FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
Pacific Northwest
Team Returns to Turkey Night with High Hopes
Source: AJB
MM
Victoria, B.C., Canada (November 23,
2009) – Monte Zema Racing with driver Chris Schmelzle will take their
Talcore Walls and Ceilings sprint car to the famed USAC Turkey Night Grand
Prix to be run Thanksgiving evening, November 26th, hoping to build
on their combined previous experiences at this exciting event.
This year will mark the 69th
running of the USAC Turkey Night Grand Prix and the Champions list reads like
a who's who of open-wheel racing including: Bill Vukovich, Johnny Parsons,
Tony Bettenhausen, A. J. Foyt, Parnelli Jones, Gary Bettenhausen and Jason
Leffler.
In 2004 the native of Victoria, B.C.,
Canada, Schmelzle, driving the Lejeune Performance and Fabrication house car,
drove his way to an impressive third-place finish against a stellar field of
competitors, including NASCAR Sprint Cup start and previous Turkey Night
Champion, Tony Stewart. "We debuted a new car at that event and were
really pleased with it throughout the weekend. We went into the main event
confident and were able to keep the car under us as the race progressed. We
made a great run at the end of the race and if it were another few laps we may
have even been able to contend for the win," recalled Schmelzle about the
podium finish.
Zema and Schmelzle teamed up to run last
year's event and it appeared through the first few practice sessions that they
may have a car to compete with. "At an event like this you have to be
cautiously optimistic. It is awfully hard for us to run one USAC National
event on the year and be as competitive as those that run with this series
consistently; it serves as a great measuring stick to see how good you and
your team are," commented Schmelzle. After a promising day of practice,
the motor on #25 Zema Racing sprinter experienced some gremlins as the team
headed into qualifying. After starting the event at the back of the field it
appeared that Schmelzle may once again be able to move forward, but
experienced a mechanical issue which sent the Lejeune Sprinter to the pits
prematurely.
In 2009 Schmelzle focused on his dirt
sprint car program campaigning throughout the Northwestern United States at
Skagit Speedway and made the trip to the 2009 Knoxville Nationals.
The Zema racing team ran the entire ASA/NSRA
Winged Sprint Car series schedule in 2009 with rookie driver Greg Ochs behind
the wheel, finishing sixth in the final point standings.
Now Zema and team are looking for a
little redemption at this year's event. Schmelzle shared this, "We've run
up front at this event before and I think we have a great package with Monte's
(Zema) team and equipment and I hope that we can position ourselves to run in
the top-5 again. We think we're ready, it should be an exciting week down in
California ."