08/23/2026
🏁 PEVELY RACE REPORT — Apparently We’re a Top-5 Team Now 🏁
After Friday's historic 9th-place finish at Brownstown, we loaded up the #17 Warrior and headed to I-55 Raceway in Pevely.
We arrived to a slim field of 8 cars, which meant one very important thing:
I WAS GUARANTEED ANOTHER TOP 10. 😂
Consistency. That’s what champions are made of.
Even better, our shop mates Emma and Eric were racing too. Three friends, three race cars, one track. What could possibly go wrong?
Turns out, quite a bit.
Before the heat race, my nose starts bleeding. So I climb into the race car with Kleenex shoved up my nose like the finely tuned athlete I am.
I pull onto the track.
TRANSPONDER: DEAD.
So now I’m taking my gloves off, trying to pull the transponder off my helmet and figure out whether a wire came unplugged, while simultaneously wondering if blood is currently running down my face.
This is where I remembered there is a VERY important difference between Brownstown and Pevely.
At Brownstown, you roll onto the front straight, come around the track and go green.
At Pevely, everybody goes to the front stretch, stops in their starting position and waits.
Did I remember this?
Absolutely not.
I’m on the backstretch screwing around with my transponder, one glove off, Kleenex up my nose, wondering whether I’m hemorrhaging inside my helmet when I look across the track…
Everyone is lined up on the front stretch.
“FUDGE!”
Only I didn’t say fudge.
I said THE word. The big one. The queen-mother of dirty words. The F-dash-dash-dash word. 😂
So I haul ass around the track and slide into my starting position.
Problem solved.
Except…
I STILL DON’T HAVE MY GLOVES ON.
So I started my first race at Pevely with no gloves, Kleenex up my nose, a dead transponder and missing the sound of good ol’ Jimmy Dearing in my ears.
Professional race car driver stuff. 🏁
AND WE’RE GREEN!
I started front-row outside.
By Turn 1, nearly everyone had passed me.
Excellent start. 😂
Then I see Emma go low with the #46 behind her.
Now, I don’t know what advanced racing technique was being demonstrated here, but apparently it involved driving directly into the back of Emma’s car, staying in the throttle and sending her hard into the wall.
Interesting strategy.
Emma hit HARD.
At that point, I forgot about racing. I was worried about her and seeing red.
The caution comes out and I’m pretty sure we haven’t completed a lap, so I drive myself right back up toward the front.
Was I 100% sure I belonged there?
Nope.
So I’m driving around staring at the flagmen, waiting to see if anyone starts making violent or obscene hand gestures in my direction.
Nobody did.
NAILED IT.
We line back up and go green again.
And wouldn’t you know it…
Our friend in the #46 immediately attempts what appears to be the exact same innovative passing technique on Eric.
Fortunately, Eric saves it.
At this point I started having some questions about whether the #46’s race strategy required actually passing cars or simply reducing the number of competitors until winning became mathematically inevitable.
But I’m new here. Maybe that’s an advanced technique they teach later. 🤷♀️
Heat race over.
I dropped four spots.
Emma was thankfully okay, but the rear end of her car was bent. She would go out for one lap in the feature to collect her starting money.
FEATURE TIME 🏁
I prepared using the rigorous pre-race routine of elite athletes everywhere:
I slammed two Diet Cokes and consulted with my therapist, Samantha Rehg.
Ready.
This start was considerably less eventful.
Green flag. We get rolling. I come around toward the backstretch and discover the #46 bouncing off the concrete wall.
Well.
That’s unfortunate.
I would NEVER suggest that the universe keeps detailed accounting records…
But as an accountant I do appreciate when things eventually reconcile. 😂
Apparently Eric was somehow blamed for the natural order of the universe balancing its books, and he was disqualified.
So I decided perhaps my best course of action was to mind my own business and DRIVE.
And something happened.
I started hitting my marks.
Lap after lap, I started finding a rhythm.
Then #70 Ryan Stumpf pulled alongside me.
WAIT.
I’M RACING SOMEBODY!
Not merely circulating.
Not trying to stay out of everyone’s way.
Not conducting structural testing on retaining walls.
ACTUALLY RACING.
And it was AWESOME.
Ryan and I battled, and somehow…
I WON THE BATTLE.
🏁🏁🏁 4TH PLACE!!! 🏁🏁🏁
From 9th at Brownstown to 4th at Pevely.
And before anyone asks:
Yes, there were only eight cars.
BUT THIS TIME I BEAT HALF OF THEM. 😂😂😂
Even better, I went to Pevely a little nervous. It’s fast. It’s high-banked. And I’ll admit, that track intimidated me.
My fastest lap at Brownstown: 18.83
My fastest lap at Pevely: 18.08
So apparently the solution to going faster is Kleenex up my nose, no gloves, two Diet Cokes and pure chaos.
PEVELY IS OFFICIALLY MY FAVORITE TRACK. ❤️🏁
And once again, a HUGE thank you to the sponsors who continue to support this rookie adventure—even as we discover increasingly creative ways to learn how race nights work:
🏁 Midwest Farm & Land Company
🏁 Harco Restorations
🏁 UniFirst Uniform Co.
🏁 Troy Garage Door
🏁 WinSupply of Edwardsville
🏁 A to Z Dental
🏁 KMJ Lawncare
🏁 Wolf & Sons Heating and Cooling
🏁 Signs n Designs by Ronnie Deien
🏁 Rehg Reiki
🏁 Moon Automotive
🏁 JR’s Services
Your unwavering support during our rookie year means more than you know.
Top 10 Friday. Top 5 Saturday.
At this rate, absolutely nobody should extrapolate the data any further. 😂🏁
