1/27/2021
Inside Line Promotions
Price Improves Throughout Season Debut During Wild Wing Shootout in Arizona
(Photo by Matt Hill Photo)
Inside Line Promotions – QUEEN CREEK, Ariz. (Jan. 27, 2021) – Robbie Price kicked off his 2021 racing season behind the wheel of a 410ci winged sprint car last weekend during the inaugural Schaeffer’s Wild Wing Shootout hosted by Arizona Speedway.
Price piloted the Casey Minks owned No. 1 to a weekend best 11th-place finish during the Sunday finale to go along with results of 22nd and 19th, respectively, during the three-day event.
“It’s been a while since we got out and ran a race, so to shake off the cobwebs a bit and just make some laps was an accomplishment in itself,” he said. “There were 25 cars there and just about every one of them was capable of winning races against some big touring series, so to get out there and compete was a good way to start off 2021.”
Price opened the weekend on Friday when he timed in 17th quickest in time trials with a lap of 13.238 seconds. He followed that up by finishing where he started – sixth – in a heat race to lock himself into the A Main in the 17th starting position. Price struggled in the feature with speed and pulled off early to conserve the equipment.
“We were just off a bit from the start on Friday and I don’t know that we ever really turned a corner,” he said. “I felt comfortable in the car, but it just felt like we were a little behind speed-wise and it showed come feature-time.”
Price returned to the dirt oval on Saturday and qualified 23rd quickest with a lap of 14.487 seconds before advancing one position in a heat race to finish seventh. He lined up 22nd for the feature and was running near the top 15 when he pulled off the track with one lap remaining because of a fuel pickup problem.
“We made gains from Friday to Saturday, but track position was really key come feature-time,” he said. “We were actually pretty good in the A Main, but I was having some kind of fuel issue. I pulled off one lap early trying to just get it to the end, but I didn’t want to tear the car up or someone else up over a few spots.”
Sunday’s event finale was plagued with rain throughout the day, but when racing finally got underway Price laid down a lap of 12.761 seconds in qualifying to rank 15th overall. He finished where he started – sixth – in a heat race and earned the 16th starting spot in the feature.
Using knowledge learned from the first two nights of racing, Price and the team made various adjustments to the car for the feature and at the completion he was able to move forward to finish 11th. The result was Price’s first top 15 of the year and the five positions gained were the second most of anybody in the field.
“We pretty much threw the kitchen sink at the car in terms of changes on Sunday and it definitely paid off,” he said. “It was the best by far we were all weekend and to know we were making gains is a good feeling for the first weekend out.”
Price is currently undecided on his next race, but he plans to run more shows in 2021 with the Casey Minks Racing team to go along with his family owned No. 21p sprint car.
“I’ve ran their car before in some 360ci sprint car shows and they always provide me great equipment, so we’re hoping to kind of fill in where we can and do some more racing in 2021,” Price said. “We’re kind of in the same boat as last year in that we don’t know when we can race or where due to COVID-19. So we’re just playing things by ear and we’ll fill up the schedule as things come about.”
QUICK RESULTS –
Jan. 22 – Arizona Speedway in Queen Creek, Ariz. – Qualifying: 17; Heat race: 6 (6); Feature: 22 (17).
Jan. 23 – Arizona Speedway in Queen Creek, Ariz. – Qualifying: 23; Heat race: 7 (8); Feature: 19 (22).
Jan. 24 – Arizona Speedway in Queen Creek, Ariz. – Qualifying: 15; Heat race: 6 (5); Feature: 11 (16).
SEASON STATS –
3 races, 0 wins, 0 top fives, 0 top 10s, 1 top 15, 2 top 20s
UP NEXT –
TBD
MEDIA LINKS –
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/RPrice21
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rpracing21/
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“I’m really thankful to have Beaufort Self Storage as a partner for the 2021 racing season and I’m looking forward to continuing to bring new eyes to their business,” Price said. “You can never have enough storage space and these guys are the best.”
Price would also like to thank Millstone Heating & Sheet Metal, Shockwave Motorsports, Wildlight Motorsports Photography, Shark Racing Engines, Triple X Race Components, Highline Performance and Champion Brands for their continued support.
INSIDE LINE PROMOTIONS –
Inside Line Promotions specializes in affordable public relations and media management for motor sports drivers, teams, sponsors, tracks, series, events, organizations and manufacturers. ILP Founder Shawn Miller leverages professional journalism with new media technologies and social networking to improve your exposure and the return on investment for your sponsors.
To meet the media relations needs of your program by joining Team ILP, contact Shawn at 541-510-3663 or Shawn@InsideLinePromotions.com. For more information on Inside Line Promotions, visit http://www.InsideLinePromotions.com.
Article Credit: Inside Line Promotions
Submitted By: Shawn Miller
