Patrick Sheltra Reunites With Chicagoland Speedway

Topics:  Patrick Sheltra, Chicagoland ARCA 200

Chris Knight
Sheltra Motorsports
September 6, 2007

JOLIET, Illinois (September 6, 2007) - - Nearly two years later Patrick Sheltra returns to the site of his ARCA RE/MAX Series debut at Chicagoland Speedway and with a top-10 fresh in mind following Monday’s event at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds, Sheltra plans a successful campaign in the Chicagoland ARCA 200 Saturday afternoon.

Rewinding back to Chicagoland 2005, Sheltra piloted a second entry for Clements Racing driving the No. 94 Sheltra Construction Chevrolet. After qualifying a very solid 21st, Sheltra looked smooth in the race and en route to a top-20 finish before clutch problems relegated the Florida driver to a disappointing 36th place finish.

With nearly a full season of ARCA competition under his belts, Sheltra is confident in Sheltra Motorsports team and is looking for a little redemption this weekend.

“It doesn’t feel like it’s been that long,” said Sheltra, who enters Saturday’s event seventh in the championship standings. “You will always remember your debut in any series and my debut in the ARCA RE/MAX Series was a good one. We just had a little problem getting to the end; we’ll try and make up for it this weekend.”

Still feeling pumped about his second straight top-10 on the dirt, Sheltra knows that a good run on Saturday will continue the team’s momentum and give them something to feel good about as the 2007 ARCA RE/MAX Series season begins to draw to a close.

“We’ve had a good season, but our season can get even better if we can get on a stretch of consecutive top-10 finishes. We still have a mathematical shot at finishing in the top-five in the championship standings. I’ve set that as a personal goal for myself and with some smart driving; I think we can make that happen.”

When asked if Kentucky Speedway reminds him of Chicagoland Speedway, Sheltra offered,“You know, not really. They are both fast tracks and look alike, but the driving styles are night and day. Our intermediate program has been solid all season long, so I’m confident in our abilities this weekend, I think this race is going to have to a lot with patience. Whoever is patience will end up in victory lane. We plan to be patient and put our Sheltra Motorsports in contention for our first win of the season.”

Chicagoland also marks the final stretch of three races in eight days. Last Friday the team started the tour with an event at Gateway International followed by a stop at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds this past Monday. Now the team embraces the final mile-and-a-half race of the season and Sheltra wants to close the book with an exclamation point.

“This stretch has been heavy, it’s a lot for the teams, drivers and sponsors, but it’s something that has made the ARCA RE/MAX Series what it is today. We had a good run going at Gateway and it went bad. We bounced back with a good run at DuQuoin, so hopefully we can close it out in even a bigger way on Saturday,” sounded Sheltra.

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

The Chicagoland ARCA 200 (134 laps/200 miles) is the 20th of 23 races on the 2007 ARCA RE/MAX Series schedule. The seventh ARCA race held at Chicagoland Speedway is a two-day show. Practice begins Friday, September 7 with a two hour practice session planned from 1:00pm-3:00pm. ARCA SIM Factory pole qualifying is set for later in the day at 5:00pm Local Time. The event will take the green flag, Saturday, September 8 shortly after 1:00pm 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, Chicagoland Speedway

Notes of Interest:

· Sheltra sits seventh 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 21st career ARCA RE/MAX Series start on Saturday. In his previous 20 starts, Sheltra has collected two top-fives at Berlin Raceway (July 2007) and Illinois State Fairgrounds (August 2007) while holding additional top-10s at Kentucky Speedway in June and DuQuoin State Fairgrounds in September.

· Patrick Sheltra is a native of Indiantown , Florida

· Patrick Sheltra made his ARCA RE/MAX Series debut at Chicagoland Speedway in September of 2005. After qualifying 21st, Sheltra ran as high as 12th before finishing 35th due to a clutch failure.

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