Sonoma, CA - Scribner Motorsports, a NASCAR Winston West Series team out of the Sacramento area, showed their potential at the Fry's Electronic/Iomega Zip 100 at Sears Point Raceway last Sunday.
Team Owner/Driver Rick Scribner qualified #15 Scribner Engineering Chevrolet Monte Carlo for the 11th position on the starting grid. A decent position considering the motor was not performing to its capacity. By lap 6, Scribner had charged to 5th. The team was dealt a disappointing blow the following lap. Scribner radioed Crew Chief, Mike Naake to say the car had a left front tire going down. Scribner brought the car to pit lane, on a green flag lap, where the crew performed a flawless tire change. The flat had robbed Scribner of all the positions he had taken and he found himself back in 11th.
The team radioed Scribner in for a planned pit-stop for tires and fuel, with the rest of the field on lap 18. The team's excellent pit stop sent him from 11th back up to 6th. Scribner and the crew were beginning to smell the leaders. Scribner passed the next two cars with ease to take the fourth spot. He radioed back to the crew to say the car was handling great.
With 12 laps remaining, a car parked on the track brought out a full coarse caution. The leaders needed a final pit stop for fuel and tires to finish the race. This was exactly what Scribner and the leaders needed. But on this day, the leaders would not need to fend off a hard charging Rick Scribner. Scribner's engine failed as he headed for pit lane.
The team had struggled with the motor throughout the weekend, looking for that something that was missing. This was the same motor they had run with no problems at the previous race in Altamont, which had delivered a 5th place finish. "The motor just seemed to lay down. It just did not have the horsepower at the top. We were able to do pretty well considering the motor was off. This was a big disappointment to a crew that worked so hard and performed very well. Our victory will come another day." Said, Rick Scribner.
"Rick really enjoys the road coarse and his driving talent and the teams great pit stops really made up where the motor was lacking. Sure, it is a big disappointment for the engine to fail, but we did show that we are a team with great potential and one to really watch. We will go back to the shop, put in a brand new motor and be ready to race in Bakersfield this weekend." Said Crew Chief, Mike Naake. Naake went on to explain that they will make a number of changes to the car before the next race. They will change the chassis set-up over from road coarse to circle track, change the transmission and rear-end, all the shocks and springs, and of coarse the engine.
The team will compete in the SPEARS MANUFACTURING 250 in Bakersfield, California on October 11. The event will be televised live on Fox Sports at 8:00 p.m.
