Nelms Wins Goblin 250 at Rockford
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Josh Nelms and his
special ride-a-long winner celebrate pose in victory lane after winning the Goblin 250 at Rockford.  (Photo by Jim Ambruoso) By: Kevin Ramsell Sunday, October 21, 2007 (Loves Park, IL) – 2006 Rockford Speedway Late Model Rookie of the Year, Josh Nelms, won the Goblin 250 enduro at the Rockford Speedway. A total of 127 cars took the green flag for the annual season ending event at the Speedway, which concluded its 60th anniversary season of racing. The first segment started with Jerry Roach in the lead. The first red flag came at lap 14 when Tyler Coffield lost his helmet after getting spun on the front stretch. At lap 25, Joseph Rasmussen was shown as the leader with Roach in second. But 25 laps later, it was Roger Markham up front with Dale Markham in second and Josh Nelms in third. After the 50 lap mark, the red flagged waved once again as John Starai rolled over his station wagon on the front stretch. He was able to walk away. Roger Markham continued to lead at the 75 lap mark. The red flew lap 82 when Michael Brancecum, Jr. hit the turn four wall head on. He was able to walk away. On lap 88, Roger Markham slowed going down the backstretch, handing the lead over to Dale Markham. Dale Markham pulled into the pits on lap 95 handing the lead over to Roger Schultz. At the 100 lap mark, it was Schultz in the lead with Josh Nelms in second and Jim Klingel in third. T.J Markham was fourth and Carolyn Johnson in fifth. At the halfway mark it was Schultz, the 2006 Rockford Speedway Hornet champion, in the lead with Nelms in second. Schultz paced the field throughout the second half as the field ran the “Monza” course where they enter the infield off of turn two and re-enter the track on turn three. With 75 laps to go, Schultz had almost a half a lap lead over Nelms as the two worked their way around lap traffic. Schultz pulled into the pits on lap 193 handing the lead over to Nelms. Nelms continued to hold onto the lead with 50 laps to go with Mark Johler in second. Schultz fell back to third. Nelms continued to pace the field with 25 laps to go with Johler still in second. The final 25 laps was an easy drive for Nelms as he would go on to win the Goblin 250. Second went to Johler and Mike Jucius was third. “I just kept watching the lap counter on the scoreboard and made sure I kept the fenders and tires on the car,” an excited Nelms in victory lane. |
Oct 24th 2007
| Oct. 1st- Josh took his late model back to his 2006 home track Rockford Speedway for the 42nd annual Short Track National Championships. The car was entered in the open Super Late Model event for the weekend. On Friday, Josh and his Dad Mike arrived to practice. On the first lap of practice Josh encountered engine trouble and pulled off. The issue was a broken poly lock which damaged two pushrods. Practice was pretty much done. Josh decided to start fixing the problem which required pulling the intake manifold. After a few hours and Dad running around town for parts, thanks DAD, we had the car back together and running to make the final practice. With no issues we loaded up and waited for Saturday. The car was handling great but Josh felt the engine was underpowered. After qualifying 21st out of 25, the team went back to readjust the valves and found many valves that were to tight and loosened them up. After running the last chance race Josh said the engine power was great. On Sunday for the 200 lapper Josh was started 11th row outside. At the start Josh patiently worked his way up to the top 15 and around lap 60 the car developed and ignition problem and shut off. Unable to get off the track, Josh waited in the infield till the halfway break. Once the car was pushed in and the team started to work on the car and changed the coil and the car roared back to life. Josh restarted in the back and was multiple laps down. Josh began to pass many cars and was passing lead lap cars when a caution flew and the car shut off once again. This ended the day for the KJ Motorsports team with a 21st place finish. |
Oct 24th 2007
A DREAM DAY
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BY Josh Nelms It was a Thursday morning and I was working on my car to get ready for the Bettenhausen at Illiana when the phone rang. I missed the call. I looked at my phone and didn't recognize the number so I listened to the voice mail and it was Tom Kmak from TK Racing. He had asked if I would drive a second car for him at the Bettenhausen which his salon Lisa Thomas Salons was sponsoring. Well of course I would getting drive for the premiere short track team in the Midwest. So later that evening I went to there shop and we went over there car and expectations. The brought me in like I was a part of team for years. All the guys were great to work with. With a practice day the next night I was given a chance to run the car and get familiar with everything. Oh did I forget to mention Eddie Hoffman, probably the best Midwest Short Tracker with numerous wins at multiple tracks across th U.S. was my teammate. On Friday, Eddie proved to be a big help to me and actually got me quicker in practice then him. That night I couldn't sleep nor could the rest of the crew. This was the best car I had a chance to win with. On Saturday the track opened early and the more practice. With some more adjustments I was not happy with the car and called for some drastic changes. Those proved to be the right call as I was again quick on the practice charts. As for qualifying the team really didn't know how the car the was going to go. I rolled out and his first lap was a 19.77 which was just a tick slower then the fast time to that point. My second lap gave me fast time with a 19.71, until Mr. Hoffman went out and I wound up being 3rd quick. Now a little insight to Hoffman is he is not like by the crowd cause he wins. During driver intros he was booed and I laughed at him and he said wait till your turn, He was right I was shocked but didn't let it bother me, I got booed too. We we starting pretty deep in the field 7th and 8th row outside. The goal was to just ride for a bit and pick up spots. As the green dropped we stayed high and starting picking up spots quickly. A caution flew at lap 4 and were 9th and 10th. We could switch channels on the radio and I told Eddie I was going to stay high. He said we were working good up there together so as we went green I went back up top and Eddie followed. I got hung behind the 3 car on the bottom and Eddie went high so moved back up top and followed. By the next caution were second and third. We went to work on the leader and found ourselves first and second for the next 30 laps. At one point I actually was faster then Eddie and tried to pass him high when I was told on the radio to wait till we could stretch it out a little bit and then I could work on him later. I wish it would have worked that way. The car started and getting tight and I found myself battling to hold onto second. I slipped to third and eventually fourth. I fought the tight car to bring it home 4th and Eddie won the race. Overall it was a dream day. I wish we could have run first and second but just to have the chance to run one of there cars was great. |
