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Saturday night racing in Central Florida....Lakeland USA
International Speedway hosted the NASCAR Goody's DASH series, the SARA
Limited Late Models and introduced the Executive Race of Champions
Series. EROC is modeled after the famous International Race of
Champions (IROC).
In equally prepared race cars from the
Executive Racing School, 10 drivers had 35 laps on the 3/4 mile high
banked speedway to get to the front. The ten drivers selected for
this first race represented experienced drivers from NASCAR, ARCA, SARA, third generation Florida racing
families, track champions, Executive Race School instructors and
graduates.
Aaron had not been on the track at Lakeland
since attending the school in January so he used the
practice sessions to relearn the lines. Later in the afternoon, he
qualified 5th and started on the inside third row.
Starting the race, he followed the leaders
until about the 5th lap where he passed the 4th place car. There
was a gap to the leaders of about 12 car lengths and at 140 mph,
he slowly began to reel them in. He dove deep into the turns and
made up a little each lap. By around the 10th lap he passed the
3rd place car on the inside and the next lap he passed the 2nd place car
on the outside.
There was another gap to the leader and he
spent a few laps reeling him in, again diving deep into the
corners. On lap 22, he began a challenge for the lead and took it
on the next lap. He held the lead through lap 25, but was passed
again after getting loose coming out of the second turn. He retook
the lead on lap 26, holding it till lap 29.
He took the lead again on lap 30, holding off
multiple challenges from the 2nd place car by using both the inside and
outside grooves. Coming off the
last turn, the second place car got a serious run on the inside, but
Aaron held him off to the line and won the first ever EROC race.
One of the first to greet him in Victory Circle
was former NASCAR driver Rick Wilson. However, the fastest sprint to
Victory Circle has to go to Shawn Strobele, Aaron's sponsor for his Open
Wheel Modified. Shawn was helping Aaron's Dad spot from the top of the
grandstand press box. He climbed down the ladder, navigated the
skybox stairs, got through the grandstand crowd, crossed the track
and got to Aaron before he was out of the car! The race competitors
came to congratulate him (including the obligatory spraying of
water on the winner). He was interviewed by the track announcer,
who said there were more than a dozen lead changes in the 35 laps.
We all posed with the winner's trophy and car #11 in
Victory Circle, finally getting a chance to enjoy greeting friends and
fans. A special
thanks to Ricky and his family and Nicole and her family for coming to
Lakeland to cheer us on. We really appreciate you for all your
support! |
