Tag Archives: carney racing

After racing to a podium finish in I-30 Speedway’s Short Track Nationals finale on October 5, El Paso racer John Carney II is on hot streak.

The driver of the Sander Construction/South Plains Auto Transport/Mesilla Valley Transportation No. J2 Sprint Car followed it up with a top-ten finish in Saturday night’s “Fall Fling” at Creek County Speedway as Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour competition resumed.

Now, series action resumes with this weekend’s Devil’s Bowl Speedway Winter Nationals in Mesquite, TX, on Friday and Saturday.

Carney’s “Short Track Nationals” experience at Little Rock’s I-30 Speedway was his best yet with a runner-up finish in the Friday night preliminary and then a third-place conclusion on Saturday after leading most of the initial half of the race.

“It was a really good weekend for us,” Carney says.  “The short runs on the cautions and then the red really killed us, we lost air pressure in the right rear and that hurt us.”

Carney still felt he had an opportunity to win the Saturday finale.

“I probably should have been more aggressive about moving the wing around,” Carney explains.  “I went to the bottom to fend them off, then he (Blake Hahn) really got rolling around the top and I never had a chance to hear him.”

This past weekend’s Fall Fling netted a tenth-place showing after scratching his way from sixth to fourth in the heat race.

“It was hard to get anywhere in the heat, the two guys in front of me were side-by-side until the last couple of laps then I was able to get one,” Carney says.  “Then starting that far back in the feature at Creek County can be a little rough.  It was still fun though, it’s a place that you have to really get your elbows up.”

Carney has enjoyed past success at Devil’s Bowl, including a top-five finish during Speedweek earlier this season.  He’ll look for more this weekend.

After an idle weekend, El Paso native John Carney II is ready to make a run for the $10,041 winner’s share at this weekend’s 32^nd Annual COMP Cams Short Track Nationals presented by Hoosier Tires at I-30 Speedway in Little Rock, AR.

The two-day tilt atop the high-banked, ¼-mile clay oval takes place on Friday and Saturday.

The driver currently sitting sixth in Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour points is gunning for a second consecutive STN championship feature start after a 13^th-place run among last year’s field of 74.  And he’s looking for a finish near the front this year aboard the Sander Construction/South Plains Auto Transport/Mesilla Valley Transportation No. J2 Sprint Car.

“We have a good car and we’ve been going really well this year,” Carney says.  “If things fall into place, we can be right there with a chance to win this one.”

Carney’s most recent Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour competition at Lucas Oil Speedway’s “Jesse Hockett/Daniel McMillin Memorial” two weekends ago didn’t go as planned.

The track was pretty heavy in the heats and qualifiers, so it really limited passing,” Carney said of the Thursday portion of the three-night event.  “We got pinched down and turned around in the heat and that pretty much killed that night.”

Friday brought improvement with a 14^th-place feature showing.

“Friday was better, but our Thursday points had us buried for Saturday,” Carney says.

“Saturday was kind of the same, it was greasy in the qualifier and I hiked up, snapped the car and hit the cushion and the wall,” Carney says.

Buried in a “B” Main, Carney made a charge only to be derailed.

“We were rolling up there and then overheated our car,” Carney comments.

The weekend ended a stretch of three consecutive feature wins; Carney looks to renew that winning streak this weekend in Little Rock.

Local Sprint Car Racer John Carney II is Nebraska bound once again.

The El Paso native has teamed with Scott Brown’s Lubbock Wrecker Service/Steward Builders No. 11c for this weekend’s Racesaver Nationals at Nebraska’s Eagle Raceway.  The event is set for Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Carney will be gunning for a second Racesaver Nationals title after sweeping through the event in 2015.

“We cleaned house that year, we won the qualifying night, the Race of Champions and the final feature,” Carney recalls.  “We’re going to try to do that again.”

The shift to 305-ci Sprint Car action comes on the heels of several weeks of competition in both the 360-ci and 410-ci ranks in Iowa over the early portion of August aboard the California-based Clayton Snow No. 7 Sprint Car.

“Iowa was good for the most part, we just had a little bit of tough luck along the way,” Carney says.

A runner-up finish in Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour competition at Oskaloosa’s Southern Iowa Speedway on Tuesday night, August 7, was the highlight of Carney’s Southern Iowa Speedweeks.

“Finishing second at Oskaloosa was good for everyone’s confidence,” Carney explains.  “We got hung up behind a lapped car, otherwise I think we would have had a good shot at winning.”

The strong Oskaloosa run came on the heels of a heartbreaking Knoxville 360 Nationals where only the scales stopped Carney from starting the Saturday night, August 4, finale.

After racing to a 13^th-place finish in his Thursday night preliminary at the Knoxville 360 Nationals, Carney gridded Saturday night’s “B” Main outside the third row and raced to an apparent fourth-place transfer position to the “A” Main.

However, the run was disallowed after rolling across the scales below the minimum allowed weight.

“We knew exactly how much we needed but it still went across 20 pounds light,” Carney recalls.  “We had the same car at Oskaloosa, we literally didn’t change a thing on it and we were way above the minimum.”

After the strong Oskaloosa run, Carney kicked off his first Knoxville Nationals effort on Thursday night, August 9 by timing in a solid 16^th-quick and then climbing from fifth to finish fourth and transfer to the night’s “A” Main event.

Carney was set to start the night’s feature in third, but engine issues in the nightcap took away the potential for a strong points night.

“We timed in decent and finished fourth in the heat,” Carney says.  “Starting third gave us a good chance to rack up some points, but then it wouldn’t run.  I normally would have pulled off but I stayed out just to accumulate whatever points we could get.”

A 19^th-place finish on the night was one position too short to lock into Saturday’s “B” Main as Carney missed the tenth “B” Main starting position by just one point, which meant starting all over in Friday’s Hard Knox event to determine Saturday’s fate.

Despite wholesale changes, persistent motor issues limited Carney to a ninth-place run in the Hard Knox “B” Main that landed Carney on the pole of Saturday’s “D” Main.  Carney transferred from Saturday’s “D” Main before his night came to a conclusion in the “C” Main.

“Saturday we took off okay, but it was early and the track was pretty narrow so we just rode it out,” Carney says.  “I look forward to getting back together with the Clayton Snow No. 7 team later in the year, they have good equipment and we have fun racing together.”

With an eventful Southern Iowa Speedweeks in the books, Carney shifts focus to Eagle, Nebraska this weekend as he tries to reel in another Racesaver Nationals crown.

John Carney Racing is made possible by the support of invaluable partners including Mesilla Valley Transportation, Vado Speedway Park, South Plains Auto Transport, Danny Sander Construction, CSR Garage, Briley Trucking, Momentum Racing Suspensions, Performance Plus, Performance Motor Coach, Raider Graphix, MSD Ignition, Joe Hunt Magnetos and Bell Helmets.

Fans can keep track of John Carney II’s on-track action by clicking on schedule and results or on Facebook

Next Up: Racesaver Nationals at Eagle (NE) Raceway on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.