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ESR's Crew Chief Patrick Donahue explains the finer points of driving the big cars fast and smart to the young USAC Sprint and Midget drivers.
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Asheboro, NC. (March 27, 2008) – While most people were making their fantasy picks for this weekend’s Sprint Cup race in Martinsville, Motorsports Management International (MMI) and Eddie Sharp Racing were conducting a driver development workshop for future talents in the world of stock car racing.
Scouted drivers Cole Whitt, Chris Windom, Daren Clayton, and Dakoda Armstrong have turned heads on the dirt track circuit in USAC Sprints and Midgets. This week they turned their first laps in a stock car at Caraway Speedway.
The grins that spread from ear to ear as each driver climbed out of the Eddie Sharp Racing Test Team Dodges left no doubt that these guys were having the time of their lives. As the drivers rotated throughout each day, they reviewed their laps with ARCA Crew Chief Patrick Donahue and NASCAR drivers Josh Wise and Bryan Clauson. Wise and Clauson also made the transition from sprints to stocks and had valuable advice and insight to offer the young talents.
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“These guys have shown some tremendous talent here,” stated Donahue. “They have improved enormously over the two days and definitely have promising futures. It’s been a lot of fun to work with them and watch the progression just in a short time.”
Lap times continued to improve with every run. The ESR team made adjustments to the cars for each driver as they learned to feel the changes that a spring rubber or different shock could make on the car’s handling. At the end of the two-day program each driver, while excited to continue with their 2008 season on the dirt, is now anxiously anticipating his future a little further down the road. Maybe in a stock car. Maybe in an Eddie Sharp Racing ARCA RE/MAX Series car.
“This is what we are all about at ESR,” said ARCA RE/MAX Series and Camping World Series East team owner Eddie Sharp. “We want to take great talents like these guys, put them in the best equipment, and develop them for a future in the NASCAR series.”
The future for these four young racers is definitely bright and in a few years, don’t be surprised to find them on the list of drivers in fantasy NASCAR. |
