By Jarrod Lehman
Dresden, OH --- The Dirt Ripper is back on track! Donnie Moran, after an off-season devoted to regrouping his dirt Late Model racing team, has come out swinging at the start of the 2003 racing season with an impressive and productive week competing at the ‘27th Annual East Bay Winternationals’ at East Bay Raceway Park in Tampa, FL with his QPI Tools/Eddie’s Sunoco/Mastersbilt Race Cars/Malcuit Racing Engines #99 Chevrolet Monte Carlo. The six-race series, held from February 3-9 and sanctioned by both the Renegade Dirt Car Racing Series andthe Xtreme Dirt Car Series, found Moran a factor each night.
“I think we had a very productive week!” stated an enthused Moran immediately following Saturday night’s finale at East Bay. “Things are looking up and I even believe it’s all turned around (laughs)!”
During the six night stint, Moran started the week off on Monday with the Renegade series by qualifying 14th out of 87 cars entered. Finishing second in the second heat, Moran started 12th in the main event and finished 20th. Night two found Moran in Xtreme action where he again qualified 14th out of 86 cars, finished second in the fourth heat and crossed the checkers in seventh after starting tenth.
On night three the QPI Tools sponsored team qualified 12th out of 87 cars with the Renegade series, finished second in the sixth heat but bad luck struck when, after starting 13th in the feature, Moran was involved in a lap four accident which forced him to retire for the evening.
Night number four found Moran back with the Xtreme series where he set fast time for the night in qualifying over a stout 80 car field. Moran’s fast time put him on the pole for the second heat where he finished second. During feature race action, which was filmed by the SPEED Channel cameras, Moran started in the seventh position and by lap 13 had taken the lead which he maintained until lap 32 when Jimmy Mars went low on the race track and was able to take the lead. Moran brought his QPI Tools ‘Dirt Ripper’ #99 home to a solid third place finish.
During the Renegade series finale on Friday night Moran qualified 31st out of 70 cars and finished sixth in the first heat. Regulated to the third B Main, Moran finished ninth and took a provisional to make the starting grid where he took the green flag from his 28th position. While running 11th in the feature he was spun out, pitted for new tires and came back through the field to place 14th.
For the sixth and final night of the ‘Winternationals’, sanctioned by Xtreme, Moran came out like gangbusters, qualifying sixth fastest out of the 70 car field and winning not only the sixth heat but also taking top honors in the dash, which placed him on the pole position for the feature. During feature action Moran’s strong run was interrupted several times to make pit stops for new tires with Moran eventually coming across the checkers in 12th place.
Despite no wins during the six-night marathon, Moran is pleased with his performance and is obviously confident and reinvigorated for the 2003 season after making an almost-complete overhaul of his racing operation.
After a somewhat dismal 2002 season, Moran restructured his racing program by selecting Mastersbilt Race Cars as his chassis of choice and bringing Brad Malcuit, famed racer, engine builder and owner of Malcuit Racing Engines, on board as not only his engine supplier but as his new crew chief. In addition, Moran returned to Carrera Shocks with Carrera’s Mike Farr lending a hand in an advisory role.
“Brad is so helpful it’s unbelievable,” commented Moran. “The guys all work real well with him and he and I communicated very good this week and made good decisions. We made a couple bad ones, but it’s a learning process.”
“The new car, the Mastersbilt, was excellent. I can’t say enough about what Keith and Tader (Masters) has done there at Mastersbilt for us. It’s going to take a little bit of tricks to learn to start winning some races but we had a fast time, we started on the pole, won a dash, ran third one night.”
“And the Carrera Shocks worked real good!”
Another positive in Moran’s corner is the strong sponsorship support he has in place.
“QPI Tools and Mark Gracy are behind us again this year,” explained Moran. “He didn’t get to come down here this week because they are working on some new things and new products, but we’re still the Dirt Ripper and they are behind us 100% and we’re just waiting to get up around the Ohio and Pennsylvania area so he can come and go with us and watch us race.”
“And Eddie’s Sunoco is back. They have been with us a long time. We just have a good group of supporters and we hope to make them proud of this team this year.”
Moran is also impressed with his crew and their dedication and work ethic. Members of the Donnie Moran Racing crew working under Moran and crew chief Malcuit areTim Marshall, Joe Mathu, Rusty Redman and Jim Martin.
As for Moran’s plans for the remainder of the season, he has not made a commitment to run a series or take the independent route. Moran plans to make his decision in the next couple months.
“If you come out of Florida with the way the points are looking it’s looking more towards Xtreme but I don’t know yet,” said Moran. “I should be in the top ten in points there. We’re not too bad of shape with Renegade’s points once you pullout the guys who won’t be running their deal, so we’re setting pretty good either way. I’ll just have to wait and see what happens and decide where I want to go and can run the best and have the best year and where Brad can go and help me the most too.”
Moran currently sits fourth in Xtreme points and 14th in Renegade standings.
Up next for Moran will be the Xtreme Dirt Car Series event, 75-lap $15,000-to-win event on March 15 at Thunder Valley Speedway in Glenmora, LA.
Make no mistake, Moran is pumped, primed and ready to go and get the full 2003 season underway.
“Oh yeah! I’m ready to go anywhere!” quipped Moran. “I’m ready to go here, there or anywhere. After this week and making the races and running good and qualifying good I’m just going to say ‘let’s do it’.”
For additional information on Donnie Moran and Donnie Moran racing visit his website at: www.donniemoran.com.
Dresden, OH --- The Dirt Ripper is back on track! Donnie Moran, after an off-season devoted to regrouping his dirt Late Model racing team, has come out swinging at the start of the 2003 racing season with an impressive and productive week competing at the ‘27th Annual East Bay Winternationals’ at East Bay Raceway Park in Tampa, FL with his QPI Tools/Eddie’s Sunoco/Mastersbilt Race Cars/Malcuit Racing Engines #99 Chevrolet Monte Carlo. The six-race series, held from February 3-9 and sanctioned by both the Renegade Dirt Car Racing Series andthe Xtreme Dirt Car Series, found Moran a factor each night.
“I think we had a very productive week!” stated an enthused Moran immediately following Saturday night’s finale at East Bay. “Things are looking up and I even believe it’s all turned around (laughs)!”
During the six night stint, Moran started the week off on Monday with the Renegade series by qualifying 14th out of 87 cars entered. Finishing second in the second heat, Moran started 12th in the main event and finished 20th. Night two found Moran in Xtreme action where he again qualified 14th out of 86 cars, finished second in the fourth heat and crossed the checkers in seventh after starting tenth.
On night three the QPI Tools sponsored team qualified 12th out of 87 cars with the Renegade series, finished second in the sixth heat but bad luck struck when, after starting 13th in the feature, Moran was involved in a lap four accident which forced him to retire for the evening.
Night number four found Moran back with the Xtreme series where he set fast time for the night in qualifying over a stout 80 car field. Moran’s fast time put him on the pole for the second heat where he finished second. During feature race action, which was filmed by the SPEED Channel cameras, Moran started in the seventh position and by lap 13 had taken the lead which he maintained until lap 32 when Jimmy Mars went low on the race track and was able to take the lead. Moran brought his QPI Tools ‘Dirt Ripper’ #99 home to a solid third place finish.
During the Renegade series finale on Friday night Moran qualified 31st out of 70 cars and finished sixth in the first heat. Regulated to the third B Main, Moran finished ninth and took a provisional to make the starting grid where he took the green flag from his 28th position. While running 11th in the feature he was spun out, pitted for new tires and came back through the field to place 14th.
For the sixth and final night of the ‘Winternationals’, sanctioned by Xtreme, Moran came out like gangbusters, qualifying sixth fastest out of the 70 car field and winning not only the sixth heat but also taking top honors in the dash, which placed him on the pole position for the feature. During feature action Moran’s strong run was interrupted several times to make pit stops for new tires with Moran eventually coming across the checkers in 12th place.
Despite no wins during the six-night marathon, Moran is pleased with his performance and is obviously confident and reinvigorated for the 2003 season after making an almost-complete overhaul of his racing operation.
After a somewhat dismal 2002 season, Moran restructured his racing program by selecting Mastersbilt Race Cars as his chassis of choice and bringing Brad Malcuit, famed racer, engine builder and owner of Malcuit Racing Engines, on board as not only his engine supplier but as his new crew chief. In addition, Moran returned to Carrera Shocks with Carrera’s Mike Farr lending a hand in an advisory role.
“Brad is so helpful it’s unbelievable,” commented Moran. “The guys all work real well with him and he and I communicated very good this week and made good decisions. We made a couple bad ones, but it’s a learning process.”
“The new car, the Mastersbilt, was excellent. I can’t say enough about what Keith and Tader (Masters) has done there at Mastersbilt for us. It’s going to take a little bit of tricks to learn to start winning some races but we had a fast time, we started on the pole, won a dash, ran third one night.”
“And the Carrera Shocks worked real good!”
Another positive in Moran’s corner is the strong sponsorship support he has in place.
“QPI Tools and Mark Gracy are behind us again this year,” explained Moran. “He didn’t get to come down here this week because they are working on some new things and new products, but we’re still the Dirt Ripper and they are behind us 100% and we’re just waiting to get up around the Ohio and Pennsylvania area so he can come and go with us and watch us race.”
“And Eddie’s Sunoco is back. They have been with us a long time. We just have a good group of supporters and we hope to make them proud of this team this year.”
Moran is also impressed with his crew and their dedication and work ethic. Members of the Donnie Moran Racing crew working under Moran and crew chief Malcuit areTim Marshall, Joe Mathu, Rusty Redman and Jim Martin.
As for Moran’s plans for the remainder of the season, he has not made a commitment to run a series or take the independent route. Moran plans to make his decision in the next couple months.
“If you come out of Florida with the way the points are looking it’s looking more towards Xtreme but I don’t know yet,” said Moran. “I should be in the top ten in points there. We’re not too bad of shape with Renegade’s points once you pullout the guys who won’t be running their deal, so we’re setting pretty good either way. I’ll just have to wait and see what happens and decide where I want to go and can run the best and have the best year and where Brad can go and help me the most too.”
Moran currently sits fourth in Xtreme points and 14th in Renegade standings.
Up next for Moran will be the Xtreme Dirt Car Series event, 75-lap $15,000-to-win event on March 15 at Thunder Valley Speedway in Glenmora, LA.
Make no mistake, Moran is pumped, primed and ready to go and get the full 2003 season underway.
“Oh yeah! I’m ready to go anywhere!” quipped Moran. “I’m ready to go here, there or anywhere. After this week and making the races and running good and qualifying good I’m just going to say ‘let’s do it’.”
For additional information on Donnie Moran and Donnie Moran racing visit his website at: www.donniemoran.com.
