| 7/17 |
| We spent the week trying to improve upon our solid run from last week. We addressed a loose out condition with a panhard bar adjustment and wedge change. We actually over adjusted as we ended up being slightly tight all evening. It was also an extremely cool evening for being mid July which did not help this handling condition. This was our best finish in the Late Model division yet. We finished 3rd in the main event and were in contention for the win. We raced hard with Griffin McGrath and Curtis VanDerWal throughout the race and had fun swapping back and forth the 2nd place position. I am feeling more comfortable running on the outside groove of the track and making some competitive passes. We really feel that we will get our first win yet this year and should be in contention each week |
| 7/10 |
| Back to weekly racing and we brought a new setup to the track after our disappointing run last week. We made adjustments every time we went out on the track and we are definitely going in the right direction! Due to having Dr Danger at the track qualifying was cancelled. This unfortunately put me starting last in the field of 12 Late Models. I was able to pass cars on my way through the field which also included a high side pass on Brad Osborn, a former track champion in the Late Model division, in the final few laps of the race. We leave the night with a positive feeling that we are going in the right direction and are happy with a 6th place finish knowing that if we had a caution sometime to help us we would have placed higher. |
| 7/3 Miller 100 |
| This year's Miller 100 did not net the result I was looking for. We went into the event with high expectations after a stellar run last year. We were fairly good in practice and were about 12th in speed of the 33 cars that were present. Qualifying did not go well though. The F45 tire that I had never ran on before threw a curve ball and I did not anticipate the speed these tires would offer. The extra speed in qualifying definitely helped the race engine cars and my gear selection was not correct as I pegged the rev limiter before the flag stand on my qualifying laps and only turned a 18.90 lap which was not good enough to qualify into the big show. I competed in a last chance race but did not make the Top 6 to transfer to the feature. I had a fairly good run going in the last chance event but just not enough against the ASA Midwest Tour cars. |
| 7/2/2009 |
| It's the day before the Miller 100 and Dvorak Racing is ready to go! This is THE event we look forward to all season long. Many thanks to all of the Fleck Family for making the Keith Fleck Miller 100 event possible and also for making my ride in a Late Model possible! Qualifying into the event will be key as the ASA Midwest Tour cars are a higher horsepower car than our crate car. As long as we get qualified into the event we should be fine for the race. I personally am seeking redemption to myself for making a driving mistake in last year's Miller 100 where I was looking at the possibility of a Top 5 finish until I stuff my car in the wall trying to make an outside pass. On a separate note, I am very excited to announce that Keith Monk of Monk Repair will be in attendance with his family friends from Deltona Florida! Thank you Keith for all of your support since I started racing. You've been there since the beginning and I appreciate all of the support you have given me. |
| 6/26/2009 |
| Out of town - did not race |
| 6/19/2009 |
| Races rained out for the evening. |
| 6/12/2009 |
| Races rained out for the evening. |
| 6/5/2009 5th place, led first 12 laps |
| We are back! Car may not be pretty, but it is functional. Special thanks to Steve Setzer of Performance Concepts in helping me get the car back together in a hurry. Not only did he help me technically inspect the car for frame damage, but he also personally donated some parts that I needed to replace. Thanks Steve! Qualifying was ok but not as quick as we wanted to be. However, with the invert I caught the pole position! Started the race off and was able to pull away from the field for the first 12 laps until a slight push became a more severe push. After being passed by a few cars I settled into 5th place and was able to hang on to that position from there out. Thanks to my crew for the long nights of repair work in order to race tonight. |
| 5/29/2009 VMI Night, Wreck |
| I must say tonight did not go well. I can say I'm lucky to be in my 3rd season in the Late Models before having my 1st major wreck. I was wrecked in the heat race on the first race by an out of town car that should have started in the back of the pack until he was comfortable racing. I was passing him on the outside and he came up into me and after contact with the backstretch wall, then his car, and finally the turn 3 wall, we were in for a week of major repairs. Major downer for the season points is Hawkeye Downs did not award any Feature Points so points racing is out for the season. Long week of repairs ahead. |
| 5/22/2009 |
| After a couple weeks off to work on the details we are off and running again. I was not happy with my qualifying attempt as I had 2 sticker tires that I didn't have time to scuff in practice. Feature race went well as I passed some cars and ended up in 5th place. The last 8 laps I was right behind Hawkeye Downs veteran Johnny Spaw. I was faster than him through the corner but he was faster than me on the straight away which made it difficult to set him up for a pass. Team discussion after the race is that we need to work on setting the car up and racing in the 2nd groove so we can pass competitive cars on the top of the track. |
| 5/15/2009 |
| Late Models not on the schedule due to race at Iowa Speedway. Wish I could go but this year's budget won't allow it. |
| 5/8/2009 |
| Races rained out for the evening. |
| 5/1/2009 |
| The 2009 Hawkeye Downs race season is under way! All preseason testing has shown promising results. We did extensive modifications in converting the car in the offseason from a conventional "big spring" to a coilover spring and shock setup. Qualifying went well as I met my goal of qualifying in the 18.9's like I had hoped for. In the feature race I was competitive with the rest of the field and moving my way up through the field. I was in 5th going for 4th when I was involved in a racing incident which sent myself and another car to the infield. Ended up 8th place but feel good about where we are for speed. |
| 8/30/2008 |
| On Saturday 8/30 the ASA Late Model
North tour came to Hawkeye Downs for their annual event. There were many
stars of tomorrow on hand in a very competitive field. Ross Kenseth, son
of 2004 NASCAR Winston Cup Champion Matt Kenseth was even on hand. The first
goal of the day was to qualify into the event and complete all 100 laps.
We practiced during the day and the general feeling was just a lack of overall
grip. Turn entry was fairly neutral as I could easily adjust it from loose
to tight depending upon the front to rear brake proportion, and then it
was typically a tight middle corner, and very loose off the corner. We tried
many things to increase our off the corner bight but never really gained
the ground we wanted to get there. The ASA race was an impound race so there
was no opportunity to adjust the car between qualifying tech and the end
of the race. I did an ok qualifying lap at 19.0 which put me 19th out of
the 29 but I was solidly in the show. The race had many close calls with
accidents all around me and I made one trip through the infield grass early
on with the help of the car behind me. I did have slight nose damage which
didn't help but I didn't really think it hurt too much. The longer we ran
the tighter we got and by the end of the race it was pushing real bad through the corner. We made a lot of adjustments during the day and I think the much cooler temps of the evening tightened the track up and we just went too far on our adjustments. But we finished on the lead lap and completed all 100 laps, a first for us! We have 2 remaining scheduled events for the season.
On Sunday, September 14th we will be participating in a fundraiser for
Junior League of Cedar Rapids in "Lil' Kids & Big Rigs"
in which we will have the car on display along with giving out track cards
and Quaker granola bars. Then on Saturday, September 20th there is our
annual "Sponsor Appreciation Track Party" in which I will be
giving rides to all of my crew and sponsors who helped make the 2008 race
season possible. The rides will be given in the Performance Concepts Racing
Experience sportsman 2-seater! It is an event that many look forward to
each year. |
| 8/29/2008 |
| Friday was the last points race of the season. Every year its kind of the same feeling: part of me is ready for the break yet part of me says "what happened to the summer?". This year I can say we made a step up from last year in competitiveness but we still have areas of opportunity. Two of those areas of opportunity are sway bar setting and hot stagger. I won't go into the technical details if you don't know what those are but they are two basic things that we really need to nail next year in order to ensure top 5 finishes each week and a feature win. The sway bar setup will be upgraded in the off-season but it ruined my qualifying effort on Friday and gave me a horrible starting spot for the feature. We did get it set right for the heat race and I was able to win my 1st heat race. I started 14th in the feature and for the first couple laps of the race I really felt like I was going to be able to race my way up through the pack to get a good finish. However once the tires were warm I gradually got looser and looser coming off the corner. Our hot stagger grew too much and bit us again and I had to settle for a 12th place finish. However, we did make it through the night without damage so we will be able to race tomorrow during the ASA North series. |
| 8/18/2008 |
| Friday was Casey's night at the races
for Flood Relief featuring Landon Cassill coming back to the Downs for the
Late Model Race. There was a packed house on hand for a good Late Model
race. Prior to the race there was a "Flood Relief Walk" around
the track. Each dollar donated was matched by Landon Cassill, Rick Hendrick,
Dale Earnhardt Jr, and Kyle Busch. Dvorak Racing was able to make a donation
of $100 which then became a total donation of $500 going directly to Flood
Relief.
Track conditions were almost ideal and after being extremely loose the last two weeks we have finally made enough adjustments that we got the car tight, and by the end of the race way too tight! I started 3rd and after losing a couple spots right at the beginning of the race I got into my groove and from about lap 8 to lap 30 the car worked well and I was able to pass some cars and pull away from Johnny Spaw and Dudley Fleck and maintain a solid 4th place. However towards the end of the green run I was starting to pick up a middle of the corner push which didn't allow me to get on the gas right away and it got worse every lap. We had a caution flag with 6 laps to go and I knew I was going to be in trouble. The car was really bad after the caution and by the time the checkers flew I had fallen back to 7th place. The positive is that we have gone from loose the week before to tight this week so we should be able to back 1/2 of our adjustments out and be well balanced. The season is quickly coming to a close. Championship Night is Friday August 29th and the ASA Late Model North Series comes into town for the next day Saturday August 30th. |
| 8/11/2008 |
| Friday night we had a healthy car count of 16 Late Models. I was not real happy with the way the car was handling as it has still been loose through the corners since switching from the Miller 100 setup back to our weekly tires, which is a harder compound. It handled better than last week, but still needs to be tightened up all around. My qualifying effort was very poor as (sounds stupid, but it REALLY messed me up!) I did not have the steering wheel on correct which made me completely miss my marks as I steered hand over hand through the first turn and then was mentally out of it for the rest of qualifying. That put me in the slow heat race which I passed a couple cars to lock in an 11th starting spot for the feature of 16 cars. For as loose as the car was I thought the feature went well. There was a lot of bumping and grinding going on and at one time I was up to 5th place but lost that position when I got WAY loose going into turn 1 with 5 laps to go. That very well could have been a spin out but somehow I hung onto it. I settled for a 6th place finish. This week we will work real hard on tightening the car up and be ready to race again this coming Friday! |
| 8/2/2008 |
| Last night was our first weekly race after the Miller 100 and for me the first race since my encounter with the wall. Big hats off to my dad, brother, and Mike Rubocki for their work on my car to get it back into race shape while I was in Italy on vacation. Without their hard work I would not have made it to the track for this race. Unfortunately we still have some work to do on the rearend of the car. The car was essentially undriveable it was so loose coming off the corner. I had my worst finish of the year in 9th place. We will focus on this and correct it prior to next Fridays race as I feel the front end of the car is working well. We are starting to look ahead to the next big touring event at Hawkeye Downs which is the ASA North touring series 100 lap event on Saturday August 30th. |
| 7/18/2008 |
| The Miller 100 for me was a huge up
and down event. It had all of the potentials of being a race of a lifetime
for me and then I had some misfortune. Testing prior in the day did not
go real great but I definitely liked the combination of the stiffer right
rear spring and the lower panhard bar which was the setup we came to the
track with. I have never been a good qualifier but was hoping to change
that. 4 new sticker tires and it kind of brings out a sense of Superman
in anyone. I ripped off the best lap of my career, 18.705 seconds, which
is an average speed of over 96 mph around the ½ mile track. That
not only qualified me 12th overall out of the 40 touring stars that showed
up for the event, but it also made me the only “crate” motor
powered car to make the Top 16 on qualifying time guaranteeing a starting
spot in the Miller 100. By luck of the dice I ended up starting on the pole
for the race. The 100 lap event would be the longest race I have ever been
in as well. I knew I would have to pace myself against the higher horsepower
cars as I expected that I would be most competitive by the end of the race
once we have worn the tires down some. I lost several positions in the first
few laps of the race (which I fully expected) and was racing in 8th place
out of the 27 cars at the halfway point. I was feeling great about where
I was at and now new it was about time to start passing some of the cars
in front of me as I felt I was faster than them. On lap 55 I was working
the outside groove around the track when I overdrove the car coming out
of turn 2 and made heavy contact with the wall. I slammed the right front
corner in the wall and then slapped the right rear against the wall and
my race was over. I hit the wall hard enough that the motor had actually
twisted the motor mounts in the chassis along with bending both upper and
lower control arms on the suspension. I was the first car out of the event.
NASCAR Nextel Cup star Johnny Sauter even attended the event and would end
up with a 2nd place finish to winner Steve Carlson.
Even though the Miller 100 did not end the way I wanted it to I really felt good about how I was running. I took an underpowered crate motor car and qualified into a field of “race” motor Late Models that had upwards of 100 hp more than me. Not only that, but I was racing in 8th spot looking for more before wrecking. I legitimately could have had a Top 5 finish which would have been the race of my career. Despite not finishing the race I was awarded the Hawkeye Downs “Driver
of the Week” award for my qualifying effort and the race I was having
prior to the wreck. |
| 7/11/2008 |
| Tonight we aggressively made some changes
to fix the push into the corner and loose off the corner. We tried many
adjustments and I had a decent qualifying effort and the car handled fairly
well in the heat race. We made a spring change in the right rear corner
and that helped the car turn into the corner significantly better. However,
this change ended up hurting us tremendously for the feature race. I was
horribly loose off the corner and was not able to get on the gas until looking
down the straight away, which is way too late. But overall I liked what
the spring change did to the corner entry and really think we need to stick
to trying this and make a panhard bar adjustment to get more bite off the
corner. Next week is the Miller 100 which is on the softer tire and a different set of rules. There is some chassis work we need to do for preparation. My main goal for the Miller race is to make the field of cars as I failed to qualify for this race last year. |
| 6/27/2008 - Post |
| Racing returned to the post flooded community of Cedar Rapids. All of the drivers were ready to get back into the groove and to hopefully provide some good entertainment to the community. The late model race was postponed significantly due to a heavy rain shower that came in but then quickly left. After an hour of work by track officials drying the track we were off and running. The car handled well and the top 5 pack of cars were significantly faster than the rest of the field. I ran 5th but never really had enough to pass the cars in front of me. Still have the push to middle of the corner and slightly loose off the corner. |
| 6/27/2008 - Pre |
| Wow, a lot has happened in the past
3 weeks and I have not posted an update. We tested extensively the weeks
prior to the Miller 100 only for the event to be postponed due to the terrible
flood the Cedar River placed upon the community of Cedar Rapids and surrounding
areas. The Miller 100 was postponed from June 13th to now July 18th. The
June 20 weekly race also was cancelled due to flood impacts on the community.
Many people are left without homes and/or without places to work. Many of
these people are also active in the Hawkeye Downs racing community. My place
of business and a sponsor, Quaker Oats, experienced flooding which shut
down production. But with the support of the entire PepsiCo family we are
rebuilding the plant as quickly as possible and are working very hard at
getting production up and running.
Tonight we're scheduled to get back to the track for a weekly race and
Mid-season championships. It has been almost a month since our last race
so we are hoping the car is dialed in close to what it was last time we
raced. Work has been long hours lately so I have not been able to focus
as many hours on the garage work as needed but hopefully I can avoid any
troubles on the track and obtain a solid top 5 finish. The weather also
isn't cooperating so far, but hopefully it clears up and we can put on
a show for the Cedar Rapids community to enjoy. |
| 6/2/2008 |
| Friday night the rain stopped in time
to get the races in. There was some water seeping up through the track which
made getting out of turn 2 and into turn 3 interesting. For the most part
the track ended up being better than I expected, but the outside groove
was definitely still hairy. I finished 5th and stuck with the lead pack
of cars all night. It is encouraging to be able to race close to the top
guys in the Late Model division. However, the car was not as good during
the race as it was during the last practice. Post-race inspection found
that we had a collapsed left front spring which cause the car to bottom
out to the track at corner entry.
Our focus officially is now the Miller 100 and we have some changes to make to the car to race under the ASA Midwest Tour rules. I expect 40+ cars to attend and attempt to make the field of 26 cars so I am really trying to put my best foot forward. The Keith Fleck Miller 100 means a lot to me given the influence the whole Fleck family has given to my racing career. It is also probably the race that has the most history behind it in the state of Iowa. One of my career racing goals is to eventually win this race once. However, this year I would be happy to make the field and finish all 100 laps, and I would be ecstatic to finish in the top 10! |
| 5/29/2008 |
| We've had 2 weeks off from racing due
to a scheduled off week and then an unfortunate rainout last Friday. However,
we've still been hard at work - we tested at the last 3 Wednesday night
open practices at Hawkeye Downs. Each time out we've gotten quicker and
quicker. Last night were the fastest lap times we've seen all season, very
promising since those were on very worn practice tires. We're all pretty
excited for this Friday as I think we should have a car in the top 5. The
weather forecast does not look real promising for racing Friday, but regardless
we're ready to go.
After this Friday our focus shifts towards the Miller 100, which is now 2 weeks away. We have an off week in weekly racing in preparation for the Miller and will have a test session next week. The Miller 100 is ASA Midwest Tour-sanctioned which allows us to use a softer/stickier tire and a different car weight. A lot of the top Late Model racers are coming in to Cedar Rapids from all over the Midwest - very tough competition. Last year I did not qualify for the event, my first goal is to qualify and then my second is completing all 100 laps of the race. |
| 5/12/2008 |
| I was pretty happy with our performance on Friday. The car still has a push to the center of the corner and feels pretty loose coming off the corner. However, it is getting closer and I feel more competitive and comfortable each time I hit the track. We made some good adjustments in practice that seemed to help the car out but we are still missing something. I qualified 19.3 which got me into the invert of the fast cars. I really feel I should be able to get to a 19.1 in qualifying even on these older hard tires that we must run. I don't want to say much about the heat race as our team made a critical mistake and never set the air pressures correctly. Luckily the heat race has no effect on starting position and for the feature race I started on the pole. I led the first five laps before two of the best asphalt late model drivers in the country passed me; Steve Carlson and Dudley Fleck. I was hoping to hold onto a 3rd place finish, which would have been like a win to me behind those guys, but unfortunately in the last few laps of the race I pushed up the track going into turn 1 and got passed by one other car and finished in 4th place. Still I felt pretty good as that is my best career finish in a Late Model race and we had a full field of 17 late models, which is the most at Hawkeye Downs for years. I'd like to throw out a special thanks to dad and Brian for all of the help they have given me this year in the garage setting the car up. And thanks to Matt Poduska who did an awesome job spotting for me and kept me driving hard and up on the wheel even as I lost the lead to some other cars. |
| 5/5/2008 |
| Friday was an extremely cold and windy night. That made it tougher to get heat in the tires and get everyone mentally prepared to race. All night I experienced the chassis doing the push (front tires sliding) all the way to the center of the corner and loose (rear tires spinning) off on the throttle. We are focusing our efforts on the front suspension to correct the push first. The encouraging part is I feel we are more competitive and comfortable in traffic than last year. My qualifying efforts still need to improve as I qualified at a 19.5 which I felt I should do a 19.1 each week even on these harder 1070 tires for this year. The feature went ok. I stayed out of trouble for the most part and gained 1 position with a high line pass on one of the seasoned veterans. I think if I can improve my qualifying I will get a better starting spot and be able to hold my own in traffic. Lots of work to do this week again as I focus on the front suspension design & settings. |
| 5/2/2008 |
| Its opening day and I'm anxiously awaiting the chance to take the green flag! Storms in the area may have something to say about it though. If we don't get to race tonight I will just be that much more prepared for next week. I was encouraged by both of my test sessions over the last two weekends. Each test was 3 steps forward and 1 step back. I'm extremely happy we updated the front stub on the old car and also invested in the new updated brakes. Now we are tackling the project of getting the front end of the car dynamically where we want it to be in the center of the corner. Lots of engineering going into it and I feel like I am learning a lot. I anticipate being further up the pack this year as last year was really getting my feet wet and learning what it takes to drive a Late Model. Lap times in testing were encouraging even though there were many bugs to work out yet. I really think a top 3 in season points is possible along with maybe sneaking a feature win this year with a good starting spot and some luck! It will not come without a ton of hard work throughout the week and I think my team is up to the challenge. |
| 3/12/2008 |
| Wow, where do I begin? Welcome to Dvorakracing.com!
It's been given a facelift and hopefully we'll be able to keep updated information
on it this time. Special thanks to Matt and Cathy Poduska for all of their
hard work on updating this. I'd like to send out a huge thank you to all
of my advertising partners for the 2008 race season. Two new advertising
partners this year are Todd Whitters Construction LLC and St Luke's Hospital.
Welcome aboard! Thanks again for the continued support from Quaker Oats,
Coors Light/Fleck Sales, Eastern Iowa Foot Specialists, Monk Repair, Junction
Auto Sales, Performance Concepts, Innovative Signs, and Allegra Print &
Imaging. I'm really looking forward to my sophomore year in the ASA Late
Model Division. Last year with the short season we barely got our feet wet
and I fully expect to run more competitively this year, qualify into the
field for both the ASA Midwest Tour Miller 100 and ASA North 100 at Hawkeye
Downs, and win one feature event in our weekly Late Model division. We've been working real hard in the off-season to do some updates on the chassis and to get our homework done to fully understand a late model chassis. Special thanks to dad and my brother for their long hours they have spent in my garage helping me out. |