Howdy friends, since Sandia Speedway cancelled their race program due to the Mini Sprint track being under water, I decided to run over to Grants and see what was going on over their.

Mychel Lucero and I followed Todd Budlong towing Mr Lucero racer. Todd had been working on Mychel's back up car #1X and they really wanted to see if the chassis and engine changes they had made were going to work. Todd and Kenny Ford (more on him later) modified the modified (ha ha) with new suspension parts and a brand new Budlong Motorsports racing engine. Some testing was done to see just how much horsepower could be gotten from a flat tappet cammed and two bbl carb engine and stay within the rules.

Todd has the good fortune of having some great builders and fabricators at Budlong Motorsports. The young Mr Ford is one of the most talented men with his hands I have seen in a long time. Give him a part and he will fix it. Whether its a race car, toilet, or coffee maker he WILL find a way to get it done.

The track at Grants was in great shape. It had only sprinkled there and they did not add any water. Fast from the first heat to the last main. All the staff and crew of the track were very helpful and friendly. Thanks.

Since I don't have a driver list for the UCS folks I will have to use car numbers. Maybe someone reading this post later can flesh out the names.

There was a smallish group of racers but they did their best to put on a show for their fans. In the Pro Mods they on had two cars #44 and 3d so the track officials allowed all comers to race with them. In their main it was the Pro Mods which are old style late models with 4 bbl carbs and wider tires, racing against a couple of X Mods and one Street Stock. It was interesting to see the compared speed of each. Yes the Pro Mods won and second, but the X Mods kept them in sight.

I didn't get to see the Cruiser division run as we were working on the #1X getting it ready. Since they had a low A Mod field of cars, they allowed any X Mod that wanted to run with them. In the X Mod heat Todd and the newly renovated #1X took the win. The car looked like it handled great and Todd reported that it was a "bullet". The X Mod main was a repeat of the heat with Todd and #1X taking a win. Since this was a shake down run for this car Todd ran in the A Mod main. Wow, I feel sorry for the Sandia X Mods when the #1X returns, The car took second in the A Mod main. The big motor guys could pull him out of the turn, but Todd drove the car two to three cars deeper going into the turn. A testament to how well the car's set up was.

The A Mod races saw the return of #31 Doug Goodenough from Gallup. He was very fast and smooth. He got the win in both his heat and main. Glad to see this talented driver back in action.

All in all a good night of racing. As for Sandia Speedway it will be dark at the dirt track until July 11. That is IF Charlie Fagen doesn't run a rain date for missing this Saturday.

Oh by the way, the staff at UCS tell me they are trying to put together a $1000 to win X Mod show for July 4th weekend. I will try to update you if I hear anything. Or you can check out their web.

Ray Ingram for Bob and Ray