Special from Schoenfeld Racing

STEVE ARPIN MAKES BRILLIANT RUN FROM 30TH TO 7TH IN CRA ALL AMERICAN 150 DEBUT

(Van Buren, AR) Steve Arpin, DIRT Modified super star from Fort Frances, Ontario had a brilliant debut performance at Sunday's CRA All American 150 at Nashville's historic Music City Motorplex coming from 30th to 7th before he was taken out by another driver's late race error. Steve was making his Super Late Model asphalt debut at a track he had never seen, in a car he had limited practice and on a day that would have melted the average human. The single race day schedule offered limited practice but Steve, Dennis Schoenfeld and crew chief Leo Thorsen (car chief on the Joe Gibbs Racing #18) put a set up under the Schoenfeld Racing companion Chevy Monte Carlo which carried Steve's familiar "00eh" moniker.

Steve was slotted to qualify first which condensed the time schedule even more but the crew arrived at a setup they felt would give Steve a good qualifying run but more importantly a setup that would serve him well in a 150 lap race with no pit stop for tires. Steve rolled his Hampton Inn & Suites, Pinewood Sports & Marine, Schoenfeld Headers Monte Carlo on to the track for his two qualifying laps and returned with a respectable 19.30 second run which would eventually place him 30th on the starting grid of 34 cars. But the real show was about to begin!

Granted Steve is an accomplished dirt modified driver and yes he did have a few laps of practice in the Schoenfeld Racing Monte Carlo at Caraway Speedway and yes he has practiced in Carl Edward's R/E Technologies Silver Crown sprinted but what Steve did on Sunday left crew, fans, family and friends truly amazed. As Steve strapped in and received the command to start engines he was reminded that this would be a 110 lap ride to a 40 lap feature. At the drop of the green flag Steve settled in to a comfortable rhythm. Surprisingly few cautions flew during the 150 event and Steve reported the car felt fine, water and oil temps were fine. What evolved next surprised and thrilled all those associated with the Arpin/Schoenfeld venture; Steve appeared to have total control of his environment as he started passing cars high or low and even making a couple of tight squeezes between cars that gave his spotter even more gray hair.

From 30th to the top 15 would been a great finish for his asphalt debut but Steve wasn't done yet. He would measure his competitors, pick his passing spots and continue to the front and by lap 110 Steve was in the top 10. Coming out of turn two a car spun in front of Steve and in an avoidance maneuver Steve clipped the rear bumper of a car which pealed his right front fender back. CRA officials made Steve pit for repairs (and a reconnection of his fresh air hose to his helmet) and he restarted the race in 13th with no apparent front suspension damage.

In the final twenty laps Steve was back in the top 10 and it was clear a top 5 finish was not out of the question. Steve was now in 8th with less than 15 laps remaining when he spent several laps trying to overtake the #10 car driven by Jo Anna Long. She was not maintaining a predictable line but Steve finally got beside her coming to the flag stand. As they battled door-to-door in turns one and two they came off two side by side; then the unexpected happened; in the middle of the back stretch the #10 car squeezed Steve into the outside wall. Steve immediately was hard on the brakes but the #10 car had so much right wheel in the car she went over Steve's nose head-on into the wall leaving Steve spinning into the inside wall at the entrance to turn three. A totally unnecessary and avoidable wreck that ended a brilliant run for Steve. When the 00eh returned to the pits, crew members notices that Steve's tires were "beautiful" and had plenty of meat left for the final laps. 

Everyone was disappointed but took solace in the fact that the race-ending wreck was due to someone else's mistake not a result of Steve trying to over-drive the car or make it fit somewhere it wouldn't. Don Schoenfeld stated, "I was impressed and I've been around racing a long time and a lot of great race car drivers; this kid is good and he is sellable. We're extremely pleased with Steve's performance and realize we could have easily have come away from today's race with two top ten finishes and very possibly two top 5's." Dennis Schoenfled finished 6th in his Schoenfeld Headers #43.

Steve's last asphalt outing was at ORP in Indianapolis Thursday night in the USAC Silver Crown Series.