October 26, 2009 – Awesome performance from an awesome friend! Normally my online articles are written from an outside of the car perspective…this week I can do that with my own words because I was outside of the car. The past week was a huge challenge. We found issues with the car that had to be figured out and then fixed. This entailed getting last minute help from others, especially Jim Clark at Acworth Machine. Jim dropped what he was working on and got me back on the road to the shop as quick as possible so we could make every attempt to get this motor and car back together for Saturday night. Daniel Vineyard helped get the car ready most of the day Saturday and we were able to get it loaded and ready just in time to make it to the track.

I have wanted to get Daniel in the car for several years now, knowing he can drive the ~heck~ out of a race car and wanting to see what he could do with it. The right opportunity has never opened up until this night and when it did open up everything lined up perfectly (almost). Daniel was able to spin a #1 on the wheel to determine his starting position which insured he had the pole and the track dried out perfectly which the car is unbelievable on. After all of the variables he was not in control of lined up perfectly the rest was up to him. He got in the car for the feature with no true green flag laps under his belt in this car but you could not tell it when the green fell. Daniel lost a little ground on the start to 2008 track champ Kenny Taylor who started on the outside pole but it didn’t take long before he made up the ground and took the advantage on entry to turn 1. Daniel was able to pull away down the back stretch and extend his lead over the next several laps. The field tightened back together when a mid race caution came out putting Taylor and Roy Patterson on his tail. The 20 pulled away again by several car lengths but the big lead didn’t last as the 17 of Patterson began to reel him in and reached the rear bumper on the last lap. Patterson made a charge down the back straight away trying to use a lap car to his advantage but to no avail; on this night the 20 was piloted by a great driver that took advantage of his opportunity and proved himself to all.

Thanks Daniel…I had a blast seeing you accomplish what you knew you could!

September 14, 2009 – Liberal “DC” mindset invades Dixie. Following the Super Bomber race Saturday night that saw Tim Ford dominate from start to finish and Chris Sizemore pick his way through the field from his sixth place starting spot to finish second there was a protest put up against the winner. After some posturing about tearing down the 43 team backed down from pulling a head off the car confirming the engine was illegal. Following this determination there was some outrage from the 43 team and at least one other team accusing the 20 team as having a bad attitude, winning too much and not “letting” other teams win. Sounds a little like the liberal mindset of “spreading the wealth” and giving awards for participation versus making people earn what they get.

“Tonight was a tough race; I started back in the pack and got the car beat up pretty good making it through the field. The car wasn’t great tonight but it felt better than it looked out my front window. I saw the 43 pushing like a dump truck through the corners and yanking me by several car lengths down the straight away. That was a good indication that something was wrong with this picture and I was pretty sure he was wrong. I lobbied Tim Watters to allow the 43 to run with us with a weight penalty because of his rear-end housing but we didn’t ok running against a North Georgia Speedway motor rule. I am disappointed that they are getting mad at me for doing my part in making sure the competitors are legal and no I don’t think I have won enough…if I thought that, I would just stay at home on Saturday nights! I will keep bringing the money and look at whoever I suspect may be wrong…I don’t have a problem with playing by the rule book.”

August 17, 2009 – Sizemore slips in quest for Championship. After running in the top 5 in all of the first 12 races Sizemore was unable to make it into the top 5 Saturday night at Dixie Speedway. The sixth place finish behind winner Greg Ledford and runner up Roy Patterson drops Sizemore realistically out of the running for the 2009 Points Championship.

“Tonight was not a good night for us; the track conditions didn’t match what we really like and I really couldn’t get too far through the field from starting 10^th. Ledford told us tonight that it would be his last race of the year, he is going out of town for work; I will believe it when I see it. I hope he is back next week; it wouldn’t mean much to win a championship not going toe to toe with the top driver in the class!”

August 10, 2009 – Sizemore making a final charge in an attempt to reel in Ledford for the 2009 Championship. With six races remaining in the 2009 Championship run Sizemore got the luck of the draw to get his night started off right. With his good draw for starting position the 20 was able to start on the front row beside Russell Schell and in front of Kirk Atkins. Points leader Greg Ledford had the opposite fortune and had to start in the back along with last weeks winner Roy Patterson.

The drop of the flag saw Sizemore jump to the lead in front of Schell and Atkins. Through the many cautions Sizemore held a controlling lead but Greg Ledford continued to make his way to the front. As the green flew for the final time, the 87 of Atkins was able to stifle the charge of Ledford and hold on to second. Sizemore went on to victory for the second time in three weeks followed by Kirk Atkins, Greg Ledford and Roy Patterson.

“It was a strong run tonight! I look forward to next week when we have to start back in the pack…we still have more to prove this season.”

August 4, 2009 – Past several weeks have been off and on between good runs and great runs; the Z-Ty Racing team has alternated wins and second place runs.

Saturday, July 18 saw Greg Ledford take the early lead and hold off Sizemore over the 15 lap feature for his fourth win of the season at Dixie Speedway.

Saturday, July 25 flipped the scenario and outcome putting Ledford in the position of chasing down Sizemore. Sizemore jumped to an early lead and held off a charging Roy Patterson for several laps before Ledford was able to get up next to Patterson which caused Sizemore to be able to pull away from the battle for second. Sizemore took his fourth win of the season and Ledford was able to get past Patterson for second.

Saturday, August 1 was a first for the 2009 season as someone other than Sizemore and Ledford would see the checkers first in the Super Bomber class. Chris Sizemore and Greg Ledford started the race in 8^th and 5^th starting spots while Roy Patterson saw clean race track as the green flag fell. Sizemore charged through the field making it to fifth behind Ledford very quickly. The following lap saw the 15 of Ledford and the 43 of Tim Ford make contact in turns 3 and 4 giving Sizemore the opportunity to slide by both for the third position. Soon after the caution flag fell for a spin on the track. The 20 was able to restart the race outside of the 87 of Kurt Adkins and right behind leader Roy Patterson. Sizemore slid by Adkins on the high side on the restart and challenged Roy for the lead. Lap after lap Sizemore was able to get a run on the 17 car but was unable to sustain the charge and gain position. Roy was able to hold off the 20 for the win and Greg Ledford was able to recover to round out the top three.

“Roy ran a smart race tonight; he knew who was behind him and where to run on the track to hold me off. He is definitely a crafty veteran that knows how to man the wheel. The competition level is increasing every week in this class and I look forward to the challenge of coming to the race track on Saturday nights not knowing who we have to outrun this week versus early in the season showing up knowing we just have to worry about the 15. This makes the racing a lot better…don’t count out Kurt Adkins either; he keeps getting better every week!”

July 13, 2009 – Great weekend for the 20 car and kart. The weekend started out good with a win for Ty Sizemore at Hendon Speedway on Friday night. Midway through the race there was contact between the leaders, Cole Jones and Dalton Adams, resulting in Cole being black flagged from the event handing the lead to Ty in the #20. Ty lead the next 2 laps as Dalton moved back to the front to challenge for the lead. As Dalton went to the inside of the 20 on the front straight away there was slight contact which resulted in the 119 of Dalton being black flagged from the event as well. Ty was able to hold off Cole Ballard through the final 8 laps for the win; his second of the season.

The great luck transferred over to Saturday night where Chris Sizemore got the luck of the draw to start the race on pole inside of the 17 car of Roy Patterson. As the green flag waved, Sizemore jumped to the lead ahead of Patterson. Greg Ledford, the dominant car/driver this season, started at the back of the seven car field but quickly made his way to the second position by lap 2. The 15 of Ledford found it a little more difficult to reel in the 20 car as he did the previous 5 competitors. Sizemore continued to extend his lead over Ledford over the next several laps until the caution flew for a piece of poor workmanship lying in the racing groove on the back straight away. When the exhaust system was removed from the track racing resumed with Sizemore leading them back to the green flag. Ledford made a hard charge down the back stretch and into three with no success as Sizemore pulled away off of turn four and cushioned his lead over the final 6 laps. Ledford brought the 15 machine home in second and Roy Patterson in third.

“I saw a little frustration tonight out of Greg that I felt at the beginning of the season when we were racing on his kind of track {tacky}. Tonight and the past several weeks we have been racing on my kind of race track {dry} and the results speak for themselves. I have been telling everyone that keeps saying Ledford’s wrong to wait until it dries out and we will see some more competitive racing and that is what has happened. I really enjoy racing with Greg…he brings out the true competitor in me and makes me work that much harder to keep this 20 in the front where it is accustomed to being! I am not done yet; I will have to work just as hard this week or he will make us look bad Saturday night. Congrats to my son Ty for his win last night…it makes me so proud to see him progress in his ability behind the wheel.”

June 28, 2009 – Another rainout for the Dixie Speedway 40th Anniversary Celebration. After the track was prepped and the hot laps got started the skies opened up and dropped a good bit of rain on the race track washing out the racing and the celebration. Next week is an off week and racing will resume (hopefully) on July 11th with the sprint cars.

June 22, 2009 – Super Bomber struggles to get rolling but in the end the top two rise again. It seemed it would be a struggle to get the Super Bomber race underway Saturday night as the first two attempts to go green found cautions. Greg Ledford and his dominant 15 car started on pole while Chris Sizemore in the 20 car started at the back of the small field of cars in 7^th. Ledford was able to jump to the lead immediately and take control of the race while Sizemore was able to move up quickly to take second place coming off of turn 2 on the first lap. Sizemore moved to the bumper of the 15 but was unable to mount a charge to pass. The 20 machine looked to seek a better line around the dusty 3/8 mile clay track to no avail as Ledford took his third win of the season at Dixie followed by Sizemore and a distant Roy Patterson.

“I was disappointed to not be able to race with Greg better than I did tonight but on the other hand I felt good about the fact that we put this car back together this week after the crash at Rome and we were this close to getting back to our setup. I expected to be a lot further off from our baseline after the abuse this car took against the inside wall up there. We’ll tweak on it this week and be back next week even better!”

June 16, 2009 – Part 2 (P2) of the Dixie/Rome weekend goes bad!! Sizemore started the race in the 3^rd position but quickly fell to 4^th due to an ill handling race car. Early in the race Roy Patterson was able to jump to the lead with Greg Ledford beating on his bumper. After several laps of battling Ledford was able to take over the lead and go on for the victory with Roy Patterson second and Tom Cleghorn third. Sizemore finished fourth backwards as the P2 of Jeff Paige turned him as they took the checkers.

“I am not sure why the P2 turned me at the flag stand on the last lap. He never showed me the nose the entire race; if he would have I would have moved up the track and let him have it. I knew I didn’t have anything for the leaders tonight and was just trying to get what I could at the finish. Now I have a destroyed car and will be lucky to be back at Dixie Saturday.”

June 16, 2009 – Sizemore makes it 2 in a row at Dixie. Both of the dominant cars of the Super Bomber class to this point in the 2009 season where relegated to the back of the pack for the start of the race Saturday night. It didn’t take long for them to get to the front though…Chris Sizemore took the lead on the second lap from Tony McDowell and never looked back; pulling away from the field for his second win in a row. Greg Ledford made his way from his 8^th starting position to finish second and Tony McDowell rounded out the top three.

“It was good to have a nice clean race tonight after the drama of last weeks race. I talked to Tony before tonight’s race and he apologized for getting into me last week; I appreciate his apology and look forward to being able to race clean with him in the future. I was able to get up next to him tonight and we raced perfectly clean and that is what it is all about. I was also excited because tonight is the first time my kids, Ty and Toni have been in the pits for a win. It feels good to finally get them in a victory lane photo!”

June 8, 2009 – Sizemore finally scores his first win of the 2009 season. It was a crazy night in the Super Bomber Class that saw a normally clean group of drivers seem out of control. The typical front runners were scattered through the field with Tom Cleghorn starting on pole, Roy Patterson in third, Chris Sizemore in fifth and Greg Ledford in eighth. On the initial green flag the field stuck together in a tight pack for a lap but soon got scattered when Zach Cleghorn in the #39 lost control spinning across the track in front of the field down the back straight away while his cousin Tom Cleghorn lead the race. On the ensuing restart Tom was unable to get his car up to speed causing everyone to check up and Sizemore jumped to the outside going down the front straight away to take the lead but it was short lived due to Tony McDowell in the #21 driving in and punting the #20 of Sizemore spinning him in front of the field of cars. Sizemore was able to continue with minor damage. On the final restart the #56 of Lee McElwayne was slow starting allowing the dominant driver this year, Greg Ledford to jump to the outside but Lee moved up and squeezed the #15 against the outside wall. When this happened it opened the bottom up for Roy Patterson and Sizemore to make a run to the front. Patterson lead the field down the back but his lead was short lived as Sizemore was on a mission to the front and took the lead off of turn 4. Sizemore would pull away from the field and lead the final laps over Greg Ledford and Roy Patterson.

“It was an intense race tonight. I thought I got lucky early when I was able to take the lead on the first restart but unfortunately I had a competitor that would rather wreck me than get out ran by me. It seems as if the guy has a problem with me, I have had issues with him in the past; but I did the best thing I could do…drive right back to the front and win the race. Glad he could bring up the tail of the field. I don’t normally get too upset but I was driving with some aggression tonight after his bonehead move!”