Flat-Out Motorsports

FOM will be returning to Proline for its 4th season of competition, this time under the Ford Racing banner. FOM will continue to develop and run cars from its in-house chassis dept. while using engines provided by Roush-Yates.

Matt Emerson will switch to the #4 and welcome the addition of Realtree and WIX Filters for Season 4. After a near-championship year prior, Emerson hopes to carry the momentum over and again contend for the title.

Nick Baker will join FOM after competing for his own team most of his career. Baker will bring with him #9 and many sponsors including Dollar General and Dewalt/Stanley for the season.

Ian Hann will again run under the #15 banner carrying the Pilot Travel Centers colors for six races. Poynt and Waste Management will also join to fill the 17 race schedule.

Sponsor Schedule's:

#4

Proline Shootout at Daytona - WIX Blue
Daytona 500 - Realtree
Samsung 150 at Phoenix - Realtree
King Taco 140 at Watkins Glen - WIX
South Point 160 at Kentucky - Realtree
AC Delco 144 at New Hampshire - Realtree
Tim Hortons 100 at Trois Riveria - WIX
Sharpie 100 at Bristol - Realtree
King Soopers 140 at Pikes Peak - WIX
Motorcraft 200 at Texas - Realtree
Fender 200 at Richmond - Martin’s

Chase
Coca-Cola 120 at Darlington - Realtree
Mountain Dew 300 at Talladega - WIX Blue
XM Radio 150 at Road America - WIX
Traxxas 240 at Charlotte - Realtree
Oscar Mayer 100 at Martinsville - Martin’s
Country Time 200 at Atlanta - Realtree

#15

Proline Shootout at Daytona - Luke and Assoc.
Daytona 500 - Pilot
Samsung 150 at Phoenix - Pilot
King Taco 140 at Watkins Glen - WM
South Point 160 at Kentucky - Poynt
AC Delco 144 at New Hampshire - Poynt
Tim Hortons 100 at Trois Riveria - WM
Sharpie 100 at Bristol - Pilot
King Soopers 140 at Pikes Peak - Poynt
Motorcraft 200 at Texas - Poynt
Fender 200 at Richmond - Poynt

Chase
Coca-Cola 120 at Darlington - Poynt
Mountain Dew 300 at Talladega - Poynt
XM Radio 150 at Road America - WM
Traxxas 240 at Charlotte - Poynt
Oscar Mayer 100 at Martinsville - Poynt
Country Time 200 at Atlanta - Poynt

Baker talks about joining FOM:
For season 4 of the Proline COT Series, Nick Baker moves over to Flat-Out Motorsports joining team-owner, Ian Hann, and fellow drivers Matt Emerson and Frankie Stickley. Baker talked about his opportunity with FOM and his hopes for the season.

"FOM is a good team and they proved that they can be a championship contender with Matt's impressive Chase last season. The move over here seemed like the best option for me because Ian's a good guy and he can help me get better and he helped me out some last season and helped me get two top 5's in the final races. I think we can get in the Chase this season, but it won't be easy. Every season the competition gets better and better, we just need to be consistent and finish every race with at least a top 10. Having good teammates is a must, especially for the superspeedway races, and to start the season right, you have to finish good at Daytona, too. I think you will see the three fulltime FOM cars in the chase, I believe we are that good. My biggest goal is to get a win, it's always a big deal to run good, but I really want some wins. Glad Ian sees something in me, really have to thank him for the opportunity and I hope I will repay him with a great season!"

Sponsor schedule's added.

Emerson Talks About Coming Up Short in S3 and What to Expect in S4

In Matt Emerson's first full season in the Proline Cup Series, he came up just 21 points short of Jake Poulin at Atlanta. Emerson's performance in 2011 for FOM/RWR has been astounding so far with a 3rd place finish in points in pro cup and winning an ARCA title. Matt joined FOM back in 2010 signing on halfway through the 2nd season of the Proline Cup Series. Emerson only ran one race in S2. In season 3 in pro cup, FOM did not even know if they would have sponsorship for Emerson. Matt started S3 very slow but everything began to turn around at Texas when he brought home a 2nd place finish. Emerson would bring home consistent top 5's through the rest of the regular season and earned a chased spot. He would then bring home great finishes at Darlington, Martinsville, and Charlotte. Going into Watkins Glen he was 2nd in points to Jake Poulin. Emerson had a bad race at Watkins Glen and fell to third in points. He could not rebound enough at Rockingham and Atlanta to get back to the number one spot though and ended up third. But going into this season, Ian and Emerson are very confident about doing good. Emerson has Wix Filters, Realtree Outfitters, and Martins to sign on for the season. Emerson had this to say in a pre-season thunder test session.
I'm really excited about racing season 4 for FOM. It was frustrating to lose the title by so few points last season but that's past us now, we're ready to start working on getting myself, Ian, Nick, and Frankie running good quick so we can get them in the chase. I'm also going to be trying to get my first pro cup win this season!

Team car pack - http://www.mediafire.com/?8afd8b1qvpvvz3g

Close But No Cigar For Emerson at Daytona

Matt Emerson came so close to getting the win Thursday night but ended up second in a side-by-side finish with Jordon Robson in the Proline Shootout at Daytona. Emerson stayed in the back of the pack most of the race, avoiding the 3 big ones that took place and was able to put himself in a position to win but ended up just short of the win. Matt had this to say in the media center,
"I'm really pleased about our finish tonight but it sucks to come up that short haha. The car handled great tonight and had a lot of speed. I stayed in the back most of the race because I didn't want to get the car in a wreck early on and my strategy played out good. Hate to see Ian and Dan get caught up in wrecks but hopefully all 4 of us can bring home good finishes next week!"

Shootout good test for Baker:
In a race where nothing matter except bring back your car in one piece, Baker did just that finishing 6th in the Proline Shootout. Baker ended up working with all of his teammates during the race at some point, including pushing Dan Mackay to the lead with less than 10 laps to go, but some issues forced Baker to the back of the pack and eventually lost the draft. "It was a good test to show that we have a decent car for the opener next week. I worked with all of my teammates at some point and even helped Ian out by dropping back when he had some troubles in the first segment. I had a blast and I feel pretty good about the Daytona 300."

Baker says he hopes for a top 5, but he says he'd rather push a teammate to the win than win it himself.

Poynt and Susan G. Komen Join FOM for Kentucky

FOM and driver Ian Hann are pleased to announce that Poynt has joined the team to be primary sponsor at Kentucky. Poynt, a convenient and timesaving GPS-enabled mobile application, will also be joined by Susan G. Komen For a Cure to raise awareness for breast cancer awareness during October. "We are looking forward to working with Poynt at Kentucky and we look forward to working with them again in the future." The predominantly-pink #15 will be on track for the October 20th South Point 160 event.

Nick Baker excells in FOM debut:
In his first official race with FOM, Nick Baker showed that he can be a good teammate and was able to get the 4th place finish. Unfortunately he wasn't able to push his teammates to top 5 finishes either.

"Unfortunately, so miscues and what not prevented me from pushing my teammates to good finishes like I wanted to do. They were giving me a hard time about not wrecking them, so I was on the edge there. We had decent cars, I think Emerson was a little tight, but my car was pretty perfect, I was great up high and down low, maybe just a little tight on the bottom, but nothing too bad. Glad that I was able to help them out when I could. I had some issues with sputtering most of the race, but when the final runs came that went away. Good night for the 9 team, the other guys had some bad luck, but none of us were really involved in any wrecks."

Daytona a Race of Ups and Downs for the #15

Ian Hann and team entered Daytona with only one goal; finish. After numerous DNF's and late-race accidents over the last couple of superspeedway races, the team was just hoping to set the season off on a good note. "We've had some horrendous luck at these plate tracks lately, including last weekend in the shootout. Our only real goal was to atleast finish and head to Phoenix where we can start our "official season."" After qualifying mid-pack, Hann and team decided to try a new strategy and stay towards the front. Working with numerous people include the #33 (Adam Codol) and the #82 (Shawn Taylor), Hann was able to lead numerous laps and stay within the top 5 for a good portion of the event. Towards the end, however, things started falling apart. "I was working with Shawn when a caution came out so I tried to push him by the guy in front of us so we would be nose to tail for the restart. Unfortunately, I ended up hooking him and sending us both into the wall. I felt pretty bad about that." Restarting towards the back, Hann worked with both teammates and got towards the front but a late-race scramble relegated the #15 to a 14th place finish. "We had some handling issues that hurt our ability to be a good pusher or leader, and that really hurt our performance. But, I felt like overall it was one of the cleanest superspeedway races for myself in awhile so we're happy. "

Phoenix Preview

Phoenix looks to be one of the "wildcard" events during the Proline season, mostly due to an off-season reconfiguration that has left the track much different than before. "The track runs quite a bit different than before, especially with the banking in the dogleg. It should be a pretty fun race." Hann will run chassis 051 (last run Richmond of S3) and work to dig himself out of an early-season points deficit.

Baker doesn't expect much for Phoenix:
Phoenix is known not to be one of Baker's best tracks, but he did score a top 10 last season in the race at PIR. Baker says his team has taken a fleet of his Dodge's from last season to Phoenix for some testing for the upcoming event and said his setup was pretty good handling-wise, but he was off speed-wise compared to some of the Solstice sanctioned tests earlier.

"Once I finally got a stable set to get into the turns without spinning out, I was able to pick up a good second and a half towards speed. I know some guys were running up 26's and I was at a 27.03, so I wasn't way off, but off enough to know that I shouldn't try to be a hero in this one. With 3 top 5's in the previous 3 Proline points races, we finally have some good momentum on our side and hopefully I can do enough to keep it up at Phoenix. Should be a good race for us, looking for a top 10."

bakes991 wrote:

Baker doesn't expect much for Phoenix:
Phoenix is known not to be one of Baker's best tracks, but he did score a top 10 last season in the race at PIR. Baker says his team has taken a fleet of his Dodge's from last season to Phoenix for some testing for the upcoming event and said his setup was pretty good handling-wise, but he was off speed-wise compared to some of the Solstice sanctioned tests earlier.

"Once I finally got a stable set to get into the turns without spinning out, I was able to pick up a good second and a half towards speed. I know some guys were running up 26's and I was at a 27.03, so I wasn't way off, but off enough to know that I shouldn't try to be a hero in this one. With 3 top 5's in the previous 3 Proline points races, we finally have some good momentum on our side and hopefully I can do enough to keep it up at Phoenix. Should be a good race for us, looking for a top 10."

UPDATE: After a Phoenix test held by Solstice Officials at Phoenix Raceway, Baker was one of the fastest cars on the tracks and all of the FOM cars were in the top 5. "We all have pretty good looking cars for this week, I think we all have a decent shot. My team found the speed we were lacking the other day, finally. Not sure how the race will go, but hopefully it will be fun. Realistically we'd like to leave with all 3 FOM cars in the top 10, but I think Ian and Matt have good looking cars that could try to compete for the win. I know I have a different setup than those two, but it was just as good as theirs."

Phoenix Another “What If” for the #15

The #15 team unloaded at the newly-configured Phoenix International Raceway in hopes of beginning a new slate of luck for their season. Unfortunately, the race left off right where season 3 ended. After a strong practice and a solid 4th place qualifying effort, Hann maintained a top 3 position until the competition caution at lap 20 flew. The team chose to pit for 4 tires and a minor adjustment eyeing a chance at the lead. Unfortunately, this signified the beginning of the end for their race. Shortly after the restart, the #15 got extremely loose in turn 1 leaving the #53 (Brandon Lambert) and the #82 (Shawn Taylor) no where to go and resulting in a 8 car pileup. “As soon as I started my ark into turn 1, the car broke loose. The #53 and #82 had no where to go and we piled up pretty bad.” The team repaired the minor damage and restarted 6th but it was short lived. The #53 slid up and turned the #15 in turn 2 effectively ending their race. The crew repaired what they could and hoped to salvage a decent finish, but a late-race incident put a period on the night and resulted in a 7th place finish. “I don’t think we had a winning car but we definitely had a top 3 car. It sucks to work hard on setups every week and have them spoiled by bad luck, but we’ll move on.” Hann now sits 13th in points, 47 back from leader Jordan Robson.

Watkins Glen Preview

FOM heads to Watkins Glen and looks to settle some unfinished business after last season. A transmission failure on lap 4 put the team out of contention before the race really even started . “We had the best car I’ve ever had on a road course period. The mechanical issue was really, really disappointing, but thankfully we’re just as good if not better this season.” Hann and team will use chassis 061 (new for Season 4) and unload a slightly different, but improved, setup.

Disappointing finish at Phoenix for Baker; still moves up to third in points:
It seems pretty cliché, but a 9th place finish at Phoenix improved Baker's points to 3rd in the standings. "We had a decent setup, if we could've had a long run at the end, I think the #9 would had a solid top 5, our luck with the short run was pretty bad, but to finish after what happened to us twice in that race was a miracle in itself. I know people got extremely tight in the long run, while I was tight, I was not as tight as others. We made a lot of valuable passes in the race, working into the top 5 at one point. That late race yellow, we took 4 tires instead of two, like most others did. Track position can be key, but I felt like we were strong enough to move up anyways, it was working until I got into the back of Ian (Hann) off of turn 4 with 3 or 4 to go. I missed the wreck at the end, but everyone behind dove down below me, so I couldn't get a better finish like I should've."

Baker's plan of attack for Watkins Glen:
Baker says that Watkins Glen will be business as usual for the road course: Stay on track and keep it clean. "We had a decent setup last season, but I made a mistake and that ruined my race. Hopefully I won't make that mistake again, I know we are good in the points right now, but we still need to be better off. I'm hoping for a top 5, but realistically a 6th or 7th would be a great effort for our team. I think we know that if I run too hard, my tires lose grip after the first lap, so I will not be running as hard in the race. We are on the verge of being inside the 1:11 bracket where most guys are, just need to have the perfect lap to do so."

Team Changes at FOM

Flat-Out Motorsports has announced that Frankie Stickley has been released effective immediately. "Big Red has chosen to consolidate their program and we're not capable of running an entry without sponsorship. We wish Stickley the best and hope to see him on track sometime soon." The 50 and 59 teams will now merge with Auz Grams running at Watkins Glen and Dan Mackay running select races throughout the end of the season.

Grams to pilot FOM #59 at Watkins Glen, possibly more?
Flat-Out Motorsports has announced yesterday that Auz Grams will run the #59 at Watkins Glen, it was reported that Grams would also run other select races on a limited basis, but Grams did not say which races those would be. Grams said, "I have a lot of things going on right now, but FOM asked me to pilot the #59 on a limited basis, and I think it is a good opportunity to run with a good team on a limited basis, Ian has built a solid program with Baker, Emerson, along with himself. So it will be good to have some teammates that know how to get it done as well."

Baker to run black tribute at New Hampshire:
In honor of his grandfather's birthday, who would have turned 81 on October 31st. Baker will be running a black scheme at New Hampshire as a tribute. Robert C. Bevers (pronounced like evers, not beavers) was a proud father, grandfather, husband, and brother who loved all of his family and treated everyone as nicely as possible. Back in September 2009, he was diagnosed with dementia, a cognative impairment that leads to Alzheimers. In April 2010, he started having kidney failures which often landed him in the hospital and rehabilitation centers off and on. On December 30, 2010 he suffered a stroke, but remained strong in his battle to stay with his family. On February 26, 2011, Robert went to the hospital for the last time of his life. Feb. 26th is also grandson, Nick Baker's birthday. He was put into hospice and remained there until very early in the morning of March 1, 2011.

"Granddaddy was a great person and he loved all of his family a lot. We were his pride and joy and was always happy to see us. Running this tribute scheme the week before his birthday is very special to me and there is only one thing I want to do on that day, keep my car clean and finish strong."

#59 team leaves Watkins Glen with disappointment
After Auz Grams making his first start for Flat Out Motorsports at Watkins Glen, the team left with hope and disappointment. The team overall had a rocky weekend, said Grams, "We had to fight a lot of electrical (internet connection) issues, it was just a big fight to try getting them fixed today, I believe the same problems were happening to Dan Mackay at Daytona, but I believe they will be sorted out tomorrow, it's a shame because I wanted to go out there and run competitive again, we had a good handling car and setup put together, but I didn't want to end anyone's race early because of these issues, so we ended up parking early in the garage." I want to thank Ian and FOM for the oppruntunity though, I'm not 100% sure of running next week, since that's Ian's decision, but I should be ready to go next week.

Watkins Glen Continues Early Season Struggles for #15

The FOM #15 team entered Watkins Glen with a much higher confidence level after a stellar car the season prior. This season would prove a much different animal though. The team struggled through much of practice and after numerous changes, qualifying produced a similar result. "We were missing something right off the get go. The car had some speed if it was pushed really hard, but running under regular race conditions we had no speed." Qualifying put Hann and team in 6th position, but it was short lived. A broken brake pedal sent them off lap 1 in turn 11, and led to yet another long race." It was a battle of wreck avoidance early but once the field spread out we were decent. We made a big air pressure adjustment on the last pitstop and it helped alot, but I lost it off one of the curbs and screwed up any chance we had at a decent finish." The team now sits 66 points back in 13th, the lowest of all FOM drivers. "At this point, we're gonna simply focus on making the chase and setting ourselves up for a clean stretch then."

Kentucky Preview

Out of all the tracks on the beginning of the Season 4 schedule, Kentucky is probably the highest on the anticipation list for FOM. “The big tracks are where we run really well typically. Hopefully that pattern continues, we really need it.” Hann will use chassis 017 (last run Rockingham of S3) with Poynt debuting as primary sponsor.

Luke & Associates Shifts Sponsorship; Poynt Joins #15

Luke & Associates has announced that they will shift their sponsorship from the #15 to the #59 with Auz Grams driving. "Luke was looking to do something part-time but with primary position. With the addition of Auz to our team, we felt like it would be a good match." Auz will pilot the Luke colors beginning at Kentucky Speedway and run a partial schedule throughout the season.

FOM has also announced Poynt has expanded their partnership and will serve as primary sponsor of the #15 for 5 races throughout the year. Poynt will also be joined by Susan G. Komen For the Cure at Kentucky in support of breast cancer awareness.

Emerson Keeps Car Out Of Danger For Another Solid Finish

Thursday at the King Taco 140, 3 of the 4 FOM cars had troubles all race, but Matt Emerson had the luck on his side and kept the number 4 Wix Filters Ford Fusion out of danger and brought home a 4th place finish. Emerson struggled really bad in practice but didn't give up and managed to bring home his 2nd top 5. Emerson moved up to 2nd in points and is looking very good going into Kentucky.

Crew chief miscue leads to spoiled engine for Baker at Glen:
After appearing to have a strong top 10 car at Watkins Glen in practice and testing, Baker's hopes were spoiled halfway through the race with a engine blowing with about 18 to go. "When you start off at Daytona with a top 5, you think, 'Okay, maybe I have a good shot at the chase' but now I'm on the end of the stick being 8th in points. We need to get back at it and keep trying, the confidence is there, the execution is lacking. We are a strong team, we need to prove it."

Grams leaves Kentucky with more bad luck
After learning that Grams would be in the #4 normally driven by Matt Emerson, Auz wanted to give the #4 the best run it could. "At the beginning of practice, I wasn't confident in the setup at all, we put in a setup that I decided to test out, and it was awful. We put in a setup that Nick Baker's team was using, and it was better, however wasn't to my style either. Ian gave me his setup and I really adjusted to it well at the end of practice, so thanks to him for putting together something to work with. We had a REALLY good car, but some more problems arrived, and we had to change a battery (AMD driver going dead 3 times in race), and we had to resort to a 12th place finish, it's such a shame because we were as fast as anyone out there on the long runs. That's the way the luck has been going lately, but I will be really glad to be back in the #59 and run fast."

Hann Sees Solid Run Go Up in Smoke

The Proline Cup Series’ return to the intermediate tracks for the first time this season was a welcomed sight for FOM. A season which has produced no top 5’s and a single top 10 has left FOM and driver Ian Hann far outside of the picture and looking for anything to turn their luck around. Unfortunately, Kentucky left them two laps short of that. The Poynt #15 was on the second half of the speed charts nearly all weekend, but a good qualifying run put them 2nd for the start. As the race began, it became obvious that long green runs would be dominant. “We hovered right around 5th-8th most of the race, which is about where we practiced at. I don’t think we had anything for the top 3 guys but a top 5 wasn’t far fetched.” The race ran green until a caution with 18 to go setup a sprint to the finish. The race restarted numerous times but was slowed by a caution within a lap nearly every time. The final restart, Hann struggled to get going and fell from 2nd to fifth by turn 3. As the pack came through turn 2, the #82 (Shawn Taylor) received a tap from behind sending him into the wall and leaving the #15 no where to go. “I saw the 82 get loose or something but he was on the low side and I was high. I didn’t lift a whole lot hoping I could get by on the outside but he hooked into the wall at the last second and I had no where to go.” The #15 went into the wall and quickly fell outside the top 10, ending their solid run and leaving the team with more disappointment. “It’s really frustrating to have a good run going and have it ended again. It’s really been the story of our season.”

New Hampshire Preview

Proline heads to its 2nd new track of the season, this time visiting the flat “Magic Mile” in Loudon, NH. FOM will unload chassis 063 (new for Season 4), while wearing the Poynt colors for the 2nd time this season. “We tested pretty good here a little while back. Hopefully we can complete the run we had going last week.”

Emerson Ready To Get Back In Car After Week of Absence

With Matt Emerson taking a hit in points after his week of absence due to personal reasons, he is ready to get back in the #4 FOM car this week at New Hampshire. New FOM driver Auz Grams stepped up and drove the #4 Realtree Outfitters Ford Fusion last week at Kentucky. Electrical problems ended Auz's day but FOM was still pleased with the speed Grams brought to the track. Realtree Outfitters will be back on the #4 car for the week and it has not been announced if Auz Grams will be running the 50 this week or not. Tonight Matt Emerson will be driving for Rick Ware Racing in the Solstice Nationwide series at his home town track at Southside Speedway.