“Goodyear is on strike, so basically the tires that the track has are all that we have to work with,” said Russell. “Luckily for us, we had the tires that we thought would work best, so we should be good to go for the race next week.”
For Tim, New Smyrna has been a monkey on his back. In the past he has always run into bad luck, but starting with the 2006 season that monkey slowly started to come off his back.
”I am real excited to go to New Smyrna. Hopefully we can go there in our #36 Rinnai Machine and win two 200-lappers in a row. There is going to be a lot of stiff competition there, some of the best Super Late Model drivers in Florida and the south. We will have to be on top of our game there.
“It’s actually my worst track that we go to,” joked Russell. “I have only won there a few times and for some reason it has always been that way. This year we have started to change that around, so hopefully we can do it again this time and pull off the win this weekend, too.”
He has raced at the tracks several times this year, and he won one of the most memorable races of his career thus far, by taking the checkered flag at the Clyde Hart Memorial event back in July.
“We are coming off a pretty good run. We finished second the last time we
took the car out, and that was at Ocala Speedway. We just have to move
up one position.”
Russell had plans to test this week for the track, but the amount of rain that
had fallen left the old track doing what typical old tracks do, seeping.
“It had rained pretty heavy this week before our test. Slick tires and water
on a track don’t go good together. But if we just use a similar setup to what
we had for the Clyde Hart Memorial, I think that we should be pretty good.
We might try and test again next week, but hopefully everyone will see us in
victory lane next Saturday.
“New Smyrna is a really fun track to go to. It has a lot of history surrounding it, and to win there is always an accomplishment. It is probably one of the toughest tracks to get around in the state of Florida, so it says a lot when you are able to bring home the win there.”
Now Russell has his sights set on the Governor’s Cup, which will be up for grabs next weekend, November 18th, at New Smyrna Speedway.
