LAS VEGAS, Nevada — Jim Pettit II won the SPEARS SRL Southwest Tour Series final event of the 2010 season Saturday night at the ‘Bullring’ at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The win was not only his first ever at LVMS, but also makes him the winningest driver in the history of the SRL with ten, breaking the record held by the 2002 SRL champion, the late Jeff Anthony.
“We finally got the monkey off our back after the unfortunate things that have happened to us there. Blew a tire one time, broke a motor, caught fire and darn near burned up in the thing another time. But Saturday night we had a really great car and had a good race. Brennen Newberry had a good car and drove the wheels off of it. We had a heck of a race there in the second half. I worked him and worked him for I don’t know how many laps until he finally made a mistake and I got him. There were a lot of good cars, and we had some great racing. We wound up second in the championship standings behind Jonathon Gomez, but I’m rally happy for him. And we set the record of the most wins in the SRL, and I’m certainly proud of that. So all in all, the night wound up pretty well.”
Starting the ‘Real Fast TV 200 presented by K & N Filters’ from the eighth spot in the twenty-six car field, the Prunedale, CA.. driver moved into fourth place on lap five, third on lap thirty, second on lap thirty-five and into first on lap seventy-two. He held onto first until lap 108 when Newberry went by him. The two battled for the top spot for the next sixty-three laps until Pettit ‘got him’ and held on for the win.
The 2010 season was an up-and-down one for the 2008 SRL champion. It started out on the downside with a “we missed the set-up bad” and a nineteenth place finish. During the season, two DNF’s due to mechanical problems hurt his chances for a championship. Other than those three incidents, he finished the season with seven top fives including two wins. In his overall career with the SRL, Pettit has thirty-two starts, ten wins, twenty-three top fives, and twenty-four top tens.
Driving the blue and yellow 2009 Ford Fusion #03, Jim has been sponsored by Golden Gate Petroleum, Top of the Hill Performance, bizzwithbuzz.com. Swift Springs, and Mo’s Gold. For an overview of his racing career, please visit his website at jimpettitracing.com, where you will also find links to his sponsors, the SRL, and to RacingWest for all your racing information.
