The Dead-A-Head Motorsports team made it's return to 360 sprint car competition this past weekend in the Carolina's during the North-South Shootout featuring the USCS and URC sanctioning bodies racing Friday night at the Carolina Speedway and Saturday night at the Lancaster Speedway.
Friday night was the first winged sprint car competition driver Dan Mazy has had in four years. The last time Dan and the team competed at the Carolina Speedway was 2013. Dan was credited with the hard charger award on that night.
The team was excited to be back at the racetrack Friday night, and after dropping the Wesmar Engines 360 between the pipes of the teams, J&J Auto Racing Frame that sits atop DMI components everyone was chomping at the bit to see how it all performed.
After hot laps driver, Dan Mazy looked like he never left making sound laps passing a few cars and looking very comfortable in the car.
Dan also brought some new luck to the track selecting a single digit number at the pit shack placing him in the front row of heat race number one.
When asked how were the nerves starting on the front row your first time back in a car after four years? Dan replied, "Well I'm Either going to win this thing or get a reality check!".
At the start of the heat race the X machine got a great jump into turn one and then reality set in as driver Dan Mazy forecasted.
The team misread the racetrack badly, and Dan was unable to hold on to a loose race car, spinning on lap one coming off of turn number four.
Luckily Dan wasn't struck by another car and was able to re-fire from the back of the field.
Dan was able to race by one car and finish in behind URC Series Champion Curt Micheals in Heat Race number one; this finish would put Dan and the Racer X team in the B-Main.
Before the B-Main, Dan and the crew made some significant changes to tighten up the racecar.
Dan rolled off in the 10th position at the start of the B-Main and after a few laps to get his bearings the car was moving forward, and he was rolling up on the back of a gaggle of cars fighting for the transfer position.
Rolling into turn one, Dan was looking to the inside of the 5Q and the 38, when the 38 of Tony Agin slid up the track and made substantial contact with the outside retaining wall bringing out a red flag.
While Dan was excited to have another shot at having the field bunched up together, a technical failure would sour the late race charge for a transfer, as the left rear bleeder closed up and the front wing mount broke.
The failures made the X machine hard to handle, and Dan would finish one spot out of the transfer spot, being credited with a 9th place finish.
However, a little luck would come the Dead-A-Head Motorsports Teams way when a few cars were found to have illegal wings.
The disqualifications allowed Dan to have the 23rd starting position in the A-Main event.
Now with a few chances to adjust the car and tune in the engine, Dan was poised to make another run at that hard-charger award as he did in his last trip to the Carolina Speedway 5 years prior.
However, a first lap dust storm never allowed the race to play out for Dan, as he was hit in the rear end while avoiding a wreck in front of him.
Track conditions were to blame for the wreck as it was borderline unsafe due to low visibility.
Dan suffered a flat left rear tire and substantial damage to the top wing, but the crew changed the tire and fixed the wing the best they could and sent Dan back out for competition.
Ten laps into the A-Main Dan found himself creeping around a top 15 position, but when the leaders came by Dan felt the right thing to do was take his wounded machine pit-side and retire from the event and would be credited with a 20th place finish.
Night number two would be lost to rain!
Dan and the team would like to thank all the support and people who have made this return to the track possible....
Wesmar Racing Engines - http://www.wesmarengines.com/
J&J Auto Racing - http://www.jandjautoracing.com/
DMI Components - http://www.diversifiedracing.com/default.aspx
Getz Service Station - https://www.getzsservicestation.com/
Little Pink Houses of America - https://pinkhousesofamerica.com