LATEST NEWS
REBUILD - TEST - RACE
ROCHESTER, WA (March 28) – A familiar western Canadian based race team was making laps south of the border the final week of March. Darrell Midgley and Team NPP were test and tuning the #81 Dodge at South Sound Speedway in Rochester, Washington. A two-day test was originally scheduled on March 24th and 25th. “We were supposed to be on the track Monday. Unfortunately it rained.” A single-day test was held on Tuesday, March 24th. “It was very encouraging,” admits Midgley of the shortened test session, “to me it’s probably the best the car has been since we’ve owned it.”
The Northern Provincial Pipelines #81 Dodge was stripped down to its bare chassis and completely rebuilt over the winter months. “We put a lot of sweat equity into this car. It was stripped to nothing and powder coated. We put some more bars into it. Stiffened it up a bit. There are a lot of new parts on this car now.”
In just a few short laps of testing, Midgley immediately noticed a difference in the #81 Dodge. “It felt so comfortable right from the get go”. Along with being more responsive, the car was also faster. “We were faster than when we were here (at South Sound Speedway) last August.” Midgley finished 7th at the WeCanHelp.org 200 Super Late Model race.
Because of the race car rebuild, the Sidney, British Columbia driver was noticeably absent from Tucson Speedway’s Turkey Shoot and Chilly Willy Super Late Model events in Arizona. “It’s been a tradition for us (to attend). We missed it. I’m just tired of running so crappy. I didn’t want to go there just for the sake of going there. Hopefully we are on the right track with the rebuild.” Midgley intends to compete at Tucson Speedway this fall and winter. He also will be returning to Rochester, Washington. “We are coming back to South Sound Speedway to race May 10th.
