Sponsor commits to 2011!

Koens Racing Team is happy to announce that the Oregon State Fair (OSF) will be back again as an associate sponsor with Koens Racing for the 2011 season!

Without the support from our sponsors, we would not be able to enjoy the sport like we do! As always, we look forward to working with the OSF during the season. Our goal is to help promote the OSF and get them into victory lane! Look for the OSF at a race in Roseburg again in 2011...I'm sure they will have some great prizes on hand!!

Thanks again Oregon State Fair!

Welcome New Sponsor for 2011!

Blue Ox Manufacturing based in Pender, NE., maker of the most dependable RV towing products in the industry has joined forces with Koens Racing Team for the upcoming 2011 race season! We are very excited to have Blue Ox on board as an associate sponsor and appreciate the support our fans will surely direct to their products.

You might recognize Blue Ox in the NASCAR scene as they also have sponsorships involved there. Some recent sponsorships for 2010 include Kenny Wallace's #28 Nationwide car. In addition, Blue Ox is the main corporate RV Park/campground sponsor at many of the NASCAR tracks throughout the United States!

Kamper Korner RV Center has been proudly installing and selling the Blue Ox brand since 1999. Blue Ox is focused on winning...just like Koens Racing Team!

Please visit their site at www.blueox.us Drop them a note and tell them you heard about them from Koens Racing!

Race results from 5-15-2010

I missed the first of two practice sessions but my car was handling fine in the session that I was able to make. We had tightened the car up a bit in the shop because of the heat and probable loose conditions on the surface.

Qualifying: We had a 15.57 lap time which put us 5th fast out of 16 cars. The 2nd fastest car had a 15.52, so we were right in the mix!

Fast Heat: One of the best races I have ever been involved in! I started in 4th place outside row 2. After green flag dropped, I tried to hang around on the outside but was slipping back quickly. After the 2nd lap, my car was changing for the better. My grip on the outside increased and I was able to hang on to my 6th place position and actually move ahead of the 5th place car on the outside. Then I methodically moved up positions all on the outside until I finally reached 1st place with one lap to go. I was able to secure the victory and hear how great a race it was to watch! Ha, even better to be in!

Main Event: The race was fairly uneventful for me. At the start I was trying to pass a car on the outside for the lead but we ended up going 3 wide into turn 1 and I had to lift. This started the freightrain for me being stuck on the outside and I must have wound up somewhere around 10th place or so. After a quick caution flag, I was moving up. Near lap 25 after another caution I tried my best to give the leader a challenge. I restarted on the outside only to fall back to 2nd directly behind the leader. I tried to keep up but my car developed a push that just didnt let me catch the leader. I ended up finishing 2nd behind David Miller. David was very fast and drove a clean race. Congratulations to him and his crew!

Our next race is May 29th at DCS. Hope to see you there!

Sorry, no incar video from this last race. My camera wasn't turned on properly.

Results from 4-24-2010 race

Well, it was a great day for racing. Some blue skies and pleasant temperatures in high 60s! I didnt get to the track until around 3:30p so I was only going to make 1 practice session. It went well. The car was a little loose so we made a change for our qualifying attempt. 16 cars qualified and I ended up 5th fast with a 15.6. The car was still loose so we again made an adjustment in preparation for the heat race. I finished 4th in the heat and again the car was still loose and now the motor was acting a little odd.



For the main event we had 14 cars lined up ready for action. We got off to a fast start and climbed to 3rd position by lap 5 and then in the middle of turn 1 & 2 the #88 got into my left rear and spun me in front of the entire pack of cars! Luckily, no one made contact with me and we were able to regroup and get ready for the restart. I was placed in last place because I was involved in the wreck but the #88 got to move up to 3rd place! Interesting call there...Anyway, after the restart we were moving through traffic on the outside and was nearly involved in a pileup in turn 3! We were able to escape that accident without a scratch as well! Whew! There were many yellow flags and even a red flag for Jim Brock's tranny explosion and subsequent fire. He was unhurt and the fire was extinguished quickly on its own. The track was a mess however and it took quite awhile to clean it all up. On the restart I decided to take the high lane to 2nd place. On the green, I wasnt able to keep good grip on the outside with the fresh kitty-litter and fell to 4th place which is where I finished. My car had an exhaust leak somewhere and I had some huge fireballs coming out of the tailpipe and some pretty loud backfires too! During our preliminary inspection Wednesday night, we found that the left side header had a large gap in it. It has already been pulled off and welded. I would assume we were down some HP because of this leak and look forward to full power next race!

I have some great in-car camera videos posted on youtube including this race! My youtube website http://www.youtube.com/user/wadekoe

Thanks again to Diet Pepsi, Kamper Korner RV Center, Mahalo Heating & Air, Ferrellgas & Oregon State Fair. Your support is much appreciated. The next race is May 15th...see you all then!

Practice session from April 10th, 2010

Well we finally got the #28 Diet Pepsi Impala out on the track for the first time in 2010! The first session out I basically shook the bugs out, literally! Apparently after taking some lead out of the car we didnt realize that there was another piece still in the channel. As I went out on the track and picked up some speed, the lead fell out of the car and slid across the track. Oops! Glad it didnt get ya Heather! Anyways, we also had some smoke that later we figured out came from the exhaust because we had added new pakcing this winter and it was burning off the fuel on the packing.

Session #2 went great! The new setup seems to be workable. It was a bit loose off both turns but we addressed that with some slight changes and in session #3 it was fantastic!

We will work on some slight adjustments in the shop next week and then we should be good to go for the 1st race of the season!

Lots of late models are expected. Looking forward to that green flag!

Thanks again to our sponsors; Diet Pepsi, Kamper Korner RV Center, Ferrellgas, Oregon State Fair, Clint Newell Motors and Mahalo Heating & Air!

Keep an eye out for new in-car video action posted here after each race!

Practice Session 4-10-2010

On April 10th, we will be loading up our cars and heading for the track! We are hoping to see if all the winter changes will help or hurt the handling of the car. This is the last opportunity to test the car before the first race on April 24th. The practice is free for fans and visitors...so come out and see the cars up close. This opportunity doesn't come around very often!

Check back for an update from the practice day.

New 2010 Sponsors

2010 brings a fresh, new look for the #28 Chevy Impala SS with new colors and a new scheme. I would like to thank my newest sponsors. The Oregon State Fair, Ferrellgas, Mahalo Heating & Air I will run Diet Pepsi again and hopefully we can put them back into victory lane! These are exciting changes and I look forward to having a partnership with these companies for years to come. As usual, Kamper Korner RV Center is a major sponsor and supporter! If you are a fan of Koens Racing or just a fan of racing in general, please stop in and patronize these sponsors...and tell them you saw 'em on my car!

Look for the new look #28 Super Late Model in April at the Douglas County Speedway! Kids, make sure you come to the pit area after each race for autographs and driver cards!

Is that racing exhaust I smell?

As I sit here typing this blog, I realize that in about 7 weeks I will be loading the car up for the track. I remember as a kid getting my favorite scratch 'n sniff...gasoline! I scratched it so often that I eventually got splinters under my fingernail from the wood dresser that I had the sticker stuck to. Ahhhh the smell of gas just does it for me. Now grown up (sorta) I still get that same feeling while sitting in my racecar ready to roll out onto the track. If I could plumb the exhaust straight into my helmet, I would! When I was Christmas shopping at Macy's last year, I stumbled on a cologne called 'Diesel'. I was a little disappointed. They had the right concept, but the wrong fuel. O well, maybe they will read the letters I sent them and this year I will be able to finally purchase 'gas' or 'race fuel' or 'racetrack smells'. TBD.

I am excited for the new PRA and the many opportunities it brings our fans, drivers and sponsors. There is sooo much time going into this deal from soooo many great people! Basically, racing at DCS will change. Good change. A change that either happened when it did or we all watch a track be torn down and become conference buildings... and I don't EVER remember scratching a sticker that smelled like a meeting.