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Fresh off their 7th place finish at the seasons final race for the
AutoZone Elite Southwest Division at Phoenix International
Raceway, Rip Michels and his Stock Building Supply/Ladco
Racing/Victory Circle Chassis Chevrolet Monte Carlo racing team
headed to Irwindale Speedway located in Irwindale, California to
compete in the invitational only Nascar Toyota All Star Showdown.
The All Star Showdown brings together 40 of the best drivers from
across the country to compete at Irwindale Speedway. The 40
drivers all represent the top ten in points from each of the four
Nascar AutoZone Elite Southwest, Northwest, Mid-West, and
Southeast divisions.
For Rip Michels, Irwindale Speedway has been his own personal
playground. Rip is the all time win leader at Irwindale Speedway.
Rip’s numbers are impressive since the track opened in 1999. Rip
has had 93 starts with 41 victories and 56 top 5’s. He finished
second to Eric Holmes last year in the All Star Showdown and felt
that they had an even better car this year.
The team arrived at Irwindale at 2:00AM on Friday morning from
Phoenix International Raceway. Nine hours later, they set the
fastest lap time in practices with an 18.000. The car was fast and
the team felt confident that they would have a shot at the win.
The team lined up in the 6th starting position for the 2nd of two
qualifying races on Friday night. Rip took the lead on lap three
and never looked back. The win not only gave him his 42nd victory
at the track, it guaranteed him a front row starting position for
Saturday nights race.
Saturday’s race would be run in two segments, the first segment
would be 75 laps, then a 10-minute break. The second segment would
be a 50 lap run to the checkered flag. Rip started on the outside
of the front row and at the drop of the green flag, immediately
took command of the race. Rip led all 75 laps of the first
segment. The team made minor adjustments on the car during the
10-minute break for the final 50-lap sprint to the finish.
As the race went back to green, Rip lost the lead at the start and
fell back into second place. He was content to ride there until
the last 10 laps. Unfortunately, a yellow flag came out just 15
laps into the 50 laps segment. On the restart Rip and a fellow
competitor raced hard down into turn one,contact was made and Rip
spun out.
Rip was in the 31st position with 35 laps to go. Rip put on a
great show for the fans as he raced, four and sometimes five wide
to make it back up to the 6th position, where he finished the
race.
“We really had an awesome car tonight,” said Rip. “It was too bad
that we had the contact on lap 90, I felt that without that
contact, we are winning this race. But that is how it sometimes
works, when you have 40 of the best short track drivers in the
country competing. It is easy for two drivers to be battling for
the same spot. It has been a great year for us, although we had
three DNF (did not finish) including a 42nd finish to start the
season. We, as a team, got better as the year progressed and we
got the cars more competitive as the year went on. With four
straight top ten finishes to end the season, we feel like we are
going to be a factor in next year’s championship.”
Rip Michels and his entire team would like to thank all of their
sponsors for giving them the opportunity to do what they love
most, and that is to race. Thank you to Rick Smith and all of the
associates from Stock Building Supply, Lee Ladd, from LADCO
Racing, and Les and Sue Denherder from Victory Circle Chassis.
They would also like to pass on a special thanks to all of their
associates sponsors, Redline Oil, Wildwood Brakes, Ringers Gloves,
Orme Brothers, Quarter Master, Circle Racing Wheels, Aurua
Bearings, BC Sportsimages, Johnson Oil Pumps, DJ Safety, Schroeder
Torsion Bars, Ron's Rear Ends, Apache Rental Group, and Proline
Pit Carts.
For more information on Rip Michels and his sponsors, please visit
www.ripmichels.com
Source By: LRM Sports Marketing, Inc. |
