Fatboyracing

GRUMPY OLD MAN DIVISION
GETTING BIGGER, OLDER AND GRUMPIER

8-20-08: The Super Stock Division has become Mobile International Speedway’s version of the Senior Tour or as some people like to call it the Grumpy Old Man Division. Howard Langham at 41 leads the top 4 of the geriatric set at MIS with fellow Grumpy Old Men James Alonzo, Shannon Jackson and Jimbo Devitt rounding out the top of the points standings. On August 30^th the Super Stocks are getting grumpier, older and bigger with the return of Tommy “Fatboy” Praytor. After taking a 2 and half year hiatus while the Moose drove the Max Force Racing machines Tommy is returning to action on Labor Day weekend. The team spent the last 4 weeks readjusting the interior of the car for Fatboy’s return (Readjusting is a nice way of saying making room for Tommy’s seat that is significantly larger than Thomas’s).

At 47, with a 48^th birthday looming on September 1, Tommy will become the senior member of the Senior Tour. “I looked it up and an over 40 fat guy has won almost every super stock race at MIS the last 2 years, I fit those requirements perfectly,” said Praytor.

Over the years race fans are used to seeing Tommy in his blue and white #28 Alltel racecar. For the first time in his racing career Tommy will not be driving the number 28 but the #6. Tommy will race the paint scheme unchanged from the filming of Final Destination 4. “Stuntman Buddy Joe Hooker drove this car filming the movie and we thought it would be cool for the fans to get a sneak preview of what they will see when the movie comes out next year. Plus I’ve done almost all the stunts he did for the movie during my career, of course I wasn’t trying to do a stunt at the time I did them.”

Labor Day weekend at MIS is huge (with Tommy racing it just got huger), The Moose will be in action with the Fausak Tire Pro-Late Models, Comp Cam Sportsman, the Bob’s Speed Shop Bombers and the Super Stocks plus a fireworks show and an autograph session with Mobile’s All American Cultural Icon, Rick Crawford. “I had several reason for picking Labor Day weekend to return to racing. First, I felt like if the fans knew I was going to race, it would help boost attendance for the Crawford autograph deal. It’s important for us younger guys to help the older racers out if we can. Second, it’s all about fireworks, every time MIS has fireworks I win a race.”

Testing is planned over the next 2 weeks combined with a strict conditioning program consisting of fried chicken, sweet tea and oreos.

TIRES TAKE MOOSE OFF TRACK

Thomas Praytor Mobile 8-9-08: After a month of rain Mobile International speedway was back in action for the 2^nd night of 4 nights of racing in August. Rain shortened Thursday night testing but the team picked up some valuable information in the few laps it was able to make. Off the trailer the Cooper Tires Pontiac was faster Saturday night than ever before and was within a couple of tenths of last weeks fast qualifier. With the pieces of the puzzle appearing to come together the team bolted on a new set of sticker tires for qualifying. New tire normally pick up your speed by a couple of tenths but this set slowed the Moose down over 4 tenths. The tire book showed the tires were the same size but were set at a different tire pressure. The team bolted on the practice set for the heat race and the Moose finished third. The team adjusted the tire pressures on the qualifying set for the feature and the Cooper Tire machine was better but not as fast as when it unloaded and the Moose settled for 11^th in the feature. The team has the next week off whiled the Speedway host the Miller Lite 100 Lap Super Late Model Series.

Thomas: “I’m really disappointed, we unloaded with the best car we’ve had and the qualifying tires really messed us up. I think we learned something with that set of tires that will make us better in the future. Congratulations to DJ (Vanderley) on taking his first win of the season.”

MOOSE TRUCKING OVER WEEKEND

Thomas Praytor Memphis, TN 6-30-08: With a weekend off on the Gulf Coast, the Moose put in some time as a crew member at the truck race at Memphis Motorsports Park. Lending a helping hand with the trucks was the perfect medicine for a driver with no place to race. The Cooper Tire Pontiac is ready for its date with the chassis dyno and then will be made ready for testing at Mobile International Speedway over the weekend.

Thomas: “Every time I get an opportunity to hang out with the truck team I learn so much. We work hard with our race team but these guys are working in areas we aren’t even thinking about. I really appreciate them letting me hang out with them this weekend. We’ve got our car ready to go to the chassis dyno. I’ve seen the dyno work after the NASCAR races but this is the first time one of my cars has been on the dyno. Hopefully everything goes good and we can head to the racetrack.”

FANS MAKE RONALD McDONALD HOUSE FUNDRAISER

Thomas Praytor Mobile, AL 5-31-08: Max Force Racing held its Annual Ronald McDonald House Fundraiser at Mobile International Speedway this past weekend. The event has become a fan favorite and with help from Mobile International Speedway and AIG American General the checks keep getting bigger. At intermission the Moose and his Cooper Tires team made their way into the grand stands to toss out Thomas McMoose t-shirts and sign autographs to help promote fan giving to RMH. We hope this year’s check will but our total contribution to Ronald McDonald House over $10,000.

After spending a couple of week as a stunt driver for the filming of Final Destination 4 at Mobile International Speedway the Moose was ready to get back to some real racing in the Fausak Tire Pro-Late Model division. An over aggressive setup for qualifying relegated the Moose to starting closer to the back of the field than the front in his 3^rd Late Model start. With the drop of the green flag the Moose used the stuntman skills learned over the last 2 weeks dodging wrecks and being wrecked. Before the day was over the Cooper Tires Pontiac was knocked out of the racetrack 4 times. Each time the Moose battled back on the track. Perseverance paid off and a bruised and battered the Moose’s Cooper Tires machine limped home 10th.

Thomas on his day: “The fans were incredible. I think the guys filming the movie had them extra pumped up. I can’t thank Mrs. Ida and AIG enough for helping us raise money for Ronald McDonald House. I wish we had a better showing on the racetrack. I felt like a real rookie out there, I either hit or got hit by just about everybody out there today. My Dad told me I got knocked off the track 4 times, it felt like 40. We’ll be picking grass out of the car all week. My guys never give up a thing and we kept digging and we ended up with a top 10.”

Picture: Thomas signing autographs in the grandstands for Ronald McDonald House night.

COOPER TIRES PRIMARY SPONSOR

FOR SUMMER SIZZLE

Thomas Praytor, Mobile, AL 5-22-08: Findley, Ohio based Cooper Tire & Rubber Company announced today that it will become the primary sponsor for the Moose during filming of Final Destination 4 and Mobile International Speedway’s Summer Sizzle. Since 1926 Cooper Tires vision has been, One Company…one team…one goal, that vision is mirrored at Max Force Racing. Final Destination started filming this week at Mobile International Speedway and will continue until Ronald McDonald House Night (Day) on May 31^st. The Moose will be making tracks in his Cooper Tire Pontiac for the movie and the Speedway’s Summer Sizzle that starts this week and runs for 4 straight weeks of racing. Currently 5^th in the Championship standings at MIS the Moose will only be making his 3^rd start in the Fausak Tire Pro Late Model division when the green flag drops on our annual Ronald McDonald House fundraiser.

Thomas: “I’ve been really lucky to have some great sponsors in my young racing career and adding Cooper Tires to our team is big. The list of racers Cooper Tires has sponsored is like a who’s who of open wheel racing, Juan Pablo Montoya and Mika Hakkinen are bad to the bone. I’m honored to be part of their stock car program. Cooper Tires is an American success story and I hope we can add to it.”

FINAL DESTINATION 4 READY TO START FILMING AT SPEEDWAY

Thomas Praytor, Mobile, AL 5-20-08: Filming for Final Destination 4 is slated to start tomorrow at Mobile International Speedway and will wrap during our annual Ronald McDonald House Fundraiser on May 31^st. Over the last few months our Max Force Race Team has been preparing cars for the movie, some will come back and some will not. You might recognize this car as the Moose’s runner up car from Mobile and Pensacola in 2007. The car received a new body and a new wrap job for the movie and will be driven by a stuntman for the movie. This car will come back but the car we showed you last week will not. Remember the Ronald McDonald House race will start early, 3:00 PM, to accommodate the filming of crowd sequences for the movie.

MOOSE TO DRIVE IN FINAL DESTINATION 4

Thomas Praytor 5-13-08 Mobile, AL: The Moose will be one of the drivers for the racing sequences of Final Destination 4. The 4^th installment of the Final Destination franchise will be filming at Mobile International Speedway starting on May 21^st. The Speedway was chosen by New Line Cinema for the opening sequence of the 4^th chapter of the popular Final Destination movies. With over 300 million in box office receipts, the Final Destination trilogy has been a hit with the under 30 crowd since it’s first premonition. For those not familiar with the movies, each movie starts with a premonition of a disaster and people being saved by the premonition. But you can’t cheat death and death spends the rest of the movie tracking down those who were saved or thought they were. In Final Destination 4 the premonition starts the movie at a racetrack. An open casting call for extras is being held at the Civic Center this Saturday from 11-2.

Filming will culminate on May 31^st during our annual Ronald McDonald House Fund Raiser. The race time has been moved from 8:00 PM to 3:00 PM to accommodate the film crew. The Speedway has created a special limited edition ticket for the 31^st and they are on pre-sale now at McConnell Automotive, Fausak Tires, Bob’s Speed Shop and Praytor’s Collectibles. In addition to the Moose driving in the movie Max Force Racing has been preparing cars for the movie. A car owned jointly with Rick Crawford was delivered a few weeks ago and the car pictured above will be picked up this week. We will deliver another car next week.

Thomas: “This is a really cool deal. I met one of the directors and the stunt coordinator a couple of weeks ago. Mr. Jeff (Danshaw, stunt coordinator) was really nice, he was Steven Segal’s stunt double in Under Siege. I tried to tell him the stunts he wants to do I’ve done without really trying. It’s going to be an awesome way to start the Summer.”

MOOSE TO HONOR LITTLE MAN

As the 2008 racing season is set to get underway our Max Force Racing team will run special stickers in memory of Charles “Little Man” Bazzel. Little Man was one of Mobile International Speedway most popular drivers and was killed earlier this year in a truck accident. Both Tommy and Thomas have raced against Little Man and our G-Force Pontiacs will carry a 26 sticker in his memory.

Story from www.mobilespeedway.net Little Man Big Heart -- Feb 13 2008

Earlier this week, Mobile International Speedway unexpectedly lost one of it’s own, "Little Man" Bazzel. Over the last decade Little Man raced his way into our hearts and became an MIS favorite in the pits and the grand stands. Little Man was known for a warm generous heart that he would truly give you the shirt off his back or the car off his trailer if you needed it.

The Moose starts the 2008 season this weekend with a double-header. Tonight in Pensacola with the G-Force Racing Super Stock and Saturday night the Moose will make his first Late Model start in his G-Force Pontiac in the 95 KSJ 95 at Mobile International Speedway.

SAINTS WIN TITLE!

St. Paul Saints win first Alabama Football championship in dramatic fashion. Coming in to the weekend, St. Paul’s trophy cases were lined with over 130 state titles. 130 state titles but none in football. With a dramatic 14-13 win over Briarwood Friday night at Legion Field in Birmingham, the Saints filled the hole in their trophy case that has been empty for 33 seasons.

The Saints opened a 14-0 half time lead and looked liked they were cruising to the title. Their opponent, Briarwood, didn’t get to the title game and build a 14-0 record by rolling over. Briarwood’s quarterback and Auburn signee, Barrett Trotter opened the 2^nd half with a touchdown and served notice they were ready to rumble. After the opening drive, the Saints defense got tough and would not allow another score. With less than 2 minutes to go in the game, the Saints dropped back to punt. The kick was blocked and gave Briarwood the ball deep in Saints territory. Once again the defense would come up big with an interception. The Saints would run the clock down to 16 seconds but would have to punt. Briarwood again blocked the punt and this time ran it in for the score with less than 10 seconds to go and draw within the extra point to tying the game. Once again the Saints defense came to the rescue when Josh Lancaster busted through the line to deflect the kick and preserve the Saints win.

Thomas: “It really hasn’t sunken in yet. This is big! Big for our team, big for our school. My Dad played on those first St. Paul’s teams and he says back then they weren’t 5-A, that weren’t even good enough to be any A. I’m not sure about that but I do know we have several Dads that played for St Paul’s and this win meant as much to them as it does to us. I can’t thank Coach Bates and my teammates enough for letting me ride with them to the title.”

Pictures: (LEFT) Saints at Legion Field after winning the Alabama 5A Championship. (RIGHT) Thomas and Saints head coach Mike Bates with the trophy. More Moose Click Here

Tommy Praytor 11-24-07 Pensacola Test: With move in less than 5 days away, Tommy turned his only laps of the year at Five Flags Speedway in preparation for the 40^th Annual Snowball Derby. After earning it’s stripes at Mobile International Speedway the week before, the Max Force Racing Pontiac had it’s game face on for the test at Pensacola. Because the Moose ran the Ronald McDonald House hood this season Tommy picked the RMH graphics for his test at Pensacola. If the paint scheme looks familiar on the car it’s because Tommy will only race it at Pensacola and then a much smaller seat will be installed for the Moose. While the car looked sharp the driver did not. A year between starts showed on the rugged racing surface and a test that was scheduled for a few hours went over 7 hours.

Tommy on testing: “The guys worked really hard and we have the basis of a good car but after our test on Saturday we’re a long way away from making the field. Two tenths of a second will mean the difference between being in the field and out and we’re just not that close yet. We’ll keep working and we might have a little something for them by Saturday.” For More Tommy Recaps

MOOSE COLLECTS SOME HARDWARE

Thomas Praytor Mobile, Alabama 11-10-07: Mobile International Speedway wrapped up it’s 2007 season with it’s annual awards banquet on Saturday night. After taking Rookie of the Year honors in the Fausak Tires Super Stock division in 2006 the Moose finished second in the 2007 Championship to multi time champion Howard Langham. The Moose and his G-Force Racing Gear race team put together what would normally have been a championship season with an average finish of 2.6 over the 2007 campaign. While the Moose was putting up Championship caliber numbers, 2007 Champion Howard Langham had an incredible season winning every feature event. Next on tap for the Moose is testing for the 40^th Annual Snowball Derby at Pensacola’s Five Flags Speedway.

Thomas: “Congratulations to Mr. Howard (Langham), we chased him all year but just couldn’t quite catch him. I want to thank all of our sponsors, especially G-Force for coming on board this year as our primary sponsor. I also want to thank Mrs. Ida (Fields owner MIS) for giving us a place to race. All of the guys who helped us with the car I couldn’t race without you, thanks.”

Picture: Thomas receiving second place points fund check and trophy from Christian Fausak of Fausak tires and Service.

MOOSE SETS NEW FUND RAISING RECORD
FOR AIG AMERICAN GENERAL
RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE NIGHT

Thomas Praytor 10-13-07 Mobile: The G-Force Racing Gear logo’s were replaced this weekend for our annual fundraiser for Ronald McDonald House at Mobile International Speedway. The formula for the fund raiser goes like this, we take what we win on the track, then Ida Fields at the Speedway matches that, then we take donations from fans and then all of that is matched by AIG American General. The Moose came into the final night of racing at MIS second in the Championship points standings sandwiched between 2 former track champions with little possibility to move up or down. A perfect spot to let it all hang out for RMH. A Thursday test and a couple rounds of practice on Saturday and the Moose was locked and loaded for the feature. The dice roll to set the starting line up would once again be unkind to the Moose and put him starting outside the front row next to the point’s leader Howard Langham. The problem with starting outside the front row is everyone else gets to get down to the preferred groove while your left hanging like a worm on a hook on the outside. With the drop of the green flag that’s exactly what happened, the Moose fought the outside lane and raced side by side with the inside line as he slowly fell back. The Moose finally horned his way in line in 4^th position and started marching back to the front. One by one he picked them off working his way back to 2^nd and trying to real in Langham. Langham has had an amazing year going undefeated it the Super Stock division in 2007. The race was slowed several times and the Moose was able to hold onto 2^nd until the final restart with 5 to go when Jeremy Dickens got under the Moose and Moose found himself on the outside lane again. The pair raced side by side until the Moose lost the spot and settled in for 3^rd. The finish capped a solid year for the 2006 MIS Rookie of the Year with the Moose finishing 2^nd or 3rd in every feature race in 2007. A record that would normally be enough to take the title but would put him second in the Championship points standings in 2007. The night was a record setting night for our RMH fundraiser and with money still coming in we know it will get even better. For those who have not had a chance yet we’re still taking donations to keep adding to the pot.

Thomas on his night: “We had a great car and I really thought we might have a shot at Mr. Howard but we just couldn’t catch him. I’m not real happy about giving up that spot on the last restart but I think my Dad is twice as unhappy as I am. The fans really turned out for our Ronald McDonald House fundraiser. This was my first year to run the paint scheme and it was really cool. The fans are awesome and I’m pumped up about setting a new record for the money we give to Ronald McDonald House.” More Moose Click Here

The Navy Drafts the Moose for Memorial Day Weekend

For Immediate Release: To honor our veteran’s on Memorial Day weekend, Thomas Praytor, better known to racing fans as the Moose, will run a special hood featuring the National Museum of Naval Aviation at Pensacola’s Five Flags Speedway this Friday.

The Museum, located on Pensacola Naval Air Station, offers hands-on naval aviation history with over 150 beautifully restored aircraft representing Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard Aviation.

The Moose’s primary sponsor, G-Force Racing Gear, has agreed to take a back seat to the Museum for the weekend and has supplied the Pensacola Championship point’s leader with a special fire suit for the race. The Moose will run the scheme Friday night at Pensacola’s Five Flags Speedway.

“The Museum is an awesome place and running their logo on Memorial Day weekend is a privilege. We’re having a good year at Five Flags and I hope we can have another good finish for the Museum this weekend,” said the Moose when asked about why this race is so important.

While the Moose provides the on-track thrills, the thrill of flight can be experienced everyday with nearly 300,000 square feet of excitement at the National Museum of Naval Aviation. With multiple Flight Simulators, the drama and power of IMAX films, the authentic Cubi Bar Café and the memories available to take home from the Flight Deck store, there is more to experience at the museum than one day allows.

With the 2006 regular season in the records books it was time for the Moose to collect a little hardware for his rookie season at Mobile International Speedway. The night started with a check and trophy from Chris Fausak (picture above) for finishing 4^th in the overall point’s standings. Chris and his family owned Fausak Tires sponsors the Super Stock class at MIS, along with our Max Force Race teams and our radio show, Fausak Tires Inside Alabama Racing. The Moose would then pick up the trophy and a check for being the Rookie of the Year along with a ROY jacket from MIS and a ROY jacket from Hoosier Tires. Thanks to everyone that made it happen. With a successful rookie season on his resume the Moose has been prepping for the 39^th Annual Snowball Derby. Two test sessions have produced positive results and we’ll turn the Moose loose on December 1^st at Pensacola’s Five Flags Speedway. For More Moose Click Here

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11-10-06 Paula and her crew at Grand Opening of new retail store for Wireless Freedom.

Alltel show car at the Alltel store in Foley for customer appreciation day.

Alltel Appearance Kicks Off Busy Racing Weekend

The track was closed last week but our race team has been busy. Last Friday our Alltel show car was on the set with the NBC 15 Morning Show for their final block party. The morning crew. Jim, Sandra and Scott broadcast part of the show from inside the car.

On Sunday afternoon, Tommy took a turn as guest analyst for RPM Today in San Diego. RPM Today is hosted on the ESPN affiliate in San Diego and is the number 1 racing show in the San Diego market.

Thre unveiling of the new show car at Praytor's Collectibles with Tony Stewart's Championship car and Rusty Wallace's Last Call car. 4-17-06

With opening night at Mobile International Speedway less than 1 week away, the renovation of our hauler is complete. After years of service our hauler had started to look a little rough around the edges. Plus we needed to update the graphics with the new Alltel logo. With graphics supplied by moosesigns.com we "wrapped" the hauler instead of painting it. The vinyl "wrap" is being used in NASCAR to produce some of the wild paint schemes on cars and haulers. The hauler was our first attempt at the wrap and we're looking for new ways to apply that technology to our race team. Unfortunately, the process is too expensive to use on our race cars.