BNS: Waterford: Bill Pendfold race notes

Penfold Motorsports Endures Tough Waterford Race Under Tough Conditions, Finishes Nineteenth

(Waterford, Conn. - July 17, 2004) - Bill Penfold and the entire Penfold Motorsports team raced with heavy hearts Saturday night at the Waterford Speedbowl, site of the eighth NASCAR Grand National Division, Busch North Series race of the season.

Stephen L. Doughty, 42, of Lewiston, Maine, a longtime friend of the Penfold family and crew member on their racing effort, suffered a heart attack and passed away Friday. This left the Penfolds in shock, and they considered skipping the Waterford race altogether, but in the end they decided to press on.

At the track, the team worked to set up for the night's race in hopes of improving on last year's thirteenth place finish. They got off to a good start, practicing thirteenth fastest, and then qualifying seventeenth.

"We didn't do anything to the car for qualifying, and it didn't run too bad, except it was too loose," Penfold said. "I've got my friend riding with me and he always liked me starting in the rear because I always gave it one hell of a ride when I did, so we're going to give him another one tonight. This one's for Steve. I'll get up front, one way or another."

The race was only thirteen laps old when adversity struck the No. 0 car. Contact with another competitor damaged the right front tire and blew out the right front tire. Caution came out and Penfold pitted to change the tire without losing a lap, restarting nineteenth. When the race resumed, the damage to the fender resulted in a second flat tire on lap 65. Penfold kept the car under control and pitted again, but he had gone a lap down by that point so he could only soldier on to finish as well as he could. That result was nineteenth.

"We had a pretty good car, but you'd get under guys and their spotters don't tell them that you're under them, and they chop down on you and cut your right front tire," he said after the race. "We came away from the first flat tire pretty good, we were still on the lead lap, but we didn't clean up the fender braces and that cut the right front down a second time."

After saying goodbye to their friend Steve early this week, the Penfold Motorsports team will regroup to run at New Hampshire International Speedway this Saturday in the Siemens 125. For more information, visit www.penfoldmotorsports.com.

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