STOCKS: Raudman Ready to Rocket in Southwest Series Season Ender
1 November 2000
Rancho Santa Margarita, California (November 1, 2000) - Craig Raudman, driver of the #2 Yerf-dog Fun Karts/ITPS Chevrolet in the Featherlite Southwest Series, NASCAR Touring and NASCAR Winston West Series, has had some great runs during the 2000 season, including wins and top five finishes. Phoenix International Raceway has historically stymied him, however, a problem he hopes to overcome in this Friday's Albertson's/Osco 125. Although Raudman has led many laps at PIR and, during the 1998 Copper World weekend, he edged out Winston Cup regular Kenny Schrader to take the Bud Pole Award with a qualifying run of 27.546 seconds, mechanical problems or accidents have taken him out of contention in every event he has entered at PIR. "We've typically had strong runs and we set fast time once, but we've been taken out by mechanical problems every time we've come here," Raudman said. "We hope to change that this weekend, and wrap up this season with a good, strong run. We'll be using a new Freight Train Peters motor, and we'll probably come in with a fairly conventional setup to start with." Dave Reed Racing also announced that it will carry decals for Copeland's, a new restaurant scheduled to open soon in Phoenix by Yerf-Dog Fun Karts CEO Rich Godfrey, on the racecar this weekend, in addition to the now-familiar Yerf-Dog paw prints. On-track activities include a Yerf-Dog Fun Kart giveaway. Fans who want a chance at going home with a Yerf-Dog Fun Kart should be on the lookout for the Yerf-Dog booth on the midway, and get their entries in before the race. Dave Reed Racing operates NASCAR Winston West and Featherlite Southwest Series, NASCAR Touring teams featuring Craig Raudman as driver. His results for his limited schedule in the 2000 season to date include one win, two top five finish and one Bud Pole Award. Raudman finished in the top five in final points standings in four of his past five full NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Series seasons.