The #00 Oliver Gravity Separators/Denver Seminary crew saved two DNF's and turned them into a 15th and 10th place finishes and now back home in Colorado after back to back races on the west coast. The much anticipated return to a road course June 24th at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma California quickly took a turn for the worse on the first lap in the second turn when another car lost control and shot across the race track right into the #00 Oliver Chevrolet. With no where to go for avoidance Scott did the best he could to slow his car but just could not prevent the ultimate hit that flattened the tire and tore up the front corner of the car as well as the grill for the radiator intake. We immediately came into the pits to replace the tire and pull out the body the best that we could, then we sent Scott back out to remain on the lead lap and catch up with the pack to allow us to come back into the pits with a plan to make repairs that would enable the car to stay competitive. When Scott came back in while doing the necessary repairs a leak in the radiator was noticed, we thought at that time our day just might be over, the crew went to work and tried what would be considered a temporary fix with no guarantees and ended up lasting the entire race. We unfortunately had gone one lap making those repairs but felt if we could get back on the lead lap we did still have a car that was competitive. We never did get the opportunity however to make up our lap and pit stops happened before another yellow so other cars were then down laps and awarded the "lucky dog" upon the remaining caution laps during the race. We finished 15th, "I'm very disappointed said Scott, but so proud of the team to enable us to finish the race, I thought it was over for us."
A similar quote could surmise the following race July 1st at Roseburg, Oregon the next week when running in 7th place on the lead lap with only about 35 laps to go when the track became completely blocked by cars crashing. Scott got his car slowed as best he could but he and others behind him just could not avoid the incident completely and we were pushed into the incident a bit faster than would have been acceptable. We had to come in for a tire and to try to repair the front end damage on the #00 which this race was pretty bad. The engine had been running a bit on the warm side, and now with the damage to the front grille knew we were in trouble. Not having a pit lane per say at this track you must exit the race course completely to make any repairs necessary and in doing so we did go down one lap.
Scott was able to make up one position however during the remaining laps of the race and finished 10th. "Another disappointing race for us, but it just seems like this year we can't catch a break, but then again without quick work of the crew we might not have even finished the last two races at all!" Scott said, "We have a lot of work to do in just two and a half weeks, two beat up cars, out of motors, not much more could go wrong, all we can do is see what we can get together for our next three back to back races and try to climb into the top five." Returning drivers … Five drivers have competed in all four races at Roseburg since 2002 – including Scott Gaylord (No. 00 Oliver Gravity Separators/Denver Seminary Chevrolet) Series experience at Infineon … Scott Gaylord (No. 00 Oliver Gravity Separators/Denver Seminary Chevrolet). Gaylord – who came into NASCAR with a
Road racing background – competed in four series races at Sonoma, with a best finish of third in 1995. He also participated in six combination events with the
NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series, with a best finish of 33rd in 1991. Consecutive starts for Gaylord … When he takes the green flag at Infineon, Scott Gaylord will move into third place on the list of consecutive series starts in the modern
Era (1971 to present) with 80. Ray Elder leads the category with 121 straight starts in the era, followed by Bill Schmitt with 118. While Gaylord has 162 career starts
Overall, dating back to 1988 – his current string of 79 straight starts began Oct. 17, 1999.
