07/16/2026
Long read, but a lot has been happening as of late with the car. I have a lot to be thankful for. Mainly for being lucky rather than good, and for the awesome people in my corner to help me pick the pieces up.
The log of the final pass at Sick Summer showed some lower than normal oil pressure. The pass sucked and it’s not how we wanted to end the week, but we made the call to pack it up. And I’m thankful we did, because we lost a #2 rod bearing. It looks like it had JUST happened, and any more run time would’ve created A LOT more damage.
Less than 48 hours after finding this, Jordan Martin had a new set of main and rod bearings in the mail, and my pal Fonzie Novelo turned and burned a crank polish for me. Just need to check the concentricity of the rod before throwing it all back together, but everything looks ready to resend! Thank you guys so much for the quick support and always having my back!
Next up… Transmission…
I’m incredibly thankful for the time and effort my friend Don Walsh, Jr. has put into to troubleshooting this. Additionally, I’m extremely thankful for everyone who’s reached out to lend a hand (Jeremy Howell and Jon Miller, I see you bros). However, when the man Nick Cole-Mann says jump, you say how high. The level of appreciation I have for Nick, from what he’s done for stick racing to welcoming me to his shop after hours to help, is huge. Thank you a million times over bro…
We’re going to try a few things and report back. Special thanks also goes out to the Buntley bros for giving us some awesome insight! At this point, there’s not much else we can do, but when a Native Nightmare sticker goes on the transmission, it’s gotta work 😂
Life is happening over the next few weeks, so we won’t be able to test our work out until then. But hopefully a successful test session is in our future and we can go into the Wisconsin race with some confidence! Huge thanks to everyone involved near and far, can’t do any of this without you!
Special thank you goes out to… 👏
Team Z Motorsports
Modular Head Shop
RAM Clutches
D&D Performance - The 5 & 6 Speed Experts
Riot Wraps
Holley
Precision Turbo & Engine
MAF Racing & Performance Tool LLC.
Diehl Brothers Racing
Cole-Mann Customs