04/04/2007
GENE PACK EAGER HEADING TO GREENVILLE-PICKENS
Gene Pack is hoping to have a home-state
advantage this Saturday night at the legendary Greenville-Pickens
(S.C.) Speedway when the green flag flies to start the An American
Revolution 150. The personable Myrtle Beach, S.C. driver is the only
resident of South Carolina entered in
the
NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour’s second visit to the legendary
short track. The inaugural NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour race
at Greenville-Pickens last April saw defending series champion
Junior Miller take the victory while Pack finished 11th.
“I love this race because I just don’t get the chance to race
in South Carolina all that much,” Pack said. “North Myrtle Beach is
where I call home these days so it’s pretty cool to race in front of
my home crowd. I won a race at Myrtle Beach Speedway last year and
that was pretty neat, but it just wasn’t a NASCAR Whelen Southern
Modified Tour race and that’s something I want pretty bad. Maybe
that good luck will carry over to Saturday night at
Greenville-Pickens.”
The Pack family name is well known in Southern Modified
territory and record books as Gene Pack races on a regular basis
against his son, Brian, on the NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour.
Since NASCAR took over sanctioning of the Tour in 2005 the elder
Pack has been painfully close to winning a race only to walk away a
bit short. That fact is something Pack would dearly love to change
this weekend.
“To win my first Whelen Southern Modified Tour at
Greenville-Pickens would be really sweet,” Pack said. “I’ve been
trying to win one of these races for a long time and we’ve been
close to pulling it off. We’ve had a little bit of bad luck in the
first couple of races this year so hopefully we’re going to have
that turned around. We deserve a break because we’ve been working
hard so hopefully we can catch that break at Greenville.”
The history behind legendary promoter Tom Blackwell’s track
and the backstretch wall that has the names of past track champions
painted on such as Ralph Earnhardt and David Pearson is something
that is not lost on Pack.
“That really makes the track special,” Pack said. “I guess
the bad part of it is I know I’m getting older and I’ve raced
against a lot of those guys before. I’ve raced against Dale
Earnhardt before as well as Dale Jr. a couple of times. All I can
say is it would be very special to win at Greenville-Pickens just
because the track has so much history behind it. This is good old
school racing and I’m really looking forward to this Saturday
night.”
Fast
Facts
What: An American Revolution 150
NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour Race #3
Where: Greenville-Pickens Speedway, Greenville, S.C.
When: 8:00 p.m., Saturday, April 7
Track Layout: Half Mile.
Distance: 150 Laps, 75 miles.
Posted Awards: $24,272
2006 Winner: Junior Miller
2006 Polesitter: None. Inaugural race qualifying was rained
out.
Records: Qualifying: None; Race: 153-lap race record: Junior
Miller, 1 hour 8 minutes 55 seconds. 66.602 mph. April 8, 2006.
Pre-race schedule: Saturday – Practice, 1-2:30 p.m.
Qualifying, 6:00 p.m. Note: All times subject to change.
Track Contact: Keith Cochran (864) 269-0852
Source Jason Mitchell/NASCAR
WSMT PR
Posted:
April 4, 2007 |