By Brant Thurmond
Heading into Friday’s Touring Outlaw Modified Series (TOMS) opener at Southern Oklahoma Speedway, Blackwell, Texas native Fred “Fast Freddy” Wojtek was hoping to put all the bad luck from the 2024 season behind him.
However, just a few laps into hot laps, the crew and others were having déjà vu as Wojtek was forced to pull his 44F car to the infield and ended up getting pushed back to the pit area by the tow truck.
The crew went to work quickly to diagnose the issue and found an issue with the rear end of the car.
“Long story short, we were low on oil and burned up the rear end of the car,” Wojtek said. “I think it might have had a quart of oil in it. That put an end to our night.”
With his night cut short, a decision was made to put in the work and replace it with a rear end from Wojtek’s spare car at his shop.
“Gerrit (Haynes) got here about 10:30 this morning with it and we pulled this one (broken rear end) out of it last night. And we put the replacement in this morning,” he said. “We got everything set where we needed it. We went out in hot laps and everything was good.”
Wojtek started first in the first heat race for the TOMS and after leading the opening two laps, he went off the edge of turn three and dropped back to seventh place.
“I know he (track owner John Webb) flattened it up over there, and I just wasn’t expecting it to hold the car like it used to,” Wojtek said. “My fault. I made a mistake. I went to the back; I think I passed one car there towards the end. It kind of messed our night up, and we should’ve been starting closer in the feature.”
Wojtek ended up finishing sixth in his heat race, but the good news is Wojtek was second quickest in his heat race with a best lap of 18.944 (lap six) and had an average lap time of 19.197. Mitchell Clement, who won the heat race, recorded a best lap time of 18.882 and an average lap time of 19.074, according to My Race Pass timing.
Wojtek started the feature race on the inside of the seventh row in 19th as the field started the feature three abreast.
Wojtek passed five cars in the feature race and ended up with a 14th place finish.
“We thought the track was going to slick off more than it did,” Wojtek said of his feature race. “It rubbered up towards the end of the race. We tightened the car up a little too much and I was fighting tight conditions all night.
“I wish we could’ve done better,” he said. “Our luck is just not with us lately. We are just going to keep plugging away and hopefully we will do better at the next one.”
(Photo by Brant Thurmond/Double T Media)
With two races in the books, Wojtek will now turn his attention to another two-race weekend on April 4 and 5, at Heart O’ Texas Speedway, in Waco and Kennedale Speedway Park, in Kennedale.
Wojtek finished eighth in the last TOMS race he raced at Heart O’ Texas on June 14, 2024. That same night he won his heat race after starting on the pole.
The last trip to Kennedale Speedway Park came on Aug. 16, 2023, where Wojtek finished 22 in the feature and third in the heat race.
The previous trip on April 8, netted better results with a fourth-place feature finish. The same night Wojtek won his heat race after starting in second.
TOMS Points
(As of 3-22-24)
Pos # Competitor Hometown Points
1 25H Shane Hartline Ivanhoe, TX 186
2 16 Chris Henigan Marshall, TX 182 -4
3 12 Jason Ingalls Longview, TX 175 -11
4 14V Dean Abbey Boyd, TX 161 -25
5 32 Mitchell Clement Bonham, TX 153 -33
6 112 Chase Hatton De Berry, TX 153 -33
7 61 Michael Ables Caddo, OK 147 -39
8 3 Sam Cox Flower Mound, TX 140 -46
9 11r Ryan Veal Princeton, TX 134 -52
10 18J Jake Huckaby Texarkana, TX 132 -54
20 44F Fred Wojtek Blackwell, TX 10 -77
