Engine Failure Seizes Career Day For Leonard At Pocono

Engine  Failure Seizes Career Day For Leonard At Pocono 

Long  Pond, Pennsylvania - - After  qualifying a season best 16th Saturday 
morning from Pocono Raceway  2005 ARCA RE/MAX Series Rookie-of-the-Year 
candidate Johnny Leonard and the  entire Boca Bay Racing team were excited about the 
strong possibilities of  capturing their first top-ten finish of the season. 
Leonard,  who never seen the track before Friday morning quickly adapted to 
the 2.5  tri-oval and some had set their eyes on the No. 13 as a serious 
sleeper for the  80 lap/200 mile event. 
With  rain in the area, the start of the ARCA 200 was pushed up with 40 
drivers  starting their engines just after 3:00pm.  With crew chief Ted Kennedy at 
the team’s control, owner Rick Woodard on  the pit box and spotter Tony Micale 
high above, the rest of the BBR crew was  ready to go. 
With  the green flag thrown, Johnny Leonard quickly began his march towards 
the  front.  Driving a new Chevrolet  Monte Carlo purchased from Braun Racing 
in association with Dale Earnhardt, Inc,  the Cape Coral, Florida driver was on 
a mission.  A mission to get to the front and stay  there. 
By  lap twenty Leonard had muscled his Boca Bay Builders machine into the  
top-ten.  Continuing to race towards  the top-five, Leonard was forced to join 
the other leaders and make a green flag  pit stop closing in on lap 35.  The  
Boca Bay Racing crew positioned four new Hoosier tires and added Sunoco racing  
fuel, sending the former late model driver on his way. 
The  first caution flag of the day waived ten laps later for a stalled 
vehicle, with  Leonard sitting in eighth.  On the  restart, Leonard got a great jump 
on the rest of the pack and continued to pull  away when the unthinkable 
occurred on lap 45 when the motor underneath the  team’s best car of the season 
foiled leaving the team with a disappointing and  frustrating 29th place finish. 
“We  had a great car,�?? said the driver.  “Man, it was the best car of my 
career.  The car was awesome, everything was  going our way, and then the engine 
blew. There were no signs of it going, I just  went down the backstretch and 
she exploded.  It’s a shame because we definitely had a  car good enough to 
score a top-five.�?? 
Leonard  added, “I just want to thank all of our sponsors for their support.  
Boca Bay Builders, Affordable Roofing,  FansCrew.com, Russo’s Tinting, and 
AMSOIL.  We’re gonna get better that’s a promise.�?? 
Partner  Rick Woodard wasn’t discouraged by the finish, but encouraged by the 
 performance.  “Everyone knew that we  were here.  We ran up front, Johnny  
drove a great race; we just had the wrong results.  We’re heading to Michigan 
next week with  the sister car to the one we had this weekend and we’ll have a 
new motor, we’ll  be ready to go and prove this weekend’s performance was no  
fluke.�?? 
Next  up for the ARCA RE/MAX Series is the two-mile oval of Michigan 
International  Speedway.  Leonard has success at  the Irish Hills based track.  Last  
year, Johnny scored his career best finish (12th) after starting  13th.   The 
team  will look to improve on that performance and start and finish in the  
top-ten.