CASCAR: Vanderwyst wins CASCAR National event
11 August 1999
CALGARY, AB - After several seasons of trying and being close on several occasions, Pete Vanderwyst broke through to victory lane on Sunday afternoon at Calgary's Race City Motorsport Park. The 300 lap race was the first of four prestigious National Series events to be held this season and is one of the biggest events on the CASCAR Super Series schedule. The Loctite Chevrolet driver led for most of the second half of the race (119 laps in total) and was running second to race leader Al Turner with three laps to go. The St. Thomas, ON racer had the fastest car on the high-banked, half-mile oval and was right on Turner's rear bumper as the laps wound down. Looking for an opportunity to make the winning pass, Vanderwyst saw an opening appear, halfway through the first and second turns. Turner slid up the track ever so slightly and Vanderwyst pounced, putting the nose of his Loctite Monte Carlo underneath of Turner. The two cars touched as they battled for the lead, with Vanderwyst's left-side tires running below the apron and onto the infield grass. But not to be denied, Vanderwyst was able to keep traction and surged ahead and into the lead. He led the final two laps and had a lead of almost one second as he cruised under the checkered flag for the first time in his CASCAR career. Following the race, Vanderwyst was embraced by the members of his Loctite team and proceeded to do a cartwheel down the frontstraight of the Race City oval, to the cheers of the large Calgary crowd. Vanderwyst was justifiably elated with the victory. "It's awesome. We had an incredible car all day. We ran to the front and got there. We were hoping for rain after halfway when we were leading, but it didn't happen," noted Vanderwyst. The race was stopped on two occasions; the last time when the Loctite Chevy was leading at lap 151. Although adamant that the winning pass was 'clean', Vanderwyst was upset that Turner - who went on to finish a solid second in the race - felt that Vanderwyst dove into a hole that didn't exist. "I just hate that deal that Al thinks that I ran him rough there at the end. If the table was turned, it would have been exactly the same thing the other way. He just got in a little bit loose and I got my nose underneath. The racetrack was all there. You've got two laps left and it's a shoot-out. You use the track and that's exactly what I did. This is a National event and he finished second. He can't complain." "We've waited a long time for this," continued Vanderwyst, who finds himself in second place in the National point standings after one round. "And we knew it was going to happen. Today was the day and I'm just overwhelmed. I just don't know how I feel. It's hard to end it that way, but it's just one of them deals." Looking ahead: Vanderwyst and the rest of the CASCAR Castrol Super Series drivers will now turn their attention to this weekend's road course event at Edmonton, AB. The Loctite Chevrolet finished third in that race last year, and following his fourth-place result at the Toronto Molson Indy CASCAR race in mid-July, Vanderwyst is looking forward to returning to action on a road circuit. "We enjoyed the race at Edmonton last year and we sort of surprised ourselves with the result, just because we hadn't done any road racing before that. But we've had some success on the road courses and I really enjoy that form of racing." Practice for this weekend's second National championship race, on the tarmac of the Edmonton City Centre Airport, starts on Friday, with time trials and the qualifying heat races on Saturday afternoon. The 250 km feature event commences at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday.