---

WHEATLEY CAUGHT UP IN WoO CALIFORNIA WRECKS

Inside Line Promotions – CALISTOGA, Calif. (April 4) – It was a tough weekend for Austen Wheatley.

The 18-year-old from Lake Stevens, Wash., was caught up in several wrecks as he competed with the World of Outlaws in California at Merced Speedway in Merced on Friday and at Calistoga Speedway in Calistoga on Saturday.

The bad luck started on Friday at Merced Speedway – a tight 1/4th-mile oval – when the throttle linkage broke as he was being pushed off for his heat race. That forced Wheatley to start ninth in the B Main and he was swept up into a wreck that bent the front axel and nose wing on the second lap.

Wheatley restarted 12th and worked his damaged car up to finish sixth – only two spots out of transferring to the feature.

“It was an uphill battle all night,” Wheatley said. “The racing was tight and I don’t have a lot of experience on quarter-mile tracks, so I’m happy how I performed. I just wish we could have avoided the wreck.”

The physical racing ensued on Saturday at Calistoga Speedway – a half-mile, picturesque track.

After driving from eighth to sixth to claim the final transfer spot in his heat race, Wheatley lined up 22nd in the feature. However, on lap 13, Wheatley was unable to avoid a spinning Kerry Madsen.

“The track was very fast and very rough,” Wheatley said. “The car was pretty fast in the feature, but I got caught up in Kerry Madsen’s spin. I had nowhere to go and then didn’t have enough time to make repairs to the car in order to get back out.”

Wheatley finished 22nd in his second feature of the season with the World of Outlaws.

QUICK RESULTS –

April 1 – Merced Speedway in Merced, Calif. – Qualifying: 26; Heat race: DNS (7); B Main: 6 (9).

April 2 – Calistoga Speedway in Calistoga, Calif. – Qualifying: 24; Heat race: 6 (8); Feature: 22 (22).

SEASON STATS –

7 races, 2 features, 0 wins, 0 top fives, 0 top 10s, 0 top 15s, 1 top 20

FAVORITE NUMBER –

22: The position Wheatley finished at Calistoga Speedway in Calistoga, Calif., after a crash in the World of Outlaws feature.

SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS –

Website: www.austenwheatley.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/MiniWheats44w

APPAREL –

Wheatley has gray and white t-shirts and gray sweatshirts for sale. For more information, visit www.austenwheatley.com

SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Advanced Racing Suspensions

Located in Indianapolis, Advanced Racing Suspensions manufacturers shocks for sprint cars, micro sprints, mini sprints, midgets and other types of race cars. For more information, visit www.advancedracing.net.

“We’ve used Advanced Racing Suspensions for our shocks ever since I was in the 600cc micro sprints,” Wheatley said. “We knew they were really good shocks so we’ve continued to use them in sprint cars and couldn’t be more happy.”

Wheatley would like to thank his sponsors, including Wolfweld, The Oil Medics, SpeedMart, Fire-Down Graphics, Astro Titanium, DMI, Brown & Miller Racing Solutions, Goodyear and Redlined Welding & Construction for their continued support.

INSIDE LINE PROMOTIONS –

Inside Line Promotions specializes in affordable public relations, media management and merchandising services for sprint car teams. ILP Founder Shawn Miller leverages professional journalism with new media technologies and social networking to improve your exposure and your sponsors’ return on investment.

To meet the media relations needs of your team, contact Shawn at 541-510-3663 or sprintcarreporter@yahoo.com. For more information on Inside Line Promotions, visit www.insidelinepromotions.com.

Back to News