On September 5, 1998 the ISES Performance Group inaugurated our new
1998 Pontiac Grand Prix Late Model Stock Car. After unloading the new car, 21 year old
Rookie Sensation David Stremme was right at home. Having never been at Winchester
Speedway, The World's Fastest ½ Mile High Bank Asphalt Track, the team knew they had
their work cut out for them. After looking over the track and the competition, David let
us know that "we'll be OK". Everyone smiled and turned to each other and said
"I think he forgot that we have never been here before!"
Winchester proved to be the place to be for the GM Performance Parts World Stock Car
Festival. The competition was tough and the crowd was outstanding. With qualifications
about to begin, David radioed to me and asked "would you like the track record?"
As usual, I told David to "have fun and do your David thing" (it's a little
saying we came up with earlier this year) and he proceeded to qualify. Two laps are
allowed for qualifying and after the announcement of the first lap being a new track
record, David proceeded to go even faster!
The previous track record of 15.75 seconds was smashed by David's fastest lap of 15.61
seconds! Not bad for a team and driver who have never been on the The World's Fastest ½
Mile High Bank Asphalt Track before! Being the fastest qualifier and track record holder,
it was time for the ceremonial "roll of the dice". And what did David roll - two
sixes. After several joking comments from the more experienced drivers, it was pretty much
decided that the rookie sensation needed to be educated in the art of gambling.
For you race fans that aren't familiar with the roll of the dice tradition, the outcome of
the dice roll determines where the fastest qualifier starts. And for David, that meant
twelfth position!
After some early race cautions, David moved through the field and finished in fourth
place. The first four cars were providing some outstanding "side by side" racing
action for the fans. Being the "new kid on the block" David didn't want to
jeopardize the top three position cars so we decided to settle for fourth place.
1999 Winchester Speedway Schedule |
| The
trip to Winchester was made possible with help from our sponsor AMPCOR II, INC. (AMERICAN METAL PRODUCTS).
AMPCOR, manufacturer of casket hardware supplying
casket companies throughout the world, has its corporate headquarters in La Porte,
Indiana. We would like to thank AMPCOR for this opportunity and we look forward to our
relationship in the future. |
