Race Season Summary - by Jason Carroll (see below for Craig's version also)

Welp, we (myself and the car) survived a season of roundy round racing, with a personal best of 5th (out of 12) at Hudson Speedway this past weekend....it was an eventful one and had it's ups and downs, we pretty much experienced everything that 1/4 asphalt oval racing has to offer, mechanical issues, contact, cheating, full fields, redneck shenanigans, etc...

The good...The G20 has top ten power and is beefy enough to take a bit of a beating and keep on ticking, it also seems to be one of the nicer 4cyl circle track cars in the area and it has become a car that is fairly predictable and driveable. As far as the nut behind the wheel, I'm not timid and I will stick the nose pretty much into any spot that is open (or kinda open) and my lap times are consistent enough for now

The bad....The multilink in the front of the G20 is NOT the way to go for a circle track car, I am very camber limited and seem to eat right front tires like skittles, the car is a land whale compared to the civics and such, weighed in at 1275 right side weight which is about 300lbs over weight. I still struggle with the correct line as I still tend to run the road racing line which hurts my corner entry and allows people to dive under me and hold the inside line through corner exit.

Over all I had a blast and will be keeping the Infiniti to make another go of it next season, with some modifications....the car could stand to lose about 500lbs though I'm not sure that's feasible...I NEED to find camber....about 3*'s more and hope lowering it and slotting the strut towers aggresively will help this...the plan is to also push the "rulebook" a bit more next season, I went in trying to follow it to the letter, which no one else seems to do and we will need to join if I want to compete with the fast cars....cams are on the list, springs will be cut and struts modified to stiffen things up.

My $200 race car ended up costing about $1200 before damage repairs and tires and was worth every penny, with entry fees averaging about $40 and racing every week the bang for buck was exactly what I was looking at.....considering i got 10 events for the cost of a TT weekend.....

Thanks to the swinehart brothers (craigs and ssnh here) and everyone else that offered advice, critiques and poked fun at the redneck I have become.

Race Season Summary - by Craig Swinehart

That write up sucked.

I just saw this come across the AP line though:

For immediate release (or whenever ya get around to it, just be sure to do it BEFORE spring):

Jason “The Crusher” Carroll Wins 2009 Rookie of the Year for Angry Pork Racing

Making his pro debut this year, Jason Carroll drove away with the New Hampshire 4-cylinder FWD ROY award. Carroll who has a long history of racing at the amateur level, including several SCCA CSP and STX wins on the local level, successfully made the jump to the pinnacle of southern New Hampshire professional 4-cylinder racing.

Piloting a car that was new to the APR stables Jason was quickly able to articulate what the car was doing during testing. This allowed his crew (crew chief Craig Swinehart and car chief Scott Swinehart) to swing the BFH lightly throughout the year. The APR crew was awarded the Monadnock Screwin and Crewin award for their overall performance. Highlights include a 48 second pit stop, pulling Jason from the car when it started to pour raw fuel, and getting the car onto the trailer with only three wheels touching the ground.

Highlights for Carroll included several passes executed by following the unorthodox road racing line, aka, “coming across the others guy’s hood mid corner”. Another great accomplishment in 2009 was passing annual tech, not once but twice, and making weight. But by far the biggest achievement was the successful transistion to professional level racing.

In the season finale, before thousands of screaming fans and covered on ESPN 8, Carroll was able to qualify ahead of several competitors during a hard fought heat race. Asked after the heat race about his last lap pass that pushed fellow competitor “Big Red” onto the infield, Jason articulated “Ah shit I didn’t even see him. Should I appoligize?”

Carroll’s new found balls of titanium were just getting warmed up for the feature. Within three laps he had moved to sixth with his sights set squarely on a top five. When the checkered waved the Pink Rocket had cemented his 7th place finishing position. But that is not when the drama ended! Carroll made weight, but apparently others didn’t. The official standings had the #07 (in the program, #1 in our hearts) finishing next to the podium in 4th marking Jason’s highest finishing position in his successful 2009 campaign.

Plans for next year are already under way. These plans include more negative camber, less positive camber, and larger cajones. APR is will not confirm rumors that they are negotiations with Ashley Force to co-drive.

APR would like to thank their sponsors:
Rallydecals.com – be sure to order now for next year, the shift knob dude, the junk yard in Leominster, and Vee Sport Racing (that one’s for me).