6/10/2014
Joshua Hodges
Summer Plans & Knoxville Nationals
Everybody feels the heat ramping up this time of year and our racing schedule is doing just the same as we head into the summer months. First, I will recap our latest weekend of racing.
The majority of our racing this year has been nonwing here in the Southwest and we have had our most successful year yet with that car. Our most recent outing was Memorial Day weekend at Canyon Speedway for the Salute to Indy with the USAC SW series. The first night we had bad luck with starts and circumstances in the heat which put us starting 16th in the A feature. However, we were fast and able to race up to 7th about halfway through before the rubber laid down and it became next-to-impossible to pass. That was good enough to be hard charger. The second night, we saw more favorable circumstances in the heat race and ended up starting on the pole for the A feature. I got out to the lead on the start and stated there until about 15 laps to go. At that point, I was not able maneuver by a lap car quick enough and fell to second behind Rj Johnson. I stayed in second the rest of the race, where I would finish. I was disappointed that I didn't get the win, but looking back now it was a good effort and another solid top 5 for the year.
Now, looking ahead, we will race one more weekend without the wing in El Paso and Las Cruces June 20th and 21st with NMMRA. After wrecking our wing car at Devil's Bowl earlier this year, we ordered a new Maxim and we just got it today. We will be assembling that car the next few weeks and we will debut it at Dodge City Raceway Park with the World of Outlaws on July 4th and 5th. If everything goes smoothly and as planned, we will then make our way up to the famed Knoxville Raceway to race three 410 weekly events in preparation for the Knoxville Nationals. After racing everything we possibly could last year, we decided to take a step back and focus on the 410 program so we will be spectators for the 360 Nationals but run the Capitani Classic on Sunday, August 3rd. I am beyond excited for these next few months and I can't thank Calvin and Emily Landis enough for providing this opportunity to us once again.
I'd also like to give a shootout to Maxim Racing, FK Rod Ends, and HRP Wings for their help getting this new car put together. A huge thanks to all of our sponsors, partners, and supporters that make our race team possible. I'll be keeping up to date the best I can during the races on our Josh Hodges Racing Facebook page and our @JoshHodgesRacin Twitter page.
Submitted By: Jack Hodges
