Notes

Race Notes: H Production

Dan Meller, H Production Champion

It feels pretty good, too good to be true. It was a great week. I didn’t really get pushed by anybody during the race. I was hoping I could just poke away from everybody but I thought these guys would come up the inside on the start. It was very stressful in the car, being alone like that and trying to bring it home.

It’s very hard to keep focused. There was a lot of pressure on me this weekend and I was just hoping the car would hold together and I didn’t do anything foolish. All I had to do is bring it home. I wasn’t turning the lap times initially that I turned during qualifying, but the race was great.

It’s good to win at home, but I’d be happy to win a National Championship at any track. I’ve been racing here at Road America for 10 years, and this place has a lot of good memories - but this is the best.

Bob Kelly, Second Place

We just didn’t have enough for Dan (Meller). At the start of the race, I was looking over in the distance so I could keep a corner of my eye on the green flag and a corner where Dan was at. We got a pretty good start on the race, and I was keeping up with Dan for a while and he just motored away. I was watching Ron in the mirror because during practice he was just out braking the ever loving out of me. I noticed he was tangled up with Pitts and I just said ‘thank you’. I had a couple of glimmers of hope that I could keep up with Dan, but he was gone. To be here is a great feeling.

Ron Bartell, Third Place

I had a little trouble getting through turn 1 (at the start). I didn’t get there as soon as I wanted to and a few cars got ahead. I had to regain some of the momentum I lost. I was behind Pitts for a little bit of time and out braked him into 12. He re-passed me going into five, I think. I was able to out brake some of the heavier cars, and they could out power me down the straight. It was fun for a while, but I was not unhappy to see their headlights disappear into the distance.

All I needed was a good, clean lap where they couldn’t draft me and they started to fall off. But I had nothing for the hometown guys (Meller and Kelly), they know the track pretty well.