THE WEEKEND WARRIORS
One Week at a Time in the Dirt
A Racers View
By: Kevin "Ohio Outlaw" Lentz
Week 2 April 6, 2005
Soggy Beginnings
The week began with a little misfortune and ended pretty much the same way. After being rained-out
of our first practice the prior weekend, we thought we were ready for an easy week of preparation
before the season opener at Skyline Speedway. Boy were we wrong. My dad and David started the
week thinking all we had to do was get the trailer ready and once over the car. The trailer was a non
issue as expected, but the car was not quite as far along. We added a new cam, had head work
done, and changed a few other things under the hood during the winter, but we apparently
over-looked some things.
Monday was a once over on the trailer and that's about it. Tuesday began a long week for my
dedicated crew. Our first problem came when the car was fired. After a few attempts it was
determined that we once again had starter problems. After trying to add/subtract shims, my crew
realized we had a bigger issue. To make a long story short: we had a bad starter and needed a new
flywheel. I figure this was caused by too much grinding when we were setting the timing. So my
transmission specialist, David, dropped the tranny and pulled the starter and flywheel out and
headed to the speed shop. After getting with parts and putting the starter and flywheel on they
called it a night. Wednesday brought new challenges. After trying to get the tranny to line
up, it was discovered that the motor was not sitting correctly and needed to be pulled up a little. Not
sure exactly what they mean, but wasn't a big issue. Finally the tranny lined up and was in place. At
that point my crew decided before they did anything else, it was time to check every nut and
bolt on the car. After several hours of hard and tedious work the car was ready to be fired. The
sweet sound of a screaming engine soon filled the air and town of Bremen. Thursday the crew
worked even harder and faster as they wanted to have the car timed and everything ready to go
before I rolled into town later that night. The front end was put back on and the car was completed
just in time to beat the city noise ordinance. It didn't take long before our shop received its weekly
visit from the sheriff's department. The sheriffs deputies are pretty cool and never say much as we
always shut everything down early. I had not been informed of any issues with the car, and figured
all was well. So I helped my wife get my boy to bed and then headed to the shop. Three hours later
I arrive at about 10:00pm. At that point my dad informs me of the issues of the week. I guess they
didn't want to alarm me.
I have two of the hardest working guys anyone could ask for. I also found out my dad had been and
still was. I felt bad, but taking that Rayburn out of his shop would make him sicker. He really
enjoys working on the car and it helps having my crew close. All of my crew is great and I
appreciate the fact that they are willing to do what is needed. They all work full-time and have
families, but always seem to find time to work on the car.. I hope I can keep I can give them a break
some this season. The rains came Friday and after waiting as long as we could to find out if
Skyline cancelled, we called Larry Bond. Larry lives close to the track and we were told at that point
to stay home, it was not going to stop. At that point I wanted to go to Toma Johnson's' shop and
check out what he was doing. Toma builds Boss Chassis and I am probably going to get another
chassis next year and am not sure which one I will choose. We stayed there talking until about
seven. I had to be at work at five in the morning on Saturday, so I headed back to Cleveland. I was
going to work until noon and head back down to race at Midway, but they cancelled early and I was
able to spend a little quality time at home with the family. Between working my crazy retail schedule
and racing, my wife and son don't get to see me as much as I would like. There was some good this
past week as we added two new two additional sponsors to our team. L & W Motorsports is pleased
to announce Rhodes Race Wire and AC Restoration as new sponsors for the 2005 campaign.
Thank you Chris and Stacy, your help is appreciated. I would like to thank all of my sponsors Lone
Wolf Motorsports, Midwest Right of Way, FireFreeze Worldwide, Bunker Hill Welding and
Fabrication, Rhodes Race Wire, AC Restoration, and DirtFans.com. I also want to thank my crew
and the fans for their support. We will be opening our season this Friday April 8 at Skyline
Speedway. Hope to see you there. If anyone would like to join L & W Motorsports as a
sponsor please e-mail me kalentz00@aol.com
Kevin "Ohio Outlaw" Lentz
L & W Motorsports
www.lwmotorsports.com
of our first practice the prior weekend, we thought we were ready for an easy week of preparation
before the season opener at Skyline Speedway. Boy were we wrong. My dad and David started the
week thinking all we had to do was get the trailer ready and once over the car. The trailer was a non
issue as expected, but the car was not quite as far along. We added a new cam, had head work
done, and changed a few other things under the hood during the winter, but we apparently
over-looked some things.
Monday was a once over on the trailer and that's about it. Tuesday began a long week for my
dedicated crew. Our first problem came when the car was fired. After a few attempts it was
determined that we once again had starter problems. After trying to add/subtract shims, my crew
realized we had a bigger issue. To make a long story short: we had a bad starter and needed a new
flywheel. I figure this was caused by too much grinding when we were setting the timing. So my
transmission specialist, David, dropped the tranny and pulled the starter and flywheel out and
headed to the speed shop. After getting with parts and putting the starter and flywheel on they
called it a night. Wednesday brought new challenges. After trying to get the tranny to line
up, it was discovered that the motor was not sitting correctly and needed to be pulled up a little. Not
sure exactly what they mean, but wasn't a big issue. Finally the tranny lined up and was in place. At
that point my crew decided before they did anything else, it was time to check every nut and
bolt on the car. After several hours of hard and tedious work the car was ready to be fired. The
sweet sound of a screaming engine soon filled the air and town of Bremen. Thursday the crew
worked even harder and faster as they wanted to have the car timed and everything ready to go
before I rolled into town later that night. The front end was put back on and the car was completed
just in time to beat the city noise ordinance. It didn't take long before our shop received its weekly
visit from the sheriff's department. The sheriffs deputies are pretty cool and never say much as we
always shut everything down early. I had not been informed of any issues with the car, and figured
all was well. So I helped my wife get my boy to bed and then headed to the shop. Three hours later
I arrive at about 10:00pm. At that point my dad informs me of the issues of the week. I guess they
didn't want to alarm me.
I have two of the hardest working guys anyone could ask for. I also found out my dad had been and
still was. I felt bad, but taking that Rayburn out of his shop would make him sicker. He really
enjoys working on the car and it helps having my crew close. All of my crew is great and I
appreciate the fact that they are willing to do what is needed. They all work full-time and have
families, but always seem to find time to work on the car.. I hope I can keep I can give them a break
some this season. The rains came Friday and after waiting as long as we could to find out if
Skyline cancelled, we called Larry Bond. Larry lives close to the track and we were told at that point
to stay home, it was not going to stop. At that point I wanted to go to Toma Johnson's' shop and
check out what he was doing. Toma builds Boss Chassis and I am probably going to get another
chassis next year and am not sure which one I will choose. We stayed there talking until about
seven. I had to be at work at five in the morning on Saturday, so I headed back to Cleveland. I was
going to work until noon and head back down to race at Midway, but they cancelled early and I was
able to spend a little quality time at home with the family. Between working my crazy retail schedule
and racing, my wife and son don't get to see me as much as I would like. There was some good this
past week as we added two new two additional sponsors to our team. L & W Motorsports is pleased
to announce Rhodes Race Wire and AC Restoration as new sponsors for the 2005 campaign.
Thank you Chris and Stacy, your help is appreciated. I would like to thank all of my sponsors Lone
Wolf Motorsports, Midwest Right of Way, FireFreeze Worldwide, Bunker Hill Welding and
Fabrication, Rhodes Race Wire, AC Restoration, and DirtFans.com. I also want to thank my crew
and the fans for their support. We will be opening our season this Friday April 8 at Skyline
Speedway. Hope to see you there. If anyone would like to join L & W Motorsports as a
sponsor please e-mail me kalentz00@aol.com
Kevin "Ohio Outlaw" Lentz
L & W Motorsports
www.lwmotorsports.com
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