Inside Line Promotions - CHICO, Calif. (March 14) – Saturday was a learning experience in more than one way for Austen Wheatley.
The 18-year-old from Lake Stevens, Wash., encountered a new track surface at Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, Calif. – site of the Mini Gold Cup with the World of Outlaws.
“The track was really rough and dry slick, which isn’t a combination you see very often,” he said. “The setup was off a little bit early in the night.”
Wheatley qualified 31st and finished his very racy heat race where he started – eighth. That put him in the 13th position to begin the B Main.
“The car was pretty good for the B Main,” said Wheatley, who placed 12th in the B. “I was passing cars, but flew off the track in turn three and just ran out of time to get a transfer spot.
“It was definitely a learning experience. I just wish I could have got more laps under my belt and made the feature.”
Wheatley returns to the track this weekend with the World of Outlaws in California. He will race Friday at Giant Chevrolet Kings Speedway in Hanford and Saturday at Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare, where he earned his career-best World of Outlaws finish of 15th last year.
QUICK RESULTS –
March 12 – Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, Calif. – Qualifying: 31; Heat race: 8 (8); B Main: 12 (13).
SEASON STATS –
3 races, 1 feature, 0 wins, 0 top fives, 0 top 10s, 0 top 15s, 1 top 20
UP NEXT –
Friday at Giant Chevrolet Kings Speedway in Hanford, Calif., and Saturday at Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare, Calif., with the World of Outlaws
FAVORITE NUMBER –
15: The place Wheatley finished at Thunderbowl Raceway in March 2010, a career-best with the World of Outlaws.
SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS –
Website: www.austenwheatley.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/MiniWheats44w
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – The Oil Medics
Located in Fort Worth Texas, The Oil Medics services diesel trucks and distributes racing oil for sprint car engines and rear ends. For more information, visit www.theoilmedics.com.
“Thanks to The Oil Medics, our rear ends run cooler and you don’t notice as much damage to the engines and rear ends,” Austen said. “The Oil Medics makes the engines and rear ends live longer.”
Wheatley would like to thank his sponsors, including Wolfweld, SpeedMart, Fire-Down Graphics, Advanced Racing Suspensions, Astro Titanium, DMI, Brown & Miller Racing Solutions, Goodyear and Redlined Welding & Construction for their continued support.
INSIDE LINE PROMOTIONS –
Inside Line Promotions specializes in affordable public relations, media management and merchandising services for sprint car teams. ILP Founder Shawn Miller leverages professional journalism with new media technologies and social networking to improve your exposure and your sponsors’ return on investment.
To meet the media relations needs of your team, contact Shawn at 541-510-3663 or sprintcarreporter@yahoo.com. For more information on Inside Line Promotions, visit www.insidelinepromotions.com.