Dakota Hendrickson and the Dead Down Wind race team started the season with their first A-main appearance of the year. The Omaha teen qualified 18th in the 33 car field of 410 sprints at the MOWA event at 34 Raceway in West Burlington, IA Saturday night. Terry McCarl had quick time and won the A-main handily.
After struggling in the heat race, Dakota was forced to run one of the two B-mains to qualify for the A Feature. "The track started to come around to our setup in the B and we were fortunate enough to run second to make the A," Dakota remarked. In the A-main, Dakota started 22nd and finished a respectable 17th.
Dead Down Wind Crew Chief, Steve Fitzpatrick, said, "We have a new J&J chassis and we found out quickly in hot laps that last year's setup doesn't fit well with the new cars. But, we changed things to get us in the ball park for qualifying." Dakota continued, "Overall it was a good first night, as I was able to get a lot of laps with the 30-lap MOWA A-main. We started at the back and I was just focused on getting laps, getting my timing back after the off-season, being smooth, and staying out of trouble." The team opens the 2014 season this week at the historic Knoxville Raceway.