archives

Oct 7/09. WOW! what a busy past few weeks we have had. What a weekend at Batesville Speedway with 89 of the best street stocks in the U.S. trying for 28 starting spots we were blessed to get in the show by a name draw provisional, starting 27th and finishing 21st. We ran much better than our finish showed, but I'm not sure we could have raced our way in through the 2nd b-main. Our b-main had 4 previous Nationals winners in it and even though we were pretty quick we would have had to outrun our new friend Trey Bright in the 81 who came from dead last to 2nd, the final transfer spot, and he almost won it. Like us Trey had probably one of the smallest engines in the field and had to drive the wheels off the car to make it. In the A- main double file restarts really hurt our finish as the "big motor' cars would get us. We would lose 3-5 spots on every restart and we would have to work our way back by those cars,then another caution and here we go again. All-in-all it is an experience everyone should try, you will meet many great folks and make many new friends. I want to say thanks to Carolona Trailers, Hightower Racing Transmissions and JT-1 Racing Engines for all they have done to help our program. Also thanks to Trey Bright, Gary Barham and thier family and crews for the help and frienships we made while at Batesville. Next up is the Nash Brick BrickDirt Super Street Nationals at Clary's Speedway in Brinkleyville N.C. on Oct 9-10.
Wish us luck and may God Bless
Tim Totherow

Feb 22 2009 Well our trip to the Bama Bash sure didn't turn out like we hoped, but as the saying goes "that’s racin". Friday night started out pretty good as the Mike Totherow owned Carolina Trailers, Hightower Racing Transmissions, JT-One race engines T39 was hooked up. We were running great in our heat race against some fast Super Street cars until the rear end gear stripped out on us. I initially thought the transmission had broke, so I tried it in a couple of different gears and accidently put it in reverse and did break the almost indestructible Hightower transmission (man I felt stupid for that bonehead mistake). We still managed to finish 6th and got the final transfer spot for the 3rd heat. This meant that we had a guaranteed 18th starting spot for the $2000 to win feature on Saturday, but more importantly we would not have to race in through the consi. We would not have been able to do that with a tore up race car. We loaded up and headed to Tennessee, got up Saturday morning, replaced the rear gear and Transmission, and headed back to Green Valley. We started out taking it easy in the feature just to miss any wrecks because we started so far back. We raced up to 12th when the engine started overheating; we came in during a caution and put water in it. We restarted last and advanced back to 12th or 14th again, but with so many cautions it didn't make it to the end even though I ran it about half throttle for several laps hoping it would make it to the end. With a handful of laps left the oil and water temperatures got so hot that I pulled in to try not damage the engine any more. We ended up 21st and that may not have been a good finish, but we had a great time and look forward to next year's Bama Bash. I want to say a special thank you to Brad, Joe, and Rhonda Cross for helping us out and a congrats on their 3rd place finish in the pure pony event. The biggest thanks goes to God for allowing me to do what I love to glorify His name.

See you at the races
Tim Totherow T39

6/12/10
After coming off a great run at North Georgia Speedway's Mid-Seson Championship the T39 race team headed to Boyd's Speedway Friday night still looking for that first win of the 2010 season. Disappointingly that win would not come tonight as clutch troubles kept us from the finish we hoped for. Surprisingly even as bad as the clutch was slipping Tim nursed the T39 home for a 4th place finish as several crashes and two red flags allowed us to have that finish. All we can say is once again the Lord blessed us with a safe and fun race night.

6/5/10
Wow what a great night we had this week at North Georgia Speedway. The T39racer team traveled down to Chatsworth Georgia to compete in North Georgia Speedway's Econo-Hobby Mid-Season Championship Even though we had a significant weight disadvantage against the Econo-Hobby regulars we had a great run. Tim got into the wall in practice and the crew had to work quicly to re-set the front end on the T39 as we had pole position for the first of two heat races. Not knowing how the car would handle Tim took it easy for the first few laps slipping back to 3rd spot. The caution would come early as one of the front two cars would spin-out. This allowed us to regroup and with the car driving well we would finish 2nd, netting us a 3rd starting spot for the feature event. on the green flag for the feature wheel spin would drop us back to 4th. We raced for the third spot for the entire 20 lap main event pulling off a last lap pass of point leader Dave Fletcher in the #72 to score a hard earned 3rd spot and a nice trophy for the Mid-Season Championships. We want to thank everyone for how well we were treated in our first ever visit to Noth Ga. Speedway and look foward to racing there again.
God Bless

4/23/10. the T39 made our first apperence at Boyd's Speedway this year Friday night. What started out as a terribe heat race, finishing last in heat 1 only completing 1 lap because of contact with the #2 of Mike Chapman causing a left front flat, turned out to be a good finish in the feature event. Starting 13th for the feature event we raced our way up as far as the 4th spot by lap 10 only to almost spin out trying for the 3rd spot netting the t39 a 6th place finish. A good finish for our first outing at Boyd's this year improved one more position after post race tech as the winner Mr. Hughes was DQed for being to lite at the scales giving the win to the #2 of Chapman. After fighting a loose race car all night the 5th place finish was almost as good as a win mainly because we brought the race car home in one piece unlike our trip to the Bama Bash in Feburary.

1/25/2010 After finishing off the 2009 season by not making the race at The National 100 at East Alabama Speedway the team has focused their energy on taking care of some of those "honey do" projects that seem to never be taken care of during race season. We are looking foward to getting our best engine back from JT-1 Racing Engines in time for the Cabin Fever Weekend and the Bama Bash at the end of Febraury. Check back often as new updates are added.
Thanks Team T39

Sept.11/09 On the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks our home track of Boyd's Speedway had a special tribute. All the race cars in all division made a couple pace laps behind a commerative paint schemed late model in rememberance of fallen heros. My hats of to Boyd's Speedway for this. We had a good car count for our division and we finished 3rd in our heat giving us a 6th place starting spot in the feature. With it also being Mt Carmel Baptist night I had several friends and family from my church there cheering us on. I raced my way up to 2nd spot, but a late race caution for antifreeze dumped by another car hurt our chances. on the restart my tires never came back up to temperature or "glazed" over and I lost a spot on the white flag lap finishing 3rd. It was still a great night, we didn't tear the car up and now we are preparing it for the Mid-America Street Stock Nationals in Batesville Arkansas on Sept 17-19. Pray for us to have a safe and fun trip and as always ALL the glory goes to God. See you at the races
Tim

Sept.23/09 Hello everyone, the Schoenfeld Headers Mid-America Street Stock Nationals originally scheduled for the 17-19 had to be rescheduled for this weekend the 24-26 due to heavy rain in Arkansas. We were hoping to tell you that the T39 had a good week by now, but we'll just have to wait to give you that good news. The rain was actually a blessing for us because it allowed us to be more prepared than we were. We would have been pushed for time last week and the extra time allowed us to finish preping the car. We are hoping for a great run and will keep you updated as time allows. Wish us the best and say an extra prayer for a safe weekend.

Thank You and may we glorify the Lord
Tim Totherow

Sept. 5 Hello everyone, after several weeks of not racing is was good to get back in the race car this week at Cleveland Speedway. Cleveland's B-hobby division has a rule not allowing a unibody leaf spring car to race in that class, so when we got there we were moved up into the A-hobby division by the track and raced with a lot faster and lighter cars than our camaro is built for. Our game plan was to just stay out of the way and finish the race. I thought we would be much slower than the cars we were racing against, but that was not the case. Most were faster than us just not that much faster. We were giving up around 600 pounds compared to the much lighter A-hobbies and we are on stock style suspension, so I was surprised that we could even keep up. We raced hard, stayed out of trouble and even passed a few cars for a 5th place finish, a totally unexpected outcome. Sometimes it is better to race smarter not harder. I have to say that the good Lord was watching out for us tonight and I thank Him for it. Next week we return to Boyd's to race in our division and look foward to more fun.
Thanks and God Bless
Tim

(2/1/09) The 2009 racing season is almost here. This will be the first time in the 2 seasons that we have returned to racing that we are ready at the beginning of the season. It feels kind of odd to have the car ready this early, but it's a good feeling. Since my last update in October of last year we competed in the 2nd annual BrickDirt Super Street Nationals on October 17-19 2008 at Clary's Speedway in Brinklyville North Carolina. What an awesome weekend to compete with the best Super Street cars from the eastern states and Ohio valley areas. With 42 cars on hand trying for 20 starting spots it was a nerve racking weekend. For us to drive some 11 hours and not make the show would have been tough, but with a great car given to me by my brothers Mike and Jarvis we made it. I didn't qualify very well and stated pretty far back in the 2nd of 4 heat races. With only the top 3 transferring from the heats we raced our way to 4th spot, but missed the transfer by about a half a car length. That put us on the pole for the 2nd of 3 b-mains and as good as the car was running our confidence was high that we would get 1 of the 2 transfer spots. In the b-main I got the lead on the start and lead every lap holding off some hard charging racers on several restarts to earn a 15th starting spot in the BrickDirt Nationals. Our game plan for the feature was to ride early, save the car, and race at the end. It was a good plan as I slid back to 18th or 19th at first then started working our way toward the front. We made it as far as 10th when overheating issues sidelined us for a 16th place finish. We couldn't be disappointed with our finish as just making the race with a car that was a little under classed by some of the Super Street cars that came was an accomplishment in itself. With our finish and the "Longest Tow Award" it was a successful weekend for the T39 Racing Team and we have already made plans to return and better our finish in the 3rd annual BrickDirt Nationals in 2009. You can read some of the e newspaper articles about us and the Nationals on the "news' and "media" pages here on the website. And as I always remind myself that none of this would be possible without the good Lord, a great family, and our sponsors(check them out on the sponsor’s page).
Thanks and God Bless
Tim Totherow

(8/27/09) Since our last update we have had some interesting things going on. the biggest is the fact that Tim has been sick with another infection. He had to spend 30 days on a very strong anti-biotic that had some rough side effects, which included headaches, nausea, and fatigue. With car owner Mike Totherow out of town with his job there hasn't been any racing going on out of team T39. With the team not racing we have taken a big drop in the points standings at Boyd's Speedway and realize that a good finish in the points is not likely. With Tim finishing this round of antibiotics and Mike returning from Oklahoma the team has turned their efforts into preparing for the Mid- America Street Stock Nationals in Batesville Arkansas on September 17-19. We plan on giving daily updates while in Batesville, either on here or on MRM Racing Forums. We ask you to keep us in your prayers and check on our progress.
Thank You, Shanda Totherow

Feb. 15 2009 Winterfest on Saturday the 14th turned out to be good day for the T39, but we have yet to get that first win at Winchester. Our heat race had the potential to be a good one as I started on the pole, but spun myself out while leading. We restarted 9th and we were able to make it back to 5th in the short heat race. 5th is where we would end up in the feature as well. We missed the setup a little and I couldn't get off the corner like I wanted to, but still had a good finish and a GREAT time. We look forward to giving Winchester another couple tries before the season is over with the Hightower Transmission, Carolina Trailers, JT-ONE race engines camaro. Next up is the 12th annual Bama Bash at Green Valley Speedway, see you there.
May God Bless
Tim Totherow T39

(7/27/09). Well, since we haven't updated the site in 3 months I thought that my 42nd birthday would be a good time.
    Our season has been an up and down year so far with engine and driveline failures occuring multiple times. The engine failures have been caused by an overheating issue that we can't seem to fix. We have changed everything in the cooling system to repair the problem and hopefully after the replacement of head gaskets this week along with all the other components we will have this issue repaired and get ourselves back in the winner's circle. We have had a strong car this year, but driver error and DNF's have kept us out of the top spot. I have realized that possibly we have these ups and downs to test our faith and show others that even though things don't turn out like we hope that we can still have a good time and glorify the Lord.
                            Thanks and God bless
                                  Tim

4/25/09 This week has been a busy week for the t39 team and not the best week by far. We worked all week and long hours to get the car ready to race Friday night at Boyd's Speedway only to have the tow vehicle break down on us on the way to the track. After not making it Friday night we decided to head out for Winchester Speedway to race in Super Stock on Saturday night. The tow truck ran perfect, but that can't be said for the race car. Overheating and electrical issues would make for a long night at the Winchester Tennessee race track netting us an 8th place finish in the heat and a 7th place finish in the feature. We raced our way up to 3rd at one point in the race only to be plagued with problems in what was shaping up to be a good run for the T39. It was still a great night, anytime that the good Lord allows you to do what you enjoy and glorify His name while doing it is a great night and this week, even though a tough one, has been an awesome week. This coming Friday we'll be back at Boyd's Speedway to begin our first ever attempt at winning a points championship. It would be a great title to add to our 2009 Boyd's Speedway Fan Favorite Award and like to thank God for what He has done for me and all the friends and fans who voted for us. A big thanks to Hightower Racing Transmissions, Carolina Trailers, J T-One Racing Engines, Jet Graphix, and Carolina Driveline for all the help, we couldn't do it without them.
                See ya at the races
                     may God bless
                       Tim Totherow