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Mertztown, PA- Barry White Scores Top Five Finish At Five Mile Point Speedway
by Steve Pados, GA Motorsports Media
Barry White, the extremely popular Modified campaigner from Mertztown, Pennsylvania, has in his own words been awful in his early season starts at the Five Mile Point Speedway.
One crazy malady after another has haunted the team since the 2008 racing season began. The season began on a somber note as first Barry's wife was injured in a freak accident at her place of employment and lost the use of her hand for many months as the recovery has been extremely slow and the rehabilitation has been quite painful. If that wasn't enough Barry's Mom and the team's "Chief Cook and Bottle Washer" suffered a major stoke that sent the team reeling even more. Mom is on her way to recovery as well but the team has suffered a great deal without the moral support of the solid team members.
When White first fired-up the car at the start of the new campaign, the car acted well when he cracked the throttle in the race shop. Once the team arrived at FMP for the first race all of that changed as the car proved to be bulky and unresponsive no matter what the team tried to do to cure the ills. This led to White taking off the carb and sending it out for inspection and repair. Once those ills were solved the car became tough to tame on the raceway and White found himself flustered at the misfortunes of the team.
Saturday night as the Point was no different as White raced to a third place finish in his heat event but once again was having a problem in turning the car. White began the feature event from the pole position by virtue of the handicapping process and did jump out to an early lead in the contest. Deciding his car was not going to co-operate for the duration of the feature, White allowed the first one car to move by him on the outside and knew for the remainder of the race he would have a fistful of race car to try and negotiate around the 1/4 mile FMP race track. Despite the ill handling piece, White found enough straightaway speed to hang on and finish the event with a solid top five finish, his first in the new season at FMP.
After the event "The Mighty Man From Mertztown" was a tired soul and remained perplexed about the race car as he was hoping for a change in fortunes right from the start of the new season. Last year was a transition year for the veteran campaigner as he encountered some early season problems that saw him park his regular mount, take a few weeks off, and then return to the track with a few race old Teo Bow-Flex race car White purchased from a friend who lived close-by and who wasn't involved with Modified racing any longer. The purchase of the car and some quick set-up changes seemed to be a perfect fit to match with White's all-out driving style. After the purchase, some strong top five finishes and a spectacular feature win catapulted the Berks County driver into the top twenty in points where he eventually settled for a final 16th finish at the season's end.
The new mount was seemingly the ticket for the veteran driver. White was extremely happy with the purchase of the racer and is hoping for a quick rebound to drive the racer into victory lane in 2008. Over the winter months, the team took the car totally apart and replaced all of the existing running gear. A freshly built Curt Neiman Machine 358 Chevy 9 to 1 Alcohol powerplant transfers the power to the rear wheels for White's "Mighty Moves" to the front. Deka Batteries and Accessories continue to play a major role in the sponsorship of Barry White Racing Team entry in 2008 and additional sponsorship was found with Wert's Beverages out of Topton, Pennsylvania coming on board for the 2008 racing season. As always, the Barry White Racing Team will carry it's signature number 131 proudly on the race car.
Barry White will be entering his 31st season behind the wheel of a race car. He has won features at numerous tracks and the popular campaigner feels very comfortable competing at Five Mile Point. White stumbled upon Five Mile Point in 2004 when his regular track Lake Mocatek Speedway folded the tents five weeks into the season. While the confines of the two speedways were similar, the Five Mile Point track is a bit larger with more racing room available to the competitors. White has adapted well to his new home track and is looking forward to the tight competition Five Mile Point has always been noted for. The popular race team has gained many friends along their racing journey and encourage all fans to stop in after the races to say hello.
For more information and the latest updates regarding Barry White and Barry White Racing, please contact Steve Pados at GA Motorsports Media. By phone call: 610 573 9706. or through email at: steveswp@netzero.net
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