UAW-GM Quality 500 - Greg Sacks Notes

GREG SACKS NOTES, QUOTES: UAW/GM 500
‘Dodging hurricanes and rain storms’

This weekend Greg Sacks and the #13 ARC Dehooker/Vita Coca Dodge team head to the 1.5-mile Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Harrisburg, N.C., for Saturday night’s UAW/GM 500 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 Lowe’s:

“We might be the only team in NASCAR Nextel Cup racing that checks The Weather Channel and weather.com eight or 10 times a day. Our first concern has become the one thing we can’t control, the weather.

“We’ve set the record for hurricanes hitting a team in a single season. Being located in Florida, that’s one of the issues that’s going to come up. We never get our shops closed down by snow, that’s the good thing. And even the teams based in North Carolina have been hampered by hurricanes, even though they have turned into heavy rainstorms by the time they hit the Carolinas.

“But take those hurricanes and then take the case we’ve not had a chance to qualify twice this season because of rain. That’s nobody’s fault but these are circumstances where we didn’t even have the chance to try to get into the race.

“Having a clear night at Lowe’s Thursday night would be a tremendous start for us. Good weather isn’t going to make our race car any better but we’ll sure feel better with at least the chance to qualify.

“With a handful of points this late in the season, we have no choice. We have to be one of the fastest 38 cars in qualifying or we go home. In some respects, it makes things easier. Our mission is cut and dried. Run fast, turn a good lap and hope for the best. If we do the things we are capable of doing, then we’re not going to have any problem.

“We have to be efficient, very efficient. Our practice time is going to be less than anybody else’s on Thursday. Cars are inspected by order of points – and I’m not arguing that. That’s the way it should be – but that puts us near the end. If things drag a little, by the time we get through inspection, some cars could have been on the track a good 45 minutes or so. What we have to do is make up for the time we lost as quickly as we possibly can. We have to make good judgments and make good judgments quickly.

“Each week, we’ve done that better and better. Obviously, when qualifying gets rained out, we’re not getting a chance to show it. But we’re a little better prepared, a little more ready, a little bit better in general, every time we go to a race. And that’s our thinking. All of these races in 2004 are important, sure. But they are important in the ways they help us prepare for that full-season run in 2005. That’s when the hard work, and the setbacks too, this ARC Dehooker/Vita Coca Dodge team has seen this year will really start paying off. That’s going to be awfully satisfying.”