K-C Raceway preview

A Change of Luck: Kemenah Heads to K-C Raceway with Momentum

Waverly, OH--August 1, 2006 -- Chad Kemenah was on top of the world on February 9. He had just turned in a dominating performance to pick up the season opening World of Outlaws win at Volusia Speedway Park. Fresh off the heels of winning four straight titles with the All Star Circuit of Champions, he was all geared up to take to the road with the World of Outlaws for the first time ever to follow the series full-time.

Since then though, it has been a roller-coaster season for the native of Findlay, Ohio. He has gotten caught up in accidents that were not of his making. He has suffered some mechanical woes on the car. In addition to this, he even sustained a severe ankle injury in early June at Eldora Speedway.

The last couple of weeks have brought optimism back to Kemenah and the team as they had a very successful trip to New York last week, including a fifth place run at Lebanon Valley Speedway. He backed that up in the finale of the Princeton PolyDome Nationals by coming home 10th.

This weekend, he looks forward to returning to his home state for a pair of races, on Friday at Eldora Speedway, and on Saturday at K-C Raceway. Though he is not very superstitious, Kemenah knows that luck always comes into play in racing, both good and bad. He is hoping that the team has gotten all of their bad luck out of the way, and knows they have a strong foundation to continue to build on.

"I hope our luck has changed," said Kemenah, who drives the RacinSoles.com/Underground Utilities Inc. Eagle. "I am not sure about a total change in luck. I feel real good going back to K-C. We have a lot of laps there. It's a really neat racetrack and it should be a good show for the fans."

For Kemenah and his team, it will also provide a welcome stop back at their own shop, after logging numerous miles on the road over the last few weeks. Among those treks, was a 1,200 mile journey from New York to Minnesota over the course of a day and a half.

"We'll actually be able to go home and sleep in our own beds for a few days," said Kemenah. "We'll definitely take advantage of being home for a little bit."

One of the constants for the team all year long, has been how hard the crew led by Chad's brother Brian, has worked. A prime example of this was at Lebanon Valley when the car lost a rear end during the dash only moments before the A-Feature was scheduled to roll off. Never thinking of giving up, the crew was able to change it and had Chad ready for A-Main, in which he raced his way to the fifth spot, to pick up his 7th top-five finish of the season.

"The crew has done a great job all year long," he said. "It has not been an easy season for us so far. We have tore up a lot of stuff and had a lot of bad luck. They have held their heads up and every time something happens, they try to get it fixed. We go out and do the best that we can."

On Saturday night, he looks forward to taking to the track at K-C, where he has won at in the past, with the All Stars. He enters the race leading the chase for the Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year Award Presented by Maxim Racing and ButlerBuilt. He is 7th overall in World of Outlaws championship points. He has turned countless laps at the racy 3/8-mile oval. Will that give him an advantage against the rest of the Mean 15?

"I don't know how much having more laps helps against these guys," he said. "Some of the guys have never seen it. Laps don't hurt you anywhere. I don't care where it is. Hopefully we can benefit from running there quite a bit. Usually that place is the same most of the time, and we'll see what happens."

Though there is always pressure to perform well at a race that is close to home, Kemenah and his team always place high expectations on themselves, no matter where they are at.

"Whenever you go back home, you want to perform well," Kemenah said. "We try as hard as we can every night though. Hopefully we'll have a good run there and make all the people that know us proud."

One perk about going back to K-C Raceway is that Kemenah will get the chance to mingle with family, friends, and fans, who only get to see him race a couple times each season. Also some of his sponsors will get a chance to come to the event and see him on the track.

"We'll see a lot of people that we know," he said. "We ran K-C for almost two years. It will be good to go back and see some of those fans."

Luck can change at any point, and Kemenah believes if the team keeps working hard, good things will continue to come their way. They have shown they are fast on all types of tracks, and if not for a couple of bad breaks, they probably would have a handful of wins right now.

"We want to keep finishing the best that we can and as many races as we can, said Kemenah. "We're going to try to eliminate some of this luck that we have been having, and hopefully it will roll the other way. Sometimes you can't control Lady Luck, you just have to ride it out."

Though he is classified as a rookie with the World of Outlaws, Kemenah is far from that, especially on the tracks in the Buckeye state. Look for him to use this experience on Saturday night as looks to make it back to RacinSoles Victory Lane.

For ticket information about the race at K-C Raceway on Saturday visit, www.kc-raceway.com, or call 740-289-4114. On Saturday adult reserved tickets will be $30, while adult general admission will be $25. Tickets for children ages 7-12 will be just $15, while kids 6-under will be admitted free of charge.

-woo-