Dylan Murry News

I had a race on Halloween that went really well. It was a 50 lap race that was split into a 30 and 20 lap race. They also had a 3 lap qualifying for this race too. I ended up 4th out of 19 cars. In the first race (30 laps), I go hit in the first turn of the race and had to start almost last (as you can see in the video). On the restart, I passed a couple of cars. There were cautions throughout the race and I made my way up to 3rd place at the end. In the second race (20 laps), I was battling for second for a while and finally pulled away from the rest of the pack and finished a couple of tenths behind the leader.

They had a costume competition as well and our crew was dressed up as the "Legends of N.A.S.C.A.R." with my grandpa as Richard Petty (as in the picture). The rest of the crew dressed up as other drivers such as Dicky Wilson as Dale Earnhardt Sr.(same picture) and I was the "future legend." All in all, it was a fun race and contest and hope to do it again next year.

Click picture for video;

Wow! Last Thursday night was one heck of a race! It was the first race of the Thursday Thunder series at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Wednesday was test day for the US Legends Cars and it did not go so well. The car kept missing about halfway down the straight. We changed the carburetors, ECU, ignition coils, and fuel filter but none fixed the problem. After all the practices were over, we figured out that it had to be the crank trigger so we changed that before Thursday practice. On Thursday practice, it was fixed and were running low 16's, but it felt like it was pushing. We made an adjustment to the springs. In the heat race, the car was equal on grip, but had no over-all grip. We changed the set up back to what it was for the feature race, because at night, the car tends to loosen up. In the feature race, I started 8th out of 14 cars, but on the first lap, I was spun out and dropped back to dead last on the restart. All through out the race, I picked up positions until I was in 3rd, but the yellow flag came out and it was a green white checkered finish. I fell back one position on the restart and finished 4th of 14 cars overallin the semi-pro and 1st in class.

This was a very exiting race and I look forward to the next race.

We race every Thursday night through the end of July.

 

Dylan

Last Thursday, I went to Sebring, Florida because I was one of the Gorsline Scholarship nominee finalists, along with Skylar Robinson and Madison Snow. It was a true honor to be one of the nominees, but unfortunately, I did not win. On the good side, I am officially the youngest nominee for the Gorsline Scholarship ever. The winner this year, Madison Snow was nominated last year so my hopes are up for next year! Congratulations Madison.

 

On Friday, we flew back to Atlanta to gear up for the Winter Flurry race in Atlanta Motor Speedway. We just got a new car, so this is my first time driving it. In the heat race, I drew third and finished third. The tire pressures were too high and the car was pushing a lot, but I was still doing 16.4s. Normally, that is what I would be doing in my old car. In the feature race we changed tire pressures and I picked up the pace to 16.0s. I was running the same time as the leaders but I was caught up in traffic. I finished third out of 11 and first in class. It wasn't until today that I figured out that I had just about no left front breaks. This could be the main problem in the pushing so hopefully next time we can  get down to 15.9s.  

I had two Legends races these past couple of weeks. They were both at Atlanta Motor Speedway. I had great competition in both races.

The first race, I drew last and started the heat race in last. Before the practice session, I went out in a parking lot and tested the car. One of the gaskets blew, and oil went everywhere.  We added more oil and went out for practice. Everything was fine so we ran the heat race. On the first few laps, I went from 6th to 2nd. I was about to pass for the lead, but then my engine slowed down and started smoking again. We brought it back to the garage and the camshaft was split in half. We didn't know what to do. At this point, we thought we couldn't run the feature race. It was just then, when someone offered me to drive their car, just to get me the points in the championship. So, in the feature race, I ran someone else's car. I started in 12th. Throughout the whole race, I worked my way up and passed half the field. I finished 6th and first in class.

   

The race at Atlanta Motor Speedway yesterday, I drew 4th. In the heat race, I got caught behind third, but eventually passed him. By that time, I was too far behind to catch the leaders. I finished 3rd. In the feature race, I started in 6th because they combine heat race finishes for the feature. I made my way up to 3rd and catching the leaders. Right when I was about to catch the leader, a guy from behind me nailed me in the back left tire and it crushed my bodywork and set up. I then fell back to fourth. The car had no grip then so I continued to fall back. I finished 5th over all and first in class.

 

In yesterday's race, there was Rutledge Wood (of Top Gear) and George Flanigen, they are the hosts of a new TV show on the History Channel called "Lost in Transmission". Rutledge and George were here to make an episode. They interviewed a couple of people and I was one of them! The season premiere is sometime in early March.

 

Thank you to everyone who has been voting for my video at Championsparkplugs.com for the driver search. You can vote every day through Feb 3. It would really help push my racing along if I could win the contest.

 

Dylan

Last Saturday, I had a Winter Flurry Legends race. This was the first race of the season at Atlanta Motor Speedway.