NASCAR-CTS: David Starr Ready to Fulfill One Dream
4 June 1999
Ft. Worth, Texas --Growing up around racing, David Starr had dreams of competing on many of NASCAR's most famous tracks such as Daytona, Charlotte, Talladega, and the legendary "Thunder Valley" - Bristol Motor Speedway. On Saturday, June 5, Starr will have a chance to fulfill the dream of driving the high-banks of Bristol during the Coca-Cola Family 200."I've watched the Bristol races on TV for years and always thought that one day I would get to visit and maybe catch a race from the stands, " Starr said, "But I never thought that I would be driving the first time I got to see Bristol in person."
Starr takes his No. 73 Sonntag Redi-Mix Concrete Chevrolet to Bristol 24th in the points standings and fresh off a top-10 qualifying position from the last race at I-70 Speedway.
"To qualify tenth at I-70 was a big boost to the team," Starr said. "Our race did not go as well as planned though since we had to make a green-flag pit stop to change a tire that had the valve stem cut off. Later we missed a lug nut and had to come in again to fix that so we lost a lot of time in the pits.
"But we did prove to ourselves that we can qualify well. We are looking to take some of what we learned from the last race to this weekend's event at Bristol," he said.
Bristol has a history of being hard on equipment. The turns have 36-degree banking, and at 16-degrees the straights have more tilt than many tracks do in the corners. This combination, along with the tight 0.533-mile configuration, produces fast speeds and plenty of action that may cause Starr to come home with more sheet-metal damage that he has seen all season.
"Knock on wood, but we have been pretty lucky so far this year," Starr said. "I have only been involved in one incident (with Ron Hornaday at Martinsville) and we really just bumped and spun so there was little damage to the truck. Otherwise we've been able to race clean. Hopefully this streak can continue though it will be tough to complete a Bristol race without some type of damage," Starr explained.
The Coca-Cola Family 200 is the ninth race of the season and will be broadcast live on espn2 and MRN radio at 9:30 p.m. EST on Saturday, June 5. Qualifying takes place a day earlier at 4:00 p.m. EST.
A resident of Ft. Worth, Texas, Starr currently stands third in the USG SHEETROCK Brand Rookie-of-the-Year points standings and also races a limited Winston West schedule in the #35 Chevrolet Monte Carlo.
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