“I’m certainly hoping that Jack Roush will be available to personally observe our team this weekend,” said competitor, Scott Taggart. “We intend to be on our best behavior—I just hope he doesn’t completely raid the Rust Riders Team talent pool,” he added. The Rust Riders are set to compete this weekend, along with regional favorites, the Blitzen Benz Gang from Landrum, South Carolina. The Blitzen Benz team took top honors just last month’s ChumpCar race at Rockingham Speedway.
This will be the ChumpCar World Series first ever trip to Charlotte Motor Speedway, once dubbed the “Beast of the Southeast”. That particular moniker may be stolen and repurposed to any number of competing teams after this race has concluded. Come rain or shine, the ChumpCar teams will take to the track bright and early on Saturday morning—8:00 a.m. to be exact. The event is slated to run for 14 straight hours in their typical enduro format, which is always a challenge for man and machine. There are obvious breaks in the action for refueling the cars and team drivers are allowed to compete for only two-hour stretches at a time before handing over the wheel to a teammate. Competitors will take to the track in turn one, making their way down the backstretch, through turns three and four and back onto the dogleg in the frontstretch. From there the cars will dive to the left, down toward the infield to the road course portion of the layout—a combination of road course and oval sections dubbed a “ROVAL”.
With this being an off-weekend for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, ChumpCar Officials expect some heavy involvement from the local Cup shops, some of whom put together race cars of their own and competed last month at Rockingham. Teams from Stewart-Hass Racing and Roush-Fenway have participated in the past. And while there is no official comment about any potential “mystery” drivers showing up, a race segment or two may well end up in the hands of a “Ringer” at some point during the day.
Because this is a 14-hour continuous event, there is plenty of time to take a drive out to Charlotte Motor Speedway and watch the action this Saturday. ChumpCar offers complete pit pass access for $15 per person if you are aged 16 and up. If you’re 15 and under, admission is free. A portion of the proceeds from this event will go towards supporting the ChumpCar World Series 2011 charity effort—the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.
- Walker Marketing, Inc. Press Release