Dawn Baca

Win Some, Lose Some

Once again it’s Mike Beeler for the win.

A month ago Mike Beeler of Beeler Industries, in the #6 car, ended his race early on the Shasta Speedway in a truly messy fashion with a blown engine. With multiple holes in his oil pan, the race was over for him before it even got interesting. As we stepped back to regroup, the focus was redirected to our teammate Tracy Bolin of Bolin Builders, in the #11j car.

And the efforts paid off. Tracy won the race, winning his first in the Pacific Challenge Series, and moving him up to the fourth in PCS standings. It was a beautiful moment to behold. Everyone cheered for him. Pacific Challenge Series posted a great interview with Tracy after the race. It’s worth a watch.

It was a fantastic weekend for us, because we were able to share the experience, the goods and the bads, with my Uncle Del, and my sister Jennifer and her husband Daniel. They live in the area, so we made a point to have them come out to the race to watch Mike and Tracy, and to experience life in the pits as we knew it. It was great to see my family again, trade stories and catch up. I hadn’t seen them in more than six months, so this was a wonderful treat.

With the engine blown, Mike David and his crew had to consider alternatives to getting Mike Beeler back on the track for the rest of the season.

They borrowed an engine from another racer, and sent Beeler back on the track for the Roseville race June 25^th. Beeler worked hard and came in fifth place, while Bolin came in fourth.

July 2^nd was the annual Firecracker 100 race at the Stockton Speedway, where they have fantastic a firework show before the main event. The stands were packed, in one of the biggest turnouts of the season, and many family and friends joined us in the pits.

The race was beyond intense. Mike Beeler started in seventh, with Tracy Bolin starting ninth. They both worked their way up to the fourth and fifth slots fairly quickly, and held tight to those positions most of the race.

During lap 52, just as Mike Beeler slid into the second spot, with Tracy Bolin hot on his tail to take third, cars got tangled in turn two, and Tracy’s front end was damaged in a spin that ended the race for him.

The fight for the lead led to a green-white-checkered end, with Mike Beeler in the lead the last two laps.

It was a beautiful end. Mike fought hard and earned that win. Heated contention followed the race, with a few racers upset at the results. Various videos prove Mike Beeler ran a strong but clean race. Congratulations Mike!

To add icing on the cake, Mike Beeler won again in Ukaih. Unfortunately we missed it. I was in San Diego at the Romance Writers of America Conference, and Jeremy was at the annual camping trip at Niagra Rim.