Submitted by Matt Prieur
After sitting idle for over a month, 17-year-old Kyle Feeney was finally back behind the wheel of his Non-Winged Sprint Car on Friday, June 24th at the tight 1/4 (0.250) mile semi-banked paved oval of Spartan Speedway in Mason, Michigan. The man goal of the night with running twin 25-lap feature was to get valuable seat time and continue to learn. It was mission accomplished for the Oxford, Michigan teenager.
“Finally mother nature let us race, and we had a very productive weekend, both the driver and the crew learned a lot. I logged a lot of solid laps with a full night of racing plus the makeup feature that was rained out from earlier in the year.” Stated Feeney. “Ran my best heat race ever! Led the first few laps then ran side by side for the next few laps before settling into second place. My car was working awesome on the top side and racing side by side helped me build confidence that I can race wheel to wheel with the veterans.” He added.
Feeney’s Father, Veteran Kevin Feeney then headed down to South Bend Motor Speedway on Sunday, June 26th for the Auto Value Super Sprints event at the fast 1/4 (0.250) mile high-banked paved oval located just south of the Michigan / Indiana state line. “South Bend proved to be a challenge, with real tight racing and slick track conditions on a hot Sunday afternoon! During qualifying I drove in a little too hard and skated up the track resulting in a less than stellar lap time.” The elder Feeney explained.
“Ran a sold third in the heat race and used the laps to try and learn as much about the track as I could for the feature. It was obvious that passing was going to be very difficult and that it would be easy to get in trouble if you got too aggressive, so starting in 14th I decided it was best to be patient and let things sort themselves out,” He continued. “This proved to be a good strategy as there were numerous caution flags and quite a few tore up race cars.”
After all was said and done, Feeney brought home a fourth place finish in the Feature, which was won by Angola, Indiana legend, Hank Lower. “We managed to hold our own and all in all it was a good point’s day for the #42 car.” Feeney continued. “Unfortunately my TNT Promotions teammate, Bill Tyler in the #24 car was collected in someone else’s wreck while running in the top five, which destroyed his race car. Due to the severity of the damage, the team is working hard to get our primary car ready for this week at Dixie and Owosso so Bill can run the car we have had at the first three events this season.” He added.
The Auto Value Super Sprints will spend the Fourth of July Holiday Weekend at two tracks both Feeney’s are very familiar with; Dixie Motor Speedway in Birch Run, Michigan on Friday, July 1st and then Owosso Speedway in Ovid, Michigan on Saturday, July 2nd. Kevin Feeney has seen plenty of success at both speed plants with Feature Wins in the past while Kyle Feeney was the 2010 Rookie of the Year at both speed plants as well.
“Really looking forward to this weekend as both tracks are close to home and we had a great race car at both venues last year and I have had success at both tracks in the past.” The Oxford, Michigan veteran added. “It’s also going to be the first time that I have competed against my son which will be a lot of fun!” Feeney ended.
Kyle Feeney then added; “After the crew and I were talking about how we have the next few weeks off and how we really wanted to race. My dad suggested we put a winged car together and run during the off weeks. He didn’t have to ask twice and I had the engine out of the non-winged car ready to go into the winged car.” He laughed. “I know we’ll be a little down on power with our 360 motor compared to the 410 engines the Series races, but it will give me more seat time and the best part is; I get to race against my Dad for the first time.” He ended.
While the younger Feeney makes his Auto Value Super Sprints Series debut, his Father advanced four positions in the season long points chase after his fourth place finish at South Bend as he went from eighth to an impressive fourth in his quest to defend his 2010 Series Championship and he’s only 29 markers back of first place, currently being held by Jason Cox.
For the remainder of the 2011 racing season, Kyle Feeney’s #99 Non-Winged Sprint Car will carry sponsorship from Pro Cote Floor Covering Systems as well as U-Coat-It, Weld Racing, Racing Head Service, Joe Gibbs Driven Racing Oil, M.P.H. Promotions and Feeney Motorsports. For the two Auto Value Super Sprints races this weekend at Dixie and Owosso, Feeney will sport the #98 that his Father ran for many seasons while carrying the same sponsors that have been supporting his Non-Winged efforts.
Kevin Feeney’s #42 Sprint Car has support from U-Coat-It, as well as Dowker Racing Engines, Joe Montgomery Builders, Hamilton Trucking, Simpson Racing Products, Joe Gibbs Driven Racing Oil, M.P.H. Promotions, and TNT Promotions.
To learn more about Kevin and Kyle Feeney and the entire Feeney Motorsports Team, check out their Facebook Fan Page. Just go to: www.facebook.com and search for “Feeney Motorsports” and click on the “Like” button today. A new website is coming soon courtesy of Speed-Media out of Cedar Springs, Michigan.
Filed under: I-96 Speedway
