Shauna and her team headed to All American Speedway to work out a few bugs yesterday afternoon. The conditions were great, the weather wasn’t too hot and there were only a half dozen cars to share the track time with. Shauna took to the track with the setup they had run both prior visits earlier this year; the car was noticeably loose entering the corner and she stated it was very uncomfortable. The team spent the afternoon making subtle adjustments until they felt the car was as close as they can get, which resulted in shaving off over a half second per lap. The team felt it was a major success; the motor ran great and made major headway with the car performance. Shauna and her team will be preparing the car this evening for tomorrow’s event at Altamont Raceway in Tracy, CA.

Shauna was excited for her chance to get behind the wheel of Ken Pierson Boss Sheet Metal Chevrolet sprint car this past weekend. Since Shauna is primarily responsible for her car’s “set-up”, she is ecstatic to get the opportunity to actually just be the “driver” and focus on her responsibilities. The full day of practice the day prior certainly helped Shauna get comfortable, she also felt the set up was pretty close and they should be in good position for the event. Saturday practice went well but they weren’t as fast as they needed to be, the car also picked up a “tight” condition in the center of the corner that they didn’t have the day before. By qualifying time the team had made the necessary adjustments to fix the handling issues but Shauna came up a little short. The sixth place qualifier started on the pole with a time of 13.717 and Shauna clocked in seventh with a 13.729, which put her in the starting position of 7th for the main event.

At the start of the green Shauna held her own but didn’t make a lot of gain, the car had a loose condition on corner entry through the exit of the corner. Since this was a 100 lap race, Shauna could hardly wait for a yellow flag to fall so she could make some “in-car” changes. At lap 37 she finally got that chance, she made a few changes but because she wasn’t sure how reactive the car was going to be, she changed what she thought she needed. At the restart she quickly figured out that they were headed in the right direction but needed more adjustments. Shauna was able to put the car anywhere on the racetrack as she needed to but was hoping for a little more grip. As the long race progressed, there were multiple yellow flags which allowed Shauna to continue to adjust until there was no more adjustment available. It wasn’t until towards the end of the race things started to get exciting. Shauna and Porter Smith were trading spots back and forth and on lap 85 there was a caution which Shauna was officially ahead of Porter but under the yellow Porter went around Shauna and when USAC line the field up to restart, they lined Porter in front of her. Coming for the restart Shauna was eager to make a quick pass as there were several lapped cars between them and the next car racing for position. At the green, Shauna anticipated too quickly and passed Porter prior to reaching the “official start line”, she knew there was going to be a chance she’d get called for “jumping the start” but the damage was already done so she moved onto pass another car and a few more lapped cars. On lap 97 Shauna was sitting in sixth position and on the restart had one car between her and fifth, she felt her car was stronger at the end of the race then it was early and more importantly she felt as good if not better than a couple of her competitors in front of her. At the green, Shauna again moved down to get the jump on a lapped car and the cars got bunched up and Shauna was wheel to wheel with the car in front of her as she passed the “official start line”, she got by Ryan Burdett and concentrated on the cars ahead. Coming for the checkered flag, two cars tangled and the fourth place car driven by JoJo Helberg went spinning in the infield. Shauna passed JoJo by the checkered for her first top five position of the season.

Shauna and her team were a little disappointed as they all wanted to win but felt pretty good about the race. The race finish was posted and listed Shauna as the fifth place finisher; a fellow competitor then protested the race results due to Shauna “jumping” the start. Shauna was later penalized for jumping the start and placed behind Porter Smith for an official seventh place finish.

After taking almost two months off while waiting for the team’s primary engine to be rebuilt, Shauna and her team were very anxious to get back on the track. The motor arrived back at the Hogg Racing shop Thursday evening, Shauna, her father and brother were committed to get the motor back in the car and fired up in the same evening. Despite losing daylight, everything went as planned, the motor fired up and there were no fluid leaks. They loaded the car back up and headed back to the shop. The plan was then to come back Friday evening, scale the car, load up and prepare for the early departure Saturday morning for Altamont.

First thing Saturday morning at the track the team wanted to push the car off to get more heat in the motor prior to start of practice. The car once again started as expected but then unexpectedly stalled on the track and Shauna was unable to get the car restarted. The team thrashed for the next several hours replacing several parts from electrical all the way through the fuel system. Shauna unfortunately missed both practice sessions and qualifying; the first time under power was her heat race. The team didn’t have an opportunity to work on the set-up prior to the heat so they went off the set up notes from the previous event. Because Shauna was unable to clock in a time during qualifying, she was forced to start each race from the tail. Shauna used the heat as a testing session and tried different lines to see how the car would react. Overall Shauna was pleased with the car, she explained the car was tight on entry but the team found the stagger in the rear was considerably less then they targeted. The team prepared for the main event, where Shauna again would start from the rear. They adjusted for the stagger and made a few other adjustments. From the start of the main event Shauna knew they missed the stagger as the car was now loose on entry; as the race went on it increasingly got worse. The race went non-stop, which didn’t allow Shauna to make many adjustments to the car. Unfortunately she finished a disappointing 12th. The stagger again contributed to the handling.

The Hogg Racing team is taking advantage of the month off in between events to prepare for the next race at Altamont Raceway Park. The engine issues Shauna experienced early into the main event at Altamont a couple of weeks ago turned out to be a little more serious then anticipated. The problems forced the team to cancel their trip to Salt Lake City, UT for the third scheduled USAC Western Sprint Car event; “I can’t help but be disappointed in missing a race, we are as competitive as anyone but we had no choice. It just makes me even more anxious to get back on the track.” says Shauna. Tony Borello Racing Engines is currently analyzing the repairs that need to be done, but fortunately for the team has a spare engine that’s ready to go. While Tony is doing his magic with the engine, Shauna and her crew are also taking advantage of the valuable time off to go through the car to ensure it’s in top condition. Despite the first two disappointing events, the team couldn’t be more anxious to get back to the track, “We’ve been extremely happy with the handling of the car, I’m confident that things will start to go our way once we get back at it.” Shauna explained. Besides the work on the car, Shauna is also out exploring some sponsorship opportunities. If interested in partnering with Shauna Hogg racing, please contact the team at shaunahogg@yahoo.com .

The 2008 Season started at All American Speedway in Roseville, California for the Hogg Racing Team.  Battling fuel issues, Shauna was able to qualify in the 12th spot which gave her a decent start in the heat to finish 4th.  With a perfect handling racecar, Shauna shot her way up to the seventh spot in the USAC Western Series opener, but unfortunately her night ended early due to a broken fuel pump.  The Hogg Racing Team will be ready to rock for next weekend at Altamont Motorsports Park.  Special thanks to Metal Works, Backpack Charlie, Jerry Crowell Racing Shocks, Rich and Brian Hogg and Tara Arruda.