Seeger Thrilled With Pocono Despite Finish

Topics:  Art Seeger, Pocono 200

Chris Knight
Art Seeger Racing
June 13, 2007

“Mechanical Failure Shreds Top-20 Finish”

LONG POND, PA (June 13, 2007) - - Art Seeger made his return to the ARCA RE/MAX Series this past weekend at Pocono Raceway and by all accounts he had a great time. Unfortunately, his finish in Saturday’s Pocono 200 was cut short after a mechanical failure forced the New Jersey native to exit the event.

Seeger maneuvered the 39th fastest lap time in practice, an uncharacteristic performance for the veteran driver at Pocono Raceway. “We’re making some significant changes to our No. 48 Chevrolet Monte Carlo,” he offered following practice. “We didn’t give everything we had; we were just trying to dial in our car for qualifying.”

Sadly, qualifying took a drastic turn for Seeger as a spark plug failure posted a disappointing lap time of 65.325 seconds at 137.773 MPH. Thankfully the crew headed by longtime veteran Mike Harmon diagnosed the problem immediately following time trials and informed ARCA officials of the hiccup.

Thanks to provisionals, Seeger would line up for his first race of the season from the 36th position for the 80 lap/200 mile event.

“We’re glad to be in the show,” sounded Seeger after qualifying. “I knew that something wasn’t right under the hood. I’m glad that we found the problem and we can concentrate on having a good run.”

At the start of one of the longest events of the season, Seeger quickly began thundering his machine towards the top-25. Picking off nearly ten automobiles in the first lap, Seeger was reminded of his Pocono bid in 2006 when he passed nearly twenty cars in three laps.

Seeger would maintain his position inside the top-20 for much of the first half of the event, promising the team he was taken it easy but being cautious, trying to avoid the plethora of tire problems his fellow competitors faced.

Coming to the half point of the event, Seeger and the team were enjoying the success of pit strategy which placed the No. 48 inside the top-10 for a restart near lap 45.

Settling in for the last half of the race, and holding his own solidly in the top 20, Seeger’s day would take a dramatic turn as oil pressure problems occurred on lap 62 of the 80-lap event forcing Seeger to park his No. 48 Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS for the remaining 18 laps.

He would finish 30th.

“I want to thank Mike Harmon for giving me this opportunity,” he said. “I had a blast. I was trying to take it easy and bid my time. We just didn’t have enough to make it to the end. We had a good solid motor. I was passing some really good cars on the front stretch. We just didn’t have all the components to make our day into a top-10 run. Hopefully things can work out and we can try again in August.”

Seeger would like to thank all of his marketing partners for their support in the 10th race of the 2007 season.

S.R. Industries, R&R Construction, R&S Sewer Contractors, Jim Potts Excavating, Chris Petnuzzeuui Construction, J.R. Lentile, Inc., Triple T Canoe, Cosmos Auto Recycling, Bill’s Produce, Patriot Excavating and Yankowski Enterprises all stepped up to make Seeger’s eighth ARS race of his career possible.

“I want to thank everyone who made our journey possible. We had a good time and the car looked great. Sometime in racing, you’re faulted with bad luck; we just have to pick up the pieces for next time. There will be a next time.

Seeger will now return to the marketing partner trail and plan to line up his remaining 2007 ARCA schedule within the next month. “There’s a lot of promise from our run this past weekend. All of our marketing partners were happy and thrilled with the performance of the race despite the finish. They know in racing, everything doesn’t go according to plan. Hopefully we can announce a much busier schedule in the very near future.”

If you are interested in partnering with Art Seeger Racing for any remaining 2007 ARS events or would like further information on the undercarriage special incentive program, please contact 570-239-3761.

Next up for the ARCA RE/MAX Series is the ARCA 200 at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn , Michigan . Serving as the first of a triple-header weekend for the Michiganders, the 11th race on the 2007 schedule will take the green flag on Friday, June 15 beginning at 5:00pm with live coverage on SPEED.

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MEDIA CONTACT:

NAME: Chris Knight, Art Seeger Racing
PHONE: 239.834.9797
EMAIL: knight849@aol.com