After Rough Start to 2010 Season, Jim Peterson Returning to Form with New Team at Stafford Motor Speedway
Stafford Springs, CT — After a rough start to the 2010 season at Stafford Motor Speedway that saw him finish 22nd or worse in the first two races,3-time Late Model champion Jim Peterson has started to turn his season around. Peterson is beginning to look like the Jim Peterson of old recently, recording 4 top-5 finishes in the last 5 races. But Peterson almost didn’t have a ride in the Late Model division this season to defend his championship with.
After taking home his third career Late Model track championship lastseason, Peterson parted ways with car owner Joe Hamm, which left him scrambling to assemble a team with only one month before season opening CARQUEST Tech-Net Spring Sizzler Weekend.
“We started putting the team together at the end of March and we had zero equipment,” said Peterson. “We had to get a car, motor, tranny, everything. We have some guys that worked with me before as well as some new guys on the crew this year, and everything has worked out really well. The first two races of this year we had mechanical problems. We overheated at the Spring Sizzler and then in the 100-lapper, we were running third and the distributor, which was brand new, let go. But ever since then, we’ve run really well, we’re getting a rhythm together as a team, and we’re starting to build up an inventory of spare parts. We’re all pretty happy with how things are going right now.”
The next hurdle for Peterson and the #17 Scannell & Hollinger Family Dentistry team to clear is to drive the car into CARQUEST Victory Lane. Peterson’s best finish thusfar this season was a second place showing on May 28th and he thinks that he and his team are not far off from recording their first win of the season.
“We had a second a couple weeks ago and if things had gone one way or another we could have won that night,” said Peterson. “I usually don’t win a race until late June or July anyways, so we’re hoping that we can get that first win pretty soon. I think that once you get that first win, it gives you and the team some momentum and it’s easier to get to victory lane. Our main goal for this season was to get the team going and to run up front. I thought all along that with our experience we could run up front year, but it is definitely a building year for us this season.”
Also standing in the way of Peterson and a trip to CARQUEST Victory Lane is stiff competition. Woody Pitkat and Dillon Motlz have combined to win 5 of the 7 races thusfar during the 2010 season, and Peterson says that there are even more cars capable of reaching victory lane on any given night.
“The competition this year is real tough,” said Peterson. “There are 6 or 8 cars that can run up front and win on any given night. Our focus is to continue to get top-5 finishes and win some races. We come to the track each week to win and we’re hoping that we can win sooner rather than later and win more than once this year.”
For more information, 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