SNOHOMISH, Washington — For Gary Lewis the summer road trips to Montana, Idaho and all points in between have started to blur together but as long as the team continues its winning streak the travel is all part of the game heading to this week’s stop on the iRacing.com ASA Northwest Late Model Tour coming on the Douglas County Speedway .400-mile oval in Roseburg, Oregon.
Lewis comes off his first career victory on the ARCA West Mac’s Series in the Bill Clark Memorial 150 that was held in Kalispell, Mont. That followed a third Idaho 200 win at Stateline Speedway located in Post Falls, ID which followed a top-5 at the team’s hometrack in Monroe, Wash.
and a third Montana 200 victory.
All of those accomplishments have come in just a five-week span.
Despite the three-day challenge to get the Bill Clark Memorial 150 in due to a persistent rain storm, the current ASA Northwest Late Model Tour points leader is upbeat heading into the final race in August for the Shocked by Mike Leary Racing Products race team.
“The team is doing great,” Lewis said. “When you’re running good that definitely keeps everybody motivated. This was a short week and it’s required us to work every night on the car to get ready for Roseburg. We came out of Montana with a fair amount of front end damage that has taken up most of our time so far this week to getting it ready to go for an 8-hour drive south into Oregon.”
Waiting out the rain did not create moments to plan for Roseburg, Lewis added.
“We didn’t think about Roseburg but looking back that would have been a good idea to kill some time. We basically just went stir crazy in the motorhome with nothing to do and no vehicle to go anywhere while it was raining.”
Lewis was grateful for the efforts by ARCA West and Montana Raceway Park officials to get the race in after traveling so far for his first career Mac’s Series start, he noted.
“Montana Raceway Park and the officials did a great job dealing with the weather and trying to juggle everybody’s needs to get a race in last weekend. I know we put on a hellva show for the fans and it was a great win over Shelby Thompson and Mark Owens.”
With the ARP Bodies pit crew and driver turning their attentions to Roseburg the same focus used all year to generate wins in three states will be taken on Saturday, Lewis explained. Should the team have a good run in Oregon the remaining races in Yakima, Wash. (on Labor Day Weekend) and the Wenatchee 200 on Sept. 12 may be key to adding to their overall
2009 win total.
“We’re just trying to stay focused on what this team is doing each week and that is run strong and keep the car in good shape. That Labor Day weekend race in Yakima is very important to us. That’s the only race we’ll run before the Fall Classic (held in Yakima on the first weekend in
October) at the end of the season and we want to win that race for sure to close out the year.”
Recent changes to the AP Brakes Chevrolet should continue to give Lewis flexibility heading to Roseburg for only the third time in his illustrious driving career.
“The changes should work just fine at Roseburg as they have in Montana and Idaho. Roseburg is not much bigger at all then those two tracks but it does create some different challenges for sure. The track is very line sensitive so it really makes it tough when you’re trying to pass. I know our set-up on this Nutter Racing Engines Impala will be critical to our potential success,” Lewis said.
It may be Lewis’ third career trip to Douglas County Speedway but he has faired well in his two prior starts with one win on the NASCAR Northwest Series and a runner-up finish on the ARCA West Late Model Challenge Series.
One of the two sticks out more, he noted.
“I know for me the best memory I have of racing in Roseburg is showing up for the first time down there while we had been running very well back in
1998 (Lewis’ first championship touring season) and winning the race. We had a strong car that day and it was a great night of racing on the Fourth of July with the Northwest Tour back then.”
For more information on the ASA Northwest Late Model Tour’s only stop in the state of Oregon log onto www.asanorthwesttour.com To learn more about Gary Lewis Racing LLC look the team up on Facebook or check out their website at www.garylewisracing.com
