Garvey Wins Second ASA National Tour Race of Year at IRP
CLERMONT, Ind. (July 31, 2004) - Mike Garvey put his No. 17 Jani-King Chevrolet in the top spot in both of the
practice sessions for the Meijer 200 presented by SK Hand Tool. He proved that was no fluke by pulling of the
race win at Indianapolis Raceway Park.
"Man, we were good in practice and we wanted to leave it alone and not work on it too hard," said the affable
Atlanta-based driver. "It worked right to our favor. We ran as fast at the end of the race as we qualified and
that's pretty amazing for that many laps on these tires."
It nearly wasn't for Garvey as he had to take evasive action to avoid a spinning Boris Jurkovic on lap 148. A
pack of cars was racing to stay on the lead lap and Jurkovic ended up getting bumped out of the groove in
Turn 2 right in front of Garvey.
"I saw him spin, but I couldn't find him in the smoke," Garvey said of the incident. "There was about three of
them like that. In this place you have to remember it's so flat that when they spin they go up. So I just figured,
'well, I'll go low and take my chances' and luckily it worked out."
The win was Garvey's second of the year making him the first driver in 2004 to win more than one event. It
was his 19th career win.
Following Garvey 1.948-seconds across the line was Scott Lagasse Jr., the polesitter of the event. This was
the first ASA National Tour Jani-King pole in his career.
"It was a lot of fun," a tired Lagasse said. "I'm glad to see Mike and Shane (Tesh, No. 17 crew chief) do well.
They work hard. Our guys worked real hard too. We were a tick tighter in qualifying than they were and that's
what got us a little bit quicker than them in qualifying. We just got a bit too tight there in the end. It was all I
had."
Third was Kevin Cywinski in the No. 1 Country Joe Homes Chevrolet. He was followed across the line by
Bryan Reffner, Toby Porter, Reed Sorenson, Todd Kluever, Travis Kittleson, Mike Eddy and Butch Miller
rounding out the Top 10. It was Miller's 300th ASA National Tour career start.
Cywinski retains this spot leading the driver point standings, but Mike Garvey will move into second following a
multi-car accident that took out rookie Wade Day on lap 78. Day suffered a bruised foot from hitting the brake
pedal.
"We know Mike (Garvey) is going to be a challenge the rest of the year," Cywinski said of the points chase.
"There are going to be some good tracks for him, and I think we have a couple of good tracks for us also. It's
going to be a dogfight to the end."
The 200-lap event on the tricky 0.686-mile oval saw six lead changes among five drivers, and 20 of the 33
starters finished on the lead lap. The entire night saw packs of drivers battling two and three-wide, much to the
delight of the near-capacity crowd. There were nine cautions for 57 laps.
Robbie Pyle was the BFGoodrich Tires Halfway leader - his third of the year - and the Cool Shirt "Cool Move
of the Race" award was given to Travis Kittleson. The driver of the No. 30 Bob Steele Chevrolet spun twice
during the Meijer 200, yet still managed to stay on the lead lap and finish eighth.
For moving up 15 positions in the event, the seven-time ASA National Tour champion Mike Eddy was the VP
Fuels "Hard Charger of the Race." The SK Hand Tool Crew Chief of the Race was Scott Lagasse Sr. with the
No. 20 Chevrolet.
Earlier in the evening, Bobby Stremme won the SK Hand Tool 100, his second ASA Late Model Series win of
the 2004 season.
Stremme, from South Bend, Ind., took the lead on lap 44 of the 100-green flag lap event, but it took a full lap
for him to make the pass complete on the No. 64 of Jack Smith. The two ran side-by-side until Stremme was
able to make the inside line work and he then pulled away.
The next event for the ASA National Tour is Saturday, August 14 at Jennerstown (Pa.) Speedway. The
American Speed Association is based in Pendleton, Ind., and has offered stock car racing programs since
1968, including the ASA National Tour, ASA Late Model Series, several regional touring series and the ASA
Member Track programs. For additional information, visit asaracing.com.
- www.asaracing.com -