Trosclair Beats Hurricane Isaac To Reclaim Point Lead
CARTERSVILLE, GA – Mickey Trosclair of Luling, LA made a very eventful week a successful one by reclaiming the NeSmith Chevrolet Weekly Racing Series point lead after a Week 23 win at Albany Motor Speedway in Albany, GA driving the J. Dunning Sandblasting and Painting Special. It was the 22nd win of the season for Trosclair and his 11th 50-point win.
With five NeSmith Chevrolet Weekly Racing Series Week 23 races rained out due to Hurricane Isaac and its remnants, Trosclair had to make a 900-round trip to Albany, GA and win the race to net two points.
Just the fact that Trosclair made the long trip to race shows how bad he wants to win the $10,000 NeSmith Chevrolet Weekly Racing Series Championship, but under the circumstances that he went through to pull it off are remarkable, and could prove to be the difference between first and second-place in the points chase.
Trosclair spent entire week in the eye and aftermath of Hurricane Isaac as it approached last Monday night and then stalled out for two more days just off the Louisiana coast, not far from his shop just west of New Orleans.
“Sunday night we were pretty sure the hurricane was coming right for us, so we decided to load everything up and head to my car owners’ shop north of here in Hammond, LA,” Trosclair said. “I just bought a house in Metairie, LA, so I went and checked on it and then came back to my shop in Luling, LA to get ready to make the move to Hammond.”
Trosclair was coming off, what was for him, a bad Week 22 of competition the night before. It wasn’t a question of pushing the car in the trailer and making a quick trip to another location. His race car had already been taken apart and was on the floor in pieces.
“We loaded up the car, in pieces, and even though we still had electricity in Luling, we knew it was just a matter of time before it went off because the wind was starting to pick up,” Trosclair said. “We left Luling at 4 p.m. Monday afternoon, and what is usually an hour drive took us six hours because everyone else was also getting out of town. When we got to Hammond, they didn’t have any electricity!”
Most racers would have thrown up their hands, threw in the towel, and forgot about trying to get a race car together under those conditions. But Trosclair and his crew member Andre Callais, had enough pioneer spirit to carry on. Electricity? Who needs stinking electricity to work on a race car? Callais made sure his family was ready for the storm, and then went to help Trosclair.
“My car owner Jody Dunning had a generator running his refrigerator, so I didn’t want to draw too much power from that, so we used hand tools to put the race together, and went it got dark, we wore those flashlights you wear on your head like the gator hunters use to see,” Trosclair said. “I plugged a drill into the generator for just a little while to put the body on, but other than that, we used no electricity.”
Also keep in mind, this work also went on during a Category 1 Hurricane that lasted two days, which can’t help much either. Trosclair said he’d never seen so much wind for such a long time.
“After the storm left the area on Thursday, I made sure my family was O.K.,” Trosclair said. “Our shop had some roof damage, and the water almost got up to the house and shop, but it all stayed dry. As for my house in Metairie, I had no idea what kind of shape it was in because my neighbor got out of town, and I had no one else to call. I couldn’t get there because they wouldn’t let us in because of the flooding.”
Trosclair said the decision to make the 450-mile trip to Albany, GA was made on Friday, and they left late Friday night. It was a track that Trosclair had never been to, or seen before. A trip like that just to try and earn a couple of points is risky under good conditions, but this was definitely going to be a long trip.
“It was good thing we left for Albany as early as we did because it usually takes just few minutes to get to I-12, but the roads to get there were flooded and closed,” Trosclair said. “We had to detour through a lot of back roads just to get on the interstate, and once we got on there, we had to take detours several more times all of the way into Florida.”
Trosclair and Callais made it to Albany in time to race. He finished third in his heat race and then got by track favorite Kelly Walker of Moultrie, GA to take the lead. Trosclair then held off veteran drive Dana Eiland of Salem, AL to take the win.
“The people in Albany treated us great and we enjoyed racing there,” Trosclair said. “I had never been there before, but Bodie Smith, who works with Chase Edge, gave us an idea on what we needed set-up wise. With no electricity as the shop, we couldn’t use the scales, so we just had to guess at our set up.”
With the win, the two points, and the point lead back in his pocket, Trosclair and Callais made it home Sunday night, and all was good.
“All of way home, I kept wondering if I even had a house to come home to,” Trosclair said. “I was happy to find that my house in Metairie was high and dry because most of the others in the neighborhood had a lot of flooding, and the power came on there for the first time since the storm started about 20 minutes before we got there Sunday night.”
Trosclair now has 796 points, four away from a perfect score of 800 that is represented by 14 50-point wins and 100 Bonus Points. Trosclair still has to net on a 48-point third-place finish, and two 49-point second-place finishes.
Washington is second in the NeSmith Chevrolet Weekly Racing Series standings with 795 points, and he is trying to net on five 49-point second-place finishes for the remaining four weeks of the season. Washington also had to do some traveling during Week 23 of the NeSmith Chevrolet Weekly Racing Series season in an attempt to earn points.
The first stop for Washington was East Alabama Motor Speedway in Phenix City, AL on Saturday night, where he finished third in the Jerry Inmon Racing Special and failed to net any points. He then traveled across two states to compete at Greenville Speedway in Greenville, MS on Sunday night, where he finished eighth, and again failed to net any points.
Duke Palasini of Leland, MS finished third on Saturday night at Greenville Speedway to net one point in the Palasini Farms Special and join Jeremy Shaw of Millport, AL and Ryan King of Seymour, TN in a three-way tie for the third spot in the NeSmith Chevrolet Weekly Racing Series standings with 790 apiece.
Using the tie-breaker system, both Shaw and Palasini have eight 50-point wins, but Shaw has the advantage in the Summit Resource Development Trak-Star based on five 49-point second-place finishes, while Palasini has two 49-point second-place finishes. King has six NeSmith Chevrolet Weekly Racing Series wins this season in the Brian King Roofing Stinger.
Shannon Lee did not compete in NeSmith Chevrolet Weekly Racing Series Week 23 competition, but remains in the sixth spot of the standings with 786 points driving the Billy Riels Racing Trak-Star, Michael Arnold of Hattiesburg, MS did not earn any Week 23 points, but is still in the seventh spot with 781 points in the Billy Riels Racing/Reynolds Motorsports GRT.
Brent Barrett of Cleveland, MS is eighth in the NeSmith Chevrolet Weekly Racing Series standings with 775 points. Barrett finished sixth in the Custom Spraying GRT on Sunday night at Greenville Speedway, but failed to net any points. Bret Holmes of Munford, AL drove the Holmes II Excavating Special to a sixth-place finish on Saturday night at East Alabama Motor Speedway to net one point and remains in the ninth spot with 768 points.
Bubba Harrison of Cleveland, MS drove the Robinson Electric GRT to his third win of the season on Sunday night at Greenville Speedway to net eight points, and Bobby Jordan of McCarley, MS finished second to Harrison to net eight points. Harrison and Jordan are tied for the tenth, and final points fund-paying spot in the NeSmith Chevrolet Weekly Racing Series standings with 761 points. Harrison has the tie-breaker advantage with his three victories.
Along with Trosclair and Harrison, Richie Stephens of Salem, AL was a Week 23 winner at East Alabama Motor Speedway. Stephens picked up his first NeSmith Chevrolet Weekly Racing Series win of the season driving the Lovestuffonline.com Special.
Hurricane Isaac and its remnants rained out Friday NeSmith Chevrolet Weekly Racing Series events at Hattiesburg Motorsports Park in Hattiesburg, MS and Malden Speedway in Malden, MO, along with Saturday night races at Clayhill Motorsports in Atwood, TN, Pike County Speedway in McComb, MS, and West Plains Motor Speedway in West Plains, MO.
Hattiesburg Motorsports Park will make-up their Week 23 rainout with a Double Feature race this Friday night, and Pike County Speedway will make-up their Week 23 rainout this Saturday night with a Double Feature event.
Defending and four-time NeSmith Chevrolet Weekly Racing Series Chassis Manufacturers Challenge Champion GRT Race Cars holds a three-point lead over two-time champion Trak-Star Race Cars built by Boland Performance of Cuba, AL. Harrison gave GRT their 29th win of the 2012 season. Trak-Star Race Cars is second with 26 wins.
Rocket Chassis of Shinnston, WV is third in the NeSmith Chevrolet Weekly Racing Series Chassis Manufacturers Challenge standings with 11 wins on the season and Stinger Race Cars built by J.T. Kerr Racing Equipment of Rockford, TN is fourth in the point standings with seven victories. Warrior Race Cars built by Goddard Performance of Knoxville, TN is fifth with four wins and TNT Race Cars of Piney Flats, TN is still looking for their first win of the season.
The complete NeSmith Chevrolet Weekly Racing Series point standings can be found on the Points Page at www.nesmithracing.com on the Weekly Racing Series web site. The NeSmith Chevrolet Weekly Racing Series schedule for the six remaining weeks of the 2012 season has also been updated on the Weekly Racing Series web site.
For more information about the NeSmith Chevrolet Weekly Racing Series visit the series web site at www.nesmithracing.com, or visit the series on Facebook at NeSmith Racing. Becoming a fan of the NeSmith Racing Facebook page will make you eligible for special prizes that will be given away each month. You can follow us on Twitter @NeSmithRacing.
NeSMITH CHEVROLET WEEKLY RACING SERIES POINT STANDINGS THROUGH 9/2/12:
| POS |
CAR # |
DRIVER | PTS | RACES | WINS | TOP 5 | TOP 10 | NET |
|
1 |
521 |
Mickey Trosclair |
796 |
32 |
22 |
30 |
31 |
48 |
|
2 |
38 |
Chase Washington |
795 |
36 |
11 |
29 |
35 |
49 |
|
3 |
1s |
Jeremy Shaw |
790 |
26 |
8 |
22 |
24 |
47 |
|
4 |
V8 |
Duke Palasini |
790 |
17 |
8 |
17 |
17 |
48 |
|
5 |
30 |
Ryan King |
790 |
24 |
6 |
21 |
21 |
48 |
|
6 |
47 |
Shannon Lee |
786 |
28 |
5 |
23 |
27 |
48 |
|
7 |
747 |
Michael Arnold |
781 |
25 |
2 |
18 |
19 |
47 |
|
8 |
110 |
Brent Barrett |
775 |
24 |
2 |
16 |
20 |
46 |
|
9 |
H2 |
Bret Holmes |
768 |
18 |
2 |
13 |
17 |
45 |
|
10 |
56h |
Bubba Harrison |
761 |
18 |
3 |
10 |
16 |
44 |
|
11 |
J8 |
Bobby Jordan |
761 |
20 |
10 |
13 |
43 |
|
|
12 |
66 |
Robby Moore |
760 |
20 |
5 |
15 |
20 |
41 |
|
13 |
11 |
Kyle Berry |
760 |
22 |
4 |
16 |
20 |
41 |
|
14 |
23 |
Cory Hedgecock |
756 |
22 |
2 |
10 |
17 |
42 |
|
15 |
09 |
Daniel Bridgemon |
743 |
19 |
7 |
16 |
43 |
|
|
16 |
79c |
Marty Calloway |
743 |
22 |
9 |
20 |
43 |
|
|
17 |
47L |
Scott Ladner |
735 |
21 |
8 |
16 |
42 |
|
|
18 |
73 |
Trevor Sise |
731 |
18 |
7 |
15 |
41 |
|
|
19 |
18 |
Roger Witt |
727 |
17 |
6 |
12 |
17 |
41 |
|
20 |
4a |
Mike Atchison |
725 |
19 |
7 |
18 |
41 |
NeSMITH CHEVROLET WEEKLY RACING SERIES WEEK 23 RESULTS:
August 31:
HATTIESBURG MOTORSPORTS PARK – HATTIESBURG, MS:
Rained Out
MALDEN SPEEDWAY – MALDEN, MO:
Rained Out
September 1:
ALBANY MOTOR SPEEDWAY – ALBANY, GA:
1. 521 Mickey Trosclair
2. K9 Dana Eiland
3. 21k Kelly Walker
4. 24 Kitt Sealy
5. J5 Jeffrey Summerlin
6. 81 Travis Stone
7. 0 Daniel Bailey
8. 35 Tristan Sealy
9. 55 Russell Welch
EAST ALABAMA MOTOR SPEEDWAY – PHENIX CITY, AL:
1. 69 Richie Stephens
2. 5 Thomas Lewis
3. 38 Chase Washington
4. 55 Montana Dudley
5. 14 Pat Wall
6. H2 Bret Holmes
7. 90 Joey Thomas
8. 5 Rodgerick Dykes
CLAYHILL MOTORSPORTS – ATWOOD, TN:
Rained Out
PIKE COUNTY SPEEDWAY – McCOMB, MS:
Rained Out
WEST PLAINS MOTOR SPEEDWAY – WEST PLAINS, MO:
Rained Out
September 2:
GREENVILLE SPEEDWAY – GREENVILLE, MS:
1. 56 Bubba Harrison
2. J8 Bobby Jordan
3. V8 Duke Palasini
4. 73 Ashley Newman
5. 18 Tait Davenport
6. 110 Brent Barrett
7. 33 Wesley Brown
8. 38 Chase Washington
9. 11m Bill Mobley
10. 12 Cale Ainsworth
11. 7e Eric Pollan
12. 44 Peyton Wilkerson
13. 26 Glenn Craft
14. 88 Howard Irby Jr.
15. C55 David Carpenter
16. 11 Kyle Berry
17. 7p Peter Hazzard
18. 17 Chad Washington
19. 13 Johnny Sides