Benny Gordon and the
Samuel Metals Ford Finish Top Ten at the Beach
(October
9, 2007) - DuBois, PA. The track where Benny Gordon
had won four out of seven races proved to be challenging as usual.
Returning to the “beach” was in many respects a homecoming for the
driver from Pennsylvania. Benny spent 12 years in South Carolina
honing his racing skills on the short tracks surrounding his home in
Summerville, S.C. Many a Saturday night found Benny competing on the
track in Myrtle Beach. Knowing how to drive the track was not going
to be the challenge. Handling all of the other race day issues was
going to be the challenge.
Kathy Bond/USAR Photo |
One of the first challenges of the weekend to be
dealt with was the loss of the jack man, Mark Bowley.
Bowley dislocated his right shoulder earlier in the
week. “Mark has become an important part of the team
and not just a weekend warrior,” said Benny. “Mark
joined the team last year as the jack man and he now
works in the shop. He has steadily improved his
knowledge and performance in all respects. Not
having him available for the race will really hurt
our pit stops. For this weekend, my brother Todd who
is the Crew Chief will be pulling double duty and
jack the car. Todd has done it before.” |
The next challenge for Benny and the North South Motorsport team was
getting the car set up for the race. Working Friday for several
hours allowed them to get the car competitive with the other cars
practicing. However, practice was cut short due to rain moving in
the early afternoon. The rain also washed the rubber from the track
providing a green surface for Saturday’s practice.
Saturday dawned under grey cloudy skies with sea fog rolling in from
the beach. A substantial rain had fallen during the evening mudding
up the track grounds and infield. The race cars were unloaded onto a
wet pit road with the crews constantly casting an eye skyward at the
heavy grey clouds hoping that rain would not affect the race day
schedule. Practice opened up with Benny setting the fastest lap
early, which is very common at Myrtle Beach. The surface was so
rough on tires that the times fall off in the first two fast laps.
Benny held the fast lap until late in the practice when some of the
teams made qualifying runs on their race tires. “I am happy with the
car,” said Benny. “It is handling well and most of all it is
consistent on used tires. It is set up for the long run.”
The hope for a top ten starting spot was dealt a harsh blow in
qualifying. “Unfortunately, we did not free the car up enough for
qualifying which resulted in a starting position of 15th,” said
Benny. “The team was not really concerned about qualifying knowing
we have won a couple times here when we started further back.”
The race strategy was to adjust on the car as the caution flags
fell. In a very uncharacteristic manner, the first yellow did not
fall until lap 93. Pulling into the pits near the very end of the
lead lap cars provided very little time to make the adjustments
Benny had planned. The most difficult change was adding a spring
rubber to the left rear spring. The spring was so compressed the
rubber would not easily seat. As the crew struggled to get the
rubber in Benny was passed by the pace car while still in the pits
putting him one lap down. Restarting the race Benny was fourth in
line, one lap down. After just two laps the yellow flew again but
Benny was unable to move up. The next yellow did not fly until
almost another 100 laps later. Benny was able to move up through the
field during the long green run, but he was not able to recover his
lap. Following a second pit stop for fresh tires Benny worked his
way up into the top ten to finish the race in 9th.
“Racing is a team effort”, said Benny. “Each and every person on
this team is important for us to be successful. We worked hard, and
had a really good car that was capable of a top three finish.
Loosing a lap in the pits was a very uncommon mistake that really
affected our chances at winning the race. We will learn from our
mistake and will work harder for wins the last two races at South
Georgia and Lakeland ”.
We would like to thank our sponsors, Samuel Metals, Predator
Performance, Murray’s Ford Freightliner, Grease Lighting – The Clean
Team, ADG and Johnny’s Suzuki.
About Samuel
The Samuel Company is a family owned metal processing and
distributing company headquartered in Ontario, Canada with more than
80 facilities located throughout Canada and the United States and
more than 4500 employees. For more information about Samuel, please
visit www.samuel.com.
About Greased Lightning
The Greased Lightning family of super-strength degreaser products
tackle today's cleaning needs. From the kitchen and bathroom to the
laundry room and garage, Greased Lightning products wipe out grease,
grime and dirt, leaving your home sparkling clean and smelling
fresh. For more information on Greased Lightning please visit
www.greased-lightning.com.
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