Schererville, Ind. (Monday July 3, 2006) - Andrew Weldon was granted his birthday wish on Saturday night, by winning the late model feature race at Illiana Speedway in Schererville, Ind. Weldon piloted the No. 07 SS Racing Development Chevy to a fifth place qualifying position. He finished second in the fast qualifier heat race, where he avoided a major wreck. A six car inversion started Weldon fifth for the main event. He would move to the lead on lap 17 and maintain it to the finish. But before claiming his first-ever victory Weldon would be forced to overcome several obstacles.
On the start of the race Weldon quickly maneuvered his way to third. The two leaders were battling hard and Weldon sat patiently like a long time veteran waiting for the right timing to make his move. On lap 17 he found the opportunity and made a beautifully clean pass to take the lead. The second and third place cars continued to battle and Weldon began to see them get smaller and smaller in his rear view mirror. But two late race cautions would put the young driver through some intense restart testing.
“I had to remain calm and collected and just think about hitting my marks,” said Weldon. “At that point I wasn’t really thinking about winning.”
Just seven laps away from winning his first race the caution came out. Weldon’s comfortable lead was now gone. Crew Chief, Butch Miller, came over the radio to provide some restart advice and coach his young driver through new racing territory. Applying Miller’s advice Weldon had a great restart and built another comfortable lead.
“Butch provided some sound advice on how to develop speed on the restart,” explained Weldon. “It worked and I was running away from the field until the caution came out again. I just couldn’t believe that was happening.”
Just one-lap separated Weldon from victory lane. But as he was coming to the white flag another caution would fly. This time Butch Miller didn’t have much to say, except to repeat the previous restart. Weldon led the field to a green-white-checkered restart and was four turns away from a win. Like a seasoned pro, he drove away from the field finishing the race over two car lengths from the second place finisher.
“This is a great birthday gift,” said Weldon, while tasting victory for the first time. “We have been working so hard and have been improving, but then something always seems to happen.”
“It’s so hard to get here and takes a lot of work by the whole team. So, this feels really good to have my first win and provide a win to my team.” exclaimed Weldon. “It’s definitely a boost to my career and SS Racing. I have to thank Butch Miller and Deon Deneau for providing me this awesome car tonight.”
Weldon brought SS Racing their first win of the 2006 season. And Butch Miller’s first win as a crew chief.
“I’m so happy for Andrew. There’s no feeling like winning and especially winning for the first time,” said Miller, the short track legend who has claimed over 400 wins as a driver. “I’ve won some races as a driver but never as a crew chief. This is a new part of my career and I’m so happy to have won outside the racecar.”
The pair (Weldon & Miller) will return Illiana Speedway on July 15th, where they will attempt a repeat win. Stay tuned to www.SSRacingOnline.com for more news and results. Congratulations to the SS Racing Team on their first win of 2006. SBS
PR Contact: Shawn Stewart
shawn@racingsolution.net
619-857-1172 |
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