photo by RPM 360
EAST MONTPELIER, Vt. – Geared up for the last race of the season, Emily Packard and her Northstar Fireworks/Packard Fuels team set out to end the late model season on another positive note, but unfortunately, a flat tire late in the race ended her chances. Packard would find herself in twentieth place when the dust settled on a wild Fall Brawl.
As the Northstar Fireworks/Packard Fuels 9x rolled out of the trailer, the Emily and the team felt pretty good about how the car would handle. Crew chief, Neal Woodward, unable to make the weekend race, had set the car up earlier in the week from notes from the previous visits to the track, so the initial set up was ready to roll. As the sun came up, the 18 year old driver warmed up the car and headed out for practice. Showing in the top 20 on the time sheet for the first two practices, the team made some additional changes to the car and she hit the track for the final 30 minute practice. When practice wrapped up, Packard was happy with the handle on the car, and posted the sixth fastest time on the practice sheet. “We had a pretty decent practice car,” said Packard. “I think we would have been a little faster in that last practice, but I came upon some slower cars that held me up from getting a faster lap.”
With over 40 cars competing for the 26 starting spots, the heat races were going to be a challenge. The East Montpelier native started in the sixth position for the 15 lap heat race, where she would battle, trying to make the outside work, only finish in fifth place, where she would move on to the 15 lap consi race. “We got pinned behind someone and it caused me to lose a couple positions,” Emily said, “but we fought our way back up. I was pressuring the fourth place car during those final laps, but just didn’t have enough time to do anything with him.”
With her fifth place finish in the heat race, Emily would earn the pole for the first consi race. For the first few laps, Packard would battle the second place car as he tried to get by her, but eventually she would clear him and never look back, leading all 15 laps, winning the consi and securing the seventeenth starting position in the Fall Brawl. “We had a good consi run,” said Packard. “The second place car gave me a good battle for a few laps, but the car was handling great. Once I was able to clear him, I just drove away.”
Starting the 151 lap Fall Brawl from the seventeenth position, Packard would soon find herself dodging spinning race cars on the first lap of the race. When the race resumed Packard had moved up a few starting spots. By lap 22 Packard had moved up to eighth position, but would suffer a flat tire on lap 29, spinning on the front stretch and causing her to pit to change the tire. “We had a good start to the race,” said Emily. “We got a flat tire on lap 29, and we had to pit to change the tire, so we took the opportunity to make a couple adjustments to the car.” Despite pitting, Emily was able to stay on the lead lap and was making some progress back up through the field. In the last half of the race, Packard was running in the top 15, the last car on the lead lap when she was hit from behind by a lapped car causing her to spin and cutting down a tire. With no caution flag for her spin, Packard limped her car to the pits, and parked the car for the last few laps of the race. Packard would be scored with a twentieth place finish.
“We were lucky to be able to avoid a number of the wrecks tonight,” Packard said. “The car was really good all night and I can’t thank my team enough. I would like to thank my dad for stepping in to crew chief for me tonight, he did a great job. I also want to say thanks to Neal for setting up the car this week, and to Kevin for his help all day today as well as Dave (aka: Logger) Ricker for helping out with the tires this weekend. And I can’t forget my mom – a big thank you to her for her support today. This closes out the 2015 season, so now we will go back and re-group and see what our plans are for next year. Want to send out a thanks to all my great sponsors who were with me all season, their support is greatly appreciated; Northstar Fireworks, Packard Fuels, Rutland Regional Medical Center, Be The Match, Yipes! of Barre, Fecteau Homes, Vermont Country Campers, Berlin Optical Expressions, Creative Visions and GossCars.com. I can’t thank them enough for the support, which allows me to continue to do what I love, driving a race car.”