Patrick Sheltra Starts 16th In Daytona |
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Topics: Patrick Sheltra, Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200
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Chris Knight
Sheltra Motorsports
February 7, 2009
DAYTONA BEACH, Florida (February 7, 2009) - - Indiantown, Florida native Patrick Sheltra will roll from the 16th position in today’s Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 at Daytona, marking the second-time in the young-gun’s racing career that he’ll take the green flag at the “World Center of Speed.”
On Friday afternoon, Sheltra aboard his Grace Sheltra Dodge Charger whipped his No. 60 Ferguson Pipe Enterprises-Quality Turf machine around the 2.5-mile speedway to a time of 50.157 seconds amounting to a speed of 179.437 miles per hour. The effort recorded Sheltra’s career-best superspeedway effort.
“We’re not happy with that, but we’ll take it,” said Sheltra, who finished sixth in the 2008 ARCA RE/MAX Series championship standings. “We know the car will run exceptional in the draft and that’s the crucial element when racing at Daytona.”
Sheltra continued, “We want to win today and we’re hoping we can make that happen. Our bunch has worked hard over the winter to put the most competitive piece on the track as they possibly can. I think we’re going to be in great shape.”
Sheltra Motorsports based in Whitesville , Kentucky elected not to participate in Friday evening’s happy hour session and Sheltra believes it was the right move.
“John (Hayden, crew chief) said he didn’t want to take a chance of anything happening and I agreed with him 100 percent. We know the car is good. It was safer under the cover than on the race track last night.”
Immediately following Daytona, Sheltra will have zero time to relax as he’ll head to Volusia County Speedway two days later and return to his racing roots behind the wheel of the No. 23 Chevrolet for six nights of dirt racing. Sheltra will also race against new Sheltra Motorsports teammate Shannon Babb, who will be on-hand to watch Sheltra compete in the Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 at Daytona Saturday afternoon.
Ferguson Pipe Enterprises, Quality Turf of Okeechobee, Inc., The Casite Company, RC Cola of Owensboro Kentucky, J&S Bulk Transport Co., Inc., Sheltra & Son Construction, Sheltra Cattle Company and Indiantown Marina join the junior year team as marketing partners for Sheltra’s third year of ARCA competition.
Sheltra Motorsports acquired an in-car camera for Saturday’s anticipated thriller. It will mark the second time in Sheltra’s ARCA RE/MAX Series career where fans will be able to experience the action from inside the cockpit of the No. 60 Dodge Charger.
Entering Daytona, Sheltra has 46 ARCA RE/MAX Series starts to his credit with a career best finish of second at Toledo Speedway (May 2008) and the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds (September 2008) with four additional top-five finishes, (fourth) at Toledo Speedway (October 2008), (fifth) at Talladega Superspeedway (October 2008), (third) at Illinois State Fairgrounds (August 2007) and (fourth) at Berlin Raceway (July 2007) while holding additional top-10s at Nashville Superspeedway (August 2008), Michigan International Speedway (June 2008), Kentucky Speedway (May 2008), Kansas Speedway (April 2008), Iowa Speedway (April 2008), Kentucky Speedway (June 2007), DuQuoin State Fairgrounds (September 2007) and Toledo Speedway (October 2007). An eighth place qualifying effort at Kansas Speedway (April 2008) is Sheltra’s best time trials efforts to date. He has controlled the ARCA field three times for 17 laps.
The Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 at Daytona (80 laps/200 miles) is the first of 22 events on the 2009 ARCA RE/MAX Series schedule. The 46th ARCA race held at Daytona is a three-day show. The event will take the green flag on Saturday, February 7 shortly after 4:00 p.m. The race will be televised live on SPEED with additional race coverage including live timing and scoring and radio broadcast through the ARCA Racing Network (ARN) online at arcaracing.com. All times are local.
For more on Patrick Sheltra, please visit PatrickSheltra.com.
About Sheltra Motorsports:
Sheltra Motorsports (sheltramotorsports.com) is a three-tier Motorsports operation consisting of dirt and asphalt competition. Patrick Sheltra, a 22-year old native of Indiantown , Florida competes in the UMP and WoO (Dirt) Series; while also running a full schedule in the ARCA RE/MAX Series (No. 60) and a limited schedule in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. Sheltra Motorsports ownership is combined of Richard, Grace and Patrick Sheltra. The team is headquartered in Indiantown , Florida with additional operations in Richmond , Indiana and Whitesville , Kentucky .
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TEAM COMMUNICATIONS CONTACT:
NAME: Chris Knight, Sheltra Motorsports
PHONE: 239.834.9797 or 239.214.1083
EMAIL: chris@patricksheltra.com