(Photo by Malcolm White Photography)
Inside Line Promotions – COTTAGE GROVE, Ore. (Aug. 9, 2015) – Perspective was key for Henry Van Dam last Saturday as he endured a frustrating night at Cottage Grove Speedway.
“We didn’t have a great night by any means, but we were racing with heavy hearts after learning about the passing of our good friend, Big Al,” he said. “Our thoughts and prayers remain with his family through this difficult time.”
Van Dam, who entered the event having won four of his previous 10 features, kicked off the night by setting quick time during qualifying.
“We haven’t been there in a while,” he said. “I knew we were quick in hot laps. I didn’t run the best laps in qualifying, but it was a good time.”
Van Dam then maneuvered from fourth to second place during a dash before the team tried a new setup in the heat race. Van Dam finished fourth in the heat, which lined him up on the inside of the fourth row for the 30-lap main event.
“We got right up to fourth place within a couple of laps,” he said. “I raced with the third-place car for quite some time. We had been struggling with our brakes. I finally cleared him and the caution came out. We got a good restart and got up to second. As soon as we did that a nose wing post broke and put the nose wing back on the hood, but I started catching the leader. The caution came out again and under that caution the motor sounded real funny so I just pulled in. I think a mag went bad.”
Van Dam, who pulled into the pits around Lap 20 while running second, was credited with a 12th-place result.
“I’d rather all that happen in one night than to ruin several nights,” he said. “Despite all that we had a chance to run down the leader. I felt like our car was real good. I just didn’t overcome all the obstacles.”
Van Dam will return to action on Aug. 22 at Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Wash.
QUICK RESULTS –
Aug. 8 – Cottage Grove Speedway in Cottage Grove, Ore. – Qualifying: 1; Dash: 2 (4); Heat race: 4 (4); Feature: 12 (7).
SEASON STATS –
22 races, 4 wins, 9 top fives, 14 top 10s, 17 top 15s, 20 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Aug. 22 at Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Wash.
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.HenryVanDam.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/VanDamRacing
APPAREL –
Van Dam has t-shirts available for sale at his race trailer and at Enumclaw Xpress Lube.
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Les Schwab Tire of Enumclaw
Les Schwab Tire of Enumclaw is a leading tire store that also services brakes, shocks and struts, batteries, wheels and more. For more information, visit http://www.LesSchwab.com.
“Les Schwab Tire of Enumclaw came on board the last couple of years,” Van Dam said. “They take care of me from my car to the hauler and trailer to make sure we get down the road.”
Van Dam would also like to thank Kovash Logging, Johansen Excavating, Enumclaw Xpress Lube, Clems Enumclaw Powersports, A.R.T. Speed Equipment, Van Dam Dairy, Village Green Resort, Factory Kahne, D&L Equipment Repair, Zender Equipment, Big Bob’s Flooring Outlet, Bob and Joan Shumway, Kellan and Kelsey Hall, Foothills Auto Supply, American Powder Coating, Pete Vos, Char’s Barber Shop, Wesmar Race Engines, SpeedMart, Van Dam Farms, Rich Van Dam Dairy and Northwest Welding & Fabrication for their continued support.
INSIDE LINE PROMOTIONS –
Inside Line Promotions specializes in affordable public relations and media management for motor sports drivers, teams, sponsors, tracks, series, events, organizations and manufacturers. ILP Founder Shawn Miller leverages professional journalism with new media technologies and social networking to improve your exposure and the return on investment for your sponsors.
To meet the media relations needs of your program by joining Team ILP, contact Shawn at 541-510-3663 or Shawn@InsideLinePromotions.com. For more information on Inside Line Promotions, visit http://www.InsideLinePromotions.com.
- Shawn Miller on Aug 09, 2015
- Article Date: 8/9/2015 by Inside Line Promotions