Runner Up Finish For Barkshire In Irwindale

The Fourth of July in Irwindale, California proved to be a great day for Barkshire and the 46 team. "It was a good day all around," Jeff said, "with our runner up finish being even more special because we were able to share it with our sponsors." Centennial Batteries, who with 47 stores throughout the west and expanding, happen to be headquartered in nearby Longbeach. "We spent a few pre-race days appearing with the car at a few of their stores. And then it was great to be able to put on a good show for them race night, handing out lots of Centennial Battery hats to the fans in the big 4th of July crowd, and running in the top two all race. It was just a really fun night. After all, if it wasn't for their support, along with Pure Power Lubricants, we wouldn't have been there."

Running a very limited schedule, this was only the third time on the track for the 46 car this year. It had been a rough start. A great run in the January Showdown was ended when it became one of many cars unavoidably involved in a multiple car wreck, and two flats during practice in Phoenix put the really fast car into the wall and out of the race with severe damage before the race even began. "We really needed a race with no bad luck," Jeff said, and they got it.

The day began with a poor car in first practice. "So we pretty much changed everything," Jeff said. The changes worked. "Then, after qualifying a very close second, we knew we had a piece that could win."

The battle for first was between Jeff and pole sitter Jason Bowles the entire race. Jeff passed on an outside restart on lap 18 and ran first for the next 68 laps. "We were pretty equal," Jeff said, "but the changes we made at the halfway break didn't help us, and Jason got a little better. It was really close, but in the end we just didn't have quite enough to get the lead back."

Though the win wasn't theirs, Jeff and team had much to be happy about; the runner up finish, the fun with the 4th of July crowd shared with the folks from their sponsor Centennial Batteries, and maybe best of all, Jeff said, "Heading home to Washington in the hauler with an undamaged race car!"

Yep, the car that had pretty much been totally rebuilt after the big crash at the Showdown was heading home untouched - great news for the all volunteer team that has a car requiring only a bit of clean up to be race ready for their next scheduled race, at Iowa Speedway, on September 4th.

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