PASS North Series: Chris Coolidge
Oxford Plains Speedway Race Preview
THE STORY
NORWAY, Maine – Former track Rookie of the Year Chris Coolidge of Norway, Maine, plains to make his PASS North Series debut when the 2013 season opens with the Ripley & Fletcher Ford 150 at Oxford Plains Speedway in Oxford, Maine, on Sunday, April 21. Coolidge capped last season with a win in the final Late Model event in track history, and he begins his campaign in the new Pro Late Model division with the PASS North Series race scheduled for this weekend. Coolidge knows his way around Oxford Plains, as evidenced by his win in the season finale last September as well has his 2011 Rookie of the Year award. The Coolidge Motorsports No. 72 Bill’s Automotive/Lloyd’s Land Chevrolet by Crazy Horse Racing tested at the track last weekend in preparation for the season opener.
THE FACTS
WHO: Chris Coolidge, Norway, Maine
TEAM: Coolidge Motorsports No. 72 Bill’s Automotive/Lloyd’s Land Chevrolet
CREW CHIEF: Bill Coolidge, West Paris, Maine
BEST CAREER OXFORD PLAINS SPEEDWAY FINISH: N/A
LAST RACE AT OXFORD PLAINS SPEEDWAY: N/A
WHAT: PASS North Series Ripley & Fletcher Ford 150
WHERE: Oxford Plains Speedway, Oxford, Maine (.375-mile oval)
WHEN: Saturday, April 20 – 11 a.m., practice; Sunday, April 21 – 10 a.m., practice; 2 p.m., qualifying; 4:30 p.m., race
PASS North Series
NEXT RACE: May 4, Southern Maine Chrysler Dodge Jeep 150, Beech Ridge Motor Speedway, Scarborough, Maine (.333-mile oval)
DID YOU KNOW?
Chris Coolidge won the final Late Model race of the 2012 Oxford Championship Series season at Oxford Plains Speedway last September.
By winning that season finale at Oxford Plains last season, Chris Coolidge won not only his first career Late Model feature event but also the final Late Model event contested in the history of the .375-mile speedway.
Chris Coolidge finished seventh in the final tightly-grouped Late Model standings at Oxford Plains Speedway in 2012, fewer than 85 points out of the championship lead.
Chris Coolidge won the 2011 Rookie of the Year award in the Late Model division at Oxford Plains Speedway.
WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
CHRIS COOLIDGE, Driver of the Coolidge Motorsports No. 72 Bill’s Automotive/Lloyd’s Land Chevrolet, On his goals for his first career PASS North Series race this weekend: “If everything goes good for us (in practice on Saturday), we’re going to try it. In the past, I’ve always been the guy that says, ‘I don’t know how we’re going to do’ or ‘I don’t know how well we can finish,’ but I’m going into this year with a new mentality of ‘We can do whatever we want. Let’s see what we can do to make it happen.’
“If we can make the race and finish the race – running the whole race with whole race car in one piece – that’s going to be a good race for us. That’s a good test for the Oxford 250 (in July), because we’ll be running with all those guys. If we make the race and finish the race, we’ll say, ‘OK, good. We’re headed in the right direction.’”
On how testing at Oxford Plains Speedway went last weekend: “We didn’t get a lot of laps in because of the rain, but it went fairly good and I got used to the car a little bit. It seemed to go pretty decent. We weren’t blistering fast, but we were right there with everybody, I think. We were pretty close to where we wanted to be. We have some fine-tuning to do on it this weekend, but I think the car should be good.”
On whether the track changes much from division to division: “The track will change from week to week as far as weather and stuff like that, but it’s still pretty much the same track – from the Wednesday night guys, to the Strictly Stock, to the Late Model and now to this. Some of the same things we were looking at with the Late Model, we’re still looking at in the Pro (Late Model). The only difference is that we have better adjustment tools to get what we want out of it. The shocks alone – we can make adjustments with those that we couldn’t with the Late Model to get it more where we want it to be.
“To me, it felt comfortable in the test. The only thing I really noticed is how much more stable it is getting into the corner and how stable it is through the center of the corner. It sucked you into the seat more, but it was stable through the middle.”
UP NEXT
Chris Coolidge begins the 2013 Oxford Championship Series season on Sunday, September 28, at Oxford Plains Speedway in Oxford, Maine… Coolidge finished seventh in the final standings in the top division at the track a year ago.