MOOSE OVERCOMES ADVERSITY

FOR LEE FIELD’S TOP 10

Thomas Praytor, Mobile, AL 10-11-08: Coming off of a successful test on Thursday night and a new sponsor, Golden Flake, on the hood the Moose had his A game ready for Saturday night’s Lee Fields Memorial 100. Off the trailer the Max Force team struggled to find the handle on the Golden Flake Pontiac. The team threw everything they had at it but the kitchen sink and the hard work paid dividends in qualifying. In his rookie season the Moose’s best qualifying effort was an 18.259 second lap. Saturday night the Moose shaved almost 3 tenths of a second down to 18.002 and a 9^th place starting position. .25 seconds is faster than you can blink an eye but in short track racing it was big and the perfect way to start the final race of the 2008 season at Mobile. Before the start of the race the Moose and a contingent of Golden Flake employees handed out hundreds of bags of Golden Flake chips to the crowd. (Rick Griffin and Chris Crosby are pictured preparing for the rush of fans at intermission.)

With the drop of the green flag of the Lee Fields Memorial 100 the Moose was on the move. In the opening laps, the Golden Flake machine had powered from 9^th to 7^th putting 3 car lengths on the 8^th place car. On lap 4 the 2 cars in front of the Moose got together and started spinning, the Moose checked up and looked like he had the wrecked cleared when he was body slammed from behind. The hit shoved the Moose into the 2 wrecking cars and the 4 cars collectively went over the racetrack and off of turn 3. The Moose made his way back on to the track but a shot at a good finish was gone. The nose was crushed and the left rear had taken a significant impact with the nosepiece of the car that had piled into the Moose stuck inside of the Moose’s car. Several quick cautions played into the teams hands as repairs were made to the Golden Flake machine keeping it on the lead lap. Back on track, the car was a mess with tape holding on enough body parts to keep from getting blacked flagged. Under speed the car was worse than it looked, the left rear spring had been shoved into the rear end housing making the car bounce as it when into the turns. To add to the mess the motor was over heating because the air box had been crushed. Another caution with an extended red flag gave the team the time it needed to remove the hood and enough of the air box to allow precious cool air to the motor. Air was critical; overheating would have ended the night. All of this and the 100-lap race had completed less than 20 laps. Fingers crossed the team sent the Moose back on track with very little hope of finishing the Moose’s first Lee Fields Memorial. Back under green the Moose had his hands full. There was no travel in the rear end and the car bunny hopped into every corner, pushed hard in the center of the corner and was snapping loose off the corners. The race took on a green flag look and for the next 60 laps the Moose was working over time with an ill handling racecar. The Golden Flake machine finally got away from the Moose on lap 90 sending him to the top of the track bringing out a caution. In desperate need of a bag of Golden Flake NRG Overload energy chips the Moose only had 10 laps left. With 5 to go a car that was a lap down to the Moose turned him around bringing out the final caution of the night. Somehow the Golden Flake machine survived again and the Moose made the final 5 laps to the finish. All the tape, all the work paid off with the Moose earning an improbable 10^th place finish. Next up on the schedule, testing for the 41^st Annual Snowball Derby at Pensacola’s Five Flags Speedway.

Thomas on his night: “First, I need to thank everybody. All the guys worked their butt’s off to give me a great car, it’s the best I’ve ever had. Then everybody pitched in to keep us in the race, I think I even saw Mr. Chris (Crosby from Golden Flake) with some tape in his hand. If you had told me we were going to finish, much less finish 10^th, when I was sitting at the bottom of the hill off the racetrack on lap 4, I would have said you were crazy. Ours guys don’t know how to give up. I appreciate Golden Flake being on the car this weekend and at the track with us Saturday night. We had a great time with the NRG Overload chip give away!”

MOOSE READY TO MUNCH AT MIS FINALE

Thomas Praytor Mobile, AL 10-9-08: The Moose put the finishing touches on his Golden Flake Pontiac Thursday night at Mobile International Speedway. The US Army Rookie of the Year contender in the Fausak tire Pro-Late Model Division has been trying new setups all year and Thursday night’s 4 hour practice session was more of the same. As with most test, some thing worked and some didn’t but overall the Golden Flake machine was crisp if not just down right crunchy. Saturday night is the season finale at MIS with the Lee Fields Memorial 100 taking center stage at the high bank oval. To help celebrate Lee Fields legacy, our sponsor, Golden Flake, will give away over 500 bags of its newenergy chip, NRG Overload, at intermission.

Thomas “We had a really good test on Thursday night. We’ve been working hard on getting the timing down on our bump stops and we learned a lot. I’ve been struggling all year with the new class and some of the pieces of the puzzle are coming together for me. I wish we had 2 more months of racing. I appreciate Golden Flake coming on board this weekend and helping us give back to our great fans at Mobile.”

GREAT PAIR GOLDEN FLAKE AND THE MOOSE

Birmingham based Golden Flake Snack Foods will be the primary sponsor for Thomas “Moose” Praytor during the 2008 Lee Fields Memorial at Mobile International Speedway on October 11^th. In addition to carrying the Golden Flake colors for the MIS season finale, the Moose and Golden Flake employees will distribute 500 bags of Golden Flake’s new energy chip NRG Overload during intermission. “To be sponsored by the official chip of Talladega Superspeedway is awesome!” said the Moose. “When you look at the people who are sponsored by Golden Flake; Alabama, Auburn, the SEC and the Sunbelt Conference (Moose is a USA freshman) to be in that group is really special. I’m looking forward to Saturday night.” After a huge weekend at NASCAR’s biggest track, Talladega Superspeedway, Golden Flake heads to the fastest half mile in Alabama, Mobile International Speedway. “Our new energy chip, NRG Overload, is a big hit with the college crowd and the opportunity to team up with the Moose was too good to pass up,” said Chris Crosby, Sales Manager for Golden Flake. “Thomas and his race team exemplify the high standards we expect from the teams we work with. Golden Flake and the Moose, a great pair!”

The Lee Fields Memorial 100 is slated for Saturday night at Mobile International speedway at 8:00 PM. Coming in to the final weekend of racing at MIS the Moose is leading the US Army Rookie of the Year standings and sits 7^th in the Fausak Tire Championship points standings just outside of the top 5. A good night could move the Moose into the top 5 in the Championship point’s standings.

Golden Flake Snack Foods is a wholly owned subsidiary of Golden Enterprises, Inc. The Birmingham, Alabama based company was founded in 1923 and is publicly traded on the NASDAQ exchange, symbol GLDC. Golden Flake is a leading snack food supplier in the Southeast and is the official chip of Talladega Superspeedway, Auburn University, University of Alabama, SEC, Sunbelt Conference and the Rick and Bubba Show. For more on Golden Flake www.goldenflake.com.

MOOSE STARTS COUNTDOWN
TO LEE FIELDS AT TALLADEGA

Thomas Praytor, Talladega, AL 10-5-08: With a little over a week until the final race of the 2008 season at Mobile International Speedway, the Moose was tuning up at Talladega. For the first time in 8 years the Moose sat behind the wheel of a dirt cart at the Talladega Short Track. The Moose helped dial in Gator Nations, Gene “Gator” Morris’s cart for the feature. Friday and Saturday the Moose lent a helping hand in the truck garage while taking in a dose of the Talladega infield on Friday night. The Moose missed Sunday’s race to return to the Max Force Racing shop to prepare for the Lee Fields Memorial 100 on Saturday night.

Thomas: “Of course Talladega was great but I would really like another shot at that cart. I appreciate Gator letting me take his baby for a ride. We tested last week and have another one scheduled this week for the Lee Fields Memorial. Everyone tells me we’ve had a good rookie season in the late models but I sure would like to end up in the top 5 in points.”

Stories coming for 8-30 (Turned) & 9-13 (Tight)

MOOSE RESTED TESTED READY

Thomas Praytor 8-29-08: After taking a couple of weeks off while the Miller Lite Super Late Models spent a soggy afternoon at Mobile International Speedway, the US Army Rookie of the Year candidate is ready to get back in action. Along with his duties around the shop the Moose is completing his second week of classes as a University of South Alabama freshman. “We made some more changes to our G-Force Pontiac and tested earlier in the week. The car keeps getting better and I’m ready to race. Actually I’m ready to do anything other than school.” The Moose is currently 6^th in the point’s standings, 13 points out of 4^th and leads the Rookie of the Year standings in the Fausak Tire Pro-Late Model division. Including Saturday nights Labor Spectacular with fireworks and NASCAR’s Rick Crawford there are just 4 races left on the MIS calendar.

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.”

ROOKIE SLIP COST MOOSE TOP 5

Thomas Praytor Mobile 8-2-08: After weeks of rain and testing the Moose was ready to get down to business on Saturday night. With a solid Cooper Tires Pontiac off the trailer the US Army Rookie of the year candidate qualified almost 4 tenths of a second faster than his last outing at MIS. The qualifying effort put Thomas 8^th and looking forward to racing for the first time in a month. With the drop of the green flag the Moose was on the move and quickly moved up into the top 5 and looking for more. A tight racecar had the Moose chasing the backend of the car off the corners. After moving into 5^th the right side tires slipped off the racing surface on the back stretch opening the door for the next 4 cars in line. After the slide off the back the Cooper Tire machine wasn’t the same and the Moose settled for 9^th. Another solid performance has the Moose 4^th in the Fausak Tire Pro-Late Model Championship standings with only 18 points separating 4^th-9^th.

Thomas: “We had our best car yet at the track. I got too aggressive on the gas coming off of turn 2 and drove the right side wheels in the grass. I saved the car and I thought I was going to be able to keep everybody behind me but it didn’t work out. It was a nice points night but I left a few on the table. I’m looking forward to racing again this weekend.”

Picture: Thomas’s sign company Moosesigns.com sponsored the first annual Bomber Bash on Saturday night. Picture is Thomas and Bomber Bash winner Brandon Tipton in victory lane.

MOOSE WAY PAST READY

Thomas Praytor Mobile 7-31-08: After weeks of being rained out the Moose and his Max Force Race team have gotten very good at loading and unloading their Cooper Tire Pontiac. Between testing and trips to the track for races that have been rained the team has loaded and unloaded over a dozen times in the last month without turning a competitive lap. While the racing action has been quiet the team has turned hundreds of laps testing. Last night the team loaded the Cooper Tire machine for Thursday night test and tune with rain falling at the shop and the racetrack. It looked like it was going to be another load and unload operation but with an all out effort by the MIS safety crew the track was dried and testing was on. The Moose and his revamped Cooper Tire Pontiac put in another solid test and the team is ready for Saturday night.

Thomas: “Our car is better than it has ever been. We still have a little ways to go to catch guys like Steven Davis but we’re gaining on it. Speaking of Steven, congratulations to him and Brook on their baby girl Tinsley. I’m really proud of how far we’ve come with our car. I think over the last month we’ve borrowed ideas and gotten help from just about everybody here in Mobile all the way to North Carolina. I can’t thank everybody enough. We’re never going to give up a thing until we get up front.”

Picture: After a solid month of rain the Moose spends more time looking skyward than at the racetrack.

RAIN WINS FOR RECORD 4^TH TIME

Thomas Praytor Mobile 7-26-08: After another disappointing practice on Thursday night at Mobile International Speedway, the team held a rare Friday test at the Speedway. Testing on Friday before a Saturday race is a huge gamble, any kind of problem and you don’t race on Saturday. A late night at the track on Thursday, pointed the team in the right direction to make the Cooper Tire machine better. It took the team all day to make the changes and hurry back to the track for a test. Off the trailer, the Cooper Tires Pontiac was finally showing signs of life. The Moose felt a pulse for the first time in weeks and hit the gas. After struggling for most of the month of July the Cooper Tire machine was finally faster than when the month started. With an improved car the Moose was ready to race but Mother Nature had other plans, a record 4^th rainout in a row. The Speedway has rescheduled for this Saturday night and will now be racing for 4 weeks in August.

Thomas: “I would like to complain about getting rained out but I’m just happy we’re going in the right direction with the car. The last few weeks have been tough; nothing we’ve done has worked. Some days we’ve even got slower but we’ll never give up a thing.”