Terry McCarl is Victorious at Terre Haute

9/27/2009

Terry McCarl

Terry McCarl is Victorious at Terre Haute

Terry McCarl is Victorious at the Terre Haute Action Track

Camargo, IL (9-27-09) – By Kelly Brown –Public Relations Director – The fourth time was the charm for the O’Reilly All Star Circuit of Champions. After rain postponing the O’Reilly All Star race at the Terre Haute Action Track three times, the drivers and teams finally saw the Green Flag fly tonight over the historic venue. On an evening that had many twists and turns, Terry McCarl emerged as the victor at the end of the night.

Coming to the Green Flag in tonight’s main event David Gravel “The Connecticut Kid” got a jump on the field grabbing the lead as he powered into Turn 1. Travis Rutz, Terry McCarl, Randy Hannagan and Todd Kane fell in line behind the rookie contender. Early on the driver that was on the move was Jason Johnson who was slicing through the field from his thirteenth place starting position. By Lap 5 Johnson had caught Tim Shaffer who was running sixth and was challenging for the position.

Up front McCarl and Hannagan were fighting tooth-and-nail for the third position. Hannagan had it, but McCarl was in pursuit. On Lap 6, McCarl would slide under Hannagan to take the position. On the following lap, the first Yellow Flag would fall when Kody Kinser’s 4k car came to a stop in Turn 4. Leading the field on the restart was Gravel, Rutz, McCarl and Hannagan, but it would be short lived as the 65 of Jordan Goldesberry hit the restart cone and drug it into the first turn, forcing Goldesberry to restart at the tail end of the field.

When the Green Flag was unfurled again, Gravel got another jump on Rutz and took off stretching out his lead. Behind him Shaffer and Johnson were battling for the fifth position. At the front McCarl nosed his way under Rutz in Turn 4 to take over the second position and a lap later Hannagan would get around him for third.

On Lap 10, the top five were Gravel, McCarl, Hannagan, Shaffer and Rutz. On the following lap Johnson, would establish himself in the top five with a move coming out of the second turn. At the half-way point of the race lapped traffic would start to become a factor. McCarl would begin to reel in Gravel as the two sliced through traffic. At one point the two were side-by-side, and went three wide when they encountered a lapped machine. When two cars battling for position were ahead of the leaders, McCarl would have to get off the gas falling back into the second position and losing some ground on the leader.

On Lap 21, is when everything went south for the young driver of the 89g car. While leading Gravel’s racing machine began to smoke. On the following lap the smoke seemed to start to billow out of his car as it began to slow on the track. McCarl would grab the lead coming off of Turn 4 as Gravel’s car limped down the front stretch. What happened next would end tonight’s main event just shy of the Checkered Flag.

A red flag was then issued as a three car collision occurred on the front stretch, affecting the cars of David Gravel, Miranda Throckmorton and Travis Rutz. Miranda Throckmorton has been treated and released from medical attention. David Gravel is under medical observation. The condition of Travis Rutz is unknown at this time.

After surveying the incident the track and O’Reilly All Star officials made the difficult decision to conclude the race eight laps shy of the end, due to extensive damage to the grandstand fence and flag stand.

At the time of the incident McCarl was in the lead and Hannagan, Shaffer, Smith and Johnson rounded out the top-five. This is McCarl’s first win at the Terre Haute Action Track, his fourth All Star win this season. In fact this was the first race McCarl had competed in at the famed track since he ran second there in 2000.

With and eighth place finish tonight Daron Clayton officially clinched the 2009 All Star Rookie-of-the-Year title. Clayton had a consistent season scoring two top-five and seven top ten finishes. His best finish of the season came at Hilltop Speedway earlier this month when he finished fourth.

Also claiming a title tonight was Jerrod Hull who became the O’Reilly Midwest All Star Champion for the third time in his career. Hull would have a slow start of the season, but finish with a flourish. After a pair of wins in Tennessee, Hull would go on to win four of the five Midwest All Star races.

For up to date information for the O’Reilly All Star Circuit of Champions and Midwest All Star Series visit www.allstarsprint.com or www.midwestallstarseries.com.

Kistler Engines Qualifying
Car-Driver