MADERA, California -- Disappointment, frustration and baffled, these were just some of the emotions that Rip Michels and his Stock Building Supply/Victory Circle/Ladco Racing Chevrolet experienced this past Saturday at Madera.
Hoping they could improve their performance from the last visit to Madera in March, the team was in for a long, hot day. The car was slow all during practice and qualifying and after making wholesale changes, the team qualified 23rd out of 26 cars.
The car improved but remained three tenths off fast time and that forced the team to take their first provisional. "It has been frustrating trying to figure this place out," said Rip. "We struggled here in March and came back with an experimental setup that was even slower. We have been scratching our heads all weekend,” Michels continued. "This is such a difficult place to setup the car for, especially with all of the bumps. The car kept getting loose going into turn one. Every time we adjusted for the entry, the car got worse coming off the corner. It didn't help when I over drove the corner in turn three on our qualifying lap either."
The team decided to pull the car out of impound in an attempt to improve the setup. After many changes, they felt they might have a better car during the race. The car started dead last and by lap 20 Rip drove the car into 16th.
On lap 22 Rip was battling in a pack of cars for the 11th position when he got under Joe Herold coming out of turn four. Joe had to avoid Darrell LaMoure, who had gotten sideways forcing Joe to go low. Rip's right front hit Joe's door causing the car to shoot into the grass towards the infield wall. "We almost missed it, but we caught the last 6 inches of the wall".
After the race, the team headed back to San Fernando and on Sunday morning did what any good crew should do after such a disappointment, they headed to Malibu for some good food, awesome waves, and the camaraderie of good friends.
"We were so disillusioned by our performance, that we needed to get away from it all. This beach trip was just what the doctor ordered,” said Team Manager Michael Medlin. "We will get the car repaired and look ahead to Stockton where the team posted their best performance this season."
For more information on Rip Michels and his sponsors, please visit http://www.ripmichels.com/.
