Tuesday -September 14th:

Sawyer's Crew heads to Texas - Read pit talk.
Crew arrives successfully on Wednesday. After encountering two flat tires; one on the hauler and one on the trailer, the Sawyer Racing crew arrived in Texas on Wednesday afternoon.

Thursday- September 16th: Pits open 3:30 - Registration, Hot laps

Thirty cars showed up to practice at Lubbock Motor Speedway on Thursday evening. The track promoter stated that roughly 1/3 of the cars show for practice (usually the presigns) and estimates a total of somewhere between sixty and eighty will show up by tomorrow. The practice was temporarily halted due to a hail storm around six in the evening. It was reported hail came down for a short period the size of marbles. After practice resumed track officials placed the clock on the cars that were practicing. Fast time was clocked at 17.24 (driver unknown) , Sawyer had second fast time as 17.29. According to Sawyer's crew chief the 3/8 mile is very high banked and track heavy which allows the driver to run flat out on the track. The #98car of Sawyer weighed in light and the team will have to add weight before race time. Robby had second fast time unofficial according to the track times. The team is very happy with the way the car is running,"we just have to add a little weight", stated Crew Chief Kelly Sawyer. So far cars have arrived to compete in the weekend race are from Louisiana, New Mexico, Texas, and California.
View aerials of the race track.

Friday - September 17th: Draw for positions --7:30 pm - Heat races

Forty cars showed up for the Friday night race. The cars were divided into six heat races. Robby started the first heat second row outside and finished second in the ten lap race. This placed him in the first B main. There were two B mains that would consist of a 15 lap main event. Robby started on the pole of the B main and at one point fell back to seventh because of the tires had to much pressure. Sawyer ran 1-2 at the front for the first few laps then fell back. He ran hard, stated the crew Chief. The tire pressure was the issue - the cars running good but he had to really work to keep it up front to qualify for the main tonight. He then moved back up through the pack and pulled off a fourth place finish, this now placed him in tonights twenty-five lap A main event. Twenty-four cars will start the A main tonight and this will determine Sunday's race starting field. Updates to come as the main event is about to start. As of now the time is 10:22 Texas time (8:22 pm Bakersfield time).
A Main Event - Friday Night -Sawyer starts inside seventh row of tonights A main (14th position of 24 cars). Sawyer is the only California car to make the "A" main. Sawyer worked his way up slowly in the twenty-five lap main- as of checkered flag time he was either fourth or fifth-crew chief believes fifth. The top five qulifiers are weighed, when Sawyer went across the scales he weighed 3195 and he must weigh 3200, he was five pounds short of making weight. Sawyer must now start all over again on Saturday to make the A main on Sunday. If Sawyer had made weight he would have qualified for the Sunday's show but since he didn't he will have to run tomorrow again and start over in the heat races to try and transfer to the A main again. Although there was disappointment over the five pound difference the crew was happy with the car despite the track turning dry and slick. "We learned a lot tonight, Robby learned a lot, and we will just have to work for it again come tomorrow night," Kelly stated via phone, "he was the second fastest car there, just cautious and using his head, the leader just ran off from everyone, some of the cars seem like IMCAs in disguise...but were gonna give them a run."

Saturday- September 18th: Draw for positions - 7:00 pm Heat races

Commentary: Noon (Bakersfield Time) 2:00 pm Texas Time. Talked via phone to the crew Chief-Kelly-he said they are ready for tonight. Have the weight issue solved. Robby is in good spirits and ready to race despite the disappointment of not making weight last nite, the pit crew took it harder than the driver, they wanted him to make the Sunday race last night.

All that hard work and now we are starting over again....He's (Robby) not worried about tonight just wants to race-it will be tough but plans on doing the best he can-he feels great about the new motor--its very fast!!! Thanks again to Mark at Powerhouse for putting him there--looking positive---if he makes it he does...if not they will have one more chance tomorrow (Sunday). Kelly said Robby has adapted very good to the track and running again tonight is just giving him more track time.

The driver has made himself noticed-hes the "California Kid" whose tough and going to be in the front of the pack. The website will be updated as information comes in...usually a call from the crew chief. Currently I am are trying to get information from the track webmaster so we may provide more information about the other drivers (who they are, where they are from, etc). But cannot guarantee this information will be provided soon...depends on how often the webmaster for their site checks the email but it would be nice to provide information on some of the competition.

The goal is to keep everyone up-to-date, the website had over 80 visitors in the last three hours...so keep checkin back for new updates. Thanks again for all those who have helped make this race happen.
Bakersfield has made it presence in Texas. Sincerely, the Webmaster.

Pre-race -the crew was busy this afternoon changing out the transmission. There was problems with the transmission so they put the back-up transmission on the car. Although this transmission has 17 races on it, Robby feels good about the way it works and cant take any chances of getting out there and the car not going forward.

Update (8:41 Texas Time)
There were four qualifying heats tonight. The winner of each heat would transfer to tonight's A main. The remainder of the cars would be split into two B Mains and only the top ten from each B Main would transfer to tonights A main.
Robby started the fourth heat in the third row inside. Sawyer won his heat and automatically transfers to tonights A main. Sawyer was the only car running the high groove - everyone was running down low. "He was flying on the high side, we worked on the car today, changed the tranny, made some chassis adjustments to get more bite in the car, " stated Kelly. We still have the A Main to battle tonight.

(Midnight-Bakersfield Time)
Robby started the A main in the second row outside.
Sawyer was running third when suddenly the rearend of the car exploded. The pinon gear snapped, when this happened Kelly said it sent Robby towards the wall and actually lifted the car up off the ground, fortunately Robby felt, heard, and reacted quickly and threw the car sideways towards the wall instead of head on into the wall. With the gear exploding it took off the driveline, and the transmission was also damaged by the gear exploding. The rearend broked the transmission. I have never seen anything like it, the bell housing on the transmission is split in half, stated Kelly via phone. Robby was fast tonight, fast all night, he had a good shot at winning tonight's A main. So now they need a back-up transmission.
One would think the team is done for the weekend...
but they thought so too, then people started coming by the pits and sure enough as of this writing Kelly and a local are headed to get another transmission about an hour from Lubbock..
Kelly and Richie figure they will get back early morning hours, catch some shut eye and the crew will have an early start to get everything put back together. They also will have to run another set of gears-its not really the gearing Kelly wants but it will put him back at another shot of making the A main for tomorrow.
The biggest factor now is time, the race starts at two not seven and the pits open up early so its going to be a rush to get Robby back on the track. Click here to read how the race is qualified for Sunday.
"I thought we were done but the people back here have been a lot of help, we really appreciate it, we will try one more time and go from there, Robby's doing his job... it's the equipment we are battling, the crews worked hard, everyone's tired, but we are not going to give up yet", stated Sawyer.

Sunday - September 19th: 11:00 Pits Open - 2:00 Races Start

Update:
First, we can't thank the pit crew enough. Bryan Brown, Bob Amos and Cody Prewitt. Todd Mayfield who is there with Zack Forster has also been involved with helping the team. Second, Robby's got his work cut out for him, starting in the back of the "C" main and hoping the car holds up-the only thing Kelly is concerned about is the back-up gear. The gearing is not what Kelly wanted to run at the track.
Everyone is tired, worked hard, and they have kept going to put the driver on the track-we are so thankful for our crew...they are awesome. The whole pit crew deserves a big steak dinner when they get back.
C Main - Robby finished ...was running second in the C Main and finised fourth, this now transferred him to the B Main.
B Main - Robby was running fourth in the B Main, the top 14 transfer to the A main when the TCI transmission he had picked up in Texas went away. "He said something didn't feel right in the C Main so he fell back, we worked on the car before the B main again, Robby did his job, he would have transferred, the equipment failed, not the driver, he' s done great at holding up, he was flying again today," stated Kelly.
It's been a long day, long weekend, and we now have to focus on the Final points race in Bakersfield this Saturday. Part of this focus will be taking the TCI transmission that we picked up in Texas to Gils Transmissions so it gets built correctly.

Pictures of the Lubbock Race to come....check back
Robby....Were Proud of Your Effort!!

TEXAS EVENT LINKS
Read the TEXAS headlines at www.whowon.com

Lubbock Motor Speedway Main Website

View aerials of the race track.

Thanks To All The People Who Supported The Lubbock TEXAS RACE---

FLAMECO
H & S Body Works
Milodon
Primetime Signs
Rosedale Automotive
Cooke's Veterinary Hospital
Hall Ambulance
Sierra Construction & Excavation
The Pizza Market
A Special Thanks to the following:
Mark & Dallas
Gregg Marling
Bruce Shirley
Pat Sawyer
Brown Family
Mulhause Family
Bob & Eleanor Sawyer
Bob Amos
Tyler Bundy
Cody Prewitt
Richie McGowen
Mike Sawyer
Vicki & Danny
and everyone else who showed up to help and support Sawyer Racing!!
You guys were AWESOME At Helping Out The Team!!!