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October 18, 2003 ..... Dirt Track World Championship, Bardstown, KY. For Action Photo's CLICK HERE

This was a race to remember for us on the W119 Team, we had a car that would just absolutely fly with Todd behind the wheel and had been greatly encouraged by a good qualifying run on Saturday evening. Don Fleetwood was acting car chief this weekend and had made several changes to the car allowing Todd to prove what he and this W119 Dasco Race Fabrication / UP FRONT Chassis / Wildside Signs / MM21 Modified could do.

The Modified Heat Races were delayed until Sunday, which was disappointing to us as we worked hard all day Saturday for a total of 11 minutes on track time and wanting more. In Sundays Heat Race the event officials had Todd out of place in the starting lineup? We should of been two rows up inside but Don was unable to have this error corrected so Todd started from row 6 outside. The car was right on and Todd was able to run second the entire Heat Race until lap 13 when he was passed for second and forcing a third place finish on our W119.

In the Feature Event, FastMan started in row eight, outside. It took approximately four restarts to get to the race started when finally the one's up front started to settle down and we could stay green. By lap 3 Todd was running conservatively allowing the tires to heat up and then make the move towards the front. The car and tires were starting to come when going into turn one a spin ahead of FastMan made him to check up, car number P8's driver wasn't looking and shot inside Todd before he saw what was ahead. When he did he too checked up and slid up into the W119 forcing FastMan into another car and bringing all three to a stop on the top side of the track. Track personnel got the cars separated but FastMan couldn't get the W119 to re-fire. We pushed the car into the infield and attempted to make repairs and get back out before the green flag was waved again. but it was not to be. The battery had been broken open in the collision and even with a push from the wrecker the car just would not re-fire, so Todd pulled off track and into the pits, our night was done.

Disappointing in the least, we were all flabbergasted that the driver of the P8, in his haste to get to the front took us out of this race so early. All the time, money and effort we had invested in this weekend were wasted away, totally out of our control. We can understand accidents but negligence we cannot. We feel that this driver either wasn't thinking or is just naturally stupid, we all know you don't win the race in the first few laps, you got to be there at the end. There was plenty of time to get aggressive being a 40 lap event, this was way too early in a large pack of cars to be driving like this. Just our luck? It seems to have been with us all of this race season?

All in all we were very happy with our performance during the 2003 DTWC weekend; our performance being much better than our finishing results show. This team Don assembled with Todd as the driver can be a winning combination and they are already discussing options and plans for the 2004 race season. Were going to take a few months off first, that is after Thunder-Valley Raceway's Thunder in October show Oct. 25 and 26th. when we again hope to take the checkered flag at the finish. Hope to see you there.

October 4, 2003 ..... Mini Sprint Debut. For Event Action Photo's Click Here.

Tonight at Thunder-Valley Raceway, Salem, IN FastMan took to the wheel of the #36 Mini Sprint for his first ride in this style of open wheel speedster. In the nights preliminary event FastMan started on the inside front row and at the drop of the green shot to the lead not relinquishing this position all the way to the checkered flag. This car was fast and Todd felt at ease with his right foot to the floor, blasting around this 1/4 mi. track with barely a bobble, finishing well ahead the rest of the field.

In the Mini Sprint Feature race FastMan again started on the front row, the out side this time along side his team mate Lynn Ambrose. With a little more horse power than the #36, Ambrose shot into the lead at the green with FastMan following in second. While Ambrose pulled away the race battle heated up with FastMan, driving with the skill of a veteran, holding off a furious charge by the #96 car. Todd would be leading the #96 into the corners but that 96 would pull along side FastMan coming out and many times along side down the straight away. This battle between the two would continue the entire race even touching wheels several times during the contest, severely testing Todd's ability to control his car. Again, with barely a bobble, FastMan held his foot down holding off the challenge until with two laps to go. The #96 got a good run off turn two pulling ahead by a car length and holding on to finish second to Ambrose with FastMan coming home third.

An excellent run by FastMan as a rookie Mini Sprint car driver, though you couldn't tell his Rookie status by watching him drive this night. When asked how he felt in the car Todd said he felt right at home and enjoyed racing these four wheel flyers, he only wished he had an eight cylinder to race with. Who knows maybe there will be a chance to test a ride in a 360 or 410 sprinter some day? Many of us in his family of fans and followers would like to see that.

Todd told us to thank the Ambrose Family for the opportunity to drive their Mini Sprinter, he sure enjoyed the ride. Also to his Father-in-Law Don Fleetwood for his support and effort in his racing career.

A tough year for Todd this season as the lack of equipment and plain bad luck prevented him and the #27 Burton Family Racing Super Stock from achieving the success they had worked for. At almost every track they visited during 2003, there were both preliminary and Feature event races that could or should have been won only to have been lost due to equipment failure, blown tires or collisions with less experienced drivers.

There were good showings during the Lee Fleetwood Memorial, Kenny Simpson Memorial, Brownstown SS and Mod Special, Bloomington Ss and Mod Special and others in between though none allowing for a feature win. The only real accomplishment being the B Main Feature Win at Fayette County Speedway.

A tough and trying season for FastMan, but with plans coming together for the 2004 season Todd is already looking ahead. This season's not over yet and there is still some racing left for Todd in the W119 Modified at Thunder-Valley, Bardstown and Florence, KY. so stay tuned and when news develops we'll post it here at Todd Gilpin Racing.

The week end began at Bloomington on Friday where the #27 Team drew the outside pole (2nd) starting position in Heat #4. FastMan took the lead at the green with Chris Hillman close on his rear. They battled one and two for three laps before Hillman too over the lead from FastMan. That's where they would finish qualifying Todd for the feature in the 8th. starting position. The Feature event would find the 27 holding off challengers while maintaining that 8th position through out the race with not quite enough gearing to move up through the field. We finished 8th. on the night.

Saturday at Brownstown Speedway we began the 2nd Heat in the third starting position and was able to gain one position at the checkered flag for a second place finish. The Feature starting spot was 4th. and we ran well but the competition was tough tonight, we lost a position near the finish to complete this nights event with a fifth place finish.

Both these events were to help prepare the #27 Team for Mondays Street Stock Special $7,500. to Win event at Fayette County Speedway, IL. Here's the Results from this Memorial Day two day show from Fayette County SpW, Brownstown, IL as reported on www.fayettecountyspeedway.com

Heat 5 � Jeff Link (82), Kenny Eads (47), Todd Gilpin (27), Randy Bingham (B1)

Race Notes; Late night due to rain. Took the lead from the drop of the green and lead all through to the last few laps when taken out but second place car. We had to take it in for a tire change and still came back to gain one position and qualify for the B-Main.

B-Main � Todd Gilpin (27), Ryan Reinacher (7R), Jeff Garrison (6G), Jeff LeBaube (91), Rick Hines (15H),

Race Notes; Lead from the start, all the way with very strong challenges from those behind. A hard earned win but one we were excited to get for our new sponsor Hungry Howie's Pizza, fans and family

75 Lap A-Main � Rick Hufford (4), Troy Porter (T89), Marty Smith Jr (2), Marty Kopp (W1), Todd Gilpin (27),

Race Notes: Having worked very hard getting through to this point we were ready to roll. Brian and Raymond had the crew hard at work most all day, Todd had won the B-Main and now it was time to run for the big money. From the start FastMan worked his way to the front where he ran several laps until we cut a rear tire down. We were able to replace it and get our starting spot back only to fall back to seventh a few laps after the restart. Once the tires were able to heat up, after some fast green flag laps, we were able to pull ahead to fifth and run in the top five but not quite able to move on to the front. There are a lot of fast cars and good drivers in this part of the country and we were thinking they were all here tonight? Passing ... being passed then pulling ahead again .... on and on for the entire 75 laps, the most competitive laps we had run all season to date?

In the end we finished 5th this night but, felt a sense of accomplishment in that. A lot of fun and excitement, you need to be there next time you'd be glad you went. Our thanks to the folks at Fayette County Speedway for hosting us this Memorial day weekend, our crew and team mates for the hard work and the Folks at Hungry Howies, Dasco Race Fabrication and MM21 Motor Sports for their support and contributions.

May 16, 2003 ... The only outing to date for the #27 Team had been a short visit to Brownstown Speedway where we broke and couldn't get fixed prior to the Super Stock Heats. So tonight we traveled to Bloomington for the nights events and things improved for our #27 Team. Todd drove the Burton Brothers Racing #27 to the Heat win and won the trophy dash grabbing us the pole position start for the Feature Event. Here's the story, as reported from www.BloomingtonSpeedway.com;

#27 Burton Family Racing Sponsored by HUNGRY HOWIES PIZZA, Columbus, IN.

TIRE & WHEEL CENTER SUPER STOCKS �

A huge field of Tire & Wheel Center super stocks turned out to contest each other for a prestigious feature win. Troy Clark took the initial lead; however, Todd Gilpin got past him for the lead on the second circuit.. Denny Campbell and Lee Hobbs quickly jumped into the fray when the two �0� cars moved into second and third palce. Gilpin and Hobbs continued to battle with Hobbs running up high showing the front of his car to Gilpin. Gilpin finally moved up the track to block Hobbs. This gave Hobbs the opportunity to pass Gilpin on the low side. As Denny Campbell and Gilpin continued to battle for second place they leaned on each other pretty hard and were finally both retired from action. Jack Frye and Marty Cooper then began their own battle for second. Frye held on to finish second; but Ralph Groomer slipped past Cooper to take third. Cooper held on to finish fourth.

In preliminary action, Gilpin, Hillman, Clark, and Campbell won the heat races while Deweese and Rick Wolsifer took the two �B� features. Gilpin prevailed in the dash.

MCCAMMON TREE SERVICE HEAT 1: 1.(1) Todd Gilpin, 2.(7) Lee Hobbs, 3.(3) Danny Harris, 4.(4) C.J. Allen, 5.(5) Chris Deweese, 6.(8) Jeremy Pennington, 7.(9) Ben DuBois, 8.(8) Travis Todd, 9.(2) Mike Vest

Dash for Cash: 1.(1) Todd Gilpin, 2.(3) Troy Clark, 3.(2) Chris Hillman, 4.(4) Denny Campbell

April 30, 2003 ... Current plans for FastMan in this 2003 season is to drive the #W119 UMP Modified of Donnie Fleetwood and the #27 Super / Street Stock of Brian and Raymond Burton at Brownstown Speedway, IN and other special events locally and regionally. When not driving Todd will also be crewing for Donnie when he races the W119 at Ponderosa Speedway, KY and other selected events. Also Todd and crew will be supporting the UP FRONT Chassis Modified house cars when ever needed. All other options are open for this season.

Todd has had the opportunity to shake down both cars, briefly at Brownstown Speedway and is ready to get the season started this Saturday night May 3rd. Tentative plans are for Donnie to drive the W119 Friday at Ponderosa SpW., KY and Todd Saturday May 4th. at Brownstown, then on May 11th. he will be driving the #27 Super Stock at Brownstown. There are plans for Todd and his team to compete at Bloomington Speedway, IN. in both cars as well as at other tracks in Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky. It should be an exciting season for the Todd Gilpin Racing Team and we look forward to success at all the track we visit. Stay tuned for updates as they develop as well as complete race results.

In Memory ... This racing season will be marked as the memorial season for FastMan's Father, Chalmus E. "Chuck" Gilpin, who passed away December 26, 2003. Chuck was a long time racer, race fan and most devoted to his wife Janice, Children and Grand Children. Chuck will be greatly missed by not only his family, but all who knew him and the entire Gilpin Racing crew.

FastMan Todd Gilpin and Don Fleetwood, Owner of the W119 Dasco Race Fabrication / UP FRONT Chassis UMP Modified practiced the new 2003 car at Twin Cities Raceway in a shake down of the car that they both will drive in this 2003 racing season. Todd and Don both were well pleased with the handling of the car and speed coming from under the hood. Todd plans to race this car in the season opener at Brownstown Speedway, IN in the 2003 running of the Indiana Ice Breaker.

The #27 Super Stock of Burton Brothers Racing with "FastMan" Todd Gilpin.

Sponsors: Hungry Howies Pizza of Columbus, IN., Dasco Race Fabrication and Supply, WildSide Signs and Race Graphics and MM21 Motor Sports, Ltd.

Sponsors: Dasco Race Fabrication and Supply, UP FRONT Chassis, WildSide Signs and Race Graphics, Thunder Valley Raceway and MM21 Motor Sports, Ltd.

Todd is not going to enter his own car this season instead accepting offers from the Burton Family Racing to pilot the #27 Street Stock in this 2003 season. Look for Todd, Brian and Raymond to have a new look and fast set up their first night out and eager to get the season started. #27 Street Stock, Burton Family Racing, Edinburgh, IN.

And again in 2003, Todd will also be part-time piloting the UMP Modified of Donnie Fleetwood re numbered W119. Donnie hasn't decided if he will go with last years Dasco Race Fabrication, UP FRONT Chassis, WildSide Signs 2002 chassis or build another, but will most likely sport a new look along with that new number. Old chassis or a new 2003 UP FRONT Chassis, either way Donnie has always sported a fast car and Todd should be able to slide behind the wheel of this top quality UMP Modified at many of the area's top shows. As always, a threat to win. www.upfrontchassis.com

2002 Race Season

Results ... We made two of the three Feature events during Race Weeks at East Bay Raceway and if we had a little less bad fortune we'd probably would of made the third.

On Sunday (2-10-02) we were on the pole in heat race no.4 and on the start going into turn one Todd was spun out from behind by the third position driver, the rules stated all those involved in cautions to go to the tail of the field, but Fast Man ran a smooth and consistent race managing a a fifth place finish. The car, for the first time out in 2002, was strong and the track this night was to Todd's liking, but the rains came and postponed the remainder of Sunday's events for Tuesday afternoon. On Tuesday, to complete this report, we started fourth in the "D" Main, finished second to transfer on to the "C" Main where we were caught up in a multi car tangle causing severe damage to the #19. Had we not planned and prepared for this possibility we'd been done for, headed home. The #19 T.G. Racing Team proved their skills on this one as they worked hard to complete the repairs in a little less than three hours. Not only were the repairs made but the car was handling as well as it had previously, that's the skill level the the Todd Gilpin Racing Team has in the pits and the garage back home, as someone said at the track, "we've got a darn good crew."

Monday (2-11-02) evening was a good run for Fast Man starting on the third row inside of the preliminary event and running extremely well. There was some tight racing in this field and several cautions, which would cause Todd to loose a position or two for a lap or two until the tires would heat up and come into it. Todd was able to move up into second position and get up to the leader, but that caution would come out and Todd would fall back from the leader and this prevented Todd from overtaking the leader for the win. We did finish second in this qualifying heat advancing onto the "A" Main later that evening.

Starting thirteenth (in the Feature event) the #19 won and then lost positions as the side by side racing through the field was tight and required considerable skill to stay near the front. Having reached fifth place we lost a position with just two laps to go and came home sixth. The competition was tough in this Feature event, a hint of what the run for the $10,000 on Tuesday would be like. We were not disappointed with this finish just felt good having such a good run against all these top notch drivers.

Tuesday (2-12-02) we ran the rain delay events from Monday, as described above, prior to The Feature Event of the Winter Nationals. By this time those strong cars on Sunday and Monday were even stronger and we were going out with a car that had been repaired and then tested only once during the evenings hot laps. Todd liked how the car felt said it seemed as good as ever so we were confident it would take us to the front if the racing gods were with us this night. Being 11th in points going into the nights event we made the field and would start 11th. Needless to say we were thrilled to have been 11th in points after the disappointing ending to the day's earlier activities. They had a good introduction to the nights activities with an introduction of all the Main event drivers, a Frisbees toss by the drivers (with gift certificates attached to the Frisbee's) and a parade lap led by that silly clown shooting fireworks out his silly clown car.

At the drop of the green Todd quickly moved towards the front passing cars on every lap and by lap six he was in eighth place. Again tonight, after a caution i would take the #19 a couple laps to get going when Todd would loose a position or two before coming back to regain his position and then more. By lap 12 Todd was in fifth place and running as strong as anyone when again a series of cautions came out but by the end of these the handling of the car just went away, became too tight and wouldn't turn in the corners. We were not the only one's with this problem several others had the same thing happen to them, but it hit us hard. By lap 50 and the break for fuel the #19 had dropped back to 21st. After the line of modifieds again started rolling under a starting yellow, Todd pulled in to change the right rear tire thinking that this would help the car and to the crews credit they had the tire changed and Todd ready to pull back onto the track just in time to get his place in line for the green.

After about two laps the car was not doing any better and Todd decided it was better to park it than to risk an accident and causing damage to the #19 or other cars in this race. Our night was over but the racing was still good and we watched some very good racing, especially for the condition the track changes into. They scored Fast Man and the #19 in 21st place which didn't bother us too much as we knew what it took just to get there and then to make two out of three feature events and would have made the third if we hadn't had such bad luck in Tuesday's rain delayed event.

Overall, were were all satisfied with this visit to the Winter Nationals and we did come away with some win monies but more importantly, knowledge of what to expect in 2003. We were going to go over to Velousia Speedway Park for Wednesday's Modfied action but the rains washed that one out for us this time, now that was disappointing as there were no make up day's for this one so Velousia will have to wait another year on us too.

We want to Thank all our Sponsors for coming on board with us in 2002 and early enough to allow us this opportunity to compete in the 2002 Winter Nationals. We had a really good time and a safe trip with some good racing under our belts so we will await 2003 and our chance to do even better.

We were going to post nightly reports on the internet while we were in Florida, but technical difficulties prevented us from doing so. We plan to have this corrected as soon as possible and attempt the same in 2003. We have video of the #19 Todd Gilpin Racing racing action from East Bay Raceway for $17.50 from MM21 Motor Sports, Ltd. and includes Digital pictures of all the action. Ask Todd for details on how you can obtain you're copy.

Sponsor News

Sponsorship assistance is still being sought to aid in the high cost of running a full season of UMP Modified racing and we have a full or smaller sponsorship support program available for you. Our Sponsor program is supported by MM21 Motor Sports, Ltd. and our representative, Matt Adkins who will work hard and strive to make you're Sponsorship of Todd Gilpin Racing a success for you. Contact Todd, Gina, or Matt through the contact link on this site and we will be glad to answer any questions you may have or to develop an individualized sponsorship program for you

2002 Sponsors

We are pleased to announce commitments from long term Sponsors Wild Side Signs, Dasco Race Fabrication & Supply, Up Front Chassis and MM21 Motor Sports, Ltd.

T.G. Racing Support Team Program

For the 2002 Race Season T.G. Racing will be instituting a Team Support program for all our fans and friends. This Team Support Program will offer small contributors benefits for their support for Todd Gilpin Racing. We will be providing personalized photo's of Todd "Fast Man" Gilpin and the #19 UMP UP Front Modified, additional race winning photo's, recognition on the #19 Todd Gilpin Internet Web Site, an autographed certificate of appreciation and an end of season bar-b-que. See or contact Todd directly or Matt of MM21 Motor Sports mm21ma@aol.com for more details on how you can become a supporting member of our team.

Todd Gilpin Racing Team Members