South Bend Motor Speedway, South Bend, Indiana
08.06.11
#29 Garett Goodwin of Three Oaks, Michigan made a impressive return back into the Truck. The GGR Crew worked hard in the past week to get their new motor in the #29 Truck to get ready for the August 12th race at Hawkeye Downs Speedway in Cedar Rapids, Iowa for their return in the ASA SCAG Power Equipment Truck Series. After the crew work all day and night for a week to get the Truck ready, they decided to make a trip out to South Bend Motor Speedway to race with the USST Great Lakes Series to shake down the truck to see if there are any issues to fix before the seven hour drive out to Iowa.
As rain almost called the day to end, SBMS pushed on to get the race on! Garett only had one practice session to really tell how the truck was before Qualifying. Garett mentioned that the steering was tight and didn't think the power steering was working. Garett and the #29 machine went out for their qualifying attempt to pick up 5th on the board.
Starting outside pole for the heat race, Garett fell back to 3rd on beginning of the heat. With two laps to go, Garett went to the outside to pass the 2nd place truck. While on the outside, that #29 truck powered to the outside of the leader to go for the lead. On the last lap, Goodwin heard on the radio that they were 3-wide going down the back-stretch. Garett backed off the throttle to not cause an incident and to save the truck for the feature. The crew was proud of their 3rd place finish in the heat and everyone came up to Garett to say that they were proud of the decision he made to save the truck for the feature.
Goodwin rolled off in the 2nd position for the start of the 30 lap feature event. By the second lap of the race, Garett powered to the lead on the outside by a full truck link. On lap 10, Garett radioed in that there was smoke coming inside the truck and asked if it was bad on the outside. His Dad said that it was hardly coming out, so Garett kept going strong and pulling away from the 2nd place truck. Lap 17 came around and the smoke was getting worse. Garett said that he could hardly see due to the smoke pouring in the truck. He ended up pulling off into the infield to not make things worse. After the race was over, Garett ended up in the 7th position for the final results.
“The truck handled the best it has ever handled this year”, said Goodwin, “It's a bummer that we weren't in victory lane. My crew sure deserved it for all their hard work in the past week or two.”
We would like to thank Sevey Motorsports, K1 Race Gear, Quinlan Inc, DriverWebsites.com, SponsorTheTrucks.com, Burkholder Excavating, Hole-In-One Motorsports, Forkers Lawn Service, Shirley's Truck and Tanker Wash, Team Automotive, and all our fans for their help and support.
Next up on the SCAG Power Equipment Truck Tour is Friday night on August 12th at Hawkeye Downs Speedway in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. You can follow Garett and the GGR Crew on Facebook, Twitter, and on his website at www.GarettGoodwin.com. If you are interested in more information on the ASA Midwest Tour, visit www.asamidwesttour.com.