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By Mike Leone
May 25, 2007 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Concord, NC)
It seemed as if history sort of "stood still" for a
moment at The Dirt Track @ Lowe's Motor Speedway this past Friday
night as the FASTRAK Late Model series came to town. Austin Dillon,
son of Mike Dillon and grandson of Richard Childress, was the first
across the finish line for his first ever dirt late model win.
Although the World of Outlaw Sprint Cars were intended to be the main
attraction, the FASTRAK Late Models proved themselves as "fan worthy"
once and for all in front of a "sold out" crowd of more than 14,000
fans in the Goodyear FASTRAK Challenge. A few fans might have left
after the sprint main event, but the 11,000 plus that stayed,
witnessed some the best race of their lives as many fans said
afterwards winning the hearts of many.
Childress was quoted in victory lane as saying "folks, this is REAL
racing. I don't think I've been any more nervous trying to win the
Daytona 500. Seeing the black number 3 back up there and my family
running it- it's just great. He did a great job tonight and I'm proud
of Austin."
Although many people came to see the sprint cars, they left the track
with a great impression of the FASTRAK Late Model action forever
embedded in their minds. Fans from across the United States came
into the pits afterwards to speak with the FASTRAK teams. Many
saying they had never seen a FASTRAK event before, but were now sold
on it and would definitely be back to see them again. Clifford
Beard, team owner of the #21 of Frankie Beard, said one family came
into their pits afterwards from the State of Washington. The family
was quoted as saying, "We have never been to a late model race
before, but we will be back again. This is the kind of racing I pay
to see".
Mike Dillon stated, "After practice I was under Austin's car doing
some minor repair work to the front end. I looked over and Richard
(Childress) was laying on the ground under Clint's (Bowyer) car
working on it and he looked at me smiling as said, "This is fun ain't
it?" Dillon said he was very proud to see his father-in-law having
that much fun racing. "He was all smiles all night long," Dillon
told FASTRAK Series CEO Stan Lester afterwards. "This is where we
all came from. Yes we won and that makes it even more exciting, but
this is great. This really is racing like it used to be".
It became evident very quickly as the late models took the track,
that this was the event the fans were waiting to see. Although the
trophy presentation was in progress to the WoO Sprint car feature
winner all of the fans stood up and started clapping as the late
models took to the track. Not one fan sat down during the entire 25-
lap feature event. Let's just say, they were not disappointed
either.
At one point with just a few laps to go, cars were three-wide going
down the backstretch fighting for the first place position.
Pennington led, Mangum led, Pennington led again, Mangum led again,
all the while Dillon was moving forward with Clint Bowyer and Chris
Steele coming from the back of the field.
"I was racing against a veteran," Dillon said. "Jack Pennington did a
great job. He raced me clean." Clint Bowyer, who drives for
Childress in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup and Busch Series, started 16th and
passed Pennington for second on lap 23. He followed Dillon under the
checkered flag for runner-up, while Pennington settled for third.
It should be noted that Steele was running the smaller of the two
allowed engines (GM 602). "I felt like I had won coming from that
far back in the field," said Steele. It was later reported that
Pennington finished the race on seven cylinders. Pennington, Chase
McCormick, Mangum, Beard, Jason Walls and Roger Phillips won the heat
races over season-high 64-car field.
"There is no doubt that the teams of the FASTRAK Late Model Series
stole the heart of many fans tonight," said FASTRAK Regional Director
Jody Palmer. "It really was an incredible race. Other late model
drivers that did not race tonight were in tech afterwards even saying
it was the best race they had ever seen. That's a pretty big
statement coming from other drivers."
"Each and every team made this event a success," stated
Lester. "This is the result of their hard work and dedication to
this type of racing and every single one of them made this happen.
When you see people like Richard (Childress) really enjoying
themselves, then something good is happening. Without all of our
teams, none of this would be possible. I want to say that I really
appreciate Goodyear supporting this event. Goodyear is dedicated to
supporting "grass roots racing and also FASTRAK and its teams. Not
many dirt racing series have a lot of support from major corporations
and we are very fortunate to have them as a partner. The combination
of the Goodyear tires, GM crate engines and the FASTRAK concept has
proven to be a winner".
Goodyear FASTRAK Challenge Late Models (25 laps): 1. AUSTIN DILLON
($2,000); 2. Clint Bowyer; 3. Jack Pennington, 4. William Thomas; 5.
Chris Steele; 6. Shane Smith; 7. Timbo Mangum; 8. Brandon Haley; 9.
Roger Phillips; 10. Jordy Nipper; 11. John Llewellyn; 12. Travis
Pennington; 13. Donald Bradsher; 14. Shane Roberts; 15. Jason
Lawrence; 16. Charles Daugherty; 17. Will Shuffler; 18. Scott Morgan;
19. Chase McCormick; 20. Frankie Beard; 21. David McCoy; 22. Shanon
Buckingham; 23. Brandy Baker; 24. Jason Walls.
For more information check out www.fastrakracing. com. To join our
mailing list, simply send an e-mail to fastrakpr-
subscribe@yahoogrou ps.com.
Partners of the FASTRAK Racing Series Include: Goodyear Racing, GM
Performance Parts, Maypole Chevrolet, Duralite Wheels, PPM Racing
Products, Heintz Performance, MK-Direct, Braswell Carburetion,
Mastersbilt Racing Chassis, TNT Racing Chassis, Rocket Racing
Chassis, Modern Chevrolet and Schoenfeld Headers.
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