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64th Pay Less Little 500 News and Notes
By Ken de la Bastide
A look into the future
One of the toughest tasks facing teams at the Pay Less Little 500 is the two
mandatory pit stops being performed by crew members that are not accustomed
to being under the gun.
Aaron Pierce brought a new wrinkle to pit stop strategy on
Saturday.
Pierce’s car was equipped with air jacks, similar to what is used in the
IZOD Indy Car series, to speed up the process of changing rear tires during
the stops.
The car was also equipped with a clutch which allowed Pierce to make the
stop without shutting down the power plant and then waiting for a push
truck.
The pit strategy worked, but Pierce’s bid to win the Little 500 was derailed
by a flat tire with less than 150 laps remaining.
Panic during warm-ups
During the pre-race warm-up session for the 33 drivers in the starting
field, the car of Jason Cox failed to fire after two attempts.
The team learned that a gear on the distributor rotor had broken. Once it
was replaced the car fired as expected for the Little 500.
Rookies have a mixed night
With six rookies in the starting field, two were able to drive to top-ten
finishes in their initial Little 500 starts.
Noblesville resident Billy Wease, driving for veteran car owner Jerry
Powell, started 11th and drove to a second place finish. The second place
finish brought Wease the Herald Bulletins’ Rookie of the Year honors and the
$1,000.
Michigan driver Kyle Feeney said prior to the race his dad, Kevin, gave him
some sound advice. “Patience, patience, patience,” Kevin Feeney told his
son.
Feeney started 26th and finished seventh. Ironically his dad, Kevin, was
bumped from the starting field on Friday and couldn’t find enough speed to
climb back onto the starting grid.
Mickey Kempgens made the most of climbing into a second car owned by Pierce.
The Florida driver started 20th and finished 11th.
Pendleton’s Travis Welpott had an interesting evening, spinning twice, but
was still running at the finish. He started 33rd and drove to a 17th place
showing.
Brian Gingras had the best starting position among the rookies at seventh,
but was involved in a three-car incident and was credited with a 20th place
finish.
Chris Neuenschwander, driving for veteran car owner Ron Kohler finished 27th
and starting 24th.
Awards
Noblesville driver Brian Gerster won the Most Improved award for his
impressive run starting 29 th in the field and driving to a third place
finish. He received $1,000 for the effort.
Kempgens received the Frank Riddle Memorial award of $500 for being the top
finishing driver from the Sunshine State of Florida.
Early race leader JoJo Helberg, who crashed on lap 121 received the $500
Hard Luck award as determined by the media. Eric Gordon was a close
runner-up for the award when a right rear tire caused problems on the
nine-time champions’ final pit stop, costing him five laps to the leader.
The drivers in the starting field voted the Robbie Stanley Sportsman Award
of $500 to Brian Tyler.
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