Patrick Sheltra Looks To Rebound In Gateway

Topics:  Patrick Sheltra, Gateway ARCA 150

Chris Knight
Sheltra Motorsports
August 29, 2007

MADISON, Illinois (Wednesday, August 29, 2007) - - ARCA RE/MAX Series Rookie-of-the-Year candidate Patrick Sheltra heads to Gateway International Raceway looking to rebound from a disappointing finish last Sunday at The Milwaukee Mile and put his impressive season back on track.

Sheltra, driving the No. 60 Sheltra Motorsports Chevrolet Monte Carlo headed into Milwaukee on the heels of a stout and impressive third place finish the weekend before on the mile-dirt at Illinois State Fairgrounds but an engine failure on lap nine in last Sunday’s Governor’s Cup 200 temporarily erased the feelings of the team’s best run of the season.

“ Milwaukee was extremely disappointing,” said Sheltra. “It was our first engine failure of the year, so we really can’t complain about that, it was just bad timing. We’ve had great horsepower all year long and I know that we’ll have a great motor this weekend, so I’m not worried.”

“Things are really looking good for the Sheltra Motorsports team,” explained the 21-year old rookie. “We’re focusing on the rest of the season, there are some races coming up which we feel we can grab the victory. There’s also next year to look forward to do. We’re working hard to concrete our plans and it looks like we’ll be back in ARCA full time, so a lot is happening at Sheltra Motorsports, but it’s all for the best.”

Switching gears, Sheltra is heading to Gateway International Raceway with his head held high despite landing at a track that he has no prior experience at.

“I’ve never been to Gateway before but that’s not necessarily a bad thing,” offered Sheltra. “We’ve run extremely well on tracks that I’ve never had the pleasure of tacking before, I have a gut feeling this is another one of those tracks.”

He continued, “My crew chief John Hayden is a racer. He knows how to build a car from the ground up. He also knows what I need in a racecar. He’ll put a comfortable setup and we’ll go out in practice and give it everything we have. From practice, we’ll concentrate on the race. It’s going to fun racing under the lights. We haven’t done that in a while in the ARCA RE/MAX Series. The series also tends to have a better race when we’re under the lights. We want to have a presence at Gateway and there’s no doubt in my mind that we’ll accomplish that.”

Despite the rough-go last weekend at The Milwaukee Mile, Sheltra remains sixth in the championship standings entering Friday’s race. Losing a lot of ground on Phillip McGilton last weekend, the avid racecar driver also knows that rebuilding the consistency he has shown in the second-half of the season can soar him into the coveted top-five.

“We have pressure from behind in the point standings, but I’m putting some pressure on myself to move into fifth. We have all the components to place ourselves into the top-five, but we have to keep doing our job of finishing up front and the points will build up. With a little luck, we can make it happen.”

Continuing their sponsorship of Sheltra's No. 60 entry this weekend is CP Concrete Products, US Construction, SawHorse Outfitters, Brady Ranch and FloraGanics.

The Gateway ARCA 150 (120 laps/150 miles) is the 18th of 23 races on the 2007 ARCA RE/MAX Series schedule. The sixth ARCA race held at Gateway International Raceway is a one day show. Practice begins Friday, August 31 with a two hour practice session planned from 10:30am-12:30pm. ARCA SIM Factory pole qualifying is set for later in the day at 4:30pm Local Time. The event will take the green flag shortly after 8:00pm Local Time. The race will be televised live on SPEED with additional race coverage online at arcaracing.com.

For more on Patrick Sheltra, please visit PatrickSheltra.com

Patrick Sheltra, Sheltra Motorsports, Gateway International Raceway,

Notes of Interest:

· Sheltra sits sixth in the ARCA championship standings and third in the ARCA RE/MAX Series Rookie-of-the-Year standings despite missing the season opener at Daytona International Speedway in February.

· Patrick Sheltra will make his 19th career ARCA RE/MAX Series start on Saturday. In his previous 18 starts, Sheltra has collected two top-fives at Berlin Raceway (July 2007) and Illinois State Fairgrounds (August 2007) while holding an additional top-10 at Kentucky Speedway in June.

· Patrick Sheltra is a native of Indiantown , Florida

· Gateway marks the 13th new track that Patrick Sheltra will compete on in 2007. Aside from Pocono Raceway , Michigan International Speedway and Chicagoland Speedway, Sheltra’s 2007 ARCA RE/MAX Series has been filled with inaugural debuts.

MEDIA CONTACT:
NAME: Chris Knight, Sheltra Motorsports
PHONE: 239.834.9797
EMAIL: Knight849@aol.com