2003 Racing Season Weekly Results
| March | |
| Saturday March 22nd | Silver Spring Speedway: Race was canceled due to Rain. |
| Sunday March 23rd | Williams Grove Speedway: The team did really well for their first race of the year. They drew a great starting number for the feature only event; that put them starting in the 5th position. Steve drove a great race on a very dry hard track surface. Tire wear was very high concern for all the cars involved, and that along with fuel was on the minds of all the teams. After a caution riddled race Steve brought the car home in the 2nd position! A great way to start off the 2003 racing season... |
| Saturday March 29th |
Silver Spring Speedway: |
| April | |
| Saturday April 5th | Silver Spring Speedway: The team had a good starting position, Steve started 2nd in his heat race. He ended up finishing in the 4th position. This transferred him directly to the feature race where he started 19th. The track surface was very tacky and fast. This put power at a premium and made handling more of a "non-issue". Steve ran a good race although he did get caught up in one minor wreck; he managed to work his way back to finish the night in the 16th position. The car ran well although it seemed to be somewhat underpowered all night. This should be corrected before the next race... |
| Saturday April 12th | Silver Spring Speedway: The teams luck with drawing numbers ran out this week... They drew pill number 52 and that put them starting 7th in the 5th heat race. The race got off to a decent start but everywhere Steve went there always seemed to be someone there... anyhow. Steve ended up finishing in 7th position which meant he had to try and qualify for the feature by way of the second consolation race. Steve started the consolation race in 7th position and made a great move on the first lap to pass two cars. He ended up in the third position, this transferred him to the feature but put him starting dead last in 26th position. He ran a great race and ended the evening in the 14th position; passing 12 cars before the night was over! The team did an outstanding job in preparing the car and getting it as good as possible for Steve to be able to move up the way he did! Great job guys! |
| Friday April 18th | Williams Grove Speedway: Race was Postponed due to rain to Sunday April 20th. |
| Saturday April 19th | Silver Spring Speedway: Steve started 8th in the 2nd heat race. He drove a good race and finished 4th which transferred him directly to the feature race. He started 17th in the feature. The car was not handling quite right... a red flag during the feature allow the crew to make some adjustments to help out a little bit. Steve drove a good race and brought the car home in the 10th position. This was the first top ten finish of the year for the team at Silver Spring. Steve came into the night tied for 14th in early season points and now is in sole possession of 9th place in the points! |
| Sunday April 20th | Williams Grove Speedway: The night got off to a rough start with the team drawing the worst starting spot in the entire field. This put Steve starting 12th in the 2nd heat race. He moved up to finish in the 8th position which placed him starting 4th in the consolation race. He ended up finishing in the 2nd position in the consi. and this placed him starting 20th for the feature. Steve drove another good race and picked up 7 positions to finish 13th. |
| Saturday April 26th | Silver Spring Speedway: After rain struck the area for the majority of Friday night and into Saturday morning things did not look good for racing on Saturday night. But the skies cleared and the race was on at Silver Spring Speedway... The racing action was delayed about 1 hour to allow the track to be "run in" as much as possible. Even with this extra time this made for a super tacky and fast track surface. Steve started in the 8th position in the 2nd heat race. He moved up to finish in the 7th position and this meant that he had to try and qualify through a "loaded" field in the first consolation race. He started in the 7th position in the consi. and ended up in the 5th position. This meant an early night for the team as they did not qualify for the feature for the first time in the 2003 season... Look for the team to make some slight changes and come back swinging in the next few weeks! |
| May | |
| Saturday May 3rd | Silver Spring Speedway: Steve started 8th in the first heat race. He ended up finishing 6th after a failed attempt to pick up fourth spot in turns 3 & 4 on the last lap. This put him starting 3rd in the first consolation race. He ended up finishing 5th in the consi. This meant another short night at the races. The team believes they have tracked down the source of their problems and should have them corrected before the next race at the Silver Spring. |
| Sunday May 4th | Selinsgrove Speedway: Unfortunately the beat went on with the early season woes for the team. This looked good to start with as the team drew a good starting position for the night. Steve started 2nd in the first heat race and quickly jumped to an early lead and was pulling away from the field. On lap 3 with about a 15 - 20 car length lead the motor gave way and ended the night way too early as this looked to be a very promising evening of racing. However it was not to be... The team loaded up early and tried to remain as upbeat as possible. Hang in there guys; things will turn around! |
| Saturday May 10th | Silver Spring Speedway: Steve started his heat race in the 6th position and ran a great race and finished 2nd. This transferred him directly to the feature where he started in the 8th position. The car was running good and then during the hot and heavy racing action he got hit from behind. This seemed to adversely affect the handling of the car and he fell back a little bit. He went on to finish the feature in the 11th position. Not a bad finish considering all of the other cars that got tore up in a very rough night of racing at Silver Spring. |
| Saturday May 17th | Silver Spring Speedway: Steve started his heat race in the 7th position. The car was not handling properly and he ended up finishing the heat race in 7th position. This put him starting 8th in the second consolation race, needing to get up to the 3rd position to even make the feature race at all... The team made all the right changes between the heat race and the consi. and the car was very much improved and it showed on the track! Steve drove a great race and finished in the 3rd position and he was putting heat on the 2nd place car. This put the Auto Locator Team in the feature, but starting dead last. On the first lap of the feature there was a huge wreck that ended up collecting about 1/2 of the field of cars; although almost all of them were able to restart the race. Steve was not involved but had to stop because the entire track was blocked and he had no where to go. Because he came to a complete stop he had to restart dead last. Once the race restarted the car was hooked up and he was on the move. He was running the high side and passing cars like crazy! He ended up finishing in the 10th position! A tremendous finish considering he started the race in the 26th spot... Way to go guys!! |
| Saturday May 24th | Silver Spring Speedway: Race was canceled due to Rain. |
| Friday May 30th | Williams Grove Speedway: The night started good with Steve starting in the 3rd position in his heat race and finishing in the second position. This place him starting the feature in the 5th position. The feature race got off to a good start with Steve immediately jumping up to the third position in the race. The the car came to a stop at the end of the front stretch. It popped out of gear... Steve got the car re-started and had to take up shop at the rear of the 24-car field after the officials threw the yellow flag. The car was good though... Steve ended the night in the 11th position and rapidly closing in on all the cars in front of him. He picked up 13 positions in the 20 lap feature... that is moving! The teams luck is bound to turn around soon... As long as they keep fighting and scraping, they are bound to get this monkey off their back! Keep up the hard work guys... it will pay off soon! |
| Saturday May 31st | Silver Spring Speedway: Race was canceled due to Rain. |
| June | |
| Saturday June 7th | Silver Spring Speedway: Race was postponed one day to Sunday June 8th due to Rain. |
| Sunday June 8th | Silver Spring Speedway: The night got off to a good start with Steve starting 6th in the second heat race and he finished 3rd. This transferred him directly to the feature and put him starting in the 12th position. The feature unfortunately was a demo derby! On the 4th lap a car was low on the track and shot up into Steve pushing him into the outside was all collecting other cars behind him as well. Fortunately Steve was OK but the car was not. Till it was all said and done only 9 of the 26 cars that started the feature actually finished the race. Steve was officially scored in the 22nd position. The team will now focus its attention on getting the 2nd car ready as well as having the 1st car repaired and then rebuilding it as quickly as possible... |
| Saturday June 14th | Silver Spring Speedway: Race was canceled due to Rain. |
| Friday June 20th | Williams Grove Speedway: Race was canceled due to Rain. |
| Saturday June 21st | Silver Spring Speedway: (Auto Locator
Night) Race was postponed four days to Wednesday June 25th due to Rain. |
| Wednesday June 25th | Silver Spring Speedway: (Auto Locator
Night) Steve started the night out in the second heat race in the 6th position. The cars setup was a little off and Steve did a great job to bring the car home in the 5th position. This put him starting 2nd in the first consolation race. Steve quickly jumped out to a lead in the consi. and drove a great race and came away with a solid victory over the top two teams in the current Silver Spring points. This placed him in the 21st starting position in the feature race. There were many cautions and Steve's work was cut out for him trying to avoid these accidents. He did suffer minor damage in a 3rd lap accident. This damage proved to affect the cars handling and would bother Steve the remainder of the night. Unfortunately the night would end in the pits, as on lap 20 after moving up to the 15th position Steve went high on the front-stretch to avoid some spinning cars and he was collected into the wreck and the car suffered front end damage that forced the team to park the car. The beat goes on... Steve was thankfully uninjured in the accident and the car did not suffer damage that is too extensive. |
| Saturday June 28th | Silver Spring Speedway: (Firecracker
40) Steve started the night in the 7th position in the 2nd heat race. Things looked good with Steve moving up to the 5th spot by lap 4. Then another driver (using that term loosely) hit Steve from behind and spun him out in turns 1 and 2. Steve saved the car from wrecking and kept going but he lost a lot of positions and distance to the leaders. He made up most of the time and positions but finished in the 7th position. This put him in the first consi. starting in the 9th position. Once again things started out okay with him moving up to the 7th position by the lap 2 caution. Things were looking up at that point only to have a non-working transponder cause a scoring error and have the track personnel line Steve up re-starting in the 10th position. On the ensuing restart Steve spun the car out coming out of turn 4 and had to rejoin the field at the very back. He managed to move up to the 6th position but still failed to qualify for the 40 lap feature. It was a disappointing end to a hope filled night. The car was running and handling well the team just could not catch a break. (seems like I type that phrase a lot this year... :-) ) Things are bound to turn around as far as the teams racing luck is concerned... Keep you chins up guys! |
| July | |
| Saturday July 5th | Silver Spring Speedway: Steve started the night in the 7th position in the 4th heat race. On the initial start Steve got shuffled back to the 9th position and Steve had his work cut out for him to make it to the top four spots to transfer into the Feature. The car was running and handling very good as Steve began his march to the front of the field. He picked his spots and drove a great race. At the start of the 10th lap Steve was in 5th place and quickly moved into 4th place. He then set his sights on 3rd and made a clean slide pass for the third position coming off of turn 4 for the final time. The car Steve passed (Gregg Foster) dropped below him coming off the turn (as he should) and tried to get past Steve on the inside as they raced to the Checkered Flag. Unfortunately the two cars got together and this sent Steve into the inside wall and sent Gregg Foster flipping into the infield as he had hopped Steve's left rear tire. Fortunately no one in the infield was injured although at last word Gregg did sustain a crack in a bone in his right arm and some bruises. Thankfully nothing serious... Steve did slide across the finish line but in a questionable scoring move he was not awarded a finish and was told that they were going back to lap 9 running order for the final results and placed him in 9th due to the wreck. The team worked hard to get the car repaired but decided not to run in the consi. to verify the soundness of the car for the "King of the Springs" match races. Steve then raced Rich Eichelberger in the Match races and beat Rich in the 2 lap sprint. He then raced Russ Mitten and lost mainly due to the rear brakes failing during the race caused by the earlier wreck. The car is still intact and is working well now all the team needs is a little racing luck... PLEASE!! |
| Saturday July 12th | Silver Spring Speedway: Steve started the night in the 6th position in the 1st heat race. Steve was running good run on the high side and quickly moved up to the 4th position. Steve drove a great race and ended up finishing in the 3rd spot. This transferred him directly to the feature and put him starting in the 11th position. The team made some changes to improve the car before the feature. The car work well and Steve drove an outstanding race and brought the car home in the 4th position. This was a great top 5 finish for the team and the best finish of the year so far at Silver Spring. With the team's luck finally turning look for them to continue to press and work hard for that first win in 2003! |
| Saturday July 19th | Silver Spring Speedway: (51st Anniversary
Race) Steve started the night in the 7th position in the 4th heat race. Steve was running a good race and had moved up to 4th position in the early going of the race. Then a screw that hold the hood down came out and cause the hood to raise up on the on side partially blocking Steve view. This caused him to fall back to about the 8th position. Steve then drove down the straight-aways with one hand on the hood and the other on the steering wheel. Using this technique he moved back up to the 4th position. He was in 4th for a restart and made a move to get under the 3rd place car at the drop of the green flag. The other driver then tried to move under Steve going down the front stretch but clipped the back of Steve's car sending him headlong into the outside wall on the front stretch. The car sustained heavy damage and Steve was slightly banged up but will be okay... This ended the night of racing for the team. They will move to the 2nd car for the next week of racing at Silver Spring and Lincoln Speedways. Look for good things from the team in the next few weeks... |
| Saturday July 26th | Silver Spring Speedway: Steve started the night in the 7th position in the 5th heat race. The car was very good and Steve was running the high side. He was rapidly moving up through the field when on lap 2 he was making a pass for the 2nd position and was on the high side of another competitor. The other car slip up and pinched Steve into the outside front stretch wall. Steve was then hit from behind by another car which put him up on top of the front stretch outside wall "grinding" his way down the wall until the car hopped off the wall and drifted down across the track. Steve was a little shaken up and the car was trashed. The crew began work on the car immediately and even made frame repairs at the track to save time in trying to get the car ready for the next night at Lincoln. Steve was okay after the wreck and determined to make it to Lincoln the next night. |
| Sunday July 27th | Lincoln Speedway: The team along with some great help from Ben Woodring was able to get the car ready for the Lincoln Speedway race the next night on Sunday July 27th. Steve started in the front row in the 2nd heat race. He quickly powered his way into the lead and never looked back. He set a new track record for the fasted 8 lap heat race in the history of the Super Sportsman at Lincoln Speedway. This heat win placed him starting in the 2nd position in the feature. Steve once again wasted no time at all moving his car into the lead. He drove a great race working the high side to perfection. Then with less than one lap to go Steve was passed by Frankie Herr in turn 3 & 4. Steve then made a great run on the low side of the track and the two cars drag raced down the front stretch to a photo finish with Herr winning by inches over Steve. This was a great night of racing and a fabulous 2nd place finish but Steve and the team is still hungry for their first win! This was an amazing turnaround for the team from trashing the car the night before to setting a new track record and coming within inches of winning the next night! Great job guys! |
| August | |
| Saturday August 2nd | Silver Spring Speedway: Steve started the night in the 6th position in his heat race. The car was very good and Steve ended up finishing in the 3rd position. This transferred him directly to the feature where he would start in the 14th position. Initially the car was not hooked up properly and Steve was searching for a line to run on the track. During this time he fell back to the 19th position before settling on the high line on the track. He then began his march to the front and ended up finishing a respectable 10th place. Another good night of racing for the team picking up a top 10 and keeping the car in one piece... :-) Way to go guys! |
| Friday August 8th |
Williams Grove Speedway: (Auto Locator
Night) |
| Saturday August 9th |
Silver Spring Speedway: Race was canceled due to Rain. |
| Wednesday August 13th |
Port Royal Speedway: The night got off to a rough start with Steve having trouble right at the start of his heat race. The car simply would not go... it turns out that both the main ignition coil and the backup ignition coil went bad. Steve was force to park the car. The team made the necessary repairs and due to the car count they still were in the feature race but starting 22nd. This as it turns out was a major stoke of fortune for the team; as on lap one of the feature there was a massive 16 car pileup in front of Steve. Had Steve finished in the top five in his heat race he would have been right in the middle of this melee. Fortunately no one was seriously injured but a few drivers were banged up and Steve Cannon was transported to a nearby hospital with a bad laceration to his one hand/arm. It took the track personnel almost 1 hour to clean up this wreck. Steve then restarted the feature in the 9th position! The track was very dry and had only one real grove for the drivers to run in. Steve moved up to 6th position and was putting pressure on the 5th place car but could not pull of the pass due to the single groove. Overall things went the teams way at Port and a solid top ten is the proof, as well as an intact race car! Keep up the great work guys! |
| Saturday August 16th |
Silver Spring Speedway: Race was canceled due to Rain. |
| Saturday August 23rd |
Silver Spring Speedway: Steve started the night off well due to a change in qualifying process. The speedway timed everyone's hot laps and the top 35 would be handicapped into the to 7 positions in each heat race by points. This put the slower and more inexperienced drivers in the positions 8 and back in each heat race, thus cutting down on wrecks. (at least that is the theory). Steve had the 2nd fasted time in hot laps, and due to his points position this put him starting 5th in the 3rd heat race. He drove a good race although he did get chopped once and did a great job to save the car he still lost 2 positions in the process. He ended up finishing a strong 5th and was catching the cars in front of him. This put him on the poll in the 2nd consi. He drove a great race and finished a strong second behind Frankie Herr. In the feature he started 24th and finished 19th on a very dry one lane track that had very little passing... The car is intact and the team is ready for Susky on Sunday night! |
| Saturday August 24th |
Susquehanna Speedway: Steve ran a good heat race and finished 4th. this put him in the 16th starting position for the feature. The team had a chat with Steve and this seemed to light a fire under him... He drove the car like he stole it! He came all the way from 16th starting position to finish in 3rd position. He was tracking down the front two cars that were battling it out for the win. This puts him currently in the 4th position in the Super Sportsman Tour Points Series with two races remaining; one at Selinsgrove and one at Williams Grove. Keep up the great work guys! |
| Saturday August 30th |
Silver Spring Speedway: This was the "Feature Frenzy" Night at the track. The top 16 in points were locked into the feature and all the rest of the cars had to come through "B" and "C" feature. Due to Steve's 15th position currently in the Silver Spring Points this put him starting in the 4th position. With the great starting position the team decided to try an aggressive setup with the car to see how it work out. Unfortunately the setup was a "miss" and and Steve went backwards some. He did manage to get a 8th place finish and this helped him move into the 14th position in the Silver Spring Speedway points standings. The car is intact and the team is excited about Monday's race at Selinsgrove! A solid top ten is not a bad night of racing anytime! |
| September | |
| Saturday September 6th |
Silver Spring Speedway: Steve ran a good race and managed to bring the Auto Locator car home in the 14th position. Not bad for having to qualify thru the consolation race! |
| Saturday September 13th |
Silver Spring Speedway: (Sportsman 100) Race was postponed due to Rain. |
| Saturday September 20th | Silver Spring Speedway: (Sportsman 100) The night started out well with Steve qualifying for the feature in time trails in the 15th position. He started out the race and held his own for a while before falling back a little bit. Then he spun out around lap 30 in turn 2. He was able to restart the race but was now in last position. The race resumed and at the next caution Steve came into the pits and the team made a minor adjustment to the cars setup. After this he went back out in last place and managed to pickup about 6 positions before the mandatory red flag on lap 58. The team made a few more adjustment to the car and they all paid off well. Steve continued to pick up positions for the rest of the race and finished in the 12th position. Not bad for coming from the back twice! Great work Steve and crew! |
| Saturday September 20th | Silver Spring Speedway: On Saturday September 27th the team raced at Silver Spring Speedway. This was the final race of the year at the Spring's. Steve started the first heat race in the 5th position. Unfortunately he spun out in turn 2 and was forced to restart the heat race in last position with 4 laps down. He drove the wheels off the car and managed to bring it home in 5th spot missing qualifying for the feature by only one spot. This put him on the poll for the 1st consi. In the consi. drove a good race but the car would not cooperate and he managed to salvage a 4th place finish once again missing the feature by one spot. He was the first alternate but all qualifying cars were able to start the race and the team was forced to call in a night. Great effort by all team members and crew alike... break out the torch! :-) |
| October | |
| Saturday October 11th | Williams Grove Speedway: On Saturday October 11th the team raced for the final time in the 2003 season. This was an invitational race only for the top 24 points teams in the Tour standings. Steve finished in 4th place in the points so he secured his starting spot in this race. Steve ran a good race and ended the night in the 8th position. A good solid finish on a trying season... |