(April 27, 2001) Mark Reed, who qualified 3rd for this race last year, captured his third Bud Pole award of the season Thursday afternoon at California Speedway in Fontana setting a new track record for the Winston West Series. Reed’s lap of 39.649 seconds (181.593 MPH) surpassed the old mark of 180.664 MPH set by Austin Cameron in 1999. He has also received the Bud Pole award this year at Phoenix International Raceway and The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. “My crew chief (Jerry Pitts) told me we could run a “60” on our qualifying lap”, said Reed. “I trusted his judgment and drove the car into turn 1 harder than I had all day in practice”. Reed’s Food 4 Less Pontiac Grand Prix was also the fastest car in practice with a best lap of 39.886 seconds (180.514 MPH).
There were 31 teams drawing for their qualifying order on Thursday. Reed’s spotter, Bryan Brown, was the first to draw and got the number 1. “I thought I really messed up”, said Brown. “It usually isn’t good to be the first car on the track for qualifying”. The qualifying order didn’t matter though Thursday for Reed’s team. The qualifying format allowed each driver two laps around the 2-mile D shaped oval, but Reed only needed one. “I shut it off after the first lap”, said Reed. “Jerry told me our qualifying set-up was only good for one lap”. Since Reed was the first car on the track, he had a long anxious wait to see if his time would hold up. Austin Cameron, who is currently 2nd in Winston West points behind Reed, had been fast in practice along with veteran drivers Ken Schrader and Rick Carelli. The last driver to qualify, Jon Wood, gave Reed the biggest scare when he posted a 39.932 second lap (180.307 MPH) on his last lap of qualifying. “I got a little nervous when I saw them start to post his time on the board”, said Reed. “When I saw “39”, I thought I might be in trouble”. Wood was the only other driver to crack the “40” second barrier. Rick Carelli, Ken Schrader, and Eric Norris rounded out the top-5.
Since Reed’s Food 4 Less sponsored car was impounded on pit road until the end of qualifying and due to the abbreviated last practice session of the day, Reed’s team was not able to get the race set-up put in the car prior to the end of practice. “I wish we could have made it on the track for a few laps”, said Reed. “If our one hour practice session on Friday morning is cancelled due to fog, we’ll just have to go off our notes from testing”. Reed’s team tested at the track two weeks ago.
Reed’s pole award and optimism for a strong run on Saturday will be a major topic of conversation tonight when Food 4 Less hosts a vendor appreciation dinner in Irvine for the associate sponsors involved with Reed’s team. “The timing of this pole award couldn’t have been better”, said Reed. “In addition to the vendor dinner, Food 4 Less will also be hosting over 200 people at the chalet village for the race Saturday. Hopefully we can give them something to cheer about at the end of 200 miles”.
