12/2/07 First win of 2007
Kevin made the four and a half hour trek to Orlando Speedworld and
won both his heat race and feature. This has Kevin thinking about
returning on the 8th to defend the win and possibly run the remaining 3
races in the winter series in January to possibly win the title. Stay
tuned for updates.
11/6/07 Sometimes its just not your night.
Kevin started the Fall Classic from the outside front row Sunday,
and quickly jumped to the lead. After leading the first 13 laps Kevin
decided to fall back to the 4th position to ride and save his equipment
for the end of the race. A restart on lap 18 proved to be the demise as
while everyone was still 2 wide the a car behind Kevin drove into his
right rear quarterpanel and turned him sideways, and then proceded to
drive into the left front of the truck. Kevin would have to restart
from the tail of the field, and would quickly move up to the 4th
position but began overheating due to the crash damage. Kevin would
retire the race in the 12th position. Stephen Moore was able to start
on the tail of the field, and avoid the wrecks to win the race. Kevin
will be taking the car Stephen drove at Florence to Orlando Speedworld
on the 1st of December.
10/29/07 Hard Racing at Florence
Kevin Started the night with multiple adjustments but no
adjustment could prepare him for the lack of brakes during the heat
race. He was still able to obtain a 4th place finish, insuring him an
8th place start for the feature. Some quick repairs by the crew to the
brakes and Kevin was ready to go for the feature. Within a few laps
Kevin had quickly worked his way up to the 2nd position Content to ride
there and wait for the closing laps to put pressure on the leader,
Kevin maintained 2nd position until late in the race. A few late
cautions and a growing loose condition made it hard to hold of
challengers and Kevin was able to cross the stripe in a respectable 4th
position. With most of the emphasis on the upcoming Seneca Fall
Classic at Florence Motor Speedway. The night was chalked up as a
success with the luck seeming to increasingly grow. Look for both of
Kevin's 4 cylinder division cars to be at Florence this weekend for the
Fall Classic as Kevin will be driving the truck and Stephen Moore will
be turning the wheel in the Mustang.
10/10/07 Luck is getting better.
Kevin O'Brien racing made the 4 and a half hour trek down to
Watermelon Capital Speedway on the 6th in efforts to find a win in
Georgia. Things were looking good in the heat race as Kevin started and
within 6 laps had made his way into second and was closing in on the
lead when the checkered fell. WCS has an invert for the starts of the
features putting slower cars at the front for the start. When the pole
sitter didn't start as quickly as everyone else Kevin had to take
evasive action not to run into the back of the car in front of him.
Kevin pulled low to try to pass and the car in front turned down on him
and went across the nose of the #44 truck. The altercation knocked the
toe in and Kevin was relegated to riding around for the whole race.
Kevin was still able to salvage a 5th place finish. The team will be in
Florence on the 20th getting final adjustments made for the Fall
Classic on Nov. 2nd-4th at Florence Motor Speedway.
9/30/07 Murphy's Law
Wasn't one of Murphy's Laws, "If anything can go wrong, it
will"? The Kevin O'Brien Racing Team made the trek to Florence again
only to have the bad luck bug bite again.This time the electric fuel
pump quit working on Lap 2 of the feature race. "The problems don't
even make me mad, because at this point its almost comical as what will
go wrong next", Kevin said after the race. Things can only get better
for the 44 as the luck has been in short supply. Kevin will be changing
engines early in the week to go to Watermelon Capital Speedway in
Cordele Ga this coming weekend. Stay tuned!
9/11/07 Engine shop Is buzzing.
Word has it that Kevin has begun to get more motors together for
the #44 Truck. Speculation is that he will return to the track on
September 29th at Florence Motor Speedway. Kevin is planning to have 2
new motors built by his favorite engine builder, Stephen Moore. "We
used a new machine shop at the beginning of the year and that led to
some reliability issues in the engines, so we took the summer off,
regrouped and will be back in time to get ready for the big fall races
at Dillon and Florence." stated Kevin. Kevin would also like to thank
Johnson Machine in Kinards S.C. for the quick work in getting the
machining done for the engines. " We have never had reliability issues
with Richard Johnson's machining, so it only made sense to continue to
use him for the work. Mr. Johnson is not the cheapest around, but I
have no problem spending the money for the best." Stay tuned for
further updates on the date of return of the feared #44.
9/7/07 Kevin Is Back Into Karting
Due to the rapid growth of Kevin's business, he has found his time
being more and more precious, Kevin purchased a kart several months ago
and has since found himself battling on the same track that he got his
start in racing. The stress of traveling off several hours to race cars
during Kevin's busy work season is what prompted the decision. Once
cooler temperatures and slower work returns Kevin intends to be back in
the truck at Florence Motor Speedway and a visit to the new Dillon
Motor Speedway.
4/10/07 Sad day.
Duke Dykeman from Beaufort SC passed away last Friday. Duke was a
racer at the Old Savannah Speedway in the 70's. He had raced with some
of the greatest names in stockcar racing. Duke was a Richard Petty fan
to the soul. All of Duke's cars were painted the famed red and blue and
were even #43. Duke owned a towing service and his entire fleet of
wreckers were also painted blue and red. Racing lost a true fan when
Duke passed away. He will be missed by everyone that knew him.
4/2/07 Motor problems end run for win.
The day started well for Kevin as he drove to a commanding lead to
win the heat race Sunday. He would start from the pole for the feature
event with Todd Chappell starting to his outside. Kevin took off to the
early lead with Kevin Jackson in the 21 car following. He lead all the
way to lap 18 when the second caution would fly. Jon Lane was able to
get by Kevin on the restart, but Kevin began to battle back. After a
couple of laps Kevin would come to realize something was amiss on the
#44 truck. The engine was starting to go south. Within another lap the
engine had locked up and Kevin was forced to park the car in the pits.
It was a disappointing end to a day that started out so good. Kevin is
not sure when he will have another engine ready to go as he has blown
both his primary and backup engine.
3/18/07 Practice turns sour.
Todays practice did not go so well for
Kevin and the #44 O'Brien's Professional Auto Service 4 cylinder truck.
Eight laps into the first practice the engine started to sputter so
Kevin pulled in to the pits. Some close inspection revealed a spun
bearing on the truck. It is doubtful that he will have another engine
together in time to make the first race. Check back for updates to see
when Kevin will be back in action
.
After several weeks of work the truck is ready to go. Kevin has spent the past several weeks getting things ready and now has the truck ready to race. The first race of the year is on March 25th at Florence Motor Speedway and Kevin plans to be there.
