|
Article from
ArcaRacing.com
| |
| Gerhart's Solid Gold at Talladega; 200th on Tap!
|
 TALLADEGA AL (9-23-05) - It’s
Talladega season in ARCAville. That means a welcome trip to
Alabama for the ARCA RE/MAX Series season finale Food World
300, the longest race on the tour.
It also means that part of the focus shifts toward
Lebanon, Pennsylvania veteran Bobby Gerhart, whose restrictor
plate savy is as sound as it gets in this
division.
And despite all the incoming NASCAR development teams
entered for this year’s race, Gerhart will be a factor they
simply can’t ignore. His restrictor plate stats are just too
impressive.
There
are other reasons to get Gerhart in the headlines; this year’s
Food World 300 marks his 200th career ARCA RE/MAX Series
start. So special is the occasion for the Gerharts, the
Pennsylvania posse is bringing out a special #5 Lucas Oil
golden paint scheme commemorating the milestone. It also
prompted a private test for the Gerharts, who spent 2 days at
Talladega getting their new 2005 Chevy Monte Carlo dialed in
for the big day.
“Actually, we only tested one
day,” said Bobby Gerhart. “We were so good off the trailer, we
left it covered up for the second day. We’re so confident in
the car we’re bringing, there was just no reason to run it the
second day. Instead, we concentrated a great deal on Kyle
(Krisiloff) for the two-day test.”
The Gerhart
brothers, Bobby and Billy (crew chief), head up one of the
most successful driver development programs in the ARCA RE/MAX
Series via Hendrick Motorsports. Krisiloff, in a second
Gerhart car #7, was second quickest unofficially on the second
day of the test.
“Kyle’s gunna be tough, but I
believe that the 5 car is going to be the car to beat,” added
Gerhart.
Gerhart has reason to be
confident.
 His restrictor plate
stats (Daytona/Talladega) are as solid as it gets in RE/MAX
Series competition. Not only has he won 4 races between the
two tracks (Daytona in ’99, ’02 & ‘05/Talladega in ’01),
his Pork Pole Awards at either place are unprecedented. In the
last 8 plate races between the two tracks, Gerhart’s Lucas Oil
machine has been on the pole for 5 of those events. Further,
in the last 13 races at Daytona and Talladega, he’s started on
the front row in 7.
“This car we’re bringing to
Talladega (Hendrick chassis/Shaver engine) has been a work in
progress for a year. The day we won at Daytona, we started on
the body of the Talladega car. We got the car back up to our
shop (Lebanon PA) about 6 weeks ago, and finished her off in
time for the test.
“It’s no secret that we put
the majority of our focus on these restrictor plate races. We
decided 10 years ago, that we were going to pick the most
important races, which we think are Daytona and Talladega, and
be the best we could be on them.
“It’s ironic
that Talladega works out to be our 200th race; that makes it
all the more necessary to win this race. Second place will
just not do.”
Gerhart’s 200th start puts him
in an elite club. Of the active ARCA RE/MAX Series drivers
only Frank Kimmel, Mark Gibson, Norm Benning and Bob Strait
can claim to have 200 or more starts.
But the
Gerharts success at the restrictor plate tracks wasn’t always
a sure bet.
 "For the first 10
years in ARCA, we were out to lunch at Daytona and Talladega.
It was really eating away at us. We stopped listening to
everyone in the garage about six, maybe seven years ago," said
Billy Gerhart, the crew chief on brother Bobby's No. 5. "We
started focusing on ideas we had. A lot of people do things
different than we do, but we have our driver feeling
comfortable in the car. When Bobby’s comfortable he’s
confident and when he’s confident, he’s aggressive and that’s
what it takes to run up front."
And seemingly,
since adopting the do-it-our-way mentality, Gerhart has been
nearly unstoppable at the super speedways.
"We've
led a lot of races for a long time," Bobby Gerhart said. "I
think the challenge for me at Daytona started due to the lack
of any success. Not too many people probably can recall that
we really, really struggled for quite a few years
(1988-95)."
Well, the struggle seems to be over
for the Gerharts who continually out-perform the majority of
their restrictor plate counterparts.
.jpg "gerhartvldaytona05.jpg") “There are just so many
variables to deal with at Daytona and Talladega,” added Billy.
“For one, you’re dealing with half the horsepower – from 850
to 450. That said, everything else, the body, the drag
numbers, the driveline, becomes that much more important. It’s
so hard to get these cars to go; they’re so sensitive for all
these reasons.
“We don’t focus on a couple major
things; we focus on 25 to 30 little things. And everything has
to be right and working together to perform. If one little
thing is off, it can throw the other 24 things off. You’ve got
to be right on with everything, and that’s what makes Daytona
and Talladega so difficult.
“We already have
another car under construction for Daytona. You can’t rest on
what you’ve got or you’ll quickly get
behind.”
More than likely, there will be several
teams behind….behind Bobby Gerhart’s new golden #5 Lucas Oil
Chevrolet when the 44th annual Food World 300 rolls off
at Talladega Super Speedway Saturday afternoon, October 1st.
Look for same-day coverage on SPEED Channel from 9:30pm to
12:30. | | |
