RUDOLPH TO CLOSE OUT NASCAR ROOKIE SEASON AT THOMPSON

   The 2008 racing season has brought the coming of age of 16-year-old driver Erick Rudolph. The Ransomville, New York racer has conquered several challenges during the year, including twin track championships at Dunn Tire Raceway Park in Lancaster. This coming weekend he will conclude his rookie season on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, perhaps his most notable feat to date.
   The World Series of Speedway Racing at Thompson International Speedway will close out the asphalt racing season in the Northeast. This three-day event, scheduled for October 17-19, features 14 divisions of racecars. The highlight of the program is the NASCAR Modified Tour finale, a 150-lap race to be run on Sunday afternoon. The Tour championship will be decided at this event.
   Rudolph and the DeLange Racing team have compiled an outstanding list of accomplishments while racing against the best drivers in the NASCAR Modified division. In eight Whelen Tour starts, the talented teenager has been named the Sunoco Rookie of the Race five times. He has recorded four top-ten finishes, including his last three Tour races, topped off by a career-best sixth place finish at Chemung Speedrome on October 4. Team owner Dave DeLange recently acknowledged his team's record of achievement met all his expectations while preparing them for future success.
   "We knew heading into the 2008 season we had a lot to learn as a team in order to be competitive on such a high level," DeLange explained. "We gained experience at each Tour race and our history of success reflects our growth. We accomplished our goals for the year and have developed to the point where we can be capable of winning races in the future."
  Rudolph recently took on a new challenge with his usual determination, and once again proved more than equal to the test. At the recent Super DIRT Week XXXVII at the New York State Fairgrounds, Erick drove a DIRTcar sportsman owned and maintained by fellow Ransomville racer Jipp Ortiz, son of Western New York racing legend Ed Ortiz. Driving this type of racecar for the first time and in his first-ever race on the tricky one-mile Syracuse dirt oval, Rudolph dominated the event and won by a comfortable margin. Please join us in congratulating Erick on another outstanding triumph.

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