Tony Stewart Racing - A Fans View

by Misha Geisert, Tony Stewart Racing

No. 20 TSR/CHEVROLET/BEAST (USAC)

USAC National Sprint & Midget Car Series at Iowa Speedway (IA) – MAY 5

The May 5th Doubleheader ws Stenhouse, Jr.’s first event with TSR. He ws named interim driver for the No. 21 as Tracy Hines continues to recover from injuries sustained in an April 30th offroad motorcycle accident.

Sat., May 5 – Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa (7/8-mile clay oval) – USAC National Sprint Car Series

• Qualified 23rd fastest in the 28-car field.
• Finished 24th in the 25-lap feature event. Stenhouse was involved in an accident on a lap six restart and hit the wall as a result. The No. 21 machine was brought back to the pit area and could not be repaired.

Sat., May 5 – Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa (7/8-mile clay oval) – USAC National Midget Car Series

• Qualified 16th fastest in the 33-car field.
• Finished 18th in the 25-lap feature event. Stenhouse was tapped from behind by another car and rejoined the field from the tail after spinning.

HE SAID IT… RICKY STENHOUSE, JR. ON HIS FIRST RACE WITH TONY STEWART RACING:

“Iowa Speedway was really a learning experience for me. We tried to use it as a test session so I could get more comfortable on the pavement and get some seat time. The track was really big and fast. It’s the longest track I’ve ever raced on. Bobby (Barth, crew chief) and Jay (Drake, team manger) are really great to work with. I know I’m going to learn a lot from them. They told me to just go run laps and do the best I could in both the midget and the sprint car. The midget feature ended up pretty well. I was able to recover after the spin and even passed a few cars. The sprint car actually felt really good during the feature, I just ended up hitting the wall on the restart. The field took off and I tried to catch them but when I did, they had all checked up and I didn’t have anywhere to go. I really put a lot of pressure on myself and I hate it that the day ended the way it did. We’re going to try to get it fixed and get some testing in later this week, which I think will really help me adjust to the pavement. As we move forward I’m going to focus on learning as much as I can and hopefully we’ll be able to put together some great races for Chevrolet and Bass Pro Shops.”

FAST FORWARD…

- Sat. May 12 – Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt, In. (1/4-mile)

• Stenhouse, Jr., will compete in a one-day event with the USAC National Midget Car Series.
• Tri-State Speedway is a high-banked 1/4-mile clay oval.
• Stenhouse, Jr., has never competed at Tri-State Speedway with the USAC National Midget Car Series.
• Saturday’s event is co-sanctioned by the POWRi Midget Series.
• The official Tri-State Speedway website.

STENHOUSE, JR., AT A GLANCE

• Stenhouse, Jr., is the driver of the No. 21 USAC National Sprint Car & USAC National Midget and No. 22 USAC National Silver Crown Series entries for Tony Stewart Racing. He was named as the interim driver for TSR’s Tracy Hines, who is recovering from injuries he sustained in an off-road motorcycle accident on April 30, 2007.
• Stenhouse, Jr., joins TSR after competing in several different winged and non-winged open-wheel racing series over the past four years. His experience includes events in several 360 winged sprint division, the All Star Circuit of Champions (ASCoC,) the American Sprint Car Series (ASCS,) and the United Sprint Car Series (USCS) winged sprint car ranks.
• Stenhouse, Jr., made his first USAC National Sprint Car Series start at Memphis Motorsports Park (MMP) in 2004. He finished seventh in the feature event.
• Stenhouse, Jr., was named as the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame (NSCHoF) driver poll “Wild Card” nominee in the 360 Winged Sprint and 410 Winged Sprint Car Series divisions.
• Stenhouse, Jr., won three ASCoC Ohio Speedweek A-main feature events in 2006.
• Stenhouse, Jr., won four USCS feature events in 2005.
• Before moving into the professional ranks, Stenhouse, Jr., recorded 47 A-main karting wins in various go-karting series. He also won the 1999 Tulsa Shootout A-main event and the 1998 Indoor Thunder Nationals Championship.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Tony Stewart Racing, USAC