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FOR COLE WHITT FOUR RACES IN FOUR NIGHTS IN FOUR CARS |
Tuesday, May 26, 2009 – This past weekend was the first of what will become a common practice of four and five nights of straight racing. This occasion for the first four straight nights of racing was the Memorial Day Weekend / Indianapolis 500 build-up. For Cole Whitt, the weekend was unique for him in that it was first time where he competed in four different race cars among three classes in four nights.
Night one for Cole Whitt was in Terre Haute, IN at the 1/2 mile Terre Haute Action Track. Whitt and his no. 67k rolled onto track in this USAC National event looking to post a strong finish and continue accumulating points in the national series. After posting a 10th in qualifying, Cole moved to the feature and started ninth. In the main event, Cole and his no. 67k Red Bull sprint car were not able to overcome handling issues and therefore Cole managed to finish 12th with an ill-handling race car.
On Friday, and it was time for the Hoosier 100 at the Indianapolis Fairgrounds. For Whitt, this would be the debut of the no. 71 Cole Whitt Racing / CW Management Silver Crown race car. The Silver Crown category is based around the 1960’s era Champ Cars that raced in the Indy 500. The cars are very powerful, but due to their length tend to be a handful to drive through the corners. Add to this the daunting challenge of driving this massive car on a one mile dirt oval, and it is an even bigger challenge. For Cole, however, the fun of a new class quickly turned into a serious night of competing when he posted third quick time in practice. Once into qualifying, Cole drew 3rd in the order to qualify out of 28 cars. As the track continued to lay rubber, cars continued to post quicker times. Cole’s early draw meant he would have a tremendous battle in the 100 lap feature starting 20th. Into the feature Cole was pacing his way to the front, solidly into the top 7. However a flat tire sent Whitt to the pits. Cole’s crew got the tire changed and back on track and Cole managed to battle back for a top 10 finish in his first ever Silver Crown 100 lap Silver Crown Feature.
The Night Before the 500 at O’Reilly Raceway Park, Saturday night was next on the schedule. Cole and his no. 1 Red Bull Toyota Keith Kunz Motorsports USAC National Midget would face a 50 car field of competition this night. Cole came onto track and found a good combination that netted a fifth quick time. This was excellent because in this event, the top 12 cars were locked into the feature from the qualifying time. Whitt would also benefit from an invert of the top six. This meant a front row start for the 50 lap feature. Once into the feature, Whitt rocketed to the front of the field, with his C-Squared Motorsports co-crew chief Chuck Gurney Jr. following in second position. As the laps clicked off, Cole and Chuck checked out from the field of 26 USAC Midgets. Unfortunately Cole’s night ended abruptly as a broken right rear axle ended Cole’s night. The finish was unfortunate for Cole as he and Chuck had the field covered on this night. Gurney Jr. took the win.
So finally, off to Kokomo for Cole and the no. 29w Red Bull C-Squared Motorsports Indiana dirt sprint car. The field was deep on this night and Cole knew the pressure was on to continue his early season “form” on Sunday nights at Kokomo. The field of more than 30 sprint cars was filled with an even deeper pool of talent with all of the racing that had been contested throughout the weekend. For Cole, he felt confident of a good result, but a win would be difficult. After a solid qualifying and heat race performance, it was time for the feature. This event turned into a four car slug fest between Cole, Jon Stanborough, Dave Darland, and Josh Wise. The four drivers swapped the lead lap after lap. At the end of the 30 lap feature, Cole held off the competition and won the race.
After the events of the weekend, Cole said, “What an experience! We ran so many cars and tracks this weekend, and looking back at it now it was a big effort. I have to thank EVERYBODY who pitched in to help make this weekend happen. We were overall happy with how we ran, but for sure we had some things occur that prevented two possible wins or top finishes. It definitely gets me excited to go into the heat of the season and battle for four or five nights straight in some of these week long tours. I can’t wait to get to Iowa this weekend!”
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