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Rip Michels and his Stock Building Supply/Ladco Racing/ Victory
Circle Chassis Chevrolet Monte Carlo headed to Northern California
this past Saturday night to compete in the “Shasta 125” at Shasta
Raceway Park. This was race twelve of fourteen for the NASCAR
AutoZone Elite Southwest Series.
The team arrived in Anderson, California late Friday afternoon. As
most of the teams were finishing up their open practice session,
the teams were treated to a barbeque that was hosted by George
Wade and the staff of Shasta Raceway Park. The barbeque brought
together all of the drivers, owners, crews, family, and friends
for a great night of conversation and food.
On Saturday, the team arrived at the racetrack with a great deal of
excitement and concern. Most of the teams were able to test their
cars on Friday, but due to a scheduling conflict, the Stock
Building Supply Racing team would have to head into Saturday’s
practice session, with zero laps on the track. Since this was the
first visit for the team, they were concern as to what to expect
from both the track and the car.
The team had consistently placed the car in the top ten during the
two practice sessions. Rip and the team decided to make some
changes right before qualifying as they felt it would help the car
in the race. Rip then posted the 8th fastest lap in qualifying
with a lap of 15.646. The team then received some good fortune
when the invert for the race was an 8, putting Rip on the pole for
the race.
At the drop of the green flag, Rip took the lead and had built up a
10 car lengths lead. Around lap 50 Rip had noticed that he was
loosing front brakes, which was causing the car to get loose going
into the turns. Unfortunately, the team miscalculated the amount
of brakes that the small 3/8 mile would require.
On lap 84 with the brake situation becoming more of an issue, Rip
could no longer hold the bottom of the track and subsequently gave
up the number one position. Rip dropped to third in the running
order. On lap 114, a caution had come out, with the brakes cooled
and 6 laps to go, Rip was able to get back to 2nd position, where
he would finish the night.
“We are really pleased with the finish,” said Rip. “The team made a
couple of front spring and sway bar changes, and the car really
came alive. I felt like we had a shot at the win. We as a team
just made the wrong choice in the size of the breaking system that
we used. We simply did not think that we would use that much brake
here, and that cost us. This is such a hard sport to win at.
Things are always changing on you. It’s like you get one piece of
the puzzle figured out, then another problem settles itself in. In
this case, we really made gains on our chassis set up, only to
make the wrong decision on our brakes. As they say, if it was
easy, everyone would be doing it. I can promise you this, our team
will not make that mistake again. With the help of Jeff and the
great people at Willwood Disc Brakes, we will have more than
enough brakes at Mesa Marin.”
Rip’s next event will be race number 13 for the NASCAR AutoZone
Elite Southwest Division at the famed Mesa Marin Raceway on
October 15, 2005 located in Bakersfield, California. This will be
the last race and final event at the legendary West Coast track.
Opened in April of 1977, the track will close as the final
checkered flag falls on the night’s event.
For more information on Rip Michels and his sponsors, please visit
www.ripmichels.com
Source By: LRM Sports Marketing, Inc. |
