Mike Stefanik Drops Out Of Showdown With Rear-End Trouble
Irwindale, CA (November 13, 2004): Mike Stefanik was only able to complete seven laps of the highly anticipated Toyota All-Star Showdown at Irwindale Speedway after rear-end problems forced the team behind the wall early in the event. The Burnham Boiler’s crew went to work immediately to evaluate the situation, but the problem was too much to get back into the race.
“Something broke in the rear end and perhaps stripped the teeth on the pinion gear. We’re really not sure, but it was definitely something inside the rear end,” Stefanik explained.
The Burnham Boilers team had high expectations after a solid eighth place finish in the qualifying race, and impressive practice times leading up to the main events. But, after 12 caution flags and more wrecked racecars than one could count, Stefanik wasn’t so sure that a mechanical problem was the worst thing in the world.
“I felt so bad dropping out so early for everybody involved in this team, but then to see cars just getting destroyed – it was awful. Thank god nobody got hurt in this whole mess. The whole team sat as a group and watched it, and as the race went on we felt a little better and a little better about losing the rear end that early. I don’t think we would have been able to avoid all of those wrecks.”
The Busch North Series contingency earned enough points in the first segment to take home the team award and rise Stefanik’s total earnings for the week to $9,000.
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