Friday the 13th proved to be a long and stressful day for Chris Wimmer, however, with patience and some great passing, Wimmer prevailed with a 6th place finish in the Larry Detjens Memorial at Golden Sands Speedway.
Wimmers day started out looking for another car to drive for Friday nights Larry Detjens Memorial. The No. 7-11 of Wayne Brevek didnt survive its Thursday night race so Wimmer was out of that option. His back-up car won the Thursday night race, so that owner wanted to race it himself. Fortunately, the Bassueners (owners of Golden Sands Speedway) introduced Wimmer to Burton Brown. Brown had a back-up car back at his shop that he would let Chris use. Hopping in his truck, Wimmer drove the hour-and-a-half to the shop, loaded the car on his trailer, and the hour-and-a-half back to the track.
Pulling into the track with one hour of practice left, Wimmer made six practice laps and changed the entire set-up of the car. He went out and qualified Browns back-up No. 07-W 6th with a lap of 12.237 seconds. However, due to the track tire rule that states if a driver hasnt raced the speedway that season and has to buy four new tires, Wimmer was forced to forfeit his qualifying position and start at the back of his heat race. Following qualifying, Wimmer and his crew changed everything again.
He [car owner Burton] thought I was crazy for making all those changes, Wimmer said, laughing.
Wimmer raced in Heat 3, starting at the back in the 8th position. Wimmer finished in 6th place.
The Feature Race for the Larry Detjens Memorial is run in a very special way to honor the Wisconsin legend. The field races hard for 25 laps. The race is paused for two ceremonial laps run in honor of Detjens and led by a replica of his purple No. 25 Dodge Charger. The race resumes with another 25-lap battle to the checkered flag.
Wimmer started the feature race in the 17th position. Wimmer raced his way to the 9th position in the first 25 laps. Restarting the race on lap 26, the pack stayed tight and passing was difficult. As the pack started to travel single-file, Wimmer gained 3 more positions finishing in 6th place.
It was such a short race, stated Wimmer. I moved up as much as I could as fast as possible. Traffic stayed tight for the first 20 laps of the second half. As soon as I could hit the bottom, I started digging. The next thing I knew, it was over. 50 laps just go so fast! If it had been a hundred lap race, or even another 25 laps, I think we could have gone for the win.
I had a lot of fun tonight, Wimmer said smiling. It was a long day, but I have fun at these races. I really want to thank the Bassueners for hooking me up with Burton Brown. And a huge thank you to Burton for letting me drive his car. It was good and fast I was hoping to give him a win with it. Im hoping to get my own car together and get back here again next year.
Wimmer returns to racing tonight at the Slinger Speedway in Burton Browns No. 07, where he and older brother Scott will compete in the 28th Annual Miller Lite Slinger Nationals against other NASCAR notables such as Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth, and Wisconsin legend, Dick Trickle. This time, Wimmer will have 250 laps to get to the front and the checkered flag.
Gates open tonight, July 17, at Slinger Speedway at 3:00 p.m. Qualifying begins at 4:00 p.m. and racing will start at 7:00 p.m. local time. The rain date is Wednesday July 18th.