8/19/2016
Aaron Reutzel
Reutzel Set to Rock & Roll after Two Knoxville Weekends
Lonnie Wheatley, CLUTE, Texas (August 19, 2016) – Aaron Reutzel is off to the Badlands in South Dakota after a pair of challenging weekends at Iowa’s Knoxville Raceway.
The reigning Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour champion sets his sights on a potential big day this weekend with the Rock and Roll Gold Cup at Badlands Motor Speedway near Sioux Falls, SD.
The unique event runs over the course of three nights beginning on Friday and ending on Sunday. It culminates with $50,000-to-win feature events in both the winged 410-ci and non-wing 410-ci Sprint Car divisions. A $25,000 bonus is up for grabs as well for the top overall finisher in both classes.
Reutzel will take part in both portions of the event beginning with Friday’s winged card and then Saturday’s wingless card before Sunday’s finale for both.
Reutzel has found success in both classes in the past.
“There’s just too much being paid out to pass it up,” Reutzel says.
The past two weekends have been spent at Knoxville Raceway at Iowa’s Marion County Fairgrounds. And the results weren’t the desired ones for Reutzel.
“It was just typical of how our year has gone,” Reutzel explains. “We were fast in both cars but just had problems both times.”
It started with the Knoxville 360 Nationals on August 4 with Reutzel turning in a solid qualifying lap aboard the Shark-powered Dissolvalloy Downhole Revolution/BC Fundz No. 87 Triple-X Sprint Car despite a balky engine.
In the scramble to determine the problem, a costly miscue put the Wren Motorsports/Momentum Racing Suspensions team behind the eight ball. “We were hurrying to get back out and I guess I forgot to put a spark plug wire back on,” Reutzel laments.
Not up to speed, Reutzel was forced pitside in the heat race and then secured a spot in the feature with a strong “B” Main performance in the Danny Sander Construction/ButlerBuilt machine.
From there, Reutzel rallied from the 23rd starting position to 12th in the feature event to secure a solid sixth starting position in the Saturday night “B” Main.
And Reutzel was well on his way to landing a Knoxville 360 Nationals starting position in the August 6 Knoxville 360 Nationals finale, holding down third position when engine problems cut the night short.
The intensity picked up even more with Reutzel climbing into Shane Liebig’s No. 55L Sprint Car for the August 9 Capitani Classic and last week’s 56th Annual Knoxville Nationals.
After setting second-quick time in the Capitani, the rest of the week proved challenging with the team finally finishing out the Knoxville Nationals in Saturday’s “C” Main championship feature event.
“We had good speed, we just never really clicked,” Reutzel explains. “When they had the car good, I would make a mistake.”
“Everything has to be perfect at the Knoxville Nationals,” Reutzel continues. “You have to have the right amount of luck, the car has to be good and you can’t make any mistakes.”
Reutzel continues to be enthused with the direction the Liebig No. 55L team is going.
“We’re still making good progress every time out, we feel good about it,” Reutzel says. “We’ll just keep working at it.”
Now it’s time to go chase down some of that Badlands money. And there’s plenty of it there for the taking with a posted $250,000 purse for the weekend.
2016 Quick Stats: 66 races, 4 wins, 19 top-fives, 30 top-tens.
Up Next:
Friday, Saturday and Sunday - $250,000 Rock and Roll Gold Cup at Badlands Motor Speedway in Brandon, SD.
Keep Track: Keep track of Aaron Reutzel’s on-track action including schedule and results at http://www.aaronreutzelracing.com/, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Aaron-Reutzel-Racing/117666254913127 or on Twitter at @AaronReutzel. You can also e-mail Aaron at aaronreutzel@yahoo.com.
If you would like Aaron Reutzel Racing press releases e-mailed directly to you, send your e-mail address to Lonnie Wheatley at lonniewheatley@gmail.com.
Penning the recurring series of “The Wheatley Chronicles” articles on www.sprintcarmania.com, Lonnie Wheatley provides media, public relations and more for select tracks, drivers and events. For more information, Wheatley may be contacted at lonniewheatley@gmail.com.
Article Credit: Lonnie Wheatley