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Greenville-Pickens a
classic venue for Busch East opener
By Paul Schaefer
April 19, 2007
DAYTONA BEACH,
Fla. -- NASCAR
racing at South Carolina's
Greenville-Pickens Speedway is a classic
combination that permeates the half-mile
paved oval with an air of history.
A new chapter unfolds
at the Pickens County, S.C. with the 2007
season opening NASCAR Busch East Series
event, the Greased Lightning 150, on
Saturday, April 28. The 150-lap, 75-mile,
$122,192 event will also be telecast on
SPEED, and air as part of the network's
Racing Across America series.
Greenville-Pickens
Speedway is simply a southern sanctuary of
speed. It's been that way since 1946 when, a
year before he founded NASCAR, Bill France,
Sr. promoted the first stock car race on the
original half-mile clay horse track.
Tom Blackwell, now 78,
and his late brother, Pete, bought the
facility in 1955. They preserved and built
on the track's reputation, and were lifelong
friends with France and NASCAR. In the
process the place evolved into a short-track
shrine. The painting of names of each
season's featured division track champions
on the whitewashed retaining wall helped
build the legend. The list included names
like Ralph Earnhardt, David Pearson and
Butch Lindley. Their mark now stands as
silent sentinels on the wall as testimony to
tradition. "Ironman" Jack Ingram the first
NASCAR Busch Grand National Series event
there in 1983, and Lindley won the last
there later that same year.
When the NASCAR Grand
National Division, Busch East Series
premiered at the track in 2006, the event
had all the makings of becoming something
special.
Throw in a marquee
NASCAR series with a throw-back name and the
savvy fans turned out early to get their
favorite seats to see another chapter in
Greenville-Pickens history unfold before
their eyes. The series' South Carolina debut
drama featured young Sean Caisse topping a
closing laps multi-car battle for the win.
"Last year's inaugural
NASCAR Busch East Series event at
Greenville-Pickens Speedway featured
three-wide racing in the turns, and a
spectacular finish," said Keith Cochran, the
track's marketing, sales and media director.
"Because of the high quality of racing, our
fans are eagerly awaiting the return of the
series to South Carolina for the 'Greased
Lightning 150' on April 28."
The event was thick in
supporting plot-lines. Caisse was the 2005
NASCAR Busch East Series Sunoco Rookie of
the Year. While he had not yet won, his
talent was obvious. He was hired by car
owner Andy Santerre when Santerre decided to
step away from driving after four straight
NASCAR Busch East titles. Caisse accepted
Santerre's call, and all the pressure that
came with it. The then 20-year-old stepped
into a proven race winning, championship
topping race car and team. He knew he was
expected to win and contend for the title.
He had to prove himself. He did it in his
very first race with Santerre.
"I had tears in my
eyes
I held my breath the last five laps,"
Caisse said in victory lane. "It's just an
amazing feeling."
He was also quick to
thank his new team owner:
"I won races before,
but not in a long time," Caisse said.
"Having Andy in my corner, he taught me a
real good lesson. He taught me how to run
that race. He told me to save my stuff and
let those guys go. And because of that, we
won."
Santerre seemed just
as proud and excited as his driver as his
driver after the race:
"I sat on the (pit)
box for the first hundred laps, but if you
noticed I was standing for the final 50
laps," Santerre said. "I was on my feet and
pretty excited there at the end. I get just
as excited to see someone like Sean win for
the first time as I ever have being in
Victory Lane myself."
Caisse's margin of
victory was .268-second over Brian Hoar. The
rest of the top five included eventual 2006
series champion Mike Olsen, 2006 NASCAR
Toyota All Star Showdown winner Matt
Kobyluck, and Bryon Chew, who went on to
score his first career series win three
races later.
NEWS & NOTES
Greenville-Pickens a
good barometer:ุ
Weather forecasters can predict future
weather by using a barometer. If a barometer
registers high air pressure in a region,
fair weather is predicted. Low air pressure
in a region forecasts approaching storms.
Last year's Greased Lightning 150 proved to
an accurate barometer to predict the
competitive pressure for the entire season.
Check the numbers: The top five finishers in
the inaugural NASCAR Busch East Series at
Greenville-Pickens last year ended up as the
top-five in the series final point standings
at the end of the season. 2006 race finish:
Caisse, Hoar, Olsen, Kobyluck and Chew.
Final championship standings: Olsen, Caisse,
Chew, Hoar, Kobyluck.
Entry list continues toุ
grow: More than a week before the event, 35
entries have been received for the 30
starting spots available in the April 28
Greased Lightning 150 at Greenville-Pickens
Speedway. Of the 35, 11 of 12 registered
rookies have entered, including the two
newest joining the rookie ring, Todd Peck,
21 of Glenville, Pa., and Maxime "Max"
Dumarey, 19, Gent, Belgium.
Eastern eyesุ
on Texas: More than 40 cars are expected to
make qualifying attempts for the
AlphaTrade.com 150 NASCAR Grand National
Division, West Series race under the lights
at Phoenix (Ariz.) International Raceway
Thursday night. The event will be telecast
live in high definition on HDNet, and SPEED
will provide an enhanced replay. Five
drivers expected to compete in the NASCAR
Busch East Series full-time in 2007 are
taking the opportunity to enter the Phoenix
event as their final "pre-season" tune-up.
Among the eastern chargers are: Two
16-year-old drivers from Joe Gibbs Racing,
Marc Davis (No. 92 Joe Gibbs Driven
Chevrolet) who made his Grand National
Division debut at Kyle, Texas, with a
12-place finish will be joined at PIR by
teammate Joey Logano (No. 10 Joe Gibbs
Driven Chevrolet); Tim Schendel (No. 43
Mathews Archery/Texpar Energy Dodge) is
slated to make his NASCAR Grand National
Division debut at Phoenix. Schendel was the
2006 champion in the NASCAR Elite Division,
Midwest Series. He capped off his year by
winning the Elite portion of the NASCAR
Toyota All-Star Showdown. A member of the
2007 Drive for Diversity class will be
making his NASCAR Grand National Division
debut in the West Series race in Phoenix.
Jesus Hernandez (No. 4 Ginn Racing
Chevrolet) who originally hailed from
Fresno, Calif. is in his third season with
the Drive for Diversity program after
competing the past two years in the NASCAR
Whelen All-American Series on the East
Coast. And veteran NASCAR Busch East Series
competitor Matt Kobyluck (No. 40 Mohegan Sun
Resort Chevrolet) who will be making the
cross country trek for his sixth appearance
at Phoenix. He has finished third at PIR
twice. Kobyluck hopes to open this year with
the success he had in closing out last
season with a win in the prestigious NASCAR
Toyota All-Star Showdown.
Competing for Showdown
spot: Race winnersุ
in the NASCAR Grand National Division this
year will get an added bonus by gaining a
starting spot in the 2007 NASCAR Toyota
All-Star Showdown. With his victory in the
season opener in Texas, Scott Lynch (No. 29
Jasper Engines & Transmissions Dodge) became
the first driver this year to clinch a spot.
Only Grand National race winners and
champions of the NASCAR Developmental Series
will be locked in to the field. All others
must race their way into the event. |
