Disappointment in Cedar Rapids for Clanton

Disappointment

in Cedar Rapids for Clanton

Bad news for

Clanton in Iowa

Hello race

fans! You know when somebody approaches you and says, "Which do you

want to hear first? The good news or the bad news?" That's how the

weekend was for the Steve Dale Motorsports crew. Unfortunately, we ended

the weekend with the bad news.

The Camp Fire

USA Georgia Council team visited Hawkeye Downs Speedway in Cedar Rapids,

Iowa this past week for the running of the American Speed Association

(ASA) Iowa 300. Our weekend started just as we had hoped after we captured

the pole on Saturday afternoon with a qualifying lap of 94.842 miles per

hour. After falling in line behind Butch Miller following the drop of

the green flag, the No. 83 Chevy was running so well, we took over the

lead at lap 11. The car was awesome for the first segment of the race

despite several caution periods that really didn't give us much of a chance

to see how the car would run on long green runs. We continued to lead

the race until lap 133 when we came in for a pit stop.

The crew did

an awesome job in the pits during our two stops, both times sending me

back onto the track ahead of the competition. In fact, in the second pit

stop at lap 250, one of our pit crew members, Gil Edwards, managed to

complete the stop in record time even after he took a little trip over

the hood of the No. 83 Camp Fire USA Georgia Council Chevy. As I came

in for the pit stop, Gil, who is our tire specialist, approached the car

to clean off the grill. Unfortunately, he was hit as I came in and landed

on the hood of the car. He never missed a beat and continued with the

stop as planned. The team finished the pit stop in seven seconds and sent

me back out of the pits in first. Gil was clearly focused on getting through

that pit stop quickly and didn't let a bit of a bumpy ride slow him down.

More importantly, he wasn't injured during the incident.

After the awesome

pit stop, I knew that it was up to me to take the No. 83 Camp Fire USA

Georgia Council Chevy to victory lane. It looked like we were on our way

at least to a podium finish when, while running in second, Kevin Cywinski

hit us from behind on lap 299. The incident sent the No. 83 Chevy hard

into the outside wall causing extensive damage to the rear of the car.

The car couldn't make it