THE WEEKEND WARRIORS
One Week at a Time in the Dirt
A Racers View
By: Kevin "Ohio Outlaw" Lentz
Week 8 May 25, 2005
Just when you think you have shaken the monkey off your back, disaster strikes. After rain-out number
nine this past Friday, L & W Motorsports was dealt a possible fatal blow. Early Saturday morning the crew
and I were in the shop getting ready for our first trip of the year to Midway Speedway. We began loading
the truck and were excited to get the sunny day started. We fired up the Rayburn and let her idle for a
while to warm up. Once we got a little heat in it, we let her roar a few times. I was standing out by the truck
when I heard David yell something and the roar stopped. I hustled into the shop just in time to see a ton of
smoke fill the air. That was a sight that looked too familiar. My first year racing, two years ago, was the
last time I saw something like that from my car. And it was the worst case scenario ….She Blew.
We quickly got our gloves and tools and started to slowly take the motor apart. For the first time in two
plus years there was an eerie calm in the shop when there was a problem. There was no swearing, no tools
flying, no yelling, just a calm wait and see atmosphere. I didn’t take long to see that we had a major
problem. As soon as we began checking things we knew this wasn’t going to be pretty. David pulled a
spark plug and it looked like it had been hit with something. The more we took off the motor the worse it
got. As far as we can tell we had a rocker arm come off causing a chain reaction that has completely wiped
out our motor. The only thing that may have made it is the crank….maybe.
After we were down to the block we all got quiet, almost as if we had taken a vow of silence. I felt sick. I
have put everything I could into that car and motor. I’m not sure what the others were thinking at that time,
but I do know what I was thinking. I was thinking how bad I wanted to race. I was thinking of ways I could
race. Then I began thinking the what if…..if I would get to race again. I then felt sicker than before. I
finally broke the silence by saying " I have done all I can, I am down to the point where I would have to
start taking food off my table." I would rather race than eat, but I draw the line on taking the food out of
my one and a half year olds mouth. Then it got quiet again. It seemed we all had the same idea as we all
started to gather the tools and put everything away. After we unloaded the truck and parked the trailer we
all headed into the house to discuss how we would proceed.
There was a couple names that came up as potential sponsors that we decided to contact. As of today,
Tuesday, we had talked to one that may try and help. We are down right now, but we are far from being
out. I do know that we are on the shelf for at least this weekend and most likely a few more weeks.
Hopefully not too much longer.
I would like to take this time to apologize to our sponsors Rhodes Race Wire, A-C Cleaning and
Restoration, Midwest Right of Way, Bunker Hill Welding And Fabrication, www.DirtFans.com , Fire Freeze
Worldwide and American Eagle Moving and to thank them for their efforts in getting us going in 2005. You
are important to us and we will continue to work to promote your products and services while we are getting
things back together. I also want to thank Todd and Jody for letting me write these articles. Hopefully we
will be back at it with real racing and not just shop talk very soon. Obviously we are still in need of
additional sponsors. If anyone is interested we can get a proposal to you fast and easy. We have sponsor
plans to fit any business needs. We can be reached via e-mail at kalentz00@aol.com or by phone at 440-
773-2657.
Kevin "Ohio Outlaw" Lentz
L & W Motorsports
www.lwmotorsports.com
nine this past Friday, L & W Motorsports was dealt a possible fatal blow. Early Saturday morning the crew
and I were in the shop getting ready for our first trip of the year to Midway Speedway. We began loading
the truck and were excited to get the sunny day started. We fired up the Rayburn and let her idle for a
while to warm up. Once we got a little heat in it, we let her roar a few times. I was standing out by the truck
when I heard David yell something and the roar stopped. I hustled into the shop just in time to see a ton of
smoke fill the air. That was a sight that looked too familiar. My first year racing, two years ago, was the
last time I saw something like that from my car. And it was the worst case scenario ….She Blew.
We quickly got our gloves and tools and started to slowly take the motor apart. For the first time in two
plus years there was an eerie calm in the shop when there was a problem. There was no swearing, no tools
flying, no yelling, just a calm wait and see atmosphere. I didn’t take long to see that we had a major
problem. As soon as we began checking things we knew this wasn’t going to be pretty. David pulled a
spark plug and it looked like it had been hit with something. The more we took off the motor the worse it
got. As far as we can tell we had a rocker arm come off causing a chain reaction that has completely wiped
out our motor. The only thing that may have made it is the crank….maybe.
After we were down to the block we all got quiet, almost as if we had taken a vow of silence. I felt sick. I
have put everything I could into that car and motor. I’m not sure what the others were thinking at that time,
but I do know what I was thinking. I was thinking how bad I wanted to race. I was thinking of ways I could
race. Then I began thinking the what if…..if I would get to race again. I then felt sicker than before. I
finally broke the silence by saying " I have done all I can, I am down to the point where I would have to
start taking food off my table." I would rather race than eat, but I draw the line on taking the food out of
my one and a half year olds mouth. Then it got quiet again. It seemed we all had the same idea as we all
started to gather the tools and put everything away. After we unloaded the truck and parked the trailer we
all headed into the house to discuss how we would proceed.
There was a couple names that came up as potential sponsors that we decided to contact. As of today,
Tuesday, we had talked to one that may try and help. We are down right now, but we are far from being
out. I do know that we are on the shelf for at least this weekend and most likely a few more weeks.
Hopefully not too much longer.
I would like to take this time to apologize to our sponsors Rhodes Race Wire, A-C Cleaning and
Restoration, Midwest Right of Way, Bunker Hill Welding And Fabrication, www.DirtFans.com , Fire Freeze
Worldwide and American Eagle Moving and to thank them for their efforts in getting us going in 2005. You
are important to us and we will continue to work to promote your products and services while we are getting
things back together. I also want to thank Todd and Jody for letting me write these articles. Hopefully we
will be back at it with real racing and not just shop talk very soon. Obviously we are still in need of
additional sponsors. If anyone is interested we can get a proposal to you fast and easy. We have sponsor
plans to fit any business needs. We can be reached via e-mail at kalentz00@aol.com or by phone at 440-
773-2657.
Kevin "Ohio Outlaw" Lentz
L & W Motorsports
www.lwmotorsports.com
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