Schererville, Ind. (Monday June 19, 2006) - Andrew Weldon started 14th and then was disqualified Saturday night at Illiana Speedway. The disqualification came after returning to their trailer area for repairs during the race, which is against the rules. It was a rule the team had never known about. But the team was dished some hard luck long before the disqualification or green flag ever dropped.
“It was a rough day from start to finish,” said Weldon and Miller.
In the early afternoon, the SS Racing crew were making what they thought would be a simple change to an ignition system. Weldon primarily has been running in the ASA late Model Series, which uses a different ignition type. The team ran into an unexpected wiring issue, which caused them to miss all of practice.
For qualifying, Weldon pulled off a respectable 13th place fast time. He had no prior time on the track or on the tires they used for the qualifying run. “Of course I would have liked to qualify higher up the field,” said Weldon, who stated before the race he had a goal for a top five qualifying effort. “I was OK with starting 13th considering not having any practice time.”
Weldon and the SS Racing team held their heads high and were determined to make the second half of the day better. Weldon started 7th in his heat race and passed two cars on the final lap to finish 4th. With the impressive heat race finish they were confident about having a good run in the main event. But the bad luck monster would continue to follow on their tail, literally.
On lap six of the main event feature two cars (not Weldon) tangled and slid up the track. Weldon was riding up high on the track and made some quick and evasive moves to slow his car and not make any contact with the other crashing cars. Stopped and sitting on the track for over ten seconds Weldon was relieved his machine was without a scratch, so he thought. Another car came barreling along the track smashing into the rear of Weldon’s parked race car. The hit was so hard it picked Weldon’s race car up off the ground and left heavy damage.
“I was sitting there for at least ten seconds or so,” stated Weldon. “I was so relieved that the car was undamaged. I was even thinking about my restart, and then suddenly I get plowed from behind.”
Due to the extensive damage the crew returned the car to the trailer area, where they had additional supplies needed to make repairs. They were able to patch up the car and return it to the track. Weldon finished the race and then was informed he would be disqualified. A shocked SS Racing team and driver were told there was a rule against working on the race car at the trailer.
“We didn’t know about the rule,” said Butch Miller, crew chief for the No. 57 Weldon team. “If we had known we wouldn’t have done it. But being new to the track and our particular situation I thought they might cut us a break. We obviously didn’t gain any advantage by it. We just wanted to finish the race with a safe race car that wasn’t dumping stuff all over the track.”
Weldon keeps his spirits high despite the long day of bad luck. “We really wanted a good solid run,” added Weldon, about the rough day. “But all we can do is continue moving forward and trust that all days at the track won’t go like this one.”
SS Racing and Andrew Weldon are scheduled to return to Illiana Speedway on July 1st. Stay connected to all the latest news and results from Weldon’s events this summer at www.SSRacingOnline.com
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