NEWS FROM MOTEGI

Source: RaceScene Media / Special Thanks to Aiko Yatsura
Date: 11/19/1999

Today's Coca-Cola 500, the last of the 14 NASCAR Winston West races, will take place at the Twin Ring Motegi facility in the northern Kanto district outside of Tokyo, Japan. It is a first-class facility and the super-speedway was built to introduce the American motor sports such as NASCAR Stock Car racing.

The crews will possibly wake to wet and rainy conditions. The high temperature forecast is for 61 degrees. Should rain become a factor in today's event, the race may well be run the following day.

After qualifying yesterday the teams were able to get their car and driver out for Happy Hour and final preparations. Still the fastest in all practice sessions, qualifying and happy hour was NASCAR Craftsman Truck Touring Series driver, Mike Wallace. Rumored to have a Rou$h engine under the hood, it may be giving him a slight advantage in horsepower.

Hideo Fukuyama, Kevin Culver and Sammy Potashnick all had difficulties in qualifying and they worked with their team during happy hour attempting to get their cars race ready.

Some of the times posted in happy hour (keep in mind not all cars took to the track):

 1  2 Mike Wallace 0:36.069
 2 12 Austin Cameron 0:36.249
 3 56 Bobby Dotter 0:36.398
 4 20 Brendan Gaughan 0:36.485
 5 18 Mike Chase 0:36.604
 6 87 Keichi Tsuchiya 0:36.726
 7 14 Jason Small 0:36.735
 8 23 Brandon Ash 0:36.780
 9 67 Scott Gaylord 0:36.838
10 27 Kim Jane 0:36.952

It was reported that Sean Woodside who gave Bill McAnally and the NAPA team such a stellar season this year is still a bit down on time turning a 0:37.521. But once the car is hooked up you will see Woodside move that car to the front. His driving skills have given the NAPA team quite a points advantage and more than likely he will be the 1999 NASCAR Winston West Series Champion.

Other than happy hour the only other news to report was how well the drivers were received by the Japanese fans. Driver Butch Gilliland said, "It's the reason I love coming. What a great opportunity for us to showcase our American style of racing and share culturally with some of the nicest people you could meet."

The race today is scheduled for 12:30 (which I believe translates to 7:30pm pst). It is a 201 lap event, 311 miles on a 1.549 paved oval. The purse for the event is $635,614.

For full reports on driver Brendan Gaughan visit the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

News Index | E-mail to a Friend