Primm: Series post-race quotes

September 12, 2010
15th Annual SCORE Las Vegas Terrible's Primm 300
Post-race driver quotes

Pro Cars and Trucks

SCORE TROPHY-TRUCK

JESSE JONES, No. 76 (First in class and first overall. Jones drove all four laps.) This is great. We had a really great day. We had a flat on lap two and we lost a driveline. It was just dusty and we were fighting our way through the slower traffic. You're so anxious to go but you know you better not do that because three guys will go by you when you're changing your tire. But you just want to go. The truck ran well. We passed 12 trucks physically so we started 15th and finished third on the road. Andy (McMillin, No. 31) had me by one (minute) on the last lap and I stepped it up. Andy was down to me by four minutes at the last pit when he pulled in. Oh, man, maybe we'll get some points out of this thing!

ROBBIE PIERCE, No. 30 (Second in class and second overall. Pierce drove the first two laps and Mike Julson drove the final two laps.) The goal was for me just to get two laps in. After my accident in Glen Helen, I've been a little sore so Mike offered to drive the last two laps for me and my goal was to just bring in a clean, good, healthy truck and then let it come to us. I had a bad crash four weeks ago and broke two collarbones, banged up a lung and fractured some ribs. I still don't have my energy level back so that's why I wanted to have Mike in the truck. This is the best thing we can do after what happened to Rob MacCachren (who drives for Pierce and who was disqualified before the race by Bureau of Land Management officials.) This one is for him.

GARY WEYRICH, No. 9 (Third in class and fourth overall. Weyrich drove all four laps.) The shocks went away on the third lap, near the end. They're not gone but the truck shifts everywhere. Other than that, it was good. We had a flat on the last lap -- couldn't miss a big rock. The course is torn up. Every lap it got more torn up. I lost the shocks and had to back off a bit and make sure we didn't do anything stupid. We didn't want to wreck it, you know? But it was fun.

DAVE CRINKLAW, No. 27 (Fourth in class and fifth overall. Crinklaw drove all four laps in his first start in a SCORE Trophy-Truck.) This truck was flawless all day. We never had a flat. My whole team is awesome. This (SCORE Trophy-Truck) is so much different than (the Class 8 truck), it took me a little while to learn what I could get away with and you can get away with a lot. We developed a vibration on the third lap at high speed so we had to back off a bunch. First time in this truck -- first time on this course -- and we were flawless. SCORE puts on a good race, as usual, so it was a good day for us.

KORY SCHEELER, No. 51 (Fifth in class and sixth overall. Scheeler drove all four laps.) We had a flat on the third lap and the last two laps we were battling a sick motor. I don't know what the problem is ... something to do with hot fuel and it was running on seven cylinders. I thought we had it fixed (coming into the race). Other than that, we had a pretty good day. We kind of got stuck in traffic today and it was hard to pass. There was no wind today and the dust made it hard to pass. You couldn't do anything but follow.

PETE SOHREN, No. 2 (Sixth in class and 10th overall. Sohren drove all four laps.) We had a long, long drive shaft change at the end of lap one and that probably took about 20 minutes to fix. It was a fun race but it was difficult to pass. It was the same Primm you always get -- it was not going to be easy. We came here to win but didn't so, no, I'm not happy. We did good for getting so far back early. We fought back all day and kept moving up but it was just too hard to pass.

ANDY McMILLIN, No. 31 (Eighth in class. McMillin drove all four laps.) I don't know...I wasn't on my game today. I got a flat at mile four and that really put me down and put my attitude down. I kept pushing, though, knowing that it's a lot of attrition out here. Then I had another flat on the second lap and then on the last lap, leading, had a double flat and that really hurt us. The four flats didn't help and then we picked up a really bad vibration. The whole pulley mount came loose in front of the drive shaft, so we had to replace the power steering belt and the alternator belt and make sure those were working. Then we had to get a cutting torch out and cut off that mount for the pulley. We were down for six minutes and that was kind of a bummer. I should have taken it easier but I got greedy. If we had not had that last drive shaft pulley issue, we probably could have been third or fourth.

CLASS 1

ARMIN SCHWARTZ/MARTIN CHRISTENSEN, No. 107 (First in class and third overall. Schwartz drove the first two laps and Christensen drove the final two. It was the duo's third consecutive SCORE Las Vegas Terrible's Primm 300 victory in Class 1.)

Schwartz said: I'm glad to have all this support here from BFGoodrich and from Germany -- they came out here with many guests and they enjoyed the day very much. It's always very, very nice to win a race ... but for me, this is something sensational and it is all down to the pit crew, to the team. I can only give this victory to the team because we have the best team out there, probably. We had no issues with the car at all.

Christensen said: There was no fade in the car -- it was the same as when we started. Not one flat all day and we hit so many rocks. Going into this race, I almost think we were jinxed because, that I know of, nobody has won (Class 1) three years in a row at Primm. And then to just have a flawless day like this ... they told me at the last pit that I was 11 minutes ahead of the next car in class and so we said we would let off and drive it home nice and easy.

RONNY WILSON, No. 115 (Second in class and seventh overall. John Herder drove the first two laps and Wilson drove the last two.) We had a flat and we just never seemed to be able to run in clean air; we were always in the dust, which makes it tough. The car ran great other than that.

JOSH DANIEL, No. 106 (Third in class and eighth overall. Daniel drove all four laps.) We had two flats and my throttle pedal is broken. I drove for like five miles lifting the throttle back instead of pushing it. It stuck at 130 miles an hour -- I don't know how fast we were going. It was a real fun race. The course started off real good and then it got pretty hammered by the time I got to the end. But it's always like that. This car did well, though. We had second place locked in and I wanted to get ahead a little bit and I caught a rock (and flattened a tire). That cost me a position.

JUSTIN SMITH, No. 120 (Fourth in class and ninth overall. Smith drove the whole way.) We started out the race and the first lap was clean and the second lap, coming into the finish area, we came over a rise and got a left-rear flat and the tire took out the brake line. The third lap was clean and on the fourth lap, we lost fourth gear and came over another rise and got another flat. The course definitely was brutal.

TERRY HOUSEHOLDER, No. 110 (Fifth in class. Householder drove the first two laps and Chris Eimer drove the last two.) We had no issues at all. The car ran flawless all day; the only problem we had was we had a little bit of a fuel issue. We had no flat tires, no other problems at all. They (Schwartz and Christensen) are fast and they've got a lot of time and experience and (my) car is only a year old. We just need a little more time and experience.

CLASS 1-2/1600

KEVIN SMITH, No. 1609 (First in class. Smith drove all four laps.) Everything went perfectly. We started ninth and I think by the third lap, I was the first car on the road. We stopped twice: Once for fuel and once to change an air cleaner. Other than that, it was a flawless run. No flat tires, no problems with anything. I drove the whole way and I got a little tired at the end but I kind of got a big enough of a cushion there and then the last lap I kind of cruised it on in.

BRIAN WILSON, No. 1604 (Second in class. Wilson drove the first two laps and Sammy Ehrenberg drove the final two.) It was excellent. It was a very, very fun course and we actually had a blast out there. I could have gone further but we split it up half and half. I dinged one wheel so we changed it just to be safe but other than that, there were no issues. I couldn't ask for anything better. I wouldn't say it was easy but it was a fun Saturday drive.

BRAD WILSON, No. 1602 (Third in class. Wilson shared driving duties with Justin Munyon.) The race went pretty well. Around mile marker 18 we got stuck for about five minutes. We blew a turn and got high-centered and it took us about five minutes to get out. This is a brand-new car and we had to put some turns in the torsion bars. Other than that, the car worked great. It was a good day.

Co-driver Justin Munyon said: It was a pretty good day. I had a little bit of dust being behind seven cars and then (Hiram Duran, No. 1600) and I had a pretty good battle on the third lap and I just sat behind him the whole time and we were back and forth, eating each other's dust. It was fun doing that and then I got around him going out on the fourth lap and we had a good clean lap and I think we made up a little time. It was fun; I had a good time.

HIRAM DURAN, No. 1600 (Fourth in class. Duran drove all four laps.) We might be tied or one (point) ahead of Luke McMillin in the points going into the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000. I wanted to finish first of all so, the first lap, I went kind of slow. Then I had three flats and at the end I had an electrical problem so I lost my GPS and it had some issues with the motor. That's why I lost one more place to the Wilsons; I was behind them but I couldn't go more than 35 miles per hour for the last 10 miles.

LUKE McMILLIN, No. 1605 (Fifth in class. McMillin drove all four laps.) It could have gone better. At mile 19, we tipped the car. We came to a hard left-hand turn and there was another car there and we stopped and there was a little ledge there and we went right on our side. It cost us 20 or 25 minutes, probably. Other than that, there were no problems; the car works great. The points are close now; I think we're either tied or a point behind (Duran).

CLASS 3

DONALD MOSS, No. 300 (First in class. Moss earned his seventh career SCORE Las Vegas Terrible's Primm 300 victory. Moss drove the first lap and Ken Moss drove the second lap.) King Shocks did a bunch of tuning on the shocks this week and they made a big difference; the truck really ran well. We had some trouble with one of the tie rod ends, it came loose at about mile 19 on the second lap and they had to strap it together and get it to the first pit and then we had to get some parts out there to get it fixed. Otherwise, we've never had it working so well. It was rough, rough, rough out there -- very hot and dusty. We just tried not to push the truck to do more than it could handle.

CLASS 5

KEVIN CARR, No. 500 (First in class. Carr split driving duties with Luis Barrigan.) Co-driver Barrigan said: I drove the last lap only. We had no problems at all -- no flat tires, nothing. We just stopped for gas. The course was nice. There were a couple of rocks but other than that it was good. I was real proud to drive for Kevin and drive the last lap and help out a little bit.

CLASS 5/1600

GUSTAVO AVINA, No. 579 (First in class. Avina drove all three laps.) It was a very good race. We had no problems at all; everything was good. I saw (Alonso Angulo, No. 550) pit on the second lap and I passed him then. It was a very clean race, a very easy day. The course was very bad, a lot of rocks in the road. But compared to San Felipe, this was fine.

CLASS 6

DAVE CASPINO, No. 604 (First in class. Caspino drove all three laps.) We had two flats on the first lap; we had one at mile 5 and one at mile 65. You couldn't see -- it was just all dust. I'm still not sure that we beat Heidi (Steele, No. 600). We'll have to see how it all shakes out.

HEIDI STEELE, No. 600 (Second in class. Steele shared driving duties with Rene Brugger.) Co-drive Rene Brugger said: Heidi did an excellent job holding her position in her half of the race and I took over halfway and didn't have any problems. (Dave) Caspino (No. 604) had a great start and here we are. We had no problems at all. We did a driver change halfway through the race and at that point we were second place, still. Caspino had a couple of flats so we passed him and then he passed us -- it was pretty fun. With no pre-running, it's very hard.JCLASS 7

DAN CHAMLEE, No. 700 (First in class. Chamlee drove all three laps.) We didn't have any flats. I knew I didn't have to do too much out there; I just kind of wanted to run a comfortable pace. Unfortunately, there weren't enough of us out there for me to really have something to make me work hard for it. It's a bummer that way but it was a good race. Everything worked well except for the brakes. They were mushy right from the start. We could have gone a lot faster if we had brakes, but we got there.

ELIAS HANNA, No. 719 (Second in class. Hanna, who drove all three laps, switched from Class 7SX -- modified, open mini trucks -- to Class 7 -- open, production mini trucks -- after SCORE found an issue with the transmission in Hanna's truck during pre-race tech inspection.) We came all the way from (Ensenada) Mexico and we wanted to race so we decided to move to a bigger class and we got second place. I had some updates on my transmission and I think that was the problem (in inspection). This was my first time in Primm and everyone tells me that it was a terrible track but, for me, it was awesome. I love the track. The truck ran perfect -- no problems. It was a good day.

CLASS 7SX

NORMAN TURLEY, No. 741 (First in class. Turley started the race and immediately turned the truck over to his son, Trevor Turley.) I drove about 20 feet and turned it over to Trevor. I've got a bad back. This is his first victory so it was a great race. We're trying to get ready for the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 and we were trying to get him some seat time.

Co-driver Trevor Turley said: It was fun. It was dusty, but it was fun. We had a loose alternator and something is wrong with the shocks. Once we found out the other guy in our class was DQ'd, we really just wanted to bring it home -- have fun and bring it home. We had no flats, which was great. We were just cruising.

CLASS 8

JUAN C. LOPEZ, No. 802 (First in class. Lopez drove both laps.) On the last lap, the lead car (Noah Ostanik in No. 801) had a flat and we got around them and that's why we're sitting here, the first vehicle in the finish line. We had two flat tires on the first lap but no other problems. No mechanical problems, nothing other than the flats.

CLASS 9

EDUARDO LAGUNA, No. 901 (First in class. Laguna drove both laps.) My front torsion housing broke on the second lap, about mile 6 of the second lap. I hit a rock and I lost the torsion. But other than that, we had a good race and a good result.

CLASS 10

ALEX CROSTHWAITE, No. 1003 (First in class. Crosthwaite drove the first two laps and Jose Gonzalez drove the final two.) Co-driver Jose Gonzalez said: We come from Mexico and we love racing in SCORE and we're very happy with the organization. We had some stalling on the last lap. We stalled three times on the last lap but that was really the only problem we had today.JSCORE LITE

PERRY McNEIL, No. 1202 (First in class.) It was a good race. We didn't win last year because we didn't show or otherwise we might have taken it three years in a row. We had a real good race. We had a flat and we were held up by dust really bad. But other than that, it was flawless. The car really worked well all day. We came into the pit to put gas in and they said, 'Hey, you've got a tire going down.' It was lucky it happened when it did. Other than that, it was a very good day.

JUSTIN DAVIS, No. 1209 (Second in class. Justin drove the first lap and Daniel Folts drove the last three.) Co-driver Daniel Folts said: Things went well. We had a problem on the first lap when a spare part that we put it in the car to help us fell down and got stuck in the gas pedal. We had to stop at both pits on the first lap and after that we just tried to make up time, but that was the difference. We threw a fan belt trying to make up time and that was it. It was dusty out there but the course really wasn't that bad.

RONNY WILSON, No. 1210 (Third in class. Wilson drove the first two laps and L.J. Kennedy drove the last two.) Co-driver L.J. Kennedy said: I got a flat probably eight miles into the third lap and I drove on it for a while and I finally decided to get out and change it. That was the only problem. I had to change it and then get it changed back in the pit but they got us in and out pretty quick. Other than that, it was a great day. The course is the same as it always is: It's getting a little rougher but it's a good course. It's fast.

CODY FREEMAN, No. 1249 (Fourth in class. Kenny Freeman drove the first two laps and Cody Freeman drove the final two.) Co-driver Kenny Freeman said: I started and drove two laps and Cody had a pretty good run, too. Our philosophy during the race was for me just for me to drive around and not have any issues and (Cody) was going to get in the car and go for it. Where I gained positions was people were having flat tires. On the last two laps, everything started spreading out and Cody was picking up time after pit one through pit two.

BRENT PARKHOUSE, No. 1200 (Seventh in class. Parkhouse drove the first two laps and Brian Burgess drove the final two.) Co-driver Brian Burgess said: Brent got a flat on the first lap and put us behind the pack and we just had to fight our way back. Mechanically, everything was perfect. It was a pretty boring day, really. I wish it was more exciting. STOCK FULL

JOE BACAL, No. 879 (First in class. Bacal drove both laps.) It was fun -- it was an awesome race and the truck was phenomenal. I couldn't test last week because I hurt my knee and I've got 25 stitches in my knee. It's been a good year and I think we're pretty close to wrapping up the championship. At this point, I think we just have to show up at the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000, if I'm not mistaken. That'll be the first for Lexus, which is a pretty darn cool thing. We're pretty excited. I didn't have any problems out there. All I had to do was run a good pace to keep out of trouble.

PROTRUCK

TROY VEST, No. 1301 (First in class. Troy drove the first two laps and Alan Levinson drove the final lap.) Co-driver Alan Levinson said: No problems as far as I know. Troy had no problems and we had no problems. We didn't drive real hard -- neither one of us did. We just cruised and pitted twice. I got in after the second lap and just learned where all the rocks and stuff were as I drove around. If you get a couple of laps, then you learn where things are at but I didn't have that luxury. But it still was fun and we had a great time. No hiccups at all -- no flats and no problems with the truck. We just motored around and had a good time.

CLASS 17

MIKE SHAFFER, No. 1700 (First in class. Shaffer, Daniel Aeberli and Sean Twitchell split driving duties.) We were really just doing a shakedown run before the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000. We haven't prepped the car all year and we wanted to see if we were going to have any issues. Last year in Baja, we had a lot of problems and we wanted to make sure that we got all of the bugs worked out this year. We had no problems at all. The last two races in a row now, nothing went wrong and we haven't worked on the car. Something's good; we won the last two races so you can't go wrong with that.

CLASS 4

JOHN LANGLEY, No. 401 (First in class. Langley drove the first two laps and Morgan Langley drove the final lap.) Co-driver Morgan Langley said: It was smooth out there. This car ran great. We didn't have any issues at all -- it was a good day for us.

CLASS 7-2

REID RUTHERFORD, No. 721 (First in class. Rutherford drove the first two laps and Luis Chamberland drove the final lap.) Co-driver Luis Chamberland said: It was good. We knew we had a shock problem so we took the bypass shock off completely and we just soldiered around. That's all we did; we didn't race. We heard the only other truck in the class had blown a motor so we literally went for a third-lap cruise.

-source: score