Chad Hackenbracht; CGH Motorsports Looking For Jackpot Finish At Kansas Speedway

Topics:  Chad Hackenbracht, Kansas Lottery 98.9

Chris Knight
Knight Motorsports Management/CGH Motorsports
October 4, 2011

KANSAS CITY, Kansas (October 4, 2011) - - Just two races remain on the 2011 ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards schedule. The highly competitively Kansas Speedway and the ultimate short track showdown at Toledo Speedway comprise rounds 18 and 19 respectively for CGH Motorsports and pilot Chad Hackenbracht. Crucial testing and carefully planning by the Mooresville, North Carolina-based team have laid an opportunity for the team to surge back into the spotlight beginning with Friday night’s Kansas Lottery 98.9.

The family-owned team led by crew chief Kevin Reed has anxiously been waiting for a return to a mile-and-a-half track after their last outing at Chicagoland Speedway in June saw a dominating performance disappear after a blown-tire shredded a nearly nine-second lead. With the outcome still vivid in their minds, the opportunity at redemption in Kansas is clear with another night race with ideal racing conditions at a track that embraces similar characteristics as Chicagoland Speedway. To further aid fuel to their well-controlled fire, the team logged one of the quickest laps in their No. 58 Tastee Caramel Apple Chevrolet Impala during the open ARCA test last month at the 1.5-mile oval, giving them a welcomed boost heading into their second ever ARCA race in the “Land of Oz.”

“We’re all excited about Kansas Speedway this weekend,” offered Hackenbracht, who has been dubbed as one of ARCA’s most improved drivers in 2011. “We’re bringing the same car we ran with at Chicago and have an identical motor under the hood. The CGH Motorsports team has worked hard to make sure that we can go to Kansas on Friday and back-up what we dished out at Chicagoland.”

Hackenbracht, the New Philadelphia, Ohio native knows that despite tracks showing similar characteristics doesn’t always mean identical outcomes. Still, he is focused on putting his CGH Motorsports team back on the path of success after strong runs in the last three ARCA events have been foiled by an array of racing bad luck.

“Ideally we would like to think that we can go to Kansas and pick up right where we left off when leading the race at Chicagoland, but this racing,” offered Hackenbracht. “Anything can happen. The good thing is that our No. 58 Tastee Caramel Apple racecar was strong at the test a couple weeks ago, so we know that we can come back this week and be competitive and give it our all. Hopefully all the cards will pan out and we can finish what we started with potentially a win on Friday night.”

Another reason that the 19-year old is set to battle back at Kansas Speedway is proving that the team’s performance at the speed plant in 2010 wasn’t a fluke. After qualifying a strong ninth last October, Hackenbracht found himself surging into the top-five and attempting to pass eventual series champion Patrick Sheltra before another tire failure erased the team from battle.

“I feel like the mile-and-a-half tracks owe us,” Hackenbracht sounded. “We don’t get a lot of chances to compete at these types of tracks and we’ve been extremely competitive in the last two races, but don’t have a lot to show for it. I would like to see what type of finish we are able to maneuver if everything should go our way start to finish. Hopefully, Friday night is that night”

With a top-five finish in the championship standings still feasibly obtainable in the final two races, Hackenbracht isn’t so much focused on points but rather putting his CGH Motorsports on a strong pedestal entering the off-season that they can carry over into the 2012 season.

“Believe me, points are still important but we’re going for the strong finishes right now,” Hackenbracht said. “We know that with good, positive finishes points will come along as part of the reward. We’re sitting eighth right now. If not for some bad luck, we would be already sitting in the top-five. But, we can’t dwell on that. All we can do is to go out there and fight like we’ve never fought before and hope for nothing but success at Kansas and Toledo and see where we stand when the curtain is drawn.”

Give And Take: Continuing to shed a personal angle on Chad Hackenbracht, this week the rising star talks about one of the greatest impacts of his personal life that he had to sacrifice in order to race, school.

While most students spend their teenage years living the life in the halls of a local High School, Hackenbracht found himself in a home-schooled situation which shifted what would be a normal routine student path into a secluded portion of his life which involved shelter but allowed the grand opportunity for him to race.

“Home-schooling was never easy, but it was part of the reality to make a dream come true,” Hackenbracht recalled. “It had its good points and bad points and there are things I wasn’t able to experience because of that choice but the end reward was fulfilling and I wouldn’t change any of it.”

Lifting himself out of the Public School system allowed Hackenbracht to turn his attention towards the Buckeye Quarter Midget Association where over the course of three years he won close to 40 races. From there, he moved up the ladder and competed in the INEX Legends Car Series. In addition to one year of racing at the Summer Shootout, Hackenbracht also raced at tracks throughout the Midwest which included the states of Indiana, Ohio and Michigan.

From Kansas Speedway, the team will promptly fly home to quickly-turn around and head to Toledo, Ohio on Sunday to partake in a private test session at Toledo Speedway on Monday, October 10 in preparation for the season-finale on Sunday, October 16 for the running of the Toledo ARCA 200 presented by Federated Car Care.

The Kansas Lottery 98.9 (99 laps / 148.5 miles) is the 18th of 19 events on the 2011 ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards schedule. The 11th ARCA event held at Kansas Speedway is a one-day show. Practice begins Friday, October 7 with a two hour and 15 minute practice session planned from 9:00 a.m. -11:15 a.m. Menards Pole by Ansell qualifying is slated to begin later in the day at 5:35 p.m. The field will take the green flag approximately two hours later at 7:30 p.m. The event will be televised live on SPEED with additional race coverage including live timing and scoring throughout the 1,330th race for the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards since it was formed in 1953 will be available through the ARCA Racing Network (ARN) online at arcaracing.com presented by ARCANation.com. All times are local.

CGH Motorsports still has marketing partnerships available for the remaining 2011 ARCA Racing Series schedule and all of 2012. Interested parties can contact Jordan Dahl at Jordan@cghmotorsports.com or 570.234.5449.

For more information on Chad Hackenbracht and CGH Motorsports, please visit ChadHackenbracht.com and CGHMotorsports.com.

To purchase the popular “What’s A Chad Hacken-Something” tee-shirt, please log on to store.cghmotorsports.com or CGHMotorsports.com.

Connect with Chad Hackenbracht and CGH Motorsports through Facebook by clicking here.

Tweet with Chad Hackenbracht through Twitter at @ChadH58 or CGH Motorsports @CGH5858.

About CGH Motorsports:

CGH Motorsports (CGHMotorsports.com), established in 2007 by Ohio entrepreneur Greg Hackenbracht is located in a 10,000 sq. foot facility located in Concord, North Carolina. CGH Motorsports is home of rising sensation Chad Hackenbracht, who competed in nine ARCA Racing Series races in 2010 after an aggressive ARCA testing schedule in 2009. Chad Hackenbracht is the 2008 National Asphalt Legends champion, winning 33 percent of his races and finishing in the top-10, 85 percent of the events he competed in. The team will step up their commitment from a partial schedule and prepare for a hopeful full-season ARCA championship assault beginning in February 2011.

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TEAM COMMUNICATIONS CONTACT:
NAME: Chris Knight, Knight Motorsports Management
PHONE: 239.834.9797
EMAIL: chris@chrisknightpr.com