zMAX CARS Tour and Late Model Stock driver Logan Clark waves to the crowd during driver introductions before the tour's season opening event at Southern National Motorsports Park in Lucama North Carolina in March of 2024.
Logan Clark returns to the site of his CARS Tour Debut with a new sponsor while swinging for a cause.
By Julian Austin
June 11th, 2024
For Logan Clark, the 2024 season started off with much promise. He announced that he would race full time with R&S Race Cars on the zMAX CARS Tour Alongside three time tour champion Bobby McCarty and long time great Deac McCaskill. Expectations were high for Logan and the ingredients were in place for a breakthrough season.
At Southern National Motorsports Park, Clark would finish a respectable 13th place on the lead lap. Mechanical issues would end his day at Hickory and would have to settle for 22nd at the third event at New River All American Speedway. There was still reason for optimism and much promise
That promise came to a fiery hold on April 20th at Orange County Speedway.
Early in the race, the right front hub completely snapped on the machine of Landon Huffman causing Huffman's car to shoot up the track and into Clark's machine causing Clark to hit the turn two wall nearly head on before coming the rest on the back stretch. The impact caused a fire to break out on the car before being quickly put out by track officials.
"It was definitely the hardest hit I've taken and never good to end up in flames" said Logan. I can't thank Marcus Richmond (Car Owner) and R&S Race Cars enough for building safe cars. If this wasn't a testament to that, I'm not sure what is. I'm alright and I'm so fortunate to have the group around me that I have."
This incident would cause the 15 team a huge set back towards their season as they have not attempted another race since. In the meantime, Logan has been to every tour race doing what he needs to do to help support the race team on race day.
Mainline, Hajoca Richmond and Logan Clark joining forces for 9 races.
The new look for Logan Clark beginning Saturday at Dominion Raceway.
Adversity often can bring unexpected opportunity. Logan announced on June 10th that Mainline HVAC and Hajoca Richmond have partnered with the R&S Race Cars driver for 9 races for the remainder of the season. The schedule will consist of six zMAX CARS Tour events and the full NASCAR Virginia Triple Crown schedule. The first of the nine events will take place this Saturday, June 15th at Dominion Raceway for the tour's annual return to the fast 4/10's mile oval where a year ago, the Mechanicsville Virginia native made his tour debut for the same team he is driving for now.
Mainline HVAC was established in 2017 and has a long-standing goal of providing high-quality products to their customers. With expertise in both residential and commercial heating and air conditioning systems, Mainline’s promise to their valued customers is keeping them “Reliably Comfortable.”
Mainline is owned by the Hajoca Corporation, which was established in 1858 and now has 450+ locally-managed locations, including Hajoca Richmond. Hajoca Richmond specializes in the distribution of HVAC, plumbing, and industrial supplies and equipment. Jeff Gamache, representative of Mainline HVAC, expressed his excitement of the newly formed partnership.
“We are thrilled to support Logan Clark and R&S Race Cars as they chase victory on the track,” Gamache stated. “His dedication to performance and excellence mirrors our commitment to providing top-notch HVAC solutions.” Hajoca Richmond’s HVAC Sales Manager, Korey Lewis, said “We’re ecstatic to see Mainline HVAC represented in the CARS Tour late model tour. Logan and his team will represent us well. I am looking forward to the success for both individual brands through this new partnership!”
“I met a couple of the great people at Hajoca Richmond and Mainline just 2 days after my wreck at Orange County in April. To say that it was perfect timing is an understatement,” Clark stated. “I am extremely grateful and excited to have the opportunity to represent Mainline and Hajoca Richmond for the rest of the year. The family-oriented values that they display could not be a better fit for the culture of R&S Race Cars and myself, and I look forward to growing this relationship with them,” Clark
said.
The Logan Clark Foundation Golf Tournament.
This year's Logan Clark Foundation Golf Tournament flier
Logan Clark started his foundation in 2012 hosting small fundraisers at many types of events such as car shows, barrel races just to name a few. Over the last twelve years, the foundation has supported several nationally recognized non-profits. Over the last four years, the foundation has organized a golf tournament which has turned into the largest annual event.
Once again in 2024, the tournament will be held at The Golf Club at Mattaponi Springs on June 13th. Mattaponi Springs is approximately 26 minutes from Dominion Raceway and promises to be a day of fun while swinging for a great cause.
Participants in the 2023 Logan Clark Foundation Golf Tournament pose in front of the Mattapoini Springs Club House.
"All of our events this year will be directed towards the purchase of an electronic detection K9. We will be purchasing the KP and placing it at a local police department in Central Virginia. These K9's are trained to sniff certain chemicals found on SD cards, USB drives and other electronic devices. While this resource can be used for many things, our intent is to assist officials in finding sexual abuse evidence relating to child trafficking and other sex crimes." stated Logan.
Why a Golf Tournament?
"Four years ago, we received an idea from some folks we were working with at the time. It was a great first year and I enjoyed the entire concept." said Logan. Since then we have tried to grow it year by year. Now in 2024, we are expecting our largest turnout by far and we can not be more proud and thankful for how much this event means to our supporters and the impact it can create."
When asked about his own golf game, Logan laughed and stated "Well, I wouldn't say I'm the best golfer or anywhere close to it. I enjoy the game and this event specifically but you will not be seeing me close to the top of the leaderboard at the end of it. There is a great chance that I will go through at least 10 balls on Thursday."
In the past, Logan has had fellow Virginia racers and other personalities join him on the links. He is looking forward to some of the teams that have registered to play. "I'm not sure where my CARS Tour competitors rank on the course but we have a couple of people from the series coming so we will find out. Bobby (McCarty) and I golf quite often and he's not bad except for the last time we played.
Be sure to catch Logan and the rest of the zMAX CARS Tour this Saturday at Dominion Raceway by attending in person or watching on Flo Racing.
If you would like to get involved with Logan's mission, visit www.theloganclarkfoundation.org to donate and view upcoming events.
For more information about Mainline, visit www.hvacmainline.com
Hajoca Richmond: www.hajocarichmond.com.
Follow Mainline and Hajoca Richmond on Facebook (Mainline, Hajoca - Richmond) and Instagram (@hajocarva).
For more information about Logan Clark, visit www.loganclarkracing.com
Follow Logan Clark on Facebook (Logan Clark), X (Formerly Known as Twitter) (@LoganClarkRac), and Instagram (@15loganclark).
Mini's Mission to burn rubber to help another
By Julian Austin
June 11th, 2024
Long time zMAX CARS Tour Late Model competitor Mini Tyrrell is in the midst of a career season on the tour in 2024. Through the first seven races of the season, Mini stands fourth in the standings just 21 points behind points leader Connor Hall and only 12 points behind third place Brenden "Butterbean" Queen. He has completed every lap on the tour so far, notched two top five finishes including a second place in April at New River All-American Speedway in Jacksonville North Carolina and five top ten finishes.
Statistically, Tyrrell's best track on the tour is the fast 4/10's mile Dominion Raceway in Thornburg Virginia. In four starts, he has finished no worse than 6th including a runner up in 2020 and a third place in 2023.
This is Tyrrell's home track being from Manassas Virginia but this weekend, it's more than a home game for Tyrrell. It's a weekend to help sick kids enjoy a weekend they'll never forget.
Through his non-profit organization Mini's Mission, thirty sick children along with their families from Walter Reed Hospital will experience the ultimate weekend at the racetrack.
The festivities will begin on Friday at Dominion's "In The Groove" room with the families, race teams and CARS Tour staff.
Saturday will feature a Church Service hosted by Tour Chaplain Preacher Joe inside the track's Groove room with the families, teams and tour staff. Following the service, exclusive pit tours with the families will be given by the race teams and tour staff.
There will be some surprises during pre-race ceremonies and each child will accompany a driver across the stage during driver intros that they will not soon forget.
All donations are being processed through the Parents and Children fighting Cancer Foundation which is a 501c3.
If you would like to donate to this worthwhile cause, you may visit www.pcfcmilitary.org/donate
or mail
PCFC, 7660 Wolford Way, Lorton, VA 22079.
Deac McCaskill: Governor, Pillar and Proud Dad
by Julian Austin
May, 8th, 2024
When it was announced that Deac McCaskill would be joining powerhouse Marcus Richmond and R&S Race Cars for the 2024 racing season, the expectations were extraordinarily high. Coming off two wins in 2023 on a limited schedule, all the media members and prognosticators had Deac as one of the favorites to claim the 2024 zMax CARS Tour Championship.
Deac's 2023 racing season came to a screeching halt when he suffered a concussion during the Thanksgiving Classic at Southern National Motorsports Park. When Deac appeared on Deez Lug Nutz Podcast back in February, he revealed that he spent a lot of time just resting and taking off from work but the recovery was not as lengthy as it was for some other athletes. After all, brain injuries are not one in the same just like the human brain.
It has been a tough start for Deac McCaskill during the first five events on the 2024 zMAX CARS Tour. Besides a third place finish in the opening event at Southern National Motorsports Park in March, Deac has not fared any better than 16th place at Orange County Speedway. Mechanical gremlins crept up during the second event of the season at Hickory. New River All American saw Deac qualify 20th and finish 23rd. Orange County saw Deac qualify third in his 100th start of his career on tour. Expectations were high for this one but contact with another driver on track relegated Deac to 16th.
When the zMAX CARS Tour unloaded at Ace Speedway, insiders and media members could not help but to notice that Deac McCaskill was not at the race track. His competitors were getting precious practice time but that did not matter. Deac was attending something much bigger. Deac was on hand watching his oldest daughter Ashlyn graduate from Wake Technical Community College to become a Registered Dental Hygienist.
"Ashlyn worked so hard to get to this point." Deac said to Jody and myself. "Now this will allow her to pursue her dreams and work in the Dental Field and I couldn't be more prouder." When asked jokingly if he wore his fire suit underneath his dress clothes, he stated "I only had about 20-25 minutes to change into my driving suit but I wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else." "Now I have to get my crazy youngest through and I'll be set." with a smile and a laugh.
Deac rolled off 22nd Friday night and battled through some issues during the race and ended up with a 16th place finish. He is now 13th in the standings
Deac is no stranger to tough times. He knows that racing and life will humble you. He stood vigorously by the side of his wife Sandy while she fought some of the biggest battles of their lives with her health issues.
100 starts on any racing tour in this day and age is difficult. He's been called the pillar for being one of the drivers that laid the foundation for the tour. The stats do not lie. In 101 starts, he has 11 wins which is tied for third all time with Carson Kvapil. The 2016 Tour Championship. 11 poles which is second all time. 47 top five finishes and 71 top tens. Basically in nearly half of his starts, he is finishing in the top five and in 3/4ths, it is a top ten. Deac wasn't in a hurry to talk about that on Friday and that is what makes Deac one of the most respected and likeable drivers in the entire sport by the way he supports his family.