Donny Lia Wrestles a Bent Racecar to Fifth in North-South Shootout
Huntington, NY — Sometimes no matter what obstacles are thrown in the way, one will find a way to succeed. 2007 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Champ Donny Lia experienced that first hand at the Fifth Annual North-South Shootout at Concord Motorsport Park (NC) on Saturday night.
Lia, a former winner of the Shootout, had his hands full all weekend, running his family-owned LMI Racing #18 for only the second time this season. But his hands were never as full all weekend as they were in the closing laps of the 100-lap Modified Shootout. While battling for fifth position with only a handful of laps to go, Lia was put into the turn-one wall. The contact would have sent most into the pit area, but Lia held on and continued to wheel his bent racecar to an impressive fifth-place finish.
“I drove it up on the outside of him (James Civali) and got a good run coming off of turn one and he just put me in the fence,” said Lia.
“It actually hit the wall pretty hard,” admitted Lia. “I figured that it ripped the right front off. I hit so hard I actually lost my bearings for a little bit. When I gathered it up and realized I was still going, I looked and the right-front was still there and the wheel was still working. It was all out of whack and the toe was bent out pretty bad. It didn’t rip the wheel off, which was real surprising. It just pancaked it. I just kept going and got a little angry, which made me get up on the wheel even more. We hung in there and passed some cars even after getting bent up. All in all we came out of here with a real good finish.”
Fighting to keep a bent up racecar up front wasn’t Lia’s biggest challenge of the weekend. Getting a car and team together that hasn’t seen much track time and coming out with a top-five was a win in itself for the LMI team.
“We struggled all weekend but regrouped on Saturday morning and worked together real hard on the car. We recovered nicely. To get a finish like that is a win in a way. They worked real hard all weekend and then pulled off a great pit stop during the race. Ken Heagy (a Riverhead Raceway Mod driver who did not qualify for the North-South Shootout) and one of his crew guys helped out on the pit stop. Then we cut through the field. To get put in the wall and still come out of here with a top-five with 46-Modifieds between the North and South, I will take that.”
Lia got by with a little help from his friends, including his Championship car owner as well. Bob Garbarino, who owns the Mystic Missile #4 that propelled Lia to win the 2007 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour title, was on vacation in North Carolina with his wife and attending the Shootout. Garbarino couldn’t stay away for long and aided Lia and his team in tweaking the car on raceday morning.
“Bob helped out a lot down here. He hung out in the pits and supported us. That was real nice that he was here with us. When we were working on the car in the morning, working on it for hours and hours, I laughed and told him that we should have just run his #4 car because he wouldn’t have had to do so much work. When we show up with his car, it’s right when we unload off the trailer. Because we hadn’t raced this car all year, it was a lot of work getting it to run good.”
The LMI team may see more action on Thanksgiving weekend as the team ponders a return trip to the Jersey shore to run the Turkey Derby at Wall Stadium. On December 13th, Donny and the Mystic Missile team will be officially crowned the 2007 NASCAR Champion at the Whelen Modified Tour banquet at Mohegan Sun Casino & Resort in Connecticut. For more information on Donny Lia, please contact Mike Twist at (207) 499-2565 and be sure to visit DonnyLia.com.
Sources: Mike Twist/Donny Lia PR