Tuesday, August 4, 2009 – The travel schedule for mid-west sprint car racing occasionally go from normal crazy to insane.  This weekend Cole Whitt and his mother Kim Whitt had the insane type of schedule.  Whitt and his Keith Kunz Motorsports team were lined up to compete in two different states for three total events of racing.  However, this wasn’t enough for Cole, and he added a third state and fourth night of racing in C-Squared Motorsports.  The results were another victory and top ten results in both USAC National midget and sprint car.

Belleville, KS is home to the annual Midget Nationals.  The track is known as “the world’s fastest half mile dirt oval.”  If you ever go to this event in Belleville, you will most likely agree with this claim.  The event is set up with two separate nights of non-points qualifying races.  The results of the races on Thursday and Friday qualify the race field for Saturday’s USAC point scoring final race.  Cole raced on the first night of the two-night qualifying race schedule.  The no. 1 Red Bull sponsored Toyota powered Bullet chassis quickly found the pace on the high-speed track.  The early pace continued to show up throughout the evening as Cole qualified quick time and posted a new track record previously held by Billy Boat.  Once into the race events for the evening Cole was able to move from a fourth starting position to finish second in the heat race.  In the feature the track conditions were not as good for passing as everyone was running the same line to post a fast lap time.  Therefore Cole like many others maintained his starting position and finished third.  The result automatically qualified Cole for the Saturday night feature.

After a night in Kansas, Cole and Keith Kunz Motorsports moved to the Newton, IA oval track for a USAC National pavement sprint car event.  This was Cole’s first trip to the high bank high speed Iowa Speedway. The race event was sandwiched into the NASCAR Nationwide series program.  After a practice period the event was set up with a qualifying session before moving straight to the feature race.  Cole qualified in the 3rd position with a lap time of 21.840 with speeds averaging 146 mph.  This was a positive position to start the feature for the no. 67k Red Bull sprint car.  The feature race was a bit disappointing for Whitt as the car quickly developed a push and continued to tighten through the 50 lap event.  Cole drove patiently to a seventh place finish.

Now it was back to Kansas for the conclusion of the Belleville Nationals.  While other competitors had to race their way into the feature finale through heat races, Cole and 7 other competitors were locked into the feature event and would race in a 6 lap dash for starting position placing the fastest qualifiers at the rear.  Cole started from the back row and finished 5th in the 6 lap dash.   Rain forced the remaining portion of Friday’s program to be continued on Saturday afternoon, meaning track conditions would be a difficult test on both drivers and equipment.  Cole started the 40 lap feature in the 5th position as the crew decided on the harder tire compound.  Similar to the Thursday night’s qualifier, the track was very fast and one groove.  Whitt maintained his starting position and posted a sixth place at the conclusion of the feature event.

This is where the weekend went from crazy to insane!  Cole and Kim Whitt finished the feature and immediately began the 12-hour drive back to the Indianapolis area.  Cole was looking forward to another Sunday event at Kokomo Speedway with the no. 29w Red Bull sprint car.  Whitt and Whitt returned to the Kokomo Speedway and made it just in time for practice.  Once into race mode again at Kokomo, Cole was able to brush off the long trip and post second quick time.  The heat was another victory, and Cole earned a fifth starting position for the feature.  Cole and the no. 29w were again fast on track and quickly raced the bottom groove to take the lead on lap 20.  After a fierce battle through lapped traffic, and several cautions, Whitt again raced through the traffic to post victory!  This meant the seventh win of the season at Kokomo for Cole Whitt and a further extension of his point lead at Kokomo.

Whitt said, “First off I have to thank my mom Kim for all of her co-driving back and forth as we worked to make it to all of the race events this weekend.  We were good everywhere this weekend, and while it was a lot of driving to get to the race events, the results made it worthwhile.  We continue to show potential to contend for the USAC National and Kokomo Sunday sprint car titles.  I am looking forward to another weekend of racing!”