David Arute Joins Robust Rookie Class in Stafford Speedway’s Limited Late Model Division
Stafford Springs, CT — Fresh off of his rookie season in Stafford’s DARE Stock division and a championship winning season in the Wild Thing Kart Senior Outlaw division, David Arute will make the move into the Limited Late Model division for the 2012 season at Stafford Motor Speedway. After making his DARE Stock debut in 2010 with one top-10 finish in 5 starts, Arute flourished in 2011, posting 7 top-5 and 16 top-10 finishes in 17 starts. Arute’s numbers were good enough to place him 7th in the final DARE Stock points standings despite the fact that he missed 2 races. The prospect of moving up a level in competition has the high school senior looking forward to the 2012 season.
“I’m excited and nervous at the same time,” said Arute. “Going from the Senior Outlaw kart to a DARE Stock, I got a good feel for the car and I could give good feedback on what the car is doing, which really helped with the setup of the car. The DARE Stock was the most powerful car that I had driven so far, so I’m excited to start a new division with a new car. I was able to pick up the DARE Stock pretty quickly, so I think I will be able to pick up the Limited Late Model pretty quickly also.”
With the car and division being new to Arute, he will also face a third unknown variable, and that is shifting. The DARE Stocks use automatic transmissions, so the 2012 season will be Arute’s first experience with a manual shift transmission. Arute will also have to deal with 5 extra laps of feature racing than he was used to in the DARE Stocks, which will affect how he sets his car up.
“I’m pretty good with shifting, so I think I’ll be ok on the starts, but I’ve never really been too good on restarts,” said Arute. “So I’ll have to worry about that as well as missing a shift. With the 5 extra laps, a lot of times last year it seemed like the car was good in the first half of the race, but then it would get loose and I would fall back, or the car would get better as the race went on but I would run out of laps to get to the front. So we’ll have to find a setup that will work for the 20 lap distance.”
But it’s not all uphill for Arute as he prepares to make his Limited Late Model debut. With a championship and a top-10 points finish under his belt, he is looking forward to replicating those results during the 2012 season.
“It’s going to be an interesting year for sure,” said Arute. “The top-3 guys from last year have moved on and there’s a lot of new drivers in the division this year. We feel like we’re going to be pretty good at the start of the year, we have a good car with a RAD Motor and Magnus transmission, so it’s going to be all up to me to get the car to the front. My crew chief, Mike DeCarli, knows everything there is to know about cars, and Rick DeCarli and Steve are great crew guys. Winning the championship in the karts was a definite confidence booster for me, I know that I can do it.”
When you combine a great crew, good equipment, and confidence together, it looks like Arute has all the parts and pieces he needs in place to have a successful season and possibly pick up his first win, which he came so close to last season in the DARE Stocks.
“It was a little frustrating not to win a race,” said Arute. “We were so close a few times but it seems like I would always make one small mistake. With how close the cars were last year in the DARE Stocks, one small mistake was all it took for me to go back a couple of spots. The main thing for me will be to get used to the car and finish races in one piece and then we’ll set some goals for the rest of the season.”
For sponsorship opportunities, or to follow the progress of David Arute during his rookie campaign, please visit DP Motorsports – Drivers David and Paul Arute on Facebook.
The 2012 season kicks off at Stafford Motor Speedway with the 41st Annual CARQUEST Tech-Net Spring Sizzler on April 27-29. Tickets for the CARQUEST Tech-Net Spring Sizzler are available and on sale now through the SMS Box Office. Tickets are priced at $38.50 for adult general admission tickets, $5.00 for children ages 6-14, and children ages 5 and under are admitted free of charge when accompanied by an adult. Reserved seating will be priced at $42.00 for all ages. All ticket prices include 10% CT Admission Tax. As always, Stafford Motor Speedway offers free parking with overnight parking available.
For more information on the 41st Annual CARQUEST Tech-Net Spring Sizzler, or to order tickets, contact the Stafford Motor Speedway track office at 860-684-2783 or visit us on the web at www.staffordspeedway.com.
Sources: Scott Running/Stafford Motor Speedway PR