Nice ARCA Return For Kory Rabenold Racing At Pocono

Topics:  Kory Rabenold, Pocono ARCA 200

Chris Knight
Knight Motorsports Management
Kory Rabenold Racing
June 13, 2011

LONG POND, Pennsylvania (June 13, 2011) - - Kory Rabenold Racing (KRR) with driver Kory Rabenold returned to ARCA Racing Series competition this past weekend at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway. Despite being heavily underfunded, the team impressed with a notable 16th place finish position.

In their first race together as a family-owned team since 2008, KRR owned by Kory Rabenold and led by father Buzzy Rabenold spent the entire winter and spring re-building the team’s No. 03 RabenoldRacing.com / Buzzy's Auto Body Chevrolet Impala. And with some pre-race assistance from 2010 ARCA Racing Series championship team Sheltra Motorsports, KRR headed to their hometown track optimistic.

In practice for the Pocono ARCA 200, Rabenold paced the 25th quickest lap. For most of the session the team battled brake woes. After the completion of practice, the team diligently made adjustments to their Chevrolet bow-tie hoping for conformability for the Slatington, Pennsylvania native.

In time trials, Rabenold posted a lap comparable to his in practice but the team felt confident that their brake problem had been corrected.

Mother Nature has played havoc with the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards for much of the season and Saturday proved to be no different. With a light mist in the air, the drop of the green flag for the seventh race of the season would waive shortly before 2:00 p.m.

From the drop of the green flag, Rabenold methodically worked his way forward in the running order. Taking one position at a time, Rabenold’s No. 03 RabenoldRacing.com / Buzzy's Auto Body Chevrolet Impala despite being underpowered and battling a tight condition continued to slowly inch his way up.

When the first caution flag waived on lap 18, Rabenold sat comfortably in the top-20, despite losing a lap to the leaders during the initial green flag run. The team opted to come to pit road for tires, fuel and a chassis adjustment when pit lane was opened for the lapped down machines. A respectable stop by the KRR team would return the No. 03 RabenoldRacing.com / Buzzy's Auto Body Chevrolet Impala to the top-20.

With light rain falling and fog present, the caution period extended over the next 12 laps, and initially, ARCA officials decided to drop the green flag on lap 32. After restarts to begin laps 32 and 33 were aborted, officials instructed drivers to drive down pit road to close lap 35 where the red flag would be issued as everyone waited for the fog to lift.

A short time later, the cars would be re-fired and moved from pit road. The green flag would fly on lap 38. Rabenold would find his comfort zone around the 2.5-mile triangle to log laps and finish the race. Hovering between 16th and 18th, Rabenold would hold steady until lap 50 when the caution flag waived again.

A final opportunity to come to pit road for fuel, tires and adjustments occurred on lap 53.

Restarting the event on lap 57, Rabenold would defend his position before a caution flag waived two laps later for dense fog again around the facility. Red flag conditions would again adorn the field but ultimately the fog would force ARCA officials to consider the race complete on lap 59 with Rabenold scored in the 16th position.

“That was probably one of the most interesting ARCA races, I’ve ever been a part of,” said Rabenold who made his 24th career ARCA start. “The fog was something I’ve never experienced from inside the car but everyone really did a good job managing it. As a team, we’re pretty pleased. We really try to do a lot with a little. Hopefully this run will help gain some attention and we can come back here in August and have a little more sponsorship.”

Kory Rabenold Racing would like to thank the following local marketing partners who leaped aboard the team’s Chevrolet bowtie to make Saturday’s contest possible: Buzzy's Auto Body, Dynamite Woodworking, Mama's Pizza of Slatington PA, Springhouse Eye Care, Ecco Communications, Brooksy's Beers & Barrels Drive Thru, Interstate Batteries of Allentown and Thomson’s Meat Market.

Next up for the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards is round eight of 19 on the 2011 schedule. The RainEater Wiper Blades 200 from the two-mile oval of Michigan International Speedway is set for Friday, June 17th at 5:00 p.m. Eastern live on SPEED.

To learn more about Kory Rabenold and his KRR team, please log on to RabenoldRacing.com.

MEDIA CONTACT:

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

KORY RABENOLD RACING CONTACT:

NAME: Jared Welter, Kory Rabenold Racing
PHONE: 484.553.2048
EMAIL: spotter63@verizon.net