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Atlanta, GA (June 1, 2004) The Memorial Day holiday was another big weekend for Aaron’s Sports Marketing. The biggest news of the weekend was Ken Butler III winning the feature race in the ProChallenge Division at the Senoia Speedway in Senoia, GA. Ken finished first in the qualifying heat and started the race on the pole position. KBIII then dominated the field and led every lap of the 25-lap race. This was Ken’s first win in a points race and moved him to within 17 points of the leader in the championship points race, Terry Mathis.
| Fellow Lilburn, GA resident Bobby Keyes finished second and Brett Butler took third. Brett started seventh and picked up four positions to finish third, his highest of the season, and put him solidly in sixth for the championship points. Parkview football coach Cecil Flowe finished fourth. If you have not made it out to Senoia Speedway to cheer-on the Butler Brothers Dream Machines, you should make an effort. The speedway is just south of the Atlanta airport and the races are every Saturday night. It is great, |
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affordable, family fun. For more information, call 770-599-6161. Michael Waltrip brought his Aaron’s Dream Machine to Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, NC for Saturdays CARQUEST Auto Parts 300 NASCAR Busch Series race. The team had built a brand new racecar for the event and was looking forward to a strong run there as Michael usually races well in Charlotte. After struggling with a loose racecar during most of the first practice, the crew made several chassis adjustments to make the Dream Machine more competitive and it seemed they hit on the right combination toward the end of practice. Michael went back on the track for a final run but found trouble coming out of turn two. The car looped around coming out of the turn and crashed hard into the backstretch wall damaging both the front and rear of the car. The damage was extensive enough that the crew had to bring out the backup car and get it prepared for qualifying. Michael was not hurt in the crash. |
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The backup car had not had any track time before qualifying and Waltrip took it easy during his two laps and qualified 28th for the race. Starting the race that far back didn’t seem to bother Michael as he quickly began passing cars moving toward the front. However, the team encountered some radio problems. Michael could hear Jerry Baxter, the crew chief, but no one could hear Michael. It posed a serious problem. |
To help solve the problem, Michael would use hand signals to communicate the changes he wanted to make to the car. If his car was still too tight, tap on the roof and stay high on the track. If his car was too loose, tap on the door and go low on the track. It seemed to work and Baxter ordered the proper changes during the pit stops. Waltrip moved into the top-ten on lap 46 and into the top-five on lap 123 and was poised to move to the front when a caution flag came out on lap 128. The Dream Machine had to pit for fuel to make it to the end of the race and Michael indicated that his car was still too tight, by tapping on the roof, and wanted an adjustment. The crew went to work and fueled the car and made another chassis adjustment during the last pit stop of the day. Waltrip restarted in eighth but could not make up any ground on the leaders and actually found himself slipping back through the field. During the last 60 laps he fell from eighth to 11th. |
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