Sat, 15 Jul 2006, 12:51 PM Don Schumacher Racing Pro Stock Cars Suffer Minor Damage During Transport

Courtesy of Will Truitt

MORRISON, Colo. -- (July 14, 2006) - The four-car Don Schumacher Racing Pro Stock team arrived at Bandimere Speedway this morning ready to race at this weekend's Mopar Mile-High Nationals. The day's preparations took a turn for the worse when Team Mopar/Valspar crew members Rick Peterson and Dustin Stricker opened the door on a privately-contracted hauler and found the cars of both Richie Stevens Jr. and Erica Enders not securely strapped down to the trailer.

The front end of both the Team Mopar/Valspar Dodge Stratus R/T and the Team Mopar Dodge Stratus R/T were cracked completely through the body. The team spent the better part of this morning patching the bodies, and were able to have them ready for the first round of qualifing at 4:15 local time.

The cars were being transported from Thursday night after the Mopar Big Block Party in Golden, Colo., where they had been on display. Stricker is unsure how the cars got loose. "We strapped them down the same way as when they went down there, and they were fine then. Unfortunately, we didn't drive the truck, so we don't know what might have happened to make them move so much," he offered.

Crew chief and engine builder David Nickens said: "It's an unfortunate situation, no doubt. But, it's just an obstacle that came along. The guys have done a great job getting it fixed. It's not going to hurt the performance at all.

"Now we're ready to go racing. It may not be as cosmetically pretty as we were, but when the scoreboard lights up, that's all we care about."