New Castle, Ind.—Nov 11, 2012— Tracy Hines knew that all of the laps he had turned in a sprint car this season at Canyon Speedway Park in Peoria, Ariz., would come in handy when he made his first-ever start in a midget at the three-eighths-mile during the Western Classic on Saturday night. After Mother Nature interrupted the opener of the originally scheduled two-night event with rain, a very challenging track greeted drivers for the finale. Hines used a strong start to the 30-lap main event to move forward and would run a steady race to finish fourth.
Hines, who entered the event second in points with the USAC Mopar National Midget Series, lined up seventh for the 30-lap A-Feature in the Parker Machinery Toyota-powered Spike and gained a couple of positions in the opening four laps, before the first caution flag of the night flew. The second yellow flag of the night would come out on the eighth circuit, with Hines still running fifth.
The remainder of the 30-lapper would go green, without any cautions, on a lightning fast and very heavy surface. Hines would pick up one more spot to finish fourth. He battled Rico Abreu in the late going for third, coming up just short. The fourth-place showing for Hines was his 13th Top-10 finish of the season with the USAC Mopar National Midget Series, of which nine have been Top-Five performances, including four wins.
“The track was definitely fast all night,” said Hines. “The start and then the two restarts were pretty important and the best chances we had to pick up a few spots. We had that long green flag run after the two cautions and then were battling for third late in the race in traffic. We’ve been consistent all season in the midget and have one more chance to see if we can get another win this year.”
The native of New Castle, Ind., opened the night by turning a lap of 14.349-seconds, which was seventh-fastest of the 28 cars that took to the track. Hines followed that up with a fourth-place finish in the third eight-lap heat race to earn a spot in the 30-lap A-Feature.
“It was a strong field of cars for sure,” noted Hines. “We worked on the car all night and made some gains for the feature. For our first time in a midget at that track it was a decent run. With all the laps we have there, we certainly had high expectations going into the weekend.”
The opener of the Western Classic at Canyon Speedway Park on Friday, Nov. 9, was rained out and will not be rescheduled. Just one event remains for Hines this season with the USAC Mopar National Midget Series, and that is the 72nd Annual Turkey Night Grand Prix at Perris Auto Speedway in California, on Nov. 22.
Hines returns to action later this week at Canyon Speedway Park in the 45th Annual FVP Western World Championships Presented by Sands Chevrolet aboard his MP Environmental DRC. The Western World Championships begin with a practice session on Wednesday, Nov. 14, followed by racing on Thursday, Nov. 15, Friday, Nov. 16 and Saturday Nov. 17. Hines is the defending champion of the non-wing sprint car portion of the Western World.
“I’m looking forward to getting back in the sprint car later this week at Canyon,” said Hines. “We’ve spent a lot of time at Canyon over the last few weeks and have learned quite a few things that should help us in the Western World. That’s a tough event for sure and we were fortunate enough to win it last year, so we’ll give it everything we got again this year and see if we can win it again.”
Tracy Hines Racing would like to thank: Parker Machinery, AFCO Racing Shocks, Bell Race Gear, FatHeadz, Kenny’s Components, Race Bumpers, Rod End Supply, Schoenfeld Headers and Stanton Racing for their continued support.
For more information on Tracy Hines Racing, including a complete 2012 schedule, visit http://www.tracyhinesracing.com. Follow Tracy on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/TracyHinesRacin.
