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CORR: Federico Racing Dresser race notes

The winter is finally over and that can only mean the start of Championship Off-Road Racing season! It's a sure bet that all CORR racers have been working on their race cars or trucks for the past six months with an eye towards the 2003 ...

The winter is finally over and that can only mean the start of Championship Off-Road Racing season! It's a sure bet that all CORR racers have been working on their race cars or trucks for the past six months with an eye towards the 2003 championship.

Federico Racing started their bid for the championship Memorial Day weekend at The Little Store in downtown Dresser, Wisconsin. Dresser is known as the '4x4' capital of Wisconsin on Memorial Day weekend so we made arrangements with the owner at the corner gas station to set up our race truck display Friday. "It was great. Seeing all the 'four-by-fours' fill up their gas tanks for the weekend brought a huge amount of people through our display." We would like to thank Chris for helping us gain all of this exposure.

It was a tough start to the 2003 season for the Federico Racing Team. I spoke to Steven after the first practice and asked how he liked the new track at Dresser. "Well, it's really tight and small. I would call it a 'stadium track on steroids'... It has a really nice rhythm section in the middle of the race course but I think this track is way to short and tight... Pro-Lite is going to race twenty trucks on this track! There is virtually no way to pass unless you 'help someone out of your way' by turning this into a contact sport... I would be very surprised indeed if any of the racers leave here with most of their body panels intact..."

SUNDAY'S RACE, ROUND #1

Federico Racing and their Ingles Supermarkets, Mountain Dew, Toyota pulled twelfth spot for the Round One on Sunday. Steven was heard to say, "Starting in the middle Still lookin' for that darned mouse? of the pack should make for an interesting race today..." This race was threatening to turn into somewhat of a melee, especially with the first turn being a one hundred-eighty degree hairpin! As the Pro-Lites were the largest field of the day, their staging area was almost the entire length of the track!

When the starter started to lower the yellow flag it became quite an auditory spectacle with every racer anticipating the green... There were twenty trucks mostly oscillating between quick carburettor clearing stabs up onto the limiters and short little popping overruns... and then the GREEN!!! Twenty trucks kicking dirt everywhere, trying to hold a straight line while racing towards the first turn... Steven made a great move on the start but, as he was powering out of the one-eighty, Randy Eller just 'tee-boned' the Ingles Supermarkets, Mountain Dew, Toyota... Federico made it through the first turn in fourth position but began to fall steadily back as a tire had been punctured from the impact. "I had to race the truck with the flat... There was no way to come in and change it 'cause, if I had, we would have gone down three maybe four laps... So we stayed out and tried to handle not only this track, but doing it with a flat..." said Federico. We ended up sixteenth... What was it Scarlett said to herself after Rhett Butler left for good at the end of the movie? Yeah... That's just how we felt...

MONDAY'S RACE, ROUND #2

Starting in the back of the field for this Memorial Day race team Federico had their work cut out for them. The green flag flew once again and Federico got a good start. [3.jpg] We never miss a chance to set-up a great display for our sponsors! Working his way through traffic Federico made one great move after another, passing truck after truck on the technically demanding track. "We picked them off one by one", said Steven. "I had two spots on the track where I was really fast and used them to take advantage of the race in my own way." (unbeknownst to us he had been having difficulties with the transmission the whole time) By the time the half distance flag flew Federico had fought his way all the way up to fifth place. Heading down the front straight-away a red flag was thrown because a truck was on fire so the race was stopped (thankfully, no one was injured).

As we lined back up for the restart we were still in fifth place and remained there for the next few laps. With one lap to go Steven made a clean pass for fourth place but was then hit from behind sending him off of the racing line. The combination of a speed scrubbing, off-line excursion, a balky transmission, a cammy motor and a fuel-bowl upsetting impact were just a bit too much... the carburettors loaded up the cylinders, the motor died and Federico couldn't get the fire back into it... as truck after truck passed him by I could see Federico's head just shaking no, no and no... The team worked really hard this weekend and to work so hard throughout the race weekend and have this happen... really...

EPILOGUE

Well, we have nowhere to go but up... We've really gonna have to 'saddle our horses and ride' if we're gonna leave Antigo advantageously placed in the inversion for Crandon, but the team is upbeat and quite philosophical about it... next time out we're just gonna "be the ball, Danny!"...

We would like to thank all our sponsors for their support... P.F. Chang's, Ingles Super-Markets, Mountain Dew and Pepsi-Cola, Italian Village, Racing Optics, Mechanix Wear, Wilmette Auto Body, Goodyear Tire Company, Phillips 66 Racing Fuel, Phil's Inc.com, American Racing Custom Wheels, Toyota, Venom, Precision Gear, Stoner's Invisible Glass, Jack Link's Beef Jerky and Steven's family.

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