Mindy's Minute
Press Information: For Immediate Release Contact Information Mindy Stephens Ringers Gloves Public Relations 317-858-9581 _mindys@ringersgloves.com_ (mailto:mindys@ringersgloves.com) MINDY’S MINUTE Brownsburg, Ind. - (June 13, 2007) Last week was a busy week of racing! Before I ventured up to the Torco Race Fuels NHRA Route 66 NHRA Nationals at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Ill., to work for the weekend, I headed over to the famed Eldora Speedway in Ohio to take in the Nextel Prelude to the Dream presented by Old Spice. This year marks the third year Tony Stewart has brought in an array of drivers from different forms of racing, with proceeds from the event going to the Victory Junction Gang Camp and the Tony Stewart Foundation. The race kicks off the weekend for one of the biggest races in dirt late model racing, the $100,000 “Dream.�?? Ringers Gloves had a couple supporting racers in the all-star field, including Penske Racing’s Ryan Newman and former NHRA champion and current racer Cruz Pedregon. Unfortunately, neither of them fared well throughout the night’ s festivities. Newman started his heat race off by colliding with Bill Elliott, resulting in Elliott flipping over. Newman’s team had to make extensive repairs to get him ready for the 30-lap feature event. Newman was able to manage an 18th-place finish, while Pedregon came home right behind him in 19th. Even though he didn’t have that great of a finish, Newman still seemed to be in a jovial mood after the race was over, as were all the drivers in the field, even NHRA racer Ron Capps, who retired on lap two with a mechanical problem. I have been going to the races at Eldora since I was a little girl and I could not believe the amount of people who were at the track for a race in the middle of the week! I believe Eldora officials estimated the attendance at 20,000 plus race fans. Since Tony purchased the track, he has definitely used it and marketed it in such a good way to keep the namesake of the Baltes’ family alive and well in western Ohio. While a Ringers supporting racer wasn’t celebrating in Victory Lane on Saturday night, a first-time Dream winner was however. Steve Casebolt from Richmond, Ind., picked up his first career $100,000 Dream check from the newly crowned Ms. Eldora Speedway queens, Andrea Pyles and Dusti Rayburn. Casebolt’s win didn’t come easy though, as he had to fend off multi-time winner, Scott Bloomquist. Other Ringers notables throughout the field were Chub Frank, third; Jeep VanWormer, 13th; Josh Richards, 16th; Brian Shirley, 20th; Steve Francis, 21st and Brian Birkhofer, 23rd. Some big Ringers names failed to make the A feature for the Dirt Late Model Dream on Saturday night…the likes of Shannon Babb, Rick Eckert and Donnie Moran missed out on their chance to take home the big payday. Over the past few years, racing in general has become more competitive in all aspects of it, not just late model racing. In Joliet some NHRA regulars who are used to racing on Sunday, sat on the sidelines and watched from outside of the cockpit. Whit Bazemore, Brandon Bernstein and Morgan Lucas all failed to qualify for the Torco Race Fuels Route 66 Nationals. Sunday marked Bazemore and Bernstein ’s second DNQ’s of the season, while Lucas notched his fourth DNQ. In Top Fuel, Bernstein’s DNQ worked to Hot Rod Fuller’s advantage, as he was able to regain the point’s lead, only by 31 points, over Bernstein. Fuller’ s lead would have been more prevalent, but he was defeated by fellow Ringers racer Larry Dixon in finals. Dixon, not only a racer but also the landlord of the building I work out of, scored his first win since September 2005 with his new sponsor, SkyTel after Miller Lite pulled out of the Snake Racing camp the end of last season. Dixon’s win pushed him to fourth in points, 90 markers behind Fuller. This season, the NHRA POWERade Pro Stock class and KB Racing has seen the challenge of another powerhouse in the category. Cagnazzi Racing has come on strong in 2007, now sitting second (Jeg Coughlin Jr.) and third (Dave Connolly) in points behind Greg Anderson. Jeggy moved passed his teammate Connolly in points on Sunday after outrunning Jason Line on a holeshot. Jeggy left the line with a .002-second reaction time, landing him in the Winner’s Circle with a 6.658/207.37 mph to Line’s quicker 6.656/208.07 mph run. Coughlin wasn’t the only big winner in Pro Stock competition over the weekend. Ringers’ racer Kurt Johnson became the first four-time King Demon Crown winner on Saturday in the specialty race, picking up a $50,000 check from Barry Grant Inc. Andrew Hines brought home the first win of 2007 for the Screamin’ Eagle Harley-Davidson Vance & Hines team on Sunday, in front of the president of Harley along with many other executives and employees from the Milwaukee-based operation. While Smith jumped off the line first, Hines motored by Smith’s Torco Race Fuels Buell at half-track to claim his first Wally of the year. After playing in the dirt at Eldora on Wednesday night, Ryan Newman headed to Pocono Raceway and collected his third straight Budweiser Pole of the season. Rain played havoc with the schedule and the race on Sunday; the race started a couple hours late because of rain earlier in the day and rain also prevented Newman from picking up his first win since late 2005 because NASCAR officials were forced to call the race just past halfway when showers entered back into the area. Newman had to settle for second place the second week in a row. Newman’s Penske Racing teammate Kurt Busch hasn’t had the best of luck the past couple races. After being parked at Dover for a pit road incident with Tony Stewart, Busch wrecked his primary car in practice on Friday. The damages were extensive enough the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge team was forced to roll out Busch’s backup car, which he qualified 27th. With the race was shortened, Busch’s team just didn’t have enough laps to get the car to Busch’s driving comfort, however he was still able to bring the No. 2 home in 16th position. While the Nextel Cup Series was in Pocono, the NASCAR Busch Series visited the Nashville Superspeedway. Nashville is known for producing many first time winners and Ringers supporter Todd Kluever was hoping to become one of them. Kluever lined up for the Federated Auto Parts 300 presented by Dollar General in sixth position, after sitting on the provisional pole during the qualifying session. Kluever piloted his No. 16 3M Ford Fusion home to his first top-10 finish of the year with an eighth-place finish. While he was looking for a better finish, he was pleased to settle for eighth. Kluever and all the Busch Series competitors head to Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, Ky., this weekend for the Meijer 300. The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series visited Texas Motor Speedway under the lights on Friday night. Ringers’ supporting racers in the field included Green Light Racing’s Tim Sauter and Eric Norris (substituting for Chad McCumbee) and South Point Racing’s Brendan Gaughan. Sauter and Norris both finished the race in 14th and 20th, respectively, while Gaughan was involved in a latter race accident and was scored 24th. The Truck Series will piggyback with the ARCA RE/MAX Series and the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series this weekend at Michigan International Speedway. Ringers’ sprint car racer Jonathan Allard had a winning weekend! JA started his weekend by picking up a points race win at Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, Calif. The reigning Golden State Challenge (GSC) Series champion then headed to Petaluma Speedway in Petaluma, Calif., to pick up his third GSC win of the season, seventh win overall in 2007. That’s the previous weekend’s racing wrap! I am off to Michigan International Speedway for the ARCA RE/MAX Series race on Friday and then off to Englishtown, N.J., for the ProCare Rx NHRA SuperNationals presented by R2B2 Motors. The Englishtown race will be the start of a six-week stretch for myself and everyone on the NHRA POWERade Racing Series tour. One more thing, don’t forget this Sunday is Father’s Day! If you are looking for a last minute gift, Ringers Gloves offers a vast selection of mechanic’ s, racing and specialty gloves to suit any use your dad needs! About Ringers Gloves Ringers Gloves, Official Gloves of NHRA and title sponsor for the Ringers Gloves Pro Bike Battle, is a full-line manufacturer of high-end, task specific gloves, SFI 3.3/1, 3.3/10, 3.3/20 racing gloves, UnderX protective undergarments and rdigs pit boots. Keep up with your favorite Ringers racers in ‘07 by logging onto _www.ringersgloves.com_ (http://www.ringersgloves.com/) for photos and highlights! Mindy Stephens Public Relations/Marketing Ringers Gloves - Indianapolis 475 Northpoint Court Suite 300 Brownsburg, IN 46112 P: 317-858-9581 F: 317-858-9560 RingersIndy@aol.com www.ringersgloves.com ************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com.