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Kathryne Minter Racing
Chassis -- J & J
Driver -- Kathryne Minter
Crew Chief – Sean McClelland
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Minter Roars into 11th Place at Cowtown
Speedway
FORT WORTH , TX
(September 8) – Kathryne Minter turned what could have been a disaster into
an outstanding performance in Saturday’s 9/11 Memorial Race at Cowtown
Speedway.
Despite missing hot laps and the
first heat race while a Good Samaritan and her crew replaced her magneto,
she qualified for the main event by racing into fourth place from the rear
of the field in the “B” Feature and drove the #13m Concrete Crushing
Company J&J into 11th place after being involved in an early
crash in the “A” Feature.
“When we got there, we went to
start the car to heat up the motor before hot laps and it wouldn’t start,”
Kathryne said. “The mag went out and we didn’t have another one with us
because we let somebody borrow our spare. Jeff Warren, who works for one of
the teams, got a mag for us and helped us change it. We were close to
making it out for the heat race – which we would have had to start in the
back – but I didn’t want us to get in too big a hurry when we were putting
the car back together.
“It was actually really good
because, instead of working on the car and getting it set up for the ‘B’
main like we normally would, we put the car back together and it was set up
almost perfectly for the track. The car was really fast and the track was
really fast.”
Minter raced past eight cars before
her top wing clipped one of the cars involved in an 11-car crash in the
fourth corner.
“We were actually running 10th
before the huge pileup,” Kathryne said. “I was pretty far from it when it
started, but cars kept piling up and I just wasn’t able to miss it. My dad
(Car Owner Mike Minter) wanted to change the wing, but I just wanted to
check on the shocks and bars to make sure they were OK. I knew if they
pushed me off the track to change the wing, I would have to restart at the
back. Instead of restarting in sixth or seventh position, we changed the wing
and I had to restart at the back. It was just one of those tough decisions
you have to make. We passed a lot of cars twice. We passed a lot of cars in
the first lap or so before the big crash, then we passed a lot more before
the track started going away and it became a one-lane racetrack.”
As always, the American Sprint Car
Series’ Gulf South Region Rookie of the Year points leader found the silver
lining around what many might view as a dark cloud.
“Once again, I can look back at the
weekend and think about all the cars I passed and all the different ways I
passed them,” Kathryne said. “I learned a lot, so the experience will help
me.”
Minter will get the opportunity to
use her car-passing experience in Friday’s ASCS Sooner Region event at
Heart O’ Texas Speedway in Waco , TX , and in Saturday’s ASCS Coastal Region Versus
Gulf South race at Fast Trax Speedway in Chatham , LA.
“I’m going to miss Homecoming (at Temple Christian School
), but I’m looking forward to picking up more points in the standings,”
Kathryne said. “I’m in the top 20 in Gulf South (10th), Sooner
(18th) and close (24th) in the national standings.
I’m not sure we can get into top 20 in the national points, but we can sure
try.”
Ideas, suggestions, questions or comments can
be sent to: SprintCar PR.
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