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Mardis "Parties Like A Rockstar" In Lucas Oil Modifieds Season Opener
BY DAVE GRAYSON
The Lucas Oil Modified Series, presented by Rockstar Energy Drink, officially launched their 2010 racing season March 27th at the Lucas Oil I 10 Speedway in Blythe-California. As in the case of the past three years, this regional touring series has enjoyed healthy car counts and the Rockstar 75 2010 season debut was no exception. 25 cars, representing some of the finest open wheel talent from the western states, arrived in Blythe vying for the 22 starting berths that featured guaranteed purse money just for starting the A main not to mention the $1,000 winner's check.
When the black and white checkers waved through the air on lap 75, Riverside-California's Jim Mardis parked his #51 Rockstar Energy Drink modified in Sunoco Fuel victory lane and the "party like a Rockstar" process officially began. The newest edition to the Rockstar Energy Drink sports team created a proud moment for his new sponsor by completely dominating the last 51 laps of the race.
The process of earning Rockstar party rights actually began Saturday afternoon when the series' teams lined up for qualifying. When the session concluded young Austin Barnes found himself sitting on top of the speed charts. The Escondido-California teen driver ripped off a hot lap of 14.329 seconds around the the Lucas Oil I 10 Speedway's quarter mile paved oval. That lap more than earned him the $100 Budweiser bonus for setting the fast time of the day. However the Lucas Oil pre race inversion ceremony wasn't too kind to the young driver after he drew the number five. That ceremony moved pre race favorites James Cole and Chris Gerchman to the front row.
The initial green flag effort to launch the Rockstar 75 quickly turned into the first of seven yellow caution flags when Scott Osbourne's car did a 360 spin coming out of turn three. With the field underway again, James Cole jumped into the lead and set the pace for the first nine circuits before Chris Gerchman made a low line pass in turn two to take command of the race. The new leader had to slow his race rhythm two laps later when the second and third yellow caution flags presented themselves. This time the cars driven by Randy Ussery and Broc Murphy went spinning around through the fourth turn. The effort to restart the event failed when Ussery, whose luck in this race was unbelievably harsh, found himself spinning through turn one while, at the same time, Justin Olmstead spun into the turn one wall.
Meanwhile Mardis had now worked his way to second and set his sights on Gerchman. The pair of pre race favorites treated the capacity crowd to a few laps of exciting door to door racing before Mardis was able to work his way underneath Gerchman's car. Mardis made what turned out to be the race winning move on lap 24 coming off of turn two and never looked back on his way to the win.
Mardis set a fast pace and, by lap 35, held a full straightaway lead over the field only to see that lead evaporate by a pair of caution flags. The first came out on lap 50 when Ussery's bad luck hit again and found the driver spinning in turn four. Austin Barnes and Dennis Lovelady, with no place to go, also found themselves sliding through the same turn. The incident was particularly devastating for Barnes who was in second at the time and on his way to a strong finish.
Mardis managed one green flag lap, following the restart, before the fifth yellow flag presented itself under surprising circumstances. At this point in the event pre race favorite Chris Gerchman appeared to be sliding backwards and was now in fifth. On lap 52 a reported blown tire sent the Lake Havasu City-Arizona favorite hard into the turn three wall. The hard crash was an incident totally uncharacteristic for this team who always has strong performances in this series. Gerchman emerged from the car unharmed but the same could not be said for his #26 Peggy's Sunrise Cafe modified which sustained major crash damage all the way down its right side.
With the field under green again the Mardis Rockstar car again took off and made quick work of separating himself from the competition. James Cole, now in second again, did everything he could to eradicate the asphalt real estate between himself and the leader despite having to deal with a tight condition in his car. The race rhythm was slowed two additional times, for single car spins on laps 64 and 71, but the final yellow flags of the race had no real impact on the outcome.
The Mardis car crossed under the checkers to conclude the Rockstar 75 with Cole behind him in second while the cars driven by Doug Hamm, Tim Morse and Dylan Kwasniewski concluded a hard fought battle to complete the top five.
After the race a very excited Mardis said "we've got the Rockstar colors on here and it's Rockstar night here in the Rockstar Modified Series so it's a good way to start the year. The car was on rails tonight. We tuned on it all weekend long and we just hit on something that will be placed in our notebooks. There was a lot of lapped traffic tonight and some of those restarts made things a little tough due to a fuel pressure issues we were having. But, once we got going, this car was just good."
This past January Rockstar Energy Drink announced their intent to join the marketing concept known as "Team Lucas" and became the official energy drink of every Lucas Oil endorsed racing series you could name. True to their company tradition, Rockstar also wanted to have a sponsored vehicle in the variety of racing series. After an extensive look at the Lucas Oil Modified Series they chose the Mardis team.
Commenting on that stroke of good fortune, Mardis said "I told them when this deal came together that I would put one hundred fifty percent into it. Their presence has been the pay off from a lot of hard work by this team. Having a company like Rockstar behind you is just something that many people never get the chance to have. I very thankful for that and I'm very happy that we could get a win for them tonight."
Mardis also made it a point to thank his associate sponsors including Hot N Nasty, Jam Sportswear, SB2 Bar and Grill, Arce Race Engines and MTS Construction. "Then there's Daniel Glass and Dave Tressler who work their butts off getting this car race ready and are willing to do anything to help us get the win. Their efforts led to this pay off because we've been snake bitten so many times here. Last year we had this race won and then had a fuel issue. It's feels good to get that monkey off of our backs," he added.
Doing his usual commute from his native San Antonio-Texas, James Cole seemed satisfied with his second place finish in his #11 Screen Pro Graphics/Swenson Racing modified. Commenting on his Blythe-California weekend Cole said "we struggled quite a bit here this weekend. We came out here with a totally different package following a rule change that eliminated the shocks we were using last year meaning we had to wipe the slate clean and start fresh. I'm really proud of my guys. They really busted their butts to create a good package. After qualifying fifth we took a real swing at the handling package trying to get it a little bit better. But after starting the main event we developed a slight push from about lap five on that only got worse. I let some of the other guys go by to concentrate on having a good points night. But, as the race went on, the other guys started slowing up and we were able to pick up a few more spots and made it back to second. We didn't really have anything for Mardis, he was just in a league of his own tonight, and they really hit their set up well tonight. They really did a phenomenal job and there's no way I was going to catch him tonight."
But the handling issues are something to put in the notebooks and Cole said he was happy to take the good points finish to the next stop on the series. "Despite being one of our worst performance tracks we did finish second here. We do very well at some of the other tracks and I'm looking forward to putting a good points night under our belts and going after these other tracks that we have better experience at" he added.
Las Vegas-Nevada's Doug Hamm was all smiles following his third place finish in the Rockstar 75. After the race the driver of the #4x Crispy Critters Exterminators modified said "it really feels great to finish third here in Blythe because it's been a struggle. I just want to thank my guys and my entire family, along with Mike at Crispy Critters, for getting us to this third place finish. I really love this series, the guys are good and some of the best I've ever raced against."
Series co-promoter Bill Rozhon was all smiles following the conclusion of a very successful season opening race and said "first of all, Rockstar Energy Drink coming into this series is a really big deal for us and I'm really happy for the series and all of the guys. The 25 modified car count for opening night is pretty big especially with the economy the way it is right now. The atmosphere here in the pits was really good with all of the guys and everybody works good with each other. The racing got a little intense there for awhile but I think the guys put on a really good show."
Series co promoter Greg Scheidecker was also very enthusiastic following the Rockstar 75 and said "it's pretty obvious that our field has really tightened up. You could tell that by the qualifying times tonight. I realize that Jimmy (Mardis) just hooked up and left tonight but I'll tell you what from second back to around twelfth the racing was hard. When the checkered flag fell those guys were racing from nose to tale. The competition level for our series is higher now than its ever been."
Commenting on the presence of Rockstar Energy Drink into the Lucas Oil Modified Racing Series, Scheidecker said " Rockstar coming on board is exciting for all of the race teams because it creates foundation. It creates the element that holds us together which is the marketing as well as the "Team Lucas" support. Everyone of these racers are reminded on a regular basis of how this system works and that's marketing dollars. Our people are prepared to do whatever's necessary for our sponsors from corporate America. We are thrilled that Rockstar is a part of our foundation. They are well aware that this series is not going away."
In the series' preliminary events and bonus programs, Lake Havasu City-Arizona's Larry Gerchman won the Dart Machinery Trophy Dash. Over the past three seasons these six lap events, for the fastest qualifiers, used to pay a $100 bonus. However Scheidecker pointed out that the generosity of Dart Machinery has raised that bonus program to $200 making it an extremely lucrative six lap event for the drivers.
With the car count being so healthy a B main event was needed. Scott Osborn won the Racing Plus B Main, and the $100 bonus that comes with it. More importantly it guaranteed Osborn a starting berth in the A feature along with the other top four finishers: Aaron McMorran, Justin Olmstead and Chris Patton.
Series veteran Doug Carpenter was awarded the $100 bonus that comes with the E3 Spark Plugs Hard Charger Award. Some frustrations from the qualifying session earlier in the day had Carpenter starting the Rockstar 75 from the 17th position. But with some rock steady driving, along with an abundance of patience, Carpenter brought his #3 Napa Auto Parts modified to an impressive sixth place finish.
Now that a highly successful opening night is under their belts, series officials will place their focus on their next race. The Lucas Oil Modified Racing Series, presented by Rockstar Energy Drink, returns to action on April 17th at the Havasu 95 Speedway, a quarter mile paved oval located in Lake Havasu City-Arizona.
In addition to its title sponsors the Lucas Oil Modified Racing Series, presented by Rockstar Energy Drink, is strongly supported by a highly potent marketing concept known as "Team Lucas." Team members include Lucas Oil Products Inc, Magnaflow Exhaust Products, E3 Spark Plugs, General Tire, K&N Performance Filters, Geico Powersports, Canidae All Natural Pet Food, MAV-TV, Dart Machinery and of course Rockstar Energy Drink.
That, in turn, is enhanced by the presence of a group of important series sponsors that includes Eibach Springs, Hoosier Tire West, Budweiser, Blue Water Resort and Casino, Sunoco Race Fuels, Franks Radio, Racing Plus and MAC Tools.
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