This past weekend was full of potential for Andy Seuss. The
19-year-old New Hampshire driver was making his NASCAR
Whelen Modified Tour debut at the New Hampshire International
Speedway on Friday and then his #70 Rockingham Boat/
Manchester Urology team was headed to Seekonk Speedway
(MA) on Saturday for a True Value Modified Racing Series event
at a track where he had won before.
But problems with an engine and a tire kept Seuss’ weekend
from being all that it could be. He dropped out at NHIS and
finished 11th at Seekonk.
At New Hampshire, Seuss was in the top 25 for both practice
sessions, but started 25th after qualifying was rained out and
the field was set by owner points. At the drop of the green flag,
Seuss made forward progress but that was temporary. The
engine started acting up and he soon began to lose spots before
having to retire on lap 25 with a 39th-place finish.
“The motor was off after lap two,” said Seuss, after climbing
from his car. “We just never got up to speed. The valve pulled
right through the keeper. We’ll go back home and get it ready
for the race at Seekonk. I’m just frustrated. It wasn’t for a lack of effort though. The guys worked really hard and they did a great job. I’m proud to have Manchester Urology back on the car, I just wish we could have given them a better run. We had the speed there in practice and I was looking forward to mixing it up. I knew we could run in the top-20 or the top-15. I guess we’ll have to wait until next year. I wanted to stay out on the track for my guys, hoping it was a plug wire or something. We stayed out there until we were about to go a lap down, hoping there would be a caution.”
The #70 team hauled their tails out of the track after the twilight race and headed back to their shop to prepare another engine for their car. After a late night and early morning of work, the team got the #70 race-ready and headed to Seekonk.
The story there was a bad tire, which left Seuss with an 11th-place finish.
“We came in 11th after a disappointing run at Loudon,” said Seuss. “The crew worked real hard to get this motor in and change the car over to the TVMRS series setup. We were up late. We did not get much practice. We only got scuff laps on the tires. It was an awesome effort by the whole team.”
Andy had started a charge from 10th position and was moving his way up through the pack when he pitted during a lap 33 caution.
“I knew the car could be better. I do not think that I could stay where I was. “
Andy returned to the race and picked at the back of the pack; that is when the tire problem surfaced.
“I thought that something may be up with the car but I think that we just got a junk tire. The tire was just shaking so bad I thought that we were going to just break parts driving the car. It was as though something was broken already because the wheel was shaking right out of my hand. I feel like I had a bull fight or I was at a rodeo. I was pretty worn out driving the car. The guys never gave up though. We came in and made a ton of adjustments with the car. It started to come in at the end the best that it was going to get.
“The car was shaking. At first we thought that it might just
be a rough track. But we always run good here. It has never
affected me that severe.”
Now, the plans for the #70 car team are to go forward.
“We will come back here next time in October and we will
be at Lee next weekend. Hopefully we will get good tires,
because the car always has been good. The guys always
put a good car under me. We will try and get up front.”
Seuss returns to action on Sunday, September 24th at Lee
USA Speedway.
