Gerchman Makes It Four In A Row In Lucas Oil-Rockstar Modified Action
BY DAVE GRAYSON
The former country music super group Alabama once sang a song entitled "You Can't Keep A Good Man Down." That certainly applies to Chris Gerchman who continued his assault on the Lucas Oil Modified Racing Series, presented by Rockstar Energy Drink, last July 10th at the Orange Show Speedway in San Bernardino.
Gerchman led 51 laps of the Magnaflow Exhaust Products 75 and then checked out on his competitors to take his fourth consecutive win in five starts during the still young series' 2010 racing season. The margin of victory was approximately 8.8 seconds with only seven cars running on the lead lap at the end of the race. Gerchman collected $1,000 for the win plus a $100 bonus from Budweiser for setting the fast time during qualifying. He was also awarded the $100 bonus from the Magnaflow Exhaust Products Clean Pass Award. Dave Arce, Doug Hamm, Scott Osborn and Mike Regelman completed the top five.
The pre race inversion ceremony turned up the number seven and that moved drivers Dave Arce and Brian Collins to the front row of the 22 car field that comprised the Magnaflow Exhaust Products 75. When the initial green flag fell on the field, Dave Arce jumped into the lead. He appeared to be the car and driver to beat during the early stages of the race.
However Gerchman was coming on strong and began working his way through the top five running order. By lap 20 he moved in second. Then on lap 24 made what turned out to be the race winning pass. From that point Gerchman literally ran away with the remainder of the race to conclude a very impressive and dominating performance.
Gerchman also picked up a significant amount of points in the series' championship run due to some rather unexpected circumstances. When the series arrived at the Orange Show Speedway local favorite Jim Mardis was on top of the standings but only four points ahead of Doug Hamm. Texas driver James Cole was third and Gerchman was in fourth 12 points away from the leader.
But in the early portion of the race Mardis and Cole were racing hard for fourth when Cole made contact and caused a spin. He was sent to the rear of the field. Moments later, under yellow flag conditions, Mardis retaliated and was also sent to the rear of the field. Neither driver was able to recover to again become factors in the race. Mardis finished 11th while Cole had to settle for 13th.
The unofficial points, pending a complete review by the Lucas Oil chief scorer, should show Doug Hamm as the new points leader, Gerchman in second four points back with Mardis and Cole tied for third 22 points back.
After parking his Peggy's Sunrise Cafe/Bridgewater Homes modified in the Sunoco Race Fuels victory lane, a very happy race winner exclaimed "I don't even know what to say, it's just amazing. It was an absolute pleasure to drive this car tonight. I've never had a car that ran so good in my life. As a matter of fact, that is the best handling car I've ever had. The car was just hooked up. We're here to make a statement, we're here to win races.By the way, hats off to Dave Arce and Doug Hamm. Those guys pulled it together and pulled some good top threes in this race."
Gerchman admitted that he was a little surprised to learn about the situation involving Mardis and Cole and was even more surprised when he lapped them. "They had an unfortunate event early in the race and kind of got together. They both went to the back of the pack and I guess they had a hard time coming back up," he said.
Dave Arce's strong second place run was very popular with his competitors, series officials and the fans who well remember him as a late model stock car driver at the Orange Show Speedway. "I just can't thank my crew enough," he said adding "they had to put this car back together. We wrecked at the race in Las Vegas about five weeks ago and they worked their tails off getting this thing back together so we could come up here. This is our home track, people were expecting us to be here and they did a fabulous job. This car was riding on a rail tonight. I wish we could have had a little bit more, but Gerchman was really tough."
The Magnaflow Exhaust Products 75 was an intense affair that featured door to door racing as well as negotiating the lapped traffic on the Orange Show Speedway's quarter mile paved oval. Commenting on that intensity, Arce said "it really got up to me when we were going around the lapped cars. I saw guys coming up behind me, they were closing and started closing in on me. But we just kept our nose to the grindstone, watched for the lapped cars, kept ourselves clean and it all worked out well for us."
Arce also made it a point to say a huge thank you to his sponsors which includes Dance Scene, a business owned by his wife, Dart Machinery, Arce Engines and San Diego Engine Bound. "They're all great sponsors who help us get this car to the track."
Doug "Hound Dog" Hamm brought his Crispy Critters/Phil's Phabracation modified to third and scored his fourth top five finish of the season. Hamm was very happy with his finish as well the fourth place finish by his team mate Scott Osborn. After the race he said "this is awesome. I'm loving the thought that all of our team mates ran good tonight. (Our third team mate), Dylan (Kwaniesky) had some chassis issues but got it all back together to finish eighth. It was also an awesome job by Scotty Osborn to bring it home fourth. What a group, what a team effort. We all help each other out at home in Las Vegas at the shop and we all help each other out here in the pits."
Making Hamm's night even sweeter at the Orange Show Speedway was the fact that he was awarded the $200 Dart Machinery bonus for winning the trophy dash in addition to the $500 that came with his third place finish. "That's awesome," he said adding "that $200 bonus from Dart Machinery is going to get us back home to Vegas. I just appreciate everybody on our crew. They worked their guts out to give me an awesome car to drive."
The presence of the Lucas Oil Modified Racing Series, presented by Rockstar Energy Drink was very well received by the full grandstand of fans at the Orange Show Speedway. It was a fact that did not escape the notice of series Race Director Bill Rozhon who said "first off, I have to thank Magnaflow Exhaust Products for coming on board as our race sponsor tonight. I also have to say thank you to Team Lucas, Lucas Oil Products and what can you say about Rockstar? I love the fact that Rockstar Energy Drink's program is a part of our racing deal."
Commenting on race winner Chris Gerchman's performance, Rozhon smiled and said "Chris really stunk up the show tonight didn't he? Chris did a really good job and he showed a lot of patience. There appeared to be a lot of temperament out there tonight, Chris had to sit back and watch while protecting his equipment. You have to race smart sometimes to win one of these things and that's exactly what he did."
Series Promoter Greg Scheidecker agreed and said "the performance of that race car was phenomenal and that young man is a phenomenal race driver. Right now, he's the class of the field there's no doubt about that."
Scheidecker was also very much aware of the radical changes in the series' points standings especially in light of the incident between Mardis and Cole. "If those two aren't careful they're going to give it, (the championship) to Chris. Incidents like the one tonight are not win-win, they're lose-lose. I think everyone involved needs to look at the big picture and what they're trying to accomplish," he said.
Scheidecker also had high praise for the performance of Dave Arce and said "there's always a feel good story in every race. There's not a more deserving individual, the man has paid his dues. To see Dave Arce come back after a wreck at the Las Vegas race, miss a race and then get his car back together to come here and finish second that's exciting."
"I really have to compliment Dave Arce," Rozhon said adding "he had a really good night that was way overdue. You get friendly with all of the guys in our series and you really can't root for just one of them. But if I was going to root for just one tonight it would have been Dave."
Scheidecker was also very impressed with Doug Hamm's third place finish as well as his presence in the current points profile. "Different cars and teams struggle at different race tracks. With all due respects to the Orange Show Speedway, Doug came down here hoping to walk away with a top ten let alone a third place finish. It was a great run for the man," he said.
Teams who were not within the top 16 during qualifying had to earn a starting berth in the Magnaflow Exhaust Products 75 by participating in the Racing Plus B Main which transferred four teams into the main event. David Gerchman won the B Main along with the $100 bonus from Racing Plus.
During the course of the B Main the event turned up one of the worst accidents the series has seen in quite some time. Justin Olmstead spun coming through turn two and slid down into the infield area of the track. Olmstead made his re entry onto the track on the backstretch and somehow made contact with the modified being driven by Ed Patton. This action was followed by a hard hit that had the Patton car flying upwards and landing on top of the Olmstead car. Fortunately neither driver was injured but the same could not be said for their race cars.
Bill Rozon referred to the accident as a testimony to the mandatory safety equipment installed in the cars and said "when you look at a car sitting completely on top of another one and the roll cage is still intact that's quite a bit. This is the type of safety equipment that has been enforced for years and we keep looking closely at the cars to make sure they are as safe as they can be. All of our cars in the series fall within our perimeters. I really glad no one got hurt in that thing. It was a freak deal, there was certainly nothing intentional, just thank God nobody got hurt."
The Lucas Oil Modified Racing Series, presented by Rockstar Energy Drink, will return to action on August 28th at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Bullring. This particular event is expected to have a huge impact on the series' championship picture because double points will be on the line.
In addition to its title sponsors, the Lucas Oil Modified Racing Series, presented by Rockstar Energy Drink, is supported by a highly potent marketing concept known as "Team Lucas." Team members include Lucas Oil Products, Magnaflow Exhaust Products, E3 Spark Plugs, General Tire, K&N Performance Filters, GEICO Powersports, CANIDAE All Natural Pet Food, MAV-TV, Dart Machinery and Rockstar Energy Drink.
The series is also supported by a group of associate sponsors featuring Eibach Springs, Hoosier Tire West, Budweiser, Blue Water Resort and Casino, Sunoco Race Fuels, Frank's Radio, Racing Plus and MAC Tools.