CORR: Crandon: Federico Racing summary

Wilmette, IL (June 25, 2002) Friday night Steven and his crew chief A.J. Satenstein attended a dinner courtesy of Goodyear, one of his associate sponsors. Goodyear had invited many of their dealers up for a weekend at Crandon International Raceway ...

Wilmette, IL (June 25, 2002) Friday night Steven and his crew chief A.J. Satenstein attended a dinner courtesy of Goodyear, one of his associate sponsors. Goodyear had invited many of their dealers up for a weekend at Crandon International Raceway and Steven was one of the guest speakers at the pre-dinner cocktail party at the 'White Tails Restaurant' in Sugar Camp, Wisconsin (right outside of Rhinelander). "It was exciting for me because most of the dealers have never been to an off-road race", said Federico. "I described to them the thrills, spills and wheel-to-wheel action they would witness 'all day long', each day of their incredible weekend!" Steven would like to thank Goodyear representatives Jim Alexander, Steve Meyers and a host of others for this opportunity.

SATURDAY'S RACE, ROUND #6
With rain showers near by all day threatening to hit us, choosing the appropriate set up would be key. "I sat in my trailer[IMAGE] Saturday's warmup... Round #4... watching the Weather Channel for hours prior to the race. The bad weather stayed immediately to the Southwest of us, and if it had shifted, within five minutes it could have dumped well over an inch of rain necessitating a major change in the truck set-up" said Federico. Steven would like to send out a special thanks to Bart Wilson and his family for developing the Racing Optics 'SpeedStack7'. Normally you would have to use 35 individual tear-offs and for the first couple of laps it's really difficult to see clearly through all of them. Racing Optics' solution was to devise a totally new laminated-tear-off system and they came up with the 'seven'. It's effectively like looking through only four tear-offs while enjoying all of the advantages of having thirty-five. This is really crucial when you don't know what the weather is going to do. [IMAGE]Lining up at Crandon has got to be the most intimidating start racers face in the Championship Off-Road Racing Series. Lining up side by side in a 'land-rush' type start, trucks enter the first turn at speeds over a hundred miles in hour! This one's not for the 'faint of heart'. "You really need to see it to appreciate it! Not only are you flat out in fourth gear as one enters that first turn, the corner is off-camber to boot!" said Federico. Federico was sixth after the first lap and eventually worked his way up to third place. "We were happy with the finish and it left us only eleven points away from the lead".

SUNDAY'S RACE, ROUND #7
We went out for the Sunday morning practice session and Steven felt a miss in the motor. "I had a talk with A.J. and we decided to replace the ignition system" said Federico. With that being done we were on our way to the starting line for 'round seven'. Fifteen trucks again lined up side by side as the race steward checks you off as you let him know that you're ready to race. Fay, the race starter, then takes the board from red to yellow and you know that the green will fly within the next five seconds. "As soon as Fay flipped the board yellow, I shifted into first gear and thromped the gas pedal in order to clear the carburetors and cylinders. As soon as I did that the MOTOR DIED! I hurriedly got it re-fired but, before I could clear it, the green flag flew and the field was off, leaving me dead last with a hesitating motor".

The motor finally cleared itself and Federico began a stunning drive, working his way up thru traffic all the way to fourth place when the motor began acting up again with the hesitation. Steven radioed his 'spotter' and asked if he could see any smoke. The answer came back "No", but Steve Krieman, Federico's spotter asked Federico to take a quick glance at his temperatures. Steven radioed back that they were all normal. But lap after lap the motor just went away and on lap seven the motor finally went up in smoke. "It was a terrible time for this to happen. Only back eleven points, overcoming that horrendous start and then working all the way up to fourth and then to have the motor let go? This will be a hard one to overcome, but that's racing".

EPILOGUE
Rounds Eight, nine and ten will be in Bark River Michigan and we are all looking forward to that race. Federico's first Pro-Lite win was at Bark River so hopefully we can make up some points.

Federico Racing would like to welcome a new sponsor, Precision Gear. Precision Gear is the leader in Ring and Pinion assemblies. This is going to ensure that we always have access to fresh gears. Considering the strenuousness of off-road racing and this opportunity to keep our rear end fitted with the best gears will help us to be better able to concentrate on the other parts of the truck. Thanks Tom.

We would like to thank all our sponsors for their support... P.F. Chang's, Ingles Super-Markets, Mountain Dew and Pepsi-Cola, Italian Village, Racing Optics, Mechanix Wear, Wilmette Auto Body, Goodyear Tire Company, Phillips 66 Racing Fuel, Phil's Inc.com, American Racing Custom Wheels, Toyota, Venom, Precision Gear and my family.