Knoxville, IA (April 28, 2013) – Dakota Hendrickson’s debut weekend in a 410 Sprint Car had it’s ups and downs, but unfortunately only starts and no stops. After a great practice session on Friday evening, Dakota spent most of his track time Saturday night racing events without any brakes.
Friday’s practice was extremely promising. Dakota grabbed the opportunity to be the first on the track for Friday’s practice session and the track was still a bit greasy. Less than optimal track conditions didn’t phase the Omaha teenager as he posted a personal best, 15.827 lap time in his first 10 laps in a 410 sprinter. As the track conditions improved Dakota returned to the track for a second 10-lap session that saw him run each lap under 15.8 with a quick time of 15.367. "I was surprised at how comfortable I was right from the start" Dakota remarked, "But when Steve Fitzpatrick works his magic the car is just so easy to drive and go fast!"
Unfortunately, the first night luck didn’t carry over for Saturday’s race events. For starters Dakota was the 31 qualifier out of 33 entries having drawn #73 out of 75 possible qualifying positions. After a quick set of hot laps, 410 qualifying was limited to 1 lap qualifying runs. Dakota qualified 22 out of 33 cars posting a 16.009, not quite a second behind Brian Brown’s quick time of 15.039. “My visor fogged over completely going down the front chute” Dakota remarked. “I couldn’t see a thing going past the flag stand. With only one lap, I didn’t want to lift, but I had no choice” Dakota explained.
Only three 410 heat races relegated the 16 year-old Omaha teen to a fourth row start in an eleven-car heat race. Dakota made a solid start and after 3 laps was holding his own when the rear-inboard brake spat out its titanium brake pads, leaving him to finish the final 5 circuits without any brakes. He ended up eighth out of eleven competitors and relegated to the B-Feature. His crew replaced the rear brake caliper and with a second row starting spot, Dakota was hopeful he could finish in the top six and garner an opportunity move on to the A-Feature.
Unfortunately, in the rush to replace the brake caliper the crew didn’t get a chance to ensure the brake line was secured to the frame. So on the first lap when the car winged down into the corner the new brake line was severed. Thus, Dakota spent another 10 laps or so trying to complete his first 410 feature race without the benefit of any brakes. Still Hendrickson was able to bring the Dead Down Wind #4 home only two spots out of the A-Main transfer.
“We had an up and down weekend, but some really good things happened this weekend and our entire team is really excited about what this season holds for us” Dakota said. He should be exciting to watch the rest of the season.