Patrick Sheltra Pumped About Talladega Debut

Topics:  Patrick Sheltra, ARCA RE/MAX 250

Chris Knight
Sheltra Motorsports
October 1, 2007

TALLADEGA, Alabama (October 1, 2007) - - ARCA RE/MAX Series (ARS) Rookie-of-the-Year contender Patrick Sheltra is feeling relaxed and pumped heading into Friday’s ARCA RE/MAX 250 from Talladega Superspeedway.

Sheltra, the Indiantown, Florida native will make his restrictor plate debut at Talladega Superspeedway on Friday and thanks to the hard work of his Sheltra Motorsports team, good vibes are surrounding the rookie organization about their chances.

“We’ve been focusing on this race since the start of the season,” said Sheltra, who enters the season seventh in the championship standings. “This isn’t a race you can prepare for in a couple of weeks, it takes months and months of preparation. I have a good feeling that our hard work will pay its dividends on the track this week.”

To further prepare the avid dirt track competitor, the Sheltra Motorsports team joined over 30 ARCA RE/MAX Series teams for the open test at the 2.666-mile speedway last Tuesday with satisfying results.

“We didn’t show everything we had,” continued Sheltra who notched the 24th quickest time overall in the session. “The guys have made some significant adjustments since the test which should find us some more speed. We had a test motor in the car too, so we’ll come back with a little more steam under the hood, which really pays off at a place like Talladega .”

He continued, “Testing really helped me as a driver. It’s a heck of a place. It’s very smooth, I can’t believe how smooth the track is but that means great racing. The draft is going to play a huge factor in the race. You have to be in the draft for the race or you’re setting yourself up for a long day. We know that we’re in the race and while some of our focus will be on qualifying, we also know we have to something we can work with during the race. We played with that in testing and we’ll play with it again some in practice. I’m not worried; we’re going to be fine.”

When asked about having nervousness coming into a race like Talladega , Sheltra made his point well known.

“You can’t be nervous at a track like Talladega . You have to keep the car in the throttle and let the car do the work. You have to use your head. It really is a long race so there’s plenty of time to come from the back to the front, if we get in that position. If anything, you have to survive Talladega . You can’t get caught up in the “big one” and you have to be near the front at the end and that’s exactly where we plan to be.”

Sitting seventh in the championship standings with just two races remaining, Sheltra knows that a competitive finish walking away from Talladega Superspeedway can help him maintain his position.

“It’s a pretty tight battle from sixth to eighth right now,” sounded Sheltra. “We have our eyes on sixth but we also have to keep track of Justin (South) who is right behind us in eighth. I have a feeling that the points battle will come down to Toledo and we just have to do everything in our power to make sure we stay in the hunt. Finishing the next two races is essential.”

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

The ARCA RE/MAX 250 (94 laps/250 miles) is the 22nd of 23 races on the 2007 ARCA RE/MAX Series schedule. The 45th ARCA race held at Talladega Superspeedway is a two-day show. Practice begins Thursday, October 4 with a two and a half hour practice session planned from 9:00-11:30am. ARCA SIM Factory pole qualifying is set for later in the day at 3:30pm Local Time. A “Happy Hour” final practice has been etched into the schedule for Friday, October 5 for forty-five minutes from 10:05am-10:50am Local Time. The event will take the green flag on October 5 shortly after 4:00pm 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, Talladega Superspeedway,

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 23rd career ARCA RE/MAX Series start on Friday. In his previous 22 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 and members of his Sheltra Motorsports team will officially announce their 2008 ARCA RE/MAX Series plans at the championship awards banquet at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center in Covington , Kentucky on December 8.

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