Realtor car driving off turn 4 at Iowa Speedway
A field as stout as the thousands of acres of corn fields surrounding the Iowa Speedway traveled to America’s Heartland for the Prairie Meadows 150. With more than half the field made up of non ARCA regulars Thomas “Moose” Praytor of Hixson, found himself in the tall cotton.
While there were many agendas amongst the diverse field, for Praytor and the Realtor car, currently in the top 10 in the championships standings, the job at hand was much more defined.
“We’ve worked really hard back in the shop on changing our Realtor cars to get them to turn in the center.
For the first time all year we finally “Pooh” turning too much in practice,” said Praytor. “The guys worked their butts off tightening our Chevy back up and we thought we had a decent piece for qualifying.”
The Realtor car picked up over a second in qualifying from it’s final practice time and would roll off 25th. Repairing a broken window net brace after qualifying would send the Realtor machine to the end of the field and would be a preview of the night ahead.
With the drop of the green flag the Moose was on the move and quickly got back the spots lost because of the penalty for the window net repair. While Praytor was picking up spots early under the lights the Realtor car was wicked loose.
“The sun went down and the grip we had gotten back in practice was gone and our Realtor car just wasn’t just free it was wicked loose.” The Prairie Meadows 150 took on a green flag look and there was a long green flag run before Praytor could get back to pit road and the attention of his Hixson Motorsports/Max Force Racing team. “The guys threw everything at it and we got better but not where we needed to be. We moved up the racetrack and found some grip up there but not enough.” Praytor and the Realtor car would hold on for a 21st place finish.
“Congratulations to Grant Enfinger, Howard Bixman and Team BCR on a big win in Iowa!”
Mobile International Speedway had solid representation on Saturday night in Iowa, with 3 hometown drivers in the field, Enfinger, Praytor and Darren Mathews whose night ended early with a broken oil line.
Next up Kentuckiana Ford Dealers ARCA Fall Classic presented by Federated Car Care at Salem Speedway.