NASCAR driver Dallas Colodny, a Broadcast Journalism major at UNR and a resident of Reno, NV., had a challenging but successful Saturday on June 27th, 2009 in the NASCAR Auto Club Late Model Series.
During the qualifying session for a starting position for the race, The track supplied transponder failed and did not register a time for Dallas. A second track supplied transponder was put on the car, and it also failed, so a third one was installed, it worked but at that point the engine had been heated along with the tires, and the best that he could qualify was 13th, far back from his normal top 5 qualifying spot. Adversity makes for a better driver and during the race Dallas turned up the heat and was able to advance from 13th to a 5th place finish along with earning the Hard Charger Award for the evening. His success on Saturday earned him enough points to move into 4th place overall in the Series, out of 3rd place by 22 points. With 9 races complete and 9 races remaining in the season, he is in contention for the Championship. Dallas continues to lead in the Rookie of the Year points with an advantage of 64 points.
Dallas drives the # 51 car for the Highpoint Racing/ Justice Brothers race team. Dallas's next race is on July 4th. The NASCAR Camping World West Series will be racing at Irwindale on the same date so it will be a great opportunity to be viewed by that Series Teams.
