May 2011

5/29- Duck River Speedway- Josh rounded out the 3 night's of racing with a 7th in tonight's Tennessee Super Series race. This made 3 top 10 finishes for the weekend.
 

5/28- Green Valley Speedway- Josh finished 2nd in the SRRS feature race tonight.
 

5/27- Boyd's Speedway- Josh finished 7th in tonight's SRRS feature race.
 

5/21- Moulton Speedway- 23 Super Late Models would register in for tonight's 40 lap feature. Once again, Josh would qualify with the fastest time overall with a 13.98 (the only car to be in the 13's). Josh would start the feature inside pole. He would take charge on the start of the race and soon have almost a straight away lead. Josh would soon reach traffic from the tail of the pack. The first few cars wouldn't be a problem to lap, but he would come up on 3 that were racing side by side. Apparently either the lap flag wasn't used or the driver's failed to heed the warning. Either way, nothing was done to get them out of the way. Josh battled for several laps trying to get through them. Before he could get past the slower cars, RJ, Burroughs and Miller had caught up with Josh with the first 2 flanking him on each side. RJ, Burroughs and Miller managed to slip through ahead of Josh with RJ in the lead. Right after, there would be another of the many cautions that plagued the race and RJ would go pit side during it to change a tire and have to rejoin the pack supposedly on the rear of the lead lap. But in actuality, he was put behind at least a couple of lap cars. This happened to him at least a couple more times during the race. The scoring was so screwed up that at one point a caution was thrown supposedly for "debris" when there was none. All it was for, in my opinion, was to try and allow the scorers to try and catch up!

The next big screw up came when Josh passed Miller in turn 4 on the inside and Miller got himself a little sideways then stopped on the track. The caution was called on Josh for rough driving when they never even touched and Miller was given his position back. Josh had passed him cleanly. I was in the infield taking pictures in turn 4 and saw the whole thing. Josh tried to talk with an official but was still told to go to the rear. When Josh tried to line up behind the last car on the lead lap, officials were trying to put him behind cars that weren't even on the lead lap. Josh again tried to talk to an official. It was then that the flagman black flagged him! When officials were questioned after the race, no one seemed to actually know who made the call against Josh. Flagman said he didn't do it the spotter did, another said the flagman did. Strange that no one knew anything with everyone having headsets and radios and can hear everything any of them say! A lot of unanswered questions and unhappy fans too. On a bit brighter note, a big congrats to RJ for coming back to 5th, Burroughs 4th and Alford winning!
 

5/20- North Alabama Speedway- Out of 20 Super Late Models on hand, Josh would set quick time overall with a 13.258 securing the pole starting position for the 40 lap main event. At the drop of the green flag Josh would take the lead. In short order, and after a couple of restarts, he would set a comfortable lead between himself and the 2nd place car. That would end all too soon when just a few laps in, he would have a flat tire. After a quick trip to the pits, Josh would rejoin the lineup on the rear. By the end of the 40 laps, Josh had made his way back to 5th place.
 

5/7- Duck River Speedway- On Saturday night, Josh would enter Duck River Speedway's "Rumble at the River" $2K to win race. Out of 16 SLM's, he would set quick time overall with a blistering 12.6. Josh took the lead at the start of the race with Daniel Miller in second. There would be quite a few cautions throughout the race, but Josh was able to hold onto a comfortable lead the entire race to take the checkered flag for the third time in a row. Not too shabby considering he's running a worn out spec engine! LOL
 

5/6- Boyd's Speedway- Fresh off of last weekend's PRO feature win, the Putnam Race Team decided to travel to Boyd's Speedway (Ringgold, GA) for the Volunteer Racing Series 40 lap $3K to win race. As the big rigs started pulling in, the team was thinking that we had sure gotten ourselves in the middle of a Hornets nest. :-) Competing with the likes of Skip Arp, Chris Wall, Dale McDowell, and more, Josh would set quick time in his group securing the outside pole starting position for the feature race. Skip Arp would start inside pole and take the lead at the drop of the green flag. Very shortly Josh would be challenging Arp for first place. For several laps, they would battle side by side until lap 19 when Josh would take the lead from Arp and not look back taking his first career VRS win!
 

April 2011

4/30- North Alabama Speedway- With the power still out at Moulton Speedway from the tornadoes, the P.R.O. race was moved to North Alabama Speedway. Josh would set quick time in his group and also overall out of 15 Supers with a 13.02. Josh would lock into the pole starting position for the feature. He would set the pace at the drop of the green and never look back as he gained a straightaway lead on the rest of the pack. He would maintain that lead even through several cautions and take the second career P.R.O. win!
 

4/29- North Alabama Speedway- The Putnam Race Team attended the P.R.O. 40-lap, $2,000 to win race at North Alabama Speedway. 18 Super Late Models registered in for the event. Josh would qualify with fast time in his group and second fastest overall with a 13.19. After trying to get the feature started, third time was the charm and Josh would take the lead. He set the pace until lap 7 when he hit a low spot on the track and it bounced the right rear tire over the cushion. He would spin out and restart the race on the rear. Lap by lap Josh would pick off the cars in front of him and by the checkered flag had come back up to finish 5th.
 

4/23- Thunderhill Raceway- 23 Super Late Models registered in for this SRRS $3k to win, 40 lap event. Josh set quick time in his group and also quickest time overall with a blistering 11.83. This would lock Josh into the outside pole starting position for the feature race. On the start of the feature, Josh would take the lead and quickly build an impressive 8-10 car length distance between him and the second place car of Ben Kittrell. With only about 7 laps on the books, Josh would have to drop out of the race with what turned out to be a cracked oil pan. A disappointing end to what started out as a great run.
 

4/16- Moulton Speedway- The SRRS race scheduled for tonight at Thunderhill was postponed, so Josh and the crew went to Moulton Speedway instead. Josh qualified into an outside pole starting position for the feature. At the drop of the green flag, Josh would take the lead. He held onto the lead through several cautions and restarts. The last restart was to be a green, white, checkered. Josh once again took the lead but the second place car of Brian Smith would hit Josh in the rear quarter panel going into the turn and cause Josh to spin. Josh would be able to gather up and keep going. Smith would be disqualified and Josh would be credited with a second place finish. Good job Josh!
 

4/16- Thunderhill Raceway- Rain out
 

4/15-Tennessee National- Rain out
 

4/9- Winchester Speedway- Since the SRRS event at Richmond Raceway was canceled due to rain, the team decided to catch the second night of the Tennessee Super Series race at Winchester Speedway (Winchester, TN). 38 SLM's would register in for the 40-lap, $3k to win event. Josh locked into the main even through qualifying. Tonight's race would also be plagued with multiple cautions and restarts. Riley Hickman (#R1) would barrel roll down the front straight after tangling with James Cline. The car was destroyed but Hickman was okay. Josh would pull off a good 4th place finish for the night!
 

4/9- Richmond Raceway- Rain out
 

4/8- Boyd's Speedway- The team traveled to Boyd's Speedway (Ringgold, GA), for the first night of a SRRS double header. 36 super Late Model drivers including Ronnie Johnson, Skip Arp, Ray Cook, Jonathan Davenport, Shane Clanton, Chip Brindle, and more registered in for the event. Josh would qualify his Pierce race car fastest in his group and 5th fastest overall. He secured a second row inside starting position for the 40-lap, $3K to win, feature event. Multiple cautions and the use of the double file restarts would cause Josh to get shuffled back several positions. Late in the race, Ray Cook would pinch Josh off in turn one. Josh got into the brakes to keep from hitting Cook, spun completely around and kept on going only losing 2 positions in the process. Josh would still finish the race in a solid 7th place!
 

4/2- East Alabama Motor Speedway- Josh and the crew would travel to Phenix City, AL for another SRRS event at East Alabama Motor Speedway. 24 cars would register in. Since all 24 would transfer to the 40 lap feature event, officials would decide to forego the heat races and pull the feature lineup from the qualifying runs. Josh would secure an 8th row outside starting position for the feature race. Early in the caution filled main, Josh would sustain some right front damage to the car when another car spun in front of him. Even with the damaged, ill-handling race car and the locked down, one groove track, Josh would still manage to pull off an 8th place finish.
 

4/1- Boyd's Speedway- Rained Out

March 2011
 

3/26- Clarksville, TN- SRRS- Rain Out

3/11 & 3/12- Ice Breaker- Tennessee National Raceway- On Friday night the Putnam Race Team would travel to Tennessee National Raceway in Hohenwald, TN for a practice and King of the Hill Race before the SRRS sanctioned Ice Breaker on Saturday. This would be the first night out for the brand new Bob Pierce race car. The car would look good during practice. The $1,000 to win King of the Hill race off would come down to the last two cars, Josh and Tony Morris. Josh would start on the outside with Morris on the inside. At the drop of the green, Josh and Morris would head wide open down the straightaway and into the corner. Morris would spin himself out and Josh would win the King of the Hill!

On Saturday, 26 racecars would register in for the Ice Breaker. By pill draw, Josh would be in the third group along with Billy Moyer Jr., and Anthony Burroughs. Josh would qualify second fastest in his group and lock into a fifth place start in the 40 lap feature race. During the hot laps for the 9 locked in racecars, Josh would turn the fastest laps of them all. In the feature, Josh would move up to fourth place on a locked down, one groove race track before the right front spring on the car would give way. Josh would still keep the solid fourth place finish. Great job Josh and crew!
 

February 2011

2/25-2/27- Bama Bash- Green Valley Speedway- During practice on Friday night, Josh had a bad fast car. The team had high hopes of a good weekend of racing. Luck of the draw would put Josh in the same group as a lot of heavy hitters. On the first lap of Josh's qualifying run, the car started missing and blowing fire out of the exhausts. Josh still managed to pull off a 5th fastest time in his group. The crew worked on the car and thought that they had the problem solved but it showed up again as soon as the green flag dropped in the heat race. Josh would still have one more chance to make the feature by running the consi. During hot laps before the consi, the same problem started again but Josh figured out what to do to fix it and the engine cleared up. Josh qualified for a SRRS provisional so all he had to do was complete at least one lap in the consi which he did. He started the feature race on Sunday night on the rear. In about 10 laps Josh had already moved up 6 or 7 places. He was biding his time, since it was a 75 lap race, and carefully moving toward the front when on lap 16 the #44 of Clint Smith and the #M31 of Tony Morris would get together in turn 3. Morris would get turned crossways and being right behind him Josh had no place to go. Josh would end up squished in the middle of a 5 or 6 car pile up and the racecar would be totaled. Second Bama Bash and the second totaled racecar! :-(