Tuesday
Mechanical Issues Spoil John Gibson’s Second Place Qualifying Run
Press Release
“We thought we had our mechanical issues resolved after Langley,” said John. “But when we went to start the motor for practice, we noticed we had a broken oil pump bracket. We were able to make temporary repairs for practice and changed the entire pump out before qualifying, but the issue robbed us of valuable practice time.”
John qualified the MitiGator Ford Fusion in second place, however about 10 laps into the event, smoke started to appear from the rear of the car. “We were running great,” said John, “right behind Agnew who had been fast all day. Oil pressures were fine, water temperature was fine, and we had an absolutely perfect car which makes the whole situation so disappointing.
We were forced to come in to the pits to check it out, and my crew got under the car and saw no oil, so we went back out thinking it must just be leftover oil burning off the pipes from when we changed out the oil pump. At one point I even thought it might just be smoke from a tire rub.” The smoke continued however, and series officials brought the Gibson Motorsports MitiGator Ford Fusion back into the pits.
“It’s really pretty discouraging,” said John. “Even after the car sat in the pits for 150 laps, there was only about 10 drops of oil on the ground. We had transmission issues at Langley, and while we had the transmission repaired, it appears it’s still leaking. Probably the smoke was from a slow leak from the transmission dripping onto the exhaust. It’s just so disappointing because the car was perfect, just absolutely perfect. I would have liked to have seen what we could have done with it.”
The USA Racing Pro Cup Series next stop is Lake Erie Speedway.
MitiGator is an engineered cushioning system designed to protect people from hi-speed, hi-impact assaults and to allow them to continue to perform their jobs or enjoy their leisure time. The MitiGator uses patented air control technology working with 4,044 surfaces per square foot to dissipate energy before it is transmitted to the body and thus help alleviate problems. You can learn more about MitiGator by going to www.mitigatorinc.com
Spray Paint & Equipment is located in Kansas City, Missouri where they are DuPont’s largest distributor in the Kansas City area. There are two Spray Paint & Equipment Kansas City locations, one at 1908 Truman Road, and one at 1919 Northeast Vivion Road. Spray Paint and Equipment ships paint and supplies nationwide and they can be reached at (816) 221-9664.
RF85 is a friction reducing treatment that can be applied to various racing components. RF85 treatment is available at Better Than New in Chattanooga, TN. You can learn more about RF85 by visiting their website at: www.rf85.com.
- Gibson Motorsports, LLC Press Release
Article Tags: Gibson Motorsports, John Gibson, Lake Erie Speedway, Langley [Va.] Speedway, No. 13 MitiGator /Spray Paint & Equipment / RF85 Ford Fusion, South Boston Speedway, Strutmasters.com 250
