TRACK DIRT

January 2, 2009-Happy New Year!!! The team is now busy re-building for the upcoming 2009 season. We are working on the cars and doing some much needed maintenance to the hauler getting ready to hit the road again in the upcoming months. Next up for the team is the Battle of the Bluegrass (BoB) Series awards banquet to be held in Lexington, KY on January 23rd. We are all looking forward to seeing old friends and to hear what plans the BoB Series might have for the 2009 season. We don't know about the rest of you....but we are ready to get out of the house and get back to racing!!!

November 22, 2008-After lots of miles traveled and many dollars spent on diesel fuel, Mick Sansom ended the 2008 season with a 5th place finish in the final points standings for the NARA O'Reilly Auto Parts Battle of the the Bluegrass (BoB) DirtCar Series Modified Division. In only Mick's second full year of racing, he raced at 10 different tracks and raced at 4 tracks where he had never raced before and was able to move from a 12th place finish in the 2007 BoB Series to a top 5 finish in 2008. Racing at so many different tracks in the first 2 years of racing full time has proven to be a challenge, yet it has also provided a great learning experience for both Mick and the entire Sansom Racing team. As if the racing has not been enough of a challenge for Mick, during the past two years he has stood by as his wife Jamie continues her battle with breast cancer. Jamie has battled this cancer since August 2006 and, like Mick, is a fighter and is ready for the challenge. As some of you might have noticed, Mick always has a pink ribbon on the side of his car. This ribbon is in honor of his wife Jamie and we hope that each time you see this ribbon, you will think of Jamie and say a prayer for her continued progress in the battle of breast cancer. So, as 2008 comes to a close and the 2009 racing season approaches, Mick and the team are busy tearing down and re-building for the upcoming '09 version of the Battle of the Bluegrass Series. Until then, Mick and the Sansom Racing team wishes everyone a happy holiday season.

November 4, 2008-Recent results are: 9/19/08 Ponderosa Speedway-finished 18th, 9/20/08 Richmond Raceway-finished 6th w/ a flat right front tire, 10/3/08 Ponderosa Speedway-finished 11th, 10/4/08 Ponderosa Speedway-finished 21st after wreck on first lap...another car rolled down track into our car after they spun.....pushed rear end housing sideways.

September 19, 2008-After gettig everything prepared for the big show scheduled for Tazewell Speedway on September 13th, we found out about 12:30am on the 13th the show had been cancelled. We then began thinking of where we could go instead and decided upon Rocky Top Raceway in Coal Grove, OH. We headed there and qualified 7th out of the 27 cars on hand. Mick barely missed the fast dash and would start on the pole for the first heat. Mick easily won his heat race to start 7th in the feature event. Unfortunately things didn't go well as on the first lap Mick was collected in an accident that caused the power steering belt to slip off and Mick raced without power steering. Mick was able to make his way to 4th place before retiring from the race after, once again, being collected in another driver's accident. Mick finished the event in 14th place. Next up for the team is the final BoB Series race of the season which will be held at Ponderosa Speedway in Junction City, KY. Mick is 5th in series points heading into the final race and is in a tight battle for the 5th position with Robbie Gullion. This is a big weekend for the team as we try to maintain our 5th place points standing and this event is being taped by the Outdoor Sports Network (Outdoor Channel). We don't know the air date for this broadcast yet but we will post this to our website as soon as it is made available. In addition to the BoB Series modifieds, the BoB late models will also be racing and their race will also be taped. So it will be an exciting night at Ponderosa Speedway.

^{September 4, 2008-On Friday August
22nd we headed to Ponderosa Speedway in Junction City, KY for the next round of the Battle of the Bluegrass (BoB) Series action.
We didn't qualify well and we're unable to make the A-Main through the heat race but made adjustments before heading
out for the consolation race and ended up with a very fast car as Mick won his consi over Russ Gabbert and Shawn Tolson to
race his way into the main event. Unfortunately during the consi we noticed a trail of smoke coming from the car with
2 laps to go. For the feature, MIck was only able to ride around to collect points and didn't punish the car any
during the feature just to make sure the engine was okay. The problem ended up being an engine oil leak due to a front
seal on the engine leaking. Next up on Friday August 29th we headed to Moler Raceway Park in Williamsburg, OH for BoB
Series action in which Mick had a good qualifying effort of 1oth out of the 32 cars on hand. This was our first ever
visit to this track and Mick had a very fast car and did an excellent job in the heat race to hold off Don Adams to finish
2nd in the heat race to current points leader Joey Kramer. Mick started 6th in the feature but things didn't
hold out long until Mick was involved in an accident that broke the rear-end loose from the frame forcing him out of the remainder
of the event to an eventual 20th place finish. The night wasn't as bad as it could have been as Mick was able to
move into 5th place in the BoB Series points due to unfortunate engine problems for Robbie Gullion. After taking
this weekend (Sept 5th & 6th) off, we will be heading to Tazewell, TN for the next to last round of the BoB
Series. We will be competing in a $5,000 to win event on Saturday September 13th at this fast, high banked track.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank some folks that have helped us out recently. They include
Salt Rock Food Mart (Chevron) and Bob Pierce Race Cars. We appreciate the help we get from everyone!!!}

^{August 19, 2008-The team took an off-weekend
from the BoB Series to test new set-ups at the Mountain Motor Speedway in Isom, KY on Friday August 15th. This was our
first ever visit to this facility and Mick adapted very well to the track's racing groove. Mick finished 6th in
the feature event. We especially enjoyed meeting the folks from the #42 team of Greg Grigsby and the #4 team of Jason
Hall. Both teams were very hospitable in our first ever visit to this track. Although the track was a little rough
in places we found the whole track staff to be friendly and thought the facility was nice. We hope to visit this track
again before the season ends. Mountain Motor Speedway will be hosting a BoB Dirt Car Series event for late models on
August 29th, so if you can't make it to the BoB Modified race at Moler Raceway Park you should try to make it to the BoB
Late Model race at MMS on August 29th. Next up for Sansom Racing is the 4th Annual Railroad Days Showdown at the Ponderosa
Speedway in Junction City, KY on Friday August 22nd.}

August 12, 2008-The team has had two so-so weekends in the most recent 2 events of the Battle of the Bluegrass (BoB) Series. On Saturday July 26th we finished 14th in the feature event after struggling due to a mis-handling car. During qualifying Mick scraped the Turn 2 wall and broke the j-bar mount from the frame of the car. This caused rear-end problems for the rest of the evening and we were able to manage a 14th place finish. On Saturday August 9th we headed to the 201 Speedway in Sitka, KY for the next round in the BoB Series and started off the evening with a good qualifying effort of 10th out of the 34 cars in attendance. After racing his way into the feature event, Mick started 14th but heavy traffic all during the race made for a very crowded track and Mick was only able to advance to 12th position at the end of the night. For the upcoming weekend we are planning to head to either Mountain Motor Speedway in Isom, KY on Friday night or to 201 Speedway in Sitka, KY on Saturday night (please check the website later in the week to find out where we are headed). Mick currently sits 6th in the BoB Series points after last weekends event at 201 Speedway. Upcoming events after this weekend include BoB Series events at Ponderosa Speedway in Junction City, KY on Friday August 22nd and Moler Raceway Park on Friday August 29th.

July 25, 2008-Last Friday July 18th the team headed to Richmond, KY for the 21st Annual Butterball Wooldridge Memorial at Richmond Raceway. After a solid qualifying effort MIck started on the pole in his heat race and finished 4th earning him a spot in the feature event. Mick started 14th and had worked his way up to 6th place before slipping back late in the race to finish in the 8th position. This was after a spirited battle with Battle of the Bluegrass (BoB) Series 5th place point man Shawn Tolson and 7th place BoB points man Robbie Gullion. The two would battle for several laps for the 6th position. A note to Shawn and Robbie....this was the most fun we had all year. What a race and what class shown by all three drivers to race so closely and fiercely and so clean. On Saturday the team remained at Richmond Raceway but things didn't turn out as well as the team was in the hole from the beginning. At the drop of the green flag the car lost power and Mick pulled pitside with electrical problems. For the consolation race Mick started on the tail and things continued to go bad. Mick cut a tire down just 3 laps in and did not finish the consolation race, therefore, eliminating him from the night's feature event. This weekend, Saturday July 26th, the team heads to Bluegrass Speedway in Bardstown, KY for the 8th Annual Bluegrass Rumble for the next round of BoB Series competition. Mick currently sits 6th in series points heading into action at the Bluegrass Speedway.

July 16, 2008-On Saturday July 12th we headed to 201 Speedway in Sitka, KY with both cars to compete in their regular weekly racing show. Mick was unable to time trial his car which made him have to start from the tail for his heat event. He started 7th and worked his way into the lead on Lap 2 and never looked back as he won his heat race. Keith, driving the #1Richwood car, started 6th in his heat race and worked his way up to finish 4th. This put Mick starting 3rd in the feature and Keith starting 11th out of the 22 cars in attendance. Mick ran a very strong 3rd throughout much of the heat race putting a lot of pressure on the 2nd place car for that position before bobbling with 2 laps to go which relegated him to a 6th place feature finish. Keith had handling problems throughout the feature and pulled off the track to end up with a 19th place finish. Keith's car is back on track after having the rear clip replaced over the winter. This was the first time out for his car since July of last year. Needless to say...there is more work to be done. Mick will head to Richmond Raceway in Richmond, KY for the next Battle of the Bluegrass (BoB) Dirtcar Series event on Friday July 18th. Keith and Mick both are planning to race at 201 Speedway on Saturday July 19th, however, those plans have not been finalized. Please check the schedule page on Friday for updated information.

July 11, 2001-On June 27th we headed to Rocky Top Raceway for their special event. After a decent qualifying effort and a second place finish in our heat race we were involved in a first turn of the first lap skirmish in which another driver ran into the left rear of our car and bent the rim and put a whole in the tire. This finished up our racing action for the night as we were told we were not able to return to the feature after we pitted and changed the tire. This relegated us to another 19th place finish. We then took the Independace Day weekend off for rest and a family reunion. Sansom Racing will be returning to action this Saturday night, July 12, with both Mick and Keith racing at Chuckie May's 201 Speedway in Sitka, KY. Keith will be piloting the orange and black #1Richwood car while Mick will be piloting his familiar white #20M car. The next weekend we will be heading to Richmond Raceway in Richmond, KY for the next round of Battle of the Bluegrass (BoB) Series action for the Butterball Woolridge Memorial event.

June 27, 2008-Please accept our apologies for taking so long to update the website after the last few weeks of activity. On Friday June 13th we headed to Moler Raceway Park for Round 7 of the Battle of the Bluegrass (BoB) Dirtcar Series Modifieds. As we were having dinner at the Arby's in Mt. Orab, OH we received the call that the races had been cancelled for the night. So we headed east and looked for somewhere to camp. We decided we were going to go to Greenbo Lake State Park to camp. After driving all the way out to the campground, we found that it was closed too. So we decided to stay at another campground just on the edge of the state park. This was the "Ghost Campground". We pulled the rig in and set up and thought maybe someone would come by to collect money. That never happened. There were 5 other campers there and it looked like there were people with them but we never saw anyone. We were there from about 9pm Friday night till around 2pm on Saturday and never saw anyone at the campground. After we left the "ghost campground" we headed to 201 Speedway in Sitka, KY for the next BoB race. This night proved to be one of major frustration. We had a really good car and finished second in our heat race. After starting 8th in the feature we had moved up to 5th when once again we had rear-end problems. We were done for the night and relegated to an 18th place finish. Our bad luck has continued and this has dropped us from 4th in points a few weeks ago to where we are now 6th. We took the weekend of June 20th & 21st off and are now preparing for the $1,000 to win show at Rocky Top Raceway in Coal Grove, OH. Mick will turn over the reigns of his car to Keith for that night. We would like to welcome a new sponsor to the team that joined us this week. Turley's Transmissions joined this week and we would like to extend a big thanks to Danny Turley and the staff for their support.

June 10, 2008-After taking a weekend off the team was back in action at the Tazewell Speedway in Tazewell, TN. We had a better weekend than the last weekend we raced. During our short break we switched the car over to the quick-change rearend. This caused us some problems during the feature race as the rearend shifted left and caused the right rear tire to rub the frame rail which caused the tire to heat up and lose traction. Initially the car was really good but as the laps wore on the tires lost more and more grip. Mick was still able to hang on to an eleventh-place finish in a field of very tough competitors. This was probably the most competitive field we have raced against since joining the Battle of the Bluegrass Series in 2007. With his eleventh place finish, Mick is fifth in the BoB Series points as we head to Moler Raceway Park in Williamsburg, OH for the next round of BoB Series action. Moler is up Friday June 13th and on Saturday June 14th we head to 201 Speedway in Sitka, KY for a second night of BoB action this weekend. We would like to take this opportunity to thank our sponsors, Richwood Mining Components, Belo Mine Supply and Richwood Investment Castings for their continued support. We couldn't do this without them and we truly do appreciate all their help.

May 27, 2008-The past weekend proved to be a challenge for the team. We headed to Ponderosa Speedway on Friday May 23rd for the 4th race of the Battle of the Bluegrass Modified Series. Once again qualifying proved to be tough as we qualified 19th of the 22 cars on hand. After starting 6th in the heat race we managed a 4th place finish that would put us in the feature event. Unfortunately we missed the setup for the night's events but were still able to finish 14th in the feature. After spending Saturday morning at some friend's garage (thanks to them for allowing us to use their scales and garage to work on our car!!!) we headed to Richmond, KY to Richmond Raceway for the next event on the BoB Series schedule. We finally were able to pull off a good qualifying lap that would put us on the outside pole of our heat race. After leading a couple of laps Mick ended up 3rd which would put us starting 9th in the night's feature event. Just as we thought we had the car going in the right direction......thing went bad. During the 3rd lap of the feature event Mick was forced to pull pitside with a broken right rear axle that would sideline him for the remainder of the feature. This would relegate him to a 21st place finish for the night and drop the team to 5th in the BoB Series points after the first 5 events. To accomodate some changes we need to make to the car, we have postponed the test session with Tony Sansom to a later date (hopefully in July). Sansom Racing will be taking the weekend of May 30th & 31st off for some rest and to allow a little extra time to work on the car. Next up for the team will be the BoB Series event at Tazewell Speedway in Tazewell, TN on June 7th. Following Tazewell will be another double-header weekend as the team heads for Moler Raceway Park in Williamsburg, OH on Friday June 13th and then to 201 Speedway in Sitka, KY on Saturday June 14th. Both of these events are BoB Series events.

May 19, 2008-We went to Bluegrass Speedway in Bardstown, KY on Saturday May 17th for Round 3 of the 2008 Edition of the Battle of the Bluegrass (BoB) Dirtcar Series Modiifed Division event. We qualified 18th of the 25 cars on hand and we started 6th in our heat and worked our way up to 4th. This put us starting the feature in 11th position. We were able to work our way up to as high as 8th in the feature before finally settling in to a 9th place finish. Needless to say...qualifying is not our strongest point right now but Mick is doing a heckuva job making up for it in the heat races and the features. We are in the process of transitioning our BoB Series car over to a quick-change rear-end and we kinda got caught off guard this past weekend because we didn't have the right gear in the car for this track and we didn't receive all the parts we needed in order to have the quick-change ready to go for the weekend. We also had some tire issues while at the track but we hope to have all this corrected for the upcoming double-header weekend in the BoB Series. Despite the things that worked against us this past weekend, we have a good year going thus far. After Saturday's BoB race, we have moved up to 4th in the Series points after the first 3 events. This is after two top 10 runs in a row and an eleventh at Tazewell. We have a couple of tracks coming up this weekend where we had some good runs in the last half of the year last year so we hope to keep going strong. On Friday May 23rd we head to Ponderosa Speedway in Junction City, KY and then Saturday we head to Richmond Raceway in Richmond, KY. Both of these events are BoB Series events. At our first ever and only appearance at Ponderosa Speedway last year, we finished 11th and at our last appearance at Richmond Raceway last year we were running 8th in the feature event before retiring from the race with a broken right front suspension. Upcoming events for the Sansom Racing team include our guest driver from Orlando, FL joining us on Friday May 30th and Saturday May 31st. Tony Sansom will be heading north to try his hand in a dirt modified for the first time. Tony has been competing for several years in go-carts and Legends cars. He has traveled to race in states such as New York, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina and Georgia. He will be adding Ohio and Kentucky to his list in the next couple of weeks and we are looking forward to Tony and his crew chief Josh Antley joining us.

May 12, 2008-The night's racing activities started out as pretty much many of our nights do....bad. On Saturday May 10th we were at Clinton County Speedway in Alpha, KY for the BoB Series race. We qualified 16th out of 20 cars and started 6th in our heat race. We had moved up nicely to 3rd in the heat race when we broke a gear in the rear-end and finished last in the heat race. But I guess a broken gear is better than a blown motor, which is what we thought had happened at first. We were able to change the gear in time and started 15th in the feature. Things got better from there as Mickey had a very fast car and was able to pass a bunch of cars making it to as high as fifth place. After passing Skylar Marlar for fifth place and pressuring fourth place Tim York, once again we broke a gear in the rear end in turn 2 of the last lap and Skylar Marlar was able to get around us at the finish line to take fifth place and relegating us back to 6th. After last weekend's 6th place finish at Clinton County and our 11th place finish at Tazewell Speedway, we are now 5th in Battle of the Bluegrass Series (BoB) points, only 1 point behind Marlar. For the upcomng weekend, we will be heading to Bluegrass Speedway in Bardstown, KY for the upcoming BoB series race there on May 10th. We were sorry to see our "next-door neighbor" at Clinton County, Shawn Tolson, have such a bad night flipping his car during the feature. We all wish him well and hope to see him and his crew in Bardstown. They are all nice people. It was also nice getting to know the folks from Dustin Linville's crew. Come to find out, the Linville's have family that live close to us in West Virginia. Small world. One more thing to mention......was how funny it was on Sunday morning when we woke up in the Wal-Mart parking lot in Winchester, KY and saw the shopping cart flying across the lot at 100 mph heading toward someone's car. Luckily for them it missed the car. There sure were some strong winds there Sunday morning.

May 7, 2008-Finished 8th at 201 Speedway on Saturday May 3rd. We are heading to Clinton County Speedway in Albany, KY for the upcoming BoB Series action.

May 1, 2008-After a pretty good run at Tazewell a few weeks ago we have spent the last two Friday nights at Rocky Top Raceway in Coal Grove, OH working on setups with the Bob Pierce Race Car. We haven't shown a lot of success on the track but we have learned a lot of things about the car that we can incorporate when we head to different tracks on the BoB series. On Friday April 18th we finished 14th at RTR after hitting the first corner wall during hot laps due to no brakes. Then during the feature we hit the backstretch wall due to some visibility problems. On Friday April 25th we finished 12th at RTR after a run-in with another driver during the closing laps of the feature. Up to that point we were running 9th. For the upcoming weekend we are heading to 201 Speedway in Sitka, Ky on Saturday for some more test-n-tune before heading out the next week to Clinton County Speedway in Albany, KY for the next BoB Series event on Saturday May 10th.

April 16, 2008-We went to Tazewell Speedway for the first race of the Battle of the Bluegrass Series on Saturday April 12th. It was a very cold evening there with lots of wind and some rain. We took the Bob Pierce Race Car for it's first official race and we were all pleased with it's performance. We finished 11th in the feature. Coming up for this weekend we plan to visit Rocky Top Raceway in Coal Grove, OH for their season opener. Saturday is still up in the air but we will probably take the rest of the weekend off to work on our other cars to get them race ready.

April 8, 2008-Sansom Racing visited Lake Cumberland Speedway in Burnside, KY for the first time on Sunday April 6th. We used this as a "test session" to work out the bugs on the new car and to prepare the whole team for the upcoming Battle of the Bluegrass (BoB) Series action on Saturday. We head to Tazewell Speedway in Tazewell, TN for the first BoB Series event on Saturday April 12th.

April 1, 2008-The Sansom Racing team plans to kick off the 2008 season this Saturday April 5th. Depending on weather conditions, the team will either head to Richmond Raceway in Richmond, KY for an open practice session and then on to Ponderosa Speedway in Junction City, KY for the 1st Annual Chris Estes Memorial or the team will head to K-C Raceway in Alma, OH for their season opener.

March 18, 2008-The team still busily prepares for the 2008 season and plans to pick up engines from Dale Meers Racing Engines of Buffalo, KY on Good Friday March 21st. Sansom Racing also would like to welcome Richwood Investment Castings, Inc. of Huntington, West Virginia as a new sponsor for the team. Please click on the link to their website on our LINKS page.

March 9, 2008-The team is still busily preparing cars for the upcoming season which is anticipated to start on March 28th at the Ponderosa Speedway in Junction City, KY. Sansom Racing also welcomed this week the addition of Belo Mine Supply of Chattaroy, WV as a sponsor of the team.

February 23, 2008-The team is currently busy preparing cars for the upcoming season. Plans are for the team to run the NARA O'Reilly Auto Parts Battle of the Bluegrass Modified Series in 2008 as well as to participate in other events throughout the season. To see an updated schedule, please click on the "Schedule" tab.