photo by RPM 360
EAST MONTPELIER, Vt. – Excited to be back in the race car, Packard rolled the 9x Northstar Fireworks/Packard Fuels car out of the hauler for the first practice of the 2015 American Canadian Tour season. “We have never been racing down south with the ACT car and New Smyrna was a different track than what we have up north,” said Packard. “The track was really fast, but a lot of fun to drive and a great experience for me and the team.”
With the sun shining and warm temperatures, Packard began getting acclimated with New Smyrna Speedway. Since her fellow competitors already had an advantage of practicing and racing 100 laps the day before, Packard spent the first practice learning the track and dialing the car in. “We were a little behind by not racing on Sunday, and all the things that we fought in practice on Monday; the other teams had already been able to overcome,” Packard said, “but we spent the day gaining on the car and getting it ready for the race.”
Starting 3rd in her heat race on Monday, Packard finished in the 6th position which would secure her a 17th starting position in the first race of the American Racer Challenge Cup. When the green flag fell, Packard settled in and raced her race, taking the opportunity to continue to learn the track. At halfway, Packard found herself in 15th position, continuing to pick her way through the field and avoiding wrecks to finish the first race in 12th place. “We had a really clean race; there were a couple wrecks that happened in front of us, but we were able to dodge them and come out without a spot on the car,” said Packard. This race also saw the addition of a new spotter for Packard, Steve Tapley. Packard and Tapley gelled quickly, as he helped to keep her out of trouble, freeing up her crew chief, Neal Woodward, to make the necessary changes to the car and getting it better throughout the race. “Steve was awesome, the communication between us was great right out of the gate,” Packard said.
When the rain rolled in on Tuesday, ACT was forced to postpone the second race of the American Racer Challenge Cup to Wednesday. As Packard rolled out for practice on Wednesday, the team continued to make changes trying to improve the handling of the car. Woodward kept working on the car in the second practice to keep the car from bottoming out, changing the set up to make the car more drivable for Packard. Since the field was set from the finish from the first race, Packard rolled off 5th when the green flag fell for the second race. With the temperature change from practice during the day to the race at night, Packard fought a tight car throughout the race, falling back through the pack. “The last practice was 5 hours before we went racing, so what the track did and the amount of rubber laid down from the other cars on the track didn’t help the handling of the car,” said Packard, “we fought an ill-handling car most of the race, but I think we emerged on top.” Packard finished the second race in 16th position, staying out of trouble and bringing home the car fairly clean and in one piece. Packard finished the two-day American Racer Challenge Cup with an overall 16th place finish. “I am glad that I had the opportunity to race at New Smyrna, it was a great experience, and I hope I get the chance to run here again,” Packard said.
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