Kory Rabenold and the Rabenold Racing Team headed to Salem, Indiana for the ARCA/REMAX race at Salem Speedway for the running of the Kentuckiana Ford Dealers 200 race. The weather forecast for the weekend looked very dismal as rain was predicted for the entire weekend. Kory's Interstate Batteries of Allentown car ran the #8 for this race thanks to the generosity of Norm Benning.
Saturday found the team practicing under cloudy skies and chilly conditions. The car was fast; in practice Kory turned a quick lap of 17.8. Crew Chief and father, Buzzy Rabenold, made the calls on the adjustments and the car seemed to work pretty well.
Kory drew 10th for qualifying and he took the track nailing a quick lap of 17.7, which qualified him 19th fastest. The team was pleased with his time, as this was Kory's best qualifying run in his ARCA career. Kory had trouble watching his fellow competitors run their qualifying laps. He was hoping that he did enough to make the race. Fortunately, his time held up and we were to roll off 19th on Sunday for the Kentuckiana 200.
When the team arrived to the track on Sunday it was raining and the rain continued almost all day. So it was the sit and wait game as the teams waited for either Mother Nature to put the sun on them or have ARCA make a decision on what the plan of action would be. Finally, at about 2:30 they started drying the track.
Kory attended an autograph session at 11:45 where he met new and existing fans and signed a bunch of autographs with the other ARCA drivers. ARCA made an announcement that the race was going to get started at 4:45. They were able to dry the track and the field rolled out onto the track. The first 15 laps were under a green/yellow and the field just followed the pace car, trying to get more heat into the track and trying to dry the track even more. Finally, at lap 16 they threw the green and the race started.
Kory was quick and was holding his own. At about lap 30 something, a big wreck occurred coming out of two. The team was able to get Kory stopped as the track was completely blocked. There was nowhere to go on the track and ARCA threw the red flag. During green flag conditions the car temp was fine, but while it was stopped on the track, the temperature crept up. Finally, the car began to overheat and was pushing water out the overflow. ARCA got the track clear and the cars made their way around the track. Our spotter told Kory to come to the pits and the team began adding some water and removing all tape from the grill. Kory then made his way back on the track. Unfortunately the temperature never came back done and by this time the damage was done. We "cooked" the motor. Kory tried to run a few more laps but finally the car started to lose power, and smoke was starting to come out of the exhaust pipes. He made his way to pit road again and the team checked to make sure there was no oil leaking and they tried again to add some water. Again Kory went back on the track but at this point the motor pretty much gave up. Kory came across the radio and said we were done, she had no power. Finally, at lap71 our day was done. There wasn't anything more Kory and/or the team could do. Kory ended up with a disappointing 28th place finish.
Kory and the team will not be attending the next two ARCA/REMAX Series racing which will be held in Iowa and Kansas. The team is focusing on getting a car ready to make the trip to Rockingham, North Carolina for a race at the famous "ROCK". That race will be held on May 4th.
PR Contacts
Ken "Buzzy" Rabenold
Buzzy's Autobody
610-767-2721 - 610-349-8387 C.
Jared Welter
Rabenold Racing
484-553-2048 C.
spotter63@verizon.net
|
