Billy Tanner & Stott Classic Racing Solid In Nashville

Topics:  Billy Tanner, Toyota ARCA 150

Chris Knight
Stott Classic Racing
August 14, 2007

LEBANON, Tennessee (Tuesday, August 14, 2007) - - Billy Tanner’s 21st place finish in Saturday’s TOYOTA ARCA 150 doesn’t reflect the stout performance the Stott Classic Racing (SCR) and rookie driver showed at Nashville Superspeedway, but the performance is a sign of good things to come.

Tanner, aboard the No. 07 CheapCaribbean.com Chevrolet Monte Carlo headed to Nashville Superspeedway looking to improve on his career best 14th place run at Pocono the week before. With confidence on his side, the chances of improving on the career best seemed realistic.

The team arrived at the 1.333-mile facility looking to make their own platinum record heading into the lone practice session of the day.

During the two-hour session, Tanner posted a lap of 31.991 seconds amounting to a speed of 150.005 MPH positioning the team 28th on the rundown.

“We’re fine. We didn’t make a qualifying run on purpose. There is no need to go out there and nail the throttle and risk losing the car. Corrie and the guys have done a great job preparing this car for the race and I think you’ll see a lot more out of us by the end of the weekend. We have some confidence rolling over from Pocono, so I think we be in good shape.”

Earlier in the day, Tanner drew the second position for ARCA SIM Factory pole qualifying. The Pennsylvania native knew the early draw was against him, but was hoping to lay down a lap good enough to lock the SCR team solidly into the top-32.

During his two lap time trails effort, Tanner maneuvered a lap of 31.537 seconds at 152.164 MPH good enough for 26th on the starting grid. Tanner picked up nearly four-tenths of a second from practice.

“The car is a lot better from practice,” offered Tanner. “I can tell you the testing paid off for us this weekend. I wasn’t so sure about this track, but after practice and qualifying, I am confident about the race.”

At the start of the TOYOTA ARCA 150, Tanner quickly began moving himself through the field. When the first caution flag waived on lap 11, Tanner was occupying the 22nd position.

Tanner reported to crew chief Corrie Stott that the car was “very good” and he was having enjoying himself.

Back to racing, Tanner was again quickly on the march. The yellow flag waived eight laps with the No. 07 CheapCaribbean.com sailing comfortably in the 16th position.

Tanner would continue to hover inside the top-15 for much of the 113 lap event.

After turning consistent lap times, it was no surprise the team was 14th on the rundown when the caution flag waived on lap 73.

Tanner would accelerate on the restart and propel into 11th before radio issues hindered Tanner late in the race dropping the ARCA rookie to 21st in the final rundown.

“We had a good day going, and then it took a strange turn,” said Tanner. “Despite finishing 21st, I am very, very proud of the Stott Classic Racing team. I’m frustrated because we had a shot at the top-10, but we had some bad luck again late in the race. One of these days, we’re going to pay our dues and put our CheapCaribbean.com Chevrolet into the top-10. We’ll just get them the next race!”

Car owner and crew chief Corrie Stott offered, “I am proud of Billy for his accomplishments this weekend in Nashville . We had a good car, just had some bad luck at the end of the race. We’ll bounce back. We’re planning on going to Springfield on Sunday, so we’ll look to finish what we started there.”

Next up for the ARCA RE/MAX Series is the 16th event on the 2007 schedule with the first of two showings on the dirt. The Allen Crowe 100 from the Illinois State Fairgrounds is set for Sunday, August 19 set to roll off at 1:00pm Eastern Time.

For more on Classic Stott Racing and driver Billy Tanner please visit StottClassicRacing.com

About CheapCaribbean.com and COMM Group:

CheapCaribbean.com is owned by COMM Group, Inc (Customer Oriented Marketing and Management Group) which provides wholesale and direct to consumer distribution of vacation packages, resort reservations, and cruises worldwide to Bermuda, the Caribbean, and Mexico , servicing over 250,000 passengers per year.

About Billy Tanner:

A fourth generation driver, Billy Tanner IV, 25, hails from Newtown , PA. A veteran dirt specialist, Tanner won several events in 2006 including at Bridgeport and on his home track of New Egypt Speedway in New Egypt, New Jersey . Tanner finished last year sixth in the Race of Champions (ROC) North series, seventh in ROC South, seventh in ROC combined, seventh at New Egypt Speedway, and eighth at Bridgeport . Tanner will run more than a dozen ARCA races in 2007 in hopes of a full season campaign in 2008.

About Stott Classic Racing:

Stott Classic Racing has over 50 years of racing heritage and success. Started in 1955, Ramo Stott was an ARCA champ in 1970 and 1971 along with USAC champ in 1975. His sons Corrie and Lance carried on the tradition, with Corrie having 20 years of NASCAR experience. Successfully starting and operating various NASCAR teams, Corrie was a Crew member for Jeff Gordon and Terry Labonte and Crew Chief for Sterling Marlin and Jimmy Spencer. Corrie has spent the past 12 years in management positions with Hendrick Motorsports, SABCO, and PPI Motorsports.

MEDIA CONTACT

NAME: Chris Knight, Classic Stott Racing
PHONE: 239.834.9797
EMAIL: knight849@aol.com