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| Batesburg-Leesville, SC (May 12, 2007) - Rain throughout the day Saturday led to a soupy track and the night's racing events had to be cancelled as a result. Better luck next week!
Batesburg-Leesville, SC (May 6, 2007) – After battling rain and then wet track conditions racing action at I-20 Speedway finally got underway just over two hours late. David was in the first of two Super Stock 4 heat races. He started his heat race in fifth position. On the first lap coming out of turn 4 the #47 car of Bryan Addy slammed the wall and ricocheted into David’s car, spinning it around and sending it head on into the front stretch wall. The extensive damage ended the team’s chances to continue for the night. Luckily although the damage is ugly, it is repairable so David and Greg should have the car back together and ready to race next weekend. The Street Stock four race this week was
made more exciting my visiting drivers Mike Bates (#B5), Mitch Warlick
(#04) and Bubba Albert (#29). Greg lined up in the third starting position
in the Main behind pole sitter Albert and James Rushton, Sr (#51). Albert
jumped the green flag at the same time Rushton slid to the inside of
the track, causing several cars to spin to take evasive action. The
yellow flag was flown and Albert was sent to the rear of the field for
jumping the flag. On the restart Albert and John Keisler (#38) spun
in turn one. It appeared to us that they were reacting to the #51 of
Rushton who had gone out of the groove and was running high. The officials
charged Albert with the spin and penalized him for rough driving, disqualifying
him for the night and sending him to the pits. This was a harsh punishment
for what appeared to be a spin to avoid a wreck. The disgusted Albert
team loaded up and left.
Greg inherited the lead with Mike Bates and Mitch Warlick in hot pursuit for five laps. Greg had a 10-car length lead when Bates spun in turn two. At the restart Greg took off with Warlick chasing and Bates in a close third. On the final lap with Warlick on his bumper Greg caught up, again, with the lapped car of Rushton who was riding in the center groove at a much slower speed than the advancing leaders. Greg chose the high side around Rushton who came up the track just as Greg went around, getting into Greg’s car. Warlick went low and the two leaders split Rushton in the middle. The contact between Greg and Rushton got the #65 loose and was just enough to let Warlick get by. The final dash to the checkered flag was won by Mitch Warlick, followed closely by Greg, with Mike Bates getting third. Although a disappointing finish for Team 65 we were still very pleased to have some good cars in the Street Stock 4 field this week. We hope it showed the fans just how exciting this division can be. Hopefully the slower cars in the race will be more aware of where they are on the track so they are not dead center in the racing groove when they are not up to speed. The last lap of last night’s race could have ended in a disaster had both Greg and Mitch not carefully scrambled around the slow car of Rushton.
Murphy Captures Second Win In A Row Batesburg-Leesville, SC (April 29, 2007) – Greg Murphy continued to set the pace in the Street Stock 4 division at the I-20 Speedway this past weekend, winning his second feature event in a row. In the feature on April 21st the small field of Street Stock cars proudly took to the track to hold their own race. For the past few weeks this group was relegated to the rear of the Super Stock 4 race where they had little chance to even be competitive. Greg started on pole in this 10-lap event and very quickly showed the other drivers in the field that he was setting the bar high on performance. Greg took the win handily and celebrated with family in victory lane.
In the Super Stock 4 race David Scott had to come back from the luck of the bad draw. Mired deep in the field in his heat he started 6th in his Main. A strong run through the field resulted in a good second place finish, behind a very fast Bryan Ridgeway (#33). In the feature event on April 28th David again had a bad heat draw and started sixth. He was running third in the heat and going for the lead when a car in the back of the field spun, putting David back into third position. On the restart David got loose and spun, causing a caution. He had to restart at the back of the 10-car field with just two laps to go. He rallied to a fifth place finish but that gave him a difficult 10th place start in the main. David provided the team and the crowd with an awesome show as he came through the field from 10th all the way to second place for the second week in a row. Again David finished behind Bryan Ridgeway who won the feature again this week. Congratulations Bryan on a great run. In the Street Stock 4 Main Greg started on the pole and led flag to flag to get his second win in a row. This is a first for Greg and we could not be more proud!! We were pleased to have Team 65 friend James Auton at the Speedway this weekend with his #45. James was solidly in second when the motor blew up in cloud of smoke. James was done for the evening. We hope to get James back with us soon.
Batesburg-Leesville, SC (April 9, 2007) – Fans and racers braved the bitterly cold temperatures to come out to the I-20 Speedway season opening night this past Saturday. A small, but dedicated and hearty crowd, came to see some good racing and finally see some green flag action. Team 65 had some frustrations right from the start. Only two cars signed in for the Stock 4 class, Greg and one other car. That’s not enough cars to race so the track asked them both to race in the Super Stock 4 division instead. Greg lined up last in the first heat and got a good fourth place finish after starting 8th. Unfortunately, Greg burned up the tires in just those few laps and was unable to continue into the Main event. Since only two cars showed up there really was no reason for him to take the car back out. We were very disappointed that more of the Stock 4 teams did not show up for opening day. We hope that they will be arriving soon or we are in danger of having the class cut. Let’s go Stock 4 teams, pull it together and let’s go racing!
Tire management became an issue for David as well. David started on the outside pole in his heat race and quickly got to the front. He held on to win his heat easily. He started on the outside pole in his Main event. As in the heat race he quickly took the lead and held it for six laps when the tires started to really go away. He as passed on lap 7 for the lead and was passed for second place with two laps to go. He hung on for a third place finish but was disappointed in the performance of his Goodyear Eagles. To have the handle go away on a winning car is very frustrating so with both of our cars suffering from tire issues we certainly have our work cut out for us.
MacD Racing Partners was thrilled to have our good friends Hope and Jeff Graves (Y44) and Lori and Jerry Oliver (X44) drive all the way from North Carolina to join us for opening night. With just about every other track in the southeast closed due to the freezing temperatures Hope managed to talk their team into coming down to the I-20 Speedway. That’s a really long haul for the successful Street Stock team! Jeff and Jerry both looked great on the track and ran very strong. Jerry got caught up in someone else’s wreck during the Main and was unable to continue but Jeff made steady progress through the field of 20 to take second place! We are so very proud to be friends with this awesome family run team and wish them the best of luck for the remainder of the season up at Carolina Speedway in Gastonia, NC. Jerry is doing double duty behind the wheel of the Graves’ X44 Street Stock car as well as driving his own Super Stock 4 #51. Jerry is always a threat to win no matter what he drives. Team 65 had a huge crowd in the pits with us this weekend with family, friends and sponsors showing up to give us support. We were especially pleased to have Kevin Hall from Hall’s Construction and Stevie “Shaky” Hopkins from Shaky’s Fabrication. These guys have helped us so much this year. We would not be here without them! My nephew Jason Lubin came over from Atlanta. Jason’s job makes it tough for him to get over to see us much so it’s awesome when he does.
Even though we did not get the race results we had hoped for we had a great time this weekend. The track was in good shape and track management was awesome answering our questions and helping us all night. Special thanks to Susan Craps for all she has done and to Carlisle McNair for all the help as well. We are looking forward to a great season at I-20. Now, if we could just figure out those tires!
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Batesburg-Leesville, SC (April 2, 2007) – The MacD Racing Partners & Team 65 2007 racing season got off to a good start this year with our participation at the I-20 car show this past Sunday. The event, hosted by Ken Appleton at the NAPA Auto Parts distribution center and store in West Columbia, SC, drew 26 beautifully prepared race cars. Greg Murphy and David Scott have virtually identical paint schemes this year with the only difference being the roof decals, each of which has the drivers own signatures.
Greg placed first in the Street Stock 4 division with his design and made the team very proud, especially MacD’s nephew Mike Caine, who designed the race cars for Greg and David. We love the new looks, especially the beautiful work Mike did on the hood that incorporates the logo of our new sponsor, D’s Restaurants.
While David didn’t get a trophy on his car we got a lot of compliments on Mike’s designs and we are very pleased. We are thrilled to have an awesome sponsor like D’s on board with us this season. It’s their first time out with a racing sponsorship and MacD Racing Partners will proudly run the “D’s Racing” banner on both of our cars all year. You won’t be able to miss the big D’s logo Greg’s trailer either! If you are in the Columbia area go by one of D’s six locations (all listed on our front page) and let them know you appreciate their interest and participaton in local racing. It is through sponsor’s like D’s that makes it possible for local racing to exist. We also proudly bring on board Blue Cross and Blue Shield of South Carolina (BCBSSC) as a primary sponsor. MacD has worked at Blue Cross for almost 25 years and gets incredible support from everyone he works with regarding the race team. This is the first year that BCBSSC has agreed to come on board as a sponsor and we could not be happier. You will also see the big Blue Cross logo on Greg’s trailer.
We welcome Hall’s Construction this year as an associate sponsor. Hall’s is not only helping us financially, they gave us invaluable shop space and use of their equipment to build our cars this year. We could not have done it without them. The beautiful body work on our cars was done by Shaky’s Fabrication. Shaky’s is another new sponsor for us this season. The fit and finish of the body work is the best we have seen and we could not be more pleased! The right Reverend Dr. Sam George stepped up his sponsorship level on our team this year. Sam does double duty as our team photographer and chaplain. He can take your pictures and marry you both! Sam’s “AtlasBear Photography” logo is proudly displayed on our cars and on Greg’s trailer. You will see Sam at the track just about every Saturday night taking pictures of everyone and every thing. We post many of Sam’s photos on this website. In fact, just about every photo on this website has been taken by Sam. If you have any special photo needs, please e-mail Sam (AtlasBear@AOL.com) and he will work with you to get your pictures taken. He will do everything from professional portfolio pictures to a quick snapshot of your car or team. David Scott’s “Superior Pressure Washing” is also back with the team this year. David’s services include commercial and residential pressure washing and cleaning. For information on available services call Superior at 803-513-6580. TEAM 65 On The Move Myrtle Beach, SC (January 31, 2007) – The 2007 racing season is finally taking shape and it will result in some changes over at Team 65 and MacD Racing Partners. The owner/operators of I-77 Speedway, Ronnie and Velma Mosley, have decided to sell their interest in the speedway and will not be reopening it for the 2007 season. The track is for sale but as of now it has not been sold and no plans have been made to reopen it this year. This is sad news for Team 65 and for the many teams and fans that call I-77 Speedway home. We will miss the wonderful friends and family we made at that track and will miss the tough, competitive racing most of all. I-77 Speedway is a great little track and we can only hope that someone will buy the track and reopen it to be the awesome facility that we know it can be.
I-20 Speedway Entrance.
The entire team went to the racetrack on Sunday, January 28th for the 4-cylinder division driver’s meeting. The track officials were very willing to negotiate the drafting of the final rules. This was great news for us as we were hoping to carry over as much of what we had at I-77 Speedway as possible. I-20 will not have a “rookie” division for Greg but they will have a “Stock 4” division that is perfect for him to move into. David will still run in the Super Stock 4 division. Our cars are being built and should be ready in time to go racing in April. We were able to get a good look at the
pits and the track, both of which have plans for some work to fix what
Mother Nature has torn up. The racing surface and the pits have lots
of rain wash outs and will need some careful attention to make them
both rut free and smooth. Greg brought the team trailer to the track
to check out the pits and we selected our reserved parking spots for
the season.
The front stretch needs some work.
Team 65 trailer in the pits - check out that rut! It was great to meet many of the staff and crew from the Speedway, including Susan Craps, Tech Man Timmy Craps, flag man Mark Harden and announcer Bill Harden. We also got the chance to meet some new friends we hope to be racing with in 2007. Ken Appleton from Bad Apple Motorsports
(Super Stock 4 #56) is coordinating a car show for I-20 competitors
to be held on March 31st, followed by a practice session at the speedway.
The NAPA sponsored car show will take place at the NAPA store at 2255
Airport Blvd., Cayce, South Carolina with practice short after. Take
exit 113 off I-26 and go west toward the Airport – you can’t
miss it. The car will be from 9:00 to about noon. I-20 officials said
they would open the track after that to allow teams some practice hot
laps. The NAPA store is about 30 minutes from the Speedway. We hope
to have both of our cars ready in time to go.
We are hoping that some of our friends from I-77 Speedway will make the trip to I-20 Speedway. So far we know that Mike “Mock-A-Dew” Bates plans to make the trip. Mike was at the driver’s meeting this past weekend. We know that Lancaster Speedway has eliminated their Rookie division and with I-77 Speedway closed that leaves a lot of the entry level guys without a place to race. Let’s hope some of them will make it over to I-20 Speedway to give the new “Stock 4” division a try. I-20 Speedway has a website (link: www.i20speedway.com) and the complete rule books are there for downloading. They also have a chat forum on their website where the track places all announcements and rules information. If you have any questions at all log on and chat with Susan Craps. She will get the information you need very fast! Sign on and sign up!! You can also join the chat on the www.trackforums.com website where all of the local tracks are represented. I will post some pictures of our cars soon and will start doing regular updates to this site as they become available. From all of us at Team 65 we want to thank you for your support and encouragement. We look forward to racing in 2007 and we will see you soon in Victory Lane! MacD – with help from David Scott, Greg Murphy, Maureen Caine and Sue Murphy. Because we went to the race track on a Sunday, our team photographer and chaplain Sam George could not join us. Sam plans to be at the track all season and will have lots of pictures to share each week. Sponsorship Opportunities Available Elgin, SC (January 31, 2007) – Maureen and Sue now have Team 65 sponsorship packages available. If you or your company wants to be part of our winning team by putting your name on our team cars, just let us know! We offer many opportunities at different levels of financial investment – all of them very affordable. Your name can appear on both of our cars and on our team gear and website. To request a packet that contains all of the information or to discuss what is available just contact Maureen Caine or Sue Murphy. Maureen Caine 803-513-9680
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