gaijin
06-27-2005, 12:04 PM
SONOMA, Calif. -- After Sunday's Dodge/Save Mart 350, the group of road-course "ringers" ended up all over the results sheet.
Ultimately, they failed to win.
But oh, the tales they could tell.
After the weekend he had experienced in his first outing with PPI Motorsports, Ron Fellows was the least likely to sit at the head of the class, but that's exactly where he placed the No. 32 Chevrolet.
Fellows, driving in place of regular PPI pilot Bobby Hamilton Jr., made it into the race by a scant .032 seconds.
But once he was there, the Canadian veteran persevered through 40 laps of intermittent power steering and executed a perfect pit strategy with crew chief Harold Holly to finish eighth -- the team's best finish of the season.
"The higher-speed corners were less of a problem because you didn't turn the wheel much," Fellows said. "But all the slower stuff, like Turns 2, 3, 4, 7 and 11 -- as soon as I would turn-in, it would quit.
"I managed to get it to where it was predictable and I was moving my hands to maintain the leverage, but I had to be real careful on the throttle because if I had the wheel turned too much when the power steering came on as I was unwinding the wheel, I would spin out."
Fellows praised his team for the success.
"That's to Harold Holly and all these guys," Fellows said. "That's where these guys belong and where they deserve to be. They're top-10 guys.
"For these guys it's great and I'm glad to get into the top-10. They're a hard-working, dedicated bunch and they deserve to be right here. But to be competitive at Watkins Glen, we've got a lot of work to do."
Ultimately, they failed to win.
But oh, the tales they could tell.
After the weekend he had experienced in his first outing with PPI Motorsports, Ron Fellows was the least likely to sit at the head of the class, but that's exactly where he placed the No. 32 Chevrolet.
Fellows, driving in place of regular PPI pilot Bobby Hamilton Jr., made it into the race by a scant .032 seconds.
But once he was there, the Canadian veteran persevered through 40 laps of intermittent power steering and executed a perfect pit strategy with crew chief Harold Holly to finish eighth -- the team's best finish of the season.
"The higher-speed corners were less of a problem because you didn't turn the wheel much," Fellows said. "But all the slower stuff, like Turns 2, 3, 4, 7 and 11 -- as soon as I would turn-in, it would quit.
"I managed to get it to where it was predictable and I was moving my hands to maintain the leverage, but I had to be real careful on the throttle because if I had the wheel turned too much when the power steering came on as I was unwinding the wheel, I would spin out."
Fellows praised his team for the success.
"That's to Harold Holly and all these guys," Fellows said. "That's where these guys belong and where they deserve to be. They're top-10 guys.
"For these guys it's great and I'm glad to get into the top-10. They're a hard-working, dedicated bunch and they deserve to be right here. But to be competitive at Watkins Glen, we've got a lot of work to do."