March 23, 2003 - MGM Motorsports did not have the weekend that we had expected.  Unfortunately, we were unable to qualify for the Jani-King 200 at USA International Speedway in Lakeland, FL.

The weekend started out Thursday with an inspection day.  We were able to go through with only minor adjustments to the car.  The entire team worked very hard to be sure we were ready for practice on Friday.

Friday Jeremy was able to get his first practice laps in the car after an almost three hour rain delay.  Shortly into practice the car lost traction and scraped the wall with the left rear quarter panel.  Although it was a minor impact, there was enough damage to end our day.  Again, the entire team worked extremely hard with the support of many other race teams and the car was rebuilt by the end of practice.

Saturday started out by having the car inspected to be sure all damage was properly fixed.  We were able to get the car back out onto the track right away and we ran two long practice runs.  This allowed Jeremy to get more feel for the car and track.  We were able to pick up lap times by 3 seconds throughout the day and everyone felt very comfortable with the car and adjustments to be made.

Saturday evening we passed qualifying inspection quickly and were able to pick up over 1 second in the qualifying attempt.  However, the number of cars, the loss of one day's practice and no provisional to fall back on did not allow us to have a fast enough time to qualify for the race.

Even though we did not make the race, MGM Motorsports learned extremely valuable information to carry us on to Houston, TX for the second race of the season.  We feel the combination of adjustments we did not have time to make and more track time for Jeremy will ensure we are ready for the next race.

We must give special thanks to all the individuals and teams who helped us over the weekend.  We would not have been able to fix the damaged car in such a timely manner without Jim Randerson of Randercar Racing Enterprises and the Miller Electric representative.  We also would like to congratulate Butch Miller, Deon Daneau and the entire Timber Wolf crew on their victory in the Jani-King 200.