08/31/2026
🏁 RACE REPORT — Championship Night | August 2026 🏁
🎱 Pill: 3
🔥 Heat: 5th
🏁 Feature: 14th ➡️ 18th
Heading out for the heat, starting on the pole where I knew I couldn’t trip up, I realized my RR was leaking badly enough that there was a pretty good chance it wasn’t going to survive the race.
My options were:
A) Run reverse stagger.
😎 Take so much traction out of the car that Corner 1 became more of an experiment than an optimal racing plan.
Excellent choices. 😂
I probably should have contacted Centerfolds for a quick sponsorship since I was starting on the pole. Might have helped with the wheel options since I blew the budget month one.
Anyways, managed to turn that debacle into a 5th-place finish, which felt pretty good considering the circumstances and lack of seat time this year.
Even got to roll over the scales afterward feeling like an almost-hero, although watching everyone blow by me in Corner 1 was slightly disheartening. 😂
Then came the Feature.
Started 14th and maintained 14th, or thereabouts, for most of the race.
With three laps remaining, I could almost smell the sweet smell of victory — and by victory, I mean simply finishing the season with the car in one piece — when apparently my SOS “Look’n for HP” bumper sticker lit up asking for assistance entering Corner 3.
One power bump later and I was BROADSIDE on the track, staring at traffic and wondering whether I had packed a spare pair of underwear.
Unfortunately, me sitting sideways brought out the caution.
And given my rather impressive résumé of self-inflicted spins this season, I was tagged with it.
Fair enough from race control’s perspective — I certainly haven’t given them much reason to assume otherwise. 😂
The whole ordeal resulted in some damage to the drivetrain, but there was absolutely no way stubborn little me was pulling off with only a few laps left in the final race of the season.
If the T53 could move under its own power, we were finishing.
So for the final three laps, we limped it around the bottom of the track, vibrating more than a coin-operated bed at a roadside motel, determined to make it to the checkered.
And we did.
18th.
Not the storybook ending, but we crossed the finish line — and I was very happy to do so.
I am incredibly grateful to the drivers of the #24 and #22 for putting their skills to work and avoiding me. They prevented an already scary situation from becoming much worse.
And finally, a HUGE thank you to everyone who supported this whirlwind journey this season.
To my sponsors — thank you for supporting the T53, helping keep this car on the track, and somehow continuing to associate your businesses with this low-key circus. 😂 I genuinely could not have done this season without you. Apparently people actually like to read these posts, so I truly hope some of that support has made its way back to the businesses that have supported me.
To my family and crew — thank you for the countless hours, repairs, hauling, pit work, problem solving, pep talks, and for putting up with me when race-day (and sometimes race-week) stress turns me into a slightly less pleasant version of myself. 😂
To everyone who has helped in the pits, loaned a part, offered advice, turned a wrench, welded something back together, hauled something, rescued me from another mechanical disaster, or simply showed up when I needed a hand, a shoulder to cry on, or a pop to cheers with — thank you.
And to everyone who followed along, came to the races, cheered from the stands, messaged encouragement, laughed at the posts, shared them, bought shirts, supported the page, or just kept rooting for the T53 even when things were going spectacularly sideways — thank you.
Racing isn’t easy. Sometimes it’s incredibly challenging, and quitting starts to seem like the most reasonable option.
But the people around this team somehow made even the hardest parts one hell of an interesting journey.
I’m incredibly grateful for every person who was part of it. 🏁
A HUGE thank you to the businesses and people who backed Torkk’d Up Racing and the T53 this season:
🏁 Payroll Xpress
🏁 R&R Engine Rebuilding
🏁 Tastebuds Pit Stop
🏁 ServiceMaster
🏁 Boyce Telecom
🏁 Ladies of the Oval
🏁 Torkcon Contracting
🏁 MMaclean Contracting
🏁 S.G. McKinnon Logging / McKinnon Bros Trucking
🏁 Ron Moretto
🏁 Total Care Nursing
🏁 Lotas Cranes
🏁 Snap-On Joe — Joe Gilbertson
🏁 OK Tire Thunder Bay
🏁 Crafty Elk Hard Juice
🏁 W. Tabell Contracting
Please support the people and businesses who support local racing. Without them, a lot of us wouldn’t get to do this crazy thing we love. ❤️🏁
I don’t have the rights to this music, but this also wasn’t my first choice, that’s was Ludacris’ Move B*. But I try to keep content family friendly .
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