July 16, 2000 - Los Angeles, CA - In a race that saw only nine of the original thirty-six starters take the checkered flag, the third visit to the Ford L.A. Street Race by Ed Coughenour and the C & C Racing team proved that the team had what it takes to make a very competitive field under the toughest of circumstances. In an event that ended up looking more like a demolition derby than a NASCAR race, driver Ed Coughenour had felt real good about the teams chances for a strong finish in the event.
In Friday and Saturday practice sessions it was extremely difficult to get clean laps on the track to evaluate setups and get Coughenour used to the tricky street circuit. This was only the third time Coughenour had ever driven on a road course and the very limited practice time allotted was further compromised by very slick track conditions, accidents and debris on the racetrack.
The team knew that with veteran road racers like Boris Said, Steve Petty, Greg Pickett, R. K. Smith, Rudy Revak, Vic Rice and Chuck Billington entered in the race it would make it even tougher to make the field. Greg Pursley won his third straight pole for the L.A. Street Race and other tough series regulars like Jim Inglebright, Craig Raudman and Eric Holmes promised to make it a very tough fight to the finish.
"We had a very good race car for Sunday's race", said Coughenour. "We had a problem with the ignition cutting out on us in qualifying on our best lap and had to settle for 30th starting position, but the car felt real competitive and ready for the race on Sunday. A lot of very good race cars went home without making the field and four of the top runners in the series were forced to take provisional starting spots, so we were pleased to make the show, although we were disappointed with our qualifying effort."
After a strong start with Coughenour moving up through the field, disaster struck the Memorex Chevrolet when the motor began to misfire in the early going. Coughenour quickly pulled onto pit road after the car shut off completely. He quickly switched to the backup ignition on pit road, and after a brief stop charged back onto the track. But the track temperatures reported by NBC to be in excess of 140 degrees proved to be too much for the ignition wiring the Memorex Chevrolet and the car completely shut down on the front straightaway a lap later. After being pushed into the pits by the tow truck the crew discovered that the severe heat had completely melted down the wiring to the distributor. After several attempts to rewire the ignition on pit road, the team discovered the ignitions had both short circuited and the car would not start ending the teams day very early.
At least four other teams experienced the exact same fate as the high temperatures and the brutal racing circuit got the best of man and machine. The heat also claimed two veteran drivers, Rudy Revak and Darrell La Moure who were pulled from their cars with heat exhaustion. Broken transmissions and rear ends, brake failures (including a spectacular brake fire on Jim Inglebright's Jelly Belly Chevrolet) and numerous accidents decimated the remainder of the thirty-six-car field. The nine competitors that eventually finished the 125-mile event looked more like junkers than $70,000 NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Series cars. Craig Raudman drove an extremely strong and patient race and won the richest race in series history over series point leader Matt Crafton.
"Obviously, the whole team was very disappointed with what happened to our ignition", continued Coughenour. "The car was absolutely awesome out there. We were just biding our time and planned to just cruise until the last thirty laps or so and save the equipment. This team is so much better than our results this year, and we just have had terrible luck. We are going to get this monkey off our back real soon, and when we do this team is going to turn some heads. We just hate it for Memorex, Fry's Electronics and all of our sponsors who have been great in supporting this team. Craig Raudman drove a heck of race out there today, and I know he was still in a lot of pain from his accident at Fontana. He really deserved the win."
The team wants to extend special thanks to Bill Hindorff from Krupp Bilstien of America who attended the event and worked on the pit crew. Bill's support has made a huge difference to the teams competitiveness this year and we loved having him in the garage area for the event. Greg Wilson, crewmember for Tony Greene at Irwindale Speedway, also assisted the team for the weekend, as team was short handed due to crewmember Kenny Spencer suffering a very serious broken leg while on vacation in Idaho over fourth of July weekend. Kenny had surgery on July 10th complete having to have several pins and plates installed on his badly broken leg. We look forward to Kenny being back with us real soon, and we wish him a very speedy recovery. We really missed him at Los Angeles, and we are extremely grateful to Bill and Greg for their help at the race. Kathleen Caturegli also pitched in as a spotter for the team and helped out a lot around the garage area.
C & C Racing is based in Petaluma, California and competes in the NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Series. The team’s primary marketing partner for the Ford L.A. Street Race is Memorex. Associate marketing partners include Fry’s Electronics; Pit Stop USA.com; ChromaFlair / ColorShift; Advance Tech Collision; VALCO Cincinnati; DAYCO; Flowmaster; PACE Pit Equipment; RAPCO Brakes; ATI Performance Products; Bilstein Racing Shocks; Wine Country Gases; Sign-A-Rama; B & C Automotive and Mark Morris Tires. The team is seeking primary and associate marketing partners for the remainder of the 2000 season.
The C & C Racing team members include owner / driver Ed Coughenour; Crew Chief Mike Caturegli; Tom Caturegli, Kenny Spencer, Brad Rugg, Carl Dillard, Colin Coughenour, Marina Wright, Brice Blosser and Kelly Conway.
For more information please contact C & C Racing at 707-781-3064 or visit us online at www.c-cracing.com.
