Slatington, PA - The cards were on the table and ARCA RE/MAX series driver, Kory Rabenold was ready to play. Cards? No racing. Auto racing at the famed and historic Rockingham Speedway- a track that has sat dormant for the last four years. Fifty stock cars filled the track last Sunday and every driver had thoughts about winning at "The Rock" Rabenold didn't come out as the event winner, but did overcome many obstacles and finished the race in the 20th spot.
Kory Rabenold and Rabenold racing were part of the inaugural event. Based in Slatington, PA, the talented 19-year and his family run team headed south late in the week and hoped to make the race. Hopes were high, but it wasn't an easy task by any means.
The car passed tech inspection and Rabenold was cleared for practice. However, the team, which needs primary sponsorship, elected not to test at the facility, so their work was cut out for them.
Rabenold fought a very ill handling car, which had a very sever push entering the turns on the mile long speedway. On the flipside, the car was extremely loose off of the corner. Ken "Buzzy" Rabenold is Kory's dad and also his crew chief.
Buzzy did everything he could possibly think of to make the car work better, but the adjustments that were made didn’t seem to suit Kory.
With only an hour left of practice, Kory hit the track and headed into turn three. The car got sideways. The driver corrected it and the car got into the marbles on the high side of the speedway. The end result was a light slap into the wall, which sent the Rabenold Racing crew to work.
Rabenold headed to the garage and Buzzy made body repairs, along with more adjustments. The team bolted on four new Hoosier tires and sent him back on track, for what was the last round of practice.
Then he posted his quickest lap of the day.
Rabenold talked about his concern during the practice session early on and his concerns with the car's handling, "I was worried during practice cause my crew struggled with the handling on the car. I think it went well towards the end and they got a decent setup behind me."
However, Buzzy still wasn't pleased with "decent".
Prior to the closing of the garage area for the day, the crew changed all four springs, rescaled the car and completed a few "last minute" adjustments. To put it lightly - they revamped the entire set up.
Qualifying was held the following day and Kory went out ninth in line. He turned his fastest lap of the weekend, which put him 33rd on the starting grid. The team stood on their time to save what tires they had left by not running for the second round of practice.
Compared to his practice run, just a day earlier, Rabenold began to feel confident at Rockingham.
"I started off nervous with making my qualifying attempt due to not knowing what the car was going to do. After I went down into turn one and the car stuck, I then tried to be superman for the rest of that lap. The crew did a great job with getting me a good setup for qualifying."
Race day approached and the team felt the jitters as they went through pre-race tech. After passing, the car was parked on the grid for the start of the much-anticipated event. Rabenold rolled onto the track with the rest of the field for the start of the hyped Carolina 500, which was televised live on SPEED.
Running conservatively for the first 100-laps, Kory tried to save his tires, which is something that is difficult to do because of the abrasive racing surface at Rockingham.
Kory hit pit road for a two-tire and four-tire change during the race and the team also serviced the driver with fluids of his own and cleaned the windshield.
The day seemed to be going well and Rabenold hoped to finish the extra-distance event. Then the brakes on the car began to fade. There were still over 100-laps of racing remaining. The crew brought Kory to the pits for his final stop. They changed four tires and sent him back on track. With little, or no brakes, he began to run lap times that nearly equaled the leaders.
Throughout the entire event, Rabenold kept in contact with his crew and also with his spotter, Jared Welter.
"The way the car started off in the race I felt like it could be a long race, but I knew my dad (Buzzy) would get the setup down so that I would be able to drive the car. After halfway into the race I began to get really confident in the car and began passing cars", said Rabenold.
The final lap rolled around and Kory crossed the finish line in the 20th spot. He was very please with his result and the team's performance.
"I thought we had a good run even though we lost brakes at the end. I'm satisfied with a top twenty finish in this long distance race."
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
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