The 2003 season started on a bad note at the Lincoln Speedway in late winter and went downhill from there for a while. Eventually and far off there was light at the end of the tunnel but not before some darkness.

For the first time in his career beginning at Lincoln in March, Todd went through a "crashy" phase. It seemed every time he and the crew would get things headed in the right direction, more misfortune would strike.

In fact, through June, Todd and the team were constantly being forced to re-build racecars. The only consolation was in the fact that all but one of the accidents and bent frames were beyond Todd’s control. He just had really bad luck in finding all the on-track incidents or being taken out or having some sort of mechanical failure.

Todd chose an Eagle as his frame of choice during the early going before emerging from the crashes and going back to J & J’s. From that point on and with the addition of well-known wrench Gene Jenkins to his team, Todd began a slow up-hill climb that ended in triumph.

Along the way in 2003, Todd did experience some highlights.

He recorded the first top-five finishes of his career at Lincoln Speedway and he also competed for the first time in the entire Pennsylvania Speedweek Series. The 7M finished sixth in speedweek points.

Todd and the 7M team set fast time over the All Star Circuit of Champion sprints at Williams Grove in July before recording their best World of Outlaw finish ever, a fourth in round two of the Grove Summer Nationals.

As things continued to look up for Todd and the 7M the season began to wane as did any chances for a win. Todd reeled in a challenging second at Port Royal in late August.

The final weekend of racing was October 10, 11 and 12 at Lincoln, Williams Grove and Clinton County Speedways respectively.

At Lincoln Todd moved from 19th to finish tenth and at the Grove it was a sixth. Then on Sunday at the Clinton County Speedway it was a first! The race was the 30-lap Pennsylvania Sprint Shoot Out and it was the biggest event in the 15-year history of the speedway.

Todd started on the pole of the event and wired the field for his tenth overall career checkered flag. He endured several early race restarts and a final 19-lap non-stop run in lapped traffic to pick up the win on the tight one-third mile oval over Fred Rahmer, Blane Heimbach, Greg Hodnett and Lance Dewease.

"This wasn’t quite the year we wanted," said Todd from victory lane, "but this is the best way to end it." "This is the best way to go into the off-season."

Todd reflected on all the trials and struggles he and the team faced throughout the season, especially early on when they faced most of the adversity during the crashes.

"I’ve always believed good things happen to good people. The momentum kept being taken out of our sails but we kept diggin’ harder. I kept thinkin’ it had to get better. Sometimes you make your own luck."

"We all have full-time jobs," said Todd. "I wouldn’t be anywhere without any of them (the crew). They give 110 percent every week. When we were having our problems and things snowballed, we stuck together and worked through it."

"I think every year I’ve raced I ended the year on a bad note. I either crashed or had something happen from the days I raced go karts to sprint cars."

"This is a good way to end it. It’s good for morale and it’s kind of funny we ended the year on a good note considering we’ve had all these problems this year."

An outside view as Todd exits turn four at Port Royal. (Art Ruppert photo)

In the end, perhaps the year wasn’t so bad after all. It served to build strength and character and taught a valuable lesson in perseverance and camaraderie. Sometimes your worst times are your best times after you get a chance to reflect a bit.

In the point races, Todd finished fourth in the season standings at Port Royal and tenth at Williams Grove. In the Selinsgrove series Todd earned a sixth place finish. He entered 56 nights of competition at ten tracks with the 7M and recorded 14 top-five’s and 33 top-ten finishes including the season ending victory.

In a different sort of race, Todd was forced to deal with the loss of a friend in early summer when he said good bye to racing comrade Joe Whitcomb. Todd and Joe spent much time racing against one another in go karts and Todd remembers Joe as one of the smartest racers in the pit area.