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Wright is Good to the Last Drop in "King of the 360's" Finale at East Bay
Lonnie Wheatley, TAMPA, Fla. (January 27, 2007) – In the ninth edition of East
Bay Raceway Park's "King of the 360's" Nationals, it was only fitting that the
driver of the familiar No. 9 car, Gary Wright, became the first repeat winner in the
history of the prestigious event.
Wright, the defending and three-time O'Reilly American Sprint Cars on Tour
National champion, gunned into the lead at the outset of the Sixth Annual Ronald
Laney Memorial and led all 40 laps to pocket the $10,000 payday. But, one
more lap would have proved costly, as "The Texan" crossed the finish line in the
Wesmar-powered Richwood Construction/Whiteco Commercial Funding/The
Shop No. 9 Maxin on little more than methanol fumes.
"There were so many cautions early on that I ran out of fuel on the last lap, I just
tried to take the shortest route around the track that last time around," Wright
commented after his 108th career ASCS National Tour victory. "Last year, it took
over a month for us to get our first win, now we've got two this weekend so
hopefully we're on the right pace now."
Wright survived several cautions in the early going and eventually slipped away
to a half straightaway advantage, ultimately taking the checkered flag in front of
Indiana's Danny Smith and Louisiana's Jason Johnson, who rebounded from a
pair of subpar qualifying nights to race from eighth to third.
Tim Shaffer crossed the stripe fourth, with 20th-starter Chuck Swenson rounding
out the top five after apparent fifth-place finisher Terry McCarl was disqualified
for failing to report to the scales. The balance of the top ten included Greg
Wilson, Travis Rilat, Jason Sides, Danny Martin, Jr., and Kenny Adams.
With the triumph, Wright is in the driver's seat to collect the Fast Lane Apparel
Triple Crown Challenge bonus money of $75,000. Wright can pocket an extra
$5,000 by winning either next Friday night's O'Reilly Sprint Bandits TNT main
event or Saturday's 410-ci Winged Sprint Car finale. The bonus jumps to
$75,000 if he completes the triple with wins in all three finales.
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