MBNA America 400 - Greg Sacks Notes

GREG SACKS NOTES, QUOTES: Delaware 400
‘Working from being last for parking, parts to first’

This weekend Greg Sacks and the #13 ARC Dehooker/Vita Coca Dodge team head to the one-mile Dover (Del.) International Speedway for Sunday’s Dover 400 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race.

Daytona Speed, Inc., which fields Sacks’ car, is preparing for a strong charge throughout this year and into next season in NASCAR’s top series. The team is planning on a full-schedule, two-car effort in 2005 following a limited schedule the rest of this year.

Sacks, the only Long Island, N.Y., native in racing’s most popular series, drives the Dodge for the team owned by himself, Ed Raabe and James Wilsberg. Sacks, a former NASCAR Nextel Cup winner at Daytona International Speedway, is well known throughout the racing world as a winner in every series he has attempted. From his championship days of NASCAR Modified racing – which many consider the most exciting stock car racing – to his major league days, the Mattituck, N.Y., native who now lives in Port Orange, Fla., has never failed to prove his talents.

Ed and Ann Raabe, commercial and residential contractors, head the marketing ventures of the team through their family-owned Anga M’hak Publishing, along with the team’s Director of Marketing, veteran Rick Turbin.

James Wilsberg, owner of Mattituck Plumbing and Supplies, was also the owner/crew chief of the now famous Wilsberg #5 car piloted by Greg Sacks. In 1982 together they took the Modified Series by storm racking up an incredible 28 wins in 38 races. As Sacks recently said, “What excites me the most about having Jamie with us is that he brings his own winning attitude and formula for success to our organization”

The thoughts of ARC Dehooker/Vita Coca Dodge driver Greg Sacks heading into Dover:

“The weather hasn’t exactly been this race team’s best friend this year. When you look at it, it’s been pretty weird, in fact. Twice we’ve seen qualifying rained out in races we had scheduled and, since we started at the midway point of the season and don’t have many points built up, there was no way we could make the field. “But it goes even deeper than that. As a race team and as a driver, you think about doing well and setting records. But I don’t think when we put this together we figured the first record we would break was the most hurricanes hitting a single team in a single season. (Hurricanes) Charley and Frances took a shot at us but this last one, Jeanne, looks like it’s going to miss. Maybe that’s a good sign for our whole race team.

“When you come out here as a new team, circumstances put you behind from the beginning. You are the last through inspection, the last to get on the track for practice, the last car at the very end of the garage. I’m not saying that’s wrong, that’s the way it has always been. And somebody has to be last in all of those things, so it just makes sense that the last team in would be the ones.

“That’s also the case with parts and pieces, and we’re working to overcome that situation too. The availability of parts and pieces is an issue we have to work our way through. The new camshafts, for example, are not available to us yet, and that does make a big difference in horsepower. What we were finding in New Hampshire, to give you an idea, is we were just about as fast as anyone through the corners but we were losing down the straightaways. That comes down to those camshafts and that horsepower making a huge difference.

“Does that mean once we have those camshafts we’re going to be the team out here to beat? No. But it does put us in the ballpark with the bulk of the teams and it gives us a lot better chance to compete on the same level. That’s all part of the process in the sport, and that’s one of the main reasons we’re here for the second half of this year rather than waiting until the first of next year.

“That’s also another reason I am really optimistic in regards to the future of this race team. We’re headed in the right direction and we’ve made some pretty good strides towards success. Obviously, we’re not where we want to be but we know the areas we need to work on, and that’s half of the battle right there. If we were floundering and we didn’t know what to do to improve, then we’d be in trouble. But we know where the weaker areas area, and we are working on them now. “Keep in mind we’re in this for the long haul. This isn’t a ‘got to win and got to win now’ type of situation. We’re thinking about continuing to build our race team, continuing to get stronger and be in a position to have a really solid 2005 NASCAR Nextel Cup season. That is a pretty good goal – and a goal we will attain – for this ARC Dehooker/Vita Coca Dodge team.”