NASCAR Whelen All-American Series: Dan McKeage
Beech Ridge Motor Speedway Race Report
SCARBOROUGH, Maine – Dan McKeage of Gorham, Maine, finished seventh in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Pro Series 40-lap feature event at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in Scarborough, Maine, on Saturday, July 13. As the division point leader, McKeage started 17th in the 18-car field, and he was solidly into the Top-5 by the midway point of the race. Shortly after taking over the fourth spot on Lap 24, the Naughty 40 Racing No. 40 Top Gun Construction Chevrolet developed a problem in the left front suspension. McKeage slowed and held on to finish seventh at the checkered flag.
WHO: Dan McKeage, Gorham, Maine
CREW CHIEF: Dan Bubar, Windham, Maine
TEAM: Naughty 40 Racing No. 40 Top Gun Construction Chevrolet
WHAT: NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Pro Series 40
WHERE: Beech Ridge Motor Speedway, Scarborough, Maine (.333-mile oval)
STARTED: 17th
FINISHED: 7th
NEXT RACE: July 19, PASS Sportsman Series 75, Oxford Plains Speedway, Oxford, Maine (.375-mile oval); July 20, NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Pro Series 40, Beech Ridge Motor Speedway, Scarborough, Maine (.333-mile oval)
CURRENT POINTS POSITION: 1st
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DAN, WHAT HAPPENED?
We had a really good car. Running in traffic, I got pinched down two or three times in the turns. Rather than give somebody the fender, I’d let them squeeze me down into the (speed) bumps. In these things, you really can’t touch the bumps. I hit the bumps one too many times, and the shims fell out of the A-frame. Then the left front was just flopping around and I was dropping like it was hot.
We had a chance at easily another Top-3 tonight. I feel like we gave one up. But look on the bright side – it wasn’t 50 laps tonight, it was only 40. Really, I’m not that worried about points, but it was still a decent night. All of us are just disappointed.
DID THE PROBLEM HAPPEN ALL AT ONCE, OR DID IT SLOWLY GET WORSE?
Oh yeah, it was all at once. There’s like three-quarters of an inch worth of shims there, and once those fall out, I’m just along for the ride. The tire just flops around. If it was just flopping around and the frame wasn’t dragging all the way around the track, I might have been able to hold onto a couple of spots. But I was pretty much just trying to stay on the track and not crash – or get crashed, because I was so slow.
HOW GOOD WAS THE CAR BEFORE THE PROBLEM?
The heat race it was pretty decent. They had a new left side weight rule this week, but I still didn’t practice or change the car at all before that. The car still went really good, but we had a problem and we blistered a left rear tire.
We put a new left rear tire on, changed five or six other little things, and it was as good as it’s been all year. I guess that was a plus tonight.