About me: The 2007 race season is behind us, and looking back we had a good season going till we brought a gremlin home with us. We were in the top five in points for a few weeks and had a good chance at getting in the top 4 at the end if the year. But, as racing luck goes, we went from "great" to "gone south".
During one particular week, the engine was pulled out and tore down to a bare block on Monday, taken to the machine shop on Tuesday, arrived back at our garage and reassembled on Wednesday, lowered back into the car on Thursday, and finally got the car loaded up on Friday for the Saturday race. That was one busy week!
All in all, we had a top 5 and 7 top ten finishes in 2007.
We are looking forward to returning to Shenandoah Speedway in 2008. The car is getting a new body and a new look. Please take the time to visit the following web sites.
We have two new sponsors for this year: EZ Auction and GypsyBug.com.
ShenandoahSpeedway
Here is our main web site.IKEDA Motorsports
Who I'd like to meet: (Driver) Daren Lee Beltz. I live in Aberdeen, Maryland Favorite driver: Darrell Waltrip, Jeremy Mayfield, Denny Hamlin
Favorite track: Bristol
Favorite stock car memory: Darrell doing The Ikky shuffle after winning the 1989 Daytona 500.
Favorite racing movie: Stroker Ace
Where did the race team name come from?
IKEDA (pronounced: E-kay-da) is my wife's family name. This is my way to honor her family, and to show pride in Hiroko's culture. If you have seen the car, you have probably wondered what that writing was in between the side windows. The writing is IKEDA MOTORSPORTS in Katakana.
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(Crew Chief)David Brown Home town: Aberdeen, MD
Currently reside: Riverside, MD
Favorite driver: Dale Earnhardt Sr., Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Favorite track: Bristol
Favorite racing movie: Days of Thunder
What number would you run?: 03
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(Pit Crew / Spotter) Jason Funk Home town: Darlington, MD
Currently reside: Darlington, MD
Favorite driver: Mark Martin
Favorite track: Bristol
Favorite racing movie: Days of Thunder
What number would you run?: 6
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(Pit Crew / 2nd Spotter)Keith Streeter Home town: Havre de Grace
Currently reside: Mooresville, NC
Favorite driver: Dale Earnhardt Sr., Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Favorite track: Daytona
Favorite racing movie: Cars
What number would you run?: 88
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(Web Lord)Steve Husk Home town: College Park, MD
Currently reside: Manassas, VA
Favorite driver: Kenny Wallace
Favorite track: Beltsville, Bristol
Favorite stock car memory: My dad taking me to Beltsville Speedway for the first time.
Favorite racing movie: The Great Race
What number would you run?: 46
HEY DAREN WE HAVE A USED 06 MC ROOF,DECKLID WITH SPOILER.NEW BUMPERS,QUARTERS,DOORS,ROCKERS,HOOD,AND 4 NEW FENDERS.WILL TAKE 600.00 DOLLARS FOR IT, IF INTERESTED LEAVE ME A COMMENT ON HERE OR U CAN CALL 434-996-2296 SPARKY THANKS!
Well we are making plans for next year. The car is going to be recliped in late Dec. or after the first of the year. Sold the body this weekend, so black betty will be reskined with a new one for next year. Motor has been pulled out and is on the stand. We are going to try to get it down to Walley's for a rebuild but that will depend on money left in the poor racers fund. We are currently looking for sponsorship for next year!!!! If you have any ideas of business that might be interested drop us a line. Will pay a finders fee of 20% of the sponsorship amount!!! Thanks and we will be putting up pictures of the car being put back together. One last thing we are going to repaint the chassis should we stay with the gray? I have been thinking about orange! Let us know what you think!!
Thank-you to Sean and Ballantine Racing for the help this weekend!!! We tried to get back out and get those much needed points but it would just not be so! I am still sore,my ribs mostly and I am still pissed but mostly feel bad for my crew!!! A 7th place finish!!!! I talked to J.J. yesterday got some good info!! You will Have to call me to get it! Thanks to the crew job well done all year!!! Well get them next year!!!!!!
Daren and Team 17, Thanks for letting me come out and help yall. Sorry about how it turned out, but hopefully I was some sort of help! If you need anything this winter, let me know!
Well let me start by saying,What a night!!! Shenandoah had 20 car for the feature. We were fast right of the trailer running 17.2-17.3 but the car was pushing a little bit off of the corners. The crew made a panhard bar adjustment and an air pressure change. We went out for the second round of practice and the car got slower and was to loose. The crew changed the car back to what it was out of the trailer. Now on to Qualifig! Now lets think about this a few minutes! Two points races left and 20 cars, need to get close to the front as we can get so there is less car to have to deal with. When I went out I left some on the table ( I didn't run it as hard as I could have ) and we qualified 16 out of 20. A lot of cars to pass!!! The temp was to get into the low 40's so the crew made adjustments to the carb. By race time it was in the mid 40's. On the drop of the green flag the pole sitter spun in turn 1 and then collected almost half the field. We made it past with out a scratch. Everyone except 2 cars lined back up for a complete restart. When the green flag dropped,the work began! within 5 laps we had moved from 16 to 13 and was working on the 41 car. The good think was we where only about 5 car links back from a pack of car that was 6th place on back. In turn 4 I got under the 41 and spun myself out and had to start at the back of the pack. I had to repass some of the cars I just passed. I have never passed so many cars in one night. We ended up finishing I think in eight or seventh spot. To top it all off the car was finally in the 16's in lap times. Man was that fun!!!! A Big Thank You to my Crew- David,Jason,and Keith " WERE BACK!!!!! Please No more calls about our Gremlin he has found a new home!!!!
"Hey thanks so much for the add! Listen!! I need your help! I am in this contest to win the cover of this magazine!! I need your help so that I can stay in first place! Here's my banner to click on and vote!
Spread the word to your friends and try to vote once a day if you can! I really wanna win this! If your really want to help me out, you can post a bulletin for me along with my banner....I'd appreciate this greatly!!
I would like to say THINK YOU!! to the Crew ( David,Jason,Keith ). This past month has been really rough. What really sucks it that all are problems have not been our doing but errors at the machine shop or being told about all the parts needed from the parts supplier. It has gotten to the point where you have to laugh. The crew fixed the problem from the week before with the oil plow bye to have something else happen. First round of practice the right front brake caliper stuck and caught on fire. The brake tech. form the company we buy parts from just happened to be at the track so we asked him to come down a look at the car. He looked at it a told us that it failed cause we were missing a spacer on the caliper. He said we should have been told this when we bought the caliper!! The crew could have fixed it but we didn't have any caliper seals ( $3.00 ) on the trailer. So we ran one lap again, for the third week in a row. We have dropped from 4th in the points to 7th/8th. Will getter fixed and give it a try this weekend.
FREE TO ANYONE !!!!
1 month old male gremlin, black with red eyes. Loves kids and cars. Dosen't eat much,is very playful. Contact Ikeda Motorsports if you would like to give him a new home!!!!
Thanks for everyones hard work this past week!!! We were almost there!!!! Dave and Jason had the car on a rail!!! As fate would have it, the engine broke an exhaust valve off and did a fine job on the #4 cylinder. So far the piston & rod are destroyed and the head is cracked. The block is at the machine shop and due back early next week. I have found a set of used heads and we should be able to start putting the engine back together late next week. Thanks to the team for their Hard Work over the last few weeks. Well get them next week. We are 4th in points with a top 5!!! WAHOOOOOOOO!!!!
Well what to say???? We got our first top 5!!!!! Congrats. Alot of hard work rebuilding the car, n it paid off. Daren got hungry and drove his butt off. Very proud of him. Unfortunately the motor dropped a vavle racing for third. So back to work we go. Still very proud of everyone!
