In the eighth Central States Region Super Cups race program of the season, Zachary Tinkle endures hot, humid weather and a mechanical failure to finish second in the heat and feature races
Brad Tinkle, Laurren Darr, and Zachary Tinkle at Dells Raceway Park after long, hot, humid day of racing. Photo credit: Pat Gremo
Shortly after arriving at Dells Raceway Park, Tinkle Family Racing knew it was going to be ‘one of those days.’ The Dells has typically been a problematic track for Zachary Tinkle and this race day was no exception. As soon as the trailer was entirely unpacked and the TfR team was about to make some adjustments to the car, the track informed them that they were going to have to pack it up and move to another pit. They weren’t moved to just any pit, but a pit that was filled with water and muck that had to be swept out of the pit… in hot and humid weather. The thermometer read 97.7 degrees when this happened.
The team unpacked, made some adjustments and sent Tinkle on the track for practice. The first practice went pretty well. After a couple additional adjustments, Tinkle went out for second practice, but something went wrong as Tinkle came around turn three and saved the car from running straight into the wall even though the handling was horrible. He got the car off the track and into the pit where it was discovered that the spindle that holds the wheel broke. Luckily, the person that runs the series had the parts needed and sold them to Tinkle Family Racing. The front end was put back to together and the tow checked, but Tinkle missed qualifying and was listed as DNQ. This meant he would have to go in the back for races.
Because he didn’t know how the car would handle, Tinkle decided to use the heat race as a practice. He started P6 in the heat race. The car handling turned out to be good as he made his way up through the field to take second place.
Heat race video
Tinkle started P4 in the feature race. He made his way up through the field battling the cars that came in 3rd and 4th place crossing the finish line in second place. Although it was a stellar finish considering everything that had happened throughout the race day, Tinkle was disappointed that he couldn’t take the checkered flag since this was his last time to race at Dells Raceway Park in his minicup car with the Central States Region Super Cups.
Feature race video
Because the track has all driver in the Top 3 go to victory lane after the race, Tinkle was able to express his disappointment yet thank his sponsors for supporting him during the season in a post-race interview.
Post-race interview