Evergreen Speedway notes for July 12: Zaretzke's team wins
By Scott Whitmore Herald writer
MONROE, Wash. — Racing is a team sport.
That’s a fact lost to most casual fans — focused almost solely on the drivers — and at times overlooked by even the more seasoned veteran of the track.
Defending Super Stock and Washington state champion John Zaretzke broke a long win-less drought on Saturday at Evergreen Speedway, and it was hard to tell who was happier: Zaretzke or his crew.
“I’ve just got to applaud my guys,” Zaretzke said of his JZ Motorsports/Coleman Motorsports team. “It’s a big night for us, new race team this year, Coleman Motorsports, a new racecar shop — I’ve got my own new racecar shop, (with a) lot of my same guys and guys from Coleman Motorsports group.
“It’s been a few weeks getting us to gel, and hopefully we’re there,” he added.
Longtime fans at Evergreen Speedway knew it was unlikely Zaretzke would go the whole season without getting a victory, but the question of when it would happen became more pressing with each passing week.
The defending champion trailed division leader Naima Lang by just seven points heading into Saturday’s race thanks to heat race victories and a string of top-five finishes in feature events.
With Lang finishing third in Saturday’s main and Zaretzke winning another heat race, the gap will be narrower when the new standings are released.
Zaretzke said one change his crew had adopted before Saturday’s race was taking a more methodical approach to preparation for race day.
Set-up information to address different problems — car loose on entry or exit, or tight through the center, etc. — has been put into a computer database, allowing the team to quickly respond to situations encountered during practices or on raceday.
“We’re just trying to come more prepared,” Zaretzke said.
Unsung heroes: Evergreen Speedway’s pit gate staff — Al White, Pauline Odlin and Rachel Wilkinson — don’t get a lot of recognition for the job that they do.
Every Saturday night they support the racers, race teams and assorted family members who come into the pit area. Often those dealings involve the racers’ hard-earned money changing hands, situations which can make a simple “thank you” tough to say.
Schedule update: It was announced before Saturday’s races that the Super Stock division will run a doubleheader on Aug. 2. That night there will be two 50-lap mains with no heat races.
Washington 500 news: The distribution of laps for the Washington 500 on July 26 was also announced on Saturday.
The NASCAR Camping World Series West, the ASA Northwest Tour and Evergreen’s Super Stocks will each run a 150-lap races, and the Bomber division will go for 50 laps on the big five-eighths mile oval.
Apolitical backing: Super stock driver Mike Holden has sported a large “Dino Rossi for Governor” decal on the back of his car for several weeks.
Holden said he had not received sponsorship money directly from the Rossi campaign, but instead was asked to run the decal by another sponsor, University Mechanical Contractors, Inc.
Recently, Democratic presidential hopeful Barrack Obama turned down a proposal from BAM Racing to sponsor a NASCAR Sprint Cup series car.
When asked if he had a declared political affiliation, Holden shook his head and said: “I go right down the middle.”
When the smoke clears: The recent decision by NASCAR driver Tony Stewart to leave Joe Gibbs Racing for a 50 percent ownership in Haas-CNC — to be known as Stewart-Haas Racing in 2009 — had an impact on an Evergreen Speedway driver.
Mindy Harriss drives an orange-and-white No. 20 in the Mini-Stock division, a car she had named Tonya to recognize her favorite driver.
Asked whether she would change the look for the car and the number to match what Stewart will run next season, Harriss said she was undecided, but that she may go for a different look from another racing series.
“People say I look a little like Danica Patrick, with my dark hair,” Harriss said. “Maybe I’ll go that way.”
Heard at the track: Saturday’s car counts were slightly under the season average for the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Super Stocks (13 cars), Bombers (15) and Mini-Stocks (14), but a bit above for the Super Figure Eight (13) division.
Asked why there may be fewer cars at the track, one person suggested the warm sunshine may have led racers to try other recreational opportunities for fun.
That led Bomber division driver Jill Lang to say: “What’s more fun than racing?”
No wood to knock on, Part III: Before the racing program began on Saturday, Mini Stock driver Mindy Harriss predicted her division’s feature would be over quickly.
“We’ll be done in 10 minutes,” she said. “We never have any cautions.”
