– It was less than a month ago that Tim Russell claimed the Florida State Super Late Model Championship, but that wasn’t enough for the young and talented driver. He wants to add a few more championships to his 2007 belt and he did just that this past weekend, finishing second in his latest event at USA International Speedway and claiming the 2007 Triple Crown Championship.
“It was a really good weekend for us,” said Russell. “We finished second in the 200-lap event and we were able to wrap up the Triple Crown Championship, which is a pretty big accomplishment for us. We just had a really great week with the whole Rinnai team. We were one of the fastest cars all weekend and stayed in the top-five for the entire race.”
It wasn’t an easy task for Russell to accomplish. He had to fight an ill-handling car for all 200 laps of the event on his way to the second-place finish, as well as the late summer Florida heat. The Rinnai Tempaco Amerigas team was able to work on the car during the pit stops in order to make some improvements and get Russell out front.
“We were ‘bad loose’ the whole race. My crew chief made a call on the pit stop to tighten it up a little. We got [the car] a little bit tighter but I had to use up a lot more than I wanted to use. I wanted to save some for the end.
“I had pretty good brakes the whole race. But, for some reason, I was just bad, bad loose. I could barely turn down into the corner without spinning out. I had to be real gentle getting in the corner. When I hit my marks perfectly, I could get a really, really fast lap, but then if I missed it or if I got into the corner a little hot, I had to slow way down and I’d get loose from the middle of the corner off. I just had to chase it. I was up on the wheel for the whole race and just glad everything worked out for us.”
The competition for the Triple Crown Championship was just about as stiff as the competition was during the 200-lap race. The Triple Crown is made up of three races, at 200-laps each. And in order to compete for the wins and championships, you first have to survive the races.
“All the races here are difficult, especially the 200-lappers. It’s really demanding in this heat out here. You’ve got to stay in shape, stay cool all day and keep plenty of fluids in you. All the races this year, we’ve had good luck.
“My hat’s off to my whole team. They’ve really been working well and we’ve just got to keep this thing going for the rest of the year, and hopefully we can wrap up a few more Championships that we are contending for along the way.”
Tim will be back in action on September 15th when the Brighthouse Challenge Series heads to New Smyrna Speedway.
If you would like more information on Tim Russell and his future racing plans, contact Amy Hayes at (770) 855-1461 and check out TimRussellonline.com for all the latest Tim Russell racing news.
