Special from HS Motorsports
Johnny VanDoorn Joins Tim Steele and HS Motorsports
(June 21, 2007) - Coopersville, Michigan’s Johnny VanDoorn
has joined forces with fellow Coopersville native and three time
ARCA Champion Tim Steele and will drive the familiar #16 red HS DIE
Chevrolet
in the remainder of the Champion Racing Association (CRA) races as
well as select outlaw late model races across Michigan and Ohio. The
first official race for the newly merged CRA Super Series team will
be this weekend at Illiana Motor Speedway. VanDoorn has already
raced Steele’s outlaw late model twice. Once at Toledo Speedway
where mechanical gremlins ended his race early and this past weekend
at Dixie Motor Speedway where VanDoorn lead every lap en route to
his second outlaw late model win of the 2007 season. VanDoorn also
won the late model feature at the Berlin Raceway on May 12
th
in a family owned car.
Both Steele and VanDoorn are excited about the merger. “I’m really
excited about Johnny driving my car. HS Motorsports has had a lot of
success in the past and we are all excited about getting back to
where we were with Johnny behind the wheel. He has a tremendous
amount of talent. He’s won a couple of outlaw races so far this year
and is in the middle of the points chase in the CRA Series, “
remarked Steele.
VanDoorn is equally excited about this opportunity. “Teaming up with
Tim Steele and HS Motorsports will help out my career, no question
about that. We have been at the top of the speed charts ever since
we started working out of Tim’s shop and we are looking forward to
more of that in the future as well. HS Motorsports has a long
history of running upfront and contending for wins and
championships, which is what we plan on doing. With the experience
Tim and his crew chief Chip Caputo provide, that will only speed up
my learning curve.”
VanDoorn will be piloting a familiar looking machine this weekend,
as he will make his debut in the #16 HS Die CRA Chevrolet. The car
will look very familiar to many race fans as it will resemble the
ride that took Steele to 3 championships and 41 wins in the ARCA
Series. “Driving a car that looks like Tim’s car from the ‘90’s will
be awesome. Everyone who saw that car unload at the track knew that
the #16 team was
there
for one reason: to win. And hopefully, in time, drivers will say the
same about our team”, VanDoorn said.
Steele added “Having Johnny in our car will be fun to watch. When I
decided to stop driving, I thought I’d miss it. But working with
Johnny has been awesome. And seeing him run a car that looks like
mine will be great. Hopefully, all the fans that I had along the way
will remember that car and follow Johnny , cause he has a bright
future.”
The familiar red #16 will carry long time Steele sponsors: HS Die,
Visi Cad/Cam, Tooling Software Technologies, and Hometown Sunoco of
Cutlerville, Michigan. Also on board will be Magic Transportation
who has backed VanDoorn since 2003. The 121 Racing Team owner and
driver points earned to date in the CRA Super Series will now
transfer over to the HS Motorsports Team in the switch of the team
ownership since the team is keeping the same driver.
