MIRA LOMA, California — Hitting the track for the first NASCAR Whelen Super Late Model race of season at Toyota Speedway of Irwindale and being on the top of the board for practice was a great start of the weekend for Scott Dodd in his #25 Craig Fire Protection and Fusion Design and Signs Chevy Monte Carlo. Dodd knew he had a good car after qualifying 5th, at only .05 seconds off of the pole especially after finding out that he had qualified with a left rear tire that had lost about five pounds of air due to a small hole. Unfortunately that meant the team had to buy another tire to replace the flat one.
Being one of the six fastest cars, even with a flat tire, meant that Dodd was able to race in the trophy dash allowing an opportunity to skuff the new tire, Dodd was able to finished second in the dash. The results from the dash determined your starting position for the main event, so Dodd knew starting in the front row in the 100 lap race would give him a great starting position and good opportunity in the main.
On the start Dodd took the lead for several laps. Dodd ran in the top three for the first 50 laps even though his car was terribly loose. During a yellow on lap 51 Dodd pitted for a chassis adjustment came back on the track at the back of the 20-car field. Within 10 laps Dodd was up to 4th. Even with the adjustment the car was getting looser each lap and he ended up falling back to the seventh position where he finished the race. The last 12 or 15 laps Scott had to drive the car like he was racing at the dirt track at Perris Auto Speedway again as the car was completely sideways coming off the turns.
After the race the crew was able to determine what was making the car so loose and have fixed the problem, so Scott is very much looking forward to the next SLM race at Toyota Speedway of Irwindale on April 10th.
As Dodd put it “our biggest challenge is finding a sponsor or two willing to help support us and do some marketing so we can make it to the next race”.
“We are so grateful for our sponsors. Without their support we wouldn’t be able to race” said Dodd. The car was ready, but without a sponsor we were not sure if we would make the race. On Thursday we found out that two of sponsors Craig Fire Protection and Fusion Design and Signs would be able to help us out for the first race.
We would also like to thank our other sponsors Lucas Oil Products, K& N Filters and Air Gas Supply. For more information visit www.scottdodd.com or call 951-360-0962.
