NICHOLS LOOKS TO GET BACK ON TRACK AT OWOSSO
June 23, 2023 – Holly, Michigan – Tampa, Florida driver Tommy Nichols is having a rough start to his 2023 Must See Racing Sprint Series Presented by Engine Pro championship chase. In 4 series starts, he has failed to finish a single race in the series this season. It has been every possible scenario you could think of.
Nichols began the season with the intent to chase the Midwest based MSR winged pavement sprint car series despite living in Tampa. A good friend, Aaron Pierce, offered him space out of his Daleville, Indiana shop, to work out of, and leave his cars. He’s been making the commute back and forth each weekend from his Tampa home to compete. To say this has been challenging would be an understatement.
His DNF’s has been a variety of issues ranging from handling, a collapsed top wing, and engine woes. But these setbacks haven’t hampered Nichols’ spirit and he intends to get back at it when the series visits the newly repaved 3/8 Owosso Speedway in Ovid, Michigan.
Nichols was involved in a serious accident Sunday afternoon in a non-winged sprint car event at Toledo Speedway that saw his car plow into the turn one wall receiving damage. Then on Thursday evening his late evening flight to Indianapolis was postponed due to weather in the Orlando area. It seems the poor guy can’t catch a break.
“I haven’t finished a single MSR race this year” stated Nichols. “The first race at Berlin I had to pull in because the car wasn’t handling. The following race the wing broke after starting on the pole. The race after that we were sitting on fast time in practice and the motor blew. We took it home and had it repaired, took it back up there, bolted it in, and it blew again.
“This week we had to pull the motor out of the non-wing car and put it in the wing car. As I sit here at the airport (Thursday evening) all the flights are getting cancelled because the weather’s really bad down here in Florida. Hopefully we can get up there late tonight and finish it up late tomorrow. We just gotta plumb it up and nut and bolt the car. That’s about it, and she’s ready to go”.
“The crash Sunday looked worse than it really was. It only tore up the front axle, the front nose of the car, and the bumper. It didn’t even tear up a single radius rod on the car. The foam blocks saved my life. I wasn’t even sore. The right front wheel caught the foam block and basically helicoptered the car around and did circles.
“I was following 2 cars and they were basically bottom feeding and staying nose to tail. I committed to a move on the outside, and when I did, they happened to go 2-wide. And when they did, I ended up making it 3-wide. I was 25 mph faster than them going into the corner. I had a choice to make. Run into the back of them or try to save it on the outside. I thought I could save it, but there was nothing but debris out there”.
Despite all his recent setbacks, Nichols has a single goal in mind for this Saturday’s Owosso event. “Finish the race. We need to get a green and we need to get a checkered. Wherever we finish will be an accomplishment. We gotta take it one checkered flag at a time” concluded Nichols.
