8/19/2015
Aaron Reutzel
Reutzel Earns Knoxville Nationals "Rookie of the Year" Honors
Lonnie Wheatley, CLUTE, Texas (August 19, 2015) – A banner season continues on for Clute, Texas racer Aaron Reutzel. And this time it was on the biggest of Sprint Car racing stages.
After the current Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour points leader raced to the podium in Knoxville’s 360 Nationals the previous weekend, Reutzel made the most of his first Knoxville Nationals by earning Rookie of the Year honors this past weekend.
Following a week of progressively finding speed aboard the Roth Motorsports No. 83 atop Iowa’s ½-mile Knoxville Raceway, it will be back to business in the Shark-powered BC Fundz/Basic One Services No. 87 Triple X Sprint Car with ASCS National Tour action at Sedalia’s State Fair Speedway this Sunday.
The Knoxville Nationals proved to be a learning experience for Reutzel and the Roth Enterprises/HR Livestock Transportation/3H Cattle entry as he made his first start in Sprint Car racing’s premier event.
“We weren’t that good when we started, but we kept working at it and got a little better every time out,” Reutzel explained. “We didn’t give up, it was a learning experience for both of us, overall it ended up pretty good.”
By the end of the Nationals, Reutzel had emerged as the event’s top rookie competitor with a 17th place finish in Saturday night’s championship “B” Main event among the field of 112 entries.
“We didn’t quite get to the big show like we would have liked, but we improved throughout the week and got Rookie of the Year,” Reutzel said. “For the first time there, we can’t complain at all.”
After missing out on his Wednesday preliminary feature, Reutzel laid down a lap that was second quick among his Friday night qualifying group.
“We finally put down a good lap in qualifying, but didn’t capitalize in the heat,” Reutzel said after missing the transfer by one position.
Reutzel still made his way into Friday’s feature through the “B” Main and then finished 18th to earn the fourth starting position in Saturday night’s “C” Main.
And that “C” Main ultimately offered up some of the most intense racing action of the weekend for the final transfer with Reutzel ultimately crossing the stripe third to move on to the “B” Main.
“I think we had a bleeder go down or something, after that second start it got so tight,” Reutzel recalls as he lost ground to ‘King of the Outlaws’ Steve Kinser in the race for the fourth and final transfer position.
But Reutzel got the top of the track to work to his liking, reeling Kinser back in and then outdueling both ‘The King’ and Sam Hafertepe, Jr., over the closing laps for the position and then gaining one more to get up to third when the race leader lost power on the last lap.
“It built up a little air running the top and got us going just enough,” Reutzel said.
That moved Reutzel on to the “B” Main, where he gained a half dozen positions to finish out the weekend 17th after starting 23rd. Among those cars he passed was Logan Wagner, the only other rookie contender to earn a spot in the “B” Main, thus earning Reutzel Rookie of the Year honors.
“I probably stayed up top a little too long, I probably should have gone to the bottom sooner when the top went away,” Reutzel explained. “It was going to be tough either way with that many good cars.”
With a successful Knoxville Nationals in the books, Reutzel jumped back into the Wren Motorsports/Momentum Racing Suspensions No. 87 Sprint Car for an impromptu World of Outlaws start at Nebraska’s Junction Motor Speedway on Tuesday night.
“It was definitely a last minute decision,” Reutzel said of the trip to McCool Junction.
After some early struggles, Reutzel rebounded by rallying forward from 17th to post a top-ten finish aboard the Dissolvealloy Frac Ball Revolution/Danny Sander Construction/ButlerBuilt machine.
Following on the heels of a couple of intense weeks at the world’s most famous half-mile dirt track in Iowa, another fairgrounds half-mile is on the docket with Reutzel and the Lone Star Hydro Maintenance/Wright Way Logistics team carrying a 73-point lead in the $60,000 Lucas Oil ASCS National championship chase into Sunday’s event at Sedalia, MO.
2015 Quick Stats: 54 races, 10 wins, 27 top-fives, 37 top-tens.
Up Next: Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour action at Sedalia’s State Fair Speedway in Sedalia, MO, on Sunday.
Keep Track: Keep track of Aaron Reutzel’s on-track action including schedule and results at http://www.aaronreutzelracing.com/, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Aaron-Reutzel-Racing/117666254913127 or on Twitter at @AaronReutzel. You can also e-mail Aaron at aaronreutzel@yahoo.com.
If you would like Aaron Reutzel Racing press releases e-mailed directly to you, send your e-mail address to Lonnie Wheatley at lonniewheatley@gmail.com.
Penning the recurring series of “The Wheatley Chronicles” articles on www.sprintcarmania.com, Lonnie Wheatley provides media, public relations and more for select tracks, drivers and events. For more information, Wheatley may be contacted at lonniewheatley@gmail.com.
(Photo courtesy of Tee Jay Crawford)
Article Credit: Lonnie Wheatley
Submitted By: Lonnie Wheatley
