PETERSEN MEDIA
Aaron Reutzel had one of those weekends that he would like to forget about at the Western World Finals. Unfortunately for him Murphy’s Law hit too close to home, as anything that could go wrong, seemed to go wrong in both the Sprint Car and Midget.
“We just had one of those weekends,” Reutzel said. “From our midget not running well to start the weekend, to just missing out on a lock in spot in the sprint car, but I have to thank the Miller’s and the Thomas’s for the opportunities that put in front of me.”
Kicking off the busy weekend on Thursday night as he was in both the sprint car and midget, Reutzel kicked his night off by drawing a high pill for heat race action.
Starting in the back of his heat in the BC Funds No.21 machine, the Clute, TX driver was only able to pick up one spot, and he found himself starting in the back of his qualifier, where he would finish sixth, and head to the B main.
Starting 17th in the A, Reutzel came alive in the feature, as the track had widened out, and wasn’t nearly as locked down as it was in heat races. Running all over the Canyon Speedway Park, Reutzel worked his way up inside the top five.
With only the top four locking into Saturday’s feature event, Reutzel worked on Dave Darland the last few laps to try and steal the final lock-in spot, but he came up short, and found himself on the outside, and looking in for Saturday.
Piloting and Tyler Thomas midget, Reutzel was in action all three night’s as the sprint car split their field, but the midgets raced all three nights.
On the opening night, they had engine issues with the midget, and failed to compete at all.
Back in action on Friday night, Reutzel and his team got the midget running, but missed it in time trials, and he wound up 29th fastest, out of the 31 cars checked in, putting him in the back all night.
Starting last in his heat, Reutzel couldn’t do anything to get moving forward, and he finished in the eighth spot, and made his way into the B main.
In the B, he again started at the back, but got moving forward. As he carved his way towards a transfer spot, he checked up as a car in front of him got sideways, and as he did that, a car behind him got into his rear bumper, and Reutzel lost several spots and ended his night in the 12th spot.
In action on the final night in both classes, Reutzel was a little surprised when his fifth place finish in the feature on Thursday night put him seventh in the B on Saturday night.
When his B got underway, Reutzel jumped into the sixth spot, a transfer spot, but it was short lived.
Early in the race, he simply was the victim of another right-rear, as he got wore out, and his Western World was over in the sprint car class.
In the midget, Reutzel went from sixth to third in his qualifier, putting him in the feature event, where he started in the 18th spot.
Running the bottom most of the race, Reutzel had only moved up into the 15th spot, and he then made a decision to try the top.
When he went up to the fence, he began slowly gaining spots, as he got up as high as the ninth spot.
With the laps winding down, he got in a little too hot, and got into the wall, and did everything but leave the ball park, and he faded back to an 18th place finish.
“Like I said, it was rough,” he explained. “Both cars were pretty good towards the end of the weekend, but I just didn’t have any luck on my side. I do have to thank everyone that helped me race all year long though. It was a tough season, so I’m hopeful that we can get going with some better luck in 2014.”
Aaron would like to thank Wren Motorsports, ButlerBuilt, Simpson, BC Funds, and Triple X for their support during the 2013 season.
ON TAP: Aaron will now head to the Tradeshow in December, as he works on getting his 2014 program ready.
STAY CONNECTED: Stay updated with Aaron by following him on Twitter @AaronReutzel or visiting his website at www.aaronreutzelracing.com.