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October 23,24

Tulare, Ca

"TEAM F&F UPDATE"

  By Uncle Gummy Welcome back to the FnF Racing website where you can stay almost interactive with Alan, Tooch and the World Famous Pukin’ Dogs pit crew as we do a little turning and burning through the 2009 sprint car season.We have much to catch up on with all of the changes Team FnF has undergone since the beginning of last year, so let’s start hot lappin! As you probably remember, about this time in 2008, we saw David “Powerfeed” Robinson, Jr return as the pilot in command of the open 360 winged sprinter that proudly carries the historic x1 on it’s flank.Feed and the team go way back to about when dirt was invented and he was the logical and only choice to drive the race car when the team made its’ meteoric appearance on the sprint car scene in late 2003. Displaying his usual “take no prisoners” driving style, Feed drove over, through and around everybody in sight as he won both the Civil War title and Placerville Track championships in 2004.This quickly established FnF as a crowd favorite as it dispensed quality racing as well as advice and hardware to other competitors with a camaraderie not found in the pit of all race teams.With Feed in the cockpit and the Pukin’ Dogs turning the wrenches, the x1 sprinter was on everybody’s radar and a feared competitor.Then in 2006 almost chameleon like, Team FnF changed as Dave retired to spend time kart racing with his son Ryan (Feed lite).As the FnF braintrust searched for a new driver, they quickly settled on another local dude that everyone had a truck load of confidence in – Colby “Iceman” Wiesz. Colby and his family had enjoyed a lot of local success for several years running their own sprinter and viewed driving for FnF Racing as an opportunity to take it to the next level.The team switched to a Maxim chassis, put our Borello 360 on ‘roids and as “Iceman” got comfortable, he brought home a second in the 2007 Civil War series.Then Holy Moly Batman. As the 2008 season loomed ever nearer, Feed thought he had a few more races left in him and expressed a desire to return to the team but not at the expense of good friend Colby.Race car drivers have a habit of changing rides faster than teenagers change cell phones, but that is not the FnF way of doing things.In our camp, a handshake means you have our word and our honor.And we expect nothing less in return.Back to the wigwam went the braintrust and after a few hours of rock, paper, scissors, a tentative decision was reached to field a two car team as we were not going to turn our back on “Iceman.However, as the oil pressure began to come up, Colby landed a ride with the Taylor Motorsports #35 team and Feed slid back into the cockpit of the x1 as the resident gunslinger.And FnF Racing got down to business. By race three of the 2008 Civil war series (the Al Hinds memorial), Feed was dialed in and scorched the field for an impressive win and first place in the points chase. Unfortunately, this proved to be the team’s highpoint for the season as each succeeding race turned the x1 into a pile of twisted metal.Placerville, Petaluma, Quincy, Chico, it didn’t matter where we raced, the sprint car gods were not happy with team FnF until the unthinkable happened – FnF parked the race car, stood down and turned off the lights for the middle third of the season.Alan and Tooch have always felt that the race team pays it’s own way and when the bottomless parts bin ran dry, the choice was relatively simple. Our sponsors and marketing partners helped every way they could (cubic $), however, FnF simply did not have the resources to overcome the effects of Lady Misfortune. Luckily, after having his bell rung at Placerville when he was forced up the hillside along the back straight, Powerfeed was not seriously injured again as we left a trail of shattered sprint car parts in our wake. The World Famous Pukin’ Dogs were all sitting around watching Tooch play with his Digipac (no relation to the Portuguese water dog) and figuring out how to destroke a Rolls Royce Merlin V-12 to reach the 360 cubic inch limit when we were contacted by Mason Moore Motorsports about the possibilities of joining forces for the balance of the season. An agreement was thrashed out, and as it meant Feed would once again give up his seat, Dave signed off on that since he had shown he could still drive at the level required to put us in the winner’s circle.Mason strapped in, Moore Motorsports supplied a few critically needed parts, the Pukin’ Dogs kicked the tires, lit the fires and the 2008 season came back to life as “Primetime” Moore finished out the race schedule in the x1. Mason has packed a ton of racing into his short career (see FnF racing home page for driver profile) and displays the physical and mental tools we feel are necessary for a winning sprint car driver. So, as the 2008 season hit the engine kill switch and after sniffing a few lingering fumes of spent methanol, FnF Racing began our winter hibernation in Alan’s garage conjuring up plans for the 2009 campaign.The team was pleased how the season ended and agreed to run the 2009 circuit in much the same configuration and alliance with Mason Moore Motorsports. This arrangement sees Mason piloting his own #22 car in many 410 events and then hopping into the seat of the 360 powered FnF x1 to compete in the Civil War series and contend for the Placerville track championship. “Primetime” has his own crew to wrench on the 410 sprint car while team FnF trots out the World Famous Pukin’ Dogs pit crew headed by Alan Bradway and Steve Tuccelli to pour their collective genius into making the x1 a championship caliber race car. The 2009 x1 sports a couple of major changes other than Mason behind the rock screen. First, we are running an ART chassis, which is similar to a Maxim but cunningly crafted by three local dudes noted for their ability to build quality race cars. And second, while not squeezing that destroked V-12 into the engine bay, the Borello assembled 360 remains shrouded in the teams’ “black” or classified category. Sorry folks, but it’s now area 51 stuff and without a “need to know,” this writer is prohibited from divulging the “gouge” on the motor’s latest wrinkles. However, Tooch will probably figure out some way to mount a video feed on the front wing so we can all watch the motor zinging up and down the rpm range. So where are we in 2009? The season kicked off at Marysville with an informal all comers get together where “Prime” was 3rd quick to qualify. In the main, the x1 started well but shades of 2008, Mason got stabbed behind a couple of cars coming together in front of him and drove over the left rear of Tyler Walker. This rude awakening shed the right front wheel spindle nut which allowed the wheel to continue on toward Beale AFB while the race car tried unsuccessfully to follow the track. Mason scored 8.5 for style points as the x1 instantly flipped to bring out a red and put us on the trailer for the night. Next up was the Silver Cup hosted by Handy Racing Promotions’ Silver Dollar Speedway at Chico. As Team FnF was running a new race car, the stated objective for the Silver Cup was to give Mason some much needed "seat time".“Primetime” qualified the x1 in the 23rd spot, was on the pole in heat three and finished second to transfer to the feature.After starting 17th in the A main, he finished 15 overall to conclude the night’s work. The Civil War opener at Placerville was called because of weather, so the Placerville points race #1 was next up. Mason tripped the timing clocks for 6th quick and drove the sprint car to a seventh place finish in the feature event to get the season started off on the right foot at “Hangtown” speedway. However, the old troll from last season that hid in the brake system decided to start shoving his weight around and Mason said things began to get a little dicey as the brakes were inconsistent. Hitting the brakes became a real adventure as he wasn’t quite sure exactly what would happen, but it was on to Petaluma for Civil War #2 which was actually the season opener for the series because of the aforementioned rainout. Interestingly enough, Mason began the 2009 Civil War series on the same track he first drove the x1 sprinter in 2008, so hopefully itwas good mojo. Team FnF has a very straightforward racing philosophy that is dissected into four equal goals – be the fastest car in hot laps, the quickest car in qualifying, win our heat and win the feature.The team constantly strives to meet these goals and is not satisfied with anything less. We think Mason has already begun to feel the dynamics of this philosophy as he is qualifying “up front” with a 6 in his last three races. At Petaluma, “Primetime” broke the lights for second quick at the 3/8 mile track which put him on the outside of row three in heat two.On the green and on the gas saw Mason holding a transfer spot when Richardson (8) drifted up the track going into turn three blocking the x1 and letting Eliason (00) slide underneath for the pass. This little encounter shoved Mason into fifth where he finished the heat and was then forced to run the B main. Getting his qualifying time back put our young gun and the x1 sprinter on the pole for the race where he was embroiled in a somewhat controversial move as we thought Trulli (33t) jumped the start based on the instructions given in the prerace drivers pit meeting. Nevertheless, “Prime” found himself third going into turn one with some serious brake issues as the brake troll was along for the ride. After suffering through brake problems in the heat, the Pukin’ Dogs changed the front brake assembly looking to get things squared away only to have Mason tell them he had almost no brakes for the B. Although the team thought we were faster than Tiner (94), a lack of consistent brakes kept “Prime” from moving up and he settled for third place and a transfer to the feature. Nice job Mason! The A main saw the race car line up behind the inversion on the inside of row 3 and then follow Trulli (33t) and Tiner (94) across the finish line again for a respectable 7th place conclusion for the night.Lack of positive braking prevented Mason from making any serious moves toward the front, and chief wrench AB speculated the master cylinder may be inconsistently bypassing brake fluid to the reservoir giving the x1 lousy brakes. A master cylinder change this week will hopefully restore things to their rightful order and allow Mason to do some turning and burning next time out.However, despite all these problems with the brake troll, we find “Primetime” sitting in the number two spot in points at Placerville and 8th in the Civil War. Way to go Mason! Hope to see all you great sprint car fans at the Al Hinds Memorial at Placerville where the saga of FnF Racing will continue.Stay tuned!

2009 Stats

Starts-17

Wins-0

Top 5's-4

Top 10's-8

Fast Time-4

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