadwick, Bobby Hogge, John Lowrey, Ron Bartels and Chris Shannon.
Jeff drew for position for the trophy dash and got a 2, which put him on the outside front row.
Jeff ran away with the trophy dash and won it by at least 4 car lengths! Jeff was pretty impressed
with the "Bud Girls" who presented him with the trophy and the check. Here is a great picture
of him and the girls taken by KC Rooney.
Winning the trophy dash put Jeff on the pole of the 30 lap main event. We absolutely could not believe
that not only had we made this very tough show, but we were actually starting on the pole of the event.
Needless to say, this made Jeff feel much better about his car, but starting on the inside was not
the preferred spot. All night the preferred line had been the outside. Jeff predicted that he would be
in third position by the end of the first lap as he thought that the two outside starters would freight
train him at the drop of the green flag. This is exactly what happened, as Kellen Chadwick and Mike
Johnson passed him within 3/4s of the first lap. They rode around like this for about 5 laps until
Kellen Chadwick spun out on the front stretch! Suddenly we were in second. Jeff and Mike Johnson were
pretty evenly matched, but the track conditions were not optimal, and lapped traffic played a huge factor,
and we ended up finishing in 2nd. We were definitely not unhappy with this finishing spot! The first
time running with the Western All Stars and winning the trophy dash and then finishing 2nd, well this was
quite an accomplishment.
Next weeks plans: Next week is a double header. A 50-lap Gary Jacob Memorial on Friday the 18th out at
Ocean Speedway in the Crate Late Model, and then on Saturday we will be running at Antioch Speedway in
the Super Late Model at their monthly UMP show. Since we're local, come on out and cheer Jeff on!
See you at the races!! Have a great week everyone!
4/02/2007 Update!
DOUBLE HEADER WEEKEND RESULTS
Racing on Friday AND Saturday can be a bit tough, but we were ready for it. We loaded up
on Friday and headed out to Ocean Speedway to race the crate late model. 16 crate late
models were in attendance. The track was, well, different. Someone had dumped water on
it continuously throughout the week and man was it muddy! Scraping mud after mudpacking
was a workout and a half! We must have scraped over 300 pounds of mud off the car! Thank
God for baby oil. It's the only thing that saved us.
As I talked about before, the Ocean Late Models do not qualify for position, they just pull
a numbered pill, and this week we pulled a #30 out of 50 numbered pills. After pulling a 48
last week, I guess we're doing a little bit better, but with this kind of luck, we'll only
be pulling a #1 numbered pill by the end of the season!! Jeff started deep in the field of
the heat race, but managed to finish 2nd. That transferred us to the trophy dash, which
Jeff won by half a straightaway, if not more! Jeff stayed out in the middle of the racetrack
for the trophy dash presentations, and then we were only given about 3 minutes (if that) to
get the car ready and he had to head out for the main event! Not very familiar with the line
up for the main event this year, as last year the first two rows went off the trophy dash
finish, but this year they had us starting 4th in the main. Go figure. Jeff did his best,
but got hung up on the start behind the second place car which was much slower, and then he
played catch up for the remainder of the race. We ended up finishing 2nd behind Bobby Scott.
Congratulations to Bobby Scott on his first win ever in his GRT!
Saturday we unloaded the Crate late model and loaded up the Super Late Model and headed out to
Petaluma Speedway. We had decided early in the season that we would be loyal to Petaluma Speedway
and run their shows rather than any of the Western All Star shows. When we arrived at Petaluma
there were massive numbers of cars in the pits, but only 6 late models. Didn't look like it was
going to be a very exciting race. Jeff won the heat race with no challenge and started on the pole
of the main event next to Rod Arnold. Once again, as has happened countless number of times when
starting next to Rod, there was almost immediate contact. And, once again, according to the
Petaluma officials, it was Jeff's fault. Jeff was sent to the back of the lineup. With the contact
made resulting in a bent shock on our race car, Jeff had to fight to get back to the front. He
managed to obtain second place and finished there behind Rod Arnold.
Saturday night was something of an eyeopener for all of us. As has happened time after time, Petaluma
seems to favor their past "champions" and "home town cars" with the calls. I think Saturday was
the straw that broke the camel's back so to speak, and we have decided that it is not in the best interest
of our racing team to return to Petaluma Speedway on a regular basis, if at all. We wish Petaluma
Speedway the best of luck with their field of regular cars. I guess loyalty doesn't necessarily pay
off after all.
Funniest moment of the night: This was going to be a regular one liner in my weekly column, but nothing
really funny happened this weekend. It was kind of a sad weekend actually, having to make the decision
I talked about above.
Next weeks plans: We have the weekend off, can you believe it? We will be going fishing in our new
little boat. We can't decide if we will go to the Delta and hit the sloughs, or head up to our favorite
hole at Loch Lomond Reservoir. Hmmmm... decisions, decisions. Either way, wish us a winning day of
fishing! Our next race will be Saturday night, April 14th at Ocean Speedway in the crate late model.
We will be running with the 360 Sprint Cars, the modifieds and the American Stocks. Should be a good
race and if you can make it out to this rare Saturday show at Ocean, I'm sure you'll have a great time!
See you at the races!! Have a great week everyone!
3/25/2007 Update!
KICK OFF WEEKEND RECAP!
We thought we had a double header to get ready for - Ocean Speedway on Friday and Petaluma
Speedway on Saturday - but unfortunately, John Soares, Sr. passed away. He is the father of
the owner and promotor of Petaluma Speedway. Jim Soares decided to push back his opening
weekend so that he could spend a little more time with his family. Our thoughts are with
him and his family in this tragic time. God Bless.
We did race our Ocean Late Model out at Ocean Speedway,however. The Ocean late model that
Jeff had built during the offseason had looked great at Playday, but this would be Jeff's
very first race in the car and we weren't sure what to expect. 18 Ocean late models showed
up to the track! Wow! Quite a few people decided they liked this class as well, I guess.
The new drivers out there included Bobby Hogge, Bobby Scott, Larry Damitz and Greg Walters
had made the drive down from Oregon to race the first race at Ocean as well! It was going to
be a true test for us that night.
The Ocean late models do not qualify for position, rather they just pull a numbered pill, and
out of 50 numbered pills, we pulled a 48. Nice. We would be starting in the very back of the
heat race. Another cause for concern. But why were we worried?? Jeff came from the back like
the seasoned pro he is, and won the 6 lap heat race! Due to time constraints, they cancelled
the trophy dash portion of the show. We had plenty of time to get ready for the main event
since we were the last main event to run. We started on the front row of the 25 lap main event
next to Bobby Hogge. The track was smooth, dry and SLICK! Bobby, having run his Victory Circle
over a season and a half, was very familiar with his car and was able to get a run on Jeff early
and basically checked out. Jeff lined up in 2nd and was really never challenged for that
position, and that is where we finished. Jeff feels the car will be much more competitive as
the weeks pass, as we will learn more and more about the car and figure out the best set ups for
different track conditions. All in all though, we couldn't be more pleased with the car.
Corky of Big O Tires, one of our sponsors, was out watching the races on Friday. It was great
to see him out there and hopefully we see more of him as the Sprint cars and Brad Furr, will be
running with us on a pretty regular basis. It was pretty great to see sprint cars back out at
Ocean Speedway.
Funniest moment of the night: A 12 year old girl and her friend came by the car and told Jeff
how much she liked the car; that it looked "awesome" and it was her favorite car because she
"really liked poodles!"
Next weeks plans: We will be having the double header that was delayed this past weekend. Ocean
Speedway on Friday night and Petaluma Speedway on Saturday night. Friday and Saturday should be
great, but Sunday is going to be awful because that means we have to wash not one car but TWO!
If you're bored this Sunday, and would like to wash a couple of cars... we won't throw you out!
Hopefully, we see you at one or both shows! Have a great week everyone!
3/14/2007 Update!
ARE YOU READY??!
Racing season is just around the corner for us. We have had a jam-packed off season and
it's almost surreal that it is already starting again. Jeff however, is beyond ready as usual,
and can't wait to get the racing show on the road. We will be posting a full racing schedule
very soon.
First off we'd like to welcome back two of our sponsors. The Pink Poodle and Pinnacle Home
Builders. Thanks for your continued support of our efforts! You ROCK! We'd also like to
welcome a new sponsor on board this year, Vassallo Tile. Thanks for taking a chance on us!!
We're going to try something new this year and we will be emailing racing results to you directly
as well as posting them on the webpage. We hope this keeps you more aware and up to date. We want
to keep you as involved as possible! We couldn't do what we do without you!
Secondly, we'd like to let everyone know that we will be racing two cars this year. The
regular #84 Super Late Model as well as our new #84 Ocean Late Model, which Jeff built in the
offseason - which we plan to run with the Ocean Late Model division out at Ocean Speedway in
Watsonville on Friday nights. As you may or may not know, Jeff won the track championship in
this division in 2006 running a car for Paul Salaiz. Jeff decided he liked the class so much
that he would build a car and run one for Decker Racing. We are very excited about this new
car and our first race out at Ocean Speedway will be March 23rd.
Our Super Late Model will be flying new colors this year. Keith Brown, Jr. of Steel City Signs
came up with a pretty awesome color scheme and incorporated it into the new vinyl "wrap" that
is so popular lately. It was weird to look at the car for a while and know it was our car (we
were so used to seeing it as it has looked in year's past), but we now love how it looks and
hope you do too. You can see it for yourself if you come watch our first race in it, which will
be at Petaluma Speedway on March 24th. Yep, a double header weekend the first weekend out. I told
you Jeff was ready. If you can't come see it in person, we will definitely be posting pictures of
it after the race at Petaluma.
This year we will also be posting a lot more pictures then we have in year's past. I finally
learned how to do this comfortably (yeah, I know, get with the program! It IS 2007!). If there's
anything you'd like to see or suggestions of something you'd like us to include on our website, please
feel free to let us know.
Well, this Friday, March 16th is "play day" out at Ocean Speedway and we will be taking the Ocean
Late Model out for it's maiden voyage. Don't want any problems on the first race day so we will try
and get as many laps in as we can on Friday. Play Day is open to anyone who cares to attend and it is
only $10, so if you're at loose ends on Friday, come out and join us. Practice starts at 5:00 PM! Hope
to see you there.
9/23/2006 Update!
CHAMPIONSHIP WEEKEND
Pretty amazing weekend if you ask me. We had a lot of racing planned. Friday out at Ocean
Speedway in Watsonville with the Ocean Late Models and Saturday we planned to run the
Masselli end of year late model show out at Petaluma Speedway. Friday was set to be a
nail biter as Jeff was one point out of the lead for the Ocean Late Model championship going
into the night. We knew that the whole championship could actually hinge on the pill draw.
I checked my "magic eight ball" before we set off, and actually asked if Jeff would win the
track championship on Friday. It said "YOU CAN BET ON IT." Well that magic eight ball
couldn't have predicted a more true statement! Here is the link to the story from the
Santa Cruz Sentinel which tells how the night went down.
href="http://www.latemodelracer.com/lmr/2006/lmr_0922ocean/"
I was there, and I still can't believe it. It's a good thing I can type because I definitely
don't have a voice left after yelling so loud. It was totally worth it though.
Saturday we set off to Petaluma with high hopes for the night. We finally had licked our
fuel problems that had plagued us for the past five weeks. 17 late models checked in for
the night, including Richard Papenhausen, John Silva and Marcus Aue, so there was some
good competition there. Only 17 late models was kind of disappointing as two other late
model shows were running as well, but hey, at least we wouldn't have to worry about making
the show, right? Well, we wouldn't have had to worry anyway as Jeff clicked off the fastest
lap that Petaluma has seen all year and set fast time for the night. I think I've mentioned
on previous postings that I absolutely can not stand the way Petaluma basically punishes you
for going fast. Saturday night was no different and Jeff had to start 6th in the first heat.
They were taking the top two to the trophy dash, but unfortunately, due to our rear starting
position, we weren't able to come forward far enough and finished fifth. On the flip side,
Petaluma reverts to qualifying times for the line up after the top four, so we were guaranteed
to start no worse than fifth in the main event, which is what happened.
40 laps. Jeff said he had to be patient as Petaluma's track can be really rough on equipment
and drivers were hungry for the win. We watched as the first few laps clicked past and we were
worried that the car wasn't quite "right" as Jeff dropped back to eighth. We crossed our fingers
and hoped that he was just biding his time. Turns out, he was. After a couple of yellow flags
and the restarts that followed, Jeff was solidly in third place. Randy Schaefer, who was having
an amazing night, hung on for second place even though Jeff gave him all he could handle. Richard
Papenhausen checked out in front of those two and hung on for the win. Congratulations to
Richard and his crew!
All in all, a pretty good weekend, with a win in the Ocean Late Models, a track championship in
that division, and a third place finish with our full blown late model at a track that has given
us fits us all season long. We put the car(s) in the trailer in one piece on both nights too.
Well, on to our upcoming plans. Next weekend we have off! We're talking about having a celebration
BBQ, and that kind of sounds like fun. The following weekend, the 6th and 7th of October, we'll
be running the Dirt Track Nationals out at Kings Speedway in Hanford, California. This is always
a very well attended race and a big party as well. We've got the hotel room reserved right next
to the Karaoke bar and we can't wait to have some great fun with our extended racing family. If
you're going to be anywhere close to that area, I say don't miss it!!
I also want to take a minute and thank all of our wonderful sponsors for their support this season.
The Pink Poodle, RV Cloud & Co., Dennis Chivers Construction, KR Construction and Pinnacle Builders.
We hope we represented you well this year with our second place finish in the Western Dirt Late Model
Tour points standings and our track championship out at Ocean Speedway. We could not do what we do
without all of you and we never forget it for a minute.
9/13/2006 Update!
SEEING THE WORLD
Yep, that's what we were off doing. Seeing the WORLD 100 that is. We just got back from
Eldora Speedway in Ohio, and let me tell you, that is an amazing place with absolutely the
most amazing racing. It really was unbelieveable. We flew into Dayton which is about 55
miles from the racetrack. It is the closest airport to the track. We stayed in Piqua,
which is about 30 miles from the racetrack. There really isn't anything much closer because
the racetrack is in the middle of cornfields...for miles! Tent city is something to see. All these people
just camped out as far as you can see, and they've been there since Monday. Partying like
there is no tomorrow, and DIE HARD racing fans. Wednesday, we went to see the Prelude to the
100, which is a late model race with all these Nascar guys driving: Tony Stewart, Terry
Labonte, Dave Blaney, Ryan Newman, Kurt Busch, Kenny Schrader, etc. 30,000 people in attendance
on a Wednesday night at a track in the cornfields. Amazing! And the race was great too!
Thursday night, Eldora has this huge after-party (and I mean HUGE), and we hung out for that.
We were talking and partying with people we only have ever seen on TV and they were so down to
earth and easy to be with, it wasn't until we were in the car driving back to the hotel, that
we were like, "Can you BELIEVE we were hanging out with....???!!!" The party is wild. They have
a full bar and a D.J. and dancing and it usually goes until about 4:00 AM. We had to leave at
about 2:00 AM because we just couldn't take anymore. I think if we go next year we might rent a
motorhome and just stay there. That is where the action is.
204 late models without mufflers, for two solid days is like the old 80's rock concerts. Your
ears were ringing when you finally hit the bed, but we'll take that ANY DAY OF THE WEEK! The
track stayed in great condition considering all the Late Models running over it. I think alot
of that is due to the fact that it is so humid out there. You also just cannot believe the
banking in this place. Seeing a late model go 125 miles an hour down the backstretch into these
high banked corners is something you just have to see to believe. Honestly, the best late model
race I have EVER seen. This place is incredible and it is run so professionally, you would
almost think you were at a NASCAR race, except the racing is a lot more exciting. Bobby Hogge
was awesome out there. He would have transferred no problem, except that Scott James and Darren
Miller basically spun him out in turn 3 coming for the checkers. In my opinion, Bobby proved
he has what it takes.
Eric Jacobsen has got to be one of the luckiest guys I know. Not only is he living every California LM driver's
dream, but he has got the absolute best people working for him as well. His crew chief Ronny,
Ronny's wife, and their part time help, Brian and Larissa, have to be the nicest people we have
ever met. I can't even explain how great it is to not only go back there and watch the show, but
to be a part of it as well... incredible. All in all one of the best vacations and experiences we
ave ever had and we can't wait to do it again next year. If you get a chance, GO!
Well, on to THIS COMING WEEKEND'S PLANS. Antioch Speedway on Saturday the 16th is the last points
race for the Western Dirt Late Model Tour and we'll be out there trying to hold on to our 2nd
place position in the points. It should be a great race to see as alot of late models usually
make the trek down to run this track and we always love to run there. Are you going to be
anywhere in the area? If so, come out and see us!
You can contact us anytime by email at jamdecker@verizon.net. Don't forget to check out our
sponsor page and visit our sponsor's websites. Support them as much as you can! By doing so,
you're helping us! Take care everybody! Have a great week and maybe we'll see you at the races!
WEEKEND DOESN'T GO AS PLANNED
Sorry for the delay on the update!. Had a lot of stuff going on this week and somehow
could never find the time to sit down long enough to get anything onto the computer.
But I finally got it done! Not that I have anything great to report. Our weekend was
supposed to be different. We were SUPPOSED to be running with the Western Dirt Late Model
Tour out at Chowchilla Speedway. Somehow that race didn't quite make it into reality,
and was cancelled. Don't know what happened there, but since the car was ready, we decided
to run Petaluma Speedway. Jeff had just gotten his main race motor back from S&S Automotive,
and we had put it in the car and needed to test it out to make sure everything was okay anyway.
So off we went.
Pretty amazing! 19 late models showed up for this race. The largest car count of the
year. Some of the "not so regulars" that showed up were Kellen Chadwick, Marcus Aue and
Richard Papenhausen. We were excited to get out there as the track looked smooth and
hooked up. We lined up 4th starting in the 2nd heat race and quickly raced to the lead.
4 laps down and we saw Jeff pull to the infield. What the #$@!? Turns out Jeff had lost
fuel pressure and didn't want to risk the new motor. After returning to the pits, we
figured out that the fuel bypass had taken a poop and we did not have another one to use.
Yes, can you believe it people? The always prepared Jeff Decker did NOT have a spare!!
Well, we decided to take the green flag and see what would happen, but upon doing so, it
was quickly apparent that the fuel problem was real and was not going away, so Jeff pulled
back into the pits. After watching the remaining main event, I personally consider it a
blessing that he wasn't able to run that race! It was a complete and total crash fest. I
think the only drivers who didn't drive away with ugly race cars were the top two finishers.
Everyone else looked like they had run a demolition derby. The top three finishers in
the main event were the winner, Nick Perviolaris, 2nd place Kellen Chadwick and 3rd place
finisher Marcus Aue.
Well, on to NEXT WEEKEND'S PLANS. Friday, Jeff will be out at Ocean Speedway in the Paul
Salaiz-owned #40 Ocean Late Model. Remember, he is totally in contention for the track
championship in that division and I can't wait to see what he does on Friday. Then on
Sunday, it's off to one of my favorite race tracks of all time. Santa Maria Speedway for
the Western Dirt Late Model Tour 50 lap race. It is a holiday weekend so we're hoping the
traffic isn't too bad as we make the 3-1/2 hour tow down. Are you going to be anywhere in
the area? If so, come out and see us! 8/21/2006 Update!
DECKER DOES DOUBLE DUTY
We love Ocean Speedway. We love the track, the weather and the people. We love the short
drive to get there. (I love how well Jeff does there.) We love everything about it. So
we were excited when the Western Dirt Late Model Tour was on the schedule for the rare
Saturday that Ocean is allowed to book. But the Ocean late models are on the schedule too.
Wow. We knew it was going to be crazy! Jeff was up for it though. John Prentice, the
promoter of Ocean Speedway, was kind enough to get us parking spaces in the pits that would
allow us to park side by side, and he was also a forward enough thinker to put races in between
the WDLMT races and the Ocean Late Model races. That was a small relief, but it was still a
mad rush for Jeff to get everything in. You have to understand how much we tweak on the car
in between races to try and make it better. Also, it didn't help that Jeff was a top
runner in everything as well, so he was not only running the heat races and the main events,
but he was also running BOTH trophy dashes! We figured, when all was said and done, that
we ran about 85 laps if you combine both cars!
There were quite a few Ocean late models Saturday night. I believe there was about 13 that
checked in. The track had ran practice laps on Friday night so the track on Saturday was
quickly becoming dry slick, with one groove. In the Paul Salaiz-owned #40 Ocean Late Model,
Jeff started 4th in the 2nd heat race and it was quite an exciting race to watch with Jeff
and Eric Van Hooser running side by side, lap after lap. Jeff finished 2nd in the heat
race and this put him into the trophy dash. Starting on the outside, front row, Jeff quickly
put any challenge behind him and won the trophy dash in quick fashion. Jumping ahead to the
main event, Jeff was lined up in 3rd starting position. Again, after some minor challenges
from Phil Priddy, Jeff quickly put almost a straightaway lead on the 2nd place car and won
the 20 lap main event in quick fashion. Jeff was followed to the checkers by Phil Priddy,
Eric Van Hooser, Larry Pedrelli, Ken Gregg and Ed Sans III. Jeff has quite the record in
this Ocean Late Model now. He has run this car 8 times. He has won the main event 6 times,
and the trophy dash 4 times. He is now 9 points out of 1st place in the point standings and
7 points out of second place in the points standings and he missed one race! These are
absolutely amazing stats!
Due to the fact that the Ocean Late Models, while somewhat underpowered, still meet the WDLMT
rules, several of them decided to try and make the show and run with the "big boys." This put
the total late models contending for the show at 24. We went out to qualify and did not do
that great. We qualified 9th. However, this still put us on the pole of the third heat race
and we won that heat race hands down. By winning the heat race, we were automatically in the
trophy dash where we lined up 3rd. Jeff quickly raced to 2nd place and finished there behind
the winner Bobby Hogge. As the finish in the trophy dash determines the first 6th starting
spots, we were excited as that meant we would start front row, outside. Not having that much
time to prepare the car as we were first running the Ocean late model main event, we did what
we could and Jeff jumped from one car to the next and headed out for the 30 lap WDLMT main event.
By this time, the track was completely one groove, dusty and slick! Jeff looked great and there
were only a couple of yellow flags in the main, however in lapped traffic, Mike Johnson picked
the right line, while we picked the wrong one, and both Mike Johnson and Chet Buckley were able
to get by us. We finished in fourth behind the winner Bobby Hogge, 2nd place Mike Johnson and
third place Chet Buckley. Finishing 5th and 6th were Ron Bartels and Jeff Priddy.
NEXT WEEKEND'S PLANS. No racing for us on Friday, but Saturday we will be out at Chowchilla
Speedway for another Western Dirt Late Model Tour race. Last time we raced at Chowchilla we
had the most awesome racing surface we have ever raced on, so we are hoping for more of the
same!. Are you going to be anywhere in the area? If so, come out and see us!
8/13/2006 Update!
FRIDAY, FANTASTIC. SATURDAY, SUCKS
It's Friday, August 11th. It's my birthday. I tell Jeff that he needs to win a trophy for me.
He's running the Paul Salaiz-owned #40 crate late model at Ocean Speedway and well, he has
always thought that two is better than one... so he goes out and wins TWO for me! The trophy
dash AND the main event. MAN is he ever smooth in that thing! This is the first time that
I've actually ever been out to the Speedway on Friday to see him run in this car, and I was
really impressed. He is just on a rail! The heat race was a little ugly with a few cars
getting out of shape and running into Jeff, but after straightening out the body work, he
went out and acted like he was the only guy on the track, winning the trophy dash with no
challenge and then winning the main event by half a straightaway or more. Needless to say,
I will be back to watch him again.
We weren't really sure if we wanted to race on Saturday, but the car was ready and so was the
crew so we headed off to Petaluma. A 13 car field had made a showing. Petaluma decided to
qualify the late models and we qualified 2nd quick with a 15.67, right behind fast time
qualifier, Rod Arnold with his 15.65. Again, the official decision was made to have a complete
inversion in the heat races, putting the fast qualifiers in the rear. Since this is our web
page I can post my opinion on how much I personally HATE when they do this. It is almost like
getting penalized for going fast. WHATEVER! With the slowest qualifing cars on the pole, it
was a slow start in our heat race and then things got really ugly with one car coming down,
and Jeff going up and then a connection... Jeff was able to continue racing, and finished 3rd
in the heat race, but on the last lap, we noticed the left rear of the car was hanging out and
realized that Jeff had broken a pan-arm bar. Along with the all the body work that was necessary
from the contact, we were pretty busy in between the end of the heat race and the main. A special
thanks goes to Randy Schaefer and Dwight for helping us get the car back together and ready
to race.
We found out when recording the main event line up that the officials had assessed a rough driving
penalty on us from the contact in the heat race and we were to start in the rear. Again, all I
can say is WHATEVER! We have learned from racing at Petaluma that that pretty much is what you
have to say when it comes to all of their decisions. They don't listen to anything you have to
say so you just go with the flow. Jeff came towards the front pretty quickly, and we could tell
the car was really good, however, he was blocked at every turn by the 22G of Paul Gugelemoni and
you could feel Jeff's frustration from the stands. Lap after lap after lap, the 22G just cut
down, went high, swung out, everything and anything to keep Jeff behind him. On lap 24 of the
25 lap race, Jeff finally got underneath him coming out of turn 4. He had the majority of the
car cleared when the 22G decided to block him one more time and came down again, but Jeff was
right there and WHAM, our car flew up in the air and over the top of the 22G coming to rest
in front of the flag stand. The funny thing was we got the position! So much for the 22G's
blocking technique. Not really cool driving on his part and the officials didn't think so
either and came over after the race to talk to us about it. They let us know that they saw
what happened and would deal with it. Once again... WHATEVER!!! We ended up fourth behind
the winner Rod Arnold, Marcus Aue and Larry Damitz.
NEXT WEEKEND'S PLANS. Saturday out at Ocean Speedway. Double duty. The crate late model AND
the #84 late model with the Western Dirt Late Model Tour. Should be a great show. Come out
and see us! 8/5/2006 Update!
ALMOST... AGAIN
No crate late model racing out at Ocean Speedway this Friday. Jeff stayed home to make some
last minute tweaks on the car and get it ready for Saturday, as we were planning on running
out at Petaluma Speedway. At about 12:30 PM we headed out and the Petaluma demons caught up
with us at about 1:45 PM. A flat tire on the dually. Of course it happened right at the most
dangerous place you can be to have to change a tire... right where 880 dumps into 80. Scary
stuff, but Jeff and John made it happen and we were back on the road again by about 2:15, and
hoping against hope that that would be the worst that would happen that night.
Pulling into Petaluma, along with the most beautiful weather we could have ever hoped for, we
counted 14 late models. An announcement was made that they would be qualifying us that night,
along with running a trophy dash as well as the heat races. We went out to time trial and
qualified third quick with a 15.05. Not too far off from 2nd quick timer Nick Pervolaris at 15.01
and fast timer, Rod Arnold who turned an amazing 14.75. To add some excitement for the fans,
the track decided on a complete inversion in both heat races and that put us starting dead last
in the first heat race. 8 hard fought laps later, Jeff won the heat race hands down, followed
by Rod Arnold, Gary Johnson and Don Iverson. The second heat race had a finishing line up of
winner, Nick Pervolaris, Ed Sans and Dave Lindt. They took the top two from each heat race and
lined us up for the trophy dash. Jeff and Nick Pervolaris stayed side by side through turns
1 and 2, but then Jeff took off like a rocket and was never challenged again as he took the trophy
dash win by at least 6 car lengths. During the post-race interview, Jeff made his feelings
known about the rough track conditions out at Petaluma. He stated that he loved the facility,
the racers and the fans, but that something had to be done about the track. He let everyone
know that the track was literally beating up the drivers and their equipment very badly and
needed to be smoothed out once and for all.
The main event had us lined up starting third as the track decided that the trophy dash had
no meaning and they reverted to a time trial lineup. WHATEVER! The 25-lap main event only had
two cautions, both in the beginning of the race. Jeff was hung up for about 15 laps once again
behind Rod Arnold until he made a bonsai pass on the high side coming into the 4th turn. It was
something to see! But, by the time he was able to pass, Nick Pervolaris had already checked out
on the field. Jeff did his best to try and run him down in the time he had left, but no such
luck. The finishing top five line up was Nick Pervolaris, Jeff Decker, Rod Arnold, Paul Gugielemoni
and Larry Damitz.
NEXT WEEKEND'S PLANS. Friday AND Saturday. Friday out at Ocean in the #40 Paul Salaize owned
crate late model, and Saturday back to Petaluma to try our luck. Will you be near one of those
facilities? If so, come on out and see us!
7/25/2006 Update!
GET THE BROOM!
Can you say, SWEEP?? I can, and that's exactly what Jeff did out at Ocean Speedway last Friday
night in the #40 Paul Salaiz-owned crate late model. He was on fire and there was no stopping
him as he won the heat race, the trophy dash and the main event, in that order. Was Paul
dancing in the streets? I heard he was. Do you think he picked the right driver to run his
car? I think he did. In the main event, Jeff passed Steve Eubank with 5 laps to go for the
win. Very exciting. The finishing order of the race was Jeff (of course), Steve Eubank, Eric
Van Hooser, Larry Pedrelli and Mike Meazell. As a side note and just a quick, "I'M PROUD"
update, in the 6 times Jeff has run the #40 crate late model at Ocean Speedway, he has won the
main event 4 times. Incredible stats.
Saturday and what a scorcher! Jeff planned to run the #84 late model out at Petaluma Speedway,
but I decided to take the weekend off and stay indoors as it was just too hot. Jeff called and
reported that it was 113 degrees and humid as heck at the track. I think a lot of drivers
decided to beat the heat, as only 6 cars checked in for the night's action. Very disappointing
turnout and a disappointing night altogether as with the awful weather conditions, Jeff and
John missed the set up in the heat race and the main event, and finished fourth in both of
them.
NEXT WEEKEND'S PLANS. No racing! Can you believe it? Ocean Speedway is not running the
crate late models and Petaluma is dark due to the fair. We will be spectating out at Ocean
and Saturday Jeff has decided to "freshen up" the body on the car as it is sporting quite a
few war wounds. The following weekend (Friday the 4th), will see us back in action out at
Ocean Speedway and on Saturday at Petaluma. We'll be fresh and ready to go!
7/17/2006 Update!
PETALUMA RESULTS
No racing at Ocean Speedway this past Friday, so Saturday was the only day we had scheduled to run and off we went to Petaluma Speedway in the hopes that it would be cooler in that part of town. It was! Yay! Right decision. 13 late models checked in for the nights action. The track was strange. Hooked up in some places and dry slick in others. Typical Petaluma track. Jeff had made some changes to the car and during hot laps we tried it out. The car looked good, but we were convinced that the track was drying out, so he made several adjustments to the car for the heat race. Wrong way to go! Oooof were we out in left field. Jeff started fifth in the heat race and did end up third, but WOW! The car was out to lunch. There was no way he could drive it like that for 25 laps in the main.
Jeff and John got to work and made about 20 different adjustments to the car. We crossed our fingers, said a prayer and headed out for the main event, where we were starting in fifth position. At the drop of the green, it was obvious we went the right way. Jeff was a rocket. He climbed to 3rd position in less than a lap, but then the tragedy occurred. We got stuck behind a wickedly out of control, but very fast car. Jeff had to pussyfoot around behind him for lap after lap, getting chopped off at every turn, trying to pass, but afraid that if he did, both of the cars would be wrecked. What a nightmare to watch. Meanwhile, while he was working out how to pass, the front runner, David Lindt, was moving farther and farther away. Finally, with 3 laps to go, Jeff charged to high side of turn 3, passed the car cleanly and was solidly in second place and gaining on first position rapidly, when the checkered flag flew. Damn! We would have had that one! Well, there's always next week! The top five finishing order of the late models was Dave Lindt, Jeff Decker, Rod Arnold, Rich Barbaccia and Ed Sans.
Well, on to NEXT WEEK'S PLANS. As you can tell from the previous paragraph, it's back to Petaluma we go. Hopefully there will be a large turn out of cars and hopefully, this coming week, WE WIN!! Also, Jeff will be racing the Paul Salaiz-owned #40 crate late model out at Ocean Speedway next Friday. Come and see! 7/9/2006 Update!
SANTA MARIA SMOKER
First let's start off with Friday. Jeff was on the schedule to run the Paul Salaiz-owned #40 crate late model at Ocean Speedway. He didn't win this week, folks, can you believe it? He finished third behind the winner Ed Sans and 2nd place Doug McCoun. On to Saturday. The Western Dirt Late Model Tour was scheduled to race at Santa Maria Speedway and we decided to make the long haul south and try our luck. We really didn't have that much to think about as it was about 110 degrees at home and we knew it would be a heck of a lot cooler there! 19 late models checked in for the event. We ended up qualifying 7th quick, which put us on the pole of the 1st heat. Jeff won that heat, but it was a great race. Side by side racing with Willy Oathout until Jeff passed him on lap 8. From there on he was never headed and won the heat race in convincing fashion. Winning the heat race placed us in the dash for cash. We started fourth in that race and that's where we finished, behind the winner, Larry Hood, 2nd place finisher Billy Griffin, and third place Bobby Hogge. This meant that we would start fourth in the main event.
We watched the track closely after that as we weren't sure if it was going to go dry slick or stay hooked up. Well, it turned out it was a mixture of both. The changes we made unfortunately didn't give us the kind of "forward bite" that we needed, but we started fourth and finished there with a really good race with Mike Johnson for 25 of the 30 laps. The winnder of the main event was Larry Hood driving the Chris Sivisend #75, 2nd place was Bobby Hogge and third place was Billy Griffin. All in all, it wasn't a bad night considering there was tough competition out there and we held our own.
Well, on to NEXT WEEK'S PLANS. There's quite a bit of dirt late model racing to choose from, but
the price of gas has us planning on sticking closer to home. We will be making the tow to Petaluma to race with their regular weekly show. After being away from there for about a month, we're ready to go back and see what Jeff and the car can do. Last week Petaluma had 16 cars, so we're hoping for that many again! If so, it should be a great show. 6/27/2006 Update!
SAD NEWS
We have just heard that Gary Jacobs, the voice and reporter of the small West Coast tracks, passed away of a heart attack last night. This is a huge loss to our sport and racing in general. There will not be another like him. We are completely devastated and we know that West Coast racing will suffer because of this loss. Our deepest sympathies to Gary Jacob's family and friends. Gary, you will be greatly missed.
6/26/2006 Update!
YEEEE HAWWWW!
Another full weekend of racing this weekend. Friday out at Ocean Speedway in the Paul Salaiz
owned #40 crate late model, and wouldn'tcha know it??? Yep, he won again! This boy is on a
roll!
Saturday we headed out to Antioch Speedway with the #84 late model for the Western Dirt Late
Model Tour $3000 to win show. 26 late models checked in for the race so it was going to be a
heck of a show. It was extremely hot, dry and dusty that night and I guess it had been a week
of regular 112 degree weather, so the track was not good. Jeff ended up qualifying third quick
which we were pretty happy with, and this lined him up in third starting position in the third
heat race. Jeff quickly raced to a win in that heat race over second place finisher Dino Napier. This placed us in the dash for cash, and Jeff was never challenged in the six lap dash and took that win easily over 2nd place finisher Kellen Chadwick and third place finisher Bobby Hogge.
A very generous fan in the stands added $100 to our winnings, so along with the $100 we received from Asphalt Surfacing out of Milpitas, this put our dash for cash winnings at $200!! We never found out the name of the generous fan so we weren't able to thank him personally, but hopefully
he reads this and now knows that we think he's awesome!
One of Jeff's goals: never finish farther back than you started. Unfortunatley, this week his goal was not accomplished, as we started on the pole in the main event and ended up finishing 3rd behind Kellen Chadwick and winner, Bobby Hogge IV. Oh well, whatcha gonna do? The track was crap, we made changes to the car in anticipation of a 40 lap main event, only to find out it was only going to be 25 laps, etc., etc., excuses, excuses. We didn't win, but there's always next week!
Which brings me to NEXT WEEK'S PLANS. Yep, we're gonna do it. We're going to race at the Bakersfield Fastundercar Firecracker 50. You KNOW it's going to be HOT. You KNOW it's going to be COOL!!! More than 50 cars for 50 laps on a track that in the past has not been kind to us... Are we crazy??? You bet! So if you want to see us next week, that's where we'll be. I wouldn't want to miss watching this show.
6/14/2006 Update!
UPDATE TO THE UPDATE!
Well no racing of the #40 Paul Salaiz-owned Crate Late Model this week. HOWEVER, Jeff has changed his mind about racing the #84 late model. Coming off the win last Saturday at Petaluma,
Jeff feels pretty optimistic about racing this Saturday and has decided to go back to try for
another win. So, if you can, come on out to Petaluma and check out the races! We'd love to
see you there.
6/11/2006 Update!
REDEMPTION!
Another full weekend of racing. Friday out at Ocean Speedway in the #40 Paul Salaiz-owned Crate Late Model. This week Paul decided that he wanted Jeff to "test-drive" a crate motor, and borrowed one from one of his friends. Jeff felt that the power in the crate motor was about equal to the motor that came out of the car, so I'm not sure what they're going to do with the motor program the next time they run. The track Friday was hooked up and coming off of two weeks with a dry slick track, they made quite a few changes to the car, but to no avail as Jeff ended up fifth in the heat, and third in the main behind Eric Van Hooser and Ken Greg.
Saturday at Petaluma. The late models were the support class for the 410 Sprint Cars Golden State Challenge. 14 cars made the call. It was almost like deja-vu when Jeff went out for the heat race and was almost immediately taken out by a rookie driver. AHHHHH!!!! Makes you want to scream! However, we had enough time to make repairs -- but because we didn't finish the heat race, had to tag the rear of the main event. Within three laps Jeff had moved up from fourteen starting position to fifth! The car was flying! A few more laps clicked past and then an incident in turn 2 with substitute driver Ron Miska had Jeff charged with rough driving and sent to the rear of the field, AGAIN. Frustration! But this was a man on a mission, however,
and not to be denied. Jeff came charging through the field passing cars left and right. We were concerned about the right rear tire as the incident in turn 2 had damaged the rear quarter panel and we were afraid that the tire would not last the race due to rubbing, but our fears were unfounded. At lap 17, Jeff was solidly in 2nd place behind Dave Lindt and looking for a way around him. The fans were going nuts! They were both running the same line and both pretty much equally powered. Lap cars were heavily involved. At lap 19, the white flag flew and Jeff made his move. He went up on the inside berm coming out of turn two and with a little friendly "tank slapping" going on, made the pass on Dave for the win. MAN, did that win feel great! After
last weeks debacle and then the heat race mess, to come from the back, twice, and pull off the win. Wow, nothing short of miraculous and very, very impressive. The fans after the race were very appreciative and made sure we knew how much they enjoyed the race. It's really nice to race in front of an involved crowd like that.
Next weeks plans. I think we need a break and will take next weekend off from racing. No, this doesn't mean that we won't SPECTATE at a race maybe, but Jeff has decided not to run the #84 car next week. However, it is completely up to Paul Salaiz whether Jeff will run the #40 crate late model at Chowchilla Speedway on Saturday June 17th. If I find out before the weekend, I'll let everyone know. So maybe we'll see you at the races!! Have a great week everyone!
You can contact us anytime by email at jamdecker@verizon.net. Don't forget to check out our sponsor page and visit our sponsor's websites. Support them as much as you can! By doing so, you're helping us! Take care everybody!
6/04/2006 Update!
HOT STREAK COOLS OFF WITH CRASH
Not the most memorable of weekends except for the damage. I myself can't type too well due to an accident in the
pits, so I will keep this short. We raced out at Petaluma on Saturday. Well, I guess you can say we ran the
heat race. We finished third in that. Made a bunch of changes to the car and went out for the line up, starting
fourth in the main event. Immediately after the green flag dropped, the car that Jeff was starting next to, the
#16 of Michael Paul, came up the track and put Jeff, hard, into the front stretch wall, ending our night. A front
spindle, tie rod, upper and lower A arm, shock, and nosepiece loss. Needless to say, Jeff was not a happy camper,
but we'll be back to race another day. We did go back out to watch some of the remainder of the race, and the
#16 car seemed to do quite a bit of damage to other cars before he himself ended up coming into the pits on a hook.
Our bad luck we had to start next to him I guess. The top five finishers of the race were Nick Pervolaris, Ed Sans,
Jr., Paul Gugielemoni, A.J. Kirkpatrick and Norman Beck.
Next weeks plans. Jeff is back in the #40 crate late model out at Ocean Speedway on Friday. I think I might go out
to see that race as I don't think we will be able to make repairs in time for any racing on Saturday, but we'll see.
We've got all week to recoop (both me AND Jeff), and who knows what can happen. In the meantime, have a nice week
and maybe we'll see you at the races!!
You can contact us anytime by email at jamdecker@verizon.net. Don't forget to check out our sponsor page and visit our
sponsor's websites. Support them as much as you can! By doing so, you're helping us! Take care everybody!
5/30/2006 Update!
MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND UPDATE
Memorial Day weekend. The kick off to the summer season. Three days off from work. AND RACING! Jeff had two days of
racing planned. Friday out at Ocean Speedway in the Paul Salaiz-owned crate late model, and Saturday night in the
full-blown late model at Petaluma Speedway. Friday night was a complete success as Jeff finished 2nd in his heat
race, won the trophy dash, and almost completely lapped the entire field while taking the win in the main event. Wow.
He was stoked and came home with two very large trophies. He was asked Friday night to call into the radio station
KNRY 1240 AM Saturday morning for the Dave Coffin Motorsports Show to discuss the crate late model program out at
Ocean Speedway and what he was doing in racing today as well. I had to listen to it in the car, but I thought that
he did a really good job with the show.
We headed off to Petaluma at about 12:30 PM and it was a hell of a drive to get there! Holiday traffic SUCKS! When
we finally arrived, we were happy to see 16 late models checked in, including a long lost driver, John Silva. Due to the sprint
cars not running that evening, the officials informed us that the late models would be qualifying. The track was dry, slick,
splotchy and smooth. We thought set up would be tricky, it was, and we qualified 6th quick. Petaluma placed all of the fast cars
in one heat and we ended up winning that heat race. Because we won, Jeff needed to pull the pill for the main line up inversion.
He pulled an 8, the highest number you can pull! What to do? We decided to just go out and have fun! Little did we know how
great the car would be. Jeff started charging toward the front from the drop of the green. He had just passed a large pack of
cars and was sitting in fourth position when a horrible flip by Larry Damitz occurred. It was SO frightening! Especially when
Michael Paul had nowhere to go and got into Larry's car when it was upside down. Looking at the damage, to the fence and to the
car, we were convinced that Larry had to be hurt and we held our breath until they turned the number 15 over and he got out and
walked, unassisted, to the ambulance. He was completely FINE! Wow, he is one tough dude, and at 76 years old, it is amazing
how he wasn't even dizzy! Also, I want to take this moment to acknowledge Paul Guglielmoni for his efforts on the track last
Saturday. Paul is a volunteer fireman for Vacaville, and boy did he get a workout that night! But without his leadership,
the evacuation of Larry Damitz would not have gone as smoothly.
But, back to the race. When the green dropped again, we were in fourth place behind the leader David Lindt, Gary Johnson and
Paul Guglielmoni. Jeff raced around Paul and Gary and put himself in the position to win the race, but unfortunately, due to
the Larry Damitz wreck, the next time the yellow came out, it was a yellow/checkered flag. This was on lap 18, taking away
those crucial 6 laps where hopefully, we could have gotten by Lindt for the win. Oh well. Woulda, shoulda, coulda. There's
always next Saturday!! The finishing line up for the race was Lindt, Decker, Guglielmoni, Jeremy Petrell, Shawn DeForest,
Rod Arnold, Norman Beck,and Michael Paul Sr.
Sunday it was off to Santa Rosa for Ed Sans IV wedding to Karen Griffin. What a beautiful ceremony
and a gorgeous setting at the Oakmont Golf Course. It was nice hanging out with the "racing set" away from the track for once
and we had a fun time sitting with Don Iverson and his wife Jeannie. Very nice people. Congratulations Eddy and Karen! We
hope you're having a wonderful time in North Carolina!!
Next weeks plans. Thank God for a calm weekend. Jeff has the weekend off from the crate late model deal, but we're still going
to race up at Petaluma on Saturday night in the #84 late model. I can get all my laundry done this weekend and still maybe have
enough time to get a pedicure. HA HA!! Jeff's going to give me crap about putting that on the site. But hey! Girls read this
page too you know! Anyway, have a great week and hopefully we'll see you at the races!!
You can contact us anytime by email at jamdecker@verizon.net. Don't forget to check out our sponsor page and visit our
sponsor's websites. Support them as much as you can! By doing so, you're helping us! Take care everybody!
5/14/2006 Update!
NORTH vs. SOUTH - NORTH IS RIGHT DECISION FOR DECKER RACING
With Bakersfield Speedway running the Western All Stars Show, and Petaluma Speedway running their weekly show, we were torn.
Which race should we run? We've been running pretty well lately and we thought we might want to give Bakersfield Speedway a
try, but Bakersfield Speedway has always been filled with bad luck for us, it's a very long drive down there, and in the end
we decided to try our luck at Petaluma Speedway. Turns out that was the right way to go!
13 late models checked in to Petaluma and with a large contingent of other classes, the late models were going to run heat races
for position in the main instead of qualifying against the clock. Due to the pill we pulled, we started dead last in the 1st heat.
Though the car was not perfect, it was good enough to drive through the field and finish 3rd behind winner, Larry Damitz and second
place finisher Ed Sans. After the second heat race had ran and the invert pill was pulled, unbelievably we started on the front row,
outside, starting next to Shawn DeForest. Jeff and John worked to make the car as driveable as possible as a few ruts and holes
were opening up on the track. When the green flag was dropped, Jeff never looked back and although the car was tight the first few
laps, it kept getting better and better and better. He led every lap and was never challenged to take our first win of the season!!!
Following Jeff to the checkers was Ed Sans, Larry Damitz, Randy Shafer and David Lindt.
Now let me tell you all what I consider to be an amazing story. Of course after our win we celebrated a little in the pits. Who wouldn't??
But this did put us on the road home with a late start. After fueling up at the closest gas station, we drove across the Richmond bridge
with little incident, but 5 minutes later a large jolt had the truck completely shutting down. It started up again almost immediately,
but 10 seconds later, another large jolt and the truck just gave up completely. I don't know if people understand how devastating this
can be, but when you're towing a trailer (and a gooseneck trailer at that), and it is about 12:30 in the morning, it is extremely hard
to get any kind of tow service to come out and help you. Then, even if you do, you need TWO tow vehicles, because you can't just leave
the trailer there!! Then you can start thinking about how you're going to get home... Yep, it's a scary thing to break down while towing.
So, Jeff hops out to take a look and see if he can figure out what the problem is. Next thing I know, he's popping the glove box and
opening up this plastic bag and removing this part that he has in there. After 15 minutes of installation, we're back on on the road
and the truck is purring like a kitten. This is where the amazing part comes in and what is the core of Jeff and his success. Turns
out that about 8 months ago, Jeff was having some service done on the truck. The service technician told Jeff about this part on
Ford diesels that can occasionally just GO. It is called a crank sensor. The technician told Jeff that you can just be driving down
the road and the truck will "just quit." He suggested to Jeff that he buy one (this is a $100 part), and just "throw it in the glove box."
Jeff took him at his word and did. He didn't know if the sensor was EVER going to go, but he wanted to be PREPARED. Just in case.
Thank God he is the way he is. Jeff's motto is the 6 Ps - Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance. This helps him in his racing
as well as his everyday life and I just want to go on record saying that I am so lucky to be able to have that kind of person in my life!
I will not take it for granted and I will be forever grateful. Jeff, YOU ROCK!
Next weekend will be a busy one as Jeff is to debut a crate late model that he is driving out at Ocean Speedway on Friday. Then it's
a 4 hour drive south down to the Tulare Thunderbowl on Saturday for the Western Dirt Late Model Tour show. We are going to be some tired
puppies come Sunday, but wish us luck and maybe come out to see us if you can. We'd love to have you along for the ride!
You can contact us anytime by email at jamdecker@verizon.net. See ya at the races!
5/07/2006 Update!
DOUBLE HEADER WEEKEND NETS 2ND and 3RD RESPECTIVELY
Wow. A doubleheader weekend. Ocean Speedway in Watsonville on Friday and Chowchilla Speedway on Saturday. Brutal, but we love
both tracks and wanted to make both shows. Jeff worked like a dog all week to get the car ready, and we pulled into Watsonville
with high hopes. 18 late models had checked in for the Western Dirt Late Model Tour show. When getting ready to go out for hot
laps, the car would not start! Absolutely no fuel pressure. As we run a KSE belt drive fuel pump, and we didn't carry a spare,
we thought our night was over. However, Jeff spotted the problem just in time. The bolts were backed out and the pulley had come
loose from the pump. After making a few adjustments we got the car running and Ocean Speedway was kind enough to give us our own
hot lap session as we had missed the earlier run. The track was shake your fillings loose rough! We went out tenth for qualifying
and came in at 9th fast.
During the heat race, we got up high into the rough stuff and lost the lead to Nick Pervolaris who came in with the heat race win.
But finishing second in the heat race still put us in the dash, so we tried to make a few adjustments to the car to help it on the
extremely rough track. The pill draw put us at the rear of the dash and we ended up finishing 5th out of the 6 car field. This
secured our 5th place starting position in the main. During the first two laps a huge tangle in the front few cars had us jamming
to the outside to bypass the mess. After it had all been sorted out, we ended up restarting in the front row, next to Bobby Hogge IV.
After 28 long and rough laps, we came out of the night finishing 2nd and we were the only car in the field that had not been lapped
by the very dominating BHIV. Nick Pervolaris, Randy Schafer and Bobby Scott rounded out the top five finishers.
With very little sleep we were up early to get ready for the ride to Chowchilla. This has always been one of Jeff's favorite tracks
as he loves dry slick race tracks and has always done well on them. We were surprised to find when we pulled into Chowchilla that
only 9 late models had shown up. Where the heck was everyone?! We really enjoy racing with a full field of cars and we couldn't
understand after 18 cars showing up at Watsonville, half didn't make it the following night. We were afraid that the race would be
called, but after a short meeting, Mike Johnson decided to pull out his back up car and put Bobby Hogge III in it, and the drivers
agreed to have the crate late models race with the field so that had our total up to 12 cars. Not great, but it would allow us two
heat races and a decent size main event.
Qualifying went really well and we came in 3rd quick. We started on the pole of the 1st heat and were never challenged as Jeff won
that heat race in a dominating fashion over Bobby Scott and Bobby Hogge. Again the pill draw failed us and after pulling a 3, we
started second row, inside in the dash. Four extremely quick laps were clicked off and Jeff finished where he started, with Bobby
Scott Jr. winning the dash, Mike Johnson in 2nd, and us in 3rd. It was a pretty tight 4 laps however, and exciting to watch. We
made a few minor adjustments to the car and went out for the main event, lining up in 3rd position. Unbelievably, the main went
30 laps, caution free on a smooth, tacky surface. Mike Johnson checked out early and Jeff and Bobby Hogge battled it out for awhile,
until Hogge passed Jeff on the 7th lap and went on to finish 2nd behind Mike Johnson. Johnson, Hogge and Jeff lapped the remainder
of the field in the quickly run 30 lapper. Bobby Hogge III and Dino Napier rounded out the top 5.
Next weekend is an off weekend for us as we have a few issues car wise to deal with. We're planning on running again with the
Western Dirt Late Model Tour at the Tulare Thunderbowl on May 20th and we're excited about that as we have never run there except to
run a few exhibition laps in our old modified. Now we know that this might be a bit out of the way for some of you, but if you get
a chance to check it out, it might just be worth your while since the 410 sprint cars will be running in conjunction with our show.
We'd love to have you along for the ride!
4/29/2006 Update!
ANTIOCH ROCKS!
Saturday night was the first race with the Western Dirt Late Model Tour out at Antioch Speedway. For those who are not familiar
with Jeff's "style," we have never been the type of race team that runs for points. We prefer to run where we want to, when we
want to, and not be tied down to one place. We find that it keeps us from being involved in all the politics that you usually
run into when you only run at one track. PLUS, we want to give our sponsors as much exposure as we can, so we like to run at
alot of different tracks. Antioch Speedway happens to be one of our favorite tracks. It is a small, tight bullring that for
some reason we always run well at.
18 dirt late models checked in at Antioch, and we were in some stout company as Mike Johnson, Bobby Hogge, John Silva, Ron Bartels and
Richard Papenhausen were all on hand. After hot laps, we knew that the car was not quite right, but with the track changing fast, we
decided to stick with what we had and qualify. While the car was not perfect, we still qualified 7th quick. According to WDLMT
format, this put us on the pole of the first heat and we finished 2nd in the heat behind Kellen Chadwick. As they were taking the
top two from each heat to a 6 lap dash, we quickly tried to make some more changes to the car as it was just so unpredictable from
lap to lap that Jeff was scratching his head. After almost spinning out in the dash and finishing last in it, Jeff decided to "throw
the book" at the car and change EVERYTHING, and I mean EVERYTHING. Good call! The car was PERFECT in the main event! We lined up
in 6th starting position and immediately climbed to 4th. The top four runners, Mike Johnson, Kellen Chadwick, Bobby Hogge and Jeff
checked out and in about 9 laps were in heavy lap traffic. Johnson, Chadwick and Hogge were able to weave through the majority of
it, but when a caution flag came out, at the restart Jeff had 3 lap cars between him and 3rd place. Tough going. However, Jeff ran
a heads up race and we came through the main event unscathed and in 4th place, behind winner Mike Johnson, 2nd place finisher Kellen
Chadwick and third place finisher Bobby Hogge. No, we didn't win, but we almost felt like we did because the car was just SO great.
Jeff wanted to again thank the Hogge's for the help and advice at Antioch. Without it, we wouldn't have done as well as we did.
We'd also like to thank our impromptu crew, Joel Hannagan, Doug Braudrick, Kevin (K-Rod), and Racer Rick. You guys were awesome
and helped more than you know.
Next Friday, May 5th we will be racing at the new Ocean Speedway in Watsonville with the WDLMT. If things go well, there's a race on
Saturday at Chowchilla we would like to race as well. We'd love to see you out at one or both of those races. Don't forget to come
in the pits after and tell us what you think! You can also contact us anytime by email at jamdecker@verizon.net. See ya at the races!
For previous updates, check out our "Race Results" page.
Jeff Decker celebrates his big feature win on June 23rd - Daniel
Multimedia photo
