By Bill Sullivan, Racing for the Troops
WEST SACRAMENTO, CA – In the season to come, the Racing for the Troops sprint car team has made it loud and clear that they will race a California outlaw style schedule and travel to various tracks throughout the year. However, this weekend the camouflaged winged warriors are returning to Placerville Speedway for the second straight week of competition.
After a solid run at Placerville Speedway last week for the Civil War Series opener in their 360 cubic inch powered sprint cars both Bobby McMahan of Elk Grove and Kyle Harris of West Sacramento will return with additional horsepower this Saturday night. The event is the season opener for the Golden State Challenge Sprint Car Series, the premier campaign for winged 410 cubic inch powered sprint cars.
“We were having a tough time deciding if we would run in Chico for the Silver Cup or Placerville for the Golden State Challenge Series. We even considered racing one night of each,” said McMahan. “But the opportunity to drive a 410 at Placerville doesn’t come that often so we’ve decided that’s our destination this particular week.”
Last Saturday night both McMahan and Harris made their season debut at Placerville Speedway for the Civil War Series. Before racing began the odds seemed against the team as Harris clipped the wall in qualifying and suffered a damaging roll over while McMahan damaged a rear end in hot laps and had to make repairs.
McMahan qualified 14th in the program; Harris earned no official lap time due to the accident. In heat race competition McMahan finished in fourth place to secure a position in the A-feature while Harris placed sixth to enter the semi-main event. Harris’ night would end with a seventh place finish in the 12-lap semi while McMahan drove the #26b A.R.T Chassis from 12th to seventh in the 30-lap A-feature.
“We were really happy with the night overall,” said McMahan. “Kyle’s crash in qualifying was really misfortunate but he remained focused and did an outstanding job of rallying back. Sometimes an incident like that can make it pretty hard to focus when you come back out, especially when you haven’t been doing it too long. We we’re all really impressed with the way Kyle shook it off and gave it his best.”
Saturday night the duo will make their first GSC appearance of the year when the series rolls into Placerville for the first of just three visits there. Placerville is one of the tighter tracks on the GSC tour but for McMahan, racing 410 sprint cars at Placerville Speedway is commonplace. When he began his racing career there and won Rookie of the Year in 1982 that was what the weekly division consisted of.
“It’s always fun to race at the track I learned at but it’s even better when it’s in a 410,” said McMahan, who had great success in the famed Northern Auto Racing Club back in the day. “The tight track and the extra horsepower make things exciting for the drivers and the fans. We’re looking forward to it.”
Steve Harris Racing and the Racing for the Troops sprint car team have a number of marketing partners for the 2010 racing season. Proud supporters of the team include World Environmental Energy Incorporated, C & H Service Disabled Veterans Enterprises, Benic Enterprises, Butler Built Seats, SS Racing, Art Enterprises and Redline Oil.
The team is proud to continue it’s support of military veterans and active duty service members, educating the public on the needs of those returning from war and supporting activities which provide resources to America’s active military, veterans and their families. They invite all the race fans to their pit area following the races where both McMahan and Harris will have new t-shirts for sale. They look forward to meeting fans of all ages. You can earn more about the team’s mission by visiting their website at www.racingforthetroops.com.