March 13, 2001 (Ramona, Calif.) -- It was a weekend of celebration and a very enthusiastic conquest for Borneman Motorsports when rookie driver, Johnny Borneman III scored his first NASCAR Winston West Series career victory on Saturday afternoon at Tucson Raceway Park in Arizona.
The fact that Borneman won an event in only his eighth race was impressive, the fact that he did so running on only seven cylinders was remarkable.
Starting from the outside of row three, Borneman was guided by his spotter (and father), John Borneman, Jr. Under his father’s coaching Borneman circled the 3/8-mile oval patiently working his way to the front. On lap 79 the window of opportunity opened and Borneman seized the lead, which he maintained for the next 44 laps.
And then the words no one wanted to hear were transmitted to crew chief, Mike Harvick. Borneman said, “The car sounds awful, it’s sputtering and missing and feels like a plug wire has come loose. I feel like I’m driving a dump truck.”
With a competition yellow only 2 laps away, Harvick encouraged the gifted driver to remain calm until the car could be brought to the service of the crew.
Once in the pits it was discovered that they were down a cylinder. Harvick told the driver and team that the best thing to do was go back out and just run a conservative race, to baby the engine and get some points.
And so again the driver that had led laps at Laguna Seca, at Irwindale Speedway and now at Tucson Raceway Park was forced to back off while other drivers passed him by. But he refused to let the leaders pass him and when the very real danger of going a lap down neared, Harvick told him “The leaders are on your bumper if you have anything at all, you better use it now.”
Borneman picked up the pace pulling away from the hard-charging competition in an advance to the front. A late race caution came out when two cars tangled coming out of turn three.
The caution gave way to a green, white, checkered situation. Borneman was on the ready; with a terrific start he propelled his No. 8 Redline Oil/Borneman Plastering Taurus around the short track taking the lead on that all important last lap to win the Tucson 250.
"I've never had very good luck at TRP,” said Borneman. “A couple of years ago on national TV in the Winter Heat race I ended up on my roof. The only good thing was I got to talk to Benny Parsons. I feel a lot different about the track now. I have to say TRP is currently topping the list of my favorite tracks.”
He went on to say, “We come to the races to have fun, but we are serious about our program. We have surrounded ourselves with the best, our engine builder Gary Meirs (Premonition Engines) was with Ricky Rudd working on his motor program at the time Rudd won the Brickyard. He really knows how to get the horsepower.”
“We also feel very fortunate to have Mike Harvick as our crew chief. His telling me to save the engine probably helped me save the tires. I think we had rubber when the other guys had used theirs up. That helped a ton at the end. My dad did an awesome job spotting. Man, we were 3 and 4 wide out there and he got me through it. I mean the whole crew was awesome! ”
To say the Borneman Motorsports teams is pumped up as they prepare for this weekend’s "Foods Co 200" presented by Pepsi at Mesa Marin Raceway is putting it mildly. The historic ˝-mile track, located in Bakersfield, is home to the team’s crew chief. Said team manager Don Lincoln; “We are all looking forward to a good weekend at Mesa.”
The Tucson race and the upcoming race at Mesa Marin Raceway will air on Fox Sports Net in the near future. The actual dates and airtime are still being determined at the time of this writing.
Borneman Motorsports owns and operates the No. 8 NASCAR Winston West Series car sponsored by Redline Oil and Borneman Plastering. The team is currently seeking additional sponsors as they advance to their goal of competing in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. The team is currently third in the NASCAR Winston West championship standings and second in the Rookie-of-the-Year standings.
For more information on Borneman Motorsports visit the team’s official website at: http://www.bornemanmotorsports.com.
