The SpliSeal Racing Team is:
Matt TerBurgh | Donnie Wolf | Phil Palmer | Steve Charette | Gallery
2012 Season
The SplSeal Firebird is Running GREAT! Oil changed, and tires pumped. New radiator coming in from J & B Custom Classics. Most of our sponsors or interested in being involved and even a few new ones have shown interest.
Z93's Joe & the Poorboy have an annual fundraising golf event June 9th and at least the Firebird will be there. Look for a new set up on the Z93 website as well!
Thanks for checking in have a great year!
2011 Results:
Donnie Topped the Teams efforts wth #17 in the Ubly Dragway Points
Phil came in at #22 followed by Matt at #27
Great job guys! Thank you for your support!
Look for 2011 thank yous!
Race Report
Ubly Labor Day event. Donnie, Phil and I are headed to Ubly to put down some serious horse power. I will post updates on Facebook!
New Team Name!
The team will from now on be know as "The Joe and the Poor Boy/SpliSeal Racing Team". We just inked a deal with Z93.3 of Citadel Broadcasting in Saginaw MI. Updates on Fb coming and lots of appearances and remotes
Latest Remote Setup
Mayville Sunflowerfest
Latest Video and Results
Donnie was the only one able to anything worth mentioning this weekend with a fourth round appearance Saturday but a cool view from the inside of the 'bird!
2011 Bavarian Fest Parade
Phil and Matt both had cars in the parade. Donnie was at an event at Bridgport, MI. Check out the video of Matt getting the crowd revved up.
Latest Event: Memorial Day Weekend
A great weekend! Matt went 5 rounds on Saturday to win some cash with a best light of .001. Sunday saw Phil and Donnie in the Finals with a double redlight with the win going to Phil Palmer.
New for 2011!!!!
5 new Sponsors for 2011! Joe and the Poorboy of the Z93 Morning Show, Serendipity Day Spa, Wildcat Computer, Brain Bloom Studios and Pat's Auto Service, Mayville, MI. Welcome aboard and look for sponsor spotlights!
St. Mary's Spine and Rehabilitation Center's Dr. Paul LaClair has become a full partner in Donnie Wolf's GTO Look for a bio and link to his site!
Black Forest has just confirmed sponsorship envolvement for 2011!Thank you Tim and Tom for your ongoing support and generosity.
Look for a Sponsor Spotlight soon.
Sponsor Spotlight
Pat's Auto Service
Pat and his crew have decades of experience. Their knowledge and skills are at par or even better than any of the big city shops. Pat is trustworthy, timely and always upfront with safety issues. I always feel comfortable and confident when my vehicles are in his care. Also, they have a rich race engine building history. Mud bogs as any racer knows takes an engine to the limit with extended high rpm runs. Pat has done that for years and along with building for many other motorsports has gather many solid performance tricks. Trust Pat for great service and fair pricing.
Meijer - Dixie Hwy, Birch Run, MI
Greg Johnson, store manager, has been a supporter of our team for over 2 years. I have always turned to meijer for great produce and a wide selection of goods. I was glad to see a Meijer move in so close to home. When they finally opened I was relieved to see a HUGE selection of handcrafted Michigan beers as well. A Michigan company, Meijer has supported many of our events even before they moved into the area.
Meijer also has several events at the store each year so keep an eye out on facebook to meet us there.
Kern's Sausage, Frankenmuth MI
Ron and Kevin Kern have been great friends for years. Since my time with the Frankenmuth Darting Association they have impressed me as fun, community involved people who enjoy supporting Frankenmuth and their customers.
As a customer I always love the variety of quality fresh and smoked meats they have on hand. As well as a wide variety of hand crafted, specialty and imported beers. As the president of the Frankenmuth Jaycees I always made sure we got all our event supplies from Kern's also. Catering supplies and great food are always expected. And being former Jaycees themselves it makes it a "no brainer"!
So when your in town be sure to stop in for great sausage, meats, fixins, beers or just a fresh made sandwich at the deli counter. Kern's Sausage is always ready to please!
Fairhaven Auto Parts - Mt. Morris, MI
Ron was a new sponsor in '10 and was a great help with parts, paint, tools and supplies. Working with a 40+ year old car it is difficult to find parts. Fairhaven is always ready with stock replacement parts and aftermarket performance parts.
But it's the service that sets them apart from the rest of the auto parts stores. Almost every week Jeff at J and B will call in an order and the delivery truck shows up an hour or so later with everything he needs. Jeff is always working on a tight schedule on high dollar restorations and custom builds and Fairhaven never lets him down.
So when you get ready to finish that project off or you just need to change the oil give this great local business a call and support a loyal backer of local motor sports and the community.
Matt TerBurgh
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Matt’s first race was in 1986 at Lapeer Dragway. He made it to the finals in a ‘76 Pontiac Trans Am he and his father Terry built.
Campaigning a 2000 Chevy Pick-up in late 2001 and early 2002 Matt netted back to back wins in the street tire class at Ubly Dragway.
Racing his ‘85 S10 was a challenge with V-8 power and little traction. Matt overcame the trucks shortcomings and put a handle on the horsepower to runner-up in the Street Tire Bracket.
Time to move on to the big leagues! Matt got the nod from his father who had turned a mild mannered ‘77 Buick Skylark into the serious race car you see in the pics. After an educational rookie year, Matt started going rounds in every race he attended. Beating many veteran racers including the legendary Paul “Racer” Brown by .003 seconds on a hole shot! Later that year Matt was invited to race for Team Ubly at the Michigan Pro Bracket Finals.
2004 bring Matt to his first national event. Car owner Steve Charette (owner of SpliSealTM) asked Matt to shoe his beautiful ‘68 Barracuda at the Mopar Nationals held at National Trail Ways Raceway in Columbus, Ohio. Matt made it three rounds against some of the best racers in the country scoring his first perfect reaction time (.500). All with less than 10 runs behind the wheel prior to the event.
WHEEL 104.5 comes on board in 2005! Matt picks up a classic pontiac LeMans straight from California. Kranz’s Collision & Frame makes the body smooth and Donnie Wolf helps with the engine. Built by Ron Michalik of Kearsley the new 455 takes a whopping 3 seconds of the LeMans’ original time. After the bugs were worked out we were back making money in ‘07. Then we found out the LeMans needed a cage because it was TOO FAST!.
Enter the Firebird. Dropped in my lap by a friend the car came with a roll cage. Now we didn’t need to cut up the perfectly fine LeMans. After Transplanting the drive train and electrical equipment all we needed to do was get the body in order. Thanks to Jeff Thomas at www.jandbcustomclassics.com it was looking great in just a few short weeks. Back at the track in ‘10 we cut another 2 tenths of our fastest time and picked up our first win light of the year which happened to be against my old rival Paul”Racer” Brown.
2011 Sponsorship is going GREAT! Z93's Joe and the Poorboy are on board and you can listen for updates throughout the season. Serendipity Day Spa will help with pre race warm up Miss Annie will be giving massages to help me relax before big races. Wildcat computers helped straighten out a few bugs my computer had so I can get back to updating this site. And last but not least: Brain Bloom Studios is taking care of all the graphics.
Drive train is ready! A few more adjustments and loose ends to tie up the go through the whole car with a torque wrench and we are ready.
See you at the track!
Matt
Donnie Wolf
Donnie has been competing for more than 20 years drag racing. His first year he finished top 10
in points at Ubly Dragway. Since then has kept pace with the best racers in Michigan winning
Track championships, big money bracket races and even National events.
It all started with a stock '77 Monte Carlo. Donnie got a taste and wanted more. His next move was into
a '79 Firebird. A consistent ride that would win the Holloween Classic at Norwalk, OH (a week long event
bringing in over 1,500 racers). Don went on to win a total of 15 races with the 'bird, also a runner-up at
the '96 IHRA Race of Champions.
During the time he owned th Firebird, Donnie also score 3 back to back wins at the Ubly Harley Drags on
his '85 HD Superglide.
That brings us to the '65 GTO. One of the best looking, most consistent race cars in the state. After a
three year build, Donnie won 7 races on his way to a '98 Track Championship at Ubly Dragway. Ever since
he has been an intimidating presence in the Big Money Bracket Racing scene from Indiana to Canada.
By the way, the GTO has been on the cover of IHRA's Drag Racing Magazine twice!
In 2007 was featured in IHRA’s DRM again, this time with an Editor’s Choice Award at the Northern Nationals.
Donnie qualified #1 out of a field of over 50 of Canada’s best racers at the 2007 Canadian Nationals.
'09 Treated Donnie well with Wins at Ubly and a runner-up at Grand Bend.
New for 2011: A total rebuild of the 565ci Big Block! Rob Hunt of Mueller's Auto Repair built and tuned the 700+ hp engine. Donnie dropped it in with help from Dan, Dallas and Matt. "Sounds AWESOME!" Donnie quipped after firing the powerplant up for the first time. Wheelz is ready for us so listen for on air updates and check Facebook as well.
Also, if you haven't heard, Dr Paul LaClair of St. Mary's Spine and Rehabilitation Center has signed with Donnie for his Main Sponsor. Soon look for links and a Spotlight.
Phil Palmer
Phil started his racing career in 1975 winning his bracket class at Lapeer
Dragway. He went on at that event to race the other class winners in the
Top Eliminator finals and WON! He still has the trophy.
After years of racing sporadically, Phil decided to take his hobby and
his talents more seriously. He started competing regularly at Ubly and
Northern Michigan Dragway in all their "Big Bucks" events. Resulting
in three invitations to race on Ubly's Team at the Michigan State Pro
Bracket Finals
Since then his experience has payed off with many eighth and quarter
final finishes, three semi-finals and a runner-up!
Also to Phil's credit are four "Run for the Money" races (closest to your
dial in), including one at Mid-Michigan Motorplex during a $50,000
Race Weekend.
2006 was a banner year! Phil took big money at several events and won it
all during the Budweiser Challenge at Northern MI Dragway.
Along with several good showings at major Michigan Events Phil was chosen out
of hundreds of regional racers to appear on national TV. The Speed Channel’s
popular ”Pinks: All Out!” held an event at Milan Dragway. Phil was 1 of only 16 racers.
Steve Charette
Full Bio Coming Soon
Gallery
Check out these pics from the years past:
Visit Our Sponsors:
Fairhaven Auto Parts - Mt. Morris
Pat's Auto Service
Seredipity Day Spa
Wildcat Computers