Andy Pilgrim
Watkins Glen Busch Race Preview
PILGRIM IN SEARCH OF 4TH WIN AT THE GLEN AS HE MAKES 2ND BUSCH START
Veteran road-course racer Andy Pilgrim has 28 previous starts at Watkins Glen International in seven different racing series, but on Saturday he will make his first stock-car start at the course in the NASCAR Busch Series ZIPPO 200 in the No. 88 Navy Accelerate Your Life Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS.
Despite his rookie designation in stock cars at The Glen, Pilgrim has collected three wins, five pole awards and 17 top-five finishes at the 2.45-mile course. Pilgrim’s wins at Watkins Glen came in the IMSA Firestone Firehawk Endurance/Speedvision Cup (1991) and the IMSA Exxon GT/FIA GT (1993, 1995).
In June Pilgrim competed in the SCCA SPEED World Challenge GT and the Rolex 6 hours at Watkins Glen. He won the pole award for the SPEED World Challenge race and finished fourth. In the Rolex Sports Car Series event his team started sixth and finished seventh.
In last year’s ZIPPO 200, Martin Truex Jr. drove the No. 88 Navy Chevrolet to a sixth-place finish at Watkins Glen International.
In four previous road course races, the Navy team has an average finish of 14.3.
The JR Motorsports team will utilize chassis JRM 011 in Saturday’s ZIPPO 200. This is the same car Pilgrim drove last weekend in Montreal.
Last weekend in Montreal, Pilgrim qualified 14th in his first-ever Busch start. He had just taken over the lead with two laps to go when the left-rear tire of the Navy Chevrolet was cut down by contact with a competitor. He eased the car back to the garage to a 15th-place finish.
Andy Pilgrim, Driver, No. 88 Navy Accelerate Your Life Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS
“I’ve raced at Watkins Glen a number of times. The course I’m used to running on has a slightly different configuration than the course NASCAR uses, but I have practiced on the NASCAR course a number of times. I love the Glen. It’s wide open, fast and doesn’t really have any slow corners. I’ve always been a fan of places like that. It’ll be very interesting to take such a big, powerful car up through the esses there. I’m really looking forward to driving the Navy Chevrolet at the Glen this weekend. It’ll be another eye-opening learning experience for me. ”
Wes Ward, Crew Chief, No. 88 Navy Accelerate Your Life Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS
“The race at Watkins Glen is a strategy race. It’s a fast road course. The key to running well there is holding it wide open through the esses and staying out of trouble. Andy has more experience at Watkins Glen than anyone I’ve ever worked with before. He knows the track pretty well, so I’m pretty confident that he’ll do a great job for the Navy team this weekend.”
Navy Notables
The fleet honoree for Saturday’s race at Watkins Glen International is the Air Craft Intermediate Maintenance Detachment (AIMD) Willow Grove. The AIMD provides regionalized aircraft maintenance and logistics support for 12 USN/USMC aircraft squadrons with a 212-member workforce processing over 36,000 maintenance and supply actions annually. It’s mission is to provide quality aviation maintenance and supply support, including intermediate level engine and component repair and organizational level aviation support equipment (SE) maintenance for C-130T, C-9B, CH-53E, AH-1W, UH-1N and transient aircraft.
Event Information
ZIPPO 200
8/11/07
Watkins Glen International
Watkins Glen, N.Y.
2.45-mile course
TV – ESPN2 at 3 p.m. ET
Radio – MRN at 3 p.m. ET
