2008 updates coming soon!
Needles starts 2007 off FAST!!
Steve brought his new Perfect Circle car to Kalamazoo Speedway for the season opening Intimidator 100 and left with a 2nd place finish. It was not without a lot of work and some fancy driving. It all started during Thursdays practice when the car would only run for a few laps then the engine would cut out. After replacing most of the fuel system parts at the track the team took the car home and worked until early Saturday adding a back up ignition so Steve could switch over should the problem surface at the race on Saturday. Well the car again started missing this time though Steve felt it was more fuel related than ignition. After much work and only logging a few hot laps Steve attempted to qualify on "sticker" tires since he did not have time to scuff in the tires prior to qualifying. The car was good enough to qualify 3rd out of 50 cars. Steve felt if he could have had the chance to scuff them in he could have had fast time. At this point though we did not know if the problem was fixed and would not find out until in the feature. Starting in the 5th spot Steve quickly moved into second. At around lap 15 they were lapping a slower car with Steve attempting to go high and pass the leader who was caught behind the lapped car, well the leader went low and they wound up splitting the lapped car who looked to panic and drover into the left rear of Steve spinning him out. The track ruled Steve was spun and gave him his spot back on the restart. The next 85 laps were some of the best racing you could see. Dave Sensiba and Steve battled for second for most of the race; Brandon Lyons snuck in and passed them when Sensiba had a hard time passing the leader Luke Krick. Steve then fell to 4th but quickly passed Krick and Sensiba and set sail for Lyons. There was not enough laps left though and in a very exciting finish Lyons edged Steve by only .216 of a second. Steve crossed the line sideways did a 360 and kept going he was only thinking about winning the race.
We are looking forward to the next race with our goal of picking up Steve's first Late Model win.
Thanks to Scott and Greg and Eddie for all there help in the pits. And all of of sponsors in 2007.
Please go to our sponsor page to learn more about our valued sponsors.
Race Update For 4/28/07
Week number 2 brought mixed results for Steve. Once again the car had engine difficulties with an engine miss during hot laps. It seemed to be a rich condition so we changed jetting in the carb. It turned out that we actually made it worse and it would not run for the qualifying attempt netting a 22nd fast time which placed him in the last chance race. We changed the carb and went out for the last chance and it was quite a bit better. He started next to Bobby Stremme on the front row and took the lead on the first turn and never looked backed winning by more than a straight away. Steve had to start the feature from the 9th row but quickly worked his way up to the top 10. It was obvious he had a fast car but he still had a stumble in the engine. He drove a very smart race and was trying to pass Phil Bozell for 4th when the checkered fell. A 5th place finish on a night like this was acceptable. If they gave points for how many cars you pass he would have taken home top honors.
Once again we will take the car home and try to figure out what is going on. Once we get this fixed we should be able to have a chance at winning one of these things.
The crew once again did a great job.
Thanks To All
July, 24th 2007
Sorry it has been a little while on the updates. A lot has happened in a very short time. Since our last update in April Steve has won 3 features and has been on top of the points standings at Kalamazoo Speedway. The racing has had ups and downs.
At Plymouth Steve finished 5th out of a tough field for the Jim Blount Memorial Late Model Race. Steve won the mid seasons Harding's 100 at Kalamazoo. At M-40 Steve qualified 4th out of 61 late models and was in a transfer spot for the main when the ignition failed sending the team home disappointed. At the Kalamazoo Klash Steve set fast time out of 57 late models and finished 3rd in the feature. These are some of the high points.
Now for the low,
We lost my dad, Stan Needles in May. Dad was a big supporter of Steve and the race team and followed every race. We will greatly miss pop in the shop giving advice and joking around. After Dad passed we dedicated the race that Saturday to him, and in a fairy tale finish Steve won his first Late Model feature.
What made it really special was that much of our family was there also and had a great time in the middle of much sorrow.
This season is Dedicated to Dad.
Following our M-40 race over the 4th of the July we suffered another loss. Lee Anderson, our chassis builder, fellow racer and friend accidentally drowned in a boating accident. We pitted together at M-40 and was looking forward to racing together at the Klash. Lee was 33. We found out after another feature win at Kalamazoo, needless to say this took the wind from our sails. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Lee's family, the TAG Racing team along with Terry and Carolyn Gentry. Lee has a 3 year old daughter who will need support and many tracks and racers have come forward and helped in this cause. Lee will be missed. We will add Lee to our season dedication along with my dad.
Our next race will be this Saturday at Kalamazoo, we will be trying our best to continue our points lead. We are only looking one week at a time. We will need to be on our game as Andy Bozell has been hot and is getting better every week.
I will try to keep up on race updates on a weekly basis throughout the rest of the season.
Thanks for your patience
Week number 2 brought mixed results for Steve. Once again the car had engine difficulties with an engine miss during hot laps. It seemed to be a rich condition so we changed jetting in the carb. It turned out that we actually made it worse and it would not run for the qualifying attempt netting a 22nd fast time which placed him in the last chance race. We changed the carb and went out for the last chance and it was quite a bit better. He started next to Bobby Stremme on the front row and took the lead on the first turn and never looked backed winning by more than a straight away. Steve had to start the feature from the 9th row but quickly worked his way up to the top 10. It was obvious he had a fast car but he still had a stumble in the engine. He drove a very smart race and was trying to pass Phil Bozell for 4th when the checkered fell. A 5th place finish on a night like this was acceptable. If they gave points for how many cars you pass he would have taken home top honors.
Once again we will take the car home and try to figure out what is going on. Once we get this fixed we should be able to have a chance at winning one of these things.
The crew once again did a great job.
Thanks To All
July, 24th 2007
Sorry it has been a little while on the updates. A lot has happened in a very short time. Since our last update in April Steve has won 3 features and has been on top of the points standings at Kalamazoo Speedway. The racing has had ups and downs.
At Plymouth Steve finished 5th out of a tough field for the Jim Blount Memorial Late Model Race. Steve won the mid seasons Harding's 100 at Kalamazoo. At M-40 Steve qualified 4th out of 61 late models and was in a transfer spot for the main when the ignition failed sending the team home disappointed. At the Kalamazoo Klash Steve set fast time out of 57 late models and finished 3rd in the feature. These are some of the high points.
Now for the low,
We lost my dad, Stan Needles in May. Dad was a big supporter of Steve and the race team and followed every race. We will greatly miss pop in the shop giving advice and joking around. After Dad passed we dedicated the race that Saturday to him, and in a fairy tale finish Steve won his first Late Model feature.
What made it really special was that much of our family was there also and had a great time in the middle of much sorrow.
This season is Dedicated to Dad.
Following our M-40 race over the 4th of the July we suffered another loss. Lee Anderson, our chassis builder, fellow racer and friend accidentally drowned in a boating accident. We pitted together at M-40 and was looking forward to racing together at the Klash. Lee was 33. We found out after another feature win at Kalamazoo, needless to say this took the wind from our sails. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Lee's family, the TAG Racing team along with Terry and Carolyn Gentry. Lee has a 3 year old daughter who will need support and many tracks and racers have come forward and helped in this cause. Lee will be missed. We will add Lee to our season dedication along with my dad.
Our next race will be this Saturday at Kalamazoo, we will be trying our best to continue our points lead. We are only looking one week at a time. We will need to be on our game as Andy Bozell has been hot and is getting better every week.
I will try to keep up on race updates on a weekly basis throughout the rest of the season.
Thanks for your patience
Week number 2 brought mixed results for Steve. Once again the car had engine difficulties with an engine miss during hot laps. It seemed to be a rich condition so we changed jetting in the carb. It turned out that we actually made it worse and it would not run for the qualifying attempt netting a 22nd fast time which placed him in the last chance race. We changed the carb and went out for the last chance and it was quite a bit better. He started next to Bobby Stremme on the front row and took the lead on the first turn and never looked backed winning by more than a straight away. Steve had to start the feature from the 9th row but quickly worked his way up to the top 10. It was obvious he had a fast car but he still had a stumble in the engine. He drove a very smart race and was trying to pass Phil Bozell for 4th when the checkered fell. A 5th place finish on a night like this was acceptable. If they gave points for how many cars you pass he would have taken home top honors.
Once again we will take the car home and try to figure out what is going on. Once we get this fixed we should be able to have a chance at winning one of these things.
The crew once again did a great job.
Thanks To All
July, 24th 2007
Sorry it has been a little while on the updates. A lot has happened in a very short time. Since our last update in April Steve has won 3 features and has been on top of the points standings at Kalamazoo Speedway. The racing has had ups and downs.
At Plymouth Steve finished 5th out of a tough field for the Jim Blount Memorial Late Model Race. Steve won the mid seasons Harding's 100 at Kalamazoo. At M-40 Steve qualified 4th out of 61 late models and was in a transfer spot for the main when the ignition failed sending the team home disappointed. At the Kalamazoo Klash Steve set fast time out of 57 late models and finished 3rd in the feature. These are some of the high points.
Now for the low,
We lost my dad, Stan Needles in May. Dad was a big supporter of Steve and the race team and followed every race. We will greatly miss pop in the shop giving advice and joking around. After Dad passed we dedicated the race that Saturday to him, and in a fairy tale finish Steve won his first Late Model feature.
What made it really special was that much of our family was there also and had a great time in the middle of much sorrow.
This season is Dedicated to Dad.
Following our M-40 race over the 4th of the July we suffered another loss. Lee Anderson, our chassis builder, fellow racer and friend accidentally drowned in a boating accident. We pitted together at M-40 and was looking forward to racing together at the Klash. Lee was 33. We found out after another feature win at Kalamazoo, needless to say this took the wind from our sails. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Lee's family, the TAG Racing team along with Terry and Carolyn Gentry. Lee has a 3 year old daughter who will need support and many tracks and racers have come forward and helped in this cause. Lee will be missed. We will add Lee to our season dedication along with my dad.
Our next race will be this Saturday at Kalamazoo, we will be trying our best to continue our points lead. We are only looking one week at a time. We will need to be on our game as Andy Bozell has been hot and is getting better every week.
I will try to keep up on race updates on a weekly basis throughout the rest of the season.
Thanks for your patience
Steve brought his new Perfect Circle car to Kalamazoo Speedway for the season opening Intimidator 100 and left with a 2nd place finish. It was not without a lot of work and some fancy driving. It all started during Thursdays practice when the car would only run for a few laps then the engine would cut out. After replacing most of the fuel system parts at the track the team took the car home and worked until early Saturday adding a back up ignition so Steve could switch over should the problem surface at the race on Saturday. Well the car again started missing this time though Steve felt it was more fuel related than ignition. After much work and only logging a few hot laps Steve attempted to qualify on "sticker" tires since he did not have time to scuff in the tires prior to qualifying. The car was good enough to qualify 3rd out of 50 cars. Steve felt if he could have had the chance to scuff them in he could have had fast time. At this point though we did not know if the problem was fixed and would not find out until in the feature. Starting in the 5th spot Steve quickly moved into second. At around lap 15 they were lapping a slower car with Steve attempting to go high and pass the leader who was caught behind the lapped car, well the leader went low and they wound up splitting the lapped car who looked to panic and drover into the left rear of Steve spinning him out. The track ruled Steve was spun and gave him his spot back on the restart. The next 85 laps were some of the best racing you could see. Dave Sensiba and Steve battled for second for most of the race; Brandon Lyons snuck in and passed them when Sensiba had a hard time passing the leader Luke Krick. Steve then fell to 4th but quickly passed Krick and Sensiba and set sail for Lyons. There was not enough laps left though and in a very exciting finish Lyons edged Steve by only .216 of a second. Steve crossed the line sideways did a 360 and kept going he was only thinking about winning the race.
We are looking forward to the next race with our goal of picking up Steve's first Late Model win.
Thanks to Scott and Greg and Eddie for all there help in the pits. And all of of sponsors in 2007.
Please go to our sponsor page to learn more about our valued sponsors.
Race Update For 4/28/07
Week number 2 brought mixed results for Steve. Once again the car had engine difficulties with an engine miss during hot laps. It seemed to be a rich condition so we changed jetting in the carb. It turned out that we actually made it worse and it would not run for the qualifying attempt netting a 22nd fast time which placed him in the last chance race. We changed the carb and went out for the last chance and it was quite a bit better. He started next to Bobby Stremme on the front row and took the lead on the first turn and never looked backed winning by more than a straight away. Steve had to start the feature from the 9th row but quickly worked his way up to the top 10. It was obvious he had a fast car but he still had a stumble in the engine. He drove a very smart race and was trying to pass Phil Bozell for 4th when the checkered fell. A 5th place finish on a night like this was acceptable. If they gave points for how many cars you pass he would have taken home top honors.
Once again we will take the car home and try to figure out what is going on. Once we get this fixed we should be able to have a chance at winning one of these things.
The crew once again did a great job.
Thanks To All
July, 24th 2007
Sorry it has been a little while on the updates. A lot has happened in a very short time. Since our last update in April Steve has won 3 features and has been on top of the points standings at Kalamazoo Speedway. The racing has had ups and downs.
At Plymouth Steve finished 5th out of a tough field for the Jim Blount Memorial Late Model Race. Steve won the mid seasons Harding's 100 at Kalamazoo. At M-40 Steve qualified 4th out of 61 late models and was in a transfer spot for the main when the ignition failed sending the team home disappointed. At the Kalamazoo Klash Steve set fast time out of 57 late models and finished 3rd in the feature. These are some of the high points.
Now for the low,
We lost my dad, Stan Needles in May. Dad was a big supporter of Steve and the race team and followed every race. We will greatly miss pop in the shop giving advice and joking around. After Dad passed we dedicated the race that Saturday to him, and in a fairy tale finish Steve won his first Late Model feature.
What made it really special was that much of our family was there also and had a great time in the middle of much sorrow.
This season is Dedicated to Dad.
Following our M-40 race over the 4th of the July we suffered another loss. Lee Anderson, our chassis builder, fellow racer and friend accidentally drowned in a boating accident. We pitted together at M-40 and was looking forward to racing together at the Klash. Lee was 33. We found out after another feature win at Kalamazoo, needless to say this took the wind from our sails. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Lee's family, the TAG Racing team along with Terry and Carolyn Gentry. Lee has a 3 year old daughter who will need support and many tracks and racers have come forward and helped in this cause. Lee will be missed. We will add Lee to our season dedication along with my dad.
Our next race will be this Saturday at Kalamazoo, we will be trying our best to continue our points lead. We are only looking one week at a time. We will need to be on our game as Andy Bozell has been hot and is getting better every week.
I will try to keep up on race updates on a weekly basis throughout the rest of the season.
Thanks for your patience
Week number 2 brought mixed results for Steve. Once again the car had engine difficulties with an engine miss during hot laps. It seemed to be a rich condition so we changed jetting in the carb. It turned out that we actually made it worse and it would not run for the qualifying attempt netting a 22nd fast time which placed him in the last chance race. We changed the carb and went out for the last chance and it was quite a bit better. He started next to Bobby Stremme on the front row and took the lead on the first turn and never looked backed winning by more than a straight away. Steve had to start the feature from the 9th row but quickly worked his way up to the top 10. It was obvious he had a fast car but he still had a stumble in the engine. He drove a very smart race and was trying to pass Phil Bozell for 4th when the checkered fell. A 5th place finish on a night like this was acceptable. If they gave points for how many cars you pass he would have taken home top honors.
Once again we will take the car home and try to figure out what is going on. Once we get this fixed we should be able to have a chance at winning one of these things.
The crew once again did a great job.
Thanks To All
July, 24th 2007
Sorry it has been a little while on the updates. A lot has happened in a very short time. Since our last update in April Steve has won 3 features and has been on top of the points standings at Kalamazoo Speedway. The racing has had ups and downs.
At Plymouth Steve finished 5th out of a tough field for the Jim Blount Memorial Late Model Race. Steve won the mid seasons Harding's 100 at Kalamazoo. At M-40 Steve qualified 4th out of 61 late models and was in a transfer spot for the main when the ignition failed sending the team home disappointed. At the Kalamazoo Klash Steve set fast time out of 57 late models and finished 3rd in the feature. These are some of the high points.
Now for the low,
We lost my dad, Stan Needles in May. Dad was a big supporter of Steve and the race team and followed every race. We will greatly miss pop in the shop giving advice and joking around. After Dad passed we dedicated the race that Saturday to him, and in a fairy tale finish Steve won his first Late Model feature.
What made it really special was that much of our family was there also and had a great time in the middle of much sorrow.
This season is Dedicated to Dad.
Following our M-40 race over the 4th of the July we suffered another loss. Lee Anderson, our chassis builder, fellow racer and friend accidentally drowned in a boating accident. We pitted together at M-40 and was looking forward to racing together at the Klash. Lee was 33. We found out after another feature win at Kalamazoo, needless to say this took the wind from our sails. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Lee's family, the TAG Racing team along with Terry and Carolyn Gentry. Lee has a 3 year old daughter who will need support and many tracks and racers have come forward and helped in this cause. Lee will be missed. We will add Lee to our season dedication along with my dad.
Our next race will be this Saturday at Kalamazoo, we will be trying our best to continue our points lead. We are only looking one week at a time. We will need to be on our game as Andy Bozell has been hot and is getting better every week.
I will try to keep up on race updates on a weekly basis throughout the rest of the season.
Thanks for your patience
Week number 2 brought mixed results for Steve. Once again the car had engine difficulties with an engine miss during hot laps. It seemed to be a rich condition so we changed jetting in the carb. It turned out that we actually made it worse and it would not run for the qualifying attempt netting a 22nd fast time which placed him in the last chance race. We changed the carb and went out for the last chance and it was quite a bit better. He started next to Bobby Stremme on the front row and took the lead on the first turn and never looked backed winning by more than a straight away. Steve had to start the feature from the 9th row but quickly worked his way up to the top 10. It was obvious he had a fast car but he still had a stumble in the engine. He drove a very smart race and was trying to pass Phil Bozell for 4th when the checkered fell. A 5th place finish on a night like this was acceptable. If they gave points for how many cars you pass he would have taken home top honors.
Once again we will take the car home and try to figure out what is going on. Once we get this fixed we should be able to have a chance at winning one of these things.
The crew once again did a great job.
Thanks To All
July, 24th 2007
Sorry it has been a little while on the updates. A lot has happened in a very short time. Since our last update in April Steve has won 3 features and has been on top of the points standings at Kalamazoo Speedway. The racing has had ups and downs.
At Plymouth Steve finished 5th out of a tough field for the Jim Blount Memorial Late Model Race. Steve won the mid seasons Harding's 100 at Kalamazoo. At M-40 Steve qualified 4th out of 61 late models and was in a transfer spot for the main when the ignition failed sending the team home disappointed. At the Kalamazoo Klash Steve set fast time out of 57 late models and finished 3rd in the feature. These are some of the high points.
Now for the low,
We lost my dad, Stan Needles in May. Dad was a big supporter of Steve and the race team and followed every race. We will greatly miss pop in the shop giving advice and joking around. After Dad passed we dedicated the race that Saturday to him, and in a fairy tale finish Steve won his first Late Model feature.
What made it really special was that much of our family was there also and had a great time in the middle of much sorrow.
This season is Dedicated to Dad.
Following our M-40 race over the 4th of the July we suffered another loss. Lee Anderson, our chassis builder, fellow racer and friend accidentally drowned in a boating accident. We pitted together at M-40 and was looking forward to racing together at the Klash. Lee was 33. We found out after another feature win at Kalamazoo, needless to say this took the wind from our sails. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Lee's family, the TAG Racing team along with Terry and Carolyn Gentry. Lee has a 3 year old daughter who will need support and many tracks and racers have come forward and helped in this cause. Lee will be missed. We will add Lee to our season dedication along with my dad.
Our next race will be this Saturday at Kalamazoo, we will be trying our best to continue our points lead. We are only looking one week at a time. We will need to be on our game as Andy Bozell has been hot and is getting better every week.
I will try to keep up on race updates on a weekly basis throughout the rest of the season.
Thanks for your patience
Steve brought his new Perfect Circle car to Kalamazoo Speedway for the season opening Intimidator 100 and left with a 2nd place finish. It was not without a lot of work and some fancy driving. It all started during Thursdays practice when the car would only run for a few laps then the engine would cut out. After replacing most of the fuel system parts at the track the team took the car home and worked until early Saturday adding a back up ignition so Steve could switch over should the problem surface at the race on Saturday. Well the car again started missing this time though Steve felt it was more fuel related than ignition. After much work and only logging a few hot laps Steve attempted to qualify on "sticker" tires since he did not have time to scuff in the tires prior to qualifying. The car was good enough to qualify 3rd out of 50 cars. Steve felt if he could have had the chance to scuff them in he could have had fast time. At this point though we did not know if the problem was fixed and would not find out until in the feature. Starting in the 5th spot Steve quickly moved into second. At around lap 15 they were lapping a slower car with Steve attempting to go high and pass the leader who was caught behind the lapped car, well the leader went low and they wound up splitting the lapped car who looked to panic and drover into the left rear of Steve spinning him out. The track ruled Steve was spun and gave him his spot back on the restart. The next 85 laps were some of the best racing you could see. Dave Sensiba and Steve battled for second for most of the race; Brandon Lyons snuck in and passed them when Sensiba had a hard time passing the leader Luke Krick. Steve then fell to 4th but quickly passed Krick and Sensiba and set sail for Lyons. There was not enough laps left though and in a very exciting finish Lyons edged Steve by only .216 of a second. Steve crossed the line sideways did a 360 and kept going he was only thinking about winning the race.
We are looking forward to the next race with our goal of picking up Steve's first Late Model win.
Thanks to Scott and Greg and Eddie for all there help in the pits. And all of of sponsors in 2007.
Please go to our sponsor page to learn more about our valued sponsors.
Race Update For 4/28/07
Week number 2 brought mixed results for Steve. Once again the car had engine difficulties with an engine miss during hot laps. It seemed to be a rich condition so we changed jetting in the carb. It turned out that we actually made it worse and it would not run for the qualifying attempt netting a 22nd fast time which placed him in the last chance race. We changed the carb and went out for the last chance and it was quite a bit better. He started next to Bobby Stremme on the front row and took the lead on the first turn and never looked backed winning by more than a straight away. Steve had to start the feature from the 9th row but quickly worked his way up to the top 10. It was obvious he had a fast car but he still had a stumble in the engine. He drove a very smart race and was trying to pass Phil Bozell for 4th when the checkered fell. A 5th place finish on a night like this was acceptable. If they gave points for how many cars you pass he would have taken home top honors.
Once again we will take the car home and try to figure out what is going on. Once we get this fixed we should be able to have a chance at winning one of these things.
The crew once again did a great job.
Thanks To All
July, 24th 2007
Sorry it has been a little while on the updates. A lot has happened in a very short time. Since our last update in April Steve has won 3 features and has been on top of the points standings at Kalamazoo Speedway. The racing has had ups and downs.
At Plymouth Steve finished 5th out of a tough field for the Jim Blount Memorial Late Model Race. Steve won the mid seasons Harding's 100 at Kalamazoo. At M-40 Steve qualified 4th out of 61 late models and was in a transfer spot for the main when the ignition failed sending the team home disappointed. At the Kalamazoo Klash Steve set fast time out of 57 late models and finished 3rd in the feature. These are some of the high points.
Now for the low,
We lost my dad, Stan Needles in May. Dad was a big supporter of Steve and the race team and followed every race. We will greatly miss pop in the shop giving advice and joking around. After Dad passed we dedicated the race that Saturday to him, and in a fairy tale finish Steve won his first Late Model feature.
What made it really special was that much of our family was there also and had a great time in the middle of much sorrow.
This season is Dedicated to Dad.
Following our M-40 race over the 4th of the July we suffered another loss. Lee Anderson, our chassis builder, fellow racer and friend accidentally drowned in a boating accident. We pitted together at M-40 and was looking forward to racing together at the Klash. Lee was 33. We found out after another feature win at Kalamazoo, needless to say this took the wind from our sails. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Lee's family, the TAG Racing team along with Terry and Carolyn Gentry. Lee has a 3 year old daughter who will need support and many tracks and racers have come forward and helped in this cause. Lee will be missed. We will add Lee to our season dedication along with my dad.
Our next race will be this Saturday at Kalamazoo, we will be trying our best to continue our points lead. We are only looking one week at a time. We will need to be on our game as Andy Bozell has been hot and is getting better every week.
I will try to keep up on race updates on a weekly basis throughout the rest of the season.
Thanks for your patience
Week number 2 brought mixed results for Steve. Once again the car had engine difficulties with an engine miss during hot laps. It seemed to be a rich condition so we changed jetting in the carb. It turned out that we actually made it worse and it would not run for the qualifying attempt netting a 22nd fast time which placed him in the last chance race. We changed the carb and went out for the last chance and it was quite a bit better. He started next to Bobby Stremme on the front row and took the lead on the first turn and never looked backed winning by more than a straight away. Steve had to start the feature from the 9th row but quickly worked his way up to the top 10. It was obvious he had a fast car but he still had a stumble in the engine. He drove a very smart race and was trying to pass Phil Bozell for 4th when the checkered fell. A 5th place finish on a night like this was acceptable. If they gave points for how many cars you pass he would have taken home top honors.
Once again we will take the car home and try to figure out what is going on. Once we get this fixed we should be able to have a chance at winning one of these things.
The crew once again did a great job.
Thanks To All
July, 24th 2007
Sorry it has been a little while on the updates. A lot has happened in a very short time. Since our last update in April Steve has won 3 features and has been on top of the points standings at Kalamazoo Speedway. The racing has had ups and downs.
At Plymouth Steve finished 5th out of a tough field for the Jim Blount Memorial Late Model Race. Steve won the mid seasons Harding's 100 at Kalamazoo. At M-40 Steve qualified 4th out of 61 late models and was in a transfer spot for the main when the ignition failed sending the team home disappointed. At the Kalamazoo Klash Steve set fast time out of 57 late models and finished 3rd in the feature. These are some of the high points.
Now for the low,
We lost my dad, Stan Needles in May. Dad was a big supporter of Steve and the race team and followed every race. We will greatly miss pop in the shop giving advice and joking around. After Dad passed we dedicated the race that Saturday to him, and in a fairy tale finish Steve won his first Late Model feature.
What made it really special was that much of our family was there also and had a great time in the middle of much sorrow.
This season is Dedicated to Dad.
Following our M-40 race over the 4th of the July we suffered another loss. Lee Anderson, our chassis builder, fellow racer and friend accidentally drowned in a boating accident. We pitted together at M-40 and was looking forward to racing together at the Klash. Lee was 33. We found out after another feature win at Kalamazoo, needless to say this took the wind from our sails. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Lee's family, the TAG Racing team along with Terry and Carolyn Gentry. Lee has a 3 year old daughter who will need support and many tracks and racers have come forward and helped in this cause. Lee will be missed. We will add Lee to our season dedication along with my dad.
Our next race will be this Saturday at Kalamazoo, we will be trying our best to continue our points lead. We are only looking one week at a time. We will need to be on our game as Andy Bozell has been hot and is getting better every week.
I will try to keep up on race updates on a weekly basis throughout the rest of the season.
Thanks for your patience
Week number 2 brought mixed results for Steve. Once again the car had engine difficulties with an engine miss during hot laps. It seemed to be a rich condition so we changed jetting in the carb. It turned out that we actually made it worse and it would not run for the qualifying attempt netting a 22nd fast time which placed him in the last chance race. We changed the carb and went out for the last chance and it was quite a bit better. He started next to Bobby Stremme on the front row and took the lead on the first turn and never looked backed winning by more than a straight away. Steve had to start the feature from the 9th row but quickly worked his way up to the top 10. It was obvious he had a fast car but he still had a stumble in the engine. He drove a very smart race and was trying to pass Phil Bozell for 4th when the checkered fell. A 5th place finish on a night like this was acceptable. If they gave points for how many cars you pass he would have taken home top honors.
Once again we will take the car home and try to figure out what is going on. Once we get this fixed we should be able to have a chance at winning one of these things.
The crew once again did a great job.
Thanks To All
July, 24th 2007
Sorry it has been a little while on the updates. A lot has happened in a very short time. Since our last update in April Steve has won 3 features and has been on top of the points standings at Kalamazoo Speedway. The racing has had ups and downs.
At Plymouth Steve finished 5th out of a tough field for the Jim Blount Memorial Late Model Race. Steve won the mid seasons Harding's 100 at Kalamazoo. At M-40 Steve qualified 4th out of 61 late models and was in a transfer spot for the main when the ignition failed sending the team home disappointed. At the Kalamazoo Klash Steve set fast time out of 57 late models and finished 3rd in the feature. These are some of the high points.
Now for the low,
We lost my dad, Stan Needles in May. Dad was a big supporter of Steve and the race team and followed every race. We will greatly miss pop in the shop giving advice and joking around. After Dad passed we dedicated the race that Saturday to him, and in a fairy tale finish Steve won his first Late Model feature.
What made it really special was that much of our family was there also and had a great time in the middle of much sorrow.
This season is Dedicated to Dad.
Following our M-40 race over the 4th of the July we suffered another loss. Lee Anderson, our chassis builder, fellow racer and friend accidentally drowned in a boating accident. We pitted together at M-40 and was looking forward to racing together at the Klash. Lee was 33. We found out after another feature win at Kalamazoo, needless to say this took the wind from our sails. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Lee's family, the TAG Racing team along with Terry and Carolyn Gentry. Lee has a 3 year old daughter who will need support and many tracks and racers have come forward and helped in this cause. Lee will be missed. We will add Lee to our season dedication along with my dad.
Our next race will be this Saturday at Kalamazoo, we will be trying our best to continue our points lead. We are only looking one week at a time. We will need to be on our game as Andy Bozell has been hot and is getting better every week.
I will try to keep up on race updates on a weekly basis throughout the rest of the season.
Thanks for your patience
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