John Pate

June 10, 2008 - John travelled to Pontoon Beach, Illinois to race with the World of  Outlaws last night and qualified for the A-feature with a 5th place finish in his heat race.  This is the first A-feature start with the World of  Outlaws for both Sparky and Doc Sloan's team.  Doc was busy all weekend with his daughter's dance competition but made it to the track for the push off of the A Main.   Doc and Sparky were plum excited about the milestone.  Jim Brown came in from Pasadena, Texas to help John for the weekend and Sparky sends thanks to him for his time and support.

John will race again with the World of Outlaws this Wednesday at Sedalia.  Word has it that he will have his T-shirts so you can start ordering.  Check the Photo Gallery page for a picture of the shirts.  Send orders to kimberly@racegearx.com and she will get them out to you.  They are $8 each.

June 3, 2008 -  Sparky had a great weekend of racing at Benton, Farmington and Quincy.  The highlight was definitely the Midwest All Stars Series event at Quincy on Sunday night.  Pate qualified the Doc Sloan A12 J&J in the 16th spot and won his heat race by a straightaway.  He started 18th in the A feature and blasted his way to 4th over the 30 laps behind Jerrod Hull, Danny Smith and Brian Brown.  He had the setup nailed with help and support from DJ Lindsey and Brian Bloomfield.  Sparky gassed her up and started picking off cars from the drop of the green flag.  He now sits 6th in the MASS points and 2nd in the Rookie of the Year chase behind Kody Kinser.

With Lawrenceburg postponing their opening this weekend John will race at Benton on Friday night and Farmington on Saturday night.  Then it is off to Pontoon Beach TriCity Raceway on Sunday night to race with the World of Outlaws.  Plans are to make it to the mid week World of Outlaws race at Sedalia on Wednesday night next week.


May 12, 2008 - Racing plans for this past weekend changed several times due to weather -- Doc and John ended up at Benton on Friday night and weather did not interfere.  John surrendered a healthy lead in his heat race due to an electrical problem that killed the motor.  This put his J&J A12 starting dead last  in the A-main field of 18 cars.  John setup the car for the top and made it work from the green flag and and lap after lap of the feature event.  When the checkered flag flew he had worked his way to a 4th place finish.  John said "this really helps my confidence factor and I am looking forward to getting some seat time with the WoO in Paducah Saturday night."  Well it was not to be as the Paducah show was halted due to rain in the middle of heat races.
The Doc Sloan team plans to race at Benton again this Friday night and St. Francois Speedway in Farmington on Saturday.

April 28,2008 - Saturday night was race night -- John finally got behind the wheel again and Race #2 of the season is history.  John won his heat race and finished 5th in the dash to garner a 5th place starting position for the A-main.  His A12 J&J was in top form and it was decision time for setup and tire selection for an unpredictable track.  John made his choices and was okay for a few laps.  He fell back to 8th battling a too tight setup and was able to maintain it for most of the race but finished in the 10th spot.  John said "sometimes you just miss on figuring what the track will do and then the car is not going to do what you want.  We made some good laps tonight and are looking forward to a two-night race weekend coming up."  John will race at Benton, Missouri on Friday night and Farmington on Saturday night.  The team is staying close to home - Doc's daughter Kamryn will race her first go-kart  race of the season on Sunday at Peveley, Missouri.  John will be there to help Doc in the pits.

April 20,2008 -- No racing for John this weekend -- will try again at St. Francois Speedway in Farmington again on April 26.

April 11, 2008 -- John's first outing with MASS was a tremendous success even though a stuck throttle cable cut his run in the A-main short.  John headed to the pits around the halfway mark of the 30-lap event with a stuck throttle cable.  John said "after almost junkin' her out a couple of times" he would rather load it up in one piece.  The track was very rough almost all the way around and several cars were bit by it.  John qualified the A12 J&J in the 11th spot in the 24 car field which included veteran WoO driver Danny Smith.  He started the A-Main in the 8th spot and had worked his way to 5th when the throttle started hanging up.  John commented that the car felt good and the 410 motor was strong its first time out. 
John is looking forward to the season and said "Thank you Doc for the opportunity to race for a strong team and thank you Rod and Todd for all your work on the motor, at the shop, and at the track.  It's great to get the first night behind us." 
John will race at Farmington this coming Saturday night.