Cole's Racing Thread (Will Contain Spoilers)

[Carolina Crew]

Why the heck not?

[Carolina Crew]

After Staring back in 34th, Lawrence Allen was beginning to come up through the field, but his progress was stopped after being turned by Shaun Griswald on a restart stack up. 

"What the hell?  Who just wrecked me"?

Spotter: "It was the 6"

"Who is that"?

Despite a poor qualifying run and that restart crash, Allen stayed on the lead lap and found himself in 7th after a pit gamble, only to blow his engine under caution.

"We did all of this work and got jack out of it"

Despite showing some promise, Allen's debut ended in a DNF.

I would've gotten to this sooner if I wasn't lazy.

[Carolina Crew]

Freya Mast showed up to New Hampshire motor speedway with the goal of getting some oval experience ahead of her TMMC independent's trophy bid.  

Mast was never a factor for the win, but she did threaten for a top 10 and ended up finishing in the top 15 in her Nomad debut.  

Many drivers experienced mechanical difficulties during the race.  Mast has little experience on traditional ovals, and has a reputation for tearing up her own equipment in open wheel cars.  Seeing her take care of her equipment and score a top 15 on a track she has never run on before is very encouraging for her and her team.

After the race, Mast had this to say about the race on the road course layout in a few weeks
"I am super proud of all the hard work that went into this car, and if we can get a decent result on an oval, then that makes the road course even more promising."

[Carolina Crew]

Freya Mast was looking forward to a possible top 10 run after her solid run on the New Hampshire oval configuration.

"I have always enjoyed running on road courses more than ovals, and I think that my experience running on the oval/road course layout at tracks like Daytona will give me an advantage today"

However, Mast qualified very poorly, by anyone's standards.  Her race wasn't going much better either.  Mast was able to work her way through the field using some pit strategy.  Unfortunately, Mast was run into while trying to enter her pit stall.

"What is the 34 doing.  I'm not backing up for him, he can sit here and loose time for being an idiot"  

Mast's car was never the same after the pit road accident.  Coupled with having to repair the damage done to her car and Mast eventually finished 20th, the last car 2 laps down.  

When asked about her comments on the radio and her performance, Mast had this to say.

"I was defiantly angry.  I just thought the race could've gone so much better than it did, but the 34 hitting us didn't cost us the win or anything, I just didn't perform as well as I could have.  Oh well, there's always next time."

The problem is, we don't know when "next time" is for Mast.  While she will probably run a few one off races in other categories, along with her Master Cup independence trophy bid, it is currently unknown if she has any upcoming plans, as her 2019 Nomad venture was only a 2 races ordeal.

[Carolina Crew]

RROL Nomad
Mast got another race in the Nomad series this season.  She ran at the Maxwell center to get some preparation for her Master Cup IT bid there.  Mast landed a one off deal for the #84 Lumber ride.  Mast gave that car it's best qualifying run of the year and ran the first stint of the race well inside the top 10.

Mast looked to finally have top 10 speed in the Nomad's.  However, she was put a lap down under yellow from 7th due to the configuration of the it lane at the Maxwell Center.  Mast's other pit stops didn't go much better, and she finished 2 laps down despite showing top 10 speed all weekend.

Mast was quoted as saying this in her post race interview.

"Maybe if my luck wasn't so shitty I could finally give a car the result it deserves.  I'm sorry to the #84 team.  They were so nice to me all weekend, and they took a chance by giving this ride to me.  I wish I could've given them a better result for all the effort they put in this weekend."


Master Cup
Freya Mast ran her second Master cup race for her IT bid.  After a disastrous weekend at San Antonio, Mast hoped to have a stronger run out of the 898 car.  Mast ran ahead of all the other IT contenders for most of the day, despite being in the thick of the wreck on lap 87.  When Gaspar De Sousa broke down, Mast was directly beind him when the wreck occurred.  

Mast stomped on the breaks and was able to avoid most of the wreck.

"How much damage did we get Carter?"

"I don't see any from here."

"Well that was lucky."

"Luck?  You avoided the damn thing yourself, their ain't nothing lucky about it."

Mast was able to bring herself home ahead of all of the other independents trophy contenders, gaining ground and showing some of her true potential.

Mast had this to say after the race

"That was a stressful way to end a race.  I thought I was in the clear, then Mason (Yokoyama) started gaining on me and I thought he was going to catch me by the end.  The Lynxe girls have been nice to me on the few occasions that we have talked.  I like their attitude off the track, but on the track, they were all over the place.  I can only imagine how Ryan (Matthews) must feel, they cost him a chance at his first win."


Mast entered in a 3rd Nomad race, despite originally declaring that she would only run at New Hampshire.  Also, Mast running in an IT round that is predominantly short tracks, despite having little experience on short tracks, doesn't seem like it is a key to victory."

Reporter in LA (Who happens to be a friend of Mast):"Freya, Why didn't you enter a round with more road courses?  All you have told me about is how stressful you find short track racing."
Freya Mast: "Maybe my goal isn't to win.  Maybe it is to gain more experience."

Many of Mast's recent actions have hinted that she has the goal of running in the Nomad's full time in 2020.

[Carolina Crew]

Rolling into the 70/77 speedway Allen looked to bounce back from blowing an engine in the top 10 on debut.

The weekend started off poorly, with Allen qualifying 33rd out of 34 spots decided on time, and he decided to play in the dirt mounds while he was at it.

The race started off with Allen falling a lap down very early.  Then he decided to have the most anonymous race one can have and he finished in 21st, one lap down.

Allen said after the race,  "on one hand I didn't have any incidents all race (which actually says something at 70/77), but on the other hand we were way slower than we were at San Antonio.  Good luck to Lukas at Karl's, go get em'."

[Carolina Crew]

The TM Master Cup round of Carbondale was a race shrouded in controversy due a pre-race skirmish between rookies Saul Fischel and Liv Eklund.  

Fischel went on to dominate, but his win wasn't the only major reason Mast go little attention.  Two other drivers pulled the two bone-head moves of the season, and Ormond and Yokoyama stole the show for the IT drivers.

Spotter: "The 49 just took out Cooper and the 7, Saul was almost caught up in that."

Mast: "How many laps down is he again?"

Mast finished a few spots out of the points and had no incidents all race.  Considering the shenanigans going on all around the track and her quality of equipment, it would be fair to call Carbondale her best result. 

When asked about her own run and all of the on track incidents, Mast only had this to say.

"It would be nice if we could keep personal stuff like this out of the sports.  Never the less, I would like to congratulate Saul on his win.  I am very proud of what we accomplished today, and I am excited to finally get on a road course."

Once Mast's IT bid ends, she is expected to attempt the special events during the season, and maybe lobby for a promoter's option at some point.  However, Mast claims that she plans to run somewhere full time in 2020.  While she has not specified where, her sponsor, Minute Maid has pledged to follow her wherever she goes.

[Carolina Crew]

Lukas Fabian and Lawrence Allen both entered into the RROL season finale at Rockingham as one off entries with one off sponsorship deals.  Their team is based in Concord, which was not very far away from Rockingham.  Allen was given a one off sponsorship deal with Energizer and Fabian got his deal with Duracell.

Before the race, team owner Dominic Allen said this about the sponsorship "representatives spoke with me and my drivers, and they said they would be willing to future deals if we ran well tonight."

Fabian qualified 11th and Allen qualified 21st

In the first run, both drivers made their way through the field, Fabian cracking the top 5 at one point and Allen cracking the top 10.  about a 1/3rd of the way into the race, Fabian fell back to Allen, and the two drivers spent the last 2/3rds of the race trying to run ahead of the other.

Lawrence Allen said after the race:  "No way I was letting him beat me, I taught him how to run on ovals after all."
Lukas Fabian said"  "Allen is the one with the oval background, so I thought he would pass me and drive away from me."

He didn't.  Fabian got back around Allen and led both of them through the field on route to a top 10 for Lukas Fabian and an 11th for Lawrence Allen.

The two both got decent attention, both at the track and on the broadcast.  This surprised both drivers, considering they were only in the race with a one off deal, and there was the much more important matter of crowning a champion.

However, the strong runs and attention lead to possible future openings for the team.

Team owner Dominic Allen (Grandfather of Lawrence Allen) said after the race that:  "Representatives for both companies told us that they would be open to possible future deals, as they were impressed by the attention and showing of our boys."

According to the team, this news was something that Lawrence Allen suspected:  "Yeah, after how well Lukas and I ran, I knew they would want us to sponsor them more."

Lukas Fabian seemed much more humble relieved by the news:  "I'm glad a top 10 was good for them.  I consider my future to be in FARC, but I would love to do this again more next year.  Also, maybe if we are lucky, they would be willing to sponsor us in FARC in the future."

[Carolina Crew]

Lukas Fabian, the half German driver from Charleston SC made his first FARC start at the Karl's superstore in Jonesboro.

Fabian ran a very quiet race, his only major incident being a very slow opening pit stop and attaining minor damage in that massive pile up near the end of the race.

Fabian finished 21st, a lap off the pace.

When asked about the race, Fabian had this to say.  "That was certainly a challenge, that track was unlike any road course I have ever driven on.  Still, no one had anything bad to say to me after the race and I got to meet a lot of nice people, it was a fun week."

Fabian's team owner Dominic Allen said that "while that race won't grab everyone's attention, it certainly won't turn people away.  Considering all the bullshit going on around the track, I'm actually impressed that the kid kept the car in good shape."

Fabian won't make any more Farc starts until the end of the season.  However, he is looking to build on his solid debut in the future.

[Carolina Crew]

Lawrence Allen nabbed a top 20 in his third race of the year at General Grant.  Allen had almost no incidents the whole race and grabbed another decent result this season.

That is the good news, the bad is that with all the incidents this race, Allen again kept his nose fairly clean, but finished 3 laps down.

Allen's seemed frustrated with the lack of speed provided by his family team, saying that the engineers "need a wake up call on how to build a fast racecar because they sure as shit don't know."

These comments did not sit well with team owner Dominic Allen (Lawrence's grandpa), and he had a conversation with Allen, after which he apologized to the team.

Allen's older and more measured team mate Lukas Fabian was asked about his team's poor Farc debut and Allen's comments.  Fabain: "Obviously we all wanted to be a little faster.  However, I told Lawrence that he shouldn't expect race winning speed immediately against such tough competition, especially in a brand new, family owned, team.

In regards to the race itself, Allen didn't have much to say, other than him being very vocal about the incidents between the 7 and 69, which indirectly lead to Riley Durbin's horrible crash.  "I don't know why the hell the caution wasn't thrown right away, it is f****** stupid and now some else has to pay the price for it."

The team isn't expected to show up until the end of the season, and it is likely that both drivers may try to run part time in other series in the meantime.

[Carolina Crew]

Freya Mast was looking forward to her final Independent's race at Road Atlanta.  Mast, who has a road racing background, got the chance to run her first race in a Master Cup car.  

Mast had been looking strong all weekend, running in the low 20's and high 30's for most of the weekend.  

The race started and Mast quickly moved into the top 30.  She was looking good, then she and Ike Durbin wrecked through the esses.  It was a little clumsy by both parties, but that type of wreck is fairly common at Road Atlanta, and that combined with the relative lack of experience by both drivers made the wreck appear fairly harmless at first.  Mast has been known for a short temper in her road racing days, and that showed after her spin with Ike.

Mast drove straight into the 711, destroying both cars in the process.

Mast was cursing up a storm on the radio, and her crew chief had only this to say.  "I hope you don't expect to get a ride from anyone driving like that."

It hasn't been announced at the time of this writing on if Mast will receive a penalty, but she sits 2nd in the Independent's trophy points, ahead of fellow youngster Nathan Ormond and one of the preseason favorites Casey Lester.

Mast can only make another start this year with a qualification for a special event or a promoter's option.

[Carolina Crew]

After running 3 races in the Nomads last season, Freya Mast has announced that she will run the full 2020 Nomad season.  

Mast's desire to run in the Nomad season stems from her previous Master cup experience.  "I loved the cup series, but I think it would be best for me at this time in my career and my life as whole to step down and run something a little bit more local."

Mast has Minute Maid as a sponsor, as they are back with Mast for the at least another season.

Mast looked as if she would run the season solo, as she has become used to doing, then she got a surprise call.

Calton-Morel, the manufacturer that Mast partnered with for her Independent's trophy bid, offered Mast their full support for next season.

This was a big deal for Mast.  Calton-Morel is not a full time make in the Nomad series, and their partnership with Mast isn't unique per say, but it is certainly an arrangement that was unexpected.  Mast, of course, said yes to the offer immediately. 

Mast seems to have found new partnership with a manufacturer.

"I am happy to announce that I plan to run the full Nomad series in 2020.  I am also proud to announce that I have continued my partnership with Minute Maid and have a new partnership with Calton-Morel.  I have worked with people from both companies before, and they have both been very encouraging to me.  I am grateful for their support, and I won't let them down."

[Carolina Crew]

It's Texas 500 weekend, and Farc rookie Lawrence Allen decides to try his hand in the ASCC by attempting the Texas 500.  However, controversy surrounded the team before the weekend ever began.

The first and most obvious complaint was on the sponsorship of Lawrence Allen's car.  Duff beer was sponsoring the 36, despite Lawrence Allen only being 18 years old.  While Duff does have some ties to his team owner, and grandfather, Dominic Allen, many were uneasy about an 18 year old being sponsored by an alcohol company.

The second issue was, where was Lukas Fabian?  The two have been entering everything together, so why wasn't Fabian entered in the Texas 500?  The answer was a personal choice for Fabian, who said "Well, considering where my family is from, even though I am American, I'm not sure that they'd give me the warmest welcome down there."  This of course refers to the fact that both of Fabian's parents are immigrant German's, making Fabian half-German.

Lawrence Allen qualified in the low 30's, which is actually an improvement from where he had been all week in practice.  With 33 cars locked into the field, that left 9 spots open for 13 drivers.  Then something unexpected happened, the front row was swept by one off drivers.  This left only 7 spots open for one-off drivers.  With that few spots and having to outrun master cup drivers with the pedigree of Greg Woodard and Ryan Matthews, the pressure was on Lawrence Allen to preform well.

Despite this, Lawrence Allen ran up front early in the race, getting as high as second.  This performance was completely unexpected, as Lawrence Allen's racing pedigree, is not that great, and he was supposedly against "the best in the USA".  

Then, while running mid pack, Master Cup driver Ryan Matthews hooked Ritchie Pinto.  The two pounded the outside wall, and Lawrence Allen was swept up in it.  And for as slow as Allen has been in Farc, very few (if any) of the wrecks he has been involved in were actually of his doing.  After his wreck in the duel, all he said on the radio was "every fucking time"

As Allen wheeled his crumpled 36 to the pits, the team gave him service, took the front end off of his car, and sent him back out in the hopes that he could make the race anyway.  However, the damaged 36 was incredibly slow, racing with Bobby Miller III all race, and eventually falling a lap down.  Allen was one spot out of transferring, but he needed a miracle with how slow his car was running.  Then Lawrence finally finally finally caught a break.

Manny Brown, former Master Cup driver from about a decade ago, was set to make his final start in the Texas 500.  Brown was up in the top 10 most of the race, and a lock to get in.  I mean, he had lapped Allen by this point.  However, Brown had some mechanical problem, and spent a long time in the pits.  He eventually got back on the track, but it was long After Lawrence Allen had passed him.  Allen swiped Manny Brown's spot in the field, and with his damaged, hood less 36, Lawrence Allen took the last transfer spot.  He will start 36th (ironically) in the Texas 500.

In his post race interview, Allen had this to say on his race "I feel for Manny, I really do.  But it sure feels nice to be lucky.  Hopefully this luck doesn't go away for the big race."

[Carolina Crew]

After nabbing the last transfer spot in his duel race, Lawrence Allen set his sights on the true prize, the Texas 500.

Allen started deep in the field, but he wasted no time in picking his way through the field.  Allen did a good job avoiding the carnage that was this race, and even made his way up to the lead.  These were the first laps Allen has lead in anything for a while.  His speed was surprising, considering that he wasn't very fast in practice or in qualifying, he was regularly shown up by Lukas Fabian at local events, and he has been nowhere on the Farc side of things. 

After taking the lead, all Allen said on his radio was "oh yeah!"

Allen and his Concord Carolina team looked as if they had the potential to be a Cinderella story, for about the first third of the race.  

Then Allen's engine had other ideas.

The car appeared to loose a gear or something.  Either way, the car went from contending for the lead to falling multiple laps down due to a lack of speed.  The engine problems continued to get worse, then eventually the engine just came apart all together.

Allen came home 11th in his first ever ASCC race.  In his post race interview, Allen said this "All things considered, I finished well enough.  But it's disappointing to have engine problems when you are contending for the win.  Oh well, maybe we can stop blowing up eventually."

Allen seemed to be bashing his engineers with that last statement.  This didn't sit well with Lukas Fabian (whom reportedly called him out in private) or team owner Dominic Allen.

Dom Allen told his grandson "You can stop complaining about your engines.  You know damn well you couldn't put this thing together on your own, so don't bitch when the people who do it for you aren't perfect."

The last thing a small team like this needs is any sort of infighting.

[Carolina Crew]

Farc Rookie Lukas Fabian is set with the biggest task of his very short racing career.

Fabian didn't plan on attempting Karjala, as his Farc team, The Concord Carolina Team, had no collective interest in making the long trek to Finland for Master Cup's crown jewl.  However, a start up racing team out of Bonn Germany known as Rennen Racing wanted to attempt Karjala, and they needed a driver.  Fabian's German connections led to the team offering him a ride, and despite his acceptance, there were a litany of problems.

1) The team is a start up team
2) The team has very little outside support
3) Fabian is very inexperienced. 

Due to these 3 factors, it seemed as if this one-off was doomed to fail before it even got off the ground.  However, Fabian's Farc team wasn't idel.  Despite not showing up for the race themselves, they sent money, supplies, and a few engineers and mechanics to support Rennen Racing.

The problems would mostly be solved over the coming weeks

1) The mechanics sent by The Concord Carolina Team are the ones that have worked with team owner Dominic Allen for years.  Some have been working longer than Fabian has been alive.  This experience on the engineering side is critical to helping this team.  Rennen Racing is a mid-pack team in German touring cars, and they have never built a stock car before.  This experience is what they needed to have any hope of not imploding during this task.

2) The Farc team sent Rennen Racing a lot of money.  This was repayed with Rennen Racing's purchasing of a Saar, the same chassis used by The Concord Carolina Team.  While it's not much, it is much better than nothing.  Fabian raced with Duracell for a RROL one off.  While that deal was supposed to be a one off, Duracell was impressed enough with Fabian's top 10 in that race to agree sponsoring him here.  Duracell's money will also help the team.

3) Fabian's inexperience is not going to go away, but he does have help to make things more comfortable.  Rennen Racing's team owner, Hans Andelhiem, has actually worked with Fabian in past European one offs for Fabian.  He will be the crew chief for the Karjala month.  And perhaps the most important member of The Concord Carolina Team to make the trip was team owner Dominic Allen.  The elder Allen has been the crew chief for both Lukas and Lawrence in Farc, as the two have never been in the same race.  This familiarity in both spotter and crew chief will make Fabian as comfortable as possible for the most demanding task of his career.

With all of this change, it is still worth noting that the team could collapse if thongs go south.

Fabian has duel American and German citizenship, and has a history of racing under the German flag in Europe.  Combined with the German team, and it shouldn't be a surprise that Fabian requested to run Karjala under the German flag.

On the trip, Dominic Allen had this to say: "It's gonna be an uphill battle, and the competition is gonna be stiff as evah'.  I have my doubts on if our leftover parts from back home and the Duracell money being enough, but Fabian has been good to me ever since his local short track days, and this is the least I could do to repay him."

Fabian said:  "Nothing is certain at this point, and I am afraid of letting everyone down.  But I am so grateful for all the help I have gotten from both Deutschland and America.  We have a lot of work to do, so let's get started."

[Carolina Crew]

League: RROL Nomad Series
Year: 2020
Race No.: 1
Destination: Middle Georgia Motor Speedway

Freya Mast made her first full time start in the RROL Nomad series.  With her new deal with Calton-Morel, she got their engines and also got the chance to run their famed Black, Purple, and Orange colors that have been run by the likes of Adrian Devereux, Alan Hodges, and David Krikorian.  Mast certainly had a lot of pressure to make a good first impression for Calton-Morel

It seemed to be going well at first, with Mast being second fastest in opening practice.

However, things fell off of a cliff from there.  Mast would go on to qualify 26th out of 28th.  While that was somewhat of a concern, she had a very fast car in practice and should be ready to charge through the field when the race starts, right?

No it didn't.  Mast was nowhere all race, falling a lap down to defending champ Mike Falls very quickly.  The race would culminate in a tire failure that saw Mast slam her car straight into the pit wall.  All indications said it was a tire failure.  Considering how slow Mast was on raceday, despite a great weekend, it has lead to some speculation that it is possible she was having tire issues all race.  This could explain why she was A) so slow out of nowhere and B) why she couldn't seem to hold her car on the white line in the corners, which is where she was losing all her time.  That or Mast could've simply cracked under the pressure of needing a good result.

During the race, Mast said "what the hell is wrong with this thing?  It was so fast in practice."

After the race, Mast was clearly disappointing in herself.  When asked about her performance, she said "it's disappointing that this is my first impression I give on Calton-Morel, driving the car straight into the wall."  While it's not her first impression, see TM Master Cup Independent's Trophy, it is not hard to see where the disappointment is coming from.  Interestingly, Mast also had this to say about other on track incidents.

"I don't know what the 18 is doing.  Wrecked cars are not fun to pay for, don't use them like a weapon."


On the opposite side of the garage, moral was soaring in the #35 pits.  Lukas Fabian rolled into Rockingham last season in a supposed one off drive.  However, Duracell was so impressed by his top 10 that they offered to sponsor him again if he wanted to run any races in 2020.  That offer extended to Fabian's much wealthier teammate, Lawrence Allen.  While Allen wasn't interested, Fabian hopped on that offer.

Before the race, the Farc driver said "It's nice to finally have some consistent support, and the best way to pay them back is with a good finish."

Fabian actaully has experience at Middle Georgia.  Coming up in the south east, he has actually raced at Middle Georgia, Rockingham, and Martinsville, the 3 early season races he is attempting. 

The weekend was a roller coaster for Fabain.  He was mid-pick in both practice and qualifying.  However, similarly to Rockingham last season, Fabian quickly moved his way through the field to be in the top 10.  Then, Fabian would be involved in 2 separate crashes on the back straight away.  It is worth mentioning that neither of the crashes were of Fabian's own doing.

Fabian's Farc crew chief, and also his team owner, Dominic Allen asked after the second crash "Kid, how's the car feeling?"  Fabian replied back "Tis' but a scratch."  

Fabian had been the car to kick off every pit stop, which would actually trap him a lap down when a caution came out in the middle of the pit cycle.  This would actually turn into a blessing in disguise, as it gave Fabian the fuel he needed to make it to the end of the race without stopping.  As he came back through the field and other cars dropped into the pits for fuel, Fabian was in second behind Frank Azzaretto.  While he was slowly reeling the 19 in, Fabian wasn't coming nearly fast enough, and he was forced to settle for a surprising second.  

Fabian and his team celebrated their second place as it was a win, and Fabian's post race interview had a little bit of insight, history, and self praise.  "Second feels great, wish it was a win but we had nothing for that 19.  Thanks again to all my sponsors, couldn't have done this without you guys.  I have two top 10s in two starts, maybe I should retire with a perfect record.  Even though they are very very diffrent from what I drive in Germany on my spare time, at the end of the day an open wheel car is an open wheel car, so I have at least some knowledge on how these cars work."  How do you feel about your season?  "Well, I remember watching Melanie (Clevenot) win the rookie of the year in Master Cup in one year, 2012 I think, and she only ran half the races.  Who's to say that's out of the question for this team?"  

Fabian's knowledge of history aside, it was a great day for his team, and a reminder that Rockingham last season looks less like a fluke than ever.

[Carolina Crew]

Lukas Fabian, who scored a top 10 in his RROL debut at Rockingham last season, was reportedly excited all week to race there again.

Family friend and team boss Dominic Allen said "I can't remember I saw Lukas show this much emotion at all, let alone happiness."

This happiness and confidence, following a 2nd in Georgia last race, seemed to be justified in Fabian having the fastest car in practice. Apperently this wasn't good enough for the team as they changed most of the set-up.

Fabian went from the fastest car in practice to a mid-pack car all race.  He finished off the lead lap, in the negative points, and had nothing to show for a strong weekend.

On the bright side, Fabian did say that he has plans "in the works" to possibly run a few more races this season after Martinsville (his last scheduled race in the 35 car for a while.)



Freya Mast was nowhere in practice but did manage to start in 8th.

Similar to Georgia Mast dropped all the way to the back of the field like a brick in water.  On her radio as she was dropping back, all she said was "it's happening again, that's fabulous."

Mast fell a lap down very early, but managed to adjust on her car through the race and get into the mid-teens.

While Mast scored no points, finishing on the lead lap with 0 points is significantly better than crashing out and losing points.  Despite that silver lining, Mast and her team need to right this ship if they want any hope of salvaging what's been a disaster of a start to the season.

Mast didn't seem to be in the mood to talk post race, as she didn't even deliver a post race interview.

[Carolina Crew]

The Carolina Concord team, which is new to the Farc scene this season, will be running the last 4 races of the season.

To kick off that stretch, Lukas Fabian showed up to Cicero.  Most of Fabian's experience comes on short tracks and road courses, so it was unknown how well he would do.  Before the race, Fabian said "If I can finish all the laps, that would be a win to me."

That seemed to be in the cards in the first half of the race.  Fabian was much more competitive than the 36 was last time it was on the track, which was all the way back when Lawrence Allen piloted the car at General Grant.  

While Fabian wasn't a trailblazer, he was far from off the pace.  While that was going on, the race would experience a rash of cautions.  Fabian was always able to squeeze through the wrecks.  He did accumulate some damage in one pile up, but it was very minor.  

Due to the attrition, Fabian found himself in the top 15 and on his way to the team's best result of the season.  Then, he seemed to run over some debris left on the track, as he was one of numerous cars to hit the pits right after a restart.  Then, while running in the high lane a lap down, Farc veteran Harry Enola washed up into Fabian and cleaned him out.  Despite crashing out, Fabian still came home in 23rd due to all the carnage of the race.

Fabian wasn't terribly impressed by the move, and he made that abundantly clear in his post race interview.  

"I am running way out of the racing line to give everyone space, then Enola came up and just dumped us.  That's the kind of thing most people would expect me to do to him, not the other way around.  He's a former drill sergeant, right?  You know he would give me an earful if I did this to him.  Whatever, I can see why he's never gotten that championship."

The spiteful interview is unlike Fabian, at least according to team owner Dominic Allen.

"It's been a while since i've seen Lukas get that riled up.  Then again, he did get cleaned out, and I think Enola would much rather deal with him then deal with me."

The team will show up to the rest of the races in 2019, with Fabian driving at Salem next week and in the season finale, and Lawrence Allen making his last start of the season on the high banks of Talladega.

[Carolina Crew]

Freya Mast had her third consecutive top 10 starting spot in the 89.

However, the Martinsville race was the first time all season that the Mast didn't drop like a brick in the running order.  She ran in the top 10 pretty much all day and was in the top 5 during the final stint of the race.  

Mast climbed out of her vehicle to a 4th place finish.  She had no incidents all race and finished in the top 5, something any driver would celebrate, and Mast echoed such sentiments in her post race interview.  Other interesting note, Mast grabbed her first top 10 and first top 5 in the same race.

"It was nice to finally get that first top 10, and getting my first top 5 while I was at it was pretty cool.  Calton Morel took a chance on me this season and it was nice to finally repay them with a good finish.  Sucks that 4th place only gets me one point but I'll take it.  If this is what being fast is like I wanna do it more often!  With her new found momentum and a road course coming up, Mast's goal is to replicate her pace she showed at Martinsville for the upcoming races.


Lukas Fabian had his second nothing race in a row, and his 2nd place in the season opener feels like an eternity ago.

All Fabian had to say about the result was "don't worry, you haven't seen the last of me quite yet."

[Carolina Crew]

Lukas Fabian initially only planned on attempting the first three races and the finale of the 2020 RROL Nomad season.

However, after his second place finish in the season opener at Middle Georgia, the possibility of running more races seemed more intriguing to Fabian.

The opportunity emerged when Mercedes Diaz was promptly benched from the 18 Klein racing entry after his sloppy driving in the season opener.  Fabian will pilot the 18 Klein racing entry for the 4th race of the season at Beltsville.

Fabian will be bringing his own Duracell sponsorship to the team for what is a one race deal.  Duracell has shown immense support to Fabian in his short career so far, as they are also sponsoring his Karjala entry.

"Getting to race in Karjala is a dream come true to me.  Making the grid isn't going to be easy, but I am grateful for the support and never would've thought this possible."

Fabian is entered into Karjala under the German flag and with a local German team.  However, many engineers and staff from the Carolina Concord Team, the team Fabian drivers for in Farc, have made the trip to Germany and Finland to help Fabian prepare the car.  Of these include the team owner himself Dominic Allen.  Dominic Allen is the crew chief for both Fabian and Lawrence Allen on the farc side of things (as the two have yet to enter the same race), and the 65 year old team owner has made the long trip to Europe to call the strategy for Fabian.

"I've had some people say I am too old to do this, and I most certainly am.  But, I have seen Lukas do so much in such a short amount of time, this is the least I could do for him.  Also, this won't be the last you see of this team this season, and it may not be the last of you see of Lukas either."

Fabian's Karjala team Rennen Racing came together at the last moment, and is a mixture of German and American engineers with little outside sponsorship other than Duracell.  If this team could qualify for one of the biggest races in the world, it would be a great underdog story.

[Carolina Crew]

Neither Lukas Fabian, who made the trip all the way to Finland from the Southern US, or Freya Mast were even able to make the consolation event for Karjala, let alone the main event.

This isn't a huge deal for Freya Mast, as Independents were shut out of the Karjala GP, so she doesn't lose any ground. However, it is discouraging to see someone with a road racing background with this much of a lack of speed.

Lukas Fabian was hit much harder. This was the only race he is scheduled to attempt this season, and he and his team invested a lot into Karjala and got nothing to show for it. Fabian has also been struggling on the Farc side as well, and he was counting something to give him momentum, but he will not find it in Finland. It is unknown whether Fabian has plans to attempt any other Master Cup race this season.

Neither driver had any comments on their Karjala struggles, understandably so.

[Carolina Crew]

Despite only competing in 5 of the 7 races in RROL's preliminary segment for the 2020 season, Lukas Fabian was able to qualify for the RROL knockout cup.

However, Fabian's team (Carolina Concord Team) only planned on showing up to the season finale in Dover, meaning Fabian was in danger of not having a ride for the knockout cup.

However, Reach Motorsports with Forkner Performance has reached out to Lukas Fabian and granted him a ride for the remainder of the season, excluding Dover, in a second car so he can contest the knockout cup.  Fabian will keep his car numbered 35 and his Duracell sponsorship, but will also be driving a Forkner F3B engine.

This comes in an offseason from Farc where tension has been building between Fabian and the the Carolina Concord Team over the direction the team will head in the future.  As a result, Fabian electing not to drive a Saar may only deepen divides between the two standing parties.

This also begs the question of how Reach Motorsports will operate, as the team has been built around P.J. Endersen.  However, Endersen is not in the knockout cup and Fabian is.

Fabian had this to say about the offer.  "It's been a hard last year for me and everyone back home, especially since we don't have the resources to uh, know where we plan to be in 2 years.  I didn't think needing a ride for the knockout cup is a problem I would have at the start of the year.  All the guys and girls in Reach Motorsports with Forkner are great people, and I can't thank them enough for this opportunity.  P.J is a good guy and hopefully he and I can pull off a few more top 10s to end the season.  California is a long way from South Carolina, that's for sure."

[Carolina Crew]

Fabian advances through round 1!

After a fairly lackluster race at Lime Rock park, Fabian rallied for a top 10 at Thompson, which was good enough to advance to the second round of the RROL Knockout Cup.  While it was a bit surprising that Fabian did well at Thompson instead of Lime Rock, considering his road racing pedigree, he has also been running in Farc the past year, greatly improving his skills on the short tracks

Fabian never would've gotten the opportunity without Reach Motorsports and Forkner offering him a ride.  Fabian had this to say after making it through to the second round of the knockout cup

"Driving a Forkner for the first time was a bit of a learning curve at first, but this is an amazing car.  I'm glad we advanced to round 2, and playing spoiler would be nice.  I've had the full support of Dominic while away from his team, and his advice has helped a lot also.  It's a long road ahead I guess, but it was a good start."


Freya Mast also rebounded from a few incidents to a top 10 finish of her own.  Mast has show drastic improvement from the start of the year to now, and in her own words, "the next step is to win."

With 3 races to go, Mast and Fabian are the top 2 rookies in the points standings and both are in contention to win rookie of the year

[Carolina Crew]

*Breaking News*

Carolina Autosport to expand to an ASCC East operation for the remainder of the 2021 season!
-Lawrence Allen to run the rest of the 2021 ASCC East schedule from here on outwards
-Lukas Fabian to run the rest of the 2021 FARC schedule full time

The plan for Carolina Autosports was to run the 2021 FARC schedule full time, splitting the entire season between their drivers Lawrence Allen and Lukas Fabian and make one attempt at the Texas 500 with Lawrence Allen again.  Carolina Autosports made 8 starts in the 2019 FARC season, 4 with each of their drivers and Allen qualified for and finished 11th in the Texas 500.  The 2020 pause on racing didn't hurt the team nearly as bad as it did most, as the pause gave the team a chance to pool some more funds and collect new sponsorship in the form of Duff Beer.  

Allen, grandson of team owner Dominic Allen and son of wealthy pawn shop owner Todd Allen, was slated to run the odd races in the FARC season and Lukas Fabian, the half German family friend, and much more accomplished minor league driver (including a rookie of the year award on a part time RROL schedule) slated to run the even races.

However, a shift in desires has been brewing for quite some time now, as Lawrence Allen has wanted to direct his career down the ASCC route while Fabian has remained staunchly opposed to the idea, preferring to stay in FARC.  This hasn't boiled over into anything major but has led to some minor on track and off track disputes between the two, most notably when Allen kept running Fabian into the wall while he attempted to qualify for the 2019 RROL finale.

The 2021 Farc season opener at San Antonio was the team's best run in their short time in FARC by a mile.  Allen started midpack and worked his way up to a 6th place finish, the team's first top 10 in FARC competition in only their 9th race.  Allen was in position for a top 10 at San Antonio in 2019 before his engine gave out, so the young driver appears to have a good track already.  However 2021 was different for two reasons.  For starters, unlike 2019 Allen didn't get his position through strategy, he stayed on the lead lap the entire race and drove through the field for a top 10.  Second, and arguably just as important for a team getting off the ground, Allen didn't have a scratch on the car after the race.  This was unexpected considering the caution filled nature of the event and Allen's aggressive driving style in the past.

Lukas Fabian, despite the disputes was his biggest congratulator on social media following the race.

However, Allen wasn't as happy, complaining about the way the cars drove all race.

With their newfound momentum and hefty new sponsor to help pay the bills, Carolina Autosport also announced an expansion into the ASCC East series with Lawrence Allen, as Lukas Fabian would take over the FARC ride full time.

A move to the ASCC seemed likely to occur by 2022 for Carolina Autosports, the surprising news is that the team is staying in FARC with Lukas Fabian.

The whole scenario played out much cleaner than it was expected to, as the likely scenario for a while looked as if Lukas Fabian could even be kicked to the curb, after all he wasn't the main source of money for the team.  However, this expansion to a second series, while a test for the still new team, looks to be a win for all parties involved, and such sentiments were echoed by the main three of the team.

Lawrence Allen said: "Man I just can't stand the way the FARC cars drive compared to the ASCC cars, they're so much more my style.  Still, I am glad we got something for Lukas.  Hopefully we can still attempt the (Texas) 500 this year and maybe move up to the ASCC national series one day, but I don't mind staying local for now."

Lukas Fabian said: "That's a massive weight off my shoulders.  I am lad for both the opportunity to run in FARC full time and for Carolina Autosports to still all together after this."

Dominic Allen said: "Well that's what money, and a good beer, can do for a person haha.  I am happy both these boys got what they wanted out of this.  Of course I am gonna stay with Lawrence but like I mentioned before, Lukas is like family to us and I am glad we can give him a chance to at least get his name out there.  Now I got to worry about calling the race for both of these boys in two different series, but hey that's the best worst problem I have had in a long time."

*Dominic Allen does intended to act as the crew chief for every single one of Lawrence Allen's ASCC races.  He also plans on crew chiefing for as many of Lukas Fabian's FARC starts as possible.  However, not only will he be unable to do double duty for the FARC/ASCC East companion events, considering his age he probably wouldn't make every single one of Fabian's FARC races anyway.  Luckily, Joseph "JD" Muller (was Fabian's partner in helping him attempt to qualify for Karjala in 2019) will be on top of the pit box for every FARC race Dominic is unable to do.  

Note: If Muller is Fabian's crew chief, they will use German on the radio instead of English.

[Carolina Crew]

After scoring a top 10 in the season opener at San Antonio, Lukas Fabian blew a motor while running in the top 10 at Sayre speedway

On to the 3rd race of the FARC season, which was contested at the ABQ speedbowl.

Lukas Fabian before the race even started seemed to be slightly irked by the spelling of his name on the FARC scoring ticker, after all his last name has no "E" in it.

Anyway, the race started off like how the other two races had this season for Fabian, below average qualifying effort, decent race pace, dodged all the main wrecks, and by midrace found himself in the 10th-15th range.

Fabian even took a page out of the playbook of Alex Vincent, the M-Pire rent a car driver who easily stole the show that day, by using strategy to get as high as 4th at one point.

However, the final few laps of the race are when things got weird...

Lukas Fabian would be lapped by Alex Vincent the lap before a yellow came out, putting himself in position to get a free pass.

For about 20 laps prior, Fabian had been complaining about a headache in the car, and once the yellow came out all hell broke loose under caution, as the field paraded around for many laps trying to sort itself out.  Part of the confusion came from the fact that Fabian shouldn't have waited to pass the pace car as long as he did, stacking up many cars behind him.  To his credit, I am not sure anyone who was a lap down knew what they were doing on that restart.

Then, with little to no warning, on lap 157 of the scheduled 200 laps at ABQ, a rainstorm broke out, causing the race to be called 43 laps early.

This netted Fabian an 11th place finish, but much more notably got M-Pire rent a car driver Alex Vincent a win in a race he was only in at all due to winning the M-Pire rent a car challenge a few days prior.

Lukas Fabian, who only has 7 career FARC starts, looks like a seasoned veteran when put next to Alex Vincent.

Lukas Fabian climbed out of his car in the drizzle, and passed out minutes later.

Had his engine not given out at Sayre, Fabian would likely have 3 straight top 15s to open the season and would probably be being talked about as an under the radar surprise to start the season.

Instead he lays in a hospital bed in New Mexico.  He has regained consciousness, but will stay in the hospital for overnight evaluation.  It looks likely he will be medically cleared to drive for Talladega, but there is no confirmation of that yet.

[Carolina Crew]

Talladega-Lukas Fabian in a violent crash after struggling all day.  Considering he was only cleared to drive a few days before the team and his crew chief Dominic Allen were both very concerned for his safety.  Of course this time Fabian managed to climb out of the car unharmed.

70/77-Lukas Fabian stayed out of trouble all day for a top 15 finish, albeit a lap down.  Still, the effort is commendable.  Fabian was quoted after the race saying "15th?  Damn, I haven't ever done anything like that before.  I am just happy to bring this thing home in one piece and do a little road course racing next week."  Any top 15 with a clean car is worth praise at a track like 70/77.

Nelson Ledges-The good vibes did not last long.  MPJ, someone who has known for being dominant recently at Nelson Ledges was put back deep in the field through pit strategy.  On her way forward, she cleaned out Lukas Fabian and sent him flying into the tire wall.  Fabian was ok after his second vicious hit in 3 races, although climbing out of the car he declined to comment on the wreck.

IRP-The 36 crew seemed to miss the setup this weekend, finishing 26th two laps down and doing nothing worth noting.

Karl's-Fabian qualified in 26th, which wasn't a great sign for a track known for carnage in the midfield.  Despite this the 36 showed more strength than he had all year, managing the strategy as well to come home 13th.  At this point in the season this was Fabian's best career finish in FARC.

Moncton-Fabian was again struggling on a short track.  Despite this, he had kept in on the lead lap for the first third of the race until MPJ, the same driver he had a run in with at Nelson Ledges, spun a lap car into the path of the 36, taking him out of the race.  The Concord Carolina team was one of many upset at FARC's ruiling of all DNF'd cars could not compete in the second race.  However, what was noteworthy was after the race Fabian said on MPJ "I don't care how many wins or championships she is competing for, she isn't getting any favors from me the rest of the season.  I'll side draft that b**** every time.  No wonder she choked the championship away last season if this is how she is driving every week."  Bold words for a rookie who hadn't done much to garner attention.

Road America-The not garnering attention part would change.  Fabian qualified in the top 20, impressive as that has never been his strong suit and in an underpowered team on a track where horsepower is everything the qualifying effort alone would've made it a good weekend.  The lack of horsepower looked to be an issue for a while, as unlike most of the other road courses, Fabian struggled to advance from his starting spot.  Fabian would change that as the laps ran down though, and his newfound speed coupled with the carnage that was the end of this race saw Fabian come home in 5th, and that was earned on speed in the last stint.  Fabian would collect his first top 10 and first top 5 as a result, and he would give the Concord Carolina Team this first ever top 5 in FARC.  The team celebrated as if they had won, which was earned as there were several Master Cup Teams in attendance for the companion weekend.

Lukas Fabian has finished in the top 15 in all but 2 races he has finished this year.  Unfortunately he has 3 DNFs also.  Still, the top 5 should be massive going forward for him and the team.  Still, for a guy with 3 DNFs (none of them being his own doing), not racing in a double points season opener, and in underpowered cars a top 20 points finish (which he is tracking for) is not a bad rookie season at all.  If it wasn't for Ty McDermott taking the series by storm Fabian would be a sleeper ROTY contender.

*The expectation is for Lawrence Allen to attempt the Texas 500 on the ACC side

*Ceej mentioned posting results on the forums and I realized how dead it was in here so maybe a few posts can get us some life back.

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