Scott Winters – Ready for Knoxville!
(Kole Faragher) August 5, 2011 – It is that time of year for Scott Winters and the Winters Motorsports #23w crew- time to trek to Knoxville for the upcoming 360 and 410 Nationals. Scott is scheduled to go tonight as part of the Friday program, after Thursday’s program was washed out and pushed into Friday as part of a double header. With the heavy anticipation for the upcoming Nationals, Scott and the gang shook down the 410 motor last Sunday at Huset’s as part of the All Star Circuit of Champions show.
It had been over a month since the 410 motor was placed under the hood for Winters, and the night’s action didn’t start off the way they had wished. A loose spark plug wire resulted in the engine only firing on seven cylinders during their qualification lap. The result was a disappointing 15th quick out of the 29 cars that signed in. The lap did put Scott on the front row of his heat race in which he led every of the eight laps to victory, but also would result in him starting 15th in the ‘A’ for the night.
“It was just one of those deals that we always check before we go out for our lap, and we forgot to do it this one time and it bit us in the butt,” elaborated a dejected Winters. “With the All Stars, you want to qualify in the top six, cruise through your heat, and get into the dash and hope for the best.”
In the ‘A’ Scott would get close to finishing in the top ten, but would come up one spot short and settle in for 11th in the feature. Still, Scott and the crew was happy to move forward and get some laps in with the 410 under the hood heading for the Nationals.
“The track was a little tricky from what we are used to,” Winters said. “We are used to the heavy track at Huset’s, but it was pretty dry come feature time with everyone up top. We kind of just held our own running the top like the majority of the field and moved up when we could. The car made it to the trailer in one piece and we’ll live to fight another day.”
The upcoming 360 Nationals has brought success for Scott in the past, and he is hoping to do well again in 2011 for the 21st Annual Arnold Motor Supply 360 Nationals. The team will be using a motor from Neil Stevens again, just like when they won at Jackson Speedway back on July 8.
“We couldn’t run this show without the help of Neil again this year,” Winters said. “We hope to make the show again this year and hopefully get into the top 10 on Saturday night. We’ve only been down to Knoxville once this year (with the 410) so we are behind the 8-ball a bit, but we’re still hoping for the best.”
Winters was 6th quick last year on his qualifying night, and after transferring through the ‘B’, he would charge to finish 11th after starting 22nd on his preliminary night. That would lock him in for Saturday’s Main where he again finished 11th after starting 16th on the grid. In fact, Winters has made four out of the last five Finals on Saturday night for the 360s.
He is also scheduled to go off on Thursday night for the 410 Nationals. “I am really looking forward to the next few weeks with all these big shows in our area,” Winters stated. “It is great to get to Knoxville to race and be around so many friends and just enjoy the entire week. We’ll see if we can’t have some success to go with it all.”
Blast from the Past
Scott’s best finish on Saturday night of the 360 Nationals came back in 2008 when driving the Carnahan R19. Shane Stewart won that year with Wayne Johnson and Gary Wright wrapping up the top three.
T-Shirts
The new t-shirts are in for 2011 and will be available down in Knoxville during the 360 and 410 Nationals. Stop on down, each shirt is $15.
Sponsors
The Winters Motorsports team would like to thank their sponsors for everything that they do: T&K Transport, Wayne Harbitz with NuTech Seeds, NAM Design, The Keystyone Brew Krew, and the BFD Boys. If interested in joining the team please drop an email at the23w@gmail.com
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- Kole Faragher on Aug 05, 2011
- Article Date: 8/5/2011 by Kole Faragher