THIERING FOLLOWS IN FATHER’S FOOTSTEPS INTO HUNT FOR NASCAR CHAMPIONSHIP

Source: NASCAR
Date: 07/15/2008

DAYTONA BEACH, Florida – During Ron Thiering’s racing career, which stretches for nearly 30 years, daughter Erica was always around the track helping out. But she had never expressed a desire to follow his footsteps and get behind the wheel.

That changed three years ago, when she asked him about racing at the track the family operates, Edmonton International Raceway in British Columbia, Canada.

“I said, ‘okay, if that’s what you’d like to do,’ “ Ron Thiering said. “She did okay with it. Like any rookie, she had some ups and some downs, a few crashes here and there. The first year-and-a-half, it was more for fun.”

She won her first race last year. Then second. And then third. By the end of the year, she had won a handful of races and claimed the track’s Osman Auction-Family Motors Cam FM Stocks division championship.

This season, the class is the feature division for the Edmonton track. Not only is the 18-year-old successfully defending her track title with four wins and nine top fives in 10 races, but her position atop the standings gives her the lead in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Edmonton provincial championship.

“It looked fun and I wanted to try it out,” Erica Thiering said. “My first race win was a little bit emotional; I didn’t expect to win. (Being the defending champion) is a little bit tougher. It’s a lot more pressure.”

The track and provincial title would earn Erica Thiering an invitation to the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series banquet in Las Vegas Friday, Nov. 7. Starting last year, NASCAR revived the tradition of honoring U.S. state and Canadian provincial champions — a practice that dates back to the earliest days of the NASCAR short tracks.

The top two spots in the overall NASCAR Whelen All-American Series standings remain the same, with Connecticut’s Keith Rocco maintaining his hold on No. 1 with a win in the SK Modified division at the New Waterford Speedbowl this past Saturday. It’s Rocco’s fifth win of the year and gives him 819 points. Second-place Coleman Pressley was fourth and fifth in twin Late Model features at Greenville-Pickens Speedway in South Carolina and has 789 points.

Marty Ward of Greenville-Pickens moved up two spots to third with 730 points, followed by defending Greenville-Pickens track champion David Roberts at 710. Brian Harris of West Liberty (Iowa) Raceway is fifth at 699.

Thiering is 97th overall in the NASCAR Whelen All-American standings, one of four female drivers in the top 100. After starting the season with a seventh-place finish, she rattled off a couple of seconds and third, before running off four straight wins.

“I finally got a hang of things,” she said. “I got my head into it, and just got myself out there, like I did last year.”

Edmonton is a tight 1/4-mile oval that provides three grooves of racing. Thiering prefers to take the front-wheel drive, four-cylinder car to the outside to do much of her passing. She credits her father with helping to set up the car and learn the best line around the track.

Said Ron Thiering, who has stepped back from his own racing career: “She’s a good kid — she works hard, she had really good marks in school, works two part-time jobs. She works hard for what she gets.”

Under the point structure for the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series, the race winner will receive two points for every car in the event up to 25 cars. Second place will receive two fewer points, and so-on through the field. For example, if there are 25 cars, the winner receives 50 points, second gets 48 and third 46. If there are 15 cars, the winner receives 30 points, second gets 28 and third 26. New this year, drivers receive five bonus points for a win. The final day for the 2008 points is Sunday, Sept. 14.

FEATURE DIVISION

National Top 25 NASCAR Leaders

PosDriver Name Home Track Starts Wins T-5 T-10 Pts

1 Keith Rocco Waterford Speedbowl 26 5 18 21 819

2 Coleman Pressley Greenville-Pickens Speedway 20 7 18 19 789

3 Marty Ward Greenville-Pickens Speedway 15 8 15 15 730

4 David Roberts Greenville-Pickens Speedway 20 2 16 19 710

5 Brian Harris West Liberty Raceway 18 9 17 17 699

6 Philip Morris Motor Mile Speedway 14 6 12 13 650

7 Andy Eckrich West Liberty Raceway 19 3 15 17 615

8 Ralph Carnes Greenville-Pickens Speedway 19 0 7 19 598

9 Andy Loden Hickory Motor Speedway 27 6 24 27 596

10 Kenneth Headen Greenville-Pickens Speedway 15 0 12 15 596

11 Jeff Strunk Grandview Speedway 13 3 12 12 575

12 Jimmy Blewett Thompson Intl Speedway 18 2 8 12 572

13 Gary Glenn All American Speedway 16 4 13 13 568

14 C E Falk, III South Boston Speedway 17 0 12 14 556

15 Jeremiah Hurst West Liberty Raceway 19 2 9 15 538

16 John Moore All American Speedway 14 3 11 13 525

17 Tony Hanbury Chemung Speedrome 16 7 9 12 515

18 Joey Stearns Madera Speedway 20 2 13 18 512

19 Doug Coby, III Waterford Speedbowl 18 1 6 10 507

20 Jonathan Bouvrette Autodrome St. Eustache 14 4 7 13 498

21 Sebastien Dussault Autodrome St. Eustache 14 1 9 13 497

22 Guy Jubinville Autodrome St. Eustache 12 6 10 10 484

23 Kyle Gottula Madera Speedway 18 5 13 16 483

24 Woody Pitkat Stafford Motor Speedway 15 2 8 9 482

25 Anthony Anders Greenville-Pickens Speedway 16 2 7 13 480

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