LESSONS LEARNED . . . THE THREE RACE RUN THROUGH THE DESERT ENDS WITH A 21ST PLACE FINISH AT USA RACEWAY

TUCSON, ARIZONA (March 7, 2015) – A three-day World of Outlaw race week through the desert that began under the sparking lights of Las Vegas, Nevada, concluded under the stars in Tucson, Arizona (even though the stars were covered a bit by cloud cover). Philip Dietz and the JJR team headed south with their E&K/Priority Aviation Services, LLC Maxim to compete at USA Raceway in Tucson, Arizona.

After hot laps, the team readied the Pro Powder Coating (PPC)/Valvoline machine for time trials. Jason pushed out and got his Hoosier Racing Tires rolling around the semi-banked, 3/8-mile oval. His quickest lap was 14.473 seconds as he stayed on the gas to earn the 17th quickest overall time.

Forced to dig out of a small hole early, the Louisiana born racer and the JJR team prepared their Maxim to do battle in the 8 lap heat race where he would start from the sixth starting spot. David Gravel and Logan Schuchart led the heat race field to the green in front a packed house of eager sprint car fans. Unfortunately, the track was narrow so there was not a lot of passing as the best in the business made fast work around the speedway. Jason came home in the sixth and final qualifying spot to advance directly to the A-feature event.

Starting deep in the field, from the 17th starting spot, in the MSD Performance/Wilwood #41 Maxim, Jason was ready to get at it on the track. He climbed aboard the E&K/Jonestown KOA machine and secured himself using his Crow Enterprizes safety belts as the bump on the rear nerf bar signified it was go time. The engine fired and he rolled out to his starting spot in row nine. Brad Sweet was on the pole with Brian Brown to his outside on the front row. After Johnny Gibson got the crowd fired up with his famous A-feature sendoff message, “You wanted the best, you got them four abreast, often imitated, never duplicated the World of Outlaws”, the 24 competitors were ready to do some high speed racing. Brian Brown jumped into the lead at the green with the field in tow. The track was taking rubber, so the passing lanes were very narrow. In order to be successful on this type of racing surface everything has to be just perfect, and even if everything is perfect you still need a lot of luck for things go your way. Jason was hard at work inside the cockpit racing his way around the semi-banked oval. Passing and making your way forward proved to be difficult. When Brown raced under the checkered flag for the win, Jason brought his entry across the finishing stripe in the 21st finishing spot.

After the race he explained, “While not the kinda night we want to have on the track, we are continuing to learn and I am confident we will get better throughout the season.” He continued, “We really appreciate all the support from our sponsorship partners. We certainly could not do it without them. It was great spending the last few days with the great people from E&K and Priority Aviation Services, LLC.”