Tough Day At Milwaukee, Casola Heads To Gateway And The Dirt At DuQuoin With ARCA RE/MAX Series

MILWAUKEE, WISC./HOLMDEL, NJ August 27, 2007 . . . “It was just a tough day,” was the way Dominick Casola described the Governor’s Cup 200 at the Milwaukee Mile on Sunday afternoon. “We just did not have much go right.”

The Holmdel, NJ ARCA Series rookie was credited with a 27th place finish for the A.Casola Farms Ford after starting 21st in the 41-car field of starters. Kory Rabenold (Slatington, PA) actually drove in relief for Dominick in the second half of the 200-mile race. The team was credit with 138 laps completed.

“The car just was not very good. The problems started with brake problems in practice and just continued into the race itself,” said the former Wall Township, NJ Speedway truck racer. “Andy Belmont Motorsports has been providing me great cars all season and this one had great power but after the fifth lap of the race the brakes were gone.”

A pit stop early to “loosen the car” and try to correct the brake issue did little to help. Casola said he spent most of the time “pumping the brakes” and getting nothing.

With about 50 laps in the record book a SPEED Channel national television audience saw Casola spin and tap the wall in turn two causing some front end damage to the race car.

 “After a pit stop to try to straighten out the damage, I tried a few more laps but to no avail. The car was wounded and running well off the pace,” said the rookie racing talent. “With about one third of the race complete I just felt I was getting in the way on the track and did not want to be inconsiderate to the other racers on the track. I brought the car to the pits and told Andy Belmont that I was ‘just not comfortable with no brakes, overheating, and the car in the condition it was in.’ I climbed out.”

Kory Rabenold, a modified stock car racer at Pennsylvania’s Mahoning Valley Speedway, had dropped out earlier with his Interstate Batteries entry and he volunteered to finish the race in the Belmont owned Ford.

“I thank Kory for his efforts. The day had some good points,” said Casola. “I understand A.Casola Farms got a lot of TV exposure and since we are looking for a primary sponsor for the 2008 season that will give potential sponsors an idea of the great TV exposure they can gain by being involved.”

With the Milwaukee race out of the way the A.Casola Farms team heads to Gateway International Speedway for the Friday, August 31st running of the ARCA RE/MAX Series Gateway 150.

The track, located in Madison, Illinois, is a 1.25-mile semi-banked asphalt oval.

The race will get the green flag at 8 p.m. Fans are invited to an autograph session featuring Casola and all the ARCA racers at 1 pm.

Then on Labor Day Monday, September 3rd Casola gets his second chance at dirt track racing with the ARCA RE/MAX Series. Coming off an impressive 13th place finish on the dirt at Springfield, Illinois back on August 19th Casola heads to DuQuoin, Illinois for the 55th annual Southern Illinois 100 at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds.

This event will kick off the Bill France Triple Crown, representative of the series’ diverse schedule, which is a separate title within a title that showcases the tour on three very diverse tracks - a dirt track, a short-track and a super speedway.

The Triple Crown will include events at DuQuoin, Salem, Indiana Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway.

Practice for the ARCA RE/MAX Series entries at DuQuoin is scheduled for 9 am followed by SIM Factory Pole Award Qualifying at 11 am. The start of the Southern Illinois 100 is set for 1 pm.

Casola is excited about the return to dirt. “We ran with the top three or four much of the race on the dirt at Springfield and that was exciting,” said the young racing talent. “We had some tire wear slow us but we think we will really be strong in this one. Dirt really offers a lot of different challenges for a race car driver and I am looking forward to the challenges and improving on our Springfield finish.”