News

8/28/2008 - Kaley Gharst will compete in three 410 sprint car races this weekend. That’s a big change from most of 2008. Unfortunately, the 20 year old talent hasn’t had as much action on the track this year as in the past, but that’s about to change. He plans on running the family car in two Wisconsin IRA shows, and Marty Johnson’s #81 on Saturday at Knoxville. One visit to victory lane isn’t cutting it for the young man who had twelve trips there in 2007.

Kaley has continued to pick up speed in the #81, but a mechanical gremlin slowed the team in qualifying last Saturday at Knoxville, resulting in a 22nd quick effort. “We had a vibration in practice, and we were making changes,” the Decatur, Illinois driver explains. “We had to throw on a set of tires that we hadn’t planned on qualifying with. We figured out that we were low on fuel in practice, and that sent some air up and detonated some. We think that was the case, because it vibrated a bit to start qualifying, but went away.”

Starting eighth in his heat race, Kaley used a good start to transfer from outside the invert like he has done so many times the last two years. “We got up into a transfer (time spot) there in the heat race. We had a good start and were lucky to get there.”

Starting outside row nine, the stage was set for another hard-charging effort from Kaley in the 20 lapper. “We had a good start, and we were moving up through there,” he says. “There were cars on the top and bottom…the track was fast, we were stuck in a group, so that was holding us up a little bit…there were cars in both grooves.”

Kaley showed the poise of a veteran in traffic by making an adjusment, as he approached the top ten. “We started off running the bottom in one and two, and the top of three and four,” he remembers. “Unfortunately, that’s where most people were running. I pulled the wing back the last few laps to try and run the bottom of three and four, and the middle of one and two. That worked, but it was still tough to pass anybody. We got up into eleventh, but Dion Hindi got by us there late when I missed the bottom in three and four and we settled for twelfth. Knoxville seems to get tougher and tougher every single week.”

Still, he was moving forward and will try to get his first Knoxville win of the season at this Saturday’s Season Championship. Also on the weekend schedule are some shows with the Interstate Racing Association. The family car has been put together for the occasion and will sport the letter “G”. “We’ve got a busy week planned,” says Kaley. “Our car is ready to go, and we’ll race it with the IRA at Beaver Dam (Dodge County Speedway) on Friday, and Seymour (Seymour Speedway) on Sunday. My dad’s made all this possible, and I’d like to thank him. Of course, we’ll run Marty’s #81 car at Knoxville on Saturday too. This would be a good week to get our first win together.”

Keep an eye on Kaley's progress this week and beyond at www.KaleyGharst.com!

If you would like to receive Kaley's weekly releases, send an e-mail with the subject line "Kaley" to sprntcar@iowatelecom.net .

Bill Wright
Bill W Media
Monroe, IAUSA
sprntcar@iowatelecom.net

8/6/2008 - Kaley Gharst – Another Top Ten!

(Bill W) – August 6, 2008 – Qualifying has been a challenge for talented young sprint car driver, Kaley Gharst, for some time now. A time trial effort in the top ten has been unheard of, but despite a tough field of 410 sprint cars assembled at the Knoxville Raceway last Saturday night, that’s exactly what he did. He backed that up with another top ten feature showing, and is riding a wave of momentum heading into his qualifying night, tonight, at the 48th running of the Knoxville Nationals.

The Decatur, Illinois native turned the ninth best lap in one-lap qualifying with 44 cars in the field. “We went out early, so that was a big help,” he says. “I think we can pick up a couple more tenths of a second, and hopefully that’ll be the case at the Nationals.”

A steady run in the heat (4th) locked him in the 20-lap feature. Kaley was marking his second week teaming with veteran car owner Marty Johnson, who fields the potent #81 at Knoxville. It has been a great partnership. “Marty and his kids, Cody and Austin are great to work with,” says Kaley. “They’re a great group of guys who are easy to work around. They’re good to talk about the car with, and we’ll get things figured out for (tonight).”

Posting outside of row number four, Kaley traded blows with the rest of the field. Though the bottom groove in turns one and two has been the sweet spot of late, it went away fast on Saturday. “I was tight in one and two, but I think everyone was,” says Kaley. “The car was good on the bottom, but the fast way was on the top come feature time. That’s where we had to be, and we weren’t set up to run up there. We’ll loosen the car up for (tonight).”

Still, a ninth place finish is nothing to be ashamed of, and it marks a move in the right direction. Kaley has never powered a J&J chassis before and with two good runs under his belt, he looks forward to seeing how it goes at the Nationals. “It’s a little tighter than what I’m used to, but we’re hoping we can nail it for (tonight),” he says of the J&J. “We’re going to need to be good in every aspect to get the points accumulated for Saturday.”

Kaley will try to qualify for his second career Knoxville Nationals championship race at the ripe age of 20!

Keep an eye on Kaley's progress this week and beyond at www.KaleyGharst.com!

If you would like to receive Kaley's weekly releases, send an e-mail with the subject line "Kaley" to sprntcar@iowatelecom.net .

(Dave Hill Racing Images)

Bill Wright

Bill W Media

Monroe, IAUSA

sprntcar@iowatelecom.net

6/19/2008 - Kaley Gharst – Donnellson Dominator!

(Bill W) – June 19, 2008 – When Kaley Gharst towed into the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson, Iowa on Wednesday night, the likes of Terry McCarl, Danny Lasoski, Jason Johnson, Brian Brown and Randy Martin were waiting. When he left, they were all wondering. Driving the #41 for the first time with car owner Dale Oaks and mechanic for a night, Scott Bonar, Kaley roared to his fourth career victory at the 3/8 mile oval in just six appearances!

The nineteen year old from Decatur, Illinois first raced at the facility four months ago, and tallied three 2007 wins there. Things started out a little sluggish on Wednesday though. “In practice we had the wrong gear in, and it was only turning about 7900 rpm,” says Kaley. “We didn’t have time to change it for the heat race, so we had to run with it. The car was on the loose side, but we held on for second there, and that’s what we needed for the redraw, and that gave us the pole.”

Holding Aces and Nines in a Poker game to set the 20-lap feature lineup was good enough for the pole. Kaley beat fellow front row starter Lasoski to turn one when the green flew, but surrendered the spot to the Missouri veteran on the second go-around. “We were able to make the gear change for the feature, and that made a heck of a difference,” he says. “It was still a little loose. I thought the track would be a little heavier than what it was.”

Kaley stayed in pursuit of the leader as the pair put some distance between themselves and the third place car of Josh Higday. “When Lasoski got back by me, I pulled the wing back, and stuck with him until we got to lapped traffic,” Kaley remembers. “Then when we caught him, I showed my nose on the bottom and he bit down there. So I just went around the top of him there in one and two (lap 11)…he got caught a little bit by a lapped car, and they say I drove away after that.”

Yesterday around noon, the youngster had no idea he would be racing. “Scott called me yesterday to drive the car at the last minute,” he relates. “It was thrown together, but we worked well together. We didn’t change a whole lot, but what we did change made it better and it worked out great. In a tough year like we’ve been having, it’s what we’ve needed. The equipment was on par with everyone else, and we were finally able to take advantage of that.”

Kaley also had a nice run at the Knoxville Raceway last Saturday after a rough start. After qualifying 23rd and being mired in the back of his heat, things opened up with an incident in front of him, involving Jeff Mitrisin who spun, and Brandon Wimmer, who was trying to avoid him. “We were close to getting together with Brandon Wimmer there after he had gotten into the wall and came back across the track,” says Kaley. “That deal helped us a lot, because it gave us a transfer out of the heat to the feature, and we weren’t exactly going forward at the time.”

Posting outside row nine in the feature event, he took advantage of a dry-slick track to move forward seven spots to an eleventh place finish. “The new Maxim we pulled out a couple weeks ago, seems to be helping, but we’re still low on horsepower,” says Kaley, who expects a fresh Fisher Engine either this week or next. “It was one of the better tracks we’ve raced on there this year. It had a top and a bottom and you could run where you wanted. We had some steering gear problems so I didn’t venture up top too much. We would pick off some cars, but then the motor was sluggish coming off the bottom. We’ll give it another shot on Saturday.”

Keep an eye on Kaley’s progress this week and beyond at www.KaleyGharst.com!

Kaley would like to thank the following sponsors: Maxim Racing, Phillips’ Floors, Bell Racing, info2go, Parker Signs and Graphics, LWBJ Accounting, Community State Bank, Pro Shocks, QA1, VRP Shocks, Charlie Fisher Racing Engines, Karl Chevrolet, WillCo Services and HostIowa.net - Your Complete Internet Solution.

If you would like to receive Kaley’s weekly releases, send an e-mail with the subject line “Kaley” to sprntcar@iowatelecom.net .

Kaley in Victory Lane with car owner Dale Oaks (left) at Lee County (Dennis Krieger Imagery)

Bill Wright

Bill W Media

Monroe, IA USA

sprntcar@iowatelecom.net

6/5/2008 - (Bill W) – June 5, 2008 – “One spot short” was the story of Kaley Gharst’s night in the 410 class at the Knoxville Raceway last Saturday. After a disappointing time trial lap, runs from the back of his heat and B resulted in finishes just one spot out of a transfer to the main event. This weekend, the #7K team will take on the World of Outlaws both Friday and Saturday at Knoxville behind the strength of a new Maxim chassis.

Qualifying struggles continued for Kaley on Saturday, as he registered the 25th quick time of the night. “That really hurt us right off the bat,” he says. “The car was loose handling to start with, and we never could get it tightened up.”

With only three heats scheduled, and the heat invert 18, Kaley had to start inside row five of his heat. With the top six finishers transferring, he’d have to get by three cars to qualify for the feature. He quickly moved into seventh, but couldn’t quite track down the sixth place car of quick qualifier, Davey Heskin. “We’re the ones who put ourselves in that position by qualifying bad,” admits Kaley. “That’s how it goes sometimes. We need to qualify better to get into the middle of the pack, or at least make the invert.”

With the B taking the top six finishers as well, things looked good for Kaley early and he cruised into a transfer spot in the 12-lap event riding around the high side of Bob Weuve. A restart with four to go put veteran Brooke Tatnell on Kaley’s nerf bar for the restart. Tatnell was able to get by in turn three to take the last transfer spot. “We were decent, but the car was still loose and the power steering was fading a bit,” says the Decatur, Illinois driver. “I was running up top and I saw Brooke get underneath me there. Going into turn three, I got on the brakes and headed to the bottom. I got on them a little too hard, and that unloaded the car and pushed me across the track. It was a little bit of driver error, but that’s part of racing.”

Kaley, crew chief Bob Brooks and the rest of the #7K team will have two nights to sort things out at Knoxville, as the WoO visits Friday and Saturday. They’re looking for some personal improvements. “We just could never get caught up with the start we had on Saturday,” says Kaley. “We’re hoping to turn that around this weekend. We’ll bring out the new Maxim and see if we can’t get our luck changed around and figure something out. We’ve got two nights to get something going for ourselves.”

Kaley will try to make his first WoO feature cut at Knoxville since June 23, 2006, and his first WoO main event overall since he did so in Charlotte last November.

Keep an eye on Kaley’s progress this week and beyond at www.KaleyGharst.com!

Kaley would like to thank the following sponsors: Maxim Racing, Phillips’ Floors, Bell Racing, info2go, Parker Signs and Graphics, LWBJ Accounting, Community State Bank, Pro Shocks, QA1, VRP Shocks, Charlie Fisher Racing Engines, Karl Chevrolet, WillCo Services and HostIowa.net - Your Complete Internet Solution.

If you would like to receive Kaley’s weekly releases, send an e-mail with the subject line “Kaley” to sprntcar@iowatelecom.net .

Bill Wright

Bill W Media

Monroe, IA USA

sprntcar@iowatelecom.net

5/29/2008 - (Bill W) – May 29, 2008 – Outside of a couple of good runs early this year in Australia, Kaley Gharst has been struggling to finish races. He finally got it done at Knoxville Raceway last Saturday. On a fast track where it was hard to pass, the nineteen year old Decatur, Illinois driver held his own in the stout 33-car field, and brought home a top ten finish.

Qualifying was a problem for Kaley in 2007, and it played a big part in him winning the 410 Hard-charger Award at Knoxville. The award goes to the driver passing the most cars in feature events. Kaley would just as soon not repeat that performance. A 15th quick qualifying time trial lap on Saturday seemed acceptable considering the wet track conditions. “Going out a little later helped us a bit, I think,” he says.

Lining up in the Bruce Williams’ #7K inside row two, Kaley got in line and finished fourth to transfer to the main event. “We had some problems with the motor taking off there in the heat race,” he says. “It never really got going until the flagstand on the starts, so we let Brooke Tatnell, who was starting outside of us, get the jump. We were a little ‘lean’ with the motor on the top end and the bottom end.”

Though the track widened a bit in the non-stop 20-lap feature event, cars were still turning laps under 16 seconds, a rarity come feature time at Knoxville. Kaley would start 11th and finish in the tenth spot. “We kind of split the difference on some of the things we’ve been trying and what we had success with last year,” he says of the team’s setup going in. “It seemed to work a little bit better. We’re going to stick with what we’re doing right now and hopefully run up front a little before deciding to go with a completely different deal.”

A week made a big difference. On May 17, Kaley got upside down in the heat and had to scramble just to make the B main on a dusty, rubber-down track. “It was definitely better than last weekend,” he says. “It was obviously hard to pass and heavy, but we qualified better than we have been at Knoxville, and we’re going to change some things to get even a little better this week.”

Some of the changes will center on the motor. “We never could get the motor to run at full strength,” says Kaley. “We may have had it set a little ‘lean’. We’re going to go back and give it a little more fuel, hopefully get a little wider track, and aim for the front. We’re looking forward to Saturday!”

Keep an eye on Kaley’s progress this week and beyond at www.KaleyGharst.com!

Kaley would like to thank the following sponsors: Maxim Racing, Phillips’ Floors, Bell Racing, info2go, Parker Signs and Graphics, LWBJ Accounting, Community State Bank, Pro Shocks, QA1, VRP Shocks, Charlie Fisher Racing Engines, Karl Chevrolet, WillCo Services and HostIowa.net - Your Complete Internet Solution.

If you would like to receive Kaley’s weekly releases, send an e-mail with the subject line “Kaley” to sprntcar@iowatelecom.net .

Bill Wright

Bill W Media

Monroe, IA USA

sprntcar@iowatelecom.net