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Here is the race report
for race number eleven for the NASCAR AutoZone Elite Southwest
Series. Rip Michels and his Stock Building Supply/Ladco Racing/
Victory Circle Chevrolet headed to their home track of Irwindale
Speedway this past Saturday night to compete in the Stock Building
Supply 150 & Home Improvement Show.
The team was eager to compete at Irwindale Speedway. The last visit
to the track was on July 9, 2005 in the Super Late Model Division
where Rip captured his 40th and 41st career victories at the track
where he has the most wins of any driver. The July 9th race kicked
off a string of five straight races for the team, with the fifth
one back at Irwindale this past weekend.
This was a huge weekend for the team, not only was their sponsor,
Stock Building Supply sponsoring the race, they would also host a
spectacular home improvement show featuring displays from many of
the nation’s largest manufacturers and distributors of the top
brand name power tools, windows, doors, decking, siding,
fasteners, connectors, paint, and more, from several of the
vendors that are associates of Stock Building Supply.
As the team unloaded the car, they had high hopes for a very
successful day, but as the first practice came, the team was dealt
a series of set backs that would plague the team all day. In the
first practices session, Rip had lost traction on the front end of
the car and made contact with the wall. The team quickly sprung
into action and made the necessary repairs to the car to prepare
for the second practice session.
The team got back on the track and set the fastest practice time in
the second session, but a vibration in the front end of the car
made both driver and crew nervous. Not wanting to take a chance
with the car or their fellow competitors, the team replaced all of
the components on the right front of the car. Barely getting out
in time for qualifying, Rip set the 2nd fastest qualifying time
with a lap of 17.862.
The invert, like last weekend, was a 10. Rip would have to start
9th on the field, fifth row inside. At the drop of the green flag,
Rip immediately went for his patent move at Irwindale Speedway, on
the bottom. Rip was engaged in one of the fiercest battles all
year, as everybody from fifth on back were battling for position,
cars were sometimes three and four wide. On lap 12 two cars made
contact and spun in front of Rip, but he made a great save from
getting caught up in the wreck. When Rip emerged from the smoke,
he had the fifth position.
The team was pumped up, as both Rip and the car were doing fine as
the yellow flag flew. On lap 20 the green flag flew, but Rip had a
problem, the vibration that had plagued the team during practices
had returned, Rip dropped back to the 8th position, as the
vibration got worse. On lap 66 the vibration had gotten so bad
that Rip parked the car, finishing a disappointing 21st.
“We, as a team are really disappointed right now,” said Rip “Racing
can be a cruel sport, but if you have been a part of racing as
long as we have, you get used to the fact that things happen that
are out of your control. You always have to look for the positive,
the car was fast, and we felt we had a shot at the win. More
importantly for us, was the fact that the race and Home
Improvement Show was a great success. During the meet and greets
that we had all day, everybody had stated that they had a great
time and the vendors were all very pleased with the turnout.”
The team’s next race will be in Salt Lake City, Utah at Rocky
Mountain Raceway on August 28, 2005. This race is part of the team
promotional tour for Stock Building Supply as they visit the Stock
Building Supply Associates from the Utah area.
. For more information about Rip Michels and his sponsors, please visit
www.ripmichels.com
Source By: LRM Sports Marketing, Inc. |
