12/27/2016
Paul Nienhiser
Busy Offseason at PNR!
The Paul Nienhiser Racing team has been working tediously over the first half of the offseason preparing for the 2017 racing season. The team has assembled 3 new cars in preparation.
Coming off of a solid season in 2016, Paul is striving for more in 2017. "I feel like we had the fastest cars I've ever had this past year, and I'm looking forward to what's in store next year." Unfortunately, luck wasn't always on his side.
Paul's first near-win of the season was snatched away while leading the 410 main event at Badlands Speedway in May. "I led the first half of the feature and in lapped traffic a mud clod caved in the right side arm guard." He continued, "At first I thought I broke my arm, I started missing my marks but wasn't going to just pull in and hand over the lead. Ultimately we ended up second, disappointed yes but feeling fortunate nothing worse happened."
Another pair of near wins came at consecutive visits to Jacksonville Speedway, with Paul leading each of them as well. The first time around Paul was leading the feature and ended up getting upside down under caution. "I was leading and the caution came out for a car spun out above the cushion in the line I had been running. I got on the brakes without much time to react and ended up getting bent out of shape and upside down. It really hurt because we had been quick time two nights in a row, ran second the night before, and then tore up the entire car in one corner."
Perhaps the one that stung the most was while running second in the $10,000 to win preliminary feature to the $250,000 Rock-n-Roll Gold Cup in August at Badlands Speedway. "We started in the third row, and had one of the best cars I had there all season, and we were fast every week there so that says a lot. I got into second and were on the tail tank of Craig Dollansky and thought I had a really good shot at that one. Just as soon as I got up to his rear bumper the right rear tire blew going down the front stretch. That one hurt." The team got the tire changed and after restarting last he made his way back to thirteenth in the last 8 laps.
"We aren't sure where we're at for next year," he continued, "Unfortunately we've lost a couple of our biggest partners for the last 3-4 years. Fortunately, we're still set up to continue where we left off last season, but we're actively searching for new partners for 2017 and beyond to continue to grow our program and compete at the highest level." Paul stated, "We plan to run a full schedule next year still, we're just waiting for all the schedules to be released and we'll pick and choose an outlaw-type schedule and just go out and compete for wins like we always have."
For any sponsorship and marketing inquiries, please contact Paul at paul@nienhiser.com or John at john.a@nienhiser.com
Paul would like to thank the following partners and friends for their continued support: Mason Sound, Fierce Herbicide, Wessler Bros. Agency, Bradshaw Custom Pumping, Engler Machine & Tool, Factory Kahne Indy, Bob Hawks Autobody, Rider Racing Engines, Kaeding Performance, Steve Thomas Racing, Butlerbuilt seats, John and Bev Nienhiser, Ralph and Drake Willhite, Roger Staake, Greg Ford, and Craig Grimsley!
Submitted By: Paul Nienhiser
