Press Release about Jeff Pollard

[NickHolt]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELASE

Contact: Chuck Licata, 512.736.8230

 

Jeff Pollard Race Preview At Houston Motorsports Park Space City 125

 

Saturday, Oct. 11 (Note: This is the third of 3 Triple Crown races, and the last race of the 2003 TSRS racing season)

 

The Checkered Flag: Houston resident Jeff Pollard, who runs in the Texas Super Race Series (TSRS), will run in this weekend’s TSRS race at San Antonio Speedway this Saturday. Jeff is in 3rd place in the TSRS Points Standings. He has 660 points and trails points-leader Ronnie New (795) by 135 points going into Saturday’s season-ending race. Pollard also trails second-place driver Tommy Gural (755) by 95.

 

The 2003 TSRS season to date for Jeff “J.P.” Pollard:

 

* 10 Starts

* 2 Feature Wins (@ Thunder Hill Raceway, 4/5/03; at Houston Motor Speedway, 7/26/03)

* 2 Pole Positions

* 7 Top-5 finishes

* 9 Top-10 finishes

 

Q&A with Jeff “J.P.” Pollard

 

Q: Tell us about your team's performance in the pit stop competiton.

 

A: How about the "Do Crew," huh? Those guys worked their tails off preparing for the pit stop competition and it really paid off. When it came to light that a couple teams had "hired guns" (literally) to change the tires for them, it intimidated my team a little bit, I think. This is, after all, the first full season for Jason, James and Andy and there is been a lot to absorb. Although I've watched them practice a hundred times, I didn't really have a basis for comparison until we got to the track (Houston Motorsports Park). When they went out and beat those (other) guys, it was, I believe, the high point of the season for our team.

 

Q: What happened to the car that you had to pull into the pits? What helped you get back out on the track?

 

A: We cut down our right front tire. All that pit stop practice really paid off because the guys did a great job getting the car back out. On a track as small as HMP, there's no way to pit and not go laps down, though.

 

Q: Two races into the Triple Crown, your car is still in good shape. Is that a blessing?

 

A: Sure. Anytime we can focus on preparing the car for the next race as opposed to fixing it from the last one, we are ahead of the game. We've been really fortunate in that with one notable exception – we haven't had much crash damage this season. That is really important with the short preparation time allowed by these last three TSRS races, which have been run on back-to-back-to-back weekends.

 

Q: You sit 135 points out of the lead, with any chance of winning the championship all but over. What is your mental mindset going into Saturday's final race at San Antonio?

 

A: Unfortunately, we're mathematically out of the running for the championship, or even second place for that matter. So, there's really no pressure going into this last race. Our team talked about it a lot after the race Saturday. We're just going to plan to have a lot of fun this Satuday. We've run well at SAS this year, but have been pretty conservative on our race set ups. I think we'll try a few unconventional things this time around just to see how they work.

 

Q: Any other thoughts about last Saturday's Space City 125 or upcoming race at SAS?

 

A: It was great to see (Brad) Hudak “take the checkers.” He worked so hard on the Space City race, to me it was only fitting that he win it. Oktober’fast’ has been something of a tradition for some time, but we've never had the opportunity to race it. We were either committed to a points battle elsewhere or didn't have the right kind of car. Now that TSRS is part of the event, we're excited to be a part of it.