By Craig Revelle – Finish Line Web Design
The 2011 racing season started out slow for Billy Dunn and his Watertown, New York team. With their home track, Chapman’s Can Am Motorsports Park dropping the Big Block Modified division, Dunn piloted a Small Block Modified around the fast half-mile track this season, and it took the team a few weeks to adapt their setup to the 358 Modified car.
With more laps under his belt at Can Am, the faster he got, and by the middle of May he was getting a handle on the car. After a second place finish on May 13th, Dunn returned the following week and brought home his first win of the season, and then returned to Can Am again to make it two wins in a row. Dunn was very consistent at Can Am through the month of June, and established himself as a favorite for his third consecutive Can Am title. He was also running weekly at Canandaigua Speedway, and sporadically at Cayuga County Fair Speedway.
July was the busiest month of the season for Dunn with nine events. He picked up two more feature wins at Can Am, and was a solid top five finisher at Canandaigua Speedway throughout the month. As the summer heated up and the calendar turned to the month of August, Dunn continued to fire on all cylinders, winning three more times, and secured the Can Am title by the end of the month.
September was a relatively quiet month for Billy and his team, as they began to prepare for Super DIRT Week and Syracuse and the World Finals in Charlotte, North Carolina to end the season. Dunn turned some heads last year with his strong run at Syracuse, before falling out of the race early with a mechanical failure, and optimism was high as they returned in 2011.
It didn’t take long to realize that Dunn was even stronger this time around at Syracuse, posting the second fastest speed in time and winning his 20 lap qualifying heat race.. The success continued with a win in the 20 lap Safety-Kleen Shootout for the Big Block Modifieds. Dunn was just as strong during the S.E.F. 200, staying in the top five for the first 50 laps, and battled back after losing a lap before halfway. Their day ended early after getting caught up in a crash on lap 108, but not before serving notice that he had one of the fastest cars of the weekend at Syracuse.
The season wrapped up in early November at the Dirt Track at Charlotte Motor Speedway. In two 40 lap events, Dunn posted finishes of 9th and 15th.
Billy Dunn had a great 2011 season and is very thankful to his team for their dedication and support. Dunn’s team consists of Joe Combs, Craig Palmieri, Milt Combs, Ray Bancroft, Ryan Zehr, Dale Eggleston, Bobby Thurston Jr., and B.J. Vock, as well as Norm and Tim Dunn from Number One Speed.
“I wouldn’t be able to do any of this without the help of these dedicated crewmembers that help us throughout the year”, says Dunn. “I can’t thank them enough for all they do for this race team”.
Dunn is proud to race under the banner of American Traditions Motorsports for his second full season. With the support of ATM, Pemco Contracting, Number One Speed, Fast Lube of Watertown, Frosty’s Ice Cream, SUNY Canton, Jiffy Dumpster, Finger Lakes Auto Machine, North Country Custom, R & D Fabrication and Bicknell Racing Products, 2011 has been a very exciting season for Billy Dunn.
For more information on Billy Dunn and the Number One Speed race team, please check out our website, www.billydunn49.com.
