[i By Bill Sullivan for Strange Motorsports]
ELK GROVE, CA – After a pair of damaging weeks, Elk Grove's Billy Strange and his Strange Motorsports winged sprint car team are ready to get back on track to continue their exciting post season in Northern California. Strange will make his return to action this Friday night at Ocean Speedway in Watsonville, California.
"I'm ready to get back on the track and we will be looking for a good solid finish," said Strange. "We've had a tough couple of weeks that’s for sure. It's racing and anything can happen though, it's not something to can expect to always avoid. You just pick yourself up and move on to the next race and learn from any mistakes you may have made."
In the past two weeks, Strange has found himself at a disadvantage early in the night following damages incurred during preliminary events. In both cases, Strange made a valiant attempt to complete the events, despite the adversities at hand.
Two weeks ago the bad luck streak started at Placerville Speedway when Strange took to the track in his #28x sprint car for the final Hoosier Tires Civil War event of the year. As he powered his way through the fourth turn of his opening lap, Strange felt the rear wheels break loose from the track surface just before he slid up the track and collided with the turn four wall. The collision caused a great deal of damage to the car, Strange attempted to return for the B-main event later I the program but later retired from the night.
"We had a lot of damage from that, " said Strange. "I pushed off and got on the throttle and the car just slid out from under me and before I knew it I was into the wall. We did our best to come back out but there was just too much damage done so that ended our season at Placerville."
Repairs took a good deal of time following the Placerville incident, so Strange entered just one of two nights during the 360 Fall Nationals at Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico this past week. Racing only on Saturday night, Strange took to the track with more than 50 competitors from throughout California and the Pacific Northwest.
In heat racing, Strange was forced to brake in an effort to avoid a collision with another car during a restart. The incident sent the 28x into a spin and placed him at the rear of the line up. On the restart Strange was only in competition for one more lap until he was collected by a spinning car which damaged the right side header of the #28x.
Returning for the B feature, Strange was ready to make up lost ground and charge his way into the high dollar feature event. After battling his way towards a transfer position the final lap ended in disappointment for the team when he caught a rut in turn four of the checkered flag lap and struck an infield tire which ended his night with a slow trip across the finish line.
"It just hasn't been our two weeks lately," said Strange. "It seemed like as soon as I got into a transfer position I lost it Saturday night. Hopefully this streak will end this week, it's not a streak we want to continue."
This Friday night, Strange will try his hand against the competitive Taco Bravo 360 Sprint Cars at Ocean Speedway located on the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds in Watsonville. This series features many of California's top sprint car drivers on the lightning fast quarter-mile. Following the Watsonville event, Strange will return to a 410 powered sprint car in the upcoming Cotton Classic at Giant Chevrolet Speedway in Hanford on October 16th.
Strange Motorsports has a number of marketing partners that they are thankful for. Among their supporters are QWK Racing Components, ART Enterprises, Kevin Sharrah Designs, Swepco Lubricants, Pronol Race Fuels, MotoWear International, America's Tire, High Country Painting and Amerikote.
The team is seeking primary sponsorship for the 2011 racing season. In the year to come Strange plans on competing in a variety of high profile events and campaigns including weekly events at Placerville Speedway, the Civil War Series and the traveling Golden State Challenge Series. To learn more about Billy Strange or to contact them about sponsorship opportunities, visit his official website at www.billystrangejr.com.
- Bill Sullivan on Oct 07, 2010
- Article Date: 10/7/2010