Special from PASSTIME USA TEAM

For the #16 PASSTIME USA driver Claude Plante Jr., "there’s no place like home" at the Owosso Speedway

As the JEGS/CRA All-Star Tour Presented by GM Performance Parts Series makes its eighth stop of the 2011 season at the three eights mile Owosso Speedway, the PASSTIME USA driver is pumped up and ready to get back into Victory Lane. Owosso Speedway has been a place where the Chesterfield Michigan driver has had most of his racing success over his eighteen year driving career which began in 1993. "I have a lot of laps under my belt at Owosso", said Plante Jr. "I have run more races there than any other track we race at. I always seem to run really well there for some reason and I really just feel like it’s my home track; it just suits my driving style I guess," said Claude with a note of confidence in his voice.

In 1994 Plante Jr. was crowned Owosso’s Street Stock Rookie of the year followed by 1995 Late Model Rookie of the Year title. It would be 1996 before Claude would find his way to Victory Lane at Owosso, and he made that trip four times during that season. "It was a great year for us in 1996, we not only won four times, and we also scored twenty nine top five finishes out of thirty six races. It was just a great year for us," said the veteran driver.

The PASSTIME USA crew will be shaking down the Howe Chassis Chevrolet this Wednesday during the series open test session at Owosso to fine tune the set up for Saturday nights 100 lap feature. "We have a whole new set up to try out Wednesday. This practice will be a great opportunity to try some different things and see how they work before Saturday night. If they don’t work I guess I will be pretty busy getting it back to our old set up that we have used there before, "said Plante Jr.

PASSTIME USA team owner Larry Varney was also looking forward to the test and this week’s race at Owosso. "I really like Owosso; we seem to always run well here with this car. PASSTIME USA’s last showing at Owosso in our #16 Chevy ended with a strong third place finish, so I know the car works well here. Claude has more laps around this place than probably the entire field put together, so I am looking forward to Saturday night. Our family has a winning tradition at Owosso starting with my dad who raced here when I was young. I spent a lot of time watching my dad race here as a kid. My nephews started racing here when they first got into the sport and they all have won races at Owosso. This is a track that just has a lot of great memories for the whole Varney family. It would be great if we could get back into victory lane this Saturday night," said Varney.