LOUISVILLE, Ky. (July 8th, 2013) – Louisville, Kentucky, native Ben Rhodes had high hopes going into the race weekend at Caraway Speedway in North Carolina. The 16-year-old NASCAR Next driver and his Hawk-McCall Motorsports team felt they had a chance to contend for the win in the “Daggett Shuler Attorneys At Law Rusty Harpe Memorial” NASCAR Whelen All-American Series race on Friday, July 5th. However, power problems at the start of the race kept the No. 41 Alpha Energy Solutions Ford back in the pack during the 171-lap event, and after the lap 100 break, rain moved in ending the race early and giving Rhodes an 11th-place finish.
Weather was an issue during the entire race weekend as Rhodes and the team had planned on practicing Thursday, but multiple showers kept the track wet throughout the day. On Friday, with limited practice again due to rain, Rhodes and the team went into qualifying with limited track time.
“I raced here a few times with another team last year and haven’t been here yet this year with Hawk-McCall Motorsports, so practice was very important to us to get our race set-up tuned in and a qualifying set-up,” said Rhodes. “When Thursday got rained out and then Friday the practice sessions we got were short due to the schedule and rain, we only had time to work on a race set-up. Most of the other drivers we were racing against have been here many times before, so we knew we weren’t going to qualify well, but we felt we had a great set-up in the Alpha Energy Solutions Ford for the 171 laps.”
Starting the event in 14th, Rhodes quickly knew something was wrong with the car when the green flag dropped.
“The car started making strange noises,” said Rhodes. “It was making sputtering, popping and crackling noises and I started to lose power. At first I thought it was the engine and thought it might blow up, but all my temperature gauges were fine and there were other things happening that made it feel like it could have been a battery or power problem. I was running fast through the corners, but the other cars were pulling me hard on corner exit and down the straightaway.”
Rhodes picked up a few positions to 11th and nursed his wounded car around the track, staying on the lead lap by the scheduled lap 100 break.
During the short break, the Hawk-McCall Motorsports team tried to locate the problem, and when rain started to fall, made plans to try and change out a few things under the hood to hopefully correct the issue, but the race never went back green as weather forced race officials to conclude the event. Since the race was past halfway, it was an official race with Rhodes finishing 11th.
“This was a very frustrating weekend,” said Rhodes. “Lee McCall and the Hawk-McCall Motorsports team worked hard getting this car ready and because of circumstances we do not have the finishing result to show it.
“We have had great runs this year with some great finishes, but bad luck or bad things keep happening to us. Sometimes it can be hard to stay positive, especially right after the end of the race, but I have two great teams behind me with Hawk-McCall Motorsports in Late Models and Turner Scott Motorsports in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East. At the end of the day, we can only control what we can control, and the rest is just circumstances. If we keep doing what we are doing, we will break through all the bad luck and get the results we feel we should be getting.”
Rhodes is also sponsored by Alliance Comfort Systems, Kentucky National Guard, Refrigerant Rescue, and Park Community Federal Credit Union.
The next race for Rhodes will be the “Hampton Heat” NASCAR Whelen All-American Series event at Langley Speedway in Virginia on Saturday, July 27th.
For more information on Ben Rhodes, including media availability, contact Jason “Stix” Buckley of STIX FX Entertainment at (704) 519-5528 or [email protected], and make sure to keep up to date on his racing career at www.benrhodesinc.com, like him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/benrhodesinc, and follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/benrhodesinc.
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