7/26/04

Another Dominant Short Track Performance for Carr

The Atomic Short Track, so named for its proximity to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, was originally scheduled to take place during the Honda Hoot festival, but rain forced the promoter to reschedule the event a month later. Rain was once again a factor in the race, but this time rains were too late to prevent Chris Carr from taking the win, his third victory this season and his eighth career triumph on a short track.

Fifteen laps were complete when the wet stuff fell, and that was enough to make it official. Carr won his scratch heat, his qualifying heat, and the main event. Had the race run its full course of 25 laps, it's doubtful that anyone could have caught the champ. Carr increased his point lead to 14 over Joe Kopp with the series stopping next in Hagerstown, Maryland's red clay half-mile this weekend.

"It's unfortunate that we had to finish on red, but I feel like the result would have been the same had we gone the distance. We led every green lap of racing all night long, and we really got it beat when the green light started flashing. It was a good night for the Quality Checked Certified Pre-Owned Ford team, and we're looking forward to going to Hagerstown and hopefully pulling off a repeat from last year.

"I want to say a little bit about the Atomic track: What a great little short track. Last year I had said that Haubstadt (Indiana) was the greatest short track I had ever raced on, and I would have to say Atomic is a close second. It was a lot of fun to ride, it wasn't necessarily a horsepower track, it was a handling track, and it was a track you could ride aggressively on and have it pay dividends. It was a lot of fun to ride. I thank those folks there, and GNC Racing for getting us back there for a rain date, but I think we have a potential for many more good years of racing there."


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