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Fri April 18, 2008

Alterations lead to strong start for Timms

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By Ray Martin
Staff Writer
Second place in the points standings wasn't good enough for Randy Timms.



He wanted to get over the hump.

‘We beat a lot of good racers last year, and we did it consistently, but we didn't get a lot of wins that we felt like we should have.”

So the Oklahoma City racecar driver went back to the drawing board in the offseason, and as a result, Timms is off to the best start in his 10-year career.

Timms races on the United States Modified Touring Series, and won the Pro Cuts Texas World Dirt Track Championship at Texas Motor Speedway on March 1. He was the first Oklahoman to win the event, which included a field of 125 cars.

"We call it the modified chili bowl,” Timms said. "It's a race everyone wants to win, and being from Oklahoma, you really want to win because it is at Texas Motor Speedway.”

Timms won at Tri-state Speedway in Pocola on March 15, and finished second on back-to-back nights at a national event in West Siloam.

And the USMTS circuit hasn't even started.

The success so far, Timms said, is a result of modifications made to his open-wheel modified car this winter. Experiments that, thus far, have worked better than expected.

"Racing kind of evolves, and if you don't keep working on it, you get left behind,” Timms said. "A mediocre driver can win with a great car, but a great driver can't win with a mediocre car.”

Timms credits a large part of his success to Jeff Jackson, who works full time for RandyTimms Racing. Timms owns a trucking company, and often works 60-70 hours a week. While he is away, Jackson takes care of the car.

"I just drive it,” Timms said. "He is a bigger part than I am.”

Jackson won't reveal the specifics of what was changed on Timms' car, but said a lot of factors go into their success.

"It is nothing the average person would recognize we did,” Jackson said. "It has to do with the suspension, which we made better.”

Jackson said both he and Timms have improved in their respective roles.

"Randy matures as a driver every year,” Jackson said. "We are a really good team. We work together really well, and it is starting to show.”

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