December 10th & 11th

Las Vegas Motor Speedway.  We headed there to run on the road course this time.  Matthew had fun running at Infineon and wanted to try it again at Las Vegas.  After two practice sessions on Saturday and changes to the setup up he got more and more comfortable at road racing.  

The competition was tough.  Racers like Steve Fensler, Dustin Ash, Spencer Clark, the Sheldon's and the list goes on all showed up and made what was said to be the largest field ever at Las Vegas.  There were so many cars the director of competition decided to split up the cars and let the Semi-pros have their own races.  

On Saturday, for Matthew's 1st heat race, he started 3rd and finished a very respectable 5th.  We ran late and had to post-pone Saturday's main event until Sunday morning.  He started 10th for the main event because they had two heat races for each class.  Matthew held on to his position learning from the fast competitors in front of him.  Because a few competitor's had motor failures,  Matthew ended up finishing 6th.

On Sunday, Matthew started 4th in his heat race.  He stayed there for all but the last lap.  After getting punted by J. Morrisey, Matthew lost his momentum and got freight trained to 7th.  That put him starting 14th for Sunday's main event.  

Matthew ran behind all the fast racers for several laps until a pile-up occurred in turn 4 and Matthew was able to avoid the crash and move up several positions.  He moved up several more positions after making passes down the long back straight away only to get passed back in some of the short straights.  With 3 laps to go, 2 more cars crashed in front of Matthew.  No caution came out for 2 laps.  With 1 lap to go the track officials decided to throw a caution for those cars that crashed 2 laps earlier.  

That's not what Matthew wanted or needed.  Matthew was in 7th.  He had a 25 car length lead on the 8th place car that was all gone now.  When the green flag waved, so did the white flag.  Now everyone was driving more aggressively.  Going into turn 3, Gary Scheurell attempted to pass Matthew on the outside.  Instead, he ran over Matthew's right front fender and ripped Matthew's right front wheel off his car, ending his race.  What looked to be a good weekend of road racing ended on a sour note.

November 11th - 12th 2005, Road Course World Nationals at Infineon Raceway

Friday November 12th

What a fun time we had at Infineon.  Many competitors from around the world were represented.  Racers from England, Scotland, Norway and the United States were all there to represent  their countries.  The best of the best were all there to win the World Finals of Legends Car Road Racing Championship.  The facility was awesome.  The people were very nice and the competitors were fun to watch and learn from.  

We headed up to Infineon Raceway for the first time.  Matthew had never raced on a road course before.  He learned real fast it's not easy.  At first he was very frustrated because he was way off the pace of the fast cars.  After speaking to many of his friends and competitors he races with on the ovals, he picked up a few pointers.  People like Dustin Ash, Gary Scheurell, Tom Landreth, Tom Skahill and many others offered Matthew helpful hints which really helped.

Every time Matthew went on the track he picked up speed and cut his times.  All the competitors got two 25 minute practice sessions and two heat races.  Everyone draws a pea and that determines your start in the first heat race.  Then the field is inverted for the second heat race.  

The Pro Division was broken up into 2 groups.  Matthew started last in his first heat and finished 12th.  He started 2nd in his 2nd heat race and finished 9th.  I know, it sounds like he fell way back in the 2nd heat race but wait a second.  This heat race was run in the rain.  Another thing Matthew had never done before.   He learned a lot after the first day.  

Saturday November 12th

Everyone got a short practice session on the final day before the main events.  Matthew picked up 3 full seconds!  Now he was starting to get the hang of this stuff.  He was still way off the times being run by the road racing experts like Steve Fensler but now he was getting more competitive.

Matthew decided to hang it all out for the main event.  He ran his best time of the weekend in the main event.  Matthew was 9 full seconds faster than when he first went on the track on Friday.  He was still a few seconds slower than the Pro Division front runners at 1:59.85 but again it was his first attempt at road racing.  Matthew finished 16th after running as high as 13th with a few laps to go.

10/29/05

We decided to head to I - 10 Speedway for one more circle track race before the road course nationals.  Unfortunately, we didn't have any good right side tires to race on because we used them up trying to win the championship at Irwindale and we didn't want to waste money on new tires for one last circle track race this year.  

We qualified 5th, just 6 hundredths off the fast qualifier.    Yes, the fast qualifier ran a 16.16 and we ran a 16.22.  Matthew won the fast heat race.  We loosened the car up slightly for the main event because the temperature had cooled down considerably from the hot afternoon.  

Matthew started on the pole.  The main event started with 23 cars.  Before we finished the 1st lap there was a major pile up in turn 3.  On the restart more cars crashed before finishing a lap.  We ended up with only 13 cars to start the main event.  Matthew held the lead with Alex Haase right on his bumper.  After several laps, Alex blew up going into turn one.  

Matthew led for several more laps before he was passed for the lead when his car developed a push in the center of the corners.  Matthew passed the leader to recapture the lead then a yellow flag came out for a spinning car.  On the restart, Matthew once again was passed.  He tried lap after lap to regain the lead but the car just wouldn't turn in the center of the corners.  The longer the green flag runs the better the car ran.  The race was cut by 10 laps to just 25 laps because of so many cautions in the ASA truck race prior to our race and because our race was taking so long to complete.  Unfortunately, another caution came out.  Matthew finished 2nd.

We're now setting the car up for road racing.  Matthew can't wait to test himself on the road course at Infineon Raceway.  Hopefully we'll get the laptop up and running again to upload the videos from his last few races.  

10/15/05

We headed to Orange Show Speedway for the last time this year.  We ran the new motor provided to us by our sponsor D&P Motorsports.  The motor was awesome.  Unfortunately the car didn't handle all that well.  In the main event it developed a push in the middle of the corners causing Matthew to have to wait an extra split second to get back on the throttle.  That was the deciding factor in the race.  

In the main event, Matthew raced his way to the front right away.  He had the lead by lap 4 or 5.  Matthew ran in the lead until about lap 25 when the eventual winner began pushing Matthew into the corners.  Usually this wouldn't affect Matthew but because the car wasn't handling that good Matthew got forced in deep going into turn 3 and the 2nd place car of Alex Haase of Las Vegas got by him.  Matthew dropped in behind Alex with Tom Landreth right on Matthew's bumper.  Matthew tried several times to make a run back for the lead but Alex's car was too strong.  The race ended with Alex, Matthew and Tom finishing in the top 3.

We're talking about racing at I-10 Speedway in two weeks.  Check back  to see if we race on the oval one more time before we head to Infineon to start Matthew's road racing career.  We're hoping to have the last two race video's available soon.  Our laptop computer that we use to transfer the videos is currently down.

10/08/05

We headed to Irwindale Speedway for the last time in 2005 for a non-points race.  In the 1st practice session we were terrible.  The car didn't handle bad but it wasn't fast.  We were 9th on the board.  We made some changes and picked up two tenths and ended up 2nd fast in the 2nd practice session.  Matthew qualified 2nd at a 16.82 behind his buddy Chad Schug who brought out his new car with Matthew's setup in the car.  

Chad had been struggling all year with his coupe and he and his father Rod had been seeking help from us since about the middle of the season.  They finally finished putting together the new sedan and we gave Rod and Chad our entire setup to get Chad up to a top 5 car.  Boy did it pay off.  Chad ran a 16.70.  That was the fastest qualifying lap this year at Irwindale.  We were very happy for Chad.  Chad spun a 3 on the wheel which put Jimmy Smith on the pole and Matthew outside the front row.  Chad started 3rd.

Jimmy , Matthew, Chad and eventual winner Austin Grabowski were all running bumper to bumper the entire race.  A couple yellow flags came out during the race but the top 4 never changed until lap 33.  Matthew got a good run on Jimmy going into turn 3.  Matthew and Jimmy ran side by side through the corner then Jimmy pinched Matthew down as they exited out of the corner.  Unfortunately for Matthew and Jimmy they both crashed ending their night.  On the re-start, Chad's motor stumbled and Austin and Conner Cantrell got by Chad.

There were many people that came up to us after the race asking why Jimmy turned down into Matthew.  You know, sometimes accidents happen when two people just want to win the same race.  Jimmy is a great racer and I know he was just as upset as Matthew.  I don't believe for a moment that Jimmy ever wanted to crash Matthew or himself.  He was just trying to win a race.

09/24/05

With help from our new sponsor and engine builder D & P Motorsports, Inc. we finally got the engine running great.  In fact, it had so much more power than we had before we ended up with the wrong gear.  Matthew couldn't get any grip off the corners and would spin the tires every time he tried to get on the gas even when he just rolled on the throttle.

We made several adjustments through the day and the car handled very well but without the correct gear we couldn't stop the wheel spin.  We ended up qualifying 5th out of the Pro/Master group.  There were 40 cars total that showed up for this Regional Qualifier including Semi-pro, Pro and Masters.  

The pea pick was a 4.  Matthew missed the pole by one hundredth of a second.  At the start of the race the pole sitter got loose on about lap 3 and spun out.  On the re-start the top four cars took off and moved out to a large lead.  Matthew was in 4th behind Tom Landreth, Dean Abbey (from Texas) and Ryan Partridge.  Dean and Tom passed Ryan but Ryan shut the door on Matthew.  This is how the race went on until about 9 laps to go when a yellow came out.  Dean hit his brakes hard at the start/finish line for the caution.  Tom was right on Dean's bumper and couldn't slow up soon enough and ran over Dean's left rear wheel sending Tom flying several feet in the air.  When Tom landed his car had some damage and he had to exit the track for repairs.  

When the race restarted Dean, Ryan and Matthew took off from the 4th place car.  Tom was coming up from the rear fast.  With about 5 laps to go, a lapped car took out Dean in turn 3 ending Dean's chance for the win and the National Legends Touring Championship.  The lapped car was the current National Touring points leader who came out to race from North Carolina in a rented car.  See the in-car video of the lapper taking out the leader located in the Gallery page.  After watching the video you decide whether you think it was intentional!  email us at matt@matthewhicksracing.com with your opinion.

Ryan ended up winning the race and Matthew finished 2nd, breaking his 5 race win streak at Orange Show Speedway. 

09/17/05

We had a chance at the 2005 championship at Irwindale Speedway.  Matthew missed his chance by only 4 points.  That's only 2 positions on the track over 11 races!  The day started out good.  He was 2nd fastest after the 1st practice.  He then complained the motor was popping the entire time he was on the track.  It got worse as the day went on.

In the 2nd practice session, Matthew fell to 5th fast.  He continued to complain that the motor was really popping.  We changed the spark plugs, plug wires, battery connections, all the ground wires, disconnected all the dash gauges, changed the fuel line, carburetors, ignition box, coils.  You name it we changed it.  Nothing helped.  Matthew qualified 6th.  Tom Landreth, whom Matthew was trailing by 10 points, was the fast qualifier.  Now Matthew was climbing a really steep hill!

After qualifying we found a serious problem with the motor.  A head stud has stripped and had pulled out of the block.  Now Matthew would be running on 3 good cylinders and one really weak one.  We didn't tell Matthew until after the main event so he would drive his heart out with what he had.  He didn't disappoint us.  He worked hard even though he was way down on power.

Matthew started the main event 6th.  He moved into 5th and then passed Tom for 4th.  That was it for Matthew on this night.  Tom fell to 7th place.  Matthew needed to finish 6 spots ahead of Tom to win the championship.  That didn't happen.  Matthew finished 4th, Tom 7th.  

It was Matthew's worst finish at Irwindale all year expect for the night he crashed.  Matthew had nine top 3 finishes, one 4th and a 32nd.  He also had the same amount of wins as the champion, 3.

It was a good year for Matthew at Irwindale.  Although he is disappointed by not winning the championship, he knows he got beat by the best.  Tom has won the last 3 championships and 4 of the last 5.  It was only Matthew's 2nd year in racing.  

Matthew would also like to thank all his fans that supported him all year at Irwindale Speedway.  We're sorry to have missed you during the autograph session but we were working frantically to get the car running as best as we could for the main event.  Hope to see you this weekend at Orange Show.

09/10/05

We headed back up to Orange Show Speedway to try for a 4th trophy dash and 5th main event in a row.  We had a new tire cut for the right rear and needed to get some laps on it to get it race ready.  Mr. Wong, owner of the Speed Wong Race Team allowed us to use the track that he rented for his 5 car Legend Team to get some extra laps on the tire.

In the 1st practice session the car was ok, but not great.  Matthew could only get into the 14.90's.  We were expecting 14.70's due to the cool weather.  As the practice sessions went by the car got faster and faster.  We only got to 14.80.  Fast, but not as fast as we wanted.  Matthew qualified fast time for the Pro's/Master's but actually lost time and ran only a 14.90.

Matthew started the trophy dash 4th and was leading by lap 2.  Matthew was never challenged after taking the lead.  To start the main event, Matthew drew the number 6 pea.  Matthew started outside row 3.  He made his way to 2nd after Ryan Partridge bumped the leader going into turn 3.  Although it didn't look like much, the leader panicked and locked up the brakes and slide into the wall, ending his night.  Ryan was put to the rear of the field.  Matthew was now 2nd behind his buddy Brian Fitzgibbons.  Brian was in Rick Chavez' car for the night as Rick was concentrating on his Super Late Model  (which he won in for the 1st time this night at Orange Show). 

We had taken Rick's car on Wednesday night and put Matthew's setup in it to help Rick get a better handling car.  It was tough getting by Brian as he held Matthew off lap after lap.  As Matthew finally got a good run on Brian, he slipped under Brian on about lap 10.  Brian didn't give up though.  He ran the high line for a few laps and then was taken out trying to pass a lapped car.  Brian went to the rear of the field and finished 4th.

Matthew was now in the lead and was never challenged.  Matthew's good friend Austin Grabowski was driving one of the Speed Wong cars and he finished 2nd after starting at the back of the field because he changed cars after qualifying.  Ryan Partridge came back to 3rd.

We have an awesome in-car race video of Matthew race to edit then put on the site.  Check back often to see it.  It should be completed in a day or two.

09/03/05

Irwindale Speedway.  We went back to our old motor because our new one hasn't been finished yet.  Although the old motor isn't as strong as the one being built by our new sponsor D & P Motorsports, it was good enough to set fast time and win again at the tough Irwindale Speedway. 

The car was very loose in the first practice session.  We were only 15th on the board.  We made a rear tire change after we realized we had a right front tire on the right rear and the car picked up 3 tenths.  We were now 3rd fast, only a few hundredths off of the fastest car, Tom Landreth of course.  

Matthew then went out and set fast time.  He ran a 16.956.  Second fast was 16.959 and Tom was third with 16.960.  Matthew spun the wheel and it came up 3, putting Tom on the pole.  At the start of the main event, Matthew got hit from the rear and missed a shift allowing the 2nd place car to get in front of him.  It only took a few laps to move into 2nd.  Matthew then set his sites on Tom for the lead.  Lapped cars almost became a factor as Matthew had a couple attempts to get by Tom for the lead.  

After a yellow flag on lap 19, Tom was still in the lead with Matthew right on his bumper.  As Tom and Matthew went into turn one on the re-start, it was apparent there was oil on the track.  Several cars crashed behind Matthew and Tom.   The track officials couldn't see any oil so they put all the cars back into the same positions and re-started the race again.  This time Tom and Matthew went into turn one and Tom slid up high in the oil.  Matthew was able to maintain control and take the lead as Tom fell back to 5th.  Matthew then had to really slow down lap after lap going into turn one.  Another caution came out about lap 32.  

Matthew re-started the race and Gary Scheurell never left his bumper.  As Matthew was fighting a very oiled race track, Gary was only getting better.  Gary fought hard to make a clean pass on Matthew.  Coming out of turn 4 on the checked flag lap, Gary gave Matthew a slight bum to get him loose.  Matthew and Gary were sideways as they crossed the start/finish line.  Matthew edged Gary by a slim .052 seconds!  Yes folks, Matthew beat Gary by about a foot.

Come on out to Orange Show next week to see Matthew race on the very competitive 1/4 mile.  There should be 30 + cars like there were again this week at Irwindale.  Hope to see you there.  One more thing.  For those fans from Cajon Speedway, if you're missing the racing action at Cajon, make the short drive to Orange Show and show your support for the former Cajon drivers who have made Orange Show their new home.  Racers like Matthew, Dean Kuhn, Danny Gay, David Beat, Rick Chavez, Jimmy Dickerson, , Dave Arce, Ron Overman, Dee Cable, John Manke, Jeff Thompson, Billy Hoagland, Fred Chavez, Brian Fitzgibbons, Doug Carpenter, Mike Salm and several others.

08/27/05

We headed to Vegas to break in a new motor.  We left with a broken rod hanging out the side of the block.  Not much good news to report.  We put the new motor in hoping to have better power than we currently have.  We broke the motor in at the house putting heat cycles in the motor at low rpm.  Once we got to Vegas we ran the motor gently in 5th gear, just cruising around the track.  

Once the Friday night race started, Matthew ran it hard.  He started 5th and raced up to the lead in about 10 laps.  He ran in the lead for several laps then then motor started to slow ever so slightly.  Matthew fell to 2nd and on lap 22 the #2 rod broke.  It ended our weekend quickly.  We loaded the car back up and drove back to San Diego.  788 miles in a day!

On Saturday, we took the broken motor out and put our other motor back in.  We hope to see you at Irwindale next weekend as Matthew tries to inch his way a little closer to Tom's lead in the championship.  For you fans who watch the races at Irwindale Speedway, they've added another race for the Legends cars on October 8th.

08/20/05

It was a good points day at Irwindale Speedway.  Matthew's car was fast all day.  Matthew was 2nd fast in the 1st practice session and the fastest car in the 2nd practice session.  He ended up qualifying 4th, only 6 hundredths off the fast time.

Matthew started the main event in 4th.  The main event was a caution filled, horrible run race.  The 1st caution came out after 4 laps, the longest green flag run of the race!  Cars spun every couple of laps.  After watching our video of the race we found the race only ran 16 green flag laps of the scheduled 35.  That meant Wendy, the pace car driver was the official lap leader for this race (a little joke there).   

It took Matthew several laps to get around the fast qualifier, Bill Bonney for 3rd.  Bill had a rocket fast car on this day.  After several cautions and only getting 1or 2 green flag laps, the caution would come out again, and again and again.  Matthew finally got around Jimmy Smith for 2nd.  Once Matthew got there, he never had more than 2 green flag runs to make an attempt to pass the eventual winner, 14 year old Conner Cantrell who started on the pole.

Matthew had made a pass on Conner twice only to be put back because of a caution.  It was a plain old ugly race night.  Although Matthew didn't get his 7th win of the season, he was able to gain a lot of ground on the point leader Tom Landreth.  Tom had one of those night he'll want to forget.  He was spun out early in the race, then was involved in another accident later in the race.  Tom finished 19th.  

08/06/05

It was almost a clean sweep for Matthew at Orange Show Speedway.  Except for qualifying 2nd just a couple hundredths behind the pole winner Ryan Partridge, Matthew swept the trophy dash, fast heat race and the main event.  

The car was fast right away.  We never had to adjust our setup all day.  The only thing we did was set the tire pressures and add gas.  In the trophy dash, Matthew started 3rd behind Bob Landreth.  He got past Bob on lap 2 and won the trophy dash.  Next was the heat race.  Matthew started on the outside of the front row as they lined us up just as we qualified.  It took Matthew 4 laps to get past Ryan but when he did he took off to about a 3 car length lead.  Ryan was never able to close the gap.

In the main event, Matthew started 3rd behind Bob Landreth again.  Bob was fast and was able to hold the bottom of the track.  Ryan tried to pass Matthew and Bob in turn 3.   Matthew made it 3 wide.  Matthew prevailed and got the lead and never looked back.  Ryan never left Matthews rear bumper until late in the race.  Ryan was as fast as Matthew but was never able to get next to him to attempt a pass.  On lap 33 Matthew pulled to about a 5 car length lead when Ryan's motor started to falter.  In the end it was Matthew followed by Ryan then Marc Gaiser, Art Nevill and Bob Landreth.

It was Matthew's 4th main event win in a row at Orange Show along with his 3rd trophy dash win in a row.  It was also his 4th win in his last 5 races with the other finish being a 3rd.  We haven't decided if we may go to Las Vegas next weekend or Willow Springs.  Stay tuned for more info.

07/30/05

I was another hot day at Irwindale Speedway.  The car was pretty fast after the 1st practice as Matthew was 2nd on the board to Tom Landreth, only .02 back.  We made a small adjustment and lost a 10th and ended up 6th on the board after the second practice session.  We made another adjustment for qualifying and it really picked up.  Three 10ths to be exact.  Matthew finally was able to beat Tom for fast time.  Matthew ran a 16.83 to Tom's 17.02.

Matthew didn't want to make any adjustments for the main event but it cooled off dramatically.  That was a small mistake.  The car had a slight push from lap one.  It didn't matter though.  Matthew got a great start on the initial green flag and pulled out a 2-3 car length lead on Tom who over took the young pole sitter, Conner Cantrell for second place.  

Matthew and Tom raced hard all 35 laps.  Tom worked to get by Matthew on several occasions but was unable to complete a pass.  Only two cautions came for the entire race.  Matthew and Tom set a very fast pace and lapped up to 21st place.  Just as they were coming up on about 8 more cars, the first yellow flag came out.  It was a good caution for Matthew as the cars he was getting ready to lap were running side by side fighting for positions.

In the end, Matthew won his second race in a row and third for the month of July after winning two other races at Orange Show Speedway in July.  Unfortunately, Matthew wasn't able to make up much ground in the championship at Irwindale as Tom finished right behind Matthew.  Matthew is now 50 points, or one full race behind Tom.  Matthew has three more races to make up the difference. 

Back to Orange Show next weekend. Hope to see you there.

07/23/05

It was another hot and humid day at Orange Show Speedway with the temperature hitting 102.  We changed the setup slightly and put new left side tires on and the car was fast right away.  We ran 14.90's in the 1st and 2nd practices.  It was still about 99 degrees when Matthew qualified.  Matthew ran a 15.01 to Tom Landreth's 14.98 so he ended up 2nd fast.

In the Trophy dash Matthew started 3rd.  He passed both the 2nd place car and leader by lap 2 and never looked back.  Tom Landreth was right on Matthew's bumper at the checkered flag.  Both heats races ran straight up with the fast qualifier starting on the pole and 2nd place on the outside of the front row.  Matthew and Tom ran away from the 3rd place car by over 10 car lengths.  Matthew made several attempts to pass Tom for the lead but Tom shut the door on him each time.  Tom won by a 1/2 car length as Matthew was attempting to pass him coming out of turn 4.

Matthew started the main event on the outside of row 2.  Matthew wasted no time making it to the front.  By lap 6 he took the lead and he and Tom ran away from the 3rd place car.  They had about a half straight lead on 3rd place after just a few laps.  Tom was all over Matthew for most of the race.  

Once Matthew started lapping several cars, Matthew ended up gaining a 4 - 5 car length lead on Tom.  Tom closed to about 3 car lengths but Matthew again opened it back to about 4 - 5 car lengths.  In the end, Matthew got his 3rd straight Orange Show Speedway win.  He said the car was "on a rail" the entire main event.

Back to Irwindale Speedway next Saturday night.  Hope to see you there.

07/16/05

It was a hot and humid day at Irwindale Speedway.  We tried to run our new tires in the 1st practice session but the car was very loose.  We put on the old left side tires, changed the right rear spring and tightened the car up.  We were still only the 6 or 7th fastest car on the board.  We made another slight adjustment for qualifying and the car pick up a little more.  Most everyone else slowed down.  We ended up qualifying 5th.  1st to 5th was only separated by a 10th of a second.

We started the main event in 5th.  On the initial start, Tom Landreth got into the back of Cory Miles who was the pole sitter and Cory spun right at the start/finish line.  As cars scrambled to avoid the accident, Chad Schug ran into Cory ending the night for both Chad and Cory.  That moved Tom to the pole and Matthew to the inside of the second row.  

Matthew and Tom took off on the start with Ryan Partridge right on Matthew's bumper.  Tom, Matthew and Ryan got a slight lead on the 4th place car.  Ryan pressured Matthew for several laps and as the race went on, Matthew's car became very loose.  Ryan got under Matthew and Matthew just let him go because he knew he couldn't hold him off for the next 25 laps.  

Ryan and Tom fought back and forth for the lead for several laps.  They swapped the lead a couple of times.  Matthew was then pressured by Kenton Grey for the 3rd spot.  At one point Kenton slammed Matthew, turning Matthew sideways in turns 1 and 2.  Matthew collected it but Kenton got around.   A yellow flag came out and Matthew got his position back.  Matthew held on to 3rd with Ryan finishing 2nd and Tom won again.  Matthew dropped 4 more points behind Tom for the championship.

07/09/05

After a week off, we headed to Orange Show Speedway where Matthew won his last race.  We bought new tires and ran them in in the 1st practice session.  We ran our old tires in the 2nd session and lost a 10th so we decided to put the new tires back on to get more laps on them.  We picked up almost 2 10ths in the 3rd practice session.  Matthew qualified 3rd with a very loose race car.  After qualifying we found his left front spring had once again jumped out of the bucket.  

Matthew started on the outside of the front row for the trophy dash.  Going into turn 1, the pole sitter Jimmy Smith got  loose and pushed up into Matthew.  Matthew had to turn right to avoid colliding with Jimmy.  Ryan Partridge got under Matthew for 2nd.  Jimmy, Ryan Matthew and Tom Landreth were nose to tail for the 1st 3 laps.  Going into turn 3 on the white flag lap, Ryan bumped Jimmy and turned him.  Matthew slipped under both of them and won the trophy dash for his first ever trophy dash win (in only his 3rd dash).  Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good!

Matthew started 2nd in the main event due to a 4 car invert.  Matthew Jimmy, Ryan and Tom ran nose to tail for at least 10 laps.  Ryan then made a move on Matthew on the outside as Matthew got loose in turn 2 putting Matthew back to 3rd.  A few laps later, Matthew moved back past Ryan with Tom following Matthew into 3rd and Ryan falling back to 4th.  Matthew was finally able to get past Jimmy for the lead and Tom followed Matthew into 2nd.  Matthew was never able to shake Tom off his bumper.  Even with Ryan trying to fight Tom for 2nd, Tom never got more than a car length off Matthew's rear bumper.  

In the end, Matthew won his 3rd race of the season followed by Tom, Ryan and Jimmy.  Over all it was a great night for the Matthew Hicks Race Team.  Next week we're back to Irwindale Speedway to try to close the gap on Tom's point lead over Matthew.  Hope to see you there.

06/24/05

We decided to go to Las Vegas instead of taking two weeks off.  We arrived in Las Vegas early and visited with Matthew's Nana.  After a just a few hours it was time to head to the track.  It was 101 degrees.  Our first practice was at about 6pm.  The track was very hot.  Matthew took a few laps to get used to the track again.  He was running about two tenths behind the fastest cars from Vegas, John Gross and Dustin Ash.  

We made some changes and sent him out again.  He picked up and got into the 17.50's.  Still not fast enough.  The Vegas guys also picked up and were running in the 17.40's.  With Matthew's horrible draw in the pea-pick for the lineup for Friday night's main event, he had to start in 13th.  Dustin Ash, the king at The Bullring decided to start in the back with Matthew. 

As the main event started, a local driver got together with Lindsey King, another California driver who decided to race instead of taking two weeks off and Lindsey was sent into the wall hard ending her race on the 1st lap.  As the race restarted, Matthew got a good start and moved forward with Dustin.  Dustin passed Matthew and took off for the leaders.  Matthew's car was very loose off the corners.  He could only make his way to 5th.  As the race wore on Matthew slipped back to 7th where he finished. 

We worked on the car for several hours after the race to get it ready for Saturday nights race.  We made two spring changes, and a  tire change then re-scaled the car.

06/25/05

Saturday night it cooled off to  96 degrees.  We missed the first practice.  As the second practice came around we got the car back into the 17.50's but it just wouldn't run all the way down the straight-aways.  Matthew could get off the corner fast but by 3/4 of the way down the straight the Vegas car's would either catch him or run past him.  

We needed a taller gear but we didn't have it so we ran what we had.  Matthew qualified 8th at a 17.57.  He started 11th in the main event.  As the main event started, the car seemed to work well.  Dustin Ash was out on the 1st lap as he got into the car in front of him, knocking out his oil cooler.  Matthew ran nose to tail with all the fast cars for several laps.  Matthew moved up to seventh.  He wasn't gaining any ground but he wasn't loosing any either.  As the race went on, the 4th and 5th place cars got together and were sent to the rear.  That put Matthew up to 5th.  Matthew was able to get past the 4th place car but that was it.  He had nothing for the 3rd place car.  He could keep up with him but couldn't get enough off the corner or at the end of the straights to attempt to make a pass.

It was a disappointing weekend for Matthew.  We thought we would be faster in the sedan than we were at Nationals last October in the coupe.  It just wasn't to be.  We'll make some changes and try to be better for the next Irwindale race.  Hope to see you there.

06/18/05

We arrived at Irwindale Speedway an hour late after horrible traffic on 2 different freeways.  We missed the 1st practice session so we only had one chance to check the car out.  We sent Matthew out in the 1st group for the 2nd practice session.  The track sent him to the pits to replace a non-functioning transponder.  After replacing the transponder, he went out in the last group and wasted no time posting the 4th fastest lap in practice even though it was discovered a car in our group was leaking oil from its rear-end.

We made a slight change for qualifying .  Matthew only picked up a couple hundredths and ended up qualifying 17.024.  The qualifying order was tight with 4th place posting a 17.020 and 5th was 17.022.  Again, Tom Landreth was fast time with a 16.84.

We had a long wait before our main event.  Irwindale decided to have the modified's race on the 1/3 mile track instead of the 1/2 mile so the track was different than ever before because of all the rubber put down with their Goodyear slicks.  We loosened up the car expecting a tight condition but it never materialized.

Matthew started the main event in the 6th position.  On the start he ran several laps on the outside line trying to get down to the inside racing groove.  Matthew finally got to the bottom and was still in 6th place.  The car was not very good.  Matthew stated the car was loose all night in the corners both going in and coming off.  After several laps running behind the last Irwindale race winner Jimmy Smith, Matthew was finally able to get a good run and make the pass for 5th.

06/11/05

After working all week to repair the Irwindale car, we decided to test it at Orange Show to make sure everything was working correctly.  In the 1st practice session the car was so fast we decided to go ahead and run the car for the entire day and let Matthew's friend Darren drive the Coupe.  It really paid off.  Matthew was fast in all 3 practice sessions and we didn't have to change anything for qualifying.  

Matthew went out to qualify near the end of the session.  He ran a 14.88 and was the fast qualifier.  His second lap was a 14.90 so the car was very consistent.  Matthew started 4th in the 4 lap trophy dash and made it to 2nd, but Jimmy Smith had too much of a lead by the time Matthew made it into 2nd place.  He finished right behind Jimmy.  In the heat race Matthew started on the pole but the car developed a slight push on the 1st lap and Tom Landreth was able to slip under Matthew.  Matthew finished 2nd right on Tom's bumper.

Matthew started the 35 lap main event in 4th after pulling a number 4 pea.  He fell back to 5th on the start because the old veteran Gary Scheurell slipped under Matthew on the start.  Matthew made his way to 3rd after passing Gary and the pole sitter Bob Landreth.  As soon as he passed Bob, Tom Landreth and Jimmy Smith got together.  Jimmy ended up in the wall hard, destroying his front clip.  Tom was sent to the rear of the field.  

As the green flag dropped for the restart, Matthew passed Bob Landreth again for the lead and never looked back.  Tom Skahill was in 2nd behind Matthew and ran a great race.  His car was fast all day.  Tom Landreth made his way back to 2nd place but never could get within 5 car lengths of Matthew.  He had worn his tires out trying to get back to the front.  Matthew won by 5- 6 car lengths for his first win at Orange Show Speedway in the Pro Division.

The Matthew Hicks Racing Team wants to thank it primary sponsor Lyle Hunter Tax Service for it's continued support.  Lyle missed our wreck last week at Irwindale Speedway but immediately wrote us a check for all the damaged parts.  

06/04/05

It was a bad night of racing for the Matthew Hicks Racing Team.  Matthew qualified 4th and was supposed to start on the pole.  That changed when the fast qualifier was DQ'd for not going to tech after qualifying.  Then the 3 and 5 place cars were also sent of the rear of the field.  That put the 7th place car on the pole and 6th on the outside of the front row.  Matthew started 3rd.

Once the green dropped to start the main event, Matthew moved right into 2nd and rode behind J.D. Hendley for 15 laps.  As Matthew attempted a pass going into turn one, Matthew's front bumper hooked J.D.'s and J.D. spun.  Matthew was black flagged and sent to the rear of the 38 car field.  

Matthew and J.D. tried to get around as many of the cars they had already lapped but the slow cars were in the way.  Some of the slow cars would stay in the high groove while others stayed right in the racing groove even though they were at least one lap down.  The track officials were virtually yelling at the lappers over the radio to move out of the racing groove, but many never listened.

After several yellow flags, all of which they counted laps under the yellow, the race finally got going again.  Going into turn 3, J.D. was run into by another lapper.  The lapper spun right into Matthew, sending Matthew up in the air backwards and over another car that was crashing.  Matthew's car actually made tire marks on top of the car he flew over.  Matthew's car came to rest but was severely damaged.  He was towed off the track, ending his streak at Irwindale of 4 top 3 finishes in a row to start the season.  We don't know his finishing position as of 12:30 am on Sunday June 6th.

We'll get the car back together this week and test it next week at the Orange Show race.

05/28/05

We decided to go race at the 1/4 mile track at Willow Springs Speedway late on Friday night.  We showed up at the track with the same setup as Orange Show Speedway.  The car  was fast in the first practice session but slowed down after that.  We fought a bad loose condition all day.  After several adjustments and changing to new right side tires the car got a little faster but still didn't qualify well.

Matthew started 3rd in the fast heat race and won by about 4  - 5 car lengths.  He started the main event in 7th.  Matthew made his way to 6th in just a few laps then the caution flag came out when Art Nevill and one of the Murphy kids got together.  Both were able to continue but neither were much of a factor the rest of the race.  We couldn't tell what was wrong with the Murphy car but it appeared Art had about 3 inches of tow-out.

Matthew passed several cars to make his way to 2nd and then take the lead.  He ran in the lead and pulled to about a 2 car length lead before the caution came out again for a crash.  Matthew started again and could only get a one car lead on 2nd place.  The car was loose on short runs.  Again the caution came out for another spin by a car back in the field.

As Matthew took the final green flag, he was beat on by a young rookie driver.  This is the same driver Matthew had passed cleanly earlier in the race.  The rookie wasn't fast enough to get under Matthew to pass him so he started driving into each corner, using Matthew's rear bumper to slow down.  The rookie smashed into Matthew's rear bumper in several corners trying to move Matthew out of his way.

On the next to the last lap, the rookie hit Matthew hard enough to almost crash Matthew in turn one.  Matthew got sideways and was pushed up out of the way by the rookie driver.  Matthew fell to 2nd place.  Matthew tried to drive in hard into turn 3 but he wasn't going to drive out of control and blast the rookie driver and crash him.  Matthew stayed on the rookies bumper but never hit him on the final lap.  Matthew finished 2nd in the race.

05/21/05

It was a hot day at Irwindale Speedway.  During practice the track temperature was 150 degrees.  During the first practice session the car wasn't very fast.  We were only 11th fast.  After a few adjustments we were the fastest car in the second practice session.

As we sent Matthew out to qualify, Matthew's mom was doing a check of the car and found the left front spring was out of place again.  We fixed that and sent him out to qualify.  Matthew lost a 10th of a second and ended up 3rd fast.  Not a bad qualifying effort for Matthew at Irwindale where he never seems to do well in qualifying.

Matthew started 3rd for the main event.  Although he only had to pass two cars to make it to the lead, it would have to be multi-time champion Tom Landreth and the fast qualifier Ryan Partridge.  Matthew made his way to the lead by lap two.  Tom Landreth hounded Matthew for the next 33 laps.  Tom and Matthew battled every lap until the end of the race.  Tom drove Matthew clean the entire race.  Of course there were a few bent bumpers on the front two cars but it was all exciting, hard fought racing.

Congratulations to Matthew for his first win of 2005.  Matthew wants to thank his sponsors, Lyle Hunter Tax Service, J & M Auto Body, and Ramona National Bank for their continued support. 

05/14/05

Orange Show Speedway had an off road expo last week.  The track looked as if they hadn't even attempted to clean all the dirt off the racing surface.  Before practice started they had all 36 Legends cars go on the track an try to clean it off.  It didn't work that well.  After the Legends cars finished the track sent the Super Late Models out.  They were all a second slower than usual and we knew we were in trouble.

Once we had an opportunity to practice, Matthew tried his best to do a fast lap.  Without any grip in the track he could only do 15.60's about 8/10th of a second off where we thought we would be.  Because the track was so bad we made several adjustments to the car.  After the second practice Matthew could only get into the 15:30's.  We had Tom Landreth in the low 15:20's so we worked on the car even more.  Matthew qualified 4th with an extremely loose car.

Tom was the fast qualifier over Art Nevill by on .01 of a second.  Matthew was still a tenth off of them.  The track had cooled off 40 degrees by the time heat races started.  We loosened the car up for the heat races and it seemed to be pretty good although the track still didn't have much grip.  Matthew finished 3rd after starting 4th.

The track didn't change much for the main event temperature wise but it did have oil around the entire track from the semi-pro race that ran just before the pro's/master's race that Matthew was to compete in.

When the main event started Matthew dropped in behind Ryan Partridge who started 3rd.   Art and Tom who started 1st and 2nd fought back and forth for the lead for several laps with Ryan and Matthew following right on their bumpers.  The four of them ran out to almost a half lap lead on the rest of the field.  Tom made several attempts to pass Art while Ryan was trying to pass Tom and Matthew was making moves on Ryan but no one could get a good run to make a pass.  

When the first yellow flag came out for a spin, that bunched the entire field back up.  Once again the top four ran away from 5th place.  The only pass in the top four came when Ryan bumped Tom hard in turn two and pushed Tom up high enough to make the pass.  When the checked flag came out it was Art, Ryan, Tom,  Matthew and Donnie Akers.  

We were very disappointed that the track hadn't made a better attempt to clean the racing surface before race day.  Hopefully when we return the Orange Show Speedway the surface will be in better shape and we can see how we will do on a good racing surface.  See you next week at Irwindale Speedway.

05/07/05

We arrived at Irwindale with a car that we thought would be better because we put in a new rear end.  It was faster, just not fast enough.  After the second practice we were 4th fastest.  We made a few changes for qualifying and lost a 10th of a second and fell to a 16.97, only 7th fastest.

We made a few more changes and the car was better.  Matthew started the main event in 7th place.  The winner, Tom Landreth, started 3rd.  Matthew made his way to 3rd right away as Tom took the lead.  Matthew passed J.D. Hendley for 2nd and was all over Tom Landreth the rest of the race.  Matthew passed Tom for the lead but Tom forced Matthew too low and the officials got on the air and told Matthew to drop back to 3rd which he did.  He passed J.D. again for 2nd but couldn't get back by Tom. 

It was a good race day for Matthew and his new car.  Not too bad for the cars 2nd race.  Hopefully we'll get it a little better for the next Irwindale race and we'll work on that 1st win of the season.  Off to Orange Show Speedway next week in the coupe again.  Hope to see you there.

04/30/05

We arrived at Orange Show Speedway with the Coupe hoping to match our times back on October 16th of 2004.  We had the same setup in the car and were ready to go out the 1st practice and run in the 14.80's.   We were not as fast as we wanted to be.  We could only run 15.00's and the car was pushing in the middle and off the corners badly.  Suddenly, Matthew pulled off the track very slowly.  When he got to the pit he thought he'd broken a rear axel.  It wasn't that.  The third-link mount on the frame had broken off.  It didn't look good.  Only the head of the third-link mount had broken off.  There wasn't much metal to weld on.  After cleaning off all the powder coating we decided to give it a try.  

We welded the mount back on and hoped it would hold.  We didn't have any time to check to see what else had happened except for changing the panhard bar which was bent badly.  The track was calling for the Legends cars for their 2nd practice.  Matthew got ready and we sent him out.  The car only ran 1 lap and shut off.  We found that when the panhard bar broke it ripped the fuel pump wiring in half.  So much for the 2nd practice.   We put the car up on jack stands and checked over the entire car.  We found a bent rear shock and both shock mounts were bent.  

We got lucky and got a 3rd practice.   The car was horrible now.  His best lap was 15.15.  It pushed badly again.  

We made some adjustments and sent Matthew out to qualify.  It wasn't great but he qualified 4th.  We re-checked the car again and made more adjustments.  Matthew started 5th for the main event.  He made his way to 3rd real quick.  Matthew rode behind Art Nevill for several laps.  Art never left an opening for Matthew to pass.  At one point both Art and Matthew thought a yellow flag was coming out for a car that spun and threw dirt on the track.  Tom Landreth made a good move and passed both Matthew and Art and was now in 2nd place.  Matthew was now in 4th and had Ryan Partridge, the fast qualifier on his rear bumper.  

Bob Landreth was leading with his son Tom all over his bumper, Art then Matthew.  As the front cars were lapping a large part of the field, Art came upon a car that didn't realize Art was on his inside.  Both Art and the lapper got together and spun.  Matthew tried to avoid both cars and also spun.  Matthew was sent to the rear of the field with about 12 laps to go.  Matthew had to come off the track to move the front bumper that was bent backwards into the right front tire.  We grabbed a pry bar and bent the bumper out of the way so the right front wheel could turn left again.  

Matthew went back out in last place, 26th we think.  He went through the rear of the field like they were standing still.  He passed passed 4 cars in one corner.  When he got to 9th place, he found passing was a little more difficult.  On a re-start with just 2 laps to go he passed the 8th and 7th place cars on the outside.  That was as far as Matthew could get.  He finished 7th behind the pole sitter.  Congratulations to Bob Landreth on his hard fought win over his son Tom.

Matthew said after the race he actually had a blast coming from the rear of the field and passing all those cars.  Off to Irwindale Speedway again this weekend.  Hope to see you there.

04/23/05

We got to Irwindale hoping the new car would be faster than the coupe was last race.  It wasn't.  We were 4th fastest after the 1st practice but still 3/10's off the fastest car, Tom Landreth of course.  We set our sites on finding a way to pick up a few tenths of a second.  As we checked out the car to see what we needed to do we found a problem with the left front spring.  We fixed it (or so we thought) and sent Matthew back out for the second practice session.  He fell to about 8th on the board and he lost a tenth of a second.  Again we worked on that darned front spring for qualifying.  And once again the spring popped out of it's bucket.  This time, with help from a competitor, we wire tied the top of the spring into place.  

Matthew qualified 8th.  The invert was 6 so Matthew started 8th.  He wasted no time making a move towards the front.  He moved into 4th place right away and then rode behind the 3rd place car for many laps.  When the yellow flag came out, Matthew found an opportunity to take 3rd from Steve Twilligear.  Matthew was hounded lap after lap by J.D. Hendley and then Tom Landreth and then J. D. again. 

Matthew fought hard to finish in 3rd place.  He never did gain more than one car length on the 4th place car.  After the race,  Matthew stated he had a very poor handling car.  It was very loose the entire race.

We took the car out of the trailer first thing Sunday morning and started checking it out.  We found the rear end housing is bent again on the right side.  A new one will be ordered Monday morning.  

We're off to Orange Show Speedway next week.  Hope to see you there.

04/09/05

We showed up to Irwindale Speedway with high hopes.  Unfortunately we did not find what the miss is in the new car.  We were 4th fastest in the 1st practice session with the motor popping.  We checked connections, changed igniter boxes and still no luck.  It was worse in the 2nd session although we were a 10th of a second faster, the pop got more pronounced.  Matthew's car sounded like it was a rapid-fire shotgun!

We decided it was best to roll out the old car for qualifying.  Without any practice in the car, Matthew posted the 9th fastest time out of the 33 cars.  The fast qualifier rolled a 1, which meant he started on the pole for the main event.

Matthew moved up steadily in the main event.  2 cars in front of him got together and were sent to the rear of the field.  Matthew kept digging.  By lap 19 he was in 4th.  He made a pass for 3rd.  For several laps he and Kenton Gray fought a tough battle for 2nd place.  Matthew had a couple good runs on Kenton only to have Kenton shut the door on him.  It was a great battle. 

04/02/05

We had another chance to practice the new car.  It was very fast and consistent.  The new tires came in after about 20 laps and the car handled well.  We had a problem with the engine popping  about 3/4 down the straightaway.  We changed carburetors but that didn't stop the problem.  We changed the coils.  Still no luck.  The pop would only appear after about 8 laps or so.  We checked fuel level and wire connectors all to no avail.

When we got the car home, we went through the entire electrical system.  We changed igniter boxes and re-checked all the electrical system starting from the battery.  We hope we found the problem.  If not, we always have old reliable, the 37 coupe that ran so well last year.

Well, check back often for updates.  We would like to think our 7889 visitors who have checked out the web site since we started it.  Hope to see you at Irwindale this Saturday night.

03/12/05

We finally got a break from the rain and had a chance to practice the new car at Cajon Speedway.  It was all we expected and more.  We took the Coupe out first to see what the track would feel like.  We ran on last years tires and the car only ran 19:04.  We knew the track wouldn't be good with all the rain we've received and the lack of rubber on the track.  

After running the Coupe, we put those same tires on the new Sedan.  Right away on the 2nd lap, Matthew ran in the 18:80's.  We were very excited.  He ran several sessions in the 18:80's and 18:90's and then we tried some spring changes.  The car didn't like the changes we made so we put the car back to the same as where we started.  We then put the new tires on.  The car got too tight and slowed down.  We ran out of practice time so we'll be going out again this Friday if the weather cooperates.

Check back often for updates.......