Gary Lewis of the NASCAR AutoZone Elite Division Northwest Series has been the one to beat at Evergreen speedway in the past 20 races. In the previous 17 visits by the Elite division at Evergreen, Lewis had won 8 of them. The 2005 season at this famed .646 mile track has been a tough one for Lewis.
WiTh the first visit on opening day, the race was rained out for the second consecutive year. For the second race at Evergreen Speedway in July, the #73 of Gary Lewis crashed into turn one on his second qualifying lap. Starting in 28th position, he was able to come away with a third place finish. On this third and final visit for the 2005 season, it was no different.
The week started by Gary being bed ridden wiTh a viral infection in his Throat. He was unable to work all week until putting a half day in on Friday. AlThough The date was Saturday the 13th of August, it might as well been Friday the 13th. Qualifying second fastest, the Lewis crew was excited to have a fast car for the race. Although a 10 car invert was pulled, things were hopeful for a podium finish. Gary was in 9th position to start the race.
'I would like to thank everybody on the team for understanding when I was sick and at home not working on the car for this past week. With the second fastest qualifying time I was feeling pretty good about the car for the race."
As the race started, by lap 3 the first yellow came out. Lewis was on the move early. By lap 9 he had passed the 46 of Barkshire on the outside. By lap 22, Gary had passed the 27 of Bailey on the inside. For the next 80 laps, Lewis was in a dogfight with Brandon Riehl for a top 5 position. Trying to get a run to pass the 69 of Riehl was a difficult thing, since Lewis' car was loose throughout the race.
'As the race went on the car got looser and looser. When I caught up to Brandon he waved me by thinking I was faster. However my car was only somewhat fast if I used the whole track so I was not able to complete the pass. At that point I was just looking to get a top 5 or something decent for points."
As the race hit the 100-lap mark, disaster struck. With the battle with Riehl, the 46 of Jeff Barkshire was getting into the mix. As the pressure began to build, and lapped traffic jammed things up, frustrations began to show. Going into turn 3 and out of 4, Lewis was getting banged around enough to pitch the #73 World Gym/Victory Circle Chassis/Nutter Racing Engine back and forth. As they came down the front straight he was still getting tossed around, then it happened. Lewis was hit from the rear hard enough to send him spinning going into turn one. With no way to recover, he just held on for the collision with the wall.
'I was carrying some good speed as I was heading toward the wall backwards and thought it was going to hurt really bad. Lucky for me the car absorbed the impact so I wasn't that bad off. However the car is a different story and will require lots of money and days to repair."
The car was a total loss, with too much damage to salvage a finish. Both the front end and the rear end clips are trash. The fuel tank was smashed to a quarter of its original size, but due to safety standards, there was no leaking fuel. Lewis will have to go to his old chassis that has been sitting in the shop since the middle of last season.
Gary finds himself now to be in 9Th place and only 28 points out of 5Th place in The standings with 3 races left before the end of the season, the battle is on to keep in the top 10. Gary Lewis Racing would like to thank World Gym of Everett, Victory Circle Chassis, Nutter Racing Engine and Sign Factory USA for their continued support. You will find Gary and his #73 Monte Carlo at Magic Valley Raceway in Twin Falls, Idaho this coming Saturday, August 20th.
