Lonnie Wheatley, CLUTE, Texas (July 9, 2014) – Coming off a weekend that he’s eager to put in the rearview, Aaron Reutzel continues ASCS National action with his first trip to Montana this weekend. This weekend’s action includes Electric City Speedway in Great Falls on Friday and then Billings Motorsports Park on Saturday.
Reutzel and the Bob and Christie Miller’s Car Parts Machine/Wren Motorsports No. 87 Triple-X team enter this weekend’s double ranked fifth in Lucas Oil ASCS National points and riding a wave of nine top-tens in the last ten feature events, with that one other finish an 11th-place run.
More importantly, Reutzel is ready to shake off the ill effects of this past weekend.
“It had to be our worst weekend of the year,” Reutzel commented.
After a change of plans sent the Momentum Racing Suspensions/Danny Sander Construction/ButlerBuilt machine south to a scheduled ASCS Gulf South triple rather than the originally planned ASCS Warrior four-race set, a Thursday rainout at Paige’s Cotton Bowl Speedway kicked off the weekend. And it went downhill from there.
Ultra-heavy conditions made Goliad’s Shady Oaks Speedway virtually unraceable on Friday night. “I was originally just going to take the green flag and get out start money,” Reutzel explains. “But then we decided we’ll see if we can try something, maybe do something that nobody else tries. But it was impossible to pass, even the slow cars were fast. We got run into by a lapped car so we just pulled it in.”
On to Battleground Speedway in Highlands, TX, on Saturday, Reutzel went from sixth to second in the Lone Star Hydro Maintenance/BC Fundz/Wright Way Logistics machine in heat race action in short order before smoke began emanating from the engine.
“It wasn’t my motor so I pulled in,” Reutzel explained of the borrowed engine as his were in for rebuilds. An oil leak proved to be the culprit.
Starting 12th in the feature, Reutzel was once again on the move, working up to sixth within a handful of laps. But with the oil still leaking, the problems seemed to escalate. “The motor started laying down a little bit, then it did it really bad coming off of one corner so I went ahead and pulled it in.”
“We needed to get our motor freshened so that’s why we decided to go home and race Gulf South,” Reutzel says. “Don’t know that it was worth it though, we probably would have been better off staying in Missouri for the Warrior races, maybe we could have kept Cornell from going unbeaten.”
Reutzel and crew look to get back in winning form this weekend after finishing off the 2,000 mile trek to Montana with a pair of new tracks awaiting Reutzel’s No. 87.
2014 Quick Stats: 36 races, 6 wins, 19 top-fives, 27 top-tens, 7 heat race wins, 4 “B” Main wins.
Up Next: ASCS National Tour action at Electric City Speedway in Great Falls, MT, on Friday and then Billings Motorsports Park in Billings, MT, on Saturday.
Keep Track: Keep track of Aaron Reutzel’s on-track action including schedule and results at http://www.aaronreutzelracing.com/, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Aaron-Reutzel-Racing/117666254913127 or on Twitter at @AaronReutzel. You can also e-mail Aaron at aaronreutzel@yahoo.com.
If you would like Aaron Reutzel Racing press releases e-mailed directly to you, send your e-mail address to Lonnie Wheatley at lonniewheatley@gmail.com.
Penning the recurring series of “The Wheatley Chronicles” articles on racinboys.com, Lonnie Wheatley provides media, public relations and more for select tracks, drivers and events. For more information, Wheatley may be contacted at lonniewheatley@gmail.com.
- Lonnie Wheatley on Jul 09, 2014
- Article Date: 7/9/2014 by Lonnie Wheatley