Press Release: Chris Wimmer Battles Friday the 13th, Prevails With Top-10 Finish

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

 


Chris Wimmer Battles Friday the 13th, Prevails With Top-10 Finish in the
Larry Detjens Memorial


Wausau, Wis. - 07/17/2007 - Friday the 13th proved to be a long and
stressful day for Chris Wimmer, however, with patience and some great
passing, Wimmer prevailed with a 6th place finish in the Larry Detjens
Memorial at Golden Sands Speedway.

Wimmer's day started out looking for another car to drive for Friday night's
Larry Detjens Memorial. The No. 7-11 of Wayne Brevek didn't survive its
Thursday night race so Wimmer was out of that option. His back-up car won
the Thursday night race, so that owner wanted to race it himself.
Fortunately, the Bassueners (owners of Golden Sands Speedway) introduced
Wimmer to Burton Brown. Brown had a back-up car back at his shop that he
would let Chris use. Hopping in his truck, Wimmer drove the hour-and-a-half
to the shop, loaded the car on his trailer, and the hour-and-a-half back to
the track. 

Pulling into the track with one hour of practice left, Wimmer made six
practice laps and changed the entire set-up of the car. He went out and
qualified Brown's back-up No. 07-W 6th with a lap of 12.237 seconds.
However, due to the track "tire" rule that states if a driver hasn't raced
the speedway that season and has to buy four new tires, Wimmer was forced to
forfeit his qualifying position and start at the back of his heat race.
Following qualifying, Wimmer and his crew changed everything again. 

"He [car owner Burton] thought I was crazy for making all those changes,"
Wimmer said, laughing.

Wimmer raced in Heat 3, starting at the back in the 8th position. Wimmer
finished in 6th place.

The Feature Race for the Larry Detjens Memorial is run in a very special way
to honor the Wisconsin legend. The field races hard for 25 laps. The race is
paused for two ceremonial laps run in honor of Detjens and led by a replica
of his purple No. 25 Dodge Charger. The race resumes with another 25-lap
battle to the checkered flag.

Wimmer started the feature race in the 17th position. Wimmer raced his way
to the 9th position in the first 25 laps. Restarting the race on lap 26, the
pack stayed tight and passing was difficult. As the pack started to travel
single-file, Wimmer gained 3 more positions finishing in 6th place.

"It was such a short race," stated Wimmer. "I moved up as much as I could as
fast as possible. Traffic stayed tight for the first 20 laps of the second
half. As soon as I could hit the bottom, I started digging. The next thing I
knew, it was over. 50 laps just go so fast! If it had been a hundred lap
race, or even another 25 laps, I think we could have gone for the win."

"I had a lot of fun tonight," Wimmer said smiling. "It was a long day, but I
have fun at these races. I really want to thank the Bassueners for hooking
me up with Burton Brown. And a huge thank you to Burton for letting me drive
his car. It was good and fast.I was hoping to give him a win with it. I'm
hoping to get my own car together and get back here again next year."

Wimmer returns to racing tonight at the Slinger Speedway in Burton Brown's
No. 07, where he and older brother Scott will compete in the 28th Annual
Miller Lite Slinger Nationals against other NASCAR notables such as Kyle
Busch, Matt Kenseth, and Wisconsin legend, Dick Trickle. This time, Wimmer
will have 250 laps to get to the front and the checkered flag. 

 

Gates open tonight, July 17, at Slinger Speedway at 3:00 p.m. Qualifying
begins at 4:00 p.m. and racing will start at 7:00 p.m. local time. The rain
date is Wednesday July 18th.

 

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Media Contact:    Jody Bartels

                            (205) 910-4429

                             
jodybartels@turn-two.com